Margaret of Burgundy, Queen of France
| Margaret of Burgundy | |
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Romanticized portrait of Queen Margaret
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| Queen consort of France | |
| Tenure | 1314–1315 |
| Queen consort of Navarre | |
| Tenure | 1305–1315 |
| Born | c. 1290 |
| Died | 14 August 1315 (aged 24–25) Château Gaillard, Normandy |
| Spouse | Louis X of France |
| Issue | Joan II of Navarre |
| House | Burgundy |
| Father | Robert II, Duke of Burgundy |
| Mother | Agnes of France |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Margaret of Burgundy (French: Marguerite; 1290 – 14 August 1315) was Queen of France and Navarre as the first wife King Louis X and I.
Contents
Life
Margaret was a princess of the ducal House of Burgundy, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. She was the eldest daughter of Robert II, Duke of Burgundy (1248–1306) and Agnes of France (1260–1327), the youngest daughter of Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence.[1]
In 1305, Margaret married her first cousin once removed, Louis I, King of Navarre, who in 1314 acceded to the French throne as Louis X of France.[2] They had one daughter, Joan (born 1312, died 1349).
Early in 1314, before Louis came to the throne, Margaret was allegedly caught in an act of adultery in the Tour de Nesle Affair. Her sister-in-law Isabella of France was a witness against her, and Margaret was imprisoned for the last two years of her life, along with her sister-in-law Blanche of Burgundy. After Louis came to the throne, Margaret was confined at Château Gaillard and after poor treatment caught a cold and died.[3] Therefore, she was imprisoned for the entire time that she was nominally queen of France.
An alternate version of the story states that she did not die at Chateau Gaillard, but escaped and was taken in by her cousin Marie of Couches, and that she died at the chateau of Couches in 1333. The chateau is known locally as the chateau of Margaret of Burgundy.
Legacy
Margaret's daughter, Joan, later became queen regnant of Navarre as Joan II (1311–1349). Her paternity was under doubt because of her mother's alleged adultery.
In 1361, Margaret's succession rights became important in the premature death of Philip I, Duke of Burgundy (her grandnephew), since the closest Burgundian heirs were descendants of Margaret and of her sister, Joan the Lame. Margaret's grandson and heir Charles II of Navarre claimed the duchy on the basis of primogeniture, but Joan the Lame's son John II of France on the basis of proximity, being one generation closer to the Burgundian dukes. The case was ruled in favour of John, who became Duke of Burgundy, later bestowing the Duchy upon his son, Philip the Bold.
In fiction
Margaret is portrayed in La Roi en fer and La Reine étranglée, two 1955 novels in Maurice Druon's Les Rois maudits (The Accursed Kings) series of historical novels. She was played by fr in the 1972 French miniseries adaptation of the series, and by Hélène Fillières in the 2005 adaptation.[4][5]
Ancestry
| Family of Margaret of Burgundy, Queen of France |
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References
- ↑ Anne Echols and Marty Williams, An Annotated Index of Medieval Women, (Markus Weiner Publishing Inc., 1992), 300.
- ↑ Anne Echols, 300.
- ↑ Jim Bradbury, The Capetians: Kings of France, 987-1328, (Continuum Books, 2007), 277.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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| French royalty | ||
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| Preceded by | Queen consort of Navarre 1305–1315 |
Succeeded by Clementia of Hungary |
| Preceded by | Queen consort of France 1314–1315 |
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