Available for pre-order from
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal.
Margaret of Scotland was the eldest daughter of James I, King of Scots, and his wife, Joan Beaufort. James had been king since the age of 12, though the first 18 years of his reign had been spent in English captivity, where he had fallen in love with Joan, the granddaughter of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford.
King James I of Scotland
James’s release had been successfully negotiated in 1423 and the marriage was politically favourable to the English, who saw it as an opportunity to improve relations with Scotland while, at the same time, drawing Scotland away from France, their traditional ally.
James I returned to Scotland in April 1424, with his new bride – and queen– at his side. Margaret was born in December of the same year, possibly on Christmas Day itself. She was joined in the nursery by five sisters during the next ten years, Isabella, Eleanor, Joan, Mary and Annabella. Twin brothers were born in 1430, Alexander and James, but only James survived past the first few months.
Margaret’s future was almost settled in 1428, when a French embassy arrived to renew the Franco-Scottish alliance. France’s king, Charles VII had given his ambassadors the task of asking for Margaret’s hand in marriage for his son, Louis, the dauphin. Born in July 1423, Louis was just eighteen months older than his future bride.
However, James I hesitated, reluctant to give the French the army of 6,000 men that they wanted as part of the alliance. Charles VII was in a precarious position in France at the time. The Hundred Years War was raging and, despite the fact his father had died in 1422, he would not actually be crowned king until July 1429.
In 1435, the marriage of Margaret and the dauphin was finally agreed and the young bride, still only eleven years old, set out for France the following year. She left by ship from Dumbarton in March 1436, with an entourage worthy of a princess; she was escorted by several of the leading lords of the realm, a household of 140 persons in royal livery and more than 1,000 troops.
The French fleet in which she sailed landed on the Île de Ré, near La Rochelle, on 17 April and made a formal progress to Tours. On 24 June she met her future husband for the first time, in the great hall of the castle at Tours, and the young couple embraced formally. They were married the next day, in the castle’s chapel.
Celebrated by the Archbishop of Reims, it was a rather subdued affair, for a royal wedding. The continuing state of warfare with England had stretched the French royal finances to the limit. The reception was not as lavish as the Scottish guests might have expected and was cut short to preserve funds, the scandalised Scots being quickly ushered out. Almost immediately after the wedding celebrations, most of Margaret’s Scottish household was sent home, with just a handful of her native attendants allowed to stay with the Scottish Princess.
Owing to the tender age of the young couple, they were not expected to consummate the marriage for another few years, so Margaret was given into the guardianship of Queen Marie and continued her education under the queen’s supervision. Petite, pretty and delicate, Margaret soon became the darling of the French King and Queen. Louis, on the other hand, had a strained relationship with his father, one that would eventually be expressed in open rebellion; as a result, he was rarely at court.
When Louis asked the king for an allowance with which to set up a household for himself and his young wife, his father refused, despite being happy to give Margaret money to indulge herself. At one time, Charles VII gave Margaret 2,000 livres to buy herself furs and silks, and yet he refused to pay off Louis’ debts. Margaret also received grants directly from the king, rather than her husband, as might have been expected.
In 1437 the marriage was consummated and Margaret, now approaching her thirteenth birthday, was given her own household. Relations between the dauphin and dauphine were not helped by Louis’ strained relationship with his father and it seems that comparisons were made between Louis’ unimpressive looks and Margaret’s beauty – although malicious English chroniclers would insist that Louis was repelled by Margaret’s ‘evil soured breath’.
Margaret was allowed no part in court politics. The dauphine’s role in France was limited to formal occasions and court ceremonials, such as the celebrations for the marriage of the king’s niece, Margaret of Anjou, to Henry VI of England, which Margaret attended in 1445. As with her father before her, Margaret had a passion and talent for writing poetry and, although she enjoyed court life, she became increasingly bored with it.
She retreated more and more to her own chambers with her ladies and spent her days and evenings writing and reading poetry. Her evenings were so taken up in this style, that she often retired to bed long after Louis had fallen asleep.
Margaret was also renowned as a patroness of literature. She had several poets in her household, including Jehanne Filleul, whose works have survived to this day, and the Viscount de Blosseville. De Blosseville wrote one of the three laments to the dauphine, written before her death. Another such lament was possibly written by her sister Isabella, it was certainly in her possession.
As the years passed and the couple remained childless, Margaret’s lifestyle caused further discontent within the marriage, and more unhappiness for the young princess as her husband expressed his displeasure. There is some suggestion that Margaret deliberately prevented herself from falling pregnant by drinking vinegar, and by tightly lacing her bodices – although this may also have been for vanity, and to keep her svelte figure.
There also followed accusations of impropriety within Margaret’s rooms when, at Christmas 1444, Jamet de Tillay, a member of the king’s household, entered her chamber during one of her private poetry evenings and subsequently spread rumours about ‘wanton princesses’. Margaret perceived it as a personal attack and became increasingly distressed, complaining that Jamet had turned the king and dauphin against her.
Although Jamet tried to apologise, Margaret would not hear of it. By the summer of 1445 the dauphine was very ill. Having accompanied the court on pilgrimage she fell ill on 7 August and by the next day she was feverish and suffering from fits of coughing. Her doctors diagnosed an inflammation of the lungs.
In her delirium, she blamed Jamet de Tillay for her impending death and swore she had never done Louis any wrong. As she approached death, Margaret calmed down and forgave Jamet, on her ladies’ instigation. Having received the last rites, Margaret died on 16 August 1445, at Châlons-sur-Marne; she was just twenty years old.
The dauphine was laid to rest in the Cathedral of St Étienne in Châlons; in 1479 her body was moved by her husband, now Louis XI, to the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre in the Abbey Church of Saint-Laon in Thouars, where Margaret had founded a chaplaincy.
Following her death, Louis destroyed every piece of poetry and writing that Margaret had ever produced. None of her work survived her husband’s purge. However, her patronage of poets has at least ensured she had a worthy legacy.
Sharon Bennett Connolly
# # #
About the Author
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting