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Blanche of Anjou (1280 – 14 October 1310) was Queen of Aragon as the second spouse of King James II of Aragon. She was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou , she is also known as Blanche of Naples .
Margaret of Anjou (French: Marguerite; 23 March 1430 – 25 August 1482) was Queen of England by marriage to King Henry VI from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. Through marriage, she was also nominally Queen of France from 1445 to 1453.
Aug 21, 2024 · Margaret of Anjou was the queen consort of England’s King Henry VI and a leader of the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses (1455–85) between the houses of York and Lancaster.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Her Marriage to Henry Vi Had An Unusual Requirement
- She Was Fierce, Passionate and Strong-Willed
- She Was A Great Lover of Learning
- Her Husband’S Rule Was Unpopular
- So She Took Control of The Government, The King and The Kingdom
- When The Duke of York Became ‘Protector of England’, She Raised An Army
- Margaret Wasn’T Going to See Her Son Disinherited
- She Made Some Powerful Alliances
- Their Success Was Brief
- For Shakespeare, She Was A ‘She-Wolf’
Born in the French Duchy of Lorraine, Margaret of Anjou grew up in France before her marriage to Henry VI in 1445. The marriage was somewhat controversial, in that there was no dowry given to the English Crown for Margaret by the French. Instead it was agreed that Charles VII of France, who was at war with Henry in The Hundred Years’ War in France,...
Margaret was fifteen years old when she was crowned queen consort at Westminster Abbey. She was described as beautiful, passionate, proud and strong-willed. Indomitability ran in the blood of the women in her family. Her father, King Rene, passed his time as a prisoner of the Duke of Burgundy writing poetry and staining glass, but her mother strugg...
Margaret spent her early youth in at a castle in the Rhone Valley and at a palace in Naples. She received a good education and was probably tutored by Antoine de la Salle, a famous writer and tournament judge of the era. When she came to England, she furthered her love of learning by helping to establish Queen’s College, Cambridge.
A breakdown in law and order, corruption, the distribution of royal land to the king’s court favourites and the continued loss of land in France meant Henry and his French queen’s rule became unpopular. Returning troops, who had often not been paid, added to the lawlessness and prompted a rebellion by Jack Cade. Henry lost Normandy in 1450 and othe...
When Henry VI fell into a catatonic state for 18 months and was unable to be brought to his senses, Margaret came to the fore. She was the one who called for a Great Council in May 1455 that excluded Richard Duke of York, sparking the series of battles between York and Lancaster that would last more than thirty years.
When the Duke of Yorkbecame ‘Protector of England’, Margaret raised an army, insisting if King Henry wasn’t on the throne, his son was the rightful ruler. She drove back the rebels, but eventually the Yorkists captured London, took Henry VI to the capital, and threw him in prison. The Duke of York returned from brief exile and formally claimed the ...
So she went to war. She besieged the Duke of York’s castle and was present when he died in battle. But when the Yorks won at Towton in 1461 – led by the duke’s son Edward, who deposed King Henry and proclaimed himself Edward IV – Margaret took her son Edward, fled to exile and plotted their return.
For years, Margaret plotted in exile but was unable to raise an army. She made allies with the King of France, Louis XI. Then when Warwickfell out with Edward over his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret and he formed an alliance; together they restored Henry to the throne. To cement their deal, Warwick’s daughter, Anne Neville, was married t...
But Margaret was taken prisoner by the victorious Yorkists after the Lancastrian defeat at Tewkesbury, where her son Edward was killed. In 1475, she was ransomed by her cousin, King Louis XI of France. She went to live in France as a poor relation of the French king, and she died there at the age of 52.
This queen who fought so courageously for her son, her husband, and her House, would become not even a man but described by Shakespeare as a beast: Shakespeare, W. Henry VI: Part III, 1.4.111, 141-142
- Emma Irving
Margaret of Anjou (March 23, 1429–August 25, 1482) was the queen consort of Henry VI of England and a leader of the Lancastrian side in the Wars of the Roses (1455–1485), a series of battles for the English throne between the houses of York and Lancaster, both of which descended from Edward III.
Jun 21, 2021 · Margaret of Anjou was the wife of the last Lancastrian king of England, Henry VI, who reigned from 1422-61 and again from 1470-71. She was the second daughter and fourth surviving child of René, duke of Anjou, and his wife, Isabelle, daughter and heir of Charles II, duke of Lorraine.
Crowned queen of England (May 1445); founded Queen's College at Cambridge University (1448); led Lancastrian party against Yorkists in civil war (1456–71); fled to Scotland after Yorkist seizure of throne (1461); met final defeat in Battle of Tewkesbury (1471); returned to Anjou (1476).