Margaret (Plantagenet) Queen consort of Scots (1240 - 1275)

Born 29 Oct 1240 in Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England

Ancestors

Wife of Alexander (Dunkeld) King of Scots — married 26 Dec 1251 in York Minster, York, Yorkshire, England

Descendants

Died 26 Feb 1275 at age 34 in Cupar Castle, Cuper, Fifeshire, Scotland

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Margaret (Plantagenet) Queen consort of Scots was a member of Scottish Nobility. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland

Biography

“Margery”'

House of Plantagenet

Birth and Parents

Margaret Plantagenet was born on 29 Oct 1240 at Windsor Castle, the daughter of Henry III, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Aquitane and his wife, Eléonore de Provence, Queen of England. ^[1][2][3]

An Unhappy Child Bride

She was married to Alexander III, King of Scots on 26 Dec 1251 at the age of eleven, ^[3][1][2] and transported to Scotland to live with her husband. By 1255, they were both under the protection of two regents, Robert de Ros and John I de Balliol, barons of the Comyn Family, ^[4] At 15 years old, Margaret had become very dissatisfied with her living conditions and expressed these grievances to her father. King Henry, always ready to interfere in Scottish affairs of state, sent Richard de Clare, VIth Earl of Gloucester, and John Maunsell, Lord High Chancellor of England to investigate. The Queen consort protested that she was confined to a "sad and gloomy" castle with "unwholesome" sea air and no greenery. She was also not permitted to travel, choose her own "female attendants, or engage in "conjugal intercourse" with her husband, then 14 years old. ^[5] The Queen and King were taken under the care of de Clare and Maunsell, immediately allowed marital relations, and promised "redress" of the remaining grievances. King Henry, however, took this opportunity dismiss the entire government of Scotland and appoint a new regent, Richard Inverkeithan, Bishop of Dunkeld. ^[5][6]

Children of Alexander III and Margaret Plantagenet

1. Margaret Dunkeld, b. 28 Feb 1261, Windsor, Berkshire, England; m. abt. 12 Aug 1281, Eric II Magnusson, King of Norway in Bergen, Hordaland, Norway, and crowned as Margaret, Queen of Norway ; d. 9 Apr 1283, In childbirth, Tønsberg, Vestfold, Norway; bur. Christ’s Kirk, Bergen, Hordaland, Norway.^{[1][3][7][8][6]}
2. Alexander Dunkeld, b. 21 Jan 1264, Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland; m. 15 Nov 1282, Roxburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland, Marguerite of Flanders, daughter of Guy de Dampierre, Count of Flanders, Marquis of Namur and his 2nd wife, Isabelle de Luxembourg, daughter of Henry IV, Count of Luxembourg and La Roche, Marquis of Arlon, There were no children, and he predeceased his father; d. 17 (or 28) Jan 1283, Lindores Abbey, Fife, Scotland; bur. Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland ^{[1][3][7][8][6]}
3. David Dunkeld, b. 20 Mar 1273; d. June 1281, Stirling Castle, Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland; bur. Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland; unmarried ^[1][3][8]

In 1274, along with her children and her husband, she had attended the coronation of her brother in London as Edward I, King of England. ^[9]

A Fatal Mishap at the River Tay

Still feeling unwell, after the difficult birth of her last child, according to

...the Chronicle of Lanercost, she went to Kinclaven Castle, near Perth that summer to recuperate…One evening after supper, the Queen and some of her retinue strolled by the banks of the River Tay. They were in high spirits, and when they noticed a young English squire bend down to wash his hands in the water, the Queen laughingly urged one of her ladies to give him a push. Everyone laughed and applauded when he toppled over into the water. He splashed about frantically and shouted to them but they assumed he was simply joining in the fun, not realising that he was being dragged under by a strong current. Only his little servant boy saw that he was in difficulties and jumped in to help, but they were both swept away and drowned. ^[10]

Death

"...in February 1274/5, Margaret Plantagenet, Queen consort of Scots fell seriously ill during a visit to Fife. There were rumours that she had been poisoned. Many churchmen came to visit her, but she would see only her husband and her confessor. She died on 26 February in Cupar Castle, and Alexander buried her beside David I, King of Scots in Dunfermline Abbey." ^[3][10][11]

Research Notes

1. Please refer to Scotland Project - Reliable Sources for pre-1500 profiles, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Scotland_-_Reliable_Sources.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Richardson, Douglas, "SCOTLAND 5. Alexander III, King of Scots," Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), vol. 4, 593-595.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Richardson, Douglas, "SCOTLAND 5. Alexander III, King of Scots," Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), vol. 1, 63.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5} Cawley, Charles Medieval Lands: a Prosopography of Medieval European Noble and Royal Families, (Hereford, UK: Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, 2006), Chapter 3. KINGS of SCOTLAND (DUNKELD), B. KINGS OF SCOTLAND 1034-1290, 1. Alexander.
4. ↑ Lynch, Michael, editor, The Oxford Companion to Scottish History, Comyn family, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press (2011), 104-105.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Dalrymple, David. Annals of Scotland: From the Accession of Malcolm III in the Year MLVII to the Accession of the House of Stewart in the Year MCCCLXXI, to which are Added, Tracts Relative to the History and Antiquities of Scotland. United Kingdom: A. Constable (1819), 188-219.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} Fordun, John of, Felix James Henry Skene, and W. F. (William Forbes) Skene. John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish nation. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas (1872), bk. v., chap. xxiv, 289-305.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Dunbar, Sir Archibald H. Scottish Kings: A Revised Chronology of Scottish History 1005-1625. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1899), 94-102, 280.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} Paul, Sir James Balfour. The Scots Peerage; Founded on Wood’s Edition of Sir Robert Douglas’s Peerage of Scotland; Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of That Kingdom. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1904), vol. 1, 6.
9. ↑ Fordun, John of, Felix James Henry Skene, and W. F. (William Forbes) Skene. John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish nation. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas (1872), bk. v., chap. xxiv, citing, “When Edward afterwards came back, the king of Scotland, with his queen and children, made every effort to be present at his coronation, which took place in London, on the day of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary, in the year 1274. The king of Scotland was there, with great pomp ; as were also the queen, and many lords and nobles. That same year, however, on the 26th of February, the said queen of Scotland, Margaret, King Henry's daughter, and this King Edward's sister, died at the castle of Cupar, and was entombed beside King David, at Dunfermline.” 300.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} Marshall, Rosalind K., Scottish Queens: The Queens and Consorts who Shaped a Nation, Kindle edition, (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2019), 26. [Kindle].
11. ↑ Anderson, A. O., Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers, A.D. 500 to 1286, (London: David Nutt, 1908), 381 [1275, Gervase of Canterbury’s Continuator, Gesta Regnum, Vol. II, p. 278, S.A. 1274] citing, “…in the same year died Margaret, queen of Scotland…”

See also:

• Brown, Michael, The Wars of Scotland 1214-1371, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Volume 4 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004) 26, 47, 49, 65, 67, 140, 145.
• Wikipedia contributors, Margaret of England, (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2023), Margaret of England.
• Wikipedia contributors, House of Plantagenet, (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2023), House of Plantagenet.