Brief lives of women who reigned or ruled in their own right or by marriage by providing their a) proprietary titles, b) parentage or paternity, c) patrimony and properties, d) persona or personality, e) powers exercised, f) patronages and g) progeny or posterity.
MARGARET DE BRECHIN
Proprietary Title: Lady of Brechin
Progeny/Posterity: Married Sir David (I) Barclay (d. 1350) "...Sir David primus (k 1350), lord of Carny and Kindersleith, married Margaret, lady of Brechin, an heiress of illegitimate royal stock. Their son died before 1369, leaving a daughter and heiress, Margaret (d by 1404), who carried her extensive estates to Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl (d 1437)...." (McAndrew, p. 523).
Notes: "However, the Barclays did not long hold Brechin: Sir David (I) Barclay and his wife, Margaret de Brechin, were succeeded by their son, Sir David (II) Barclay (d. before1369), who left an only daughter, Margaret, who carried the lordship of Brechin to her husband, Walter Stewart, a younger son of King Robert II...." (McAndrew, p. 168)
MARGARET DE NEWBURG (d.1253)
[Bio1]
Proprietary Title: 7th Countess of Warwick.
Notes: "...The 6th earl, Thomas (c1213-1297), left no heirs, and was succeeded by his sister Margaret, countess of Warwick in her own right, who was twice married, but left no heirs. Her second husband, John du Plessis, assumed the title of earl of Warwick in 1245, and in 1250 received a grant of his wife's lands for life. He was succeeded in 1263 by Countess Margaret's cousin and heir, Sir William Mauduit (1220-1268), 8th earl of Warwick. de Newburgh (..." "Thomas de Newburgh left no children. His sister Margaret, therefore, the daughter of Henry de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick, who was his next of kin, may be regarded as Countess in her own right from June 26th, 1262. The Earls of the House of Newburgh end with her, but the dignity was passed on, through her marriages, to other families...." (Warwick, p. 68).
Notes: "Margaret de Newburg, born c. 1215, died 1253 (1263?) sister and heiress of Thomas the sixth Earl. She married first John Mareschall, Earl of Pembroke and secondly John de Plessetis, the latter was a great favourite with Henry III and in 1247, he created him the seventh Earl of Warwick and subsequently Count of Warwick; he died 20th February 1263. There was no issue be either of these marriages at at Margaret's death the estates passed to her cousin William de Mauduit." (Beaumont, p. 46)
MARGARET DE QUINCY (1209-1266)
Proprietary Titles: Countess of Lincoln, 1232
Parents/Pedigree: Daughter of Robert de Quincy and Hawise of Chester. "...Her father was Robert de Quency (sis), younger brother of Roger de Quency, earl of Winchester. Her mother was Hawise, sister of Ranulph de Blundeville earl of Chester and Lincoln... About ten years after her marriage to John de Lacy, which occurred sometime around 1221, Margaret's maternal uncle, Ranulph, received dispensation to grant her widowed mother the earldom of Lincoln as an inter vivos gift...." (Mitchell, p. 30)
Progeny/Posterity: Married (1), as his 2nd wife, in 1221 John de Lacy (c1192-1240), 1st Earl of Lincoln, 1232-1240, with whom she had 2 children; (2) in 1242 Walter Marshal (d. 1245), 5th earl of Pembroke, Lord of Striguil, Lord of Leinster, Earl Marshal of England. No issue.
Properties/Patrimony: After her two husbands death, "...although holding dower thirds from two earldoms as well as her own honour of Bolingbroke, she remained unmarried until her death in 1266...." (Carpenter, p. 421)
Persona: Margaret has been described as 'one of the two towering female figures of the mid-13th century."
Profile: "...She was married at the age of 12 to John de Lacy, lord of Pontefract, who was twenty-nine. The ideas was for her to bring to Lacy the inheritance of her mother, Hawisia, a sister of the childless Ranulf, earl of Chester and Lincoln, an inheritance which was planned to include both the honour of Bolingbroke and the earldom of Lincoln itself...." (Carpenter, p. 421)
MARGARET OF BUCHAN (d.1290)
Proprietary Title: Countess of Buchan
MARGARET OF CARRICK (1253/56-1292)
a. k. a. Marjorie of Carrick
Proprietary Title: Countess of Carrick, 1256-1292
Parents/Pedigree: Neil, 2nd Earl of Carrick, and of Margaret, daughter of Walter, 3rd High Steward
Partner/Progeny: (1) Adam de Kilconcath (.d1270), 3rd Earl of Carrick, in his wife's right, with whom she had no issue; (1) Robert de Brus (d.1304), Lord of Annandale and of Cleveland, known as 'Robert Bruce the Competitor, and Earl of Carrick in her right, with whom she had 5 sons and 5 daughters.
MARGARET OF HEREFORD (1122-1197)
a.k.a. Margaret de Bohun
Proprietary Titles: Lady of Hereford, Constable of England
Parents/Pedigree: Margaret was the eldest daughter of Miles de Gloucester (1100-1143), 1st Earl of Hereford and Lord of Brecknock, and of Sibyl de Neumarche, a wealthy heiress.
Powers Exercised: Constable of England.
"Margaret de Bohun is an example of a woman of this rank who controlled her affairs and retained independence as a widow, exercised the powers of a lay magnate, and was important in familial affairs. Margaret was the daughter of Miles earl of Hereford and his eventual heir. She married Humphrey de Bohun, a steward of Henry II, who died in 1177. Margaret held her own court to manage the routine administration of her lands. As a great lay landlord Margaret enfeoffed military followers, confirmed undertenants' charters and granted over twenty charters in favour of St. Mary's Priory, Llanthony Secunda, having acquired a seal to authenticate documents...." (Johns, p. 71)
Partner/Progeny: She married, before 1139, Humphrey II de Bohun, by whom she had five children.
Patronages: She founded, together with her husband, Farleigh Priory.
MARGARET OF MAR (d.c1391)
[Bio1]
Proprietary Title: Countess of Mar and Lady of Garioch
MARGARET OF SALISBURY (1473-1521)
a.k.a. Margaret Plantagenet, Margaret Pole, Blessed Margaret Pole
"...Henry VIII, on his accession, reversed her brother's attainder, created her Countess of Salisbury, and an Act of Restitution was passed by which she came into possession of her ancestral domans: the king considered her the saintliest woman in England... She gradually fell out of favor, however, chiefly because of her outspoken son, Cardinal Reginald Pole, and in 1538 two of her sons and other kin were arrested on charges of treason, and later executed. She herself was executed without trial in a most ghastly manner. She was the last survivor of the House of York, the final casualty of the War of the Roses. In 1886, she and other English martyrs were beatified by Pope Leo XIII."
MARGARET BARCLAY (d. 1404)
Proprietary Title: Lady of Brechin
Parents/Pedigree: Sir David (II) Barclay (d. before 1369).
Notes: "...Sir David primus (k 1350), lord of Carny and Kindersleith, married Margaret, lady of Brechin, an heiress of illegitimate royal stock. Their son died before 1369, leaving a daughter and heiress, Margaret (d by 1404), who carried her extensive estates to Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl (d 1437)...."(McAndrew, p. 523)
Progeny/Posterity: Married Walter Stewart (d.1437), Earl of Atholl, with whom she had two sons.
Properties: "...This family was abruptly terminated in the male line on the execution of Sir David Brechin in 1320. His daughter, Margaret, carried his lands of Brechin, Kinlock, and Knoegy in Glenesk, and Rothiemay to Sir David (I) Barclay (d 1350)...." (McAndrew, p. 167)
MARGARET BEAUCHAMP
"...[Her future husband]...was advanced to the rank of Duke of Somerset and Earl of Kendale, made Lieutenant of the Duchy of Aquitaine, and Captain-General of the whole realm of France and Normandy... [H]e retired for a brief period from active service, and returning to England, became enamoured with Margaret, the attractive widow of Sir Oliver St. John, only daughter and heiress of John Lord Beauchamp of Powyke, whose wealth and high estate were declared in the almost regal splendour she maintained at her manor at Bletsoe, in Bedfordshire. He was married to her in the thirty-sixth year of his age; and the issue of their union was one child, a daughter, in whom were united the vast riches, exalted rank, and noble qualifications, of a long line of acnestry...." (Halsted and Beaufort, p. 15)"
MARGARET MARSHALL (c1320-1399)
Proprietary Titles: Countess of Norfolk; Duchess of Norfolk, 1397 Parents/Pedigree: Daughter of Thomas of Brotherton (d.1338), Earl of Norfolk.
Progeny/Posterity: Married (1) John, Lord Segrave (d. 1354); (2) Walter, Lord Mauny (d. 1372). "...She outlived all her children and many other descendants, who never realized their hereditary expectations... Her eventual heir at death was a great-grandson...." (Hicks, p.116)
MARGARETE VON BERG (c1312)
[Fam1]
Heiress of Berg
MARGARETE VON RAVENSBERG (d.1389)
[Fam1]
Countess of Ravensberg
Heiress of Berg
MARGHERITA ALDOBRANDESCHA (1253/54-?)
Proprietary Titles: Lady of Grosseto, Sovana and Pitigliano.
Parents/Pedigree: Daughter and heiress of Ildebrandino Aldobrandeschi, Count of Sovana and Pitigliano (in Tuscany)
Notes: "...For twelve months he [Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola] held his own, maintaining the prestige which he won during the summer of 1270 when...he brought Siena to submission. More pliable and less scrupulous that his father, he fitted well into his surroundings. He was not too proud to take a bribe and learned how to turn the feuds of Tuscany to financial profit... On the other hand, he was competent and he was attractive. He clinched his good fortune on 10 August, six days after the surrender of Siena. On that day in the papal city of Viterbo . . . he married Margherita Aldobrandesca. King Charles gave his consent. Siena sent a gift of jewels in a silver box... Margherita Aldobrandesca, a young girl of 16 or 17, was the heiress of the most powerful man in southern Tuscany. This was the count palatine Ildebrandino pf Pitigliano, universally known as Rosso, the red count. His house was an ancient one, well endowed with imperial liberties granted by the Emperor Frederick I and his successors. At this time his lands were held as an emphyteusis of the monastery of St. Anastasia ad Aquas Salinas, at Rome. One of Guy's daughters, Anastasia, owed her name to this relationship. In spite of his imperial title and traditions--he was careful to secure confirmation of his privileges from Rudolf of Habsburg before he died--the red count was an ally of the Florentine Guelfs against the Ghibellines of Siena . . . [T]he Aldobrandine lands were a prize which...popes and cardinals might well covet. They were extensive and they were safe. Stretching irregularly across southern Tuscany . . . they came to a head in the difficult country north of Lake Bolsena. The headquarters of the patrimony were at Soana and Pitigliano. . . ." (Powicke: 80)
" . . . There he [Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola] married an Italian noblewoman, Margherita Aldobrandesca, the Lady of Soana, heiress of a branch of the Aldobrandeschi family, with a feudal contado, nominally subject to Orvieto, that stretched from the shores of the Tyrrhenian sea to the borders of Acquapendente. With her he had two daughters. . . ."
MARGHERITA PALAEOLOGA
" . . . But now an opportunity presented itself for a splendid marriage with Margherita Palaeologa, the heiress of Montferrato, and through his mother's successful diplomacy, all difficulties were overcome. With a stately escort of a thousand men, the Duke of Mantua rode to Casale, the ancient capital of Montferrato, and the wedding was celebrated with the usual pomp and magnificence. A few years later the bride came into her rich dowry, which was added to the duchy of Mantua, a princely inheritance for her little son born in 1533." (Hare: 170)
MARGRETHE I OF DENMARK (1353-1412)
Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden
MARGRETHE II OF DENMARK
[Bio1]
REFERENCE LIST
