Margaret of Anjou

Margaret of Anjou (French: Marguerite) was born in 23 March 1430 in Lorraine, and she was the second eldest daughter of René of Anjou and his wife, Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.

She was Queen of England by virtue of her marriage with Henry VI of England and was one of the key figures of the Wars of the Roses; at times, she even led the Lancastrian faction personally. Henry VI suffered from frequent bouts of insanity, leaving Margaret to rule the kingdom in his place. It was Margaret who called for the Great Council in May 1455 that excluded the Yorkist faction. This provided the spark that would later ignite a civil conflict that lasted for more than thirty years, decimated England’s nobility and caused the deaths of thousands of men. One of the men fallen during the Wars of the Roses was her own son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.

After the Lancastrian defeat at Tewkesbury, the victorious Yorkist faction took Margaret prisoner and four years later, in 1475, she was ransomed by her cousin, King Louis XI of France.

Margaret returned to France to live the rest of her life as a poor relation to the King. She died on 25 August 1482, in Anjou, at the age of 52.

The wedding of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou
Martial d'Auvergne

(15th century)

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