Profile - Margaret of Anjou Part 1 1430-1452

Margaret of Anjou was reputably the most powerful woman in 15th Century England by ruling through her passive husband, Henry VI. 

 'LA PETITE CREATURE'

The future queen of England was born on 23 March 1430 at Pont-à-Mousson in the French Duchy of Lorraine. Margaret was the second eldest daughter of René of Anjou and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.  Rene was brother-in-law to King of France, Charles VII, and Rene was known as "Good King Rene" with his titles King of Naples, Sicily and Jerusalem due to previous conquests but this was seen as "many crowns but no kingdoms."

Margaret lived with her parents in Italy from the age of six and quickly inherited her father's taste for learning and love of art. News of Margaret's charms and beauty reached the English court with Cardinal Beaufort and William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, advising Henry VI to marry Margaret to bring peace between England and France. Henry VI was delighted with the commissioned portrait of Margaret and agreed for his nobles to pursue a marriage with the French.

Cardinal Beaufort and Suffolk were able to negotiate the marriage but on terms unfavourable to England. Margaret was related to the French king only by marriage and Henry VI's union would contain no dowry and he was expected to pay for the wedding. Worse was to come for the English king when his territories of Maine and Anjou on the French mainland was ceded to Charles VII. 

Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou marry at Titchfield Abbey

The royal wedding took place a month after Margaret's 15th birthday on 23 April 1445 at Titchfield Abbey in Hampshire and Margaret was later crowned Queen consort of England at Westminster Abbey on 30 May 1445.

ACTIVE CONSORT

Margaret had been accustomed to a consort ruling alongside her king after her mother, Isabella, acted as regent of Naples during her husband's absences and led an army in 1436 to rescue him from Phillip III, Duke of Burgundy. Henry VI reign had begun when he was nine-months-old, and the English king readily deferred to his council. Margaret would soon clash with the nobility.

Henry VI's uncle, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and noble, Richard, Duke of York, were distrustful of Margaret and pushed for war against her French counterparts. Margaret looked to rid Gloucester and pushed for his arrest of treason in 1447. Gloucester soon died in custody of an apparent heart attack - a fortuitous death for Margaret that raised suspicions throughout court.

York had a substantial claim to the throne and was now heir assumptive following Gloucester's death and the royal couple were still-childless. Margaret looked to exile York from court by replacing him as Lieutenant of France with Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and demoted York to Lieutenant of Ireland.

Duke of Suffolk -depicted by Thomas Tindall Wildridge

Somerset's command in France was disastrous and losses in northern France brought fears of a French invasion across the English south coast. The public took their anger out on Suffolk who was blamed for ceding precious territory to the French in order to secure the royal wedding. On 28 January 1450, Suffolk was arrested, imprisoned in the Tower of London and impeached in parliament by the commons. But Margaret intervened to protect her supporter and Henry VI banished him into a five-year exile. Suffolk's exile didn't make it past the English Channel as his Calais-bound ship was intercepted by another, the "Nicholas of the Tower," and Suffolk was captured, subjected to a mock trial, and executed. His decapitated body was later found on a Dover beach.

Discontent in the south soon turned to rebellion as Jack Cade marched on London. Margaret followed her husband to Warwickshire in order to avoid the fighting in the capital. Cade was defeated but his championing of York's claim to the throne couldn't be avoided and York soon returned from Ireland.

York demanded Somerset's arrest over France and Margaret changed Henry VI's mind after the king originally agreed with York. The duke was frustrated and aggrieved when Somerset was awarded Captain of Calais despite his military inadequacies and York retired to his estates. 

York returned to London in 1452 to find the capital gates locked under king's orders and York submitted to Henry VI when he was outnumbered by the royal forces at Dartford in Kent. Henry VI placed York under house arrest for two weeks until the duke swore an oath of allegiance at St. Paul's Cathedral but Margaret pushed for further punishment and York was stripped of office in Ireland.