Margaret of Anjou

Queen consort of Henry VI of England 1445-1471.

Margaret was born on March 23, 1429, in the province of Lorraine in France, the daughter of Rene of Anjou, King of Naples and Sicily. She married King Henry VI, who was eight years her senior, on April 23, 1445, at Titchfield in Hampshire.

Henry was not fitted to be king, having more interest in religion and learning than in military matters. He had reigned since he was a few months old and his actions had been controlled by regents. When he married Margaret, his mental condition was already unstable, and by the time their only son, Edward, was born, on October 13, 1453, he had suffered a complete mental breakdown. Rumours were rife that he was incapable of fathering a child and that the new Prince of Wales was the result of an adulterous liaison on Margaret's part.

Margaret seems to have been quite mild-mannered until the point where her husband was deposed, on March 4, 1461, by a rival claimant to the throne, Edward IV of England. She was determined to win back her son's inheritance, and fled with him into Wales and later Scotland, where she was assisted by Henry's half-brother, Jasper Tudor. Finding her way to France, she made an ally of King Louis XI of France, and at his instigation she allowed an approach from Edward's former supporter, the Earl of Warwick (Richard Neville Warwick), who had fallen out with his former friend and was now seeking revenge for the loss of his political influence. Warwick's daughter, Anne Neville, was married off to Edward, Prince of Wales, and Margaret insisted that Warwick return to England to prove himself, before she followed. He did so, restoring Henry VI briefly to the throne towards the end of 1470.

By the time Margaret, her son and daughter-in-law were ready to follow Warwick back to England, however, he had been defeated and killed by the returning King Edward IV, and Margaret was forced to lead her own army at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, at which they were defeated and her son was kllled. Over the previous ten years, she had gained a reputation for aggression and ruthlessness, being nicknamed, "The Tigress", but now she was a broken spirit, imprisoned in the Tower of London until ransomed by the French king. She died on August 25, 1482, in Anjou, where she was buried.