Marriage of Henry VI of England & Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou was the daughter of René, Duke of Anjou and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.
She was born on the 23rd of March 1429 at Pont-à-Mousson in the Duchy of Lorraine.
Margaret spent her early years living in the castle of Tarascon in the Rhone Valley, and at the palace at Capua in Naples.
On 23rd April 1445 when Margaret was fifteen years old, she married King Henry VI of England.
Her new husband was eight years older than Margaret, and marriage proved to be an unpopular one.
In 1453, at the age of 32, Henry VI began to exhibit signs of serious mental illness.
He entered into a trance-like state, recognising no one.
Catatonic schizophrenia or depressive stupor, have been suggested as a likely diagnosis.
Margaret at the time was seven months pregnant, and attempted to claim the regency, but gained no support.
Margaret gained no support, and the regency was given to Henry’s cousin, Richard, Duke of York.
Margaret was furious, as Queen, she strongly felt that she and her party should govern England.
An intense personal rivalry developed between Richard~Duke of York, and Margaret’s favourite, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, stood very near to the throne, his mother was Anne Mortimer, the heir of Richard II.
Richard~Duke of York was Anne Mortimer’s only son.
Margaret gave birth to her only child, Edward Prince of Wales, in October 1453 at Westminster Palace.
Rumours fed by the Yorkists, said that the child’s father was not the feeble-minded king’s but Edmund Beaufort~Duke of Somerset.
Margaret was a strong and determined woman, and was fiercely protective of her son, and his rights.
King Henry eventually recovered from his catatonic state.
When he was shown his son, he declared himself pleased, and said that Edward must have been fathered by the Holy Ghost.
Richard~Duke of York was dismissed from office.
Richard~Duke of York’s position, he realised, was now a precarious one.
He was now exposed to the suspicion and venom of Queen Margaret, who once again controlled the government.
York and his allies, travelled south with an army.
The First Battle of St Albans was fought on 22nd May 1455.
Margaret’s favourite and rumoured father of her son, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset was killed.
King Henry was captured by the victorious Yorkists.
Richard~Duke of York was appointed Protector of England.
Margaret, true to character, was not going to accept this meekly.
She gathered an army to advance her son’s cause and Richard~Duke of York, and his allies Salisbury and Warwick, were forced to flee.
In retaliation rebel lords gathered support and took London, and took the unfortunate King Henry captive.
Richard~Duke of York returned from exile, and laid formal claim to the throne.
Queen Margaret was not going quietly, however.
She led a Lancastrian army to attack the Duke of York at his castle in Wakefield.
The Duke and his son were killed, and Queen Margaret had their heads impaled on spikes on the city walls of York.
A Yorkist army led by 18 year old Edward~Earl of March, York’s eldest son, proceeded towards London.
Edward, Earl of March, defeated the Lancastrians at Mortimers Cross.
He continued to utterly crush the Lancastrian cause at the Battle of Towton in Yorkshire.
Queen Margaret and her son fled to Scotland, where they found refuge.
Edward~Earl of March was crowned at Westminster as King Edward IV.
King Henry VI was taken prisoner in Lancashire, and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Margaret lived in exile in France with her son Edward.
The mighty Richard Neville Earl of Warwick was discontented that he had not been given the power he had assumed by his support of the Yorkist cause.
He was alienated from Edward IV by his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, whom he heartily disliked.
Supported by King Edward’sbrother, George Duke of Clarence Warwick led a rebellion against Edward.
Warwick joined forces with Margaret, no mean feat, since they were bitter enemies and Margaret had executed Warwick’s father, Salisbury.
Warwick is reported to have spent hours on his knees, before Margaret before she would consent to the alliance.
Warwick’s youngest daughter, Anne Neville, was betrothed to Margaret’s son, Edward – to seal the alliance.
Warwick invaded England on Margaret’s behalf in 1470, resulting in the flight of King Edward IV to Burgundy.
King Henry VI, was released from the Tower of London and briefly reinstated as king.
A sad and pitiful figure, he was paraded through the streets of London in a shabby blue gown.
Edward IV returned in 1471, meeting Warwick’s forces at Barnet.
George, Duke of Clarence, reconciled with his brother Edward, deserted Warwick, and took his considerable forces into the ranks of the Yorkists.
Warwick was killed fleeing the field, in an attempt to reach his horse.
Margaret and her son sailed for England on 24th March.
She landed at Weymouth in Dorset on the same day that the Battle of Barnet was fought.
On hearing news of the disaster at Barnet, she considered returning to France, but Prince Edward persuaded her to gamble for victory.
Margaret led her army northwards in the hope of joining forces with Lancastrian supporters in Wales, led by Jasper Tudor – King Henry VI’s half-brother.
Intercepted by Edward IV, Margaret had no choice but to meet him in battle at Tewkesbury on 4th May 1471.
Margaret took refuge in a religious house some distance from the battlefield, her son Edward, Prince of Wales, was killed either in battle, or during its aftermath.
Queen Margaret was defeated at last by the death of the son she had fought so long and hard for.
She was taken captive at the end of the battle and imprisoned.
Sent first to Wallingford Castle, Margaret was later transferred to the more secure Tower of London.
In 1472 she was placed in the custody of her former lady-in-waiting Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk.
Her beloved son’s widow, Anne Neville, later married Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the future Richard III – and brother to King Edward.
Margaret’s husband King Henry VI, met his death in the Tower of London, on the night of 21st -22nd May 1471.
The demise of his son at Tewkesbury had sealed his fate.
The embittered ex-Queen retired to her native Anjou, and took up residence at the Chateau of Dampierre.
Margaret died there in August 1482, aged fifty-three.
She was buried in Angers Cathedral, but her remains were removed and scattered by revolutionaries who ransacked the cathedral during the French Revolution.
👑 Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou as depicted in the Talbot Shrewsbury book of 1445.
Photograph: World History Archive/Alamy
