Marguerite of France (born 1282)

Marguerite of France (1282 Paris – 14 February 1317 Marlborough Castle) was a daughter of Philip III of France and Maria of Brabant. She was also the second Queen consort of King Edward I of England. She was nicknamed "The Pearl of France". Three years after the death of his beloved first wife, Eleanor of Castile, at the age of 49 in 1290, Edward I was still grieving. But news got to him of the beauty of Blanche, daughter of the late King Philip III. Edward decided that he would marry Blanche at any cost and sent out emissaries to negotiate the marriage with her half-brother, King Philip IV. Philip agreed to give Blanche to Edward on the following conditions:

1. a truce was concluded between the two countries
2. Edward gave up the province of Gascony

Edward, surprisingly, agreed and sent his brother Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, to fetch the new bride. Edward had been deceived, for Blanche was to be married to Rudolph I of Bohemia and eldest son of Albert I of Germany. Instead Philip offered her younger sister Marguerite, a young girl of 11, to marry Edward (then 55). Upon hearing this, Edward declared war on France, refusing to marry Marguerite. After five years, a truce was agreed, under the terms of which Edward would marry Marguerite, would regain the key city of Guienne, and receive £15,000 owed to Marguerite. Edward was now 60 years old. The wedding took place at Canterbury on September 8, 1299. Edward soon returned to the Scottish border to continue his campaigns and left Marguerite in London. After several months, bored and lonely, the young queen decided to join her husband. Nothing could have pleased the king more, for Marguerite's actions reminded him of his first wife Eleanor, who had had two of her sixteen children abroad. Marguerite soon became firm friends with her stepdaughter Mary, a nun, who was two years older than the young queen. She and her stepson, Edward (who was two years younger than her), also became fond of each other: he once made her a gift of an expensive ruby and gold ring, and she on one occasion rescued many of the Prince's friends from the wrath of the King. In less than a year Marguerite gave birth to a son, and then another a year later. It is said that many who fell under the king's wrath were saved from too stern a punishment by the queen's influence over her husband, and the statement, Pardoned solely on the intercession of our dearest consort, queen Marguerite of England, appears. In all, Marguerite gave birth to three children: Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk; Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent; and Eleanor of England (4 May 1306 - 1311). The mismatched couple were blissfully happy. When Blanche died in 1306 (her husband never became Emperor), Edward ordered all the court to go into mourning to please his queen. He had realised the wife he had gained was "a pearl of great price". The same year Marguerite gave birth to a girl, Eleanor, named in honor of Edward's first queen, a choice of which surprised many, and showed Marguerite's un-jealous nature.

Later Life

She never remarried after Edward's death in 1307, despite being only 26 when widowed. She lived out the remainder of her life in Marlborough Castle, by this time a dower house, and used her immense dowry to relieve people's suffering. Her saying was, "when Edward died, all men died for me". She died just 10 years after her husband, at the age of 36, and was buried at Greyfriar's Church, Greenwich.