Margaret of Burgundy, Queen of France

Margaret of Burgundy (French: Marguerite; 1290 – 14 August 1315) was Queen of France and Navarre as the first wife King Louis X and I.

Life

Margaret was a princess of the ducal House of Burgundy, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. She was the eldest daughter of Robert II, Duke of Burgundy (1248–1306) and Agnes of France (1260–1327), the youngest daughter of Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence.

In 1305, Margaret married her first cousin once removed, Louis I, King of Navarre, who in 1314 acceded to the French throne as Louis X of France. They had one daughter, Joan (born 1312, died 1349).

Early in 1314, before Louis came to the throne, Margaret was allegedly caught in an act of adultery in the Tour de Nesle Affair. Her sister-in-law Isabella of France was a witness against her, and Margaret was imprisoned for the last two years of her life, along with her sister-in-law Blanche of Burgundy. After Louis came to the throne, Margaret was confined at Château Gaillard and after poor treatment caught a cold and died. Therefore, she was imprisoned for the entire time that she was nominally queen of France.

An alternate version of the story states that she did not die at Chateau Gaillard, but escaped and was taken in by her cousin Marie of Couches, and that she died at the chateau of Couches in 1333. The chateau is known locally as the chateau of Margaret of Burgundy.

Legacy

Margaret's daughter, Joan, later became queen regnant of Navarre as Joan II (1311–1349). Her paternity was under doubt because of her mother's alleged adultery.

In 1361, Margaret's succession rights became important in the premature death of Philip I, Duke of Burgundy (her grandnephew), since the closest Burgundian heirs were descendants of Margaret and of her sister, Joan the Lame. Margaret's grandson and heir Charles II of Navarre claimed the duchy on the basis of primogeniture, but Joan the Lame's son John II of France on the basis of proximity, being one generation closer to the Burgundian dukes. The case was ruled in favour of John, who became Duke of Burgundy, later bestowing the Duchy upon his son, Philip the Bold.

In fiction

Margaret is portrayed in La Roi en fer and La Reine étranglée, two 1955 novels in Maurice Druon's Les Rois maudits (The Accursed Kings) series of historical novels. She was played by fr in the 1972 French miniseries adaptation of the series, and by Hélène Fillières in the 2005 adaptation.

Ancestry

Family of Margaret of Burgundy, Queen of France

16. Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy               8. Odo III, Duke of Burgundy                       17. Alice of Lorraine               4. Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy                             18. Hugues, Seigneur de Vergy               9. Alice of Vergy                       19. Gillette de Trainel               2. Robert II, Duke of Burgundy                                   20. Robert II, Count of Dreux               10. Robert III, Count of Dreux                       21. Yolanda de Coucy               5. Yolande of Dreux                             22. Thomas, Seigneur de Saint-Valéry               11. Aénor, Dame de Saint-Valéry                       23. Alix de Ponthieu, Dame de Saint-Aubin               1. Margaret of Burgundy                                         24. Philip II of France               12. Louis VIII of France                       25. Isabelle of Hainaut               6. Louis IX of France                             26. Alfonso VIII of Castile               13. Blanche of Castile                       27. Eleanor of England               3. Agnes of France                                   28. Alfonso II, Count of Provence               14. Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence                       29. Garsenda of Forcalquier               7. Margaret of Provence                             30. Thomas I, Count of Savoy               15. Beatrice of Savoy                       31. Margaret of Geneva

References

French royalty
Preceded by Blanche of Artois	Queen consort of Navarre 1305–1315	Succeeded by Clementia of Hungary
Preceded by Joan I of Navarre	Queen consort of France 1314–1315