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 at Saumur (ib. i. 231). During these years Margaret mainly resided at Saumur and Angers. In 1437 René, on his release, spent some time in Anjou, but he speedily hurried off to Italy to consolidate the throne acquired for him by the heroism of his consort. But the same year that saw the death of Yolande witnessed the final discomfiture of the Angevin cause in Italy, and René and Isabella, abandoning the struggle, returned to Provence. For the rest of his life René was merely a titular king of Naples. On receiving the news of his mother's death, René hurried to Anjou, where he arrived in June 1443. For the next few years he remained for the most part resident at Anjou, generally living at Angers Castle with his wife and daughters. Anjou therefore continued Margaret's home until she attained the age of fourteen (cf., Comptes et Mémoriaux du Roi René, p. 226).

The constant fluctuations of René's fortunes are well indicated by the long series of marriages proposed for Margaret, beginning almost from her cradle. In February 1433 René, then released for a time on parole, agreed at Bohain that Margaret should marry a son of the Count of Saint-Pol; but the agreement came to nothing, and René was subsequently formally released from it. In 1435 Philip of Burgundy, René's captor, urged that Margaret should be wedded to his young son, the Count of Charolais, then a boy a year old, but afterwards famous as Charles the Bold. She was to bring Bar and Pont-à-Mousson as a marriage portion to her husband, and so secure the direct connection between the Low Countries and Burgundy, which was so important an object of Burgundian policy. But René preferred to remain in prison rather than give up his inheritance. The story that a secret article in the treaty which released René in 1437 stipulated that Margaret should marry Henry VI of England is, on the face of it, absurd, though accepted by the Count of Quatrebarbes, the editor of René's works (Œuvres du Roi René, xlii.), and many other modern writers (cf., i. 127). But the Burgundian plan for an Angevin alliance was still pressed forward. In the summer of 1442 Philip negotiated with Isabella for the marriage of Margaret with his kinsman Charles, count of Nevers. On 4 Feb. 1443 a marriage treaty was actually signed at Tarascon, but Charles VII opposed the match, and it was abandoned (, Histoire de Charles VII, iii. 260; see for all the above negotiations, Le Roi René, i. 104, 117, 127, 129, 231, and the authorities quoted by him).

More tempting prospects for Margaret were now offered from another quarter. Since 1439 the peace party, headed by Cardinal Beaufort, had gained a decided ascendency at the English court, and had sought to marry the young Henry VI to a French princess as the best way of procuring the triumph of their policy. But their first efforts were unsuccessful, and excited the suspicions of the French, as involving a renewal of the alliance between the English and the old feudal party in France. However, the Duke of Orleans, who had been released from his English prison to promote such a plan, now changed his policy. After the failure of the Armagnac marriage, and the refusal of Charles VII to give one of his daughters to Henry, Orleans seems to have suggested a marriage between Henry and Margaret of Anjou. The idea was warmly taken up by Henry himself and by the Beaufort party, though violently opposed by Humphrey, duke of Gloucester [q. v.], and the advocates of a spirited foreign policy. In February 1444 William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk [q. v.], was sent to treat for a truce with ‘our uncle of France.’ He had further instructions to negotiate the Angevin marriage. Charles VII now held his court at Tours, whither King René came from Angers, and gave his consent to the sacrifice of his daughter in the interests of the French nation and throne. Suffolk was welcomed on his arrival at Tours by René, and the negotiations both for the marriage and truce proceeded quickly and smoothly. Early in May Margaret, who had remained behind at Angers, was brought by Queen Isabella to meet the English ambassadors. She was lodged with her father and mother at the abbey of Beaumont-lès-Tours. On 22 May it was decided to conclude a truce and the marriage of Margaret. On 24 May the solemn betrothal of Margaret and Henry was celebrated in the church of St. Martin. The papal legate, Peter de Monte, bishop of Brescia, officiated, and Suffolk stood proxy for the absent bridegroom. The king of France took a prominent part in the ceremony, which was carried out with great pomp and stateliness. It terminated with a great feast at St. Julian's Abbey, where Margaret was treated with the respect due to a queen of England, and received the same honours as her aunt the French queen. Strange shows were exhibited, including giants with trees in their hands, and men-at-arms, mounted on camels, and charging each other with lances. A great ball terminated the festivities, and Margaret returned to Angers (, i. 231–3, ii. 254–7;, Charles VII, ii. 450–4; , Wars of English in France, xxxvi–