Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/73

* MARGARET OF ANJOTJ. 53 MARGARET OF VAXOIS. Margaret, Uicmyh the powerful Duke of Glouces- ter opposed llie iiiatcli. In 1445 the marriajje took place, and wlicn in 1447 the Uuke of Gloucester fell, .lari;arel obtained complete control over the weak Kinj; and the whole tJovernuicnt. She be- came, however, rapidly unpopular, the loss of the Enf;lish jjossessions in France being charged against her. When in 1453 a son was born to her, Richard, Duke of York, gave up all hope of suc- ceeding peacefully to the crown, and in 1455 he led the Yorkists in arms against the House of Lancaster, inaugurating the Wars of the Roses. Margaret became leader of the Lancastrians. In 1400 she was victorious at Wakefield, w-here the Duke of York fell, but the battle of Towton (q.v. ) in 14G1 was disastrous to the Lancastrian cause. In 1464 Slargaret made an attempt to restore the fortunes of her house and invaded England, but her adherents were defeated at Hexham, after which she lived for some years with her father. In 1470 Warwick (q.v. ) joined the Lancastrians and restored Henry VI. to the throne, but in 1471 Edward IV. won a de- cisive victorv at Barnet, and Henry was recap- tured, and spent the remaining month and a half of his life in the Tower. Meanwhile Mar- gari't had landed in England, but was defeated and taken at Tewkesbury in 1471, while her son lost his life on the battlefield. She remained in captivity for about five years, till Louis XI. re- deemed her for 50,000 crowns. She then retired to France, and died at the Chateau of Dampierre, near Sauniier, in Anjou, on August 15. 1482. Consult: Ramsay, Lancaster and York, vol. ii. (Oxford, 1892) ; Gairdner's introduction to the Paston Leflcrs (London, 1872-75). See Roses, Wars of the, and Henry VI. MARGARET OF AUSTRIA (1480-1.530). A daugliter of Maximilian I. of Austria and of Mary of Burgundy. She was born in the Nether- lands and brought up at the French Court. Affi-, anced to the Dauphin, afterwards Charles VIII., by the Treaty of Arras (1482), she was sent back in 1491 by the King, who married Anne of Brit- tany. About five years later she married .John, Prince of Asturias, heir to the Spanish throne, but he died the next year. In 1501 she became the wife of Philibert, Duke of Savoy, who died three years later. In 1.507 her father made her Regent of the Netherlands. In this office she dis- played great ability, carried on the policy of cen- tralization, repressed heresy, but watched also over the material welfare of the country. She participated in the conference at Cambrai in 1508, and negotiated with Louise of Savoy the Peace of Cambrai (1529), called the Pair des Dames (Ladies' Peace). MARGARET OF FLANDERS, or. of €on- STANTi.xoi'i.E (c. 1200-79). Countess of Flanders and Hainault. She was the younger daiisrhter of Baldwin IX.. Count of Flanders and Hainault, who died without male issue, the siieccssion pass- ing to her elder sister. .leanne. Margaret mar- ried Bouchard d'Avesnes, bailiff of Hainault. in opposition to her sister's wishes, and after a number of years the marriage was annulled, ow- ing to the fact that Bouchard in early life had taken the lower orders of priesthood. Bouchard was taken prisoner by .Teanne and put to death. In 1223 ifargaret married William of Dampierre, and between the children of the two marriages bitter strife ensued for the succession to the lordship over the two counties, which Margaret hail attained in 1244, on the death of her sister. The dispute was referred to the arl)itranient of Louis IX. of France, who decided that after the death of ^largaret Hainault should go to the sons of d'Avesnes, while the children of the second marriage were to receive Flanders. Margaret's reign of thirty-five years seems to have been one of prosperity for her subjects. MARGARET OF PAR'MA (l.V22 8ti). Regent of the Netherlands. She was an illegiti- mate daughter of the Emperor Charles V., and was born and brought up in Brussels. In 1536 she married Alcssandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence, who was murdered in 1537: and in 1538 Ottavio Farnese. who became Duke of I'arma and Piacenza. She was appointed by Philip II. in 1559 to govern the Netherlands with (Jranvella (q.v.) as her chief adviser. Though well in- clined personally to the people of the Netherlands and their liberties, she yielded readily to the fanatic orders of Philip and the counsels oft Granvella. The attempt to introduce the Inquisi- tion into the country brought about the insurrec- tion of 1560, which was the beginning of the long struggle for independence in the Netherlands. In 1567 Alva (q.v.) was sent to crush out all oppo- sition with halter and sword, and Margaret re- signed her office. She was a gifted woman, mas- culine in stature and in mind, and liberal in o])inions. MARGARET OF VAXOIS, va'lwa', or of Frakc'e (1553-1015). A French princess, daugh- ter of Henry II. of France and Catharine de' Medici, and wife of Henrj- IV. She was born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. May 14, 1553, and received an excellent education. Her marriage to Henry of Navarre at Paris on August 18, 1572, was intended to be a bond of perpetual reconcilia- tion between Catholics and Huguenots, but was followed after a week by the massacre of Saint Bartholomew. With no love lost on either side, husband and wife, during Henry's forced sojourn at the French Court, lived in good-natured tolera- tion of each other's transgressions. After the tliglit of Henry of Navarre in February. 157li. she was detained for some time as a hostage, but in 1578 rejoined her husband at Pavi. in Gascony. There she remained for four years and then re- turned to Paris. Her intrigues at Court aroused the resentment of Henry III., who subjected her to repeated humiliations, imprisoned her. and finally destroyed her reputation entirely by a public investigation into her conduct (1583). From 1587 to 1605 she lived at the Chateau of Usson in Auvergne. and there wrote her Memoires, which are frank and light-hearted in tone, and evince liut an elementaiy grasp on certain moral truths. In 1599. after the death of Gabrielle d'Estrfes. the favor- ite of Henry IV.. •whom Margaret greatly de- tested, she consented to a divorce from the King, who for a number of years had been desirous of an heir. In 1006 she returned (o Paris, where she lived on the best of terms with Henry, even attendina' the coronation of her successor. ^laria de' Medici, in 1610. Her hotel in the Rue de Seine was a centre for Paris learning and fashion until her death, which occurred March 27. 1015. With her the House of Valois became e.vtinct. Her Memoires, Poesies, and Lettres were published by Guessard (Paris, 1842). Consult Saint-Poncy, Histoire de Marrjuerite de Talois (Paris, 1887).