Margaret of Anjou (french: Marguerite d'Anjou) is one of the most controversial figures the History of England has seen. Often known as "She-Wolf", this french Queen of England has been unfairly portrayed as an evil, heartless woman throughout the centuries after her death. But that is not the truth.
Born March 23rd 1430, in Lorraine, Margaret of Anjou's parents were René, Count of Anjou, Duke of Bar, Duke of Lorraine and King of Naples & Sicily and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine. Her father was the son of the famous Yolande de Aragon and her husband, Louis II of Anjou. Her mother was the daughter of Margaret of the Palatinate and Charles II, duke of Lorraine. Margaret also had seven siblings, being the second oldest daughter born into the House of Valois- Anjou.
Raised in Capua in her early childhood, a region close to Naples, which was part of the kingdom of Sicily, Margaret's mother had an important role in her daughter's education: the Duchess of Lorraine certified she would be well instructed and hired Antonio de La Sale to educate her. As Margaret grew, the habits she kept throughout her life were hunting and reading. She was also known by her kindness: even in the worst days of war, "(...) her career in England, whose rights and whose fortunes she was ready to sell to anyone who would help her cause (...)".
At the age of 13, she was betrothed to the King of England, Henry VI; one year later, she married him by proxy with the consent of the King of France, her uncle, Charles VII. In 1445, in Hampshire, after having crossed the channel, Margaret of Anjou was finally married to King Henry VI.
The nature of their relationship is often discussed due to the extreme religiousness nature of Henry, but it is stated and believed they were devoted to each other and had a very happy relationship.
But the marriage of an English King, whose father was the lion who destroyed France and returned lands who King John had lost, to a French princess was not seen with good eyes... because these same lands (such as Anjou and Maine, for example) were returned to the hands of the French. The faction leaded by the Earl of Suffolk, William Pole, was very unpopular, especially with Margaret favouring him and the Duke of Somerset. Her enmity with the Duke of York and the Duke of Gloucester did not favour her popularity at the eyes of the English people.
Said to have been inspired by her mother, who fought hardly for the claim of Count René to the Kingdom of Naples and Jerusalem, and her grandmother, a woman who ruled Anjou bravely and defied Isabeau of Bavaria and Charles VI of France when she educated future Charles VII herself; Margaret, even at the age of 15, was seen as the strong willed woman she'd grow to be, one who knew how to protect the interests of the crown, adopting the kingdom she moved permanently. With the time, and with her husband proving to be unfit to rule, she'd govern England herself.
These enmities with the Duke of York would make the conflicts and endless deals that'd go to nowhere bring another civil war to England. Known as the Wars of the Roses or the Cousins's Wars due to the opposition of two Houses of the dynasty of Plantagenet fighting for the crown of England, Margaret and Henry, representing the House of Lancaster, would fight Richard Plantagenet, who was representing the House of York. In fact, it was this latter who, after a period of regency which he served the then young Henry VI, would claim to be the rightful king than his cousin's on the throne.
However, from the moment the battles divided the kingdom in supporters of Henry VI and Richard of York, Margaret's image would be damaged forever. By leading her army and defending herself the interests of her new kingdom, she would actually prove to be the woman every man at that time feared: an independent of the female sex, who would cry out that she could do as much as any other man. In those days, men expected their wives to look submissive and quiet. And the Queen was always the role model to behaviours the men wanted them to achieve. Socially speaking, this was more than mere politics talk: Margaret, as Matilda once was, was not well acceptable because she did not bow her head. She fought for her family, her title and, mostly important, to the kingdom her son would inherite.
Edward of Westminster was born on October 13th 1453. Before his birth, the Duke of York wanted to force the King to acknowledge his own sons to inherit the crown after his death, something Margaret refused to obey. In Greenwich, Margaret would raise Edward herself and also be the patron of the university she inaugurated: the Queen's College, proving she shared the passion for studies with her husband, the King.
In the meantime some social developments are made, as mentioned before with the opening of Queen's College, battles are happening. We have the Battle of Wakefield, a very important Lancastrian victory after the defeat in Northampton; the Second Battle of St. Albans, given another good victory to the King and Queen, though they were forced back then to flee straight to Scotland and then to France.
In exile, Margaret went to Wales, Scotland and France more than accountable times. There, she managed to gain support from King James III of Scotland and King Louis XI of France, having both at the side of the Lancastrians. But, by the second time she is forced to flee away, she stays with her son in Lorraine, waiting for an opportunity to regain her throne.
Many seem to forget that, like Henry IV was before his time, Edward IV was an usurper too. Although a man of peace as he'd prove by the second (and last) time he held his throne, Edward was the main character who helped to destroy any good image Margaret could have had. If nowadays, her reputation was recently blackened by fictional novels such as it was in "The White Queen", in the centuries before ours, she is not understood as a woman who did anything for her kingdom, husband and son: but a foreigner queen who wished to cast England into a bloody civil war, for revenge, creating, thus, an image she never fit in.
In popular culture, Margaret was the main inspiration, along Elizabeth Woodville, to the manipulative, selfish and heartless, but very motherly, Cersei Lannister in the tv show "Game of Thrones". But will there ever be a tv show or a novel that'll portray Margaret as the woman she was?
However was the case, our Queen Margaret, who was arrested for five long years in England, was finally sent back to France after the request of King Louis XI. There, she died in poverty, a widow and motherless, for she lost her only son and her beloved husband to the Yorkists she tried to battle against.
Sources: http://www.britannia.com/bios/manjou.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_of_Anjou
http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/margaretanjou.htm
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário