Margaret, Countess of Vertus

Margaret
Margaret
Countess of Vertus and Etampes
	better source needed]
Died	24 April 1466 (aged 60); Abbey at Guiche, Order of Sainte Claire near Blois
Burial	Abbey at Guiche, Order of Sainte Claire near Blois
Spouse	Richard of Brittany, Count of Étampes
Issue; among others	Francis II, Duke of Brittany; Catherine, Princess of Orange
House	Valois
Father	Louis I, Duke of Orléans
Mother	Valentina Visconti

Margaret, Countess of Vertus (French: Marguerite d'Orléans; 4 December 1406 – 1466), was a French vassal, ruling Countess of Vertus and Etampes 1420–1466. She was the daughter of Louis I, Duke of Orléans, and Valentina Visconti.

Life

She was the granddaughter and niece of King

Louis XII of France

), captured at Agincourt and imprisoned for twenty-five years in England and who during his long captivity, became the greatest poet of the 15th century in the French language.

In 1423 she married

Queen of England as wife of Henry Bolingbroke. Margaret succeeded her brother Philip as Countess of Vertus. She and Richard had seven children, of whom only two, Francis and Catherine, would have progeny. In 1458 Francis succeeded his uncle Arthur III

as Duke of Brittany.

Margaret, widowed in 1438, lived for a long time at Longchamp and in other monasteries with her younger daughters, Margaret and Madeleine (who was born after her father's death). She was described as a very pious woman.

better source needed

]

The Book of Hours of Marguerite d'Orleans, regarded as a defining example of the Illustrated Prayer Book of the Fifteenth Century, was made for her so that she might practice her devotion on a daily basis.

She obtained a declaration from the Cardinal of Estouteville that sheltered her liberty and that of her daughters as they moved among the convents and religious monasteries of northern France. She finally retired to the Abbey at Guiche, order of Sainte Claire near Blois, where she died 24 April 1466 at the age of sixty.

County of Étampes

With her father's death, Margaret inherited the rights to the

Louis XII of France

.

Issue

Marie of Brittany (22 June 1424 – 9 October 1477), Abbess of Fontevrault since 1457 until her death.
Isabelle of Brittany (2 February 1426 – 9 February 1438).
Catherine of Brittany (Nantes, 28 May 1428 – 22 June 1476), Dame de l'Epine-Gaudin; married on 19 August 1438 to William VII of Chalon-Arlay, Prince of Orange, Count of Penthièvre and Seigneur de Cerlier.
Francis II, Duke of Brittany (23 June 1433 – 9 September 1488)
Unnamed son (b. 1436 – d. 19 December 1436).
Margaret of Brittany (22 November 1437 – 1466), a nun.
Madeleine of Brittany (1 May 1439 – 29 March 1462), a nun.

Legacy

Margaret is best remembered for the Book of Hours produced for her. One of the most exquisite examples of fifteenth-century French illumination, this Book of Hours was executed in a complex series of stages, starting with the text as early as 1421, its decoration inspired by diverse sources and artists. The miniature showing Margaret praying to the Virgin served as the source for the historical lithographs of Margaret published by Delpech in 1820.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Margaret, Countess of Vertus

8.

Bonne of Bohemia

( = 9 )

References

^ "Françoise Olivier". roglo.eu. Retrieved 22 May 2019.^{[self-published source]}
^ "1452 -Exquisite French Royal Pleas for Indulgences Marguerite D'Orleans the most pious woman of the 15th Century". Berryhill & Sturgeon, Ltd. Archived from the original on 20 July 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2010.^{[self-published source]}
^ ^a ^b ^c "Seigneurs et Dames d'Etampes (1240-1793)". www.corpusetampois.com. Retrieved 22 May 2019.^{[self-published source]}

Authority control databases
International	FAST ISNI VIAF
National	France BnF data Germany United States Netherlands
Other	IdRef