Margaret, Maid of Norway

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For other Scottish queens and princesses called Margaret, see Margaret of Scotland (disambiguation).

Margaret
Margaret of Scotland

Margaret (

coronated
, her status as monarch is uncertain and has been debated by historians.

Margaret was the daughter of King

posthumous child
was stillborn, and Margaret inherited the crown.

Owing to her young age, she remained in Norway rather than going to Scotland. Her father and the Scottish leaders negotiated her marriage to

competitors for the crown of Scotland
.

Infancy

Margaret, Maid of Norway, was the only child of King

complications of childbirth.[2]

Aged fifteen and possessing little royal authority, King Eric did not have much say about his daughter's future. The infant Margaret was instead in the custody of the leading Norwegian magnate,

Bishop of Bergen. Margaret's upbringing in the city of Bergen shows that her future marriage was expected to be important to the kingdom's foreign policy.[1]

The 1281 treaty arranging the marriage of Eric of Norway and Margaret of Scotland specified that the Scottish princess and her children would succeed to the throne of Scotland if King Alexander died leaving no legitimate sons and if no legitimate son of King Alexander left legitimate children.[2] It also stated that the couple's daughters could inherit the Norwegian throne "if it is the custom". The Scottish party seems to have been deceived because the succession law of Norway, codified in 1280, provided only for succession by males, meaning that the Maid could not have succeeded to her father's kingdom.[3][nb 1]

Heir presumptive

posthumous child was born to his son.[4] By April it had presumably become clear that the young Alexander's widow was not expecting a child and that Margaret was the heir presumptive.[5]

Alexander III's wife, another Margaret, sister of King Edward I of England, had died in 1275, and the oath he exacted strongly implied that he now intended to remarry.[4] When Edward expressed his condolence to Alexander III that month for the death of his son, the latter responded that "much good may come to pass yet through your kinswoman, the daughter of your niece ... who is now our heir", suggesting that the two kings may have already been discussing a suitable marriage for Margaret. Alexander and his magnates may have hoped for an English match.[6]

King Alexander took a new wife,

broken neck the next day.[6]

Lady and queen

Following the unexpected death of King Alexander, Scottish magnates gathered to discuss the future of the kingdom. They swore to preserve the throne for the right heir and chose six

guardians of Scotland, to govern the country. Although the succession had been laid out by the time King Alexander III died, Margaret's accession was not yet assured: her stepgrandmother, Queen Yolanda, was pregnant and the child was expected to succeed to the throne.[7]

There was a dispute in parliament in April involving

Robert Bruce, 5th Lord of Annandale, and John Balliol, Lord of Galloway. Bruce may have opposed the Maid's succession,[8] or the two men may have both claimed to be next in line to the throne after Yolanda's child and Margaret.[9]

Queen Yolanda delivered a stillborn child in November,[8] and within a few months King Eric's most prominent councillor, Bjarne Erlingsson [no], arrived in Scotland to claim the kingdom for Margaret.[10] Bruce raised a rebellion with his son, Robert, Earl of Carrick, but was defeated in early 1287.[11] The precariousness of the situation made King Eric reluctant to see his three-year-old daughter leave Norway for Scotland.[12]

Marriage negotiations

The Great Seal of Scotland used by the government of the realm after the death of King Alexander III

In May 1289, Eric II sent envoys to Edward I as part of the kings' unfolding discussion about the future of Margaret, whom they called "lady and queen". As Margaret was still with her father, the Scots could only observe the negotiations between the two kings.[11]

Eric was indebted to Edward, and Edward was determined to make the most of the situation. The guardians, accompanied by Bruce, finally met with English and Norwegian envoys at

Treaty of Salisbury was drawn up on 6 November 1289, stating that Eric and Margaret, "queen and heir of the kingdom", asked Edward to intervene on behalf of his grandniece so "that she could ordain and enjoy therein as other kings do in their kingdoms".[13]

Margaret was to be sent, by 1 November 1290, to England directly or via Scotland. Once the Scots could assure Edward that Scotland was peaceful and safe, he would send her to them. Edward was allowed to choose her husband, though her father retained the right to veto the choice. At Edward's request, a

Edward of Caernarfon, was issued on 16 November 1289.[14]

The guardians and other prelates and magnates wrote that they were firmly in favour of the English match for "the lady Margaret queen of Scotland, our lady". It was strongly implied that Margaret's husband would be king, and Edward insisted on referring to Margaret as queen in order to speed up the accession of his own son, although the Scots themselves normally described her only as their lady.[15]

Negotiations about Margaret's marriage,

inaugurated as monarch at Scone.[18]

Fatal journey

By late August 1290, Margaret was preparing to sail from Bergen to the island of Great Britain or was already at sea. The ship was her father's but he did not accompany her;[19] the most prominent men in her entourage were Bishop Narve and Baron Tore Håkonsson.[20] She presumably embarked in good health but became ill during her journey. The ship landed in Orkney, a Norwegian archipelago off the coast of Scotland, on about 23 September.[21]

Having suffered on Orkney for up to a week from either

food poisoning or, less likely, motion sickness, Margaret died between 26 and 29 September 1290[21] in the arms of Bishop Narve.[20] The Scottish magnates, who had assembled at Scone for the child queen's inauguration, learned about her death in October.[22] Her body was returned to Bergen, where King Eric insisted on having the coffin opened to confirm his daughter's identity. He then had it buried in the north wall of the chancel of Christ Church, now destroyed.[23]

Legacy

Margaret was the last legitimate scion of the line of King

Thirteen men laid claim to succession, most notably Bruce and Balliol.[24] King Eric half-heartedly claimed the Scottish crown as well, and died in 1299.[25] In 1301 she was impersonated by a German woman, False Margaret, who was burned at the stake.[26]

Historians debate whether Margaret should be considered a queen and included in the

episcopal election of Matthew de Crambeth.[17] In modern historiography she is nearly unanimously called "queen", and reference books give 19 March 1286, the date of Alexander III's death, as the start of her reign.[27]

Family tree

Margaret's family ties resulted from the marital diplomacy that sought to ensure peace among the three kingdoms on the North Sea – Norway, Scotland, and England,[1] and placed her at the centre of the Scottish succession intrigues.[28]

Margaret's relationship to the kings of Scotland, Norway, and England[28][1]
Henry of Scotland
William I of Scotland
David of Scotland
Henry III of EnglandAlexander II of ScotlandMargaret of HuntingdonIsobel of Huntingdon
Edward I of EnglandMargaret of EnglandAlexander III of ScotlandYolanda of DreuxDervorguilla of GallowayRobert Bruce
Margaret of Flanders
John Balliol
Edward II of EnglandMargaret, Maid of Norway

Notes

  1. Magnus VII.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Oram 2002, p. 107.
  2. ^ a b Duncan 2002, p. 166.
  3. ^ a b c Duncan 2002, p. 169.
  4. ^ a b Duncan 2002, p. 170.
  5. ^ Duncan 2002, p. 211.
  6. ^ a b Duncan 2002, p. 171.
  7. ^ Duncan 2002, p. 175.
  8. ^ a b Duncan 2002, p. 178.
  9. ^ Reid 1982, p. 76.
  10. ^ Helle 1990, p. 149.
  11. ^ a b Duncan 2002, p. 179.
  12. ^ Prestwich 1988, p. 360.
  13. ^ Duncan 2002, p. 180.
  14. ^ Duncan 2002, p. 182.
  15. ^ Duncan 2002, pp. 181–183.
  16. ^ Prestwich 1988, p. 361.
  17. ^ a b Reid 1982, p. 79.
  18. ^ Barrow 1990, p. 135.
  19. ^ Duncan 2002, p. 194.
  20. ^ a b Helle 1990, p. 151.
  21. ^ a b c Duncan 2002, p. 195.
  22. ^ Barrow 1965, p. 39.
  23. ^ Helle 1990, p. 156.
  24. ^ Prestwich 1988, p. 382.
  25. ^ Helle 1990, p. 152.
  26. ^ Helle 1990, p. 155.
  27. ^ a b Duncan 2002, p. 181.
  28. ^ a b Oram 2002, p. 168, 171, 347.

Bibliography

  • Barrow, Geoffrey Wallis Steuart
    (1965). Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. University of California Press.
  • Barrow, Geoffrey Wallis Steuart (1990). "A Kingdom in Crisis: Scotland and the Maid of Norway". The Scottish Historical Review. 69: 120–141.
  • ISBN 0748616268
    .
  • Helle, Knut (1990). "Norwegian Foreign Policy and the Maid of Norway". The Scottish Historical Review. 69: 142–156.
  • ISBN 0752423258
    .
  • ISBN 0520062663
    .
  • Reid, Norman (1982). "Margaret, 'Maid of Norway' and Scottish Queenship" (PDF). Reading Medieval Studies. 8: 75–96. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 September 2022.

External links

  • Margaret at the official website of the
    British monarchy
Margaret, Maid of Norway
Born: 9 April 1283 Died: 26 September 1290
Regnal titles
Vacant
Title last held by
Alexander III 		— DISPUTED —
Queen of Scotland

1286–1290 		Vacant
Title next held by
John
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