Margaret of Durazzo

Margaret of Durazzo (

She was the fourth daughter of Charles, Duke of Durazzo (1323–1348), and Maria of Calabria, but the only one to have children; her legitimate line of descent, as well as the century-old Capetian House of Anjou, ended with her daughter.

In February 1369, Margaret married her paternal first cousin

Queen

Charles managed to depose her maternal aunt Queen Joanna I of Naples in 1382. He succeeded her and Margaret became his queen consort. Charles succeeded James of Baux as Prince of Achaea in 1383 with Margaret still as his consort.

By then becoming the senior

In the meantime, relationships with Pope Urban VI became strained, as he suspected that Charles was plotting against him. In January 1385 he had six cardinals arrested, and one, under torture, revealed Charles' conjure. He thus excommunicated Charles and Margaret and raised an interdict over the Kingdom of Naples.

Margaret became a queen dowager and the regent of Naples as the guardian of her minor son from 1386 until 1393. In 1387 she poisoned her elder sister Joanna, Duchess of Durazzo, who might have a better claim to the throne of Naples, and her husband Robert IV of Artois, Count of Eu to death. She survived her husband by twenty-six years but never remarried. Their son Ladislaus succeeded to the throne of the Kingdom of Naples while Mary of Hungary was restored to her throne. Margaret insisted that her husband's death be revenged and Elizabeth was murdered. The heads of her defenders were sent to console Margaret.^[4][5]

Later life

In the last years of her life, the queen dowager retired first to

• Mary of Durazzo (1369–1371).
• Joanna II of Naples (23 June 1373 – 2 February 1435)
• Ladislaus of Naples (11 February 1377 – 6 August 1414)

References