Margaret of Anjou

Also known as: Quéene Margaret / queene Margaret / quéene Margaret · Family: Anjou · Role: queen of England · First appears: Henry VI 34

Margaret of Anjou, daughter of René of Anjou, married Henry VI at Southwike in 1444 and was crowned queen of England at Westminster soon afterward. Anjou, Mans, and Maine were delivered in connection with the marriage. In 1458, after a public procession celebrating an agreement, she ordered Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick arrested following an attack by royal servants, and later appointed James Touchet, Lord Audley to raise an army against Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury. She also employed Thomas Cooke, who later secured his release from imprisonment after paying her eight hundred pounds, and Elizabeth Woodville had been in her service before marrying John Grey.

In 1460, after her goods were taken in Lancashire, Margaret fled to Scotland. With support from Louis XI, she obtained French soldiers and later ships, men, and money; her forces were attacked at Holy Island by Ogle and John Manners, while she captured Banburgh and made Ralph Grey its captain. After hearing of Henry VI’s captivity, she left Scotland for France. Through Louis XI, she formed an alliance with Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, and John de Vere, Earl of Oxford; Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick was bound by oath to remain loyal to her and her son Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers was her brother.

In 1471 Margaret returned to England with Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, Anne Beauchamp, Countess of Warwick, John Wenlock, Baron Wenlock, and others, landing at Weimouth, where Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset (the younger) and Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon welcomed her. At Ceerne she consented to the battle plan urged by her supporters, but at Teukesburie Edward IV defeated her faction. Margaret was captured and brought to London as a prisoner, “and so kept”; she was later sent home “with as much miserie and sorrow as she was receiued with pompe and triumph”.