Margaret of Brittany (in Breton: Marc'harid Breizh, in French: Marguerite de Bretagne) (c. 1443 – 25 September 1469) was a duchess consort of Brittany. She was the elder of the two daughters of Francis I, Duke of Brittany (died 1450), by his second wife, Isabella of Scotland.[1]
| Margaret of Brittany | |
|---|---|
 Isabella of Scotland with her daughter Margaret of Brittany behind. | |
| Duchess consort of Brittany | |
| Tenure | 26 December 1458 – 25 September 1469 |
| Born | c. 1443 |
| Died | 25 September 1469 (aged 25–26) Château de Nantes, Nantes. |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | Francis II, Duke of Brittany |
| Issue | John, Count of Montfort |
| House | Dreux-Montfort |
| Father | Francis I, Duke of Brittany |
| Mother | Isabella of Scotland |
Since the Breton War of Succession, Brittany had been understood to operate according to the semi-Salic Law: women could only inherit if the male line had died out. As expected from the provision of the Treaty of Guérande, which ended the war, neither Margaret nor her younger sister Marie were recognized as heirs to the duchy. After her father's death, her uncle Peter II of Brittany succeeded as Duke of Brittany. He was also childless, and to avoid any subsequent dispute, he arranged the marriage of Margaret to his first cousin, Francis of Étampes, the second in the order of succession and the last male left of the Breton House of Montfort; also, he arranged the marriage of the younger sister Marie to John II, Viscount of Rohan, the most powerful noble in Brittany.
On 13 or 16 November 1455, Margaret was married to Francis of Étampes,[2] at the Château de l'Hermine in Vannes. She became Duchess of Brittany upon his accession in 1458. Their only son John, Count of Montfort, died at a young age. [a]
Margaret died on 25 September 1469 at the Château de Nantes in Nantes. She was buried in the Nantes Cathedral, in the tomb constructed for her and her husband, and later his second wife, Margaret of Foix.
Notes
edit- ^ Anne of Brittany (1476/7–1514), wife successively of Charles VIII of France and Louis XII of France, was her widower's daughter by a subsequent marriage.
References
edit- ^ Booton 2010, p. 8.
- ^ Booton 2010, p. 150.
Sources
edit- Booton, Diane E. (2010). Manuscripts, Market and the Transition to Print in Late Medieval Brittany. Ashgate Publishing.
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