Margaret of Brittany

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Duchess consort of Brittany

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|

Nantes Cathedral

Spouse| Francis II, Duke of Brittany
Issue| John, Count of Montfort
House| Dreux-Montfort
Father| Francis I, Duke of Brittany
Mother| Isabella of Scotland

Margaret of Brittany (in Breton: Marc'harid Breizh, in French: Marguerite de Bretagne) (c. 1443 – 25 September 1469) was the elder of the two daughters of Francis I, Duke of Brittany and duchess consort of Brittany.

## Early life

[edit]

Margaret was the elder of the two daughters of Francis I, Duke of Brittany (died 1450), by his second wife, Isabella of Scotland.[1]

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.

## Marriage

[edit]

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.[3] Their only child John, Count of Montfort (29 June – 25 August 1463) died in infancy.[a]

Margaret inherited The Hours of Isabella Stuart from her mother, and a depiction of Margaret kneeling before the Virgin and Child at a prayer desk, draped in fabric embroidered with the arms of Brittany, was added to the manuscript around the time of her marriage. It is now held in the collection at the FitzWilliam Museum.[4]

## Death

[edit]

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]

1. ^ 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]

1. ^ Booton 2010, p. 8.
2. ^ Booton 2010, p. 150.
3. ^ "Dukes & Duchesses of Brittany". Tudor Times. 25 October 2015. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
4. ^ "The Hours of Isabella Stuart". FitzWilliam Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-24.

## Sources

[edit]

* Booton, Diane E. (2010). Manuscripts, Market and the Transition to Print in Late Medieval Brittany. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9780754666233.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Margaret of Brittany.

Margaret of Brittany

House of Montfort

Cadet branch of the House of Dreux

Born: 1443 Died: 25 September 1469

Royal titles
Preceded by

Catherine of Luxembourg-Saint-Pol

|  Duchess consort of Brittany
1458–1469  | Succeeded by

Margaret of Foix

* v
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* e

Royal consorts of Brittany

Consorts to early monarchs|

| c. 578–907|

* Argentaela
* Marmohec
* Wembrit
* Prostlon of Brittany
* Lotitia of Brittany
* Oreguen of Rennes

|

House of Nantes|

| 938–958|

* Roscille of Anjou
* Aremburge

|

House of Rennes|

| 958–1072|

* Ermengarde-Gerberga of Anjou
* Hawise of Normandy
* Bertha of Blois

|

House of Cornouaille|

| 1072–1156|

* Constance of Normandy
* Ermengarde of Anjou
* Matilda FitzRoy

|

House of Penthièvre|

| 1156–1196|

* Margaret of Huntingdon

|

House of Dreux|

| 1221–1341|

* Blanche of Navarre
* Yolande of Dreux
* Isabella of Castile
* Joan of Savoy

|

War of the Breton Succession|

| 1341–1365|

* Joan of Flanders

|

Montfort of Brittany|

| 1365–1514|

* Mary of Waltham
* Joan Holland
* Joan of Navarre
* Joan of France
* Isabella of Scotland
* Françoise d'Amboise
* Catherine of Luxembourg-Saint-Pol
* Margaret of Brittany
* Margaret of Foix

|

House of Valois|

| 1514–1547|

* Catherine de' Medici

|

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