Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1882 — MARGARET OF ANJOU. [ARTICLE]

MARGARET OF ANJOU.

The Record of a Stormy Life. From her cradle to her grave, Margaret of Anjou—the last of our Provencal Queens —was the heroine of tempestuous misfortune and romance, and for five-and-twenty years played a conspicuous part in England’s history. During her sojourn among the English arose that deadly feud between the rival houses of York and Lancaster, which culminated in the terribly devastating “ War of the Roses.” Thus Margaret’s position as an English Queen consort was one of constant anxiety, danger and difficulty ; occasionally relieved, it is true, by a few brilliant gleams of royal splendor and sunshine—gleams that only served to bring into greater prominence her overwhelming calamities. The illustrious King Rene of Anjou, rich in titles but not in wealth, was the father of the peerless Margaret; while her mother, Isabella, was adirectdescendant of the renowned Charlemagne, and a Princess highly endowed with beauty, eloquence, energy and virtue. Princess Margaret was born 23rd of March, 1423, at Pont-a Mousson—her mother’s do werpalace, one of the grandest castles in Lorraine. When but 2 years old the baby Princess commenced her apprenticeship to sorrow and adversity ; for at this early age her father was taken captive while engaged in a struggle respecting her mother’s patrimony in Lorraine; and the anxious and distraught Isabella, while clasping Margaret to her breast, gave veut to her grief in tears and low murmurs of alarm. Margaret was twice betrothed daring her infancy, firstly to the Count St. Pol, secondly to the Count de Nevers; but both these projected alliances fell through. When a little over 14 years of age her youthful attractions were the theme of general admiration. “ The courts of France ahd Burgundy rang with her charms,” "the learned chronicler, BarantO, declared. “ There was no Princess in Christendom more accomplished than my Lady Margaret of Anjou.” T4je young bachelor King, Henry VI. of England, having heard of her peerless beauty and lofty spirit, sent a trusty emissary to the .Court of Lorraine to obtain a portrait of her. The gentleman of Anjou intrusted with the duty of presenting the picture to the English monarch described in glowing terms the many attractions of this incomparable Princess, and his report was well seconded by the painting. Both Henry’s great uncle, Cardinal Beaufort, and Margaret’s uncle, Charles VII. of France, lent their influence in supporting Henry’s choice. The Cardinal in particular was very anxious for the alliance. He had educated his royal nephew, and he saw clearly enough that Henry was lamentably deficient in energy and decision of character ; and, as Margaret possessed these requisites in a marked degree, he hoped her influence in these respects would prove beneficial for the King. At the same time he also hoped her youth and inexperience would render her a valuable instrument in promoting his own political influence and power. “The darling of the people,” Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, uncle to the young King, was opposed to this alliance with Margaret; consequently Cardinal Beaufort and the Duke were at an issue as to the choice of a consort for their royal kinsman. Henry himself, however, was deeply enamored by her pictured charms. He resolved to obtain Margaret at whatever cost; and, as King Bene demanded the cession of Maine and Anjou as the price of his daughter’s hand, Henry readily agreed to the sacrifice, only too pleased to secure this “dowerless bride whose beauty and merits were allowed to outweigh all the riches in the world.” The Duke of Suffolk, accompanied by his Duchess and a brilliant train of the nobility, was dispatched to France “to espouse the Lady Margaret of Anjou, as proxy for his sovereign.” The festivities, lasting eight days, were carried out with great magnificence. At the close of the festivities Margaret took most affectionate leave of her parents, kindred and friends; and the lively emotions called forth on her departure for England in the charge of the Duke aud Duchess of Suffolk were eloquent of the love and admiration universally felt for her. Her landing in England was heralded by a terrific storm. “The cliffs of Albion were first visible to her amid flashes of lightning, and the shores resounded with peals of thunder.” On arriving at Southampton she was seized with a dangerous illness—supposed to have been small-pox—and the anxious young King awaited her recovery with the greatest impatience. The beautiful Margaret, then in her •15th year, even suffered from poverty, both in her own home and in that of her adopted country. Miss Strickland relates: AVHer bridal wardrobe was so scantily furnished that King Henry was under the necessity of supplying her with array suitable to a Queen of England before she could appear in that character.” The impoverished state of the national treasury—censed chiefly by the disastrous wars with France and the unsettled state of the country—added to King Henry’s difficulties in raising the necessary funds to meet the expenses upon his marriage. “He was compelled to pawn nearly all his private and household plate, many of the 'eing pledged to his great uncle, Cardinal Beaufort” 22d of April, 1445, the royal ere celebrated at Tichfield great splendor, and on the following Margaret was Vestminster, when “ a held which lasted three upying the entire space i Yard and the Sanct*f Gloucester, findHenry’s marriage en useless, was >at the young sy and mendargaret was much of a srlook his > e * Her imved her eA V" ? likes fce«\Al* tno less

spirited woman would have had the tact to try and conciliate her enemies ; Margaret never succeeded in doing this, and her want of judgment in this respect greatly added to the bitterness of the struggles she had afterward to endure. If Cardinal Beaufort had not been so intent on gaining his own ends he might have striven, with some good effect, to mitigate Margaret’s dislike for Gloucester, who was heir-presumptive to the throne. The Cardinal’s influence over the voung Queen was considerable, and it is much to be regretted that he did not use it for her benefit. Two years passed, and Margaret gave no sign of becoming a mother. During this time Gloucester’s political opponents, Beaufort, Somerset and Suffolk, who was at the head of the Ministry, left no stone unturned to effect his overthrow. Through their instrumentality Duke Humphrey was arrested on a charge of high treason. Seventeen days after his arrest he was found dead in his bed. There were no marks of violence on his person, but Queen Margaret’s known dislike to him, in conjunction with the ill-concealed animosity of his opponents, led to suspicions of his having been unfairly dealt with, and a rumor soon spread that the beautiful young Queen had, in part, been the means of causing the death of the popular favorite. There was nothing in the evidence to support so serious a charge against Margaret. Soon after Gloucester’s death, Cardinal Beaufort was called to his last account, and Margaret naturally transferred her confidence to her early and trusted English friend, the Duke of Suffolk. Among her most powerful and un scrupulous foes were the Duke of York, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, and his son, Warwick, “ the King-maker.” These influential nobles, aided by their supporters, ultimately effected the downfall of Suffolk. “He was sentenced to banishment, but met his death on board a vessel, his head and severed trunk being flung on Dover sands, where his chaplain found them and gave them honorable burial.” In the very brief intervals of peace which allowed Margaret opportunities of benefiting her subjects, we find she endeavored to encourage the manufacture of silk and woolen goods; and Queen’s College, Cambridge, owes its foundation to her. From these tokens we are justified in concluding that, had her reign been less disturbed by “the fatal evil of war,” she would have effected ye* more substantial good for her people. The Duke of Somerset succeeded Suffolk as Prime Minister. This nobleman’s violent temper hastened the outbreak of hostilities between the York and Lancaster factions, and—as is so well-known—the red rose became the badge of the Lancastrians, and the white rose that of the Yorkists. Margaret henceforth forsook the pure daisy flower aud adopted the blood-red rose as her emblem. No sooner had the rival houses assumed their respective badges than the Duka of York revealed his true character of armed dictator to the throne. The high-spirited Margaret resented this conduct, and, aided by her adviser, Somerset, she urged King Henry to meet York in the field. But Henry’s peace-loving nature shrank from an appeal to arms, and for a time open warfare was avoided by York being induced to swear a solemn oath of fealty. Margaret had been married nine years ere she gave birth to the long-wished-for heir. Gloomy, indeed, were the circumstances which heralded the birth of the young Prince Edward. The English arms had met with disasters in foreign fields ; discontent, clamorously expressed, prevailed at home; and, as if to crown her misfortunes, the beautiful distraught young Queen had just lost her noble mother, aud the mind of her husband was overshadowed by a malady which deprived him of reason. Most touching is it to read the old chronicler’s account of the endeavors that were made to elicit from the afflicted monarch some sign that he really knew the babe presented to him was the son he had so fervently desired. First, the Duke of Buckingham presented the royal child to the King, but met with no response. Then Queen Margaret herself took the boy, and offered him with impassioned tenderness to his father, at the same time entreating the paternal blessing and embrace. Just for an instant Henry’s eyes rested on the babe, but not a single spark of recognition was in the abstracted glance. Unhappy Queen and mother ! With what indescribable grief must she have borne this afflicting moment! During Henry's melancholy illness, Margaret devoted herself to her beloved child, and to the amelioration of her husband’s pitiable condition. In the meantime her enemy, York, was actively at work. He contrived to depose Somerset from office, and took upon himself the protectorate of England, “till such time as the King might be able to resume the reins of, government, or the infant Prince should arrive at years of discretion. ” Margaret’s position became more and more critical. She was surrounded by enemies who, as she knew full well, were resolved on the deposition and destruction of her royal house. Calumnies, many of them of the basest character, were sown broadcast—calumnies not only reflecting on her conduct as a Queen, but on her honor as a woman. Warwick, in particular, never spared her, and it may be easily imagined that, to so spirited and impetuous a nature a Margaret’s, the shameful doubt cas upon the legitimacy of her beautifu boy aroused in her the fiercest feelings of anger and resentment. As Miss Strickland graphically shows, from this time Queen Margaret appears in a new light. The imputations cast upon her, the repeated attempts of the House of York to exclude her son from the succession, “roused her passionate maternal love and pride, and converted all the better feelings of her nature into fierce and terrific impulses, till at length the graceful attributes of mind and manners by which the Queen, the beauty and the patroness of learning had been distinguished, were forgotten in the amazon and the avenger.” With a husband wanting in resolution and firmness, and whose mind was frequently afflicted, with a princely boy, to guard whose interests the most constant and anxious vigilance were requisite, the Queen was imperatively called upon to exercise to the full all the courage, promptitude and determination she possessed. The fluctuating fortunes of those longcontinued deadly Wars of the Roses afford proof—if such be wanting—that the influence of the Queenly Margaret was something above and beyond that of an ordinary woman. Time after, time, when even a veteran commander might have reasonably concluded all was lost, Margaret rallied fresh adherents to her standard. So long as her husband lived, so long as her princely son was safe beside her, she never lost heart, nor courage, nor energy. From the terrible battle of Hexham she, in mortal terror for her son’s life, fled with him on foot through the neighboring forest, till they encountered a band of robbers who possessed themselves of her jewels. While the men were disputing over the booty, Margaret caught her son up in hei arms and sped on. She had not proceeded far when she met one of the troop alone. With her usual spirit and self-possession she stepped forward with her little son, and, presenting him to the robber, exclaimed : “Here, my friend, save the son of your King 1” The man, struck by her beauty and majesty, as well as by the boy’s interesting and helpless appearance, turned his threatened enmity

into friendliness, and he led them to a cave where he sheltered them for two days. All readers of history know how Margaret’s heroic struggles were finally overcome in the last brave effort of the Lancastrians at Tewksbury, that “fatal field ” that witnessed the death of “the gallant, springing young Plantagenet ” The despair of Queen Margaret at this overwhelming disaster was lifelong. She was brought to London with the youthful widow of her beloved son, the ill-fated Anne of Warwick, to grace the train of the victor. The same night the Queen was imprisoned in the Tower, and to the loss of her son was added that of her husband, who was murdered at the same time by Richard, Duke of Gloucester. . . ,_. After a long and weary period, in which she was conscious of nothing but an awful sense of utter desolation, the childless, widowed and dethroned Queen was ransomed by her kind old father, King Rene, at the sacrifice of his inheritance of Provence —of that Provence which had once rung with joyful acclamations at sight of the lovely Margaret and her beautiful mother. “Anjou’s lone matron ” had now drunk too deeply of the cup of sorrow and bitterness to take much interest in anything that life could offer her. The agony and fierce agitations she had undergone turned the whole mass of her blood, and every trace of her once ravishing beauty disappeared. She made the most strenuous efforts to obtain the bodies of her murdered husband and son. Even this consolation was denied her; yet up to the last day of her life she employed some faithful ecclesiastics in England to perform at their humble graves the offices deemed needful for the repose of their souls. The remainder of her life was passed in the greatest seclusion. She expired at the Chateau of Damprierre, on the 25th of August, 1480, in her 51st year.