Margaret, Countess of Tyrol

Margaret, nicknamedMaultasch(1318 – 3 October 1369), was the lastCountess of Tyrolfrom theHouse of Gorizia(Meinhardiner), and an unsuccessful claimant to theDuchy of Carinthia. Upon her death, Tyrol became united with theAustrianhereditary lands of theHabsburgdynasty.
Margaret was the only surviving daughter of DukeHenry of Carinthia, alsolandgrave of Carniola, Count of Tyrol and formerKing of Bohemia, with his second wife Adelaide, a daughter of theWelfdukeHenry I of Brunswick. As her father's three marriages had produced no male heirs, he reached an agreement with theWittelsbachemperorLouis IVin 1330 that enabled Margaret to succeed him in hisCarinthianandTyroleanestates, whileCarniolawould be handed over to the Habsburgs.
In the ongoing struggle between the rivalling Habsburg, Wittelsbach andLuxembourgdynasties, Emperor Louis had assured his position by defeating his Habsburg rivalFrederick the Fairat the 1322Battle of Mühldorf– a fact that prompted his former Luxembourg ally KingJohn of Bohemiato explore possibilities to increase his own power base. He approached Henry of Carinthia, his former brother-in-law whom he had defeated in the struggle for the Bohemian throne in 1310, and arranged the engagement of his younger sonJohn Henry, brother of the future EmperorCharles IV, to Henry's heiress Margaret in 1327.
John Henry was sent to Tyrol and in 1330, upon approval by Emperor Louis, he and Margaret celebrated their wedding inInnsbruckat the age of eight and twelve, respectively. According to contemporary sources, the children disliked each other from the beginning.
By the marriage, King John secured access to theAlpinemountain passes toItaly, which in turn drove the Wittelsbach emperor to break the arrangements he had made with Margaret's father. When Henry of Carinthia died in 1335, Louis thus gave Carinthia to the Habsburg dukeAlbert II of Austria, who had raised inheritance claims as the eldest son of KingAlbert I of GermanyandElisabeth of Gorizia-Tyrol, Margaret's paternal aunt. Tyrol, in turn, would be taken by the Wittelsbachs themselves, thus squeezing out Margaret and her Bohemian (Luxembourg) husband entirely. Nevertheless, when the Tyrolean lands were claimed by the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty, she cleverly played on her affiliation with the rivalling Luxembourgs. She sent for her husband's capable brotherCharleswho, backed by local nobles, at least enforced Margaret's succession as Countess of Tyrol.
However, the situation again worsened when young John Henry turned out to be a haughty, incompetent co-ruler and philanderer disrespected by the Tyrolean aristocracy. His brother Charles temporarily acted as a regent; however, his mediation efforts were rejected and in 1336/37 he left Tyrol to join his father on aPrussian Crusade. When on the evening of 1 November 1341 John Henry came home from hunting, Margaret refused her husband admittance to theirTirol Castleresidence. Furious, John Henry moved around the country, but found no shelter in any noble residence. He finally was forced to leave the Tyrolean lands and was received as a refugee by theAquileiapatriarchBertram of St. Genesius.
Margaret again played the rivalling dynasties off against each other and escaped the revenge of the deprived Luxembourgs by turning to the House of Wittelsbach: in the presence of Emperor Louis IV, she married his eldest son MargraveLouis I of Brandenburgon 10 February 1342 inMeran. The fact that she entered the marriage without being granted a divorce from John Henry caused a veritable scandal on the European stage and earned the couple theexcommunicationbyPope Clement VI. Margrave Louis succeeded in gaining the support of the Tyrolean nobles and took it upon himself to declare Margaret's marriage to John Henrynull and void. The scholarsWilliam of OckhamandMarsilius of Paduadefended this "firstcivil marriage" of theMiddle Ages, claiming that John Henry had neverconsummatedhis matrimony.
Margaret's former brother-in-law Charles IV, elected Germananti-kingin opposition to Emperor Louis in 1346, campaigned in Tyrol the next year and laid siege to Tirol Castle; however, he had to pull out without success, though not without burning down the cities ofBozenandMeranout of revenge. After the emperor's death in October, Charles was able to consolidate Luxembourg rule and abandoned his hostile attitude. He gave in and dissolved the marriage of his brother with Margaret according tocanon law, to obtain papal agreement for John Henry's remarriage toMargaret of Opava, daughter of thePřemysliddukeNicholas IIin 1349.
The countess forged a new alliance by the marriage of her son by Louis,Meinhard III, to Margaret of Habsburg, the youngest daughter of the Austrian duke Albert II. With the assistance of the Habsburgs, the countess and her second husband were finallyabsolvedfrom excommunication byPope Innocent VIin 1359.
After the sudden death of her husband Louis in 1361, her son Meinhard III succeeded his father as Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count of Tyrol. However, Meinhard died less than two years later without heirs and just under a month away from the age of twenty-one. His death precipitated an invasion by his Wittelsbach uncle DukeStephen II of Bavaria-Landshut. Stephen, allied withBernabò Visconti, re-united Landshut with Meinhard's Upper Bavarian lands and also claimed Tyrol. Again facing the threat of losing her patrimony, Margaret was finally induced to contract the County of Tyrol over to her late son's brother-in-law, the Habsburg duke (andself-proclaimed"Archduke")Rudolf IV of Austria, who eventually united it with the Austriandominions. The conflict over Tyrol was settled by the 1369 Peace ofSchärdingbetween Rudolf's brother and successor DukeAlbert III of Austriaand Duke Stephen II of Bavaria, the financial compensation for which was exigent upon Margaret's death.
Margaret died in exile inViennain 1369 and is buried at theMinoritenkirche.
Margaret'sfeudalheir would have been her eldercousin'sson,Frederick III of Aragon, ruler of the island ofSicily, the only descendant ofOtto III of Carinthia, the penultimate ruler from the Gorizia-Tyrol dynasty. After hisline, the succession would have gone in 1401 toJoanna of Aragon, Countess of Foix, and in 1407 toYolande of Aragon,Queen of Naples(both daughters ofJohn I,King of Aragon). Only in 1740 would that descent converge with the actual holders of the Tyrol, whenMaria Theresa, wife of the Aragonian heirFrancis III, Duke of Lorraine, succeeded in Tyrol as well.
In the fierce dispute over her divorce and remarriage, Margaret received the nicknameMaultasch(literally "bag mouth", cf.Maultasche, meaning "whore" or "vicious woman") in contemporary ecclesiastical propaganda. The epithet is first documented in a 1366 sequel of theSächsische Weltchronik(Saxon World Chronicle); she was also calledMedusaby the Florence chroniclerFilippo Villaniand is further known by a variety of nicknames, includingKriemhild,Medusa,Mouthpoke,Pocket-mouth,Satchel-mouth,the Big Mouth,the Mouth Bag,the Pocket-Mouthed,the She-Wolf of the Tyrol,the Ugly Duchess, andWith the Pouch Mouth.
Contemporaries such as the chroniclerJohn of Winterthurcalled her exceptionally beautiful; however, with the lack of contemporary portraits, the nicknameMaultaschled to the widespread notion of a woman with deformed features.Quentin Matsys's 1513 portraitThe Ugly Duchess(which was thought to have been made after a sanguine byLeonardo da Vinci, but it is more likely that the latter is a copy after Matsys'[1]) may refer to Margaret, and it was SirJohn Tenniel's model for the "Duchess" in his illustrations ofLewis Carroll'sAlice's Adventures in Wonderland. In 1816Jacob Grimmcollected the "Legends of Margarete" in his bookGerman sagasandLion Feuchtwangerused her story in his 1923 novelThe Ugly Duchess. The tale of Margaret's unsuccessful siege of CarinthianHochosterwitz Castleand its shrewd garrison was popularized by the psychologistPaul Watzlawick.