page_title: Margaret of Anjou
section_title: Marriage, Concession of Maine, and Subsequent Rule
hierarchical_section_title: Margaret of Anjou / Early life and marriage / Marriage, Concession of Maine, and Subsequent Rule
caption_attribution_description: English: Titchfield Abbey from the front in October 2014.
context_page_description: Margaret of Anjou was the Queen of England and nominally Queen of France by marriage to King Henry VI from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. Born in the Duchy of Lorraine into the House of Valois-Anjou, Margaret was the second eldest daughter of René, King of Naples, and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.
  She was one of the principal figures in the series of dynastic civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses and at times personally led the Lancastrian faction. Some of her contemporaries such as the Duke of Suffolk praised "Her valiant courage and undaunted spirit" and Edward Hall describes her personality: "This woman excelled all other, as well in beauty and favour, as in wit and policy, and was of stomach and courage, more like to a man, than a woman."
  Owing to her husband's frequent bouts of insanity, Margaret ruled the kingdom in his place.
context_section_description: Margaret met with English envoys at Tours on 4 May 1444, to discuss the marriage. On 24 May, she was formally betrothed to Henry by proxy. Her uncle, Charles VII of France, who may have suggested the marriage as part of the peace effort, was present. The marriage was negotiated principally by William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, and the settlement included a remarkably small dowry, consisting of 20,000 francs and the unrealised claim, via Margaret's mother, to the occupied territories of Majorca and Minorca. It also contained the promise of a twenty-three-month truce with France. Opinions were mixed as to the wisdom of the marriage, but the prevailing understanding was that it represented a genuine effort at peace.
  Loans were taken out by the government in order to pay for the considerable expense of transporting Margaret to England. Solicitation for loans emphasised the role that the marriage, and Margaret herself, would play in seeking peace with France. This was a theme continued throughout the preparations for her wedding. She arrived in England on 9 April 1445, and travelled to London accompanied by various lords and courtiers. She reached London on 28 May, where she was met by the mayor and aldermen of the city. The predicted turnout for her arrival and procession was so large that on 8 May an inspection of roofs and balconies was ordered due to the expectation that spectators would use them as vantage points for her progress.
  Her ceremonial progress through the city lasted two days, the intervening night spent, by custom, in the Tower of London. It was accompanied by eight theatrical pageants. Five of these pageants concerned the peace with France, casting Margaret as a symbol of, or the agent of, peace. Three spoke of her spiritual role as a redeemer and intercessor. It is uncertain whether these pageants represented a propaganda effort on the part of the Crown or reflected popular sentiment.
  On 23 April 1445, Margaret married King Henry VI of England at Titchfield Abbey in Hampshire. She was fifteen, and he was twenty-three. She was then crowned Queen of England on 30 May 1445 at Westminster Abbey by John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury at the age of fifteen. Those that anticipated the future return of English claims to French territory believed that she already understood her duty to protect the interests of the Crown fervently. The wedding and her transport were very expensive, estimated by some historians at more than £5000.
  Shortly after her coronation, Rene of Anjou entered negotiations with the English crown, attempting to barter a lifetime's alliance and a twenty-year truce in exchange for the cession of the English-held territory of Maine to Anjou, and Henry's agreement to abandon his claim to Anjou. Ultimately, the agreement ended without an alliance with Anjou and with the loss of Maine. Rumours that the concession of Maine was part of Margaret's marriage settlement, though false, circulated, and were repeated by chroniclers. Margaret, alongside Henry, corresponded closely with Charles VIII regarding the agreement, attempting to act as a mediator.
  The loss of Maine, regarded as a betrayal, was deeply unpopular with the English public, who were already inclined to mistrust Margaret due to her French origins. Blame was cast on William de la Pole, due to his role in negotiations. The reputation of Margaret's marriage suffered as a result, although she herself was not openly blamed for the loss.
  In the early years of their marriage, prior to Henry's illness, Margaret and Henry spent significant proportions of their time together by choice. They shared an interest in education and culture. On 30 March 1448, she was granted license to found Queens' College, Cambridge. Prior to 1453, there is little evidence of public political efforts on her part. Most of her surviving letters were written during this period, and the majority pertain to acts of intercession, mediation, and intervention in matters on which she had been asked to act, such as the arranging of marriages, the return of wrongfully taken propert
caption: Titchfield Abbey in 2014
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