Marguerite of Glastir

Portrait of Queen Marguerite (3E 277)

**Marguerite** was a Breton queen who ruled the Kingdom of Glastir.

## **Biography**

Marguerite was the eldest daughter of King Eustache IX of Glastir and Queen Beatrice. In 226, Beatrice died in childbirth. On the same day, a grief-stricken King Eustache threw himself from the highest tower of Glastir Castle. Marguerite, aged fifteen, succeeded him as Queen of Glastir. The court mage, {Mage Regent}, emerged as the regent of the underaged queen after a brief (albeit bloodless) power struggle.

The young queen detested {Mage Regent}. It was he who failed to prevent her mother's death (despite two previous uncomplicated pregnancies), and it was the mage's tower from which her father fell. Marguerite's suspicions were exacerbated by the regent's conduct towards her; the queen and her younger sisters Isabelle and Adelaide were confined to their chambers. In 3E 229, rumours circulated the court that {Mage Regent} intended to marry Marguerite (some fifty years his junior) to make himself king. When such rumours claimed that the regent had attempted to force himself upon the young queen, outrage gave way to revolution. {Mage Regent} was seized by Knights of the Bull and defenestrated from the same tower as King Eustache's purported suicide.

Following this coup, Marguerite assumed full powers as queen. Her confinement and mistreatment had lasting effects. She resolved to never again all under the influence of another, exerting her independence and will at every opportunity. She found male influence especially insufferable; her companions and favourites were almost exclusively women. Marguerite's bitterest vitriol, however, was reserved for mages. She believed that {Mage Regent} was a pawn of the Mages Guild hierarchy, and in 3E 254 finally exacted her revenge by expelling the guild from her kingdom.

#### **Peace of Torlan**

Queen Marguerite notably dissented from the Peace of Torlan in 3E 298. Ever cynical, she doubted the possibility of a lasting peace in High Rock. Ever mistrustful, she suspected a conspiracy by the Mages Guild. Ever prickly, she disliked Archmagister Engelard, the architect of the Peace, who had offended Marguerite in the preceding years by *insisting* that his guild be readmitted to Glastir, and that his protégé King Elzear VII of Torlan be confirmed as the queen's heir. Ever contrary, she relished the opportunity to deviate from her fellow monarchs.

## **Summary**

The long-reigning *'Old Maid of Glastir'* was notoriously cantankerous. She remained unmarried, claiming that she could not tolerate the *'follies and fumblings of men'*, although many wondered if any suitor could tolerate her in turn. Despite a penchant for berating counsellors and humiliating courtiers, Marguerite was a formidable queen both at home and abroad. Difficult to serve, the Old Maid was even more difficult to defy.

The succession to the aged and childless queen was uncertain; Marguerite seemingly delighted in this confusion. The King of Torlan, descended from both of Marguerite's sisters, had the strongest claim, but the queen expressed distaste for her dull-witted great-nephew. Marguerite even alluded to designating her ward and lady-in-waiting, Lady Claire Minervois, as her heiress.

## **Notes**

1. ↑ Among these knights was Sir Claude Minervois, who later became Knight Commander of the Order of the Bull. He was the only known male favourite of Queen Marguerite, and the only one she met with in private. Sir Claude was the father of Lady Claire, whom the queen fostered as a royal ward after the knight's death.
2. ↑ Queen Marguerite's relationship with her chief lady-in-waiting aroused speculation. Lady Claire was raised from childhood as the queen's ward, becoming her most constant and intimate companion. She was at times rumoured to be the Old Maid's illegitimate daughter, and at other times to be her lover. None dared repeat such tattle in the queen's earshot.