Margaret of Denmark
Encyclopedia
Margaret of Denmark was the Queen Consort of Scotland from 1469 to 1486 as the wife of King James III of Scotland
James III of Scotland
James III was King of Scots from 1460 to 1488. James was an unpopular and ineffective monarch owing to an unwillingness to administer justice fairly, a policy of pursuing alliance with the Kingdom of England, and a disastrous relationship with nearly all his extended family.His reputation as the...

. She was the daughter of King Christian I of Denmark
Christian I of Denmark
Christian I was a Danish monarch, king of Denmark , Norway and Sweden , under the Kalmar Union. In Sweden his short tenure as monarch was preceded by regents, Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna and Erik Axelsson Tott and succeeded by regent Kettil Karlsson Vasa...

 (1448–1481), Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 (1450–1481), and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 (1457–1464), and his wife Dorothea of Brandenburg
Dorothea of Brandenburg
Dorothea of Brandenburg was the consort of Christopher of Bavaria and Christian I of Denmark. She was queen of Denmark , Norway and Sweden two times each...

. The future King James IV of Scotland
James IV of Scotland
James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...

 was her eldest son.

Life

Margaret was betrothed to James of Scotland in 1460. The marriage was arranged by recommendation of the king of France to end the feud between Denmark and Scotland about the taxation of the Hebrides islands, a conflict that raged between 1426 and 1460. In July 1469 (at age 13), at Holyrood Abbey
Holyrood Abbey
Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Reformation the Palace of Holyroodhouse was expanded...

, she married James III
James III of Scotland
James III was King of Scots from 1460 to 1488. James was an unpopular and ineffective monarch owing to an unwillingness to administer justice fairly, a policy of pursuing alliance with the Kingdom of England, and a disastrous relationship with nearly all his extended family.His reputation as the...

, King of Scots (1460–88). Her father, King Christian I of Denmark
Christian I of Denmark
Christian I was a Danish monarch, king of Denmark , Norway and Sweden , under the Kalmar Union. In Sweden his short tenure as monarch was preceded by regents, Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna and Erik Axelsson Tott and succeeded by regent Kettil Karlsson Vasa...

 and Norway, agreed to a considerable dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...

. He was in need of cash, however, so the islands of Orkney and Shetland, possessions of the Norwegian crown, were pledged as security until the dowry was to be paid.

William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness
William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness
William Sinclair , 1st Earl of Caithness , 3rd Earl of Orkney , Baron of Roslin was a Scottish nobleman and the builder of Rosslyn Chapel, in Midlothian....

, was at that time the Norse
Norsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...

 Earl of Orkney
Earl of Orkney
The Earl of Orkney was originally a Norse jarl ruling Orkney, Shetland and parts of Caithness and Sutherland. The Earls were periodically subject to the kings of Norway for the Northern Isles, and later also to the kings of Alba for those parts of their territory in mainland Scotland . The Earl's...

. In 1472 he was made to exchange his Orkney fief to Castle Ravenscraig
Ravenscraig
Ravenscraig is an area of land located in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Ravenscraig was previously inhabited by steel industry workers, as it was formerly the site of Ravenscraig steelworks...

, so the Scottish throne took the earl's rights in the islands too.

This marriage produced three children:
  • James IV
    James IV of Scotland
    James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...

     (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513)
  • James Stewart, Duke of Ross
    James Stewart, Duke of Ross
    James Stewart, Duke of Ross was the son of King James III of Scotland and Margaret of Denmark.-Titles and Offices:He was made Marquess of Ormond at his baptism...

     (March 1476 - January 1504), and
  • John Stewart, Earl of Mar (December 1479 - 1503).


Margaret became a popular queen in Scotland and was described as beautiful, gentle, and sensible A story given by her son claims that Margaret was killed by poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....

 given to her by
Ramsay, leader of one of the political factions However, as Ramsay was favoured by the royal family also after the death of the queen, this is considered doubtful and may have been slander

She died at Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by steep...

 and is buried in Cambuskenneth Abbey
Cambuskenneth Abbey
Cambuskenneth Abbey is a ruined Augustinian monastery located on an area of land enclosed by a meander of the River Forth near Stirling in Scotland. The abbey is largely reduced to its foundations. The neighbouring modern village of Cambuskenneth is named after it.Cambuskenneth Abbey was founded...

.

Legacy

Her great-great-grandson James VI of Scotland married another princess of her dynasty, Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...

. They became ancestors of all the future monarchs of England and Scotland.

She was responsible for introducing the bloodline of England's first Danish monarch King Sweyn Forkbeard into the Scottish Royal blood line, and after James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne in 1603, into the English royal bloodline as well.

Ancestry



External links

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