Tetzel, who visited England a year later, described Margaret’s attendance at the elaborate ceremonial which followed the Queen’s churching after the birth of Elizabeth of York.71 There were, he claimed, eight duchesses and thirty countesses present, and they stood in silence as the Queen was seated in her ‘costly golden chair’. The Queen was attended by her mother and by the ‘King’s sister’, presumably Margaret, since both Anne and Elizabeth would have been accorded their titles. Margaret and the Lady Jacquetta stood some distance away from the Queen. When she addressed them they knelt before her, and were only seated when the Queen had been served with her first dish. Then all three ladies dined in state attended by other noble ladies, who knelt in silence as long as the Queen was eating. The meal lasted for three hours. Silence was an important part of the strict court etiquette and protocol.
After the banquet came the entertainment with music from the King’s choristers followed by dancing. Margaret danced a stately measure with two Dukes, probably her brothers, during which she made constant ‘courtly reverences’ towards the Queen. Deep curtsies were a part of the fashionable promenading dances, and they were usually directed towards the highest-ranking person present. From this description it is clear that Margaret was very visibly under the direct patronage of the Queen, and was completing her courtly education. She was also for the first time open to foreign influences. Edward laid considerable emphasis on his wife’s continental connections. Her uncle Jacques de St Pol, Count of Richebourg, had attended the Queen’s coronation with a retinue of one-hundred knights. Jacquetta had maintained her French and Burgundian contacts and among her books were several manuscripts of continental provenance including Christine de Pisan’s spirited defence of women, Book of the City of Ladies.72
After the modest lodgings in the Royal Wardrobe and the quiet Palace of Greenwich, Margaret, now a young woman of twenty-one, must have found life at court interesting and exciting. She surely learned much from the new Queen who set the highest standards both in courtly etiquette and in the management of her household. Queen Elizabeth’s household was administered with much greater efficiency and economy than that of her predecessor, Margaret of Anjou.73 Later, when she became the Duchess of Burgundy, Margaret was also to show a keen interest in household management and retained as her own chamberlain Europe’s foremost expert on noble households and etiquette, Olivier de La Marche.
It was, however, above all in the question of her marriage, that Elizabeth played a crucial role in her sister-in-law’s life. The new Queen was a much more able and energetic exponent of the marriage game than her husband. She was extremely successful in promoting marriages within her own family and seems to have taken a similar interest in the marriage of the King’s sister. There had indeed been a few proposals for Margaret’s hand before 1465.74 In 1462 the French reported that a marriage alliance was being negotiated between Margaret and King James III of Scotland, but nothing more was heard of this. Two years later, when King Edward was considering his own marriage to Isabella of Spain, the sister and heiress of the King of Castile, there was a suggestion that Margaret might marry a Spanish or Burgundian prince, but once again nothing came of it. After 1465, however, some more substantial proposals appeared.
The first real candidate for Margaret’s hand was Don Pedro of Aragon, and the match was urged forward by the Duchess Isabelle of Burgundy, who was Don Pedro’s aunt.75 Isabelle encouraged her nephew, a contender for the throne of Aragon and a claimant of Catalonia, to propose marriage to Margaret, and so obtain the support of England against his enemies, the Kings of Aragon and of France. Negotiations between Don Pedro and Edward IV were underway by late 1465, and there was a very positive response from the English court to this proposal. In the following January, Edward despatched his own envoys to Don Pedro’s court at Barcelona and two months later Don Pedro sent his secretary a detailed description of the betrothal ring which was to be presented to Margaret on his behalf. It was to be a very fine diamond set in gold costing £200, a high price indeed.76 It seemed that at last Margaret’s marriage was to become a reality, although Don Pedro’s prospects were not very promising. But the betrothal came to an abrupt end with his sudden death in June 1466. Don Pedro’s demise was, for Margaret at least, well timed, since late in 1465 another and much more interesting candidate had appeared on the scene. And thus it was that instead of becoming the wife of a pretender in Spain, Margaret was to become the greatest Duchess in western Europe, the Duchess of Burgundy.
CHAPTER 3
The Duchess of Burgundy
‘ONE OF THE GREATEST LADIES IN THE WORLD.’
Duchess of Burgundy and of Lotharingia, of Brabant, Limbourg, Luxembourg and Guelders, Countess of Flanders and of Artois, of Burgundy, of Hainault, Holland, Zeeland, Namur and Zutphen, Marchioness of the Holy Roman Empire, Lady of Friesland and of Salins and Malines etc. The list of Margaret’s new titles was a long one.1 These honours represented one of the most extensive and valuable collections of territory in medieval Europe. Not as large as the Empire, nor as consolidated as the kingdoms of England and France, yet the Valois Duchy of Burgundy rivalled and frequently outshone the power and influence of its neighbours. Philip the Good had died one of the greatest princes of his era, and certainly the richest. His personal treasure amounted to 400,000 crowns, a huge amount.2 In size, the Burgundian lands were equivalent to Portugal or England and Wales, but they accommodated a much more diverse collection of peoples, resources and industries. The languages of the duchies ranged from French to German, and the ducal government was conducted in French, Dutch and German. The population was not large when compared with France or England, there were only about two and a half million people in the northern lands between Friesland and Picardy, but the density of population in Flanders and Brabant was the greatest in northern Europe.3
Although Burgundy was the creation of a series of historical chances, and was really only secure when its neighbours were disunited and weak, there were some strong elements of cohesion within the Valois duchy. The Duke’s possessions snaked across the most important trade routes of Europe, from the Zuider Zee to Lake Geneva, a distance of 500 miles. Although the whole of the Rhine-Maas routes were never completely controlled by the Dukes, Burgundian merchants and their associates dominated all its trade from the wines, spices and olives of the south to the wool, fish and furs of the north. The waterways connecting Basle and Strasbourg with Bruges and Antwerp spawned a collection of vigorous and enterprising cities, and it was the same along the overland route from Bruges through Ghent and Brussels, to Cologne and from Dijon and Nancy through Luxembourg to Liège. These trading cities were also famous for their fine craftsmanship and manufactures. The large and beautiful town halls of Bruges, Brussels, Ghent and Louvain, all built or extended within the Burgundian period, still bear witness to the wealth and vigour of these cities under Valois rule.
With almost a third of their population in the towns, the Burgundian Dukes ruled over the largest urban population in Europe. The urbanisation of the Low Countries was only surpassed by some of the Italian cities, but none of these were united within such a large and powerful state. The Burgundian cities often found themselves at odds with their Dukes and defended their independent rights jealously and fiercely. The citizens of Ghent and Bruges complained that they were expected to provide an unlimited resource of men and money to foster ducal ambitions abroad. The Dukes retorted that these cities existed primarily to satisfy the needs of their lord, and that all the ducal policies were designed to preserve the prosperity of the whole of their estates.
Of all the ducal cities, Bruges was unique as the commercial and financial centre of northern Europe. Coming from London to Bruges in the summer of 1468 Margaret must have been immediately struck by the international nature of the ducal city. The lavish and ostentatious merchant participation in her marriage procession brought the new Duchess face to face with the importance of trade and commerce in Burgundy. It was a lesson that would not be
lost on the daughter of Richard of York and the sister of Edward IV, who had both appreciated the value of a thriving merchant community. Her disembarkation at Sluis would also have made her aware of the great difference between London and Bruges, as far as shipping was concerned. From her mother’s house at Baynard’s Castle, Margaret would have seen the largest galleys coming and going from their quays. London was directly accessible to trading ships of all sizes. It was only delays caused by tides and currents, and a wish to reduce the time spent on board, that induced passengers like Margaret to embark at Margate rather than London Bridge. On the other hand, Bruges was totally inaccessible to the larger seagoing ships and even Damme, the foreport of Bruges, had failed to keep a deep enough channel open. As a result, Sluis, Veer, Vlissingen, Middelburg and Antwerp were becoming the main ports in the busy Walcheren roads, where shipping arrived from the Baltic, the British Isles, Spain, Portugal and the Mediterranean. The great rivers, the Rhine, Scheldt, Maas and Lys, brought in cargoes from the vast hinterlands of northern Europe to be unloaded and reshipped.
Bruges was no longer the centre of this shipping, but it remained the headquarters of all the merchant traders and the centre of financial exchange. Because of its sovereign position in European trade, all kinds of foreign delicacies were readily available in Bruges so the banquets of the Burgundian court were famous for their lavish and various provisions. Margaret and Charles were both personally abstemious and, unlike her brother Edward, Margaret was never noted for any excesses in food and drink. But she must have been interested by the variety of exotic foods which were now regularly available to her. Pomegranates, oranges, dates, figs, raisins, olives, sugar and spices would have become familiar items at her table. Moreover there were other desirable luxuries on offer in Bruges: silks, velvets, damasks and embroideries, gilded retables, reliquaries of the finest crystal, silver and gold vessels and crosses for her chapel and the most magnificent tapestries and wall-hangings for her chambers. Above all other luxuries, the Duchess found a lasting delight in the magnificent books which were available from the master craftsmen of Bruges, Ghent and Brussels and she became an ardent and discerning collector.4
Bruges was not, however, the capital of the court and government in the same way that London was. Indeed the ducal palace was almost dwarfed by the great civic buildings such as the town hall and the market hall. Margaret would have soon learned that the government was much more widely dispersed across the duchy than was the case in England. As a female member of the English court, Margaret had passed most of her time in a small area between Greenwich, London, Westminster, Windsor and Sheen. As Duchess of Burgundy she would be expected to travel much greater distances, to make regular progresses through Flanders, Brabant, Hainault and Artois, and even to venture north over the great rivers into Holland and Zeeland. The ducal palaces at Brussels, Ghent and Hesdin were all larger than that at Bruges, and in size and opulence they rivalled the royal residences of the Kings of England.
The Duchess was expected to play an active role in the Burgundian court and government, not merely as the focus of the ducal household but also as the Duke’s representative. Traditionally Burgundian Duchesses had complemented and assisted the work of their husbands.5 All Margaret’s predecessors had cooperated in the growth and development of the duchy. The county of Flanders with its various appanages had come to the first Valois Duke, Philip the Bold, through his marriage to the heiress Margaret of Flanders. The first Duchess had continued to govern and administer her provinces, frequently staying in the north while her husband was at Dijon or Paris. The second Duchess, Margaret of Bavaria, maintained the duchy in the crisis caused by the murder of her husband, John the Fearless, and Charles’ own mother the third Duchess, Isabelle of Portugal, had worked closely with Chancellor Rolin in the administration of the duchy. Isabelle had acted as Regent and also played an important diplomatic role heading the Burgundian delegation at the conference of Gravelines in 1438 and at Utrecht in 1453.6 She had never hesitated in putting forward her own policies, urging a Yorkist marriage for her son in spite of her husband’s opposition, and encouraging the Duke to undertake a crusade against the Moors, a proposition dear to her Portuguese heart.
Since no ruler was more industrious than Duke Charles, Margaret was also expected to be incessantly active, and there are no signs of the temporary bursts of indolence which were such a characteristic of her brother Edward. Her function in the government of Burgundy was not as clear as Isabelle’s had been, due probably to the fact that Charles, unlike his father, avoided the company of women and had little appreciation of their usefulness.7 During the first three years of her married life, Margaret’s role in the government of Burgundy appears to have been negligible, but by 1472 she was actively concerned with affairs of state. In the early years she had to familiarise herself with the Burgundian system of government as well as earn the trust of the Duke and his officials. Also, she was expected to concentrate on her first duty and on her primary function, in which she was to be totally unsuccessful.
Charles had recommended Margaret to his subjects as ‘bien taillée pour avoir generation de prince du pays’, (well built for the production of an heir).8 During the first few years of her marriage, Margaret doubtless expected to become pregnant. No contemporary comments, not even from the gossipy Milanese ambassadors, have survived on the question of Margaret’s sterility, though it must have been a source of speculation. Perhaps the tales about her earlier unchastely behaviour and the rumours of Charles’ homosexuality are remnants of the gossip which must have circulated around the courts of Europe as Margaret continued to be childless.9 There were certainly no signs of infertility on the Duke’s side. Apart from his sole legitimate daughter he had at least two illegitimate children, John and Pierson of Burgundy.10
It seems Margaret was anxious about her infertility, as she made several pilgrimages to shrines known to help in such cases, visiting the miraculous Black Virgin of Halle and the shrine at the Val Notre Dame Abbey near Huy.11 From February to March 1473, Margaret stayed at the well-known country hospice of St Josse ten Noode in the forest of Soignes. This delightful lodge close to Brussels, near the source of the River Maelbeek had been specially built by Duke Philip as a health resort and spa. The waters were considered to have curative properties and the wines made in the valley were reserved for the exclusive consumption of the sick, since their medicinal properties were famous.12 But in spite of all her retreats and pilgrimages, Margaret remained childless.
Both the Duke and his Duchess presumably accepted the situation as the will of God. There were no public signs of their anxiety. They seem to have considered that there was plenty of time to secure the dynasty, and Charles could use his lack of a male heir as a factor in his negotiations with the Emperor. The Duke was certainly not any more cautious due to his lack of a male heir and he was to throw his life away at Nancy with all the abandon of a man whose dynastic future was totally secure. Nor are there any signs that Margaret’s failure to produce the expected heir had any detrimental effect on the relationship between her and her husband.13
Margaret’s status at the Burgundian court depended primarily on her relationship with her husband. While the relationships between rulers and their mighty subjects may be quantified in terms of land grants and annuities which arose out of economic and political necessities, simple human preferences and affections also played a large part. Richard, Duke of York’s inability to build up a loyal noble following, and Warwick’s failure to remain on good terms with his cousin Edward, were as much due to aspects of their personalities as to any differences of policy. In Burgundian politics much rested on the character of the Duke, and Charles’ personality was vitally important to the nature of his court and government, and to the position of Margaret, first as his wife and later as his widow.
The era of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy coincided with a great development in portraiture, and detailed descriptions of the appearance and character of Charles have come do
wn to us from the brushes of great masters like Rogier van der Weyden, and from the pens of the court chroniclers such as Chastellain, Molinet, Commynes and La Marche.14 The superb portrait attributed to van der Weyden, which today hangs in Berlin, was painted when Charles was in his mid-twenties. It shows an introspective and serious young man of strong and even obdurate temperament. Charles’ sensitively modelled face indicates vigour and vitality, but it lacks the humour and vivacity which is so apparent in the same artist’s portrait of Philip the Good. The plainness of his costume, adorned only with the emblem of the Golden Fleece, belies the descriptions of the Duke at his wedding as a gaudily bejewelled figure. Privately the Duke dressed as soberly as he lived, and he kept his golden tunics and jewelled hats for occasions which demanded great public display.15 There are several other paintings of Charles, and all reveal a man who took life very seriously and who would govern with great determination. The famous Liège reliquary made by Gerard Loyet of Bruges also shows the same solemn face.16 On his great seal, engraved in 1468, Charles is depicted sporting a moustache, but on the effigy on his tomb at Bruges and on the nearly life-size effigy erected by his son-in-law at Innsbruck, Charles is clean shaven.
All the portraits match closely with Chastellain’s description of the Duke as ‘strong, well grown and well knit’.17 In the pen-portrait, which Chastellain wrote in about 1467, Charles’ eyes were described as ‘laughing expressive and angelically bright and when he was thinking his father seemed to come alive in them’ perhaps a discreet courtier’s reference to Charles’ fiery temper.18 Olivier de La Marche who knew Charles throughout his life wrote that he was:
Margaret of York: The Diabolical Duchess Page 9