Margaret of Provence
(1221-1295)
BIRTH
1221
PLACE
Forcalquier, France
DEATH
December 20, 1295
PLACE
Paris, France
FAMILY
HUSBAND
Saint Louis
(1214-1270)
CHILDREN
Philip III of France
(1245-1285)
HOMES
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
NOT YET RESEARCHED
NOT YET RESEARCHED
MEMBERSHIPS
CORDELIERES PARIS CONVENT FOUNDER
AWARDS
Margaret of Provence was queen of France as the wife of Louis IX. Margaret grew up at the cultured court of Provence. In 1248 Margaret sailed with Louis on the Seventh Crusade. When the king was captured in Egypt in 1250, she was at Damietta, where she had just given birth to a son, John Tristan. She remained with Louis in the Holy Land until 1254. She founded the Franciscan convent of the Cordelières in Paris, where she died on December 20, 1295.
EARLY LIFE
Margaret was born in 1221 in Forcalquier, the eldest daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence, and Beatrice of Savoy. All four daughters of the count became queens: Eleanor married Henry III of England, Sanchia married Richard of Cornwall, King of the Romans, and Beatrice married Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily. Margaret grew up at the cultured court of Provence. On May 27, 1234, at the age of thirteen, she married Louis IX at Sens, and she was crowned the next day. Her mother-in-law, Blanche of Castile, dominated the court.
In 1248 Margaret sailed with Louis on the Seventh Crusade. When the king was captured in Egypt in 1250, she was at Damietta, where she had just given birth to a son, John Tristan.
She persuaded the Italian merchants to stay and defend the city, which France needed to pay the king's ransom. She remained with Louis in the Holy Land until 1254.
After Louis's death in 1270, she pressed her claims to Provence against Charles of Anjou. She founded the Franciscan convent of the Cordelières in Paris, where she died on December 20, 1295.
CAREER
DEATH
Margaret of Provence was queen of France as the wife of Louis IX. Margaret grew up at the cultured court of Provence. In 1248 Margaret sailed with Louis on the Seventh Crusade. She persuaded the Italian merchants to stay and defend the city, which France needed to pay the king's ransom. She remained with Louis in the Holy Land until 1254. After Louis's death in 1270, she pressed her claims to Provence against Charles of Anjou. Her last years were spent doing pious work, including the founding of the Franciscan nunnery of Lourcines in 1289. Margaret of Provence died on Dec 20, 1295, in Paris, France. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Margaret of Provence, queen of France as the wife of Louis IX. Sivéry’s dedicated biography is in French; Goldstone studies Margaret and her sisters. Five dedicated biographies were not identified. These editorial selections include biographies where available, with personal writings, collective biography, reference works and related studies clearly labelled.
1. Marguerite de Provence: Une reine au temps des cathédrales — Gérard Sivéry. [Biography; French] Find on Amazon
2. Four Queens: The Provençal Sisters Who Ruled Europe — Nancy Goldstone. [Collective family biography] Find on Amazon
3. Saint Louis — Jean Richard; Jean Birrell (translator). [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
4. Chronicles of the Crusades — Jean de Joinville; Geoffroy de Villehardouin; Caroline Smith (translator). [Primary chronicles; includes Joinville’s Life of Saint Louis] Find on Amazon
5. Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe — Anne J. Duggan (editor). [Related queenship and biographical studies] Find on Amazon
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