Margaret of Durazzo

Margaret of Durazzo
Queen consort of Naples
Reign	12 May 1382 – 24 February 1386
Coronation	25 November 1382
Queen consort of Hungary
Reign	1385 – 24 February 1386
Spouse	Charles III of Naples
More Issue
Joan II of Naples Ladislaus of Naples
House	House of Anjou-Durazzo
Father	Charles, Duke of Durazzo
Mother	Maria of Calabria
Born	28 July 1347
Died	6 August 1412 Acquamela, Kingdom of Naples
Burial	Salerno Cathedral

Margaret of Durazzo (28 July 1347 – 6 August 1412) was Queen of Naples and Hungary and Princess of Achaea^[1][2] as the spouse of Charles III of Naples, and later regent of Naples during the minority of her son.

She was the fourth daughter of Charles, Duke of Durazzo (1323–1348) and Maria of Calabria. Her paternal grandparents were John, Duke of Durazzo, and his second wife, Agnes de Périgord. Her maternal grandparents were Charles, Duke of Calabria, and Marie of Valois.

Marriage

In February, 1369, Margaret married her paternal first cousin Charles of Durazzo. He was a son of Louis of Durazzo, another son of John, Duke of Durazzo and his second wife Agnes de Périgord. The bride was twenty-two years old and the groom twenty-four. They had three children:

• Mary of Durazzo (1369–1371).
• Joan II of Naples (23 June 1373 – 2 February 1435).
• Ladislaus of Naples (11 February 1377 – 6 August 1414).

Charles managed to depose her maternal aunt Queen Joan I of Naples in 1382. He succeeded her and Margaret became his queen consort. Charles succeeded James of Baux as Prince of Achaea in 1383 with Margaret still as his consort.

By then becoming the senior Angevin male, Charles was offered the Crown of Hungary. Margaret did not support the idea of deposing Queen Mary of Hungary and discouraged her husband from doing so. Nonetheless, he successfully deposed Mary in December 1385 and himself crowned. She was daughter of his deceased cousin Louis I of Hungary and Elizabeth of Bosnia. However, Mary's formidable mother Elizabeth arranged his assassination at Visegrád on 24 February 1386.^[3]

Widowhood

Margaret became a queen dowager and the regent of Naples as the guardian of her minor son. She survived him by twenty-six years but never remarried. Their son Ladislaus succeeded to the throne of the Kingdom of Naples while Mary of Hungary was restored to her throne. Margaret insisted that her husband's death be revenged and Elizabeth was murdered. The heads of her defenders were sent to console Margaret.^[4][5]

In the last years of her life, the queen dowager retired first to Salerno and then to Acquamela, where she died of plague in 1412. She had become a devout Catholic and a member of a Franciscan Third Order in her last years and requested to be buried as such; she was buried in white habit in Salerno Cathedral.

Ancestry

External links

• A listing of descendants of Charles I of Sicily

References

1. ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/106912/Charles-III
2. ^ http://mek.oszk.hu/00300/00355/html/index.html
3. ^ Medieval European coinage: with a catalogue of the coins in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Volume 14. Cambridge University Press. 1998. ISBN 0521582318. 
4. ^ Parsons, John Carmi (1997). Medieval Queenship. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0312172982. 
5. ^ Myrl Jackson-Laufer, Guida (1990). Women rulers throughout the ages: an illustrated guide, Part 107. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1576070913. 

Margaret of Durazzo House of Anjou-Durazzo Born: 1347 Died: 1412
Royal titles
Preceded by Otto of Brunswick and Lunenburg	Queen consort of Naples 1382 – 24 February 1386	Succeeded by Mary of Lusignan
Preceded by Elisabeth of Bosnia	Queen consort of Hungary 1385 – 24 February 1386	Succeeded by Barbara of Cilli

Persondata
Name	Durazzo, Margaret Of
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	28 July 1347
Place of birth
Date of death	6 August 1412
Place of death	Acquamela, Kingdom of Naples