Tragedy: Queen Margaret and the Squire

Nobody is immune from tragedy.  Kings and Queens in Medieval times had their fair share of drama, both accidental and of their own making.  A young Plantagenet Queen of Scotland would learn the hard way not to play practical jokes on people.

Margaret (1240-1275) was born at Windsor Castle, the daughter of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence.  She was introduced to royal life early, taking part in her first official appearances when she was 3 years old.  Her paternal aunt Joan was Queen of Scotland as the wife of Alexander II and, when Margaret was 11, she married Alexander III, who was himself only 10.  As per usual in this period, such young couples weren't allowed to live together.  Alone in Scotland, Margaret didn't find much about her new kingdom that appealed to her.  She became homesick and depressed and wrote to her family in England, complaining that she was being held prisoner.  Likely, she was bored, lonely and had nothing else to do.  Eventually, Margaret and Alexander reached an age where they could live together as husband and wife and Margaret gave birth to two children, Margaret, later Queen of Norway and Alexander, named for his father and grandfather.  She was also allowed to see her family and took frequent visits to England. 

In 1273, Margaret was recuperating after the birth of Prince Alexander.  She and her ladies were at Kinclaven Castle, walking along the banks of the River Tay.  She spotted a squire who had been "given", more likely assigned to stay with her by her brother, the future Edward I, during a visit to her several years earlier.  The squire had come to the riverbank to wash some clay off his hands.  What he was doing with clay we'll never know.  Margaret ordered her ladies to push him into the river as a joke.  Laughing, they complied and the man went headlong into the rushing current.  He was unable to swim and quickly began to go under.  A stable boy jumped in to help him and both men were carried away to their deaths.  Margaret was heartbroken, particularly as more sinister rumors started to swirl about why she'd chosen to pick on this squire. 

Margaret's uncle, the husband of her aunt Eleanor, was Simon de Montfort, whom we'll get to in another post.  He was killed by Roger Mortimer at the Battle of Evesham in August, 1265.  It was said that Margaret believed the squire, whoever he was, had also had a hand in her uncle's death.  There are several problems with this story.  One is that nobody seems to know the squire's name, let alone whether he was present at Evesham when Montfort was killed.  Number two, Montfort was not Margaret's blood uncle, but an uncle by marriage, who was killed in rebellion against Margaret's own father.  Plantagenets could be vindictive, and they backed their own kin against all comers.  Had the squire killed or harmed Henry or Edward, it would make more since that Margaret would have a wish to get even.  However, in killing Montfort, this squire, if he was involved, might have been perceived as doing her family a favor.  There was no wish for Margaret to want to kill him.  The incident was nothing but an unfortunate practical joke gone badly wrong.

Margaret would live to see the coronation of her brother, Edward I, in August 1274.  She would die two years later in 1276.