The Last Death of the Second Barons' War

This post is about Margaret of England (29 September 1240 – 26 February 1275), the daughter of King Henry III. She was in her 20s during the Second Barons' War, but was living in Scotland because she was married to King Alexander III of Scotland.

Life in Scotland wasn't pleasant for her. She was 11 and he was 10 when they were betrothed in York, and they moved to Edinburgh a year later. Because they were considered too young for consummating the marriage, they were kept apart by Alexander's regency council, which made her lonely and upset. Her mother, Eleanor of Provence, sent her personal physician to check on her, and he stated that she was pale and depressed.

King Henry spoke to the regency council and came to an agreement. When the two were 14 years of age they were allowed to consummate the marriage, and Alexander would have power handed over to him when he turned 21. Life got better after that.

The story of the Second Barons' War has been covered in the past week here. At the Battle of Evesham, the chief instigator, Simon de Montfort, had been killed and hacked to pieces by the supporters of King Henry. Simon had been married to Henry III's sister, making him Margaret's uncle.

Margaret's older brother, Edward (later King Edward I) gave her an esquire as a gift. In the summer of 1273, some time after the Second Barons' War had been settled, Margaret was recovering after the birth of her son David (who did not survive to adulthood). On an outing near Perth with her confessor, several maidens and esquires, one of the retainers—the one gifted to her by Edward—went down to the river to wash his hands.

According to her confessor, she told her maidens to push him in "as a joke." The current was very strong, however, and he was swept away and drowned, as was the servant boy who jumped in to help save him. This was seen as regrettable, but the story persists that he was one of the men who had attacked and killed her uncle Simon, making this esquire the last casualty of the Second Barons' War. Whether the push was a prank or punishment will never be known.

Margaret died at the age of 34. Margaret's mother, Eleanor of Provence, lived much longer and had a lot more influence on the country of which she was queen. We'll visit her story tomorrow.