Margaret of Bavaria

For other people named Margaret of Bavaria, see Margaret of Bavaria (disambiguation).

Margaret of Bavaria
16th-century anonymous painting of Margaret
Duchess consort of Burgundy
Tenure	1404–1419
Born	1363
Died	23 January 1424 (aged 60–61) Dijon
Spouse	John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy ​ ​ (m. 1385; died 1419)​
Issue	Catherine Marie, Duchess of Cleves Margaret, Duchess of Brittany Philip III, Duke of Burgundy Isabelle, Countess of Penthièvre and Périgord Anne, Duchess of Bedford Agnes, Duchess of Bourbon
House	Wittelsbach
Father	Albert I, Duke of Bavaria
Mother	Margaret of Brieg

Margaret of Bavaria (1363 – 23 January 1424, Dijon) was Duchess of Burgundy by marriage to John the Fearless. She was the regent of the Burgundian Low Countries during the absence of her spouse in 1404–1419 and the regent in French Burgundy during the absence of her son in 1419–1423. She became most known for her successful defense of the Duchy of Burgundy against Count John IV of Armagnac in 1419.

Life

Margaret was the fifth child of Albert I, Duke of Bavaria, Count of Hainault, Holland, and Zeeland and Lord of Frisia, and Margaret of Brieg.

Marriage

On 12 April 1385, at the Burgundian double wedding in Cambrai, Margaret married John, Count of Nevers, the son and heir of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and Margaret of Dampierre, Countess of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy; at the same time her brother, William II, Duke of Bavaria, married Margaret of Burgundy.

Duchess regent

With the death of Philip the Bold in 1404, and Margaret of Dampierre in 1405, John inherited his parents' territories, and Margaret became duchess. In 1409, Margaret was named deputy regent of the Duchy of Burgundy, to rule whenever her spouse was absent from the Duchy to attend to other parts of his realm. In 1419, Margaret became a widow. Her son confirmed his father's appointment of Margaret as deputy regent of Burgundy, and she ruled Burgundy during the absence of her son in 1419–1423.

Children

Margaret and John had:

• Margaret, Countess of Gien and Montargis (1393–2 February 1442, Paris), married, on 30 August 1404, Louis, Dauphin of France, then, on 10 October 1422, Arthur de Richemont, Constable of France, the future Duke of Brittany
• Catherine (d. 1414, Ghent)
• Mary (d. 30 October 1463, Monterberg bei Kalkar), married Adolph I, Duke of Cleves
• Philip the Good (1396–1467), Duke of Burgundy, Count of Flanders
• Isabella, Countess of Penthièvre (d. 18 September 1412, Rouvres), married at Arras on 22 July 1406 to Olivier de Châtillon-Blois, Count of Penthièvre and Périgord
• Joan (b. 1399, Bouvres), d. young
• Anne (1404 – 14 November 1432, Paris), married John, Duke of Bedford
• Agnes (1407 – 1 December 1476, Château de Moulins), married Charles I, Duke of Bourbon

• 
  The tombstone of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria in Dijon
• 
  Margaret of Bavaria on her tombstone in Dijon

Sources

• Stein, Robert (2017). Magnanimous Dukes and Rising States: The Unification of the Burgundian. Oxford University Press.
• Vaughan, Richard (2005). Philip the Bold: The Formation of the Burgundian State. The Boydell Press.
• Vaughan, Richard (2010). John the Fearless: The Growth of Burgundian Power. The Boydell Press.
• Ward, A.W.; Prothero, G.W.; Leathes, Stanley, eds. (1934). The Cambridge Modern History. Vol. XIII. Cambridge at the University Press.