Links on St Margaret of Scotland (nee Denmark)

Margaret of Denmark
Margaret of Denmark
Queen consort of Scotland
Tenure	1469–1486
Spouse	James III of Scotland
Issue
James IV of Scotland James, Duke of Ross John, Earl of Mar
House	House of Oldenburg
Father	Christian I of Denmark
Mother	Dorothea of Brandenburg
Born	23 June 1456 Denmark
Died	14 July 1486 (aged 30) Stirling Castle, Stirlingshire
Burial	Cambuskenneth Abbey, Stirlingshire

Margaret of Denmark (23 June 1456 – before 14 July 1486) was the Queen Consort of Scotland from 1469 to 1486 as the wife of King James III of Scotland. She was the daughter of King Christian I of Denmark (1448–1481), Norway (1450–1481), and Sweden (1457–1464), and his wife Dorothea of Brandenburg. The future King James IV of Scotland was her eldest son.

Contents  [hide]  1 Life 2 Legacy 3 Ancestry 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Life

She was betrothed to James of Scotland in 1460. The marriage was arranged by recommendation of the king of France to end the feud (1426–60) between Denmark and Scotland about the taxation of the Hebrides islands. In July 1469 (at age 13), at Holyrood Abbey, she married James III, King of Scots (1460–88). Her father, King Christian I of Denmark and also of Norway, agreed on a considerable dowry to her. He, however, was in need of cash, so the islands of Orkney and Shetland, Norwegian crown possessions, were pledged as security until the dowry was to be paid.
William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness was at that time the Norse Earl of Orkney, who was made in 1473 to exchange his Orkney fief to castle Ravenscraig, so the Scottish throne took the earl's rights in the islands too.
This marriage produced three children:

• James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513)
• James Stewart, Duke of Ross (March 1476 - January 1504), and
• John Stewart, Earl of Mar (December 1479 - 1503).

Margaret became a popular queen in Scotland, and was described as beautiful, gentle, and sensible^[1] A story given by her son claims that Margaret was killed by a poison given to her by Ramsay, leader of one of the political factions^[1] However, as Ramsay was favoured by the royal family also after the death of the queen, this is considered doubtful and may have been slander ^[1]
She died at Stirling Castle and is buried in Cambuskenneth Abbey.

[edit] Legacy

King James III and Queen Margaret on the 1562 Froman Armorial

Her great-great-grandson James VI of Scotland married another princess of her dynasty, Anne of Denmark. They became ancestors of all the future monarchs of England and Scotland.
She was responsible for introducing the bloodline of England's first Danish monarch King Sweyn Forkbeard into the Scottish Royal blood line, and after James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne in 1603, into the English royal bloodline as well.

[edit] Ancestry

[show]Ancestors of Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland

16. Conrad I, Count of Oldenburg               8. Christian V, Count of Oldenburg                       17. Ingeborg of Itzehoe               4. Theodoric, Count of Oldenburg                             18. Dietrich V or VI, Count of Hohnstein               9. Agnes von Honstein                       19. Sophie of Brunswick               2. Christian I of Denmark                                   20. Henry II of Holstein-Rendsburg, Duke of Schleswig               10. Gerhard VI of Holstein-Rendsburg, Duke of Schleswig                       21. Ingeborg of Mecklenburg               5. Helvig of Schauenburg                             22. Magnus II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg               11. Katharina Elisabeth of Brunswick and Lunenburg                       23. Catherine of Anhalt-Bernburg               1. Margaret of Denmark                                         24. Frederick V, Burgrave of Nuremberg               12. Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg                       25. Elisabeth of Meissen               6. John, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach                             26. Frederick, Duke of Bavaria               13. Elisabeth of Bavaria                       27. Maddalena Visconti               3. Dorothea of Brandenburg                                   28. Wenceslas I, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg               14. Rudolf III, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg                       29. Cecilia di Carrara               7. Barbara of Saxe-Wittenberg                             30. Balthasar, Landgrave of Thuringia               15. Anna of Thuringia                       31. Margarete von Nürnberg

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "121 (Dansk biografisk Lexikon / XI. Bind. Maar - Müllner)". Runeberg.org. http://runeberg.org/dbl/11/0123.html. Retrieved 2011-01-05. 

[edit] External links

• thepeerage.com

Scottish royalty
Preceded by Mary of Guelders	Queen consort of Scotland 1469–1486	Succeeded by Margaret Tudor