Margaret of Anjou [23 March 1430 – 25 August 1482] was Queen Consort of England from 1445 as a result of her marriage to King Henry VI. A daughter of Count Rene of Anjou and Isabella Duchess of Lorraine, Margaret was to become leader of the Lancastrian faction in the build up to and during the Wars of the Roses.
Despite fierce and armed opposition to the Yorkists in the period 1455-64, she later entered into the Angers Agreement [1470] with her erstwhile foe, Richard Neville 16th Earl of Warwick. This led to her return to England in 1471 which saw the force arranged by herself defeated at Tewkesbury. Margaret of Anjou was then returned to France as a result of Anglo-French agreements in 1475. The former Queen lived out the rest of her days in her ancestral homelands, dying in 1482. She is buried in Angers Cathedral.
Margaret of Anjou Books
Arman, Joanna. Margaret of Anjou: She-Wolf of France, Twice Queen of England
Castor, Helen. She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth
Dockray, Keith. Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou and the Wars of the Roses: A Source Book
Licence, Amy. Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou: A Marriage of Unequals
Maurer, Helen. Margaret of Anjou: Queenship and Power in Late Medieval England
Margaret of Anjou Links
Queen Margaret [of Anjou] – Biography of Margaret of Anjou written for my education website.
She-Wolf of France? – An A-Level History lesson assessing views held about the role of Margaret of Anjou.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – Biography of Margaret of Anjou.
National Portrait Gallery – 13 Images of Margaret of Anjou that are held by the NPG.
British Library – The bride’s journey: How do you bring a soon-to-be queen to her new kingdom?
Queen’s College, Cambridge – Margaret was a foundress of the College at the University of Cambridge. This page contains details from their archive.
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