DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70031#0187
MARGARET OF ANJOU.
When Henry VI. king of England, a prince of a
weak character and narrow mind, had attained his
twenty-third year, Cardinal Winchester and the Duke
of Gloucester, the one the grand uncle, and the other
uncle of the young monarch, and who until then had
governed under his name, considered of choosing a
wife for him ; the party of the cardinal prevailed on
this occasion, and Henry married, in 1443, Margaret of
Anjou, daughter of Ren6, king of Naples and Sicily,
Count of Provence. This princess, to singular beauty
joined a manly courage, and an understanding at once
lively and solid ; and it was hoped that her good qua-
lities would make up for those in which the young
prince was deficient.
The new queen connected herself closely with the
party which had called her to the throne : she was an.
enemy to the Duke of Gloucester, and even was sus-
pected of having consented to the murder of that
prince, in 1447.
One of the secret conditions on the marriage of
Margaret had been, that Charles of Anjou, her uncle,
should be restored to the possession of the Comte de
Maine, of which the English were masters. This
clause was put into execution immediately after the
death of the Duke of Gloucester; and by the facility
which it afforded the French of penetrating into Nor-
mandy, occasioned the loss of that province two years
afterwards. The officers and soldiers who had been
When Henry VI. king of England, a prince of a
weak character and narrow mind, had attained his
twenty-third year, Cardinal Winchester and the Duke
of Gloucester, the one the grand uncle, and the other
uncle of the young monarch, and who until then had
governed under his name, considered of choosing a
wife for him ; the party of the cardinal prevailed on
this occasion, and Henry married, in 1443, Margaret of
Anjou, daughter of Ren6, king of Naples and Sicily,
Count of Provence. This princess, to singular beauty
joined a manly courage, and an understanding at once
lively and solid ; and it was hoped that her good qua-
lities would make up for those in which the young
prince was deficient.
The new queen connected herself closely with the
party which had called her to the throne : she was an.
enemy to the Duke of Gloucester, and even was sus-
pected of having consented to the murder of that
prince, in 1447.
One of the secret conditions on the marriage of
Margaret had been, that Charles of Anjou, her uncle,
should be restored to the possession of the Comte de
Maine, of which the English were masters. This
clause was put into execution immediately after the
death of the Duke of Gloucester; and by the facility
which it afforded the French of penetrating into Nor-
mandy, occasioned the loss of that province two years
afterwards. The officers and soldiers who had been