Margaret of Bavaria

Margaret of Bavaria (1363 – January 1424, Dijon) was the 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[1] and the regent in French Burgundy during the absence of her son in 1419–1423.[1] She became most known for her successful defense of the Duchy of Burgundy against Count John IV of Armagnac in 1419.[1]

Margaret of Bavaria
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
Religion	Roman Catholicism

The tombstone of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria in Dijon

Margaret of Bavaria on her tombstone in Dijon

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.[2]

On 12 April 1385, at the Burgundian double wedding in Cambrai, she 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;[3] at the same time her brother, William II, Duke of Bavaria married Margaret of Burgundy. With the death of Philip the Bold in 1404, and Margaret of Dampierre in 1405, John inherited these territories, and Margaret became duchess. They had only one son, Philip the Good (1396–1467), who inherited these territories, and seven daughters.

Children

• 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). She married Adolph I, Duke of Cleves.
• Philip the Good (1396–1467), Duke of Burgundy, Count of Flanders, etc.
• 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

Notes

1. http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/MargarethaVanBeieren
2. Bayley, Francis, The Bailleuls of Flanders and the Bayleys of Willow Hall, (Spottiswoode & Co.:London, 1881), 263.
3. Richard Vaughan, John the Fearless: The Growth of Burgundian Power, (The Boydell Press, 2010), 2–3.

References

• Bayley, Francis, The Bailleuls of Flanders and the Bayleys of Willow Hall, (Spottiswoode & Co.:London, 1881)