Margaret of Savoy, Countess of Saint-Pol

Margaret of Savoy (April 1439 – 9 March 1483), also known as Marguerite de Savoie or Margherita di Savoia, was the eldest surviving daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy. She was the wife of Margrave John IV of Montferrat and later the wife of Pierre II de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, de Ligny, Marle and Soissons. Margaret's numerous descendants included Mary, Queen of Scots, and King Henry IV of France.

The Savoy family coat of arms.

Family and lineage

Margaret was born in April 1439 in Turin, Italy, the eldest surviving daughter and one of the nineteen children of Louis, Duke of Savoy (21 February 1402 – 29 January 1465) and Anne de Lusignan, Princess of Cyprus (24 September 1418 – 11 November 1462). Her paternal grandparents were Amadeus VIII of Savoy, who was also the Antipope Felix V, and Mary of Burgundy, and her maternal grandparents were King Janus de Lusignan of Cyprus and Armenia and Charlotte de Bourbon-La Marche.^[1] Her many siblings included Amadeus IX of Savoy, who married Yolande of Valois, Philip II, Duke of Savoy (5 February 1438 – 7 November 1497), who married firstly Marguerite de Bourbon, and secondly Claude de Brosse, Louis of Savoy, Count of Geneva who married Queen Charlotte of Cyprus (28 June 1444 – 16 July 1487), Charlotte of Savoy, Queen consort of King Louis XI of France, Bona of Savoy, second wife of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, and Marie of Savoy (20 March 1448- 1475), who married, as his second wife, Margaret's father-in-law, Louis of Luxembourg, Count of Saint- Pol, Constable of France.

Marriages and issue

In December 1458 at Casale, she married her first husband, John IV, Margrave of Montferrat (24 June 1413 – 19 January 1464), the son of John Jacob of Montferrat and Joan of Savoy. He was a condottiere for the Republic of Venice during the Wars in Lombardy which were a series of conflicts fought between Venice and Milan, and their various allies.

Margaret brought a dowry of 100,000 scudi, and in return received Trino, Morano, Borgo San Martino, and Mombaruzzo. The marriage was childless, although he fathered several illegitimate children. He died on 19 January 1464, leaving her a widow at the age of twenty-five.

Two and a half years later, on 12 July 1466,^[2] Margaret married her second husband, Pierre II de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, de Ligny, Marle and Soissons (1440- 25 October 1482), the second eldest son of Louis of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, Conversano, and de Ligny, Constable of France, and Jeanne de Bar, Countess of Marle and Soissons. The marriage produced five children:^[3]

• Louis of Luxembourg (died young)
• Claude of Luxembourg (died young)
• Antoine of Luxembourg (died young)
• Marie de Luxembourg (c.April 1467- 1 April 1547), married firstly, her uncle, Jacques of Savoy, Count of Romont, by whom she had a daughter, Françoise of Savoy. Marie married secondly, François de Bourbon, Count of Vendôme, by whom she had six children including Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (2 June 1489- 1537), and Antoinette de Bourbon (25 December 1493 – 22 January 1583), wife of Claude, Duke of Guise. Mary, Queen of Scots, King Henry IV of France, and the Lorraine Dukes of Guise were Marie's direct descendants.
• Françoise of Luxembourg, Dame d'Enghien (died 5 December 1523), married Philip of Cleves-Ravenstein, Captain General of Flanders (died 28 January 1528).

Death

Margaret died at Bruges on 9 March 1483, less than six months after her husband Pierre, and she was buried at the Abbey of Happlaincourt.^[1] Margaret was survived by her two daughters, Marie and Françoise, her three sons having died in early infancy.

Ancestry

References

1. Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Savoy
2. Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Champagne, Nobility
3. www.Worldroots.com, Descendants of Amadeus III of Savoy, Leo van de Pas