ST. MARGARET OF SCOTLAND
Queen Margaret of Scotland was a princess of Hungarian and Anglo-Saxon ancestry. She was born in southern Hungary, the granddaughter of the English king, Edmund Ironside. When Edmund died and the English people chose Cnut to be their king, Edmund's infant sons were sent abroad to the court of King Stephen of Hungary. One of the boys died young, but the other, Edward Atheling, was brought up as a protegee of Stephen's Queen, Gisela, and regarded as the heir to the Anglo-Saxon throne. He married Agatha, about whom little is known, and they had three children, Edgar, Christian and Margaret. Their father, in his attempt to advance his claim to the English throne, brought them with him from Hungary to England during the reign of Edward the Confessor. After the death of their father, they continued to live at the English court, but were forced to flee in 1068 after the Norman Conquest of England.
They landed in a bay, now called St. Margaret's Hope, on the Fife coast. They were made welcome by the king of Scotland, Malcolm Canmore, who fell in love with Margaret. She was reluctant to marry as she had determined to become a nun, but she was persuaded to become Malcolm's wife and Scotland's queen.
Queen Margaret was very devout. She followed and encouraged the practices of the Roman Church, receiving help and guidance from the Benedictine scholar, Langfranc, later Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent her three Benedictine monks to establish a cell at Dunfermline. But she did not neglect the faith of her husband's people, and her support for the Celtic Church was generous. She was a willing patron of the Celtic monasteries at Iona and Lochleven, and she started the free ferry passage for pilgrims crossing the Firth of Forth on their way to St. Andrews, hence the names North Queensferry and South Queensferry.
One of the Benedictine monks sent from England, Turgot, became her chaplain and confessor, and he later wrote, at the request of her elder daughter, Matilda, a splendid life, or Vita, of Margaret. This book tells the story of a saintly woman who showed great compassion to poor and distressed people, and includes many stories of her self-denial and practical Christian charity. It also tells how she tried to raise the standards of living generally and of the royal court in particular. It relates how she showed concern for those prisoners from England, either captured in battle or held as hostages, and records how she was responsible for helping many of them gain their freedom.
Queen Margaret had a profound influence on her warrior husband, who loved her so much that he supported her in all her endeavors, and, even though he may not have been able to read, had her devotional books decorated with precious stones. One of these, a beautifully illuminated Gospel book, which was dropped accidentally by a servant into a stream and later recovered virtually undamaged, is now kept in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. A few facsimiles of this book were made in the 19th century, one of which can be seen in a display case in St. Margaret's Chapel, Edinburgh Castle.
The Black Rood of St. Margaret was another of her most prized possessions. This rood, or cross, which was said to contain a fragment of the true Cross, was encased in ebony and heavily decorated. In the generations after Queen Margaret, the Black Rood, along with the Stone of Scone, became a symbol of Scottish sovereignty, but for her it was an object of devout veneration, and she is said to have been holding it when she died in Edinburgh Castle soon after hearing of the deaths of her husband and eldest son at the Battle of Alnwick in 1093.
Queen Margaret spent much of her married life in Dunfermline. Remains of the abbey which she founded can still be seen, and St. Margaret's Cave where she spent many hours alone in prayer, and St. Margaret's Stone where she sat to offer guidance and comfort, together with other locations and artifacts associated with her, are lovingly maintained.
Queen Margaret had eight children, six sons and two daughters. Edward, the eldest, was killed with his father at Alnwick, Ethelred became Abbot of Dunkeld, Edmund, according to Turgot, 'fell away from the good', Edgar, Alexander and David successively became kings of Scotland. Matilda (known sometimes as Maud), the elder daughter, married Henry I of England, and their daughter, also Matilda, married the Emperor Henry V. Mary, the younger daughter, married the Count of Bologne, and their daughter also became a queen of England as the wife of King Stephen.
It might be claimed that through these relationships and alliances, Queen Margaret's contribution to the countries and courts of Europe was not inconsiderable.
Queen Margaret was canonized in the 13th century. Her elevation to the Calendar of Saints was probably unique at the time, for she was neither a virgin nor a martyr (the most usual qualifications for sainthood) but a wife and a mother. And it is as a wife and a mother, as well as a caring, compassionate Queen, that she is remembered today.
E-mail address: [email protected] Website link: http://stmargaretschapel.com/
The Guild supports St. Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh, Scotland by donating annually for fresh flowers on the altar. If any member would like to add to this annual giving, please send your donation, payable to The Guild of St. Margaret (noting a donation to the Chapel), to:
Mike Swisher, GSM Treasurer General, 14511 Olinda Boulevard North, Stillwater, MN 55082-1147.
They landed in a bay, now called St. Margaret's Hope, on the Fife coast. They were made welcome by the king of Scotland, Malcolm Canmore, who fell in love with Margaret. She was reluctant to marry as she had determined to become a nun, but she was persuaded to become Malcolm's wife and Scotland's queen.
Queen Margaret was very devout. She followed and encouraged the practices of the Roman Church, receiving help and guidance from the Benedictine scholar, Langfranc, later Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent her three Benedictine monks to establish a cell at Dunfermline. But she did not neglect the faith of her husband's people, and her support for the Celtic Church was generous. She was a willing patron of the Celtic monasteries at Iona and Lochleven, and she started the free ferry passage for pilgrims crossing the Firth of Forth on their way to St. Andrews, hence the names North Queensferry and South Queensferry.
One of the Benedictine monks sent from England, Turgot, became her chaplain and confessor, and he later wrote, at the request of her elder daughter, Matilda, a splendid life, or Vita, of Margaret. This book tells the story of a saintly woman who showed great compassion to poor and distressed people, and includes many stories of her self-denial and practical Christian charity. It also tells how she tried to raise the standards of living generally and of the royal court in particular. It relates how she showed concern for those prisoners from England, either captured in battle or held as hostages, and records how she was responsible for helping many of them gain their freedom.
Queen Margaret had a profound influence on her warrior husband, who loved her so much that he supported her in all her endeavors, and, even though he may not have been able to read, had her devotional books decorated with precious stones. One of these, a beautifully illuminated Gospel book, which was dropped accidentally by a servant into a stream and later recovered virtually undamaged, is now kept in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. A few facsimiles of this book were made in the 19th century, one of which can be seen in a display case in St. Margaret's Chapel, Edinburgh Castle.
The Black Rood of St. Margaret was another of her most prized possessions. This rood, or cross, which was said to contain a fragment of the true Cross, was encased in ebony and heavily decorated. In the generations after Queen Margaret, the Black Rood, along with the Stone of Scone, became a symbol of Scottish sovereignty, but for her it was an object of devout veneration, and she is said to have been holding it when she died in Edinburgh Castle soon after hearing of the deaths of her husband and eldest son at the Battle of Alnwick in 1093.
Queen Margaret spent much of her married life in Dunfermline. Remains of the abbey which she founded can still be seen, and St. Margaret's Cave where she spent many hours alone in prayer, and St. Margaret's Stone where she sat to offer guidance and comfort, together with other locations and artifacts associated with her, are lovingly maintained.
Queen Margaret had eight children, six sons and two daughters. Edward, the eldest, was killed with his father at Alnwick, Ethelred became Abbot of Dunkeld, Edmund, according to Turgot, 'fell away from the good', Edgar, Alexander and David successively became kings of Scotland. Matilda (known sometimes as Maud), the elder daughter, married Henry I of England, and their daughter, also Matilda, married the Emperor Henry V. Mary, the younger daughter, married the Count of Bologne, and their daughter also became a queen of England as the wife of King Stephen.
It might be claimed that through these relationships and alliances, Queen Margaret's contribution to the countries and courts of Europe was not inconsiderable.
Queen Margaret was canonized in the 13th century. Her elevation to the Calendar of Saints was probably unique at the time, for she was neither a virgin nor a martyr (the most usual qualifications for sainthood) but a wife and a mother. And it is as a wife and a mother, as well as a caring, compassionate Queen, that she is remembered today.
E-mail address: [email protected] Website link: http://stmargaretschapel.com/
The Guild supports St. Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh, Scotland by donating annually for fresh flowers on the altar. If any member would like to add to this annual giving, please send your donation, payable to The Guild of St. Margaret (noting a donation to the Chapel), to:
Mike Swisher, GSM Treasurer General, 14511 Olinda Boulevard North, Stillwater, MN 55082-1147.
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