Margaret of Huntingdon, Duchess of Brittany
| Margaret of Huntingdon | |
|---|---|
| Princess of Scotland Duchess of Brittany, Countess of Richmond Countess of Hereford | |
| Reign | 1145- 1201 1160- 20 February 1171 1171- 1201 |
| Spouse | Conan IV, Duke of Brittany Humphrey de Bohun, Constable of England |
| Issue | Constance, Duchess of Brittany Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford |
| House | Dunkeld |
| Father | Henry of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon, Earl of Northumbria |
| Mother | Ada de Warenne |
Margaret of Huntingdon, Princess of Scotland, Duchess of Brittany (1145- 1201) was a Scottish noblewoman. Two of her brothers, Malcolm IV and William I were Scottish kings. She was the wife of Conan IV, Duke of Brittany and the mother of Constance, Duchess of Brittany.[1] Her second husband was Humphrey de Bohun, hereditary Constable of England. Following her second marriage, Margaret styled hereself as the Countess of Hereford.
Family
Margaret was born in 1145, the second eldest daughter[2] of Henry of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon, Earl of Northumbria, and Ada de Warenne. She had an older sister Ada, and two younger sisters, Marjorie and Matilda. Two of her brothers, Malcolm and William were kings of Scotland, and she had another brother, David, Earl of Huntingdon, who married Maud of Chester. Her paternal grandparents were King David I of Scotland and Maud, Countess of Huntingdon. Her maternal grandparents were William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey and Elizabeth of Vermandois.
In 1152, when she was seven years of age, her father died.
Marriages and children
In 1160, Margaret married her first husband, Conan IV, Duke of Brittany, Earl of Richmond. Upon her marriage, she was styled as the Duchess of Brittany and Countess of Richmond. Margaret's origins and first marriage deduced by Benedict of Peterborugh who recorded filia sororis regis Scotiae Willelmi comitissa Brittanniae gave birth in 1186 to filium Arturum. Together Conan and Margaret had one child:
- Constance, Duchess of Brittany (12 June 1161 – 5 September 1201), married firstly in 1181, Geoffrey Planatagenet, by whom she had three children, including Arthur of Brittany; she married secondly in 1188, Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester; she married thirdly in 1198, Guy of Thouars, by whom she had twin daughters, including Alix of Thouars.
Margaret's husband died in February 1171, leaving her a widow at the age of twenty-six. Shortly before Easter 1171, she married her second husband, Humphrey de Bohun, Hereditary Constable of England (c.1155- 1182). He was the son of Humphrey de Bohun and Margaret of Gloucester. Hereafter, she styled herself Countess of Hereford. The marriage produced one son:
- Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford (1176- 1 June 1220), a Magna Carta surety; he married Maud FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville of Essex by whom he had three children, including Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford and from whom descended the Bohun Earls of Hereford. Maud was the daughter of Geoffrey Fitzpeter, 1st Earl of Essex by his first wife Beatrice de Say.
Margaret died in 1201 and was buried in Sawtrey Abbey, Huntingdonshire. Her second husband had died nineteen years earlier.
References
- Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Scotland, Kings
- Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Brittany