Margaret of Burgundy (1393-1441)

Margaret of Nevers
Dauphine of France; Duchess of Guyenne
Christine de Pizan presents her book to Margaret
Born	December 1393
Died	February 1442 Paris, France
Spouse	Louis, Dauphin of France Arthur, Count of Richmond
House	House of Valois-Burgundy
Father	John the Fearless
Mother	Margaret of Bavaria

Margaret of Nevers (French: Marguerite; December 1393 – February 1442), also known as Margaret of Burgundy, was Dauphine of France and Duchess of Guyenne as the daughter-in-law of King Charles VI of France. A pawn in the dynastic struggles between her family and in-laws during the Hundred Years' War, Margaret was twice envisaged to become Queen of France.

Born in late 1393, Margaret was the eldest child and the first of six daughters of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria. Her father was, at the time, Count of Nevers and heir apparent to the Duchy of Burgundy ruled by his father, Philip the Bold. On 9 July 1394, Duke Philip and his mentally unstable nephew, King Charles VI of France, agreed that the former's first grandchild would marry the latter's son and heir apparent, Dauphin Charles. Following their formal betrothal in January 1396, Margaret was known as "madame la dauphine". She and her sisters, described by a contemporary as "plain as owls", grew up in an "affectionate family atmosphere" in the ducal residences of Burgundy, and were close to their paternal grandmother, Countess Margaret III of Flanders.

The death of her eight-year-old fiancé in early 1401 forced Margaret's grandfather and Charles' mother, Isabeau of Bavaria, to arrange a new union in the wake of Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War. In Paris in May 1403, it was agreed that Margaret would marry the new Dauphin of France, Duke Louis of Guyenne. A double marriage took place at the end of August 1404, as part of Philip the Bold's efforts to maintain a close relationship with France by ensuring that the next Queen of France would be his granddaughter. Margaret married Dauphin Louis, while her only brother, Philip the Good, married Louis' sister Michelle. Philip the Bold did not live long enough to see his grandchildren's marriages consummated. He died in 1404, and was succeeded by Margaret's father. The French Italian author Christine de Pizan dedicated The Treasure of the City of Ladies to the young Dauphine, in which she advised her about what she had to learn and how she should behave; the manuscript may have even been commissioned by the Dauphine's father.