Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy

Margaret of York
Anonymous portrait of Margaret of York, ca. 1468, Louvre
Duchess consort of Burgundy
Tenure	9 July 1468 – 5 January 1477
Born	(1446-05-03)3 May 1446 Fotheringhay Castle, England
Died	23 November 1503(1503-11-23) (aged 57) Mechlin, Flanders
Spouse	Charles the Bold
House	York
Father	Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
Mother	Cecily Neville

Margaret of York (3 May 1446 – 23 November 1503) – also by marriage known as Margaret of Burgundy – was Duchess of Burgundy as the third wife of Charles the Bold and acted as a protector of the Duchy after his death. She was a daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the sister of two Kings of England, Edward IV and Richard III. She was born at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England, and she died at Mechelen in the Low Countries.

Duchess Isabella of Burgundy, the mother of Charles the Bold, was through her blood-ties and her perception of Burgundian interests pro-English, As a granddaughter of John of Gaunt, she was consequently sympathetic to the House of Lancaster. She believed that Burgundian trade, from which the Duchy drew its vast wealth, depended upon friendly relations with England. For this reason she was prepared to favour any English faction which was willing to favour Burgundy. By 1454, she favoured the House of York, headed by Margaret's father, Richard, 3rd Duke of York. Although the King of England, Henry VI, was the head of the House of Lancaster, his wife, Margaret of Anjou, was a niece of Burgundy's bitter enemy, Charles VII of France, and was herself an enemy of the Burgundians; the Duke of York, by contrast, shared Burgundy's enmity towards the French, and preferred the Burgundians.