Lux Mundi : Scotland’s Beloved Margaret is Honoured

Scotland’s Beloved Margaret is Honoured

On the Day June 10 1693

Khen Lim

Margaret of Scotland (Image source: smos-school.org)

In 1693 on this day, June 10, Pope Innocent XII installed a feast day to honour the woman who was to become the mother of James VII of Scotland, also II of England.

This woman, as unlikely as it might have been, had lived her entire life on the edge of conflict. From the day she was born to her return to her country of belonging, this was a time in history when England and Scotland were coalescing into separate sovereign kingdoms.

Around the same period, a Scottish prince had just lost his beloved father King Duncan but was later to take revenge by killing his murderer, Macbeth. Had Shakespeare decided to write a sequel to Macbeth, he might even have immortalised this very woman into the history of perennial literary favourites.

She would have given him an innately powerful and quietly influential heroine who was every bit the queen that she became. She would have fitted very snugly into his stage and become a favourite character.

Her name was Margaret of Scotland.

Introduction

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William the Conqueror (Image source: History Channel)

To set the stage, the year was 1066. A family of three, mother Agatha of Hungary, her son Edgar Ætheling and daughter Margaret, were on a refugee ship destined for home but they faced a ferocious storm that would blow through the whole night.

Home was Hungary, actually an exile for the family because they were not able to return to England. As it turned out, dawn broke and the reality was nothing like what they had hoped for. Rather than Hungary, they found themselves off the rock-strewn shore of Scotland.

As the ship landed, they were well received by the local Scots. Their king, Malcolm III, was somewhere else, fighting William the Conqueror, the Norman whose bold claim to England was the reason behind the family’s hasty retreat.

At that time, Malcolm the Canmore was around forty years of age. Margaret was in fact no less than half his age. He was without his wife, Ingibiorg Finnsdottir, daughter of the Earl of Orkney, who died sometime around 1058. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reveals that following his return from war and his meeting with the young and beautiful Margaret, “he soon began to yearn for Edgar’s sister as his wife.”

But it wasn’t so straightforward. Margaret, despite her God-given beauty didn’t seem destined for a marital life. Instead, she had thoughts of becoming a nun. For her, life was in an abbey and not a castle. Hers was an upbringing in preparation for the cloister rather than the crown.

Margaret was genteel, demure and educated; Malcolm was, though kind, was awkward, tempestuous and in fact, an illiterate. The differences couldn’t be more contrasting. Still, the persuasive Malcolm somehow did succeed in talking Margaret into matrimony.

At this point, knowing more about Margaret’s background will help to fill in the gaps.

The early years

The Golden Wyvern of the House of Wessex (Image source: Wikipedia)

Known as Margaret of Wessex – later as Saint Margaret of Scotland and also fondly remembered as ‘The Pearl of Scotland’ – she was a princess of an ancient English royal Saxon family – the House of Wessex – and was a direct descendant of King Alfred. Nearer to her genealogy, she was the granddaughter of King Edmund Ironside of England. In her royal bloodline was also a long lineage of Scottish kings.

Her nickname – the Pearl of Scotland – is likely the reason behind the significance of her name, Margaret. From the original Greek (Margaron) word, Margaret not only means ‘pearl’ but its prominence in Christendom was brought about by the martyrdom of Saint Margaret of Antioch (a.k.a. Margaret the Virgin) who was put to death in 304AD for refusing to marry the Governor of the Roman Diocese of the East in exchange for renouncing her Christian faith.

Her biographer, Turgot of Durham, Bishop of Saint Andrews, wrote, “Many have got their name from a quality of their mind. The same was true of this virtuous woman, for the fairness pre-shadowed in her name was eclipsed in the surpassing of her soul.”

She was born in the midst of a tumultuous exile that saw her family leave England for Hungary to escape the Viking invasion. The granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, Margaret’s place of birth was in the humble village of Mecseknadas somewhere in southern Hungary and very likely in Castle Reka.

King Canute the Great (Image source: Daily Mail)

When her grandfather died in 1016, his people chose the Danish invader, Canute (also Cnut) the Great to be their king. Politically outmanoeuvred, the late Edmund’s infant twin sons were supposed to be sent to Sweden where Canute’s brother, King Olof Skötkonung – was to receive them and eventually have them murdered.

But in a twist of fate, they were somehow spared and hastily despatched to Kiev where Olof’s daughter Ingigerd was the Queen or alternatively, they might have been moved to Poland where Canute’s uncle Boleslaw I Chrobry was the duke. Either way, the twins escaped death by the skin of their teeth.

King Edmund Ironside (Image source: Pinterest)

In exile, both twin brothers managed to grow up and then made their way to Hungary under the protection of their King Stephen I in 1028. Of the two Ætheling twin brothers, one, Edmund, died shortly after marrying a Hungarian princess before 1054, leaving Edward to be raised as a protégé to Queen Gisela (Stephen’s wife). To the Hungarian royalty, it was Edward who was the sole heir to the Anglo-Saxon bloodline.

Edward Ætheling – later called Edward the Exile – then married Agatha of Hungary (though history doesn’t record when but it seems that she may be related to Queen Gisela herself) and together, they had three children – a son, Edgar, and two daughters, Cristina and Margaret. All the siblings appeared to be born not many years apart from one another but it was Margaret who grew up in a deeply religious environment of the Hungarian court.

Edmund, son of Edmund Ironside (Image source: Wikipedia)

In 1057, as a child, she returned with her family to England on the hope that, since their great-uncle, Edward the Confessor, had called for her father (Edward Ætheling) to the line of succession as king, the return would be permanent. After all, Margaret’s father was the son of Edmund II Ironside who in turn was the son of Ethelred II the Unready, all of whom were kings of England.

Edward the Confessor himself became a reluctant king upon the choice of his own people in 1042 following the seven years of rule by Canute’s two sons, Harold and Harthacnut. Being an exile himself, he was raised in Normandy under the Benedictine influence, which resulted in him being disinterested in all things worldly.

For Edward the Confessor, son of Æthelred and Emma of Normandy, he’d rather the monastery and not the court and he saw himself as “a lover of peace who protected his kingdom by peace rather than by arms.” The earthly kingdom bore no interest to him for he aspired the kingdom of God and the life of Christ. To compound on all of this, he had also vowed a life of abstention and celibacy, wilfully retaining his chastity, which made siring a line of succession impossible under him.

The fated homecoming

Edward the Exile, father of Margaret (Image source: Wikipedia)

Seeing an inevitable stalemate was gradually growing burdensome for the country, a solution had to be at hand but without a succession in line, the problem became progressively worse that was, until 1056 when Edward the Confessor, the sitting king, discovered that Margaret’s father was indeed alive and quickly had him recalled so he could legitimise him as his rightful heir thus paving way for the Witenagemot – the Council of the Realm or parliament of that time – to formally invite Margaret’s whole family to come home in 1065.

This was in fact the one and last chance for an undisputed succession within the Saxon royal house and because there was pressure coming from the powerful and ambitious sons of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, he had to move as quickly as possible. And Edward Ætheling – or Edward the Exile – was the best and only guarantee.

Now approved by both king and the Witan, Margaret’s father was seen as the great counter to the Godwinsons as well as to William Duke of Normandy who across from the English Channel, was also eyeing the English throne. By the end of August 1057, Margaret together with her siblings and parents made their way back to England with hopes raised high that they wouldn’t need to revert to exile anymore.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck. Within two days of the family’s arrival, Margaret’s father died. History has no confirmation as to how or why this happened but Edward the Exile had numerous powerful enemies and some of them had eyed his throne as well.

Therefore the possibility or murder could never be discounted. The odd thing was that soon after the family had arrived in England, he discovered that he had no access to Edward the Confessor but he didn’t know why.

Yet this was also the time when others – mainly the Godwinsons – were making serious incursions into the succession line. Ultimately all of this threw England into disarray. News of Margaret’s father’s death sent the whole succession problem spiralling out of control that is, until the next Norman Conquest arrived at their doorstep, forcing Agatha to quickly leave with her children once more.

Edgar Ætheling (Image source: englishmonarchs.co.uk)

With the untimely death of her father, it was her brother, Edgar Ætheling, who would be the next in line to the English throne. And so long as Edward the Confessor was still the king, Margaret’s family could remain in the English court while matters of the succession were being sorted out.

As the only one of the Anglo-Saxon princes to have survived the Norman invasion (not to mention the intended murder scheme hatched by Canute), Edgar was widely acknowledged as the most suited to take over from Edward the Confessor. In fact, he might have ruled England but he was never crowned as one.

Harold Godwinson (Image source: myinterestingfacts.com)

When Edward the Confessor died in January 1066 and was buried in the West Minster, it was Harold Godwinson who ascended to the throne and not Margaret’s brother, Edgar. This was also the time when the Normans, this time under William the Conqueror, had arrived in England. As to why Edgar was not chosen, some said he was too young.

Another reason was that in accordance to the law of the land, he had no legitimate claim because under the constitution, he was neither born in England nor was the son of a crowned English sovereign. Some others also viewed him as yet another weakling from the Anglo-Saxon royal house.

Edward the Confessor (Image source: Wikipedia)

And while no law made it possible for a princess to reign, the people decided that Harold, son of Earl Godwine – and a rich and powerful aristocrat at that – should be the next king of England.

For all the conniving to get the throne, Harold Godwinson didn’t last long anyway. Hardly ten months after he took over from Edward the Confessor, he was not only defeated at the Battle of Hastings but also killed towards the end of the battle, possibly through an arrow into the eye. Once again, England was in turmoil and without a king in such quick rapidity.

With Harold prematurely gone, Margaret’s brother was half-heartedly chosen as his successor though, again, never crowned. In a divided country such as this, Edgar’s own supporters realised he stood no chance at all against the seemingly well-equipped and trained Norman forces that were camped across the Channel, waiting for just such an opportunity to finally strike.

God’s wind of change

Malcolm III aka Malcolm Canmore (Image source: Alchetron)

With no winnable strategy at hand and the impossibility of doing anything successful, the uncrowned Edgar including the various leaders of the Church and State gathered at Berkhampstead to wait for William the Conqueror to appear. When he did, they simply paid him homage.

Seeing the swift demise of the affairs of the English, William took Edgar to Normandy before returning him to England in 1068 after which he and his sisters, Margaret and Cristina, together with their mother Agatha, fled north to Northumbria, England. But owing to a failed revolt of the Northumbrian earls in the same year, the family made tracks to return into exile back in Hungary when their ship was blown well off-course in the northerly direction.

The fierce gale was relentless enough to force their ship to seek safe refuge, likely harbouring in Wearmouth where they were hosted by the Bishop of Durham until the sea was calm enough for their ship to resume their journey.

St Margaret's Hope in Orkney (Image source: The Cottage Guide)

From Wearmouth, they coasted upwards and moored in a sheltered bay on the Fife coast in the Firth of Forth, which was later called St Margaret’s Hope, near a village that was later named North Queensferry in honour of Margaret. It was at St Margaret’s Hope that Malcolm III “attended by a gallant train” hurried forth to welcome Agatha and her children.

Shortly before then, Malcolm was engaged in the same battle for which Margaret’s late father had returned to England for (before he died mysteriously). For the Scot, he went south to Cumbria before traversing the Pennines and laid waste to Teesdale and Cleveland.

With the loot from their conquests, he next took to the north, to Wearmouth where he met Margaret and her family. Malcolm invited them to return with him but they did not. It was the following year that shipwrecked in Scotland that they met the Scottish king once more.

Malcolm III and Margaret of Scotland (Image source: Royal Central)

However this time, he didn’t just offer Margaret’s family protection but also his hand in marriage. Despite her persistence for a quiet life in an abbey, his persuasion won her over and in 1069, the almost 40-year-old Malcolm III – also called Malcolm Canmore – and the roughly 24-year-old Margaret of Wessex, eldest daughter of Agatha of Hungary and the late Edward the Exile, were married in Dunfermline (pr. Dun-Ferm-Lin, tr. hill or fort of a winding stream).

The marriage of Margaret and Malcolm (Image source: St Margaret's-Queensferry)

And in so doing, Margaret “yield(ed) rather to the will of her friends rather than her own.” Of this story, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle wrote,

“The Creator knew beforehand what He would have made of her. For she was to increase God’s praise in the land and direct the king from the erring path and bend him to a better way and his people with him. … Then the king received her though it was against her will. And her customs pleased him and he thanked God who had by His power given him such a consort; and wisely bethought him since he was very prudent and turned himself to God…”

By marriage, Margaret was now Queen of Scots but even so, life in Dunfermline was primitive especially when compared to her early years in the Hungarian court of Stephen and Gisela. Nonetheless, Dunfermline would emerge in the future as her resting place just as it was then the burial place for Scottish kings.

At least when compared to Iona, their actual royal residence, which was plagued by Scandinavian pirates, Dunfermline was more peaceful and better protected.

An exemplary pious life

St Margaret's Cave, Dunfermline (Image source: Flickr)

Although her intended life in the cloisters was somewhat compromised by her marriage to Malcolm, Margaret’s piety remained in full bloom even though in some cases, her acts were misunderstood or misinterpreted. It is said that she would slip out of the castle by nightfall so that she could pray for Malcolm in, no less, a cave on the banks of the Tower Burn in Dunfermline, which was later dubbed Saint Margaret’s Cave, now covered beneath a municipal carpark lot.

There, she sought it as a private place of deep devotion and prayer but early detractors assumed that her absence from her own court was because she was plotting to overthrow her husband’s kingdom. It didn’t take the king long to discover his wife’s real motives.

Her godly character provided the crucial influence that gradually transformed him, his royal court and the entire nation of Scotland. In fact her biographer, Turgot, gave credit to Margaret not only for her constant effort in reading Scripture to Malcolm but also how she instigated religious reform and the conformity of worship and liturgies of the Church in Scotland to those in Rome.

Despite the rigours of her role as Queen, the ever-contemplative Margaret led a life of prayer and work ‘Laborare Est Orare’ (tr. to work is to pray), which was a motto she first learned from the Rule of Benedict, which is well summarised here by James Burke (2007):

“[Benedict] formulated a Rule by which the monks of his monastery would live. It laid stress on the equal value of prayer, study and work, and in this way, Benedict laid the foundations for self-sufficiency in a period when a community would either survive on its own or not survive at all.

At the core of the Rule was the edict, laborare est orare (to work is to pray). Benedict’s monks were to be no mere ritualistic bookworms – he wanted them to get dirt under their nails. As the movement spread across Europe, the Benedictines set up abbeys that prospered, safe behind their massive walls; even when the depredations of the barbarian invaders were taking their greatest toll of the country around.”

Lanfranc (Image source: Find A Grave)

Through it all, it must have been a tremendous hardship in some ways for Margaret. Just as it was for Edward the Confessor, the reluctance of being in a royal court would have had been the same for her. Be as it were, she combined her role of queen and servant of Christ in a way that is best described by Saint Teresa, which was, “to give our Lord perfect service, Martha and Mary must combine.”

Through her difficult times reconciling the life of two disparagingly different poles, she sought and received well inspiration and guidance from Lanfranc, a humble Benedictine, whom she had met sometime earlier in England. A scholar and a saintly cleric, Lanfranc’s experience as the Archbishop of Canterbury in reorganising and reforming the Church in England proved invaluable to Margaret when it came time to do the same in Scotland.

Throughout her life in fact, Lanfranc was one of her greatest source of support, encouragement and influence and interestingly, it was he who sent her the Benedictine Chaplain Turgot, the same person who ended up being responsible for telling the world about her exemplary life.

Margaret reads Scripture to Malcolm (Image source: Pinterest)

Just as she allowed God to work in her for His glory, Malcolm opened his heart to listen to his beloved wife because he knew she offered sage advice despite her youthfulness. He was keenly aware that it was her faith in Christ that made it possible for her to acquire such remarkable wisdom and insight, just as he was deeply respectful of her knowledge, intelligence and literacy.

Malcolm allowed Margaret to transform him and so he availed himself to be taught the better things in life, the rewards of God’s kingdom and also the ways to temper his vitriol as well as to have a broader understanding of the civilised world around him.

Indeed, the marriage between Malcolm and Margaret was fast becoming something of a revelation not just for Scotland but for the rest of the world. It is inconceivable, even during those days, for a queen to be able to bear such influence on the king but here it was, both royalties were even praying together and with their very own hands, they fed the impoverished among the people of the land.

Some might observe that Malcolm himself was probably too ignorant of the long-term ramifications of Margaret’s influence and endeavours since he was not as religious but I believe that sells him short because over their marriage, as he allowed her to read Scripture to him, he would have changed. Just as he may be content with her pursuing her reforms, it is also a powerful testimony of the mutual love and trust, strength and affection that they had for each other in their marriage.

Malcolm knew that his wife’s sources of inspiration were unattainable by him but through her sharing of the Word, he understood with clarity the presence of the one true celestial destination – “a temper rather than a place” – that he could now find reason to pursue.

“Whatever pleased her, he loved for love of her. Although he could not read, he would turn over the books she used for her devotions, kissing them and taking them in his hands. … Sometimes, he sent for a worker in precious metals whom he commanded to ornament that book with gold and gems and when the work was finished, the king himself used to carry the volume to the Queen as a proof of his devotion,” wrote Turgot, her biographer.

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Malcolm and Margaret (Image source: wikiwand.com)

These were humbling achievements that made Margaret a true but very rare exemplar of the ‘just ruler’ for the expanse of her influence wasn’t just her husband, the king, but also every one of her children. In particular, her youngest son, the future King David I of Scotland would bear an indelible mark of his mother’s love and influence as he made his everlasting impression also as a just and holy ruler.

Beyond her own family, Margaret’s role as the leading lady of the land enabled her to set an example for everyone when it came to holiness and personal worship. She became such a lasting impression on the ladies of the court that all of them aspired to be like her and in effect, they did their best to imitate her behaviour and demeanour.

Her biographer, Turgot, wrote, “The chroniclers all agree in depicting Queen Margaret as a strong, pure, noble character, who had very great influence over her husband, and through him over Scottish history, especially in its ecclesiastical aspects.”

Some might think that Margaret was ‘only’ the wife of the king but she was far more than that. To her beloved people, she was a powerful voice that brought change to their lives. Through her piousness, she was their conscience that transformed the spiritual life of the land.

Of course, it is true that Malcolm’s adoration for his wife made all of this possible for her to use such powers for change. Yet it was also her own willingness, desire and selflessness that forever shaped the very events that define Scotland.

Notable works of love

Queen Margaret washes the feet of the poor (Image source: St Margaret's-Queensferry)

In her piety as a Catholic, Margaret explored far and wide in her endeavour to help her people in as many ways as possible. There was not a moment when she was not praying or reading Scripture or out of the royal domicile doing things to comfort others.

Margaret’s daily life may be predictable to observers but it is an exemplification of her humble service to God and her fellowmen well before service to self. Her priority was the sacrifice of self so that others may benefit from what she could offer.

The eminent historian, Dr William Forbes Skene (1809-1892), offers a description of Margaret’s character, saying, “For purity of motives, for an earnest desire to benefit the people among whom her lot was cast, for a deep sense of religion and great personal piety, for the unselfish performance of whatever duty lay before her and for entire self-abnegation, she is unsurpassed. … No more beautiful character has been recorded in history.”

Charitable works were among the many things she was justifiably well known for and in these was the establishment of a ferry service that crossed the Firth of Forth easing the way for pilgrims to reach Saint Andrew’s in Fife. In doing so, the two towns that defined the ferry points came to be known as South Queensferry and North Queensferry.

Furthermore, she had also taken to task, the personal endeavour to take in no less than nine orphans. Every morning “at the first hour of the day” (after her many hours of prayer and reading of the Psalms), she would serve them as the orphans were all brought out to her.

Queen Margaret of Scotland feeds the orphans (Image source: erinlawless.wordpress.com)

Her biographer Turgot wrote, “When the little ones were carried to her, she did not think it beneath her to take them upon her knee and to get their pap ready for them and this, she used to put into their mouths with the spoon which she herself used. … The Queen did this act of charity for the sake of Christ, as one of Christ’s servants.”

Other than the orphans, Margaret had time to also serve the poor on a daily basis without missing a beat. And she would do all of this before she would sit down and eat for herself. In addition, she’d also washed the feet of the poor. Just as Christ came to serve, she, in her imitation of the Lord, did the same. But of course that wasn’t all.

For most ladies of the court, an opportunity to be the queen meant access to possessing the greatest wealth possible and there’s nothing too wrong in thinking this way except that this did not describe Margaret at all. In fact, it was as far remote a description as one could get to understanding her.

Queen Margaret addresses council with a deep spiritual sense (Image source: St Margaret's - Queensferry)

To Margaret, great wealth that may be at her disposal merely meant that she was just the steward. This was a queen who lived a life in the spirit of inward poverty. She considered none of the wealth as her own but instead, she viewed all of these material possessions as opportunities made available by God to be used in ways that would truly glorify Him. And in this conduct, Margaret was certainly a very saintly queen.

For Scotland, every Sunday, according to Margaret, was to be a day of rest and worship in accordance to Scripture. Much to the joy of the working class, this meant as much a highly-cherished abstinence from servile work as it is a day of enjoying one’s own family for the day.

For her, every midnight, she would arise to attend the liturgy where she would pray not just for her husband and children but for all of those whom she bear responsible for throughout the land of Scotland. She was also successful in convincing the Benedictine Order to found not just an abbey but the Royal Mausoleum in Dunfermline in 1072 plus the subsequent years of other churches, monasteries and pilgrimage stayovers.

Besides Dunfermline, Margaret was also interested in Iona that was the cradle of Christianity for the whole country. In the days when the Western Isles were in the hands of Scandinavian pirates – such as the case in 1072 with Iona – Malcolm and Margaret had visited the royal town and vowed they would restore the Iona Abbey so that the monks would have the means thereafter to pursue their work.

St Margaret's Stone (Image source: The Modern Antiquarian)

There is, in fact, a particularly specific stone near Dunfermline where the people have come to know as Saint Margaret’s Stone. It was here that apparently, she would come to sit so that anyone with a troubled heart could come to seek her counsel.

Besides the stone, a new custom had emerged in Dunfermline where the poor could come in the morning to the ‘royal hall’ where they may be seated in anticipation of an audience with none other than Malcolm and Margaret. As the royal couple enter to meet them, “no one was permitted to be present at their alms deeds.

The King on one side and the Queen on the other, waited on Christ in the person of His poor.” Indeed, with the exception of the chaplains and some sparing attendants, the king and queen of Scotland could hear their pleas and attend to their most base needs.

Margaret’s sense of charity was profoundly powerful and humbling for she never once placed herself above others. Though a queen to all, she felt herself in servitude to her subjects. In that sense, her thoughts were always for the poorest of her subjects first. But even so, there were those who weren’t her subjects (in a technical sense) but they too did not escape her compassion.

Such was the case with her fellow English exiles whom she interceded so that their ransoms could be paid and liberty assured. These were people who were subjected to serfdom following the subjugation of England by the Normans. This was a time when “no Scot so poor that he did not have his English captive.”

For Margaret, the urge was to set them free and she did everything in her power to find them every assistance to make that possible. That included her personal payment of all their ransoms so that they could return to their families in England.

Queen Margaret marked a unique era in the history of Scotland but her exemplar held no comparison even with what the rest of the world might offer then as it is today. From her life emanated the power to do good unlike ever before and for centuries thereon, Margaret was celebrated beyond just Catholic veneration. Throughout Scotland and in lands that know her, she was widely considered the ideal of a holy and just woman who once lived all too briefly in the world.

Setting the church straight

Queen Margaret of Scotland (Image source: YouTube)

Once filled with ignorance, Margaret’s ascension to the royal consort of the throne meant changes could now be rung in to deal with erroneous religious observances that had plagued the land for too long. She used her authority to instruct the synod to remedy the problems and eradicate the various abuses. In her pursuit for alignment with Roman practices, she set forth on reforming the Scottish church by ridding it of old Celtic practices.

To do that, she gave the old guard the opportunity to explain their views on issues like Lent and the date on which it should commence, the conduct of the Holy Communion during the period of Easter, the practice of using Gaelic in deference to Latin for the church liturgies and even the matter of doing work on the Sabbath.

To all these and more, Margaret succeeded in convincing them that she had a better approach and with Malcolm’s authority vested in her interest, there was nigh possibility of the old ways to be retained. To the king, supporting his wife was simply a case of placing before him, “the incarnation of all that was pure and holy.”

Inevitably with Margaret’s stamp of approval – and authority – Mass was conducted in the unified Latin rather than the litany of different Gaelic dialects that were used in such widespread fashion across the whole of Scotland. Margaret’s intention was to open up opportunities for her fellow Scots to worship equally alongside other Christians throughout Western Europe and not be stymied by colloquialism and parochialism.

Malcolm III and Margaret of Scotland (Image source: Dr Kate Ash-Irisarri)

Some even believed that in her actions to bind the Scots to a more unifying common ground, the opportunities had opened for the warring neighbourhood between Scotland and England to finally cease. Whether that was her underlying agenda will never be clear but beyond the doubt, the church in Scotland was forever changed. Gone was the idiosyncratic native Gaelic flavour and in its place, the emergence of the dominant Roman Catholic papacy.

To help advance her efforts, she introduced English priests – probably with the assistance of Archbishop Anselm to whom she ardently supported – who could carry out her wishes. She also hosted numerous conferences with Church leaders, looking to find as many ways as possible to weed out all the “unlawful things” that had come about within the church walls. By doing all of this, Margaret – and later her sons – dragged the Scottish church away from its ‘Celtic idiosyncrasies’ and held sway to the broader and more accepted worldview of Christendom.

All of this should not be surprising given that Margaret had a prodigious appetite for the Word of God. Here was a gracious queen who adored the Gospels even more so than her subjects. To her, the ultimate tale was how God gave up glory so that lost mankind might finally find it. And along with this came real hope that we might be repatriated to the Father through Christ.

Margaret's favourite Gospel lectionary on display at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (Image source: genius.bodleian.ox.ac.uk)

Her zeal for devotional reading was not lost to Malcolm whose deep admiration for adoration for God that he had her books flourished and ornamented in gold and silver. One of these, an illuminated Gospel book filled with portraits of the Evangelists is today available on display at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England.

Margaret can also be credited with ecclesiastical embroidery that even her husband, as uncouth and illiterate as he might be, could appreciate. Her love for colours and deft use of soft cloth plus how she had her fellow Scots trained by imported skilled workers probably contributed to the rise of clan tartans of which the most prominent ones today include the Royal Stewart, Davidson, Stuart, MacDonald, MacGregor, MacDuff and MacLean and many others.

Throughout her whole life in Scotland, Margaret did everything in her power to spread the Word and she did that in a great variety of ways, not least of which was her sponsorship of new churches, abbeys and even hostels (for travelling worshippers) so that they may come to know Christ better.

In fact, when Margaret was 10 years old, having arrived on her first visit to England, she was already well immersed in the ways of the Lord. While chroniclers were busying themselves with her breathtaking tall Saxon beauty, she was unperturbed in her delight in Scripture.

As early as then, she was already proficient enough in Latin to be able to understand the teachings of Cassian and Saint Augustine. Like her other siblings, she learned French at the half-Norman court and like all Englishwomen, was taught needlework.

The inspiration of her offspring

Margaret and her children (Image source: forum.termometropolitico.it)

Between Malcolm and Margaret, they had six sons and two daughters including three male offspring – Duncan, Donald and Malcolm – from his first marriage. Regardless, she brought all of them up in her faith. All of their children bore English names.

Following the death of Malcolm in the Battle of Alnwick in 1093, Duncan (from his first marriage) became the first of the children to ascend to the throne. In his case, he replaced his father as King of Scotland. The others included Edgar, Alexander and then David, all of whom also were Kings of Scotland.

A fourth, was Edmund who co-ruled Scotland with their uncle, Donald III. Of her two daughters, Edith, who changed her name to Matilda, became queen consort of England after marrying Henry I and in so doing, brought the bloodlines of ancient Anglo-Saxon and Scottish royalty into the veins of the Norman invaders of England.

Here’s a brief overview of Margaret’s high-achieving children:

Edward, Prince of Scotland (c.1071-1093)

Margaret’s eldest son was killed alongside his father Malcolm at the River Aln during the invasion of Northumberland in the Battle of Alnwick. He was no older than 22 years of age.

And with his untimely death, Scotland was robbed of Malcolm’s natural successor and began a period of conspiracy that involved his younger brother who disgraced the family with his underhandedness. Unfortunately because of his premature death, not much else is known about him.

Edmund of Scotland (c.1071-post-1097)

Of the many children, Edmund was the only one who “fell away from the good.” History records him as a betrayer of his siblings in his conspiracy with their uncle, Domnall (Donald) Bane, to wrestle the throne from their father before Duncan could assume the role. He was eventually caught and imprisoned after his maternal uncle, Edgar Ætheling drove Domnall (Donald III) and made his younger brother, Edgar, the rightful heir.

Domnall eventually died in prison following some serious mutilation. Edmund was more fortunate although he was tonsured before being removed to a monastery in Somerset where it is said he became a monk. He died but no one recorded the exact year. It’s fair to say that his siblings had abandoned him because of his betrayal.

Ethelred of Scotland

Ethelred (Image source: Freepages-Ancestry.com)

Ethelred became the lay Abbot of Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Unfortunately, he died young sometime around 1093. For reasons not known, he was not considered for succession to the throne. In his appointment, Ethelred was given vast lands that extended on both sides of the Firth of Forth and from these, he generously gifted the Church.

Rev. William Lockhart cited Andrew of Wyntoun (c.1350-c.1425) saying that Ethelred was by his dying mother’s side at Edinburgh Castle. He said, “After her death, and during the so-called usurpation of Donalbane [referring to Domnall, see above], he conveyed her lifeless body secretly out of the western gate of the castle, taking, as is said, the advantage of a fog, on to Dunfermline, and in all probability he died soon afterwards and was buried not at Saint Andrews, as some seem to say, but at Dunfermline, in the same resting place where the bodies of his father and mother and eldest brother were laid.”

It was, however, their three youngest sons – Edgar, Alexander and David – who became the most outstanding jewels for Scotland and through the exemplary holiness of their loving mother, they are today best remembered as the country’s best kings ever.

Of the three, David the youngest ruled for almost thirty years, making him the longest reigning of all the kingly brothers.

Edgar, King of Scots (c.1074-1107), regnat from 1097 to 1107

Edgar, King of Scotland image2findagravecomphotos200588421452110529

Edgar, King of Scotland (Image source: alchetron.com)

Nicknamed ‘the Valiant,’ and technically fourth in line to his father’s throne, Edgar was the first to be considered eligible. He claimed kingship following the murder of his half-brother Duncan II in 1094 by Màel Petair of Mearns who was a supporter of his uncle Domnall.

After his uncle was removed, Edgar reigned without crisis (though somewhat obscure) with a treaty signed with the Norwegians (1098) that ceded territory and establishing a practical border in a pursuit of peace for his people.

In Margaret, his mother’s footsteps, Edgar established a priory at Coldingham in the same year. Unmarried and childless, he died in December 1107 and was buried alongside his parents but three years before so, he acknowledged Alexander, his brother, to be his rightful successor.

Alexander I, King of Scots (c.1078-1124), regnat from 1107 to 1124

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Alexander I, King of Scotland (Image source: Encyclopedia Britannica)

Named after Pope Alexander II, Alexander was posthumously given the nickname ‘the Fierce.’ Before he became Edgar’s heir presumptive (declared in 1104), Alexander was a senior layman who held lands north of the Forth and in Lothian.

History records that he married his brother-in-law Henry I’s illegitimate daughter Sybilla of Normandy sometime between 1107 and 1114. Sybilla, as it turned out, was notably pious but whether or not that was the reason, the devoted couple remained childless until her untimely death in 1122 in which she was buried also in Dunfermline Abbey.

In his devotion to his wife, Alexander dedicated the Augustinian Priory in her memory. Like his brothers, Edgar and David, Alexander was also a godly king who might have been the one behind the appointment of his late mother’s biographer, Turgot, as Bishop of Saint Andrews in 1107. At around the time that his wife died, he acknowledged that David would succeed him.

As for Margaret’s two daughters – Edith and Mary – they were strictly brought up mainly by her younger sister, Cristina at the Abbey of Romsey.

Edith, Queen of England (c.1080-1118)

Matilda of Scotland, Queen Consort of Henry I (Image source: Pinterest)

She renamed herself Matilda (a.k.a. Maud), a sacred Norman name, when she married Henry Beauclerc (King Henry I) of England in late 1100 to become Queen Consort.

Henry was the third son of William the Conqueror and therefore, by being the Queen Consort – and with her brother Edgar now secure as King of the Scots – she took on the enormously significant role of unifying the Saxon and Norman lines. Her own daughter, Matilda, married the Emperor Henry V – in the presence of Margaret – to become Holy Roman Empress and after being widowed, she became her father’s next-in-line for the throne.

King Stephen (Image source: Pinterest)

Unfortunately, her paternal cousin Stephen stole the crown from her and it was ultimately through her son, Henry II, that the right to succession became possible. Just like her late mother, Matilda was as literary as she was pious but she was also musically inclined. Her court was often filled with music and flowed with poetry.

It’s also very likely that she was the one who appointed Turgot to write a biography of her beloved mother. Like her mother, her piousness and devotion to the needs of the poor were well documented. It is said that during Lent, Matilda would not only attend church barefooted but washed the feet and kissed the hands of the infirmed.

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Matilda, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire (Image source: Pinterest)

She also showed a keenness in attending to those afflicted with leprosy, establishing no less than two hospitals for that express purpose as well as an institution that would eventually become the parish church of Saint Giles-in-the-Fields.

Matilda died at the age of 38 in 1118, two years before her own son, William, was tragically drowned. Unlike most of her siblings, she was buried in Westminster Abbey, in the tradition of English royalty, and was warmly regarded as ‘Matilda the Good Queen’ and ‘Matilda of Blessed Memory.’

Being the great-granddaughter of King Edmund Ironside, even the present-day English monarchy can find their genealogy linked to Matilda and the Anglo-Saxon House of Wessex.

Mary, Countess of Boulogne (1082-1116)

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Mary of Scotland, Countess of Boulogne (Image source: Polyvore)

Margaret’s youngest child married Eustace III, the Count of Boulogne but very ironically, their daughter became Queen of England with their paternal cousin Stephen who became King, at the expense of her sister, Matilda (nee Edith).

During her childhood, around 1086, Margaret, her mother, had sent her two daughters including Mary to her sister, Cristina, who was the abbess of Romsey. There, she learned the strict life of piousness as well as the fullness of a proper education, which both sisters continued on at the Wilton Abbey about seven years later.

With her sister, Edith, having married Henry I, she was also persuaded to pursue matrimony. Eventually she followed in her elder sister’s footsteps by leaving the abbey in 1096. Shortly thereafter, at the persuasion of Henry, she was betrothed to Eustace III, Count of Boulogne. Despite being married for twenty years, they only had a daughter, Matilda who went on to become Queen of England. Mary died in 1116.

Matilda of Boulogne (Image source: Confessions of a Ci-Devant)

The sad irony between the two sisters, Mary and Edith was that their respective daughters, both similarly named Matilda, had fought each other over the control of England. Matilda of Boulogne eventually overcame Matilda of the English and had her husband Stephen released from captivity and once more proclaimed King of England.

Even more ironic was that once Stephen died, the English throne fell back into the line of Mary’s sister to which the son of Matilda of the English, Henry ascended.

Through it all, Margaret’s children embroidered a striking fabric of great history and legacy for Scotland as well as England. There was no doubt that she and her husband, Malcolm, brought them up well with an unerring focus to love Christ.

Turgot her biographer recalled Margaret reminding her children, “If you love Him, my darlings, He will give you prosperity in this life and everlasting happiness with all the saints.”

And finally, there was their youngest son, David.

David I of Scotland (c.1083-1153), King of Scots, regnat from 1124 to 1153

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David I, King of Scotland (Image source: Wikipedia)

In David’s 29-year reign was not just peace but an extension of the amazing work that her mother had begun. Through an appanage in the lands of the former Kingdom of Strathclyde granted in 1107 by his dying brother, Edgar, then-King of Scotland, he was first known as the Prince of the Cumbrians (1113-1124) before becoming King of Scots.

With the backing of his brother-in-law Henry I, King of England, he sought to claim the Scottish throne after his brother’s death but to do that, he had to wage a successful but long and destructive ten-year warfare against his own nephew (Alexander’s own illegitimate son).

After Henry I’s death, David saw to his niece’s (Matilda, daughter of Edith) rightful claim to the English throne but in the process of doing so, he could not avoid conflict with King Stephen, who was actually his other niece’s (Mary’s daughter by the same name, Matilda) husband.

Thereafter came what is popularly called the ‘Davidian Revolution’ in which Scotland underwent transformation in no less dramatic a fashion as it did during his late mother, Margaret’s reign. With David came the establishment of burghs and regional markets, the ideal practices of Gregorian Reform and the propagation of Norman practices in Scottish governance as well as the introduction of feudalism by way of immigrant French and Anglo-French knights.

In line with his mother’s examples, David set up new bishoprics and abbeys such as those in Melrose, Kelso and Jedburgh. He also generously funded many monasteries. When the Scottish Bishops opposed Pope Innocent III’s order to comply with the authority of the Archbishop of York, David lent them his unstinting support.

David’s close relationship with Henry I went beyond just a patron in support of his war to claim the Scottish throne. Due to him being the brother-in-law, David had spent much time in Henry’s court to the extent that he’d soon become more of a Normanised prince than a mere Scottish royalty.

William of Malmesbury wrote that he “rubbed off all the rust of Scottish barbarism through being polished from boyhood by familiarity with us. He remitted three years taxation for those who improved their houses, their dress and table manners. No three royal brothers were ever so holy or so chaste.”

In fact, it was his English brother-in-law who, in 1113, instigated his marriage to Maud (a.k.a. Matilda), Second Countess of Huntingdon. From this marriage came a son whom he named Henry, after his brother-in-law, the King of England.

Following first his role as Earl of Cumberland (giving him virtual rule of southern Scotland) and then as the King of Scots on the death of his brother Alexander I in 1124, David was on the way to become the most outstanding and memorable of all of Margaret’s children. Firstly, he distributed swathes of land to the clans of Bruce, Comines, Balliol and Fitz Alan.

David died in 1153 in Carlisle and in burial, he joined his parents and many of his siblings at the Dunfermline Abbey. However, because his only child, Henry, Earl of Northumberland predeceased him the year before, he was succeeded by his grandson, Malcolm IV.

The remarkableness of their lives (with the exception of Edmund) laid great testimony to Margaret’s maternal guidance, authority and piety. From four sons and two daughters, she produced three Scottish kings (plus a disgraced illegitimate co-ruler), a Queen of England and a granddaughter who also became a Queen of England. Furthermore, most of them followed her faith in Christ and did their part in contributing to the spreading of Christianity.

Margaret dies

The death of Malcolm and Edward their eldest son at the Battle of Alnwick (Image source: St Margaret's-Queensferry)

Eventually, Margaret’s piousness and deep and tireless care for the poor and the orphans put paid to her health. These were also not helped by her devotion to repeated but rigorous fasting and abstinence.

Through her most purpose-filled life, Margaret spend very long hours in prayer throughout day and night but for those who might not understand why, the Queen of Scotland had continually pleaded the case for not just her husband and children but also for Scotland that God may shower them with His blessings.

In Christ, she saw the greatest example of offering herself for the sins of the world that in doing so, she would be in the greatest company of the patriarchs of the Good Book.

All of these led to her long illness that began in 1093 but that was also the year in which, bedridden and near-death in Edinburgh Castle, she received news in November from her son Edgar of her husband and eldest son’s deaths at River Aln in Northumberland in the Battle of Alnwick. At the young but worn-out age of forty-seven, Margaret succumbed shortly thereafter.

Many had said that she died of a broken heart on hearing such news. She died in deep veneration, having both hands firmly clasped on a particular black cross.

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The death of Margaret of Scotland (Image source: St Margaret's-Queensferry)

Turgot records that there were no murmurs from Margaret safe for her final words of praise and thanksgiving to God. “Her departure was so calm and tranquil that her friends concluded her soul passed to the land of eternal rest and peace,” he wrote in her biography.

Margaret was buried alongside Malcolm with many of her children following in the later years at the Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, Scotland. Following her canonisation by Pope Innocent IV in 1250, Margaret’s remains were disinterred and then placed in a reliquary (a holy urn) after which, according to tradition, it was to be carried to the high altar in the eastern apse of the Abbey where a new shrine was in place but as it past Malcolm’s grave, it suddenly became too heavy to move.

As a result, Malcolm’s remains were also disinterred at the same time so that both could be buried alongside one another beside the altar.

St Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh Castle (Image source: Undiscovered Scotland)

Margaret’s relics were dispersed after the Scottish Reformation of 1559 and from there, became inexplicably lost. In particular, her head somehow made its way to Mary, Queen of Scots who, in 1560, had it removed to Edinburgh Castle and took ownership in a gruesome belief that it would assist her in childbirth.

From there, it went to the Jesuits in the Scottish College who preserved it in Douai, France but thereafter, it was either lost or destroyed during the French Revolution.

In the meantime, many believe that King Felipe of Spain could have taken possession of the other remains of both Margaret and Malcolm and had them placed at his San Lorenzo de El Escorial palace some 45 kilometres northwest of Madrid, Spain. Despite all these details, no one knows where they’re at today.

A lasting legacy for all time

Statue of Margaret of Scotland (Image source: uk.pinterest.com)

It is not by whim that for a historical piece, it would run longer than anything else that came before it on this website. Margaret’s tremendously inspiring story was not be perchance.

There is no other way than to look at Margaret’s life as one in which God had deliberately sent her to Scotland and not back to Hungary. On that fateful day, the refugee ship was purposely blown off-course so that Margaret would do His will and transformed the people of her husband’s land.

It was very clear that the Lord had meant for her to go on a mission to fulfil her destiny in glory to Him. It is in her responsibility that Scotland – and also England – would benefit from her piety, spiritual vision and lovingkindness. It is for that reason that she is celebrated on this day, June 10,* every year since three-hundred and twenty-four years ago in 1693 in accordance to Pope Innocent XII’s declaration.

* Although formerly observed on that day, the celebration was moved to the anniversary of her death on November 16 in 1969 in line with how it has long been observed in Scotland. Nonetheless, there are still traditionalists who have continued to stick to the original date.

From Margaret’s legacy, her children saw the emergence of Britain as we know it today and with that, the beginning of the end of the separation of Scotland and England. It was purely through her work that the Celt and Saxon merger was now firmly in place and has been so till today.

Her contribution to this is so significant that in the Roman Catholic Church having venerated her, they have made light of the very fact that of all the saints throughout all of history, it is only Margaret who still stands as a contended mother of a large family who not only inspired her husband to know about Christ but also brought up her sons and daughters to her credit and then died surrounded by them.

That fact alone puts her in a category of one, uncontested for so many hundreds of years and likely to remain peerless for a long time to come.

In all of Margaret’s great work, what made it all the more remarkable was that the Scots who themselves were strongly – and emotionally – protective of their liberties, were ready to accept her reformation ideas. We are not talking about the seventeenth century but of the twelfth. That’s at least five hundred years before Luther’s time.

Statue of Margaret of Scotland (Image source: Franciscan Media)

Margaret also had to deal with a culture that was rife in chiefdom rivalries in which there was that complicated clan system filled with chieftains who ruled in their respective interests. Margaret somehow was able to win their hearts over and hence, won her cause for God.

To the various clans, she probably came across as a simple but godly woman, attractive in all her ways, and then felt strongly enough of her admirable purpose in Christ to dedicate themselves to her plans.

It is also not unimportant to realise that in Margaret was a Queen whom her people had free access to, for counselling or praying or in whatever need they may have.

Margaret’s achievements were and still are very notable for Scotland but in her alone is her very own greatest work for this is a woman who appears very much larger than life. When one considers every achievement of hers in light of her selflessness, then Margaret is the very incarnation of true greatness.

Cassian once said, “The height of perfection and blessedness does not consist in the performance of wonderful works but in the purity of love. For all these things shall pass away and be destroyed but love is to abide forever.” He could have well said that in reference to Margaret.

In a book written by a monk of Douay in 1660 are the words that so well express who Margaret is:

“Some will admire the innocency of her manners in her tender years, the rigour she exercised on her body in her youth and the prayers wherewith she nourished her soul. … Methinks I make sufficient panegyric if I say she has been the idea of a perfect queen, one of these wise ones who by the sweetness of her conversation, the innocency of her deportment and the force of her spirit reformed the disorders that had crept into her kingdom.”

Lux Mundi

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Saturday, June 10, 2017

Scotland’s Beloved Margaret is Honoured

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