Margaret Sanger – Mother of Modern Contraception

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Susan Ozmore

I am very excited to welcome guest blogger Tami Stout. She is currently studying political science and women and gender studies and has kindly offered to give us her insight about Margaret Sanger. Thank you Tami!

margaret-sanger-1-sizedMargaret Louise Higgins Sanger (1879 – 1966) was an American activist born in 1879 in Corning, New York.  Sanger was one of eleven children born to an Irish-Catholic immigrant working class family.  Her mother, Anne Purcell Higgins died of tuberculosis and cervical cancer at the age of 50 having born the strain of 11 pregnancies and seven stillbirths.  As the story goes, Margaret lashed out at her father over her mother’s coffin that he was responsible for Anne’s death due to so many pregnancies.

Margaret was determined to have a different future.  She left Corning to attend nursing school in the Catskills.  Margaret married William Sanger in 1902 and had three children of her own.  In 1910, the Sangers moved to New York City and settled in Greenwich Village.  The area was known as being bohemian and supported the more radical politics of the time.

Margaret returned to New York City to work as a visiting nurse on the Lower East side.  Here was where she saw the lives of poor immigrant women.  Without effective contraceptives many of these women, when faced with another unwanted pregnancy, resorted to five-dollar back-alley abortions or attempted to self-terminate their pregnancies.  After botched abortions Margaret was called in to care for the women.  After watching the suffering and trauma so many women experienced, Sanger began to shift her attention away from nursing to the need for better contraceptives.  Sanger objected to the suffering and fought to make birth control information and contraceptives available.  She began dreaming of a “magic pill” to be used to control pregnancy.  “No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother,” Sanger said.

Indicted under Comstock Laws for sending diaphragms through the mail and arrested in 1916 for opening the first birth control clinic in the country, which was only open for nine days before she was arrested, Margaret Sanger would not take no for an answer.  In 1921 she founded the American Birth Control League, the forerunner to Planned Parenthood and she spent the next thirty years trying to bring safe and effective birth control to the American woman.

Gregory Pincus

Gregory Pincus

By the 1950’s, although Sanger had many victories, she was far from finished.  Frustrated with limited birth control options on the market, Margaret still was in search of the “magic pill”.  No longer a young woman and in failing health, she was not ready to give up and made it her mission to find someone to complete her vision of a contraceptive pill as easy to take as an aspirin, inexpensive, safe, and effective.  In 1951 Sanger met Gregory Pincus, an expert in human reproduction.  Now all she needed was the money to make her vision happen and she found that in heiress Katherine McCormick.  Pincus partnered with Dr. John Rock and the collaboration led to the FDA approval of Enovid, the first oral contraceptive in 1960.

Katherine McCormick

Katherine McCormick

There were of course bumps in the road on the way to an effective contraceptive available to the masses.  Pill trials in Puerto Rico did cause health problems and deaths due to extremely high levels of hormones.  Sanger also faced controversy over her association with eugenics.  Sanger’s grandson, Alexander Sanger, chair of the International Planned Parenthood stated that his grandmother “believed that women wanted their children to be free of poverty and disease, that women were natural eugenicists, and that birth control was the panacea to accomplish this.”

With the invention of the “magic pill” Margaret Sanger accomplished her life-long goal of bringing safe, affordable, and effective contraception to the masses.  Not only did she see the pill realized, but four years later, at the age of 81, Margaret Sanger witnessed the undoing of Comstock Laws.  In the 1965 Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut, the court ruled that the private use of contraceptives was a constitutional right.  When Sanger passed away a year later, after more than half a century of fighting for the rights of women to control their own fertility, she died knowing she had done what she set out to do.

Margaret Sanger was a champion of women and by giving women the right to control their own fertility, she gave them the right to control their lives.  No longer held hostage by your body, you have the right to seek education, employment, and a rich and fulfilled life whether that involves children or not.

 

Sanger's Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau operated from this New York building from 1930 to 1973. It is now a National Historic Landmark.

Sanger’s Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau operated from this New York building from 1930 to 1973. It is now a National Historic Landmark.

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Celebrating Black History Month Part 3

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Susan Ozmore

Here’s one last post of the women we’ve highlighted on the Saints, Sisters, and Sluts Facebook page for Black History Month. There are many more women who have made considerable contributions and done amazing things. It’s impossible to include them all. I know I have learned a lot though and have a basis to build on for future blog posts. I hope you’ve learned something along the way as well.

Nannie Helen Burroughs

Nannie Helen Burroughs by Rotograph Co., New York City, 1909

Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879 – 1961) was an educator, orator, religious leader, and business woman. She helped found the National Association of Colored Women and worked within the National Baptist Convention. In 1909, she founded the National Training School for Women and Girls. The school emphasized preparation for occupations, but also stressed being proud black women. To this end students were required to take a class in African American history and culture.

Willa Brown

Willa Brown

Willa Brown (1906 – 1992) was a teacher, social worker, pilot, and flight instructor, the first black woman officer in the Civil Air Patrol and the first black woman to hold a commercial pilot’s license in the US. With Cornelius R. Coffey (her husband and flight instructor) she established the Coffey School of Aeronautics to train pilots and mechanics.

She helped found the National Airmen’s Association of America in 1939 and lobbied for integration of black pilots into the Army Air Corps and the Civilian Pilot Training Program. The Coffey School was selected by the US Army to provide black trainees for the Air Corps pilot training program at the Tuskegee Institute.

Sissieretta Jones

Sissieretta Jones

Sissieretta Jones (1868? – 1933) was an American soprano who sang both opera and popular music. After beginning in the choir of her father’s African Methodist Episcopal church, Sissieretta went on to sing for 4 consecutive US Presidents and the British Royal Family.

Sissieretta Jones was sometimes referred to as "The Black Patti"

Sissieretta Jones was sometimes referred to as “The Black Patti”

She studied at the Providence Academy of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1888, she came to the attention of Adelina Patti’s manager who suggested that she tour with the Fisk Jubilee singers. Adelina Patti was a successful Italian opera singer. Sissieretta was sometimes referred to as “The Black Patti.”

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842 – 1924) was an African American publisher, journalist, civil rights leader, suffragist and the founder and editor of Women’s Era, the first journal written by and for African American women. Together with her husband George Lewis Ruffin (who had a number of first’s to his name, including first African American male graduate from Harvard Law School,) Josephine worked to recruit black soldiers to the Union cause during the Civil War and to support the men in the field.

In 1869, Josephine joined with Julia Ward Howe and Lucy Stone to form the American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1895, she organized the Nation Federation of Afro-American Women which later merged with the Colored Women’s League to form the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs with Mary Church Terrell at its head.

“The Ruffin Incident” occurred when Josephine intended to attend the meeting of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1900. She was representing two integrated groups (the New England Woman’s Club and the New England Woman’s Press Club) and one all black group, the New Era Club. When southern leaders discovered that the New Era Club was an all black organization they refused to let her represent them, but said she could participate as a representative of the other groups. She refused to compromise. The incident was widely reported across the country with much support for Ruffin.

Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer (1917 – 1977) was a voting rights advocate and civil rights activist. In 1962, in spite of the danger, she joined a group of people inspired by James Bevel and traveled to Indianola MS to register to vote. It was a very dangerous thing for African Americans to attempt to vote in the South at the time, so to bolster the groups courage she began to sing Christian hymns. This became her trademark as she organized other groups to register. Her courage brought her to the attention of leaders in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who recruited her to speak and organize.

Hamer is probably best known for her speech given to the Credential’s Committee at the Democratic National Convention in 1964. The Mississippi Democratic Party sent an all white and anti-civil rights delegation. In response Hamer with others formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Committee to challenge the all white delegation as not representing all of Mississippi. Ultimately, the compromise offered by the Convention was unacceptable to the MFDC, but the Democratic Party adopted a clause demanding equality of representation from all state delegations. Fannie Lou Hamer was selected as a delegate to the 1968 Convention.

There are several women I highlighted on the FB page, but not in these posts because they already appear in other blog posts. If you’re interested here are the names and links.

Marian Anderson
Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary Ann Shadd

In case you missed Part 1 or Part 2.

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Celebrating Black History Month Part 2

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Susan Ozmore

I want to continue sharing brief information on the black women I’ve learned about during Black History Month. The more women I’ve researched this month, the more I have discovered. There is an embarrassment of riches in this area that has been unknown to me. One reason is the overshadowing, during their time, of black women by white women they worked jointly with such as Josephine Ruffin who worked with Julia Ward Howe and Lucy Stone to form the American Woman’s Suffrage Association. There is also the simple fact that women and African Americans are not fully present in the typical history curriculum. To anyone who thinks that we don’t need to emphasize Black History or Women’s History, I challenge you to do what I have done this month and search the internet for one person they have never heard of each day. You may be surprised.

Now for more black women from the SSS Facebook page. There are two women who should be remembered as the earliest African American female physicians: Rebecca Lee Crumpler and Rebecca Cole.

Dr. Rebecca Lee

Dr. Rebecca Lee

Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831 – 1895) was the first African-American woman to become a physician. She graduated in 1864 from the New England Female Medical College. After graduation and the end of the Civil War, she worked with the Freedmen’s Bureau and other community groups to provide medical services to freed slaves in Richmond, VA. Later she returned to practice in her home in Boston, MA. Most of what we know about her comes from the introduction to her book “Book on Medical Discourse,” written from her clinical notes and published in 1883.

Rebecca Cole (1846 – 1922) was the second African-American female doctor. She graduated in 1867 from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania and received her clinical training at Elizabeth Blackwell’s New York Infirmary for Women and Children. She practiced medicine for over 50 years working primarily with destitute women and children.

Sarah Early

Sarah Early

Sarah Jane Woodson Early (1825 – 1907) was the first African American women to become a college faculty member. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1856 and two years later took a position at Wilberforce College. The college had to close during the Civil War due to lack of funds, but for the next 40 years Sarah Jane was a teacher and school principal in Ohio and, after the war, in the South.

In 1868, Sarah Jane married the Rev. Jordan Winston Early, an African Methodist Episcopal minister, and continued teaching and working with him in his ministry. She also traveled and lectured as the national superintendent of the Black division of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. In 1894, she published a biography of her husband including both his life as a slave and his ministry.

Fannie Williams

Fannie Williams

Fannie Williams (1855 – 1944) was a teacher, lecturer, and social reformer. She helped organize Provident Hospital and its Training school for Nurses in Chicago (both interracial institutions.) After speaking at both the World’s Congress of Representative Women and the World’s Parliament of Religions, held in conjunction with the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, she was in great demand as a lecturer.

Fannie helped found the National Association of Colored Women, was among the founding members of the NAACP, and became the first Black member of the Chicago Woman’s Club. She wrote frequently for Chicago newspapers and in 1924 became the first African American and the first woman to be named to the Chicago Library Board. She also believed in a fully integrated women’s movement and was chosen as the only African American to eulogize Susan B. Anthony at the 1907 Women’s Suffrage Convention.

Edmonia Lewis

Edmonia Lewis

Edmonia Lewis (1844 – 1907) was an American sculptor of African American and Native American descent. She attended Oberlin College where she began sculpting and quickly became successful. She held her first solo exhibition in 1864 and produced popular works such as medallion portraits of John Brown and William Lloyd Garrison.

In 1865 Lewis went to Rome to study where she spent much of her adult life working and studying. One of her major works was a marble sculpture called “The Death of Cleopatra.” It was displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, this monumental piece (3000 lbs) was lost for almost 100 years. It was rediscovered, although covered in paint, and finally restored and donated to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1994.

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917 – 2000) was a Pulitzer Prize winning poet. Raised in Chicago, she had approximately 75 published poems by the time she was 16. In 1943, she received her first award and in 1945 her first book “A Street in Bronzeville” was published to critical acclaim.

“Very early in life I became fascinated with the wonders language can achieve. And I began playing with words.” Gwendolyn Brooks on Poetry

In 1950, Brooks became the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry with her book “Annie Allen.” She received many other awards including the Robert Frost Medal for lifetime achievement, the National Medal of Arts, and was honored as the first Woman of the Year chosen by the Harvard Black Men’s Forum.

Mary Frances Berry

Mary Frances Berry

Mary Frances Berry, born Feb 17, 1938, was Provost at the University of Maryland, Chancellor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Assistant Secretary for Education in the US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare. She received her education at Howard University, and the University of Michigan, obtaining  Ph. D. and J. D. degrees.

Berry was one of the founders of the Free South Africa movement and she was arrested and jailed several times due to her support of the cause. She was in Capetown in 1990 to greet Nelson Mandela when he was released from prison.

In 1980, Berry was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as a Commissioner on the US Commission of Civil Rights. She was later fired by President Reagan for criticizing his stand on civil rights and won her reinstatement through the federal courts. She was appointed Chairperson of the Commission by President Clinton and served until her resignation in 2004. Since then she has been a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania.

Audrey Lord

Audre Lord

Audre Lorde (1934 – 1992) was an American poet, essayist, and activist of Caribbean descent. She was politically active in civil rights, anti-war, and feminist movements. Later she also became active in lesbian and gay rights causes. She co-founded “Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press” with author Barbara Smith, the first US publisher specifically for women of color. She was the State Poet of New York.

“I am defined as other in every group I’m part of”, she declared, “the outsider, both strength and weakness. Yet without community there is certainly no liberation, no future, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between me and my oppression.”

Lorde described herself as a “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” She believed that the typical feminist approach of defining things and issues based only on gender was simplistic, if perhaps necessary, and that there were other issues of difference that needed to be addressed.

Violette Neatley Anderson

Violette Neatley Anderson

Violette Neatley Anderson (1882 – 1937) was an African American attorney and judge with many “firsts” to her name. Anderson was born in London and moved to the US as a young child with her family. After graduating from Chicago Law School in 1920, she became the first African American woman admitted to the Illinois bar, the first female city prosecutor in Chicago, the first African American woman to practice law in the US District Court Eastern Division, and the first African American woman admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court.

Pearl Bailey on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968

Pearl Bailey on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968

Pearl Mae Bailey (1918 – 1990) was known as an actress and singer, but she was much more. She wrote 4 books and at 67 earned a degree in Theology from Georgetown University. At 15, she won an amateur contest and decided to pursue a career in entertainment. Beginning in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in 1946 in St. Louis Woman. She won a Tony Award for the lead role in the all-black production of Hello Dolly in 1968. Her career was varied including both movie and television, voices for animation, even commercial jingles. During WW2, Bailey sang with the USO; she also sang in nightclubs with some of the greats including Duke Ellington.

One more post tomorrow will let me finish up the brief information I’ve posted on these women for the month. If you missed them be sure to read Part 1 and Part 3.

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Celebrating Black History Month Part 1

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Susan Ozmore

During Black History Month, I’ve been highlighting at least one black woman each day on the Saints, Sisters, and Sluts Facebook page. I share other people’s posts, but I’ve made an effort to post at least one woman each day that is new to me or that I’ve learned something new about, and I’ve learned so much. However, there are people who follow the blog or follow me on twitter that don’t see the Facebook posts, so I decided to post that information here as well. It will also give me a handy place to refer to, because some of these women I want to learn more about, possibly for future blog posts.

All of the women I’ve posted have been African Americans. I didn’t necessarily intend it to be that way, Canada and Britain celebrate as well, there are two women Presidents in Africa now, and black women who have won the Nobel Peace Prize recently, but there is so much of my own country’s history that I still don’t know, so I just went where my search led me. There are many more women who could be highlighted, 28 days just isn’t enough. I’m going to break this up into several posts to keep them relatively short and readable. Please comment and let me know who your favorites are or more information about these women.

Maggie L. Walker

Maggie L. Walker

Maggie Lena Walker
Maggie Lena Walker (1864 – 1934) was an African-American business woman. She was the first woman to charter a bank in the US and the first female bank president. Working with the Independent Order of St. Luke, she established a newspaper, The St. Luke Herald, and chartered the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank.

Maggie Walker worked to create tangible improvements in the lives of women and African Americans. She also was an example for people with disabilities later in life when she was confined to a wheelchair. The Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies in Richmond, VA is named for her and her home was designated a National Historic Site and opened as a museum in 1985.

Edith S. Sampson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1949

Edith S. Sampson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1949

Edith Spurlock Sampson
Edith Spurlock Sampson (1898 – 1979) left school at 14 because of family financial difficulties. She cleaned and de-boned fish at a fish market, but was able to return to school and graduate. She went on to study social work at the New York School of Social Work, then went to law school while working full time as a social worker.

After graduating from John Marshall Law School, she opened a law office and worked with the Juvenile Court system and as a probation officer. In 1927, she became the first woman to receive a Master of Laws from Loyola University’s graduate program and passed the Illinois bar exam. In 1934 she was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the US. Sampson was the first black woman elected as a judge in the state of Illinois, was the first African-American appointed as a delegate to the United Nations, and was the first African American US representative to NATO.

Audrey Forbes Manley

Audrey Forbes Manley

Audrey Forbes Manley
Audrey Forbes Manley (b. 1934) is an American pediatrician and public health administrator. After graduating from Spelman College and Meharry Medical College, she began a distinguished career that included private practice and becoming chief of medical services at Grady Memorial Hospital’s Emory University Family Planning Clinic. Manley began her career in Public Health in 1976 eventually becoming US Deputy Surgeon General and acting Surgeon General from 1995 to 1997 when she became the President of her alma mater Spelman College.

Rosa Parks arrest in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on the bus

Rosa Parks arrest in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on the bus

Rosa Parks
February 4th of this year would have been Rosa Park’s 100th birthday. Most of us are familiar with her act of civil disobedience in 1955, when she refused to give up her seat in the ‘colored’ section of the bus to a white man, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. But Parks was more than a demure seamstress, she had been an active participant in the fight for civil rights since 1943. She also endured many hardships due to her involvement in the movement. She and her husband eventually moved to Detroit MI to try to find work. Jeanne Theoharis, political science professor at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, has written a new biography of Rosa Parks which sounds excellent, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. She gave a presentation about Rosa Parks which you can view online.

Elizabeth Jennings c. 1895

Elizabeth Jennings c. 1895

Elizabeth Jennings
One hundred years before Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat on the bus, Elizabeth Jennings insisted on her right to ride on a street car in NYC. When she was removed, she filed a law suit. Future President Chester Arthur won the case and the street cars of the city were integrated as a result. See Patricia Dolton’s blog post for more information. Not much is known about her later life. She was a teacher, church organist, and she opened the first kindergarten for black children in NYC.

Leontyne Price

Leontyne Price

Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price is an American soprano with an exquisite voice. Although Price wasn’t the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera, she was the first to sing many different roles at the Met and to build an opera career in the US and in Europe. When she debuted on January 27, 1961, the final ovation was 35 minutes, one of the longest in the history of the Met. Prior to this she had developed her reputation in Europe including being the first African American to sing a leading role in Italy’s great opera house, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Her many awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Arts, and 19 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award..

Plácido Domingo wrote, “The power and sensuousness of Leontyne’s voice were phenomenal–the most beautiful Verdi soprano I have ever heard.”

Delta Sigma Theta founders

Delta Sigma Theta founders

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
The Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded by 22 women from Howard University in 1913. Their first public act was to march in the Women’s Suffrage March on March 3, 1913. The participation of African American women in 1913 was controversial, but this year ΔΣθ is sponsoring the march on March 3, 2013 to commemorate the Centennial of the 1913 march which changed the tide of the women’s suffrage movement. The National Women’s History Museum invites you to join them.

Regarding their decision to march in the Suffrage Parade in 1913, founder Florence Letcher Toms commented, “We marched that day in order that women might come into their own, because we believed that women not only needed an education, but they needed a broader horizon in which they may use that education. And the right to vote would give them that privilege.”

A sisterhood of more than 300,000 predominantly Black college-educated women, the sorority currently has over 1,000 chapters located in the United States, England, Japan (Tokyo and Okinawa), Germany, the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas and the Republic of Korea. (from Wikipedia)

Continue to read Celebrating Black History Month in Part2 and Part 3.

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Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the DAR

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Susan Ozmore

marian anderson 05On Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, Marian Anderson performed in what may be her most famous concert in the United States. It began with a stirring rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The interracial crowd was estimated at 75,000 and the radio audience in the millions. Her final selection was the Negro spiritual “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” and in finishing this concert, Marian became a powerful symbol for African American artists, in part because the concert came about due to the bigotry of others.

Marian Anderson was born in 1897 to John Berkley Anderson and his wife Annie Delilah Rucker. The Andersons were a devout Christian family with significant musical talent. (Marian and both of her younger sisters would all go on to become singers.) At the age of six, Marian’s Aunt Mary convinced her to sing in the church choir. This gave her the opportunity to sing solos and duets and she soon began singing at other functions around the community.

After graduating high school, Marian wanted to study music at the Philadelphia Music Academy, but was rejected because she was black. Instead she studied privately with the help of people in her community. She won a contest to sing with the New York Philharmonic in 1925 and after a number of other concerts sang at Carnegie Hall. But racial prejudice made it difficult to build a career in the United States, so she moved to Europe.

474px-Marian_Anderson 1940

Marian’s career in Europe was very successful. She toured and made contacts that would help form her future career, including Kosti Vehanen and Sol Hurok who would be her accompanist/vocal coach and manager, respectively, for the rest of her career. She also made a profound impression on the composer Jean Sibelius who became her friend and adapted and composed songs for Marian throughout her career. Although she had thousands of fans in Europe, Hurok convinced Marian to return to the US in the late 1930s where she toured and became famous, although racial prejudice still presented roadblocks.

Because she was so popular, in 1939 when Howard University planned to host a concert with Marian, a large turnout was expected. The only hall large enough to hold the expected crowd was Constitution Hall belonging to the Daughters of the American Revolution. When they were approached, the DAR refused to allow a black artist to perform in the Hall. This caused quite a stir which prompted the resignation of many members, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Marian Anderson before the Lincoln Memorial in 1939.

Marian Anderson before the Lincoln Memorial in 1939.

The First Lady had considered what to do. She wrote in her newspaper column about the sometimes difficult choice of whether to remain in an organization and work for change from within, or to leave the organization in protest. At times Eleanor felt that making a problem public was not the best strategy, but the rejection of Marian Anderson by the DAR was already public, so she chose to leave the organization and let it be known why.

Not long before this, Eleanor had attended the Southern Conference on Human Welfare in Birmingham, Alabama. The Conference had a large number of black delegates, but the city insisted that they adhere to the cities segregation laws. When Eleanor arrived with her friend Mary McLeod Bethune, the police told her that she couldn’t sit with her friend. Her solution was to have her chair moved to the center aisle where she would sit neither on the “white” side nor the “colored” side. This caused quite a stir as did her resignation from the DAR.

Eleanor’s decision to resign from the DAR received world-wide attention. She had her opponents, but many more who supported her decision. In the wake of the uproar, Walter White, executive secretary of the NAACP, and Marian’s manager Sol Hurok came up with the idea of an open air concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial. With the support of both the President and First Lady, they approached Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes to arrange it. The gathering was a great success.

Marian Anderson went on to have a long distinguished career. She was the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera; she continued to tour in Europe and toured Australia, India, and the Far East; and she entertained troops during WWII. In 1943, she even performed at Constitution Hall at the invitation of the DAR as a benefit for the Red Cross.

It seems fitting that Marian would begin her final concert tour at Constitution Hall in October 1964 and end at Carnegie Hall on April 18, 1965. Although officially retired she continued to appear publicly. She was active in the civil rights movement, giving benefit concerts and inspiring many others. Marian was the recipient of many awards during her life including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the United Nations Peace Prize, and the George Peabody Medal.

MarianAndersonstamp

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Harriet Lane – The “Democratic Queen”

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Susan Ozmore

439px-HLaneHarriet Lane was one of a number of women who served as the official White House hostess without being married to the President. She was greatly admired and well-liked even though by the end of his term her uncle James Buchanan was almost universally disliked. Referred to as the “Democratic Queen” and the “first lady of the land,” Lane was a superb hostess with a self-confidence that allowed her to push the boundaries and set new trends. She was also a woman of great warmth and generosity whose legacy is still felt today.

Harriet Lane was born on March 4, 1830 to Elliot Tole Lane and Jane Ann Buchanan Lane. The youngest of four children, her mother died when she was 9 years old and her father died when she was 11. Her father was a successful merchant, leaving the children with adequate resources, but at 11 years old Harriet needed a guardian. Her brothers were old enough to make their own way and her sister was already in boarding school, but Harriet didn’t adjust well to boarding school, so she went to live with her bachelor uncle James Buchanan.

Harriet’s mother, Jane, was Buchanan’s favorite sister and he knew and loved her children. He gladly took Harriet into his home and tended to indulge her and her sister who came to him during holidays from school. Harriet did go to boarding school later at Charles Town, Virginia and at the Academy of the Visitation Convent in Washington, D.C. where she graduated with honors. She was an outgoing, friendly girl who enjoyed the social activities which went along with her uncle’s position as a senator and from 1845 to 1849 as Secretary of State in Polk’s administration. But her most advantageous experience was as Buchanan’s companion when he was appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. James in 1854.

Harriet was a great success in London. She served as her uncle’s hostess and they dined often with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The Queen even gave her the title of “Honorary Ambassadress” to the Court with the courtesies generally given to the wife of the Ambassador and called her “the dear Miss Lane.” London society was the perfect preparation for her time at the White House.

James Buchanan was elected President of the United States in 1856. Out of the country for the preceding 4 years, he was one of the few experienced politicians who had not become embroiled in the controversy over slavery in the territories. With experience as Ambassador to both Russia and England, many hoped that his diplomatic skills could prevent the breakup of the Union. This wasn’t the case. He became increasingly unpopular as his term went on and by the time Lincoln took office, the Confederate States had formed and elected Jefferson Davis as their President.

414px-Harriet_Lane

Harriet shocked society matrons by having her neckline lowered for the inaugural ball, but dressmakers all over the city soon began to get similar requests.

In spite of her uncle’s unpopularity, Harriet Lane became one of the most well-liked First Ladies since Dolly Madison and brought elegance to the White House that wouldn’t be seen again until Jacqueline Kennedy. She gave new life to Washington society which had been very somber while Jane Pierce was First Lady. Ships and babies were named after her; she set fashion trends; and she established new customs for the White House.

As mistress of the house, Harriet dismissed all of the slaves on staff whose owners were receiving money for their service, and hired a new staff. She invited artists and musicians to the White House and set up large tents on the lawn for concerts and served refreshments for all who came. For State dinners, Harriet carefully determined seating arrangements to seat Northern and Southern guests at different tables and to separate guests who were on bad terms.

Only 26 when she went to the White House, Harriet possessed the self-confidence and grace of an older woman. She seemed equal to any social situation from soothing angry Congressmen, to entertaining members of the royal families of both Japan and England. But it would be a mistake to assume she was just an ornament to her uncle. While Harriet presided as White House she was determined to make a difference in people’s lives. Her three favorite causes were hospital reform, prison reform, and the needs of American Indians. The Chippewa called her “the Great Mother of the Indians” for her work in obtaining medical and educational services for them.

Wheatland

Wheatland – James Buchanan’s home which he opened up to Harriet Lane when her parents died

Once her time in the White House and the Civil War were over, Harriet could focus on herself. She had always had admirers, but none made a great impact until she met Henry Eliot Johnston. They were married in January of 1866 when Harriet was 35 years old. In spite of the death of James Buchanan, this was a happy time as Harriet and Henry had two sons born in November 1866 and 1870.

She spent her time being a wife and mother, and contributing to her causes, until tragedy struck Harriet’s life again. In March 1881, their oldest son James Buchanan Johnston died of rheumatic fever, followed in October 1882 by the loss of their second son Henry Eliot Johnston Jr. to the same disease.

As a memorial to their sons, the Johnston’s set up The Harriet Lane Home for Invalid Children which eventually became the Teaching and Research Center of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Then in May of 1884, Harriet unexpectedly found herself alone when Henry died of pneumonia.

St Albans School

Harriet founded St. Albans School

Harriet Lane’s life had always been active, taking care of her uncle and his guests, cantankerous Congressmen, visiting dignitaries and then her family. This part of her personality wouldn’t change. In 1886, Harriet sold their home in Baltimore, Wheatland which she had inherited from her uncle, and many of her possessions. She found a home in Washington, D.C. in the center of the action and resumed her life in society. Beginning with a dinner at the White House where she put the young First Lady, Frances Cleveland at ease, for the next  fifteen years no guest list would be complete without the name of Harriet Lane Johnston.

When Harriet was the First Lady she greatly impressed one visiting dignitary, the Prince of Wales. It only seems fitting that the last major event she attended was the coronation of the Prince when he became King Edward VII of England in August 1902. After she returned that fall she was diagnosed with cancer. She spent the next few months getting her affairs in order, then traveled to her summer home in Rhode Island where she wanted to spend her last days. Harriet Lane Johnston, America’s “Democratic Queen” died July 3, 1903.

John Henry Brown, Harriet Lane Johnston, 1878, watercolor on ivory, 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of May S. Kennedy

John Henry Brown, Harriet Lane Johnston, 1878, watercolor on ivory, 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of May S. Kennedy

Resources
First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama by Betty Caroli
First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power 1789 – 1961 by Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Harriet Lane, America’s First Lady by Milton Stern

 

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Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Susan Abernethy

Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland

The marriage of Margaret of Denmark and King James III of Scotland may not have been very happy. But the union had a significant impact on the territorial gains of Scotland.

Margaret was born on June 23, 1456 in Denmark. Her parents were King Christian I and Queen Dorothea of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Margaret was named after Queen Margaret of Denmark who had ruled in her own right from 1353 to1412. We don’t know much about Margaret’s upbringing but she probably enjoyed a close relationship with her mother. By the time Margaret was four years old, there was talk of marriage with the Scottish Prince James.

The Norse had been in control of the Western Isles for hundreds of years. In 1263, the Scots won the Battle of Largs over the Norwegian fleet. According to the terms of the Treaty of Perth after the battle, King Magnus IV of Norway ceded the Hebrides and the Isle of Man to Scotland. In return, the Scots owed 100 merks sterling per year and a lump sum payment of 4000 merks. After some time, the Scots stopped the payments. There was wrangling over the debt from 1426 to 1460 with the Norse demanding payment.

In 1460, Margaret’s father, Christian I of Norway, founder of the Oldenborg dynasty, was king of Norway, Sweden and Denmark and keenly interested in extending his territorial holdings even more. He was in need of cash and made some alliances to fund his plans, including an agreement with King Charles VII of France. Christian requested Charles’ help in getting the Scottish debt paid. Charles suggested a marriage alliance with Scotland. Nothing came of the discussions at this time but by 1468, Christian was facing an uprising in Sweden, political troubles in Denmark and was strapped for cash. The Scots decided to send a delegation to meet with Christian to negotiate a marriage between the eleven year old Margaret and thirteen year old James and discuss the debt situation.

The Scots sent eight ambassadors to Denmark in the summer of 1468. The debt for the Isles was to the point of embarrassment and if Scotland defaulted, the Hebrides would revert back to Norway. The Treaty of Copenhagen was settled. With the marriage of Margaret and James, the debt for the Western Isles was cancelled. King Christian agreed to pay 60,000 florins as a dowry. Norway’s rights in Orkney were pledged as collateral for 50,000 of the florins. The other 10,000 was to be paid in cash but Christian could only come up with 2,000 florins so he pledged his rights to the Shetlands as collateral. By 1470, Scotland found itself owning the Northern Islands for the first time in 600 years. Scotland also now owned the Hebrides so the country was at its full extent.

Margaret of Denmark and King James III from the Seton Armorial

It was too late in the year for Margaret to leave Denmark so she didn’t make the trip until the summer of 1469. She arrived in Scotland, met her husband for the first time and was married on either July 10th or 12th. She was duly crowned on July 13th at Holyrood Abbey. James, who had been ruled by several regencies since he was nine years old, finally took full control of his government in his own right. A year after they were married, Margaret and James went on a progress to the north and then settled into the routine of court life, moving between the royal homes of Holyroodhouse, Linlithgow, Stirling and Falkland. Margaret and James had three children. The future James IV was born in 1473, James Stewart, Duke of Ross was born in 1476 and John Stewart, Earl of Mar was born in 1479.

Margaret received the highest jointure allowed under Scottish rules for a marriage settlement. There was never any problem with finances. Her revenues were collected with regularity and her expenses were paid. She dressed at the height of fashion for her time, spending enormous sums on clothing and jewels. She may have taught her eldest son James to speak Danish. Scottish historians praised her beauty, gentleness and understanding and considered her sensible. She was very popular in Scotland. Margaret’s Italian biographer Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti, who wrote six years after her death, suggested she only had sex with her husband for procreation possibly leading James to seek mistresses. They do not seem to have been on the most affectionate of terms but Margaret seems to have always respected James’ position as monarch. James may have been difficult to deal with.

Margaret of Denmark and King James III

In 1476, James decided he wanted the Earldom of Ross for his second son and accused the Earl, John MacDonald of treason, calling him before Parliament. MacDonald was stripped of his title and it was given to James Stewart, the second son. However, MacDonald was allowed to remain as a Lord of Parliament, apparently at Margaret’s request. There was tension between Margaret and James over his treatment of their elder son and obvious preference for the second son which possibly led to estrangement. During the crisis of 1482 when James’ brother deprived him of power for several months, Margaret was said to have shown more interest in the welfare of her children than her husband, and this apparently led to even greater estrangement even though Margaret did everything in her power to get her husband released and restored. It appears they lived apart in different residences from this point on. She spent most of her time at Stirling with her children and James remained in Edinburgh. He may have continued to visit Margaret and the children.

Margaret fell gravely ill in the summer of 1486 and died at Stirling on July 14th. The usual rumors of poisoning were circulated at this time but it may have been enemies of James who spread the rumors. James was deeply affected by her death and sent a supplication to the Pope asking that she be made a saint. Whether he did this out of guilt or not we will never know. James did seek another wife but nothing was ever settled. In 1488, James died at the Battle of Sauchieburn and was buried next to Margaret at Cambuskenneth Abbey.

Tomb of Margaret of Denmark and her husband King James III of Scotland at the ruins of Cambuskennth Abbey

© 2012

Resources: “Danish Biographical Lexikon” published by C.F. Bricka, “British Kings and Queens” by Mike Ashley, “The Kings and Queens of Scotland”, edited by Richard Oram,” Scottish Queens 1093-1714” by Rosalind Marshall, “The Royal Stuarts” by Allan Massie

For more on King James III of Scotland: “http://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2012/11/30/james-iii-king-of-scotland/”

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Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Susan Abernethy

Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox

Margaret Douglas, sometimes styled “Princess of Scotland”, was the daughter of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland and her second husband, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus. Margaret enjoyed the affection of her uncle King Henry VIII of England and was witness to many events in Tudor history. She also was a pawn of her uncle’s game in the marriage market and did not actually wed until she was in her late twenties. She was a dynamic Tudor personality. More importantly, she was the grandmother of King James VI of Scotland and I of England.

Margaret was born under difficult circumstances. Her mother Queen Margaret was involved in a power struggle for the regency of her young son King James V of Scotland. Things became unbearable and Queen Margaret fled to England seeking refuge and a place to have her child. The birth took place on October 8, 1515 at Harbottle Castle in Northumberland.

Margaret and her mother remained in England for a year. Queen Margaret and Angus were reconciled and little Margaret and her mother returned to Scotland where her parent’s marriage rapidly disintegrated. At the age of three, Margaret’s father took possession of her. Angus took good care of her, assigning a governess although she did not receive a strong education. In 1522, Angus travelled to France and may have taken Margaret with him. Margaret did not see her mother from 1521 to 1524 and was highly influenced by her father, becoming very much a Douglas. Her parents were finally divorced in 1527. From 1525 to1528, Angus was in complete control of the Scottish regency. This was a time of great luxury for Margaret. As half-sister of King James V, she was treated as a princess. She may have become conceited during this time.

In May of 1528, King James V began to assert himself and overthrew his stepfather. Angus fought to keep his position until March of 1529. During this time Margaret travelled with her father, sometimes seeking refuge at Norham Castle. Angus finally fled to England taking the 13 year old Margaret with him. She was left with Sir Thomas Stangeways at Berwick until that summer. She and her ladies were prisoners but treated well. Margaret’s mother made an attempt at this time to get her back but was unsuccessful. Henry worried Margaret would turn out like her mother because he disapproved of his sister’s behavior. Sir Thomas wrote to Cardinal Wolsey that he was keeping a strict eye on Margaret, fearing she might be stolen into Scotland. Margaret was now legally the ward of King Henry who along with Wolsey, arranged for her to be brought south to live with her aunt Mary Tudor.

Sometime in 1530, Margaret went to be lady-in-waiting to King Henry’s daughter Princess Mary at Beaulieu which lasted for three years. They shared an education and were to remain friends until Mary’s death. Anne Boleyn also took an interest in Margaret during this time. In 1533, Henry married Anne Boleyn and she was crowned Queen. Margaret may have participated in Anne’s coronation and when Princess Elizabeth was born to Anne in 1533, Margaret was first lady of honor in Elizabeth’s household. During this time Margaret contributed some of her poems to a book in the Boleyn circle called the “Devonshire Manuscript”. Margaret was in high favor and would come into contact with the powerful Howard family, relatives of Anne Boleyn. In 1535, with the encouragement of Queen Anne, Margaret began a romance with Thomas Howard, half-brother of the Duke of Norfolk. She fell in love and gave him a miniature of herself and he gave her a ring.

By 1536, Anne Boleyn had fallen out of favor and was executed. Within ten days, Henry had married Jane Seymour and Margaret was to be a part of Jane’s household. It was about this time, Henry found out about Margaret’s romance. Henry decided this was an attempt by the Howard’s to marry into the royal family and eventually take the throne. Howard was attainted for treason and he and Margaret were thrown into the Tower. The “Act of Succession” was changed to state that it was a capital offense to “espouse, marry or deflower being unmarried” any of the King’s female relations.

Both Margaret and Howard fell ill while in the Tower. Margaret was released into the care of the Abbess of Syon and recovered there to return to court, un-deflowered. Howard was to die of his illness in the Tower two days after her release. It is more than likely she had to disavow Thomas as a condition of her return to court. It took Margaret a long time to recover from Thomas’ death.

Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox

In October of 1537, after giving birth to Henry’s only son Edward, Jane Seymour died. Margaret was an attendant at the funeral. In January of 1540, Margaret was assigned as a lady-in-waiting to Henry’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Anne of Cleves marriage was annulled in May of 1540. By July, Henry had married Catherine Howard and Margaret was named lady-in-waiting to her. During this time, possibly with the encouragement of the Queen, Margaret began a romance with the Queen’s brother Charles Howard, the nephew of her first lover Thomas Howard. Someone informed the King and Margaret was arrested and again lodged at Syon. Charles escaped to Flanders to avoid arrest. Margaret was only at Syon a short time before Henry released her to go to Kenninghall when Catherine Howard fell from grace. Margaret’s mother died on October 18, 1541. She willed all her little remaining property to Margaret, but King James V took it.

In July of 1543, Henry married Catherine Parr. Margaret was chief bridesmaid and carried Catherine Parr’s train. She served in the Queen’s household and was on intimate terms with her. Also in July, Margaret learned the 29 year old Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox was interested in marrying her. Lennox was a Scottish nobleman who had made his way to France in 1532 and stayed there for ten years, becoming a French citizen. At one time there had been talk that Lennox would marry Mary of Guise, Queen Dowager of Scotland and regent for her young daughter Mary Queen of Scots but this never materialized. Lennox was one of the few remaining Scottish nobles with Anglophile sympathies. He looked to England to make an impressive match and King Henry eventually agreed to let him marry his now 28 year old niece.

Margaret fell in love with Lennox and felt lucky to have a handsome, politically ambitious husband. She devoted herself to his causes. He had his own following of men and his knowledge of French politics and military affairs would help King Henry. The King and Queen were present at Margaret’s marriage on July 6, 1544 at St. James Palace in London.

In the early years of their marriage, Margaret was pregnant much of the time and Lennox was in Scotland working for King Henry and fighting. When it was discovered that Lennox was working for the English, he was attainted and exiled to England. Margaret and Lennox lived most of the time at Temple Newsham House near Leeds. Margaret was to have a total of eight children but only two survived. Their eldest son Henry, Lord Darnley was born on December 5, 1545 and was named after the King. Charles was born in 1555 or 1556.

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and his brother Charles Stuart, Margaret’s surviving children

Henry VIII died in January, 1547. His young son Edward became King. Margaret spent most of her time in the North, supervising the education of her sons. When Marie of Guise visited London in November of 1551, Margaret made a rare appearance at court. When Edward died in 1553, it was a dangerous time. One faction wanted Lady Jane Grey to be Queen and another faction supported Princess Mary. Mary fought for the throne and won. Margaret was in high favor during the reign of her old friend. Margaret even took precedence at court ahead of Princess Elizabeth. She treated Princess Elizabeth badly during this time. There were rumors during the time Mary had Elizabeth sent to the Tower that Margaret was urging Mary to execute Elizabeth. Mary died in November 1558 and Elizabeth became the new Queen. Despite the animosity between the two women, Margaret brought her sons to court to greet the new Queen and she participated in Elizabeth’s coronation.

Margaret and her husband, who had lost his property in Scotland, were fighting most of the time they were married to get their property restored. Margaret pinned all her hopes for the future on her two surviving sons Henry and Charles. It was Margaret’s greatest dream to see her son Henry married to the young Mary Queen of Scots after she was widowed in 1560. Henry was well educated, a musician and a poet, fair and tawny haired, handsome and 6’3” tall which was important to the 6’ Mary Queen of Scots.

From 1561 to 1564, Margaret and her husband were under suspicion by the Elizabethan government. Because Margaret was a devoted Catholic, it was believed she was involved in rebellion in the North against the regime. In addition, Margaret’s scheme to marry her son to Mary Queen of Scots was suspicious. Margaret and her husband would spend most of 1562 in prison. Matthew was in the Tower but Margaret was under house arrest at Sheen. Margaret defended herself and her family and eventually Matthew was released from the Tower to join her. By 1563, the entire family was released. Margaret was back at court, tolerated for the time being.

After all Margaret’s intrigues on behalf of her son, Elizabeth finally gave Darnley permission to travel to Scotland in February 1565. By July, Mary and Darnley were married. Even before the marriage, Margaret had been arrested. In June she was in the Tower again. Darnley turned out to be a disaster as a husband and was murdered on Feb 10, 1567. Margaret was heartbroken. She was released from the Tower almost immediately. Elizabeth was sympathetic to the Margaret over the death of her son.

Margaret’s family kneeling in front of a memorial to her son, Henry, Lord Darnley

Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to a child by Darnley on June 19, 1566 and named James. She was eventually to abdicate the Scottish throne to her son on June 24, 1567. Lennox went to Scotland to act as regent for his grandson. After troubled regency, Margaret’s husband was murdered on September 4, 1571. Margaret schemed with Bess of Hardwick to marry her son Charles to Bess’s daughter Elizabeth. They married in October 1574. Queen Elizabeth was furious with Margaret and had her imprisoned in the Tower yet again but only for a short time. Charles and his wife were to have a daughter, Arabella Stuart. Arabella was to get into trouble, just as her grandmother did, for making an unsanctioned marriage in 1610 to William Seymour, great grandson of Edward Seymour, brother of Queen Jane Seymour.

After Margaret’s final release from the Tower she spent most of her life at her home in Hackney, finally done with politics. She took great interest in her grandchildren, Arabella and James, becoming a devoted and affectionate grandmother. By 1578, her health was failing. She died in poverty at Hackney on March 7, 1578. She had witnessed many important events of Tudor and Stuart history. Her grandson James would ascend the throne of England on the death of Elizabeth I in 1603.
© 2012

Resources: “A Biography of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (1515-1578)” by Kimberly Schutte, “The Sisters of Henry VIII” by Maria Perry, “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” by Alison Weir, “Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII” by Linda Porter, “Henry VIII: The King and His Court” by Alison Weir

Posted in Medieval History, Queens and Rulers, Scandalous Women, Tudor Queens | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Susan Abernethy
Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England

Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England

Phillipa of Hainault was living in a loving home in comfort with her brothers and sisters. Across the sea in England, Queen Isabella was conspiring with her lover, Roger Mortimer to depose her husband, King Edward II from the throne and replace him with their son Prince Edward. She had managed to escape from England to France and Prince Edward had joined her there. Isabella was traveling on the continent, trying to raise funds and troops for her cause and she visited Valenciennes, in Northern France with Prince Edward. Phillipa was there too. These two young people met and became friends. This was an extraordinary beginning to a royal marriage.

Philippa was born on June 24, 1314 in Valenciennes. Her father was William I “The Good”, Count of Hainault and her mother was Joan of Valois, the granddaughter of King Philip III of France. The County of Hainault is now a part of Belgium and was considered part of the Low Countries. Joan of Valois introduced French literary culture to Hainault. Philippa found learning very appealing and was an enthusiastic reader.

Isabella and Prince Edward came to Valenciennes in 1326. Edward was 13 and Philippa was 12. They spent a week together. There may have been preliminary talks at this time that if Isabella was successful in her mission, Prince Edward would marry one of the daughters of Hainault. When Isabella and Edward left, the chroniclers say when she said her goodbyes, Philippa cried and regretted that her cousin was leaving her.

Isabella and Mortimer were indeed successful in deposing King Edward II and placing Prince Edward on the throne. Edward II disappeared from the record and the Prince became King Edward III on February 1, 1327. By March 30th, a delegation was sent to Hainault to finalize a marriage contract and a trade agreement. Edward professed his preference for Philippa. The delegation was sent to choose which daughter but it was inevitable the decision would be Philippa. On September 3rd, her name appears in the papers as the bride and preparations were made for her to travel to England. A proxy marriage was performed in October and Philippa sailed and reached London on Dec 24.

The Londoners immediately liked the tall, noble, smiling and open faced young woman. She kept Christmas there and then traveled north. Edward and Philippa were married at York Minster on January 24, 1328. For the first three years of her marriage, she does not appear in the records much. Edward spent a lot of time fighting Scotland and Philippa traveled with him. Her dowry was fully paid by January 1, 1331, three years after her marriage. Her coronation occurred on March 4, 1330 at which time she was pregnant with her first child. Prince Edward was born at Woodstock on June 15, 1330. Also at this time, Edward overthrew his mother and Roger Mortimer from the regency and took control of the government.

King Edward III of England, husband of Philippa of Hainault

By the year 1331, Edward and Philippa were in complete control of the government. She is the mother of a fine prince. Edward begins showering her with gifts of homes and incomes. She is put in charge of his younger sister Eleanor. She began working on bringing over weaving tradesmen from her home country to begin creating an industry in Norwich, England. Philippa’s mother traveled to England for a visit and Edward put on a tournament with all the splendors of chivalry. A wooden tower had been erected for the ladies to watch. As the tournament began, Philippa stood to greet Edward and his knights and the scaffolding gave way with all the ladies falling. No one was hurt but the builders of the scaffold were called forward to answer for their work. Edward was furious. Before he could proclaim the punishment for the men, Philippa came forward on her knees and begged for mercy. The King granted her wish and no punishment was given. It was to be one of the first of many times Philippa would calm the furious Plantagenet temper of her husband.

Philippa’s second child was born at Woodstock on June 16, 1332 and named Isabella after her paternal grandmother. Isabella was her father’s favorite daughter and her parents doted on her and spoiled her for the rest of her life. Their second daughter, Joan, was born either at Woodstock or in the Tower of London in late 1333 or early 1334. Joan was to be the loveliest of Philippa’s daughters and her personal favorite.

In 1338, Philippa and Edward traveled to the Continent for diplomatic missions and to arrange alliances in Edward’s pursuit of the French throne. Edward also delivered their daughter Joan to the Holy Roman Emperor. She may have been betrothed to one of the Emperor’s sons. Philippa stayed in Antwerp while Edward was gone. Her son, Lionel was born there on November 29, 1338. Lionel was to grow to be nearly seven feet tall and was the handsomest of her children. Philippa had another son John, in the town of Ghent which the English pronounced Gaunt. He was born on March 6, 1340. When the alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor was terminated, little Joan returned to her family also in 1340. On the 24th of June, 1341, Philippa, Edward and their family returned to England.

Edward relied on Philippa to take care of their children as well as his wards and any possible brides for his sons. She also personally administered her own and her children’s estates. She was constantly short of funds as Edward spent nearly every extra penny on warfare in trying to obtain the throne of France. She was a patron of the arts and sponsored Geoffrey Chaucer. Queen’s College at Oxford was founded in her name. She made sure all her children were well educated.

In June of 1341, Philippa gave birth to a son, Edmund, at Langley. In 1343, she gave birth to another daughter Blanche who died soon after she was born. On October 10, 1344 she gave birth to a daughter named Mary. Another daughter, Margaret, was born in 1346. In June of 1345, King Edward and his sixteen year old son Edward sailed to France to fight. They ravaged the countryside and eventually won a huge victory at the Battle of Crécy. He then moved on to Calais and began a blockade to stop supplies from coming, in an effort to starve the city into submission.

Thinking he had an advantage due to Edward’s absence, the Scottish King David planned an attack on England. Philippa was running the government in the name of her son Lionel and had her generals assemble an army to answer the attack. As they gathered at Auckland, she rode out to review the troops on a white charger. She went from rank to rank and encouraged her troops, giving them and their cause to God in hopes of victory. The English longbow men did indeed win a victory over the Scots. She again rode on her white charger to meet the victorious troops.

After making sure all was well in England, Philippa left to join Edward in Calais. Edward finally got the city to surrender in August of 1347. In true chivalrous fashion, he agreed to spare all those left in the city except six burghers who were forced to bring him the keys to the city, bare-footed and bare-headed, with ropes around their necks. These men came before the fuming King Edward, many knights of his court and the Queen. They begged for mercy but the King called for all six to be beheaded on the spot. A pregnant Philippa came forward on her knees, weeping before the King. She said she had asked for nothing since joining him in Calais but she was now asking the King to take pity on these poor men and for the love of her, to spare them. Edward could not resist the pleas of his Queen and released the men into her custody. She fed and clothed them, gave them some money and returned to them to Calais.

In 1348, the Black Death was to invade Europe, killing about one third of its inhabitants. Philippa lost her favorite daughter Joan and two young boys, Thomas and William, who had been born to her in 1347 and 1348. In 1351, Philippa opened a coal mine in Tynedale and a lead works in Derby. She gave birth to her final child, Thomas of Woodstock in January of 1355. Philippa was now living primarily through the lives of her children. She hired the French chronicler Jean Froissart to be her personal secretary and supported him in the writing of his chronicle. She saw some of her many children marry, give birth and die.

Photo of Philippa of Hainault’s effigy on her tomb in Westminster Abbey

During her last years at court, there is little record of her. She appeared at her husband’s side at court occasions. She became stout after giving birth to so many children. In 1367, she had an attack of dropsy, a swelling of the body due to a weakness of the heart. Her favorite son Lionel died in 1368. King Edward lapsed into dotage and was ruled entirely by his mistress Alice Perrers who had been a lady-in-waiting to Philippa. When it was apparent Philippa was dying, Edward visited her at her deathbed. He took her hand and asked her final wish. She requested that when he died, he be buried next to her in Westminster Abbey. She died on August 15, 1369 and was buried with all splendors in a fine tomb in Westminster. When Edward died eight years later, he fulfilled her dying wish and was buried next to his beloved Queen.

© 2012

Resources: “Philippa of Hainault and Her Times” by Blanche Christabel Hardy, “British Kings and Queens” by Mike Ashley

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Margaret of England, Queen of Scotland

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Susan Abernethy

Margaret Plantagenet

The English Princess Margaret Plantagenet married King Alexander III of Scotland in December of 1251. This was to be the third youngest marriage of monarchs in British history. Alexander was aged 10 years, 3 months and 22 days and Margaret was 11 years, 2 months and 28 days.

Margaret was born on September 29, 1240. She was the daughter of King Henry III of England and her mother was Eleanor of Provence. The entire family was affectionate and close. Margaret’s mother was especially protective and devoted. Eleanor spent most of her time with her four children at Windsor Castle supervising their care. They probably all received an education worthy of royal offspring. Margaret’s first appearance in historical record comes when she is three years old. She and her brother, the future Edward I, took part in an event in London.

King Henry III’s sister Joan had been married to King Alexander II of Scotland until Joan died in 1238. Henry was very paternalistic towards his brother-in-law and they had many dealings through the years over government matters and territories. Alexander II had a son Alexander by his second wife, Marie of Coucy in September of 1241. Henry and Alexander II met in Newcastle in 1244 to renew peaceful relations between Scotland and England and the discussion of a marriage between Henry’s daughter Margaret and the little Alexander probably began at this time. About a year after Margaret’s appearance in London, she was betrothed. Because of her tender age, she remained with her parents until the wedding took place in 1251.

Margaret’s husband, King Alexander III of Scotland

King Henry himself made detailed and lavish arrangements for the wedding which took place at York Minster on December 26. The young couple remained in York until the end of January when they began their journey north to Scotland. In April 1252, they were in Linlithgow and from there made their way to Edinburgh which was to be their permanent residence.

At the time of the marriage, it was believed young people should not have sexual relations until they were mature enough in age or their health would suffer. Alexander and Margaret were living together basically as brother and sister and this made Margaret very upset. She was fond of her husband and saw little of him. She also hated Edinburgh, the huge castle on the volcanic rock and the weather. Most of all she missed her family. She basically suffered from homesickness.

Margaret poured her heart out in pitiful letters which greatly upset her parents. They asked if she could visit her mother in England but the Scots refused as they believed they would never see her again. In 1255, Eleanor sent her physician to Edinburgh to check on Margaret’s condition. He found Margaret pale and depressed, bitterly complaining of loneliness and neglect. The physician himself became very ill in the cold climate and died trying to make his way back to England. Before he died he wrote to Henry and Eleanor that Margaret was being treated inhumanely by the Scots. Henry was furious and sent a new delegation to find out the truth of the matter. He wrote to some of the Scottish earls demanding the situation be remedied and he promptly raised an army and travelled to Newcastle. From there he sent envoys to Edinburgh.

Margaret complained she was a virtual prisoner, unable to travel in Scotland and not allowed to enjoy the embraces of her husband. The envoys agreed that because Margaret and Alexander were fourteen now they should be able to have marital relations. The couple visited with Henry, Eleanor and Margaret’s sister Beatrix at Wark on September 7, 1255. Alexander returned to Scotland but Margaret was allowed to stay with her family for a short time.

It was agreed that a council of fifteen would govern Scotland for seven more years and then Alexander would rule on his own. It was declared on Alexander’s behalf that he would treat Margaret with all affection and she was to be allowed to travel south to visit her family. Margaret was satisfied and returned to Scotland and her husband.

In the summer of 1257, Margaret received a visit from her brother Edward and he gave her an esquire as a gift in remembrance of him. This esquire claimed to have killed Margaret and Edward’s uncle, Simon de Montfort with his own sword. That same year, Alexander and Margaret were seized by the powerful Comyn family and held captive. The Comyn’s were insisting all foreigners be expelled from Scotland. Henry III and the regency council intervened and the power of the Comyn’s declined allowing Margaret and Alexander their freedom.

Margaret Plantagenet

In November of 1260, Alexander and Margaret visited her parents in England. Margaret was five months pregnant. Alexander returned to Scotland leaving Margaret to deliver her baby daughter, named Margaret, at Windsor Castle on February 28, 1261. Margaret returned to Scotland in May. Three years later, her son Alexander was born at Jedburgh. In October of 1269, Margaret and Alexander travelled to visit her parents and attended the translation of Edward the Confessor’s relics to the newly renovated Westminster Abbey. Henry III was to die in 1272 but Margaret was unable to attend the funeral because she was pregnant again. Her second son, David, was born in March of 1273.

Prince David was not in the best of health and Margaret was slow to recover from the birth. She went to Kinclaven Castle near Perth for the summer to recover and a curious incident occurred there. One evening after supper, the Queen, accompanied by her confessor, some maidens and several esquires, including the one given to her by her brother, were all taking the air by the River Tay. The English esquire had dirtied his hands in some clay and went to the river to wash. According to the confessor, Margaret urged one of her maidens to push the esquire into the river. Everyone had a good laugh when he tumbled in. He began to shout and all thought he was joining in the fun. But the heavy current of the river dragged him under. The esquire’s little servant boy recognized his master was in trouble and jumped in to save him. They both drowned. It was recorded that Margaret was very upset by what happened.

In August of 1274, Margaret and Alexander travelled to England for the coronation of Margaret’s brother, Edward I in Westminster. Margaret had always been close to her brother so it was a happy celebration. In February of 1275, Margaret fell ill while visiting Fife. She would only see her husband and her confessor. She died on February 26 in Cupar Castle. Alexander had her buried in the Abbey of Dunfermline. She was thirty four years old and had been Queen of Scotland for twenty-three years.

Dunfermline Abbey

© 2012

Resources: “Scottish Queens, 1034-1714” by Rosalind K. Marshall, “British Kings and Queens” by Mike Ashley, “The Chronicle of Lanercost 1272-1346”

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