Margaret of Lorraine
French duchess
Margaret of Lorraine, Duchess of Alençon (1463 at the castle of Vaudémont, Lorraine – 2 November 1521 in Argentan, Normandy) was a French noblewoman and a nun of the order of Poor Clares (Ordre des Clarisses). She was beatified in 1921.
Life
Margaret was born in 1463 in Vaudémont Castle, Lorraine as the youngest daughter of Frederick II, Count of Vaudémont and Yolande d'Anjou. She lost her father when she was the age of seven, and was brought up at Aix-en-Provence by her grandfather René of Anjou. When latter died in 1480, she was sent back to Lorraine to her brother, René II. He arranged her marriage to René, Duke of Alençon, whom she wed in Toul on 14 May 1488.
Alençon and Margaret had three children:
Charles IV of Alençon (1489–1525), married Marguerite of Angoulême as her first husband.
Françoise of Alençon, Duchess of Beaumont (1490 – 14 September 1550), married firstly in 1505, François, Duke of Longueville; married secondly in 1513, Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, by whom she had thirteen children.
Anne, Lady of La Guerche (30 October 1492 – 18 October 1562), married in 1508, William IX Palaeologos, Marquis of Montferrat by whom she had three children.
Margaret died on November 2, 1521, in Argentan, Orne from natural causes.
Almost 400 years after her death, she was beatified on March 10, 1921, by Pope Benedict XV.
Widowhood
Left a widow in 1492, she busied herself in the administration of her duchy and the education of her children.
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