St. Margaret of Scotland

(1046-1093)

St. Margaret was the granddaughter of King Edmund
Ironside of England through his son Edward the Aethling.
She had been exiled to the eastern continent with the
rest of her family when the Danes overran England. She
was well educated, mostly in Hungary. She returned to
England during the reign of her great-uncle, Edward the
Confessor, but, as one of the last remaining members of
the saxon Royal Family, she was forced to flee north to
the Royal Scots Court at the time of the Norman
Conquest.

Beautiful, intelligent and devout, Margaret brought some
of the more detailed points of current European manners,
ceremony and culture to the Scottish Court and thus
highly improved its civilized reputation. She had a taste
for the finer things in life and, in 1069, she won over the
Scots King, Malcolm Canmore, and married him. Their
union was exceptionally happy and fruitful for both
themselves and the Scottish nation.

Margaret was one of the principal agents of the reform of
the Church of Scotland which was, at the time, at a low
point in its history. Church councils now promoted
Easter communion and abstinence from servile work on a
Sunday. Margaret founded churches, monasteries and
pilgrimage hostels, including the revival of Iona, the
building of the tiny chapel which still bears her name at
Edinburgh Castle and establishment of the Royal
Mausoleum of Dunfermline Abbey with monks from
Canterbury. She was especially devoted to Scottish
saints and instigated the Queen's Ferry over the Forth so
that pilgrims could more easily reach the Shrine of St.
Andrew.

In her private life, Margaret was much given to prayer,
reading and ecclesiastical needlework. She also gave
alms lavishly and liberated a number of Anglo-Saxon
captives. Her influence over her husband was
considerable and she brought an English slant to
Scottish politics for which has sometimes been
criticized. King Malacolm's initial rough character was
certainly softened by the lady.

Margaret bore the King eight children, all with English
names. Alexander and David followed their father to the
throne, whilst her daughter, Matilda, brought the ancient
Anglo-Saxon Royal bloodline into the veins of the
Norman Invaders of England when she married and bore
children to King Henry I. Margaret died aged forty-seven,
not long after learning of the deaths of her husband and
son in a campaign against William Rufus of England.
She was buried in Dunfermline Abbey and miracles at
her tomb brought her canonization by 1249. The base of
her shrine can still be seen at the Abbey, but her body,
along with that of her husband, was translated to the
Escorial in Madrid during the Scottish Reformation. Her
head, which had its own shrine, was acquired by the
Jesuits of Douai Abbey.

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(Description courtesy of Britianna Biographies.)