

Margaret of Anjou's starkly simple will, executed on August 2, 1482, is a vivid testament to her reduced fortunes at the end of her life. Here's an excerpt from it, as translated into English by J. J. Bagley in his biography Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England:
I, Margaret of Anjou, . . . sound of mind, reason and thought, however weak and feeble of body, make and declare this my last will and testament in the manner following. First I give and recommend my soul to God . . . my body also I give to God . . . and it is my will and desire that it be buried and interred in holy ground according to the good will and pleasure of the King [i.e., King Louis XI of France], and, if it pleases him, I elect and choose |
Margaret's will was witnessed by, among others, Katherine Vaux, who had been one of Margaret's ladies since at least 1452-53 and whose husband had fallen at Tewkesbury. Katherine returned to England and was still alive at the time Henry VIII became king; her two children became pillars of Tudor society. The complete French version of the will that follows is taken from the second volume of Lecoy de la Marche's 1875 work entitled Le roi Rene (available on the Internet Archive). Note that Margaret refers to herself as "Queen of England."
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TESTAMENT DE MARGUERITE D ANJOU, REINE D'ANGLETERRE.
2 août 1482.
Je, Marguerite d'Anjou, fille du feu roy de Sicille, reyne d'Angleterre, seyne d'entendement, raison et pensée, combien
G. de la Barre, Poynet, prebstres et noctaires. |
Margaret, born on March 23, 1430, died on August 25, 1482, less than a year before the death of her nemesis, Edward IV. She spent the last two years of her life in the chateau of Dampierre near Saumur, in Anjou. Having relinquished her rights in her Angevin inheritance to Louis XI, she died as the guest of Francois de la Vignolles,
a servant of her late father. Not waiting until Margaret was dead, Louis wrote on August 12, 1482, to Jeanne Chabot, Madame de Montsereau, "I am sending to you my equerry, Jean de Chasteaudreux, to bring me all the dogs you have had from the late queen of England. You know she had made me her heir, and that this is all I
shall get; also it is what I love best. I pray you not to keep any back, for you would cause me a terribly great displeasure." (Quoted in Cora Scofield, The Life and Reign of Edward the Fourth.)
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