Margherita of Durazzo

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Margherita of Durazzo (28 July 1347 – 6 August 1412) was the Queen consort of Charles III of Naples.

[edit] Family

She was the fourth daughter of Charles, Duke of Durazzo (1323 - 1348) and Maria of Calabria.

Her paternal grandparents were John, Duke of Durazzo and his second wife Agnes de Périgord. Her maternal grandparents were Charles, Duke of Calabria and Marie of Valois.

Marie was the eldest daughter of Charles of Valois and his third wife Mahaut of Chatillon.

Mahaut was the eldest daughter of Guy IV, Count of Saint-Pol and Marie of Brittany.

Marie was a daughter of John II, Duke of Brittany and Beatrice of England.

[edit] Marriage

In February, 1369, Margherita married her paternal first cousin Charles of Durazzo. He was a son of Louis of Durazzo, another son of John, Duke of Durazzo and his second wife Agnes de Périgord. The bride was twenty-two year old and the groom twenty-four. They had three children:

Maria of Durazzo (1369 - 1371).
Joan II of Naples (23 June 1373 - 2 February 1435).
Ladislas of Naples (11 February 1377 - 6 August 1414).

Charles managed to depose her maternal aunt Joan I of Naples in 1382. He succeeded her and Margherita became his Queen consort. Charles succeeded James of Baux as Prince of Achaea in 1383 with Margherita still as his consort.

By then becoming the senior Angevin male, Charles successfully deposed Mary of Hungary in December, 1385. She was daughter of his deceased cousin Louis I of Hungary and Elisabeth of Bosnia. However Elisabeth arranged his assassination at Visegrád on 24 February 1386.

Margherita became a Queen Dowager. She survived him by twenty-six years but never remarried. Their son Ladislas succeeded to the throne of the Kingdom of Naples while Mary of Hungary was restored to her throne.

Preceded by Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen	Queen Consort of Naples 1382–24 February 1386	Succeeded by Marie of Lusignan
Preceded by Agnes of Durazzo	Princess Consort of Achaea 1383–24 February 1386	Succeeded by interregnum
Preceded by Elisabeth of Bosnia	Queen Consort of Hungary 1385–24 February 1386	Succeeded by Barbara of Celje
Preceded by Elisabeth of Bosnia	Queen Consort of Croatia 1385–24 February 1386	Succeeded by Barbara of Celje