Margaret of Joinville

Margaret of Joinville (French: Marguerite de Joinville; 1354-1418) was a French noblewoman. From 1365 until her death, she was the ruling Lady of Joinville and Countess of Vaudémont.

Family

Her father was Henry, Lord of Joinville. He was Count of Vaudémont as Henry V; he died when she was seven years old. Her mother was Marie of Luxembourg.

Marriages and issue

In 1367, she married John of Châlon, Lord of Montaigu (1340-1373). This marriage was childless.

In 1374, she married Count Peter of Geneva. In 1378, Peter's brother Robert was elected antipope as Clement VII. Peter died in Robert's service in 1392. This marriage was also childless.

In 1392, Margaret married for the third time, to Frederick I (1368-1415), the younger brother of Duke Charles II of Lorraine. Together they had three children:

• Antoine (1397-1456), who succeeded as Count of Vaudémont,
• Elisabeth (1400-1458), who married in 1412 to Philipp I of Nassau-Weilburg, and
• Margaret, who married Thibault II of Blamont.

Ancestress of Habsburg-Lorraine

In 1473, her great-grandson René II inherited the Duchy of Lorraine, because the male-line descendants of her husband's elder brother Charles II had died out. In 1528, the House of Lorraine was divided into a German, Protestant, line, the Dukes of Lorraine and French, Catholic, line, the House of Guise. The latter came to rule the Lordship of Joinville. In 1745, Duke Francis Stephen of the German line married the Habsburg heiress, Maria Theresa of Austria. Their descendants are known as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

References

• Henri-François Delaborde: Jean de Joinville et les seigneurs de Joinville, Librairie Picard et fils, Paris, 1894, p. 215, Online