Margaret Atheling of Scotland

• General Notes
  • From Wikipedia:
    
    Saint Margaret (c. 1045 – 16 November 1093), was the sister of Edgar Ætheling, the short-ruling and uncrowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. She married Malcolm III, King of Scots, becoming his Queen consort.
    
    Saint Margaret was the daughter of the English prince Edward the Exile, son of Edmund Ironside. She was probably born at Castle Réka, Mecseknádasd, in the region of Southern Transdanubia, Hungary.[citation needed] The provenance of her mother, Agatha, is disputed.
    
    Margaret had one brother Edgar and one sister Christina.
    
    When her uncle, Saint Edward the Confessor, the French-speaking Anglo-Saxon King of England, died in 1066, she was living in England where her brother, Edgar Ætheling, had decided to make a claim to the vacant throne.
    
    According to tradition, after the conquest of the Kingdom of England by the Normans, the widowed Agatha decided to leave Northumberland with her children and return to the Continent. A storm drove their ship to Scotland, where they sought the protection of King Malcolm III. The spot where she is said to have landed is known today as St. Margaret's Hope, near the village of North Queensferry.
    
    Malcolm was probably a widower, and was no doubt attracted by the prospect of marrying one of the few remaining members of the Anglo-Saxon royal family. The marriage of Malcolm and Margaret soon took place. Malcolm followed it with several invasions of Northumberland by the Scottish king, probably in support of the claims of his brother-in-law Edgar. These, however, had little result beyond the devastation of the province.
    
    Margaret and Malcolm had eight children, six sons and two daughters:
    
       1. Edward, killed 1093.
       2. Edmund of Scotland
       3. Ethelred, abbot of Dunkeld
       4. King Edgar of Scotland
       5. King Alexander I of Scotland
       6. King David I of Scotland
       7. Edith of Scotland, also called Matilda, married King Henry I of England
       8. Mary of Scotland, married Eustace III of Boulogne
    
    Her husband, Malcolm III, and their eldest son, Edward, were killed in a fight against the English at Alnwick Castle on 13 November 1093. Her son Edmund was left with the task of telling his mother of their deaths. Margaret was ill, and she died on 16 November 1093, three days after the deaths of her husband and eldest son.
    
    Saint Margaret was canonised in the year 1250 by Pope Innocent IV in recognition of her personal holiness, fidelity to the Church, work for religious reform, and charity. She attended to charitable works, and personally served orphans and the poor every day before she ate. She rose at midnight to attend church services every night. She was known for her work for religious reform. She was considered to be an exemplar of the "just ruler", and also influenced her husband and children to be just and holy rulers.
    
    The Roman Catholic Church formerly marked the feast Saint Margaret of Scotland on June 10, because the feast of "Saint Gertrude, Virgin" was already celebrated on November 16. In Scotland, she was venerated on November 16, the day of her death.
    
    Per the revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1969, the Church transferred her feast day to November 16, the actual day of her death.[1]  Traditional Roman Catholics continue to celebrate the feast day of "St Margaret, Queen of Scots, Widow" on June 10 as a Semi-Double  feast, or a 3rd Class feast.
    
    Queen Margaret University (founded in 1875), Queen Margaret College (Glasgow), Queen Margaret Union, Queen Margaret Hospital (just outside Dunfermline), North Queensferry, South Queensferry, Queen Margaret Academy (Ayr), St Margaret's Academy (Livngston), Queen Margaret College (Wellington) and several streets in Scotland are named after her.
    
    She is also venerated as a saint in the Anglican Church.