SAINT MARGARET OF SCOTLAND

 

1. Background:

Saint Margaret (c. 1045 – 16 November 1093), canonized by Pope Innocent IV, 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.

Early life

Saint Margaret was the daughter of the English prince Edward the Exile, son of Edmund Ironside. She was born in Hungary, possibly at Castle Réka, and raised at its court where her father had settled in exile. Margaret had two younger siblings, a brother Edgar and a sister Christina. The provenance of her mother, Agatha, is disputed.

Margaret grew up in a very religious environment in the Hungarian court. The king of that time, Andrew I of Hungary, was known as Andrew the Catholic for his extreme aversion to pagans, and great loyalty to Rome, which probably could have induced Margaret to follow a pious life. Still a child, she came to England with the rest of her family when her father, Edward, was recalled in 1057 as a possible successor to her great-uncle the childless Edward the Confessor. Her father died soon after the family's arrival in England, but Margaret continued to reside at the English court where her brother, Edgar Ætheling, was considered a possible successor to the English Throne. When the Confessor died in January 1066, Harold Godwinson was selected as king, Edgar perhaps being considered still too young. After Harold's defeat at the battle of Hastings later that year, Edgar was proclaimed King of England, but when the Normans advanced on London, Margaret and her family fled north to Northumberland.

According to tradition, after the conquest of the Kingdom of England by the Normans, the widowed Agatha (Margaret's Mother) 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.

Margaret's arrival in Scotland in 1068, after the Northumbrian revolt, has been heavily romanticized, though Symeon of Durham implied that her first meeting with Malcolm III of Scots may not have been until 1070, after William the Conqueror's harrying of the north.

Marriage

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.[1]

 

Family

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

Death

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.

 

Veneration

St Margaret's Church in Dunfermline dedicated to her memory

Saint Margaret was canonized 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. A cave on the banks of the Tower Burn in Dunfermline was used by the queen as a place of devotion and prayer. St Margaret's Cave, now covered beneath a municipal car park, is in the care of historic Scotland and open to the public.[2] On 19 June 1250, after her canonization, her remains were moved to Dunfermline Abbey.[3]

The Roman Catholic Church formerly marked the feast of Saint Margaret of Scotland on June 10, because the feast of "Saint Gertrude, Virgin" was already celebrated on November 16, but in Scotland, she was venerated on November 16, the day of her death. In the revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1969, November 16 became free and the Church transferred her feast day to November 16.[4] However, some traditionalist Catholics continue to celebrate her feast day on June 10.

Ruins of St. Margaret's Church (Oslo)

Queen Margaret University (founded in 1875), Queen Margaret College (Glasgow), Queen Margaret Union (Glasgow University), Queen Margaret Hospital (just outside Dunfermline), North Queensferry, South Queensferry, Queen Margaret Academy (Ayr), St Margaret's Academy (Livingston), Queen Margaret College (Wellington) and several streets in Scotland are named after her.

St. Margaret's Church (Margaretakirken) in Oslo, Norway was dedicated to Saint Margaret of Scotland. The stone church dates from the middle of the 1200s. It is now a ruin, but after restoration in 1934, the church stands today as one of the best preserved medieval building in Oslo after the Old Aker Church.[5]

She is also venerated as a saint in the Anglican Church. The 13th-century Church of St Margaret the Queen in Buxted, East Sussex, is dedicated to her.[6]

2. Proposed Permanent Statue

The Statue of the young Margaret main concept requires final definition: The age, the movement, the dress etc

 

  1. The Statue: The concepts developed so far presents Margaret before her wedding with Malcolm III in or around 1070. The marriage was an important date for her and to Scotland. It was not only a marriage but a metamorphosis from being Hungarian, she became Scottish.

 

  1. The Style:
    1. The figure is of a nice young lady, slim and simple, but safe as a column.
    2. The statue makes a slightly step towards us.
    3. The face is very kind and gentle, full of love, mild, with long hair depicting her Saintliness.
    4. Her dress is similar to the 11th Century dress and full with very fine details of Catholic, Hungarian and Scottish symbols. E.g. 8 flowers on her skirt = 8 children.
    5. The hands could be possible full with flowers.
    6. Or possibly with a special Hungarian traditional object, traditionally worn by the brides of that era.
    7. The head possibly with a kind of tiara, with wide ribbons on the back. Each ribbon would show one of her values that she brings with herself from Hungary and gives them to her husband and Scotland.
    8. This could either be on her head or in her hand as she offers.

 

  1. Cost: If the investment permits, she should wear a wind-billowed cloak would give a dramatic background; and the ribbons would fly as well, showing the stormy historic age she lived in whilst her figure remains still gently standing there.

 

  1. Scale: The scale of the statue would be normal 5:4 life-size, or about 210 cm.

 

  1. The statue material could be different.
  2. The placement would be good in any park or natural space,
  3. Or at the front of one of the children’s hospitals?
  4. Or at one of her favourite places – to be researched.

  1. Materials:
    1. Wood - interior or covered
    2. Stone – outdoor
    3. Bronze - outdoor