Saint Margaret of Scotland fascinates me. I never heard of her until I was reading a lot of mid-20th century British writers. If they mention Scotland, and a lot of them do, she is apt to come up. Her birth date is not clearly known, but is given as around 1045, or perhaps, 1047. Maybe she was born in Hungary. Maybe not.

She was said to be pious and beautiful, and she definitely married Malcolm, King of Scotland, after being shipwrecked in Scotland, at some point following the Battle of Hastings, when William of Normandy took over England.

She gave to the poor, built educational and religious establishments, and helped bring Scotland into the Roman side of various arguments about the date of Easter, and how often people should go to Communion. The Abbey of Dunfermline was one of her projects and she was buried there at some point. The clearest thing about Margaret is that she was loved by everyone who met her in Scotland.

She died on November 16, 1093 in Edinburgh Castle, while her husband, King Malcolm, was at war, or on a raiding party, or being ambushed. He was killed either four or nine days before she died. He was killed near Alnwick Castle which is currently distinguished by being used as a stand-in for Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. Malcolm was a son of the Duncan who was killed by Macbeth. Malcolm also killed Macbeth’s stepson Lulach, according to Wikipedia. However, the Wikipedia article was so confused that I’m not ready to believe anything else from it. 

I did find a website about English and Scottish monarchs and it is a fascinating rabbit hole.  https://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/dunkeld_14.html 

Back to Margaret …  according to the New Advent 1908 encyclopedia, she was a “daughter of Edward Outremer”, and possibly related to Saint Stephen of Hungary. Possibly, Edward married Stephen’s sister-in-law. Edward had a lot of names attached to him. Besides ‘Outremer’ which means over the sea and, confusingly, was a name for the crusader kingdoms, he is also called Edward the Atheling and Edward the Exile. His uncle was definitely Edward the Confessor, King of England. There’s also someone named Edward Ironside. Edward the Confessor wanted to make Edward, Whatever-His-Name-Was, heir to the throne, except that the younger Edward died suddenly. His son, Edgar, was also known as the Atheling and here’s some confusing history about him. https://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/saxon_26.html

Franciscan Media has a brief history of Margaret here. https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-margaret-of-scotland/

And the Episcopal Church of Saint Margaret in New Orleans has a very long article about her here. https://www.saintmargarets.com/about-our-patron-st-margaret-of-scotland/  This article is full of caveats about why people would have thought this or that, but at the same time, it has quotes from her medieval chronicler, and a lot of fascinating details about her life. It seems like the best resource as long as you remember that it’s not from a Roman Catholic perspective. One story from there…

One of the most endearing stories about Margaret–or maybe it’s an endearing story about Malcolm–had to do with her stealing the gold coins which Malcolm had intended to use for a Maundy Thursday service. She gave them to a beggar who asked her for money. The King, who was quite aware of what she was doing, was greatly amused at this kind of theft, and sometimes, when he caught her in the act with the coins in her hand, would jocularly threaten to have her arrested.

from the above website in New Orleans

In the mass confusion that surrounds Margaret’s story and relatives, here’s another tidbit. Her daughter, who was named Edith, married King Henry I of England and was known as Matilda. They had a son William and a daughter, Matilda, who wanted to become the Queen of England. In fact before her father, Henry I, died, he made all the nobility of England promise to support her. This counted for nothing when her cousin Stephen grabbed the throne. Ellis Peters’ series about Brother Cadfael provides a year by year account of this rivalry and fighting.  Stephen and Matilda, the fighters, were both grandchildren of William the Conqueror.  Stephen was also married to another Matilda, who was a granddaughter of Margaret and Malcolm.