Marguerite was only seventeen years old, but she was such a good, sedate and pious woman that her union with a man old enough to be her grandfather proved by no means an unhappy one. On the contrary, she exercised a wholesome influence over him, and prompted him to many merciful and worthy actions.
It was due to her persuasion that the poor widow, Lady Marguerite Howard, was released from a debt to the crown which she could not possibly have paid, and many of her subjects could cite similar acts prompted by her good and tender heart. The citizens of Winchester were deeply indebted to her for preserving them from King Henry's wrath when Bernard Pereres, a hostage from the city of Bayonne, made his escape. He had been confided to the care of the mayor of Winchester, and was looked upon as a prisoner of the greatest importance. King Edward placed a sheriff in charge of the city, deprived the people of all their liberties, fined the mayor three hundred marks, and shut him up in the Marshalsea prison until he should be able to pay the sum. The Winchester citizens were in despair, and threw themselves on the mercy of their queen. She recalled the exhibition of loyalty that they had made when she appeared among them a bride, and her heart warmed towards them in their distress. Fortunately, she was able to aid them, for the king had presented her with the charter of Winchester, thus entitling her to all the fines levied on its citizens. With this document she presented herself before her lord, and claimed the unfortunate mayor with his three hundred marks, as her property. Edward yielded, and even restored the liberties of which he had, in his displeasure, deprived the Winchester people. They never ceased to be grateful to Queen Marguerite.
But this occurred after she had been Edward's wife several years. We must return to the beginning of her reign.
On the Wednesday after his marriage, the king was suddenly and unexpectedly summoned to Scotland because of a rebellion that had broken out there. During his absence the queen occupied apartments in the Tower, and as the small-pox was raging in London that season, her court were quarantined in that palace.
The following year she joined the king in Scotland, but stopped at Brotherton in Yorkshire while he was fighting his battles.
A. D. 1300. On the first of June, 1300, her first child
