St Margaret's Chapel

and the Magdalene Almshouses

About St Margaret of Scotland

Margaret of Scotland was the daughter of the exiled Saxon prince Edward Atheling of Wessex and a German princess named Agatha. She was born around 1045 in Hungary and raised at the court of St Stefan of Hungary, to whom she was related.

In 1057, around age 12, she was brought to England on the return of the family to support the claim of her brother, Edgar Atheling, to the throne, on the death of Edward the Confessor. The claim did not succeed and Harold of Wessex became king, but this was cut short in 1066 by the Norman invasion of William the Conqueror.

Margaret's mother chose to return to Hungary but a storm blew up, and their ship landed in Scotland. Here, after the Norman invasion, various Saxon royals had taken refuge, welcomed by the Scots king Malcolm III (who had killed Macbeth and started a new era in Scotland). Margaret wished to become a nun, being disillusioned with the fortunes of being a royal, but the king proposed to her and, eventually, she married him in 1070. They had eight children, starting a dynasty lasting 200 years. Four of her sons inherited the Scots throne, making a continuous succession of brothers lasting 1093-1153 and presiding over a golden age in Scotland.

Malcolm was impressed by his wife's spirituality and was influenced by her to become a goodly ruler. Margaret undertook to care for the welfare of Scotland's people, giving time and money to the poor and needy. A pious and charming lady, she interceded in arguments between the Roman and Celtic churches in Scotland, preventing a schism. She was patron to Scots religious hermits and to the Benedictine order, and founded many churches, re-founded the abbey on Iona and founded the abbey of Dunfermline (where later she was buried). Sometimes she would retreat to an anchorite's cave for study and prayer.

She introduced many European influences, fashions and manners into the court, the church and public life, invited European traders to Scotland and became a patroness of the arts and education. She was instrumental in introducing a parliament and feudalism to Scotland.

Churches and charitable institutions in England were supported and endowed as well. Part of the reason was that the Scots Saxons thought at the time of deposing the Normans and sending them back to France, and they wished to gain footholds in religious establishments toward that eventual end. Margaret's own son was technically eligible to become king of England. The hospital she founded at Glastonbury, a Benedictine establishment, will have arisen partially because of her associations with the order.

Margaret was dignified and civilised, raising cultural standards in Scotland. She set her retinue to the task of crafting vestments and fineries for the churches she founded. She supported ferries and hostelries, having had some experience as a traveller from far-off lands. She invited learned and holy men to court, some of them remarking that she was more intelligent and erudite than they.

She was also the king's main advisor. In 1093 Margaret advised against a military expedition into England, but her husband the king went anyway, only to be killed by the Normans with her eldest son Edward. Margaret, already infirm, died three days later. Edinburgh castle came under attack and her body and family were smuggled out and over the water to Dunfermline, where she was buried with honour. She was canonised in 1251.

St Margaret's Chapel and Almshouses