Margaret, Duchess of Norfolk

Margaret (b. about 1320), was the daughter of Thomas of Brotherton and Alice de Hales (d. in or before 1330). Her paternal grandparents were Edward I and Margaret (1279?–1318), daughter of Philippe III of France (d.1285). Her maternal grandparents were Roger de Hales of Hales Hall in Loddon, Roughton, Norfolk and Alice. She had a brother and sister:

• Edward of Norfolk, who married Beatrice de Mortimer, daughter of Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, but died without issue before 9 August 1334.
• Alice of Norfolk, who married Sir Edward de Montagu.

In 1335 aged 15 (the typical age of marriage for maidens of that era), she was married to John Segrave, 4th Baron Segrave, and proceeded to have four children - two sons and two daughters - by him. In 1350, she sought a divorce on the ground that they had been contracted in marriage (in other words betrothed) before she was of marriageable age, and that she had never consented to cohabit with him. She made known her intention of traveling to the continent in order to plead personally with the Pope for a divorce. King Edward III prohibited her from leaving England, but she set off incognito anyway, having taken care to obtain a safe conduct from the King of France.

The following year (1351) Edward III charged her with having crossed the English Channel in contravention of his prohibition. The inquisition, regarding this incident, shows that Margaret unlawfully crossed the Channel and met with a servant of her future husband, Sir Walter de Mauny, who broke his lantern with his foot so she could pass unnoticed and acted as her guardian during her sojourn in France. This incident and the involvement of her future husband's retainer may indicate the real motivation for Margaret seeking a divorce.

The divorce case was ultimately heard by the Pope's auditor, the Dean of St. Hilary's at Poitiers. However, Margaret's first husband died in 1353, before the divorce could be finalized. Shortly thereafter, and just before 30 May 1354, she married Sir Walter de Mauny without the King's licence. They were married 18 years, and had three children before he died at London on 8 or 13 January 1372.

On 29 September 1397, Margaret was created Duchess of Norfolk for life. She died 24 March 1399, and was buried in the choir of Grey Friars in the City of London.

The executors of her will are reported to be John Sileby & Walter fitz Piers, who in 1399 were reported to be attempting to recover money due to her estate.

Margaret married firstly, about 1335, John Segrave, 4th Baron Segrave, by whom she had two sons and two daughters:

• John de Segrave, who died young.
• John de Segrave (d. before 1 April 1353), second of that name, who was contracted to marry Blanche of Lancaster, younger daughter and coheiress of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. However the contract was later declared void and Blanche later married John of Gaunt. About 1349, a double marriage was solemnized in which John Segrave married Blanche Mowbray, while John's sister, Elizabeth Segrave, married Blanche Mowbray's brother, John de Mowbray, 4th Baron Mowbray, Pope Clement VI having granted dispensations for the marriages at the request of Lancaster, in order to prevent 'disputes between the parents', who were neighbours.
• Elizabeth de Segrave, 5th Baroness Segrave, who married John de Mowbray, 4th Baron Mowbray.
• Margaret de Segrave, who died young, before 1353.

Shortly before 30 May 1354, Margaret married secondly, and without the King's licence, Sir Walter Mauny, by whom she had a son and two daughters:

• Thomas Mauny, who was drowned in a well at Deptford at the age of ten.
• Anne Mauny, who married John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
• Isabel Mauny, who was living in 1358, but died without issue before 30 November 1371.

As her brother had died without issue, she succeeded to the earldom of Norfolk and the office of Earl Marshal at her father's death in 1338. To date, she is the only woman to have held the latter office.

Margaret is a character in Georgette Heyer's last novel My Lord John, where she is portrayed sympathetically as a kindly though outwardly formidable old lady.