Marguerite de Sablé

Marguerite de Sablé (died after June 1238), was a French noblewoman and one of the wealthiest heiresses in the counties of Anjou and Maine. She was the eldest daughter of Robert de Sablé, and wife of William des Roches, Seneschal of Anjou, who upon his marriage to Marguerite became one of the greatest barons in Anjou and Maine, her honours having passed to him.

Family

Marguerite was born on an unknown date, the eldest daughter of Robert de Sablé, and Clemence de Mayenne. She had a brother Robert who died as a child, and a younger sister, Philippa. Her father was a Grand Master of the Knight's Templars (1191-1193), and Lord of Cyprus (1191-1192); he was also a wealthy and powerful Angevin baron and landowner. Upon his death in the Holy Land on 23 September 1193, the lordships and lands, mostly in the River Sarth Valley passed to Marguerite, making her one of the wealthiest heiresses in Anjou and Maine.

Marriage

Marguerite married as his second wife, William des Roches, Seneschal of Anjou, and a Crusader in the service of the Angevin kings of England and King Philip II of France. He was the son of Baudoin des Roches and Alix de Chatellerault. His first wife, Philippa had died childless. Marguerite brought him the lordships of Sablé, La Suze, Briollay, Loupeland, Genneteil, Precigné, and the manor of Agon; this made him one of the greatest barons in Anjou and Maine. Together William and Marguerite had three children:

• Robert des Roches ( died 1204)

References

• Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Anjou