Martha of Anglyn, Princess of Arendaal

Martha of Anglyn ("The Fair Maid of Anglyn") (1344 - 1399) was the wife of Crown Prince Lief of Arendaal and thus the Crown Princess Consort of Arendaal and of Suionia between 1366 and her husband's death in 1387. Her husband predeceased his father King Edvard II of Arendaal by nearly two years and thus never ruled as King in his own right. Though she was never Queen consort, Martha was the mother of the Aren Queen Regent Blanche I, who succeeded her grandfather as ruler of the Aren and Suionian Kingdoms in 1388.

Princess Martha was daughter of King Edmund III of Anglyn and his Queen, Wilma of Northumbria. Her marriage to Crown Prince Lief marked the first recorded royal marriage between the Kingdoms of Arendaal and Anglyn. Legend has it that Price Lief was adamant that his bride should not be related to him by blood in any way.

A search for a suitable wife ensued and caught the imagination of the chroniclers and poets of the age. Some asserted that the Prince wanted to marry a commoner, but knowing his father would never allow this, devised a means of avoiding marriage to anyone else: namely, the grounds of consanguinity.

The Aren Royals were related by blood to nearly every other Royal House in Europe and finding an eligible princess unrelated to them was a monumental task. Historians point out that Prince Lief was actually opposed to marriages within close degrees of kinship (for instance he approved of the marriage of his daughter Blanche to the much older Karl August of Saxony but prevented the proposed match between Blanche and her first cousin, ie. Karl August's nephew).

Regardless of his motives, Lief finally settled upon Martha as a prospective bride. The princess arrived by ship to Leuven a month before the marriage festivities were celebrated in lavish fashion at Arnen Castle. She was welcomed with great fanfare and jousting tournaments that lasted for days.

Little is known of Martha's personality and she exerted little influence politically. Her husband was the epitome of the medieval knight, the very embodiment of chivalric ideals. Martha was constantly at her husband's side and was nicknamed the Fair Maid of Anglyn by the Aren Court.

The Princess was a favourite of her mother-in-law Louise of Montelimar and would become a close friend of her father-in-law's second wife, Catharina of Batavie. During much of her daughter Blanche I's reign Martha remained at Court especially when Blanche's children were fairly young. She later retired to her husband's estates in Fjordholm.

Family, Marriage and Children
Princess Martha of Anglyn married Crown Prince Lief of Arendaal and Suionia in 1366. Their children included:
 * Blanche I of Arendaal (1369 - 1408) - who succeeded Lief's father Edvard II as ruler of Arendaal and Suionia in 1388
 * Nissa of Arendaal, Queen of Montelimar (b. 1372) - Consort of King Jean V of Montelimar

Siblings

 * King Roderick II of Anglyn - brother

Other Royal Relations

 * Edvard II of Arendaal - father-in-law
 * Louise of Montelimar, Queen of Arendaal - mother-in-law
 * Catherine of Batavie, Queen of Arendaal - husband's step-mother
 * Rikissa of Arendaal, Duchess of Franken - sister-in-law (husband's sister). Consort of Duke Thomas IV von Franken
 * Viveka of Arendaal, Holy Germanic Empress - sister-in-law (husband's sister). Consort of Holy Germanic Emperor Maximilian IV von Sachsen
 * Karl August of Saxony - son-in-law
 * Richenza of Arendaal, Empress of the Talemantine Empire - husband's aunt. Consort of Luciano V of the Talemantine Empire
 * Niklaas III of Arendaal - grandson
 * Kristine of Arendaal, Empress of the Talemantine Empire – grand daughter. Consort of Emperor Beniamino VI of the Talemantine Empire

Ancestors
's ancestors in four generations: