They say that history puts everything in its place. This did not happen with Margarita Multash, Countess of Tyrol and Duchess of Bavaria: because of an unjust slander, this woman went down in history as the ugliest ruler of medieval Europe.
In 1923, the German writer Lyon Feuchtwanger published the novel The Ugly Duchess. In the book, he brought out the ruler of Tyrol as a woman who wishes good for her subjects, tries in every possible way to improve their lives, but the repulsive appearance prevents her from gaining not only gratitude, but also the elementary sympathy of the citizens of Tyrol.
Author's version
This is how Feuchtwanger's imagination painted the ugly duchess: “She seemed older than her twelve years. A large, ugly head sat on a stocky body with short limbs. True, the forehead was clear, clean, and the eyes were intelligent, lively, probing, penetrating; but under a small, flattened nose, the mouth protruded like a monkey, with huge jaws and a bloated lower lip. Copper-colored hair was coarse, straight, without shine, the skin was lime-gray, dull, flabby. This is how she first appears in the novel. At the end of the work, the author writes about her like this: “Margarita got up, stretched lazily, went to the house, dragging her feet heavily. The mouth was protruding like a monkey, huge shapeless cheeks hung in bags, the whitewash no longer hid the warts.
A parody portrait of Marguerite, Countess of Tyrol and Duchess of Bavaria, by Quentin Massais was painted in the 16th century - more than a century and a half after the ruler's death. From the picture, a monster in a woman's costume looks at us - warty, dark-skinned, neckless.
Margaret's contemporary, chronicler Johann von Winterthur, described the duchess as a very beautiful woman. In other images, she does not look like God knows what a beauty - rather, a lady of the most ordinary appearance. In this case, what is the reason for this hatred and why is this bullying?
Promotional video:
Punishment for courage
The answers to these questions can be found in the biography of the Duchess - a woman who is intelligent, independent, free-loving and who allowed herself to behave as she thought was right. Margarita was not afraid to go against the church. She happened to live in the XIV century - then this was not forgiven.
Margarita of Tyrol was born in 1318 in the family of Henry of Horutansky, King of Bohemia. Her older sister passed away at an early age, and the monarch began to prepare his only daughter to rule the duchy. At the age of 11, Margarita was married to seven-year-old Johann Heinrich, the son of the then “acting” king of the Czech Republic. In those days, such "strategic" marriages between children were often organized. From fictitious to effective, such unions turned at the moment when the spouses reached puberty.
Margarita's father died in 1335 - she remained the last representative of the Goritsko-Tyrolean dynasty. None of the rulers of neighboring states wanted to see a young woman on the Tyrolean throne. The Austrians and Bavarians immediately tried to capture Tyrol. But the Tyroleans themselves did not want to see anyone but Margarita as monarch, and they supported her so energetically that the foreigners had no choice but to leave.
In the first half of the 14th century, no one called Margarita Multash yet. “Multash” in Russian means “dumpling”.
This dish was popular in southern Germany at the time. True, historians are still arguing about the translation of the Duchess's nickname: some confirm that it was about appearance. Multash-de in those years was called a large-mouthed man - with a mouth from ear to ear, as we say. According to another version, women of easy virtue were teased this way. This version deserves attention.
So, in 1335, Margaret ascended the Tyrolean throne. By that time, firstly, she had become an adult, and secondly, she realized how deeply her legal spouse was disgusting to her. We must pay tribute to the young Johann Heinrich, he answered his wife with complete reciprocity.
Marry for love
While Margarita was sorting out relations with her neighbors, enlisting the support of the Tyrolean people and local nobility, dealing with difficult financial issues related to government, her young husband spent time in idleness and entertainment, and the older he got, the more dubious they acquired. In fact, they never became spouses. Another would have resigned herself to this situation. In the end, Johann Heinrich did not bother Marguerite too much. She could organize her life so that she practically did not see him. Get yourself a lover or lovers … It's no sin to hide: some aristocrats would easily poison such a companion-burden. But not the young ruler of Tyrol!
However, for some time, Margarita somehow tolerated her “nominal” husband. But when she turned 24, she met the 27-year-old Prince of Bavaria, Ludwig. A real feeling arose between them. Supporters of the version that the duchess was ugly do not understand what the Bavarian found in Margarita. But, as they say, you cannot order your heart. And again, the question is: was the Tyrolean so unattractive?
Margarita decided to get rid of her insolent loafer husband in a legal way.
To begin with, the Duchess began to live openly with Ludwig. To say that in those days it was a slap in the face of public morality is to say nothing. The courtyards of some nobility were real nativity scenes. Married men and married women got themselves whole harems of mistresses and lovers. But living with a loved one as a husband was too much. Margarita angered the Catholic Church. And this institution in those days did not forgive anyone for disobedience.
Further more. Margaret put Johann Heinrich out of Tyrol. She did it in a completely elementary way: she announced publicly that she was not and had never been in a close relationship with her husband. And one fine day, when her husband returned from hunting, she simply did not let him into the castle, ordering the guards to close all the entrances. In Tyrol, Margarita's wife could not be tolerated. As a result, he had to stay in northern Italy with the Patriarch of Aquileia.
Johann Heinrich complained about the dissolute wife to the Pope himself. Then denunciations of Margarita from various ill-wishers literally poured into the Vatican. Soon a letter came from there, which said: Margarita and Ludwig were excommunicated from the church. The Church at that time was naturally unable to digest the first "secular marriage" in the history of mankind.
History is silent about the extent to which the ruler of Tyrol was an atheist. But Margarita reacted to the threatening dispatch without any attention. First, she lived happily with her loved one. Secondly, she was more concerned with the problems of arranging a normal life for the citizens of Tyrol.
The only thing that worried her was that her four children with Ludwig could not become legal heirs.
So Johann Heinrich took revenge on his wife. His close friendship with the churchmen bore fruit. When Johann Heinrich decided to legally marry another woman, no obstacles were posed to him. But the union of Margarita with Ludwig was not recognized for many years. Only when the children grew up and their parents were seriously concerned about their fate, Margarita, through tremendous diplomatic efforts and with the help of bribing church officials, managed to legitimize her relationship with Ludwig.
Sworn friends
Relatives of Johann Heinrich, after Margaret expelled him from Tyrol, began to spread the most incredible rumors about the Duchess, including about her unthinkable ugliness. Today, such actions would be called information war. The relatives of the unlucky spouse gave Margarita the offensive nickname Multash, with which she went down in history …
Ludwig died in 1361. For the next two years, Tyrol was ruled by Meingard - his son with Margarita. Then he died too. Margaret was unable to resist the growing Austrian influence and transferred her possessions to the Habsburg dynasty. She was forbidden to appear in Tyrol.
Laughed at by her contemporaries, lonely and unhappy, Margarita Multash died in 1369 in Vienna.
Olga SOKOLOVSKAYA