


With her wayward curls tightly ordered under a silver fillette and her embroidery beside her, Maragaret of Devonshire was a picture of tranquil maidenhood. Only a close observer would have seen the storm in her violet eyes as she waited the darkening horizon and waited. In her lap, warm and golden, lay a puppy exhausted from chasing colored threads and growing at shadows. "If only my shadows were so easily vanquished" she murmured, as her slender fingers restlessly fondled his silken ears. It seemed that her life had been spent in waiting and now she waited still. What fate had King John in store for her? As an heiress she was his to give in wedlock where he chose. but surely her petition to stay virgin and run her own estate had been persuasive? Surely the golden crown she'd sent had been eloquent enough? They must be! At that moment the close observer would have seen her soft lips set form together and her slender back stiffen with resolve. No husband would rule her as her Mother had been ruled, she vowed. No man would ever hold dominion over her!

In 1185 King Henry II of England was making an inventory of all the heiresses he owned. No matter how small their inheritance they were his to sell or give as prizes and bribes. A virgin baby with substantial holdings may cost £100. If she lived to puberty her price tripled. Forty years later King John was paying French mercenaries to swell his thinning armies. These men, reputed to be brutish and crude but formidable in battle, were led by Faulkes de Breaute. To reward his favorite paid thug, John gave him Lady Margaret, widow of the Earl of Devon's heir. Mathew de Paris, chronicler of the time, described the marriage as "nobility united to meanness, piety to impiety, beauty to dishonor." The mismatch lasted for nine years until be Breaute fell out of favor with the King and Margaret was able to get an annulment. Her ex-husband immediately sped hot-foot to Rome, hoping that the Pope would grant him possession of Margaret's wealth. While awaiting the Pope's decision he died. A clear example of Divine Intervention, claimed his contemporaries.

It is possible that during her marriage Margaret would have been periodically forced into a chastity belt, particularly when her Lord and master was off waging war. Like a crude pair of iron knickers these objects were welded or locked about the wearer. Two small holes, often edged with teeth, allowed for the on-way passage of body fluids but barred entry for any unauthorized penis. Washing and walking were both problematic in these circumstances and the genitals were left " perpetually befouled."





