Margaret was the daughter of
Louis I, Duke of Orléans, and
Valentina Visconti. Her mother was the daughter of
Gian Galeazzo Visconti,
Duke of Milan, and
Isabella of France. Her brother was Charles, Duke of Orléans, captured at Agincourt and imprisoned for twenty-five years in England and who during his long captivity, became the greatest poet of the 15th century in the French language. In 1423 she married
Richard of Montfort, son of
John IV, Duke of Brittany, and
Joanna of Navarre. Margaret succeeded her brother
Philip as Countess of Vertus. Margaret, widowed in 1438, lived for a long time at Longchamp and in other monasteries with her younger daughters, Margaret and Madeleine. She was described as a very pious woman. ''The Book of Hours of Marguerite d'Orleans'', regarded as a defining example of the Illustrated Prayer Book of the Fifteenth Century, was made for her so that she might practice her devotion on a daily basis. She obtained a declaration from the Cardinal of Estouteville that sheltered her liberty and that of her daughters as they moved among the convents and religious monasteries of northern France. She finally retired to the Abbey at Guiche, order of Sainte Claire near Blois, where she died 24 April 1466 at the age of sixty.
County of Étampes With her father's death, Margaret inherited the rights to the
County of Étampes, and was named countess with her husband as count, in 1423, which was recovered from the crown lands after the death in 1416, of its last incumbent lord,
John, Duke of Berry. However, the claim was disputed by the then Duke of Burgundy,
Philip the Good, who succeeded his father
John the Fearless in 1419 after the latter's assassination by the agents of
Dauphin Charles. Philip took possession and ruled the county personally, (possibly wresting it from Richard in vengeance of his father's death) till 1434, after which he gave it to
John II, Count of Nevers, his first cousin, who kept it in peaceful possession, until it was reverted to Richard in September 1435 (who died in 1438) by the former Dauphin, who was now King Charles VII of France. The new king confirmed his gift to the deceased duke by letters patent presented to his widow in 1442. However, this decision was contested by the Attorney General of the Parlement, who argued that the County should have been reunited with the Crown, after the death of Richard. It was taken back from Margaret's son Francis in 1478 and in the month of April of the following year, Charles's son and successor, King Louis XI gave it to
John of Foix, Viscount of Narbonne, whose wife Marie of Orleans was a niece of Margaret and sister of the future
Louis XII of France. ==Issue==