ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the political life of one knightly courtier woman, Lady Margaret Sarnesfield, whose life at court remarkably spanned the reigns of four kings from 1381 to 1444. Like many aspects of her life, Lady Margaret Sarnesfields origins are obscure. Because no will or inquisition post mortem has survived, are left to reconstruct the various aspects of her life from later events. Because she is always referred to in documents relating to her as the wife of Sir Nicholas Sarnesfield, coupled with the fact that no English family can be identified, it seems likely that Lady Margaret was of foreign origin and came to England as one of Queen Annes ladies-in-waiting in 1381. Richards deposition left her without the greatest patron of all and, throughout the last four decades of her life, like many late medieval women, Lady Margaret was forced to live by reduced means.
