The cult of St. Margaret of Antioch spread across the West and became popular among late medieval English women, especially as they sought divine protection during childbirth. This popularity, as well as the patronage of Anne Mortimer, Countess of March, led John Lydgate (c. 1370–1451), prolific author and monk at Bury St. Edmunds, to compose The Lyfe of Seynt Margarete sometime between 1415 and 1426, featuring the saint’s spiritual, physical, and verbal prowess, as well as her capacities for intercession. The Lyfe’s revisions to the fantastical narrative in which Margaret is swallowed by a dragon and its emphasis on rhetoric—in the poet’s prologue and envoy as well as in the saint’s speeches— indicate the sophisticated understanding and literary appreciation of the patron and her court of ladies, as well as their immediate interests. Anne had entered her first marriage, a bold alliance with Edmund Mortimer that invoked the displeasure of Henry V, and she was facing the prospect of motherhood. Thus, The Lyfe offered protection during impending pregnancies as well as a model of feminine courage in the face of resistance. St. Margaret’s steadfast loyalty to Christian convictions, endurance of torments, strength in combatting Satan, forceful declarations of faith, and valiant approach to martyrdom illustrate a heroism that medieval English women found compelling.