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Mary Stewart (daughter of Robert III)

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Mary Stewart
Countess of Angus
Bornc. 1380
Diedc. 1460 (aged c. 80)
Burial
Strathblane, Scotland
SpouseGeorge Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus
James Kennedy of Dunure
William Graham of Kincardine
William Edmonstone of Duntreath
IssueWilliam Douglas, 2nd Earl of Angus
John Kennedy
Gilbert Kennedy, 1st Lord Kennedy
James Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrews
HouseStewart
FatherRobert III of Scotland
MotherAnnabella Drummond

Mary Stewart (c. 1380 – c. 1460) was a Scottish princess. The third daughter of King Robert III and his wife, Annabella Drummond, she was married four times, most notably to George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus, with whom she was the progenitor of the so-called Red Douglas bloodline of the Douglas family.

Life

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Mary was born c. 1380, the third daughter and fourth child of John Stewart, Earl of Carrick, heir to the Scottish throne. The exact date of Mary's birth is unknown. She had not yet been born in 1378,[1] while her first child was born in 1398,[2] suggesting a birth date of c. 1380. Mary's father succeeded her grandfather, Robert II, as King of Scots in 1390, taking the regnal name of Robert III.

On 24 May 1397, Mary was betrothed to George Douglas, Lord of Angus, at a meeting in Edinburgh between Robert III and George's mother Margaret, Countess of Angus.[3] The marriage, which was concluded during the summer of 1397, was likely supported by Mary's influential elder brother David, Earl of Carrick, as well as by her father.[4] Shortly after Mary's marriage, her father recognized her husband's title as Earl of Angus. George was captured at the Battle of Homildon Hill in 1402,[5] and died in England soon afterwards, possibly during an outbreak of bubonic plague.[6] Mary was left as a widow with a young son, William, who succeeded his father as Earl of Angus.

In 1405, Mary married James Kennedy of Dunure, a prominent landowner in the earldom of Carrick. The marriage had political undertones, as Kennedy was influential in Carrick, where Mary's younger brother James had recently been created earl.[7] The couple had certainly been married by January 1406.[8] Mary and James Kennedy had three sons, John, Gilbert, and James, before her second husband was murdered in 1408.[9] As Kennedy's widow, Mary became entitled to a portion of his lands in Carrick, which were valued at £6 in annual income from rents.[10] In 1409, a papal dispensation was given for Mary to marry William Cunningham of Kilmaurs, but the marriage does not appear to have taken place.[11]

Mary married her third husband, William Graham of Kincardine, probably in 1413.[12] Mary had five sons with Graham before the latter's death in 1424.[13] Perhaps in 1425,[14] Mary married her fourth husband, William Edmonstone of Duntreath, with whom she had two children.[15] Mary probably visited the court of her brother, James I, alongside Edmonstone in 1429 to plead for the rights of her eldest son by her second marriage, John Kennedy, to inherit his father's lands in Carrick.[16] Despite Mary's intervention, her son clashed with the king over royal claims to Carrick and was forfeited in 1431.[17]

After the assassination of her brother in 1437, Mary's son by her first marriage, William Douglas, 2nd Earl of Angus, played a key role in the arrest of the conspirators.[18] William died in October 1437 and was succeeded as Earl of Angus by his eldest son, Mary's grandson James.[19] After his death in 1446, James was in turn succeeded by his younger brother, Mary's other grandson George. Meanwhile, Mary's youngest son by her second marriage, James Kennedy, was elected as Bishop of St. Andrews in 1440, probably with the support of Mary's sister-in-law Joan Beaufort.[20]

Little is known about Mary's later years. In 1452, her nephew James II confirmed her and her fourth husband in their lands of Duntreath, near Blanefield.[21] By this time, Mary had become the last surviving child of Robert III after the death of her elder sister, Margaret. Mary was still alive in 1458, when James II granted her lands in Carrick.[22] The date of Mary's death is unknown. Payments were made in her name from the Scottish exchequer as late as 1461.[23] According to the later historian David Hume of Godscroft, Mary's grandson, George, Earl of Angus, used his royal descent to claim the right to crown Mary's great-nephew, James III, at Kelso Abbey in 1460.[24] Mary was buried at Strathblane.[25]

References

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  1. ^ Registrum Honoris de Morton: A Series of Charters of the Earldom of Morton With Other Original Papers - Volume II (Reprinted ed.). Nabu Press reprint of Bannatyne Club. 1853. p. 136.
  2. ^ "George Douglas". Scotland - Earls, Mormaers, Lords. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  3. ^ Boardman, Stephen (1996). The Early Stewart Kings: Robert II and Robert III, 1371-1406. Tuckwell Press. p. 204. ISBN 978-1-904607-68-7.
  4. ^ Brown, Michael (1998). The Black Douglases: War and Lordship in Medieval Scotland. Tuckwell Press. p. 89. ISBN 1-86232-036-5.
  5. ^ Boardman, Stephen (1996). The Early Stewart Kings: Robert II and Robert III, 1371-1406. Tuckwell Press. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-904607-68-7.
  6. ^ Brown, Michael (1998). The Black Douglases: War and Lordship in Medieval Scotland. Tuckwell Press. p. 106. ISBN 1-86232-036-5.
  7. ^ Boardman, Stephen (1996). The Early Stewart Kings: Robert II and Robert III, 1371-1406. Tuckwell Press. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-904607-68-7.
  8. ^ Boardman, Stephen (1996). The Early Stewart Kings: Robert II and Robert III, 1371-1406. Tuckwell Press. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-904607-68-7.
  9. ^ Brown, Michael (1994). James I (First ed.). Canongate Press. p. 128. ISBN 1-898410-40-2.
  10. ^ Brown, Michael (1994). James I (First ed.). Canongate Press. p. 141. ISBN 1-898410-40-2.
  11. ^ "Mary Stewart". Scotland, Earls Created 1162-1368. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  12. ^ "William Graham". Scotland - Untitled Nobility. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  13. ^ "William Graham". Scotland - Untitled Nobility. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  14. ^ "Mary Stewart". Scotland, Earls Created 1162-1368. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  15. ^ Edmonstone, Archibald (1875). Genealogical Account of the Family of Edmonstone of Duntreath. Edinburgh: Legare Street Press. pp. 29–32.
  16. ^ Brown, Michael (1994). James I (First ed.). Canongate Press. p. 128. ISBN 1-898410-40-2.
  17. ^ Brown, Michael (1994). James I (First ed.). Canongate Press. p. 139. ISBN 1-898410-40-2.
  18. ^ McGladdery, Christine (1990). James II (Second ed.). John Donald. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-904607-89-2.
  19. ^ McGladdery, Christine (1990). James II (Second ed.). John Donald. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-904607-89-2.
  20. ^ McGladdery, Christine (1990). James II (Second ed.). John Donald. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-904607-89-2.
  21. ^ Edmonstone, Archibald (1875). Genealogical Account of the Family of Edmonstone of Duntreath. Edinburgh: Legare Street Press. p. 66.
  22. ^ Fraser, William (1885). "The Douglas Book". Internet Archive. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  23. ^ Richardson, Douglas (2013). Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, Vol. 1. pp. 651–653. ISBN 978-1-463561-68-0.
  24. ^ Macdougall, Norman (2009). James III. John Donald. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-904607-87-8.
  25. ^ "Mary Stewart". Scotland, Earls Created 1162-1368. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
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