Memento Mori: April 2012

A snippet of the Stewart (or Stuart) Monarchy

James III

James III, King of Scots (born 1451), son of James II and Mary of Guelders

married Margaret of Denmark

at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh in 1469.

Margaret of Denmark was the daughter of King Christian I and Queen Dorothea of Denmark

(Dorothea of Brandenburg)

Part of Margaret’s dowry were the Orkney & Shetland Islands

The marriage produced three sons:

James IV of Scotland (1473 – 1513)

James Stewart, Duke of Ross (1476 – 1504)

John Stewart, Earl of Mar (1479 – 1503)

James III died 11^th June 1488.

There are varying reports on the circumstances of his death. Some say he died ‘in action’when his army were defeated at the Battle of Sauchieburn, whist others state that he was killed by enemy soldiers after by being thrown from his horse or that he was assassinated near Bannockburn after fleeing the battle.

James and Margaret are buried at Cambuskenneth Abbey near Stirling, Margaret having

pre-deceased James by 2 years.

Cambuskenneth Abbey

James IV

On the death of his father, James aged 15, heir apparent, took the throne and was crowned King

at Scone in June 1488.

James confirmed the ‘Treaty of Perpetual Peace’ with Henry VII of England at Glasgow Cathedral in 1502. This treaty was an agreement between the two Monarchs to put an end to the intermittent warfare between Scotland and England which had been waged over the previous 200 years.

A part of the treaty, a marriage was agreed between James and Margaret Tudor,

Henry’s eldest surviving daughter.

James IV, King of Scots (born 1473), son of James III and Margaret of Denmark

married Margaret Tudor at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh in 1503.

Margaret was the daughter of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York

The marriage produced four sons:

James, Duke of Rothesay (1507 - 1508)

Arthur, Duke of Rothesay (1509 – 1510)

James V of Scotland (1512 - 1542)

Alexander, Duke of Ross (1514 – (1515)

There were also two stillborn daughters.

Fourth son Alexander, Duke of Ross was born 7 months after his father’s death

at the Battle of Flodden Field, Northumberland, 9^th September 1513

James was known to have had quite a few illegitimate children by (at least) four different mistresses.

One of these was Margaret Drummond (daughter of John Drummond, 1^st Lord Drummond)

by whom he had a daughter, Margaret Stewart.

Margaret Drummond (and her sisters Euphemia and Sybilla) all died of food poisoning in 1501.

Theories have been suggested that James was planning or had secretly married Margaret and that her death was ‘necessary’ to allow the King to marry Margaret Tudor, but more recent suggestions support the fact that as food poisoning was common at that time, the sisters’ death was accidental.

If however, James had married Margaret Drummond instead of Margaret Tudor, Scotland may have remained as an independent country as the ‘Union of the Crowns’ would possibly never have taken place.

The three Drummond sisters were buried in front of the altar in Dunblane Cathedral.

Dunblane Cathedral

James V

James, aged 17 months, the only surviving son of James IV and Margaret Tudor, was crowned King at the Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle in June 1513.

Stirling Castle

He was to spend his early life under the ‘care’ of regents, amongst whom were his mother

(until her re-marriage to Archibald Douglas, 6^th Earl of Angus) in 1514,

John Stewart, Duke of Albany, Alexander Ross, Duke of Ross,
Robert Maxwell, 5^th Lord Maxwell

and Archibald Douglas, 6^th Earl of Angus, his step-father.

When James finally assumed the role of Monarch in 1528, after having escaped the ‘care’

of Archibald Douglas, one of his first actions was to remove his step-father from the scene

and forced the Douglas family into exile.

James’ married his first wife, Madeline of Valois, daughter of Francis I of France in 1537

at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

After their marriage, James and Madeline set forth for Scotland
arriving at Leith in May 1537, but a month later, Madeline,
who had never had good health, died of tuberculosis
at Edinburgh a month before her 17^th birthday.

She was buried in Holyrood Abbey.

James didn’t waste any time in re-marrying as on 18^th May 1538,
only a year after Madeline’s death,

he married (by proxy) Mary of Guise, widow of Francois II, Duke of Longuville.

The couple were married in June of 1538 at St. Andrews in the Kindgom of Fife.

Mary was crowned Queen Consort at Holyrood Abbey in February 1540.

The couple has 2 sons and a daughter:

James Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (1540 – 1541)

Robert (1541-1541)

James V died six days after the birth of their only (and last) daughter Mary

Mary, born December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace

was to become the famous (or infamous)

Mary, Queen of Scots

and we all know what happened next!!

Linlithgow Palace with St. Michael's Church in the foreground.

Memento Mori

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Winter wandering

Thursday 19 April 2012

We all know what happened next …..!