Queen consort and regent of Scotland
Mary of Guelders
(
Dutch
:
Maria van Gelre
; c. 1434/1435 – 1 December 1463) was
Queen of Scotland
by marriage to King
James II of Scotland
. She ruled as
regent
of Scotland from 1460 to 1463.
Background
[
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]
She was the daughter of
Arnold, Duke of Guelders
, and
Catherine of Cleves
. She was a great-niece of
Philip the Good
, Duke of Burgundy.
Burgundian court
[
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]
Philip and his wife
Isabella of Portugal
at first planned to have Mary betrothed to
Charles, Count of Maine
, but her father could not pay the dowry.
[1]
Mary stayed on at the Burgundian court, where Isabella frequently paid for her expenses. Mary attended Isabella's daughter-in-law
Catherine of France
, while she herself was attended upon by ten people.
[2]
The duke and duchess then started negotiations for a Scottish marriage. Philip promised to pay her dowry, while Isabella paid for her
trousseau
.
William Crichton
came to the Burgundian court to escort her back to Scotland.
[3]
A tournament was held at Bruges to celebrate her departure, the victor was
Jacques de Lalaing
, a Burgundian knight.
[4]
Queen of Scotland
[
edit
]
Mary landed in Scotland in June 1449. Her arrival was described by
Mathieu d'Escouchy
.
[5]
She first visited the
Isle of May
and the shrine of
St Adrian
.
[6]
Then she came to
Leith
and rested at the Convent of St Anthony.
[7]
Both nobles and the common people came to see her as she made her way to
Holyrood Abbey
in
Edinburgh
. Mary married King
James II of Scotland
at Holyrood Abbey on 3 July 1449.
[8]
A sumptuous banquet was given, while the Scottish king gave her several presents. Immediately after the marriage ceremony, she was dressed in purple robes and crowned queen by Abbot Patrick. It had been agreed that any sons they might have would have no right to the duchy of
Guelders
.
Queen Mary was granted several castles and the income from many lands from James, which made her independently wealthy. In May 1454, she was present at the siege of
Blackness Castle
, and when it resulted in the victory of the king, he gave it to her as a gift. She made several donations to charity, such as when she founded a hospital just outside Edinburgh for the indigent; and to religion, such as when she benefited the Franciscan friars in Scotland.
Regency
[
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]
After her husband's death, Mary ruled as
regent
for their son
James III of Scotland
until her own death three years later. Mary was drawn into the
Wars of the Roses
taking place in England at this time. She appointed
Bishop James Kennedy
as her chief advisor; their companionship was described as well-functioning despite the fact that the bishop favoured an alliance with the
Lancastrians
, while Mary at first wanted to continue playing off the warring parties in England against each other.
[9]
While Mary was still mourning the death of her husband, the English queen of the
House of Lancaster
,
Margaret of Anjou
, fled north across the border seeking refuge from the Yorkists. Mary sympathetically aided Margaret and took
Edward of Westminster
into her household to keep them out of Yorkist hands. Mary's dealings with Margaret were mainly to provide aid to the deposed queen. Mary gave a number of Scottish troops to help Margaret and the Lancastrian cause. Mary and Margaret also organised a betrothal between Margaret's son,
Edward
, and Mary's daughter Margaret in 1461. In return for her support, Mary asked for the town of
Berwick
on the Anglo-Scottish border, which Margaret was willing to give up. Relations between the two women deteriorated, however, with the increasingly friendly alliance between King
Edward IV of England
and Duke Philip of Burgundy. Any support by Mary for Margaret, Edward IV's enemy, threatened the alliance that Philip wanted with Edward IV against King
Louis XI of France
.
Edward IV tried to put a stop to Mary's support of Margaret by proposing marriage to the widowed queen, which Mary rejected. Mary's uncle, Duke Philip, pressured her to call off the betrothal of her daughter and Margaret's son, to Margaret's disappointment. In 1462, she paid the Lancastrian royals to leave Scotland and made peace with Edward IV. She also hinted at the possibility of a marriage between herself and the new English king. Mary, reportedly, had several affairs during her period as regent, notably one with the Lord Hailes.
[10]
Mary went ahead with James II's plan to build a castle on land at
Ravenscraig
,
[11]
designed to withstand the use of artillery, and lived in it while it was under construction until her death.
[12]
Trinity College Church
[
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]
Mary founded
Trinity College Church
ca. 1460 in memory of her husband. The church, located in the area now known as Edinburgh's
Old Town
, was demolished in 1848 to make way for
Waverley station
, although it was partially reconstructed on a different site in 1870 under the name Trinity Apse.
Upon her death, Mary was at first interred at Trinity College Church, but her body was moved to
Holyrood Abbey
in Edinburgh when discovered in 1848.
David Laing
, a member of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
, stated that the move was made on July 15 of that year. However, Laing raised the possibility that the skeleton discovered at Trinity College Church and assumed to be the queen was not, in fact, Mary of Guelders. He argued that another female skeleton, discovered in a more prominent location in the church, and more likely to have been the site of a royal burial, could well have been Mary. That person was also reinterred at Holyrood.
[13]
The first reinterment was in the royal vault; the second, near the entrance.
[14]
Daniel Wilson
disputed Laing's theories and maintained that the first reburial was indeed that of Mary of Guelders.
[15]
Wilson noted that since Mary died before the building of the
collegiate church
was finished, her obsequies had been held at
Brechin Cathedral
before the burial at Trinity College Church.
[16]
Issue
[
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]
James and Mary had seven children together:
- An unnamed son. (Both born and died on 19 May 1450).
- James III of Scotland
(1451?1488).
- Mary
(May 1453 ? May 1488), who married first
Thomas Boyd, 1st Earl of Arran
, and secondly
James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton
. She became the mother of
James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran
.
- Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany
(c. 1454 ? 1485).
- David Stewart, Earl of Moray
(c. 1455 ? 1457). He was created
Earl of Moray
on 12 February 1456.
- Margaret
(c. 1456 ? ca. 1480/1500?), who married William Crichton, 3rd Lord Crichton of Auchingoul. She became the mother of Margaret Crichton and mother-in-law of
George Leslie, 4th Earl of Rothes
.
- John Stewart, 1st Earl of Mar and Garioch
(c. 1459 ? 1479).
Ancestry
[
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]
Ancestors of Mary of Guelders
|
---|
| | | | | | | | | 16.
John I, Lord of Egmond
(bef. 1310–1369)
| | | | | | | 8.
Arnold I, Lord of Egmond
(c.1337–1409)
| | | | | | | | | | 17. Guida of IJsselstein
| | | | | | | 4.
John II, Count of Egmond
(c.1385–1451)
| | | | | | | | | | | | 18. Frederick VII of Leningen
| | | | | | | 9. Jolanthe of Leiningen (d.1434)
| | | | | | | | | | 19. Jolanthe of Julich-Bergheim
| | | | | | | 2.
Arnold, Duke of Guelders
(1410–1473)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 20.
Otto, Lord of Arkel
(c.1330–1396)
| | | | | | | 10.
John V, Lord of Arkel
(1362–1428)
| | | | | | | | | | 21. Elisabeth of Bar-Pierrepont
| | | | | | | 5.
Maria van Arkel
(c.1385–1415)
| | | | | | | | | | | | 22.
William II, Duke of Julich
(c.1327–1393)
| | | | | | | 11.
Joanna of Julich
(d.1394)
| | | | | | | | | | 23. Maria of Guelders (c.1328–1397)
| | | | | | | 1.
Mary of Guelders
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 24.
Adolph II of the Mark
(c.1314–1347)
| | | | | | | 12.
Adolph I of Kleve-Mark
(1334–1394)
| | | | | | | | | | 25.
Margaret of Cleves
(c.1310-aft 1348)
| | | | | | | 6.
Adolph I, Duke of Cleves
(1373–1448)
| | | | | | | | | | | | 26.
Gerhard VI of Julich, Count of Berg and Ravensberg
(c.1325–1360)
| | | | | | | 13.
Margaret of Julich
(c.1350–1425/29)
| | | | | | | | | | 27.
Margaret of Ravensberg
(c.1320–1389)
| | | | | | | 3.
Catherine of Cleves (1417-1479)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 28.
Philip the Bold
(1343–1404)
| | | | | | | 14.
John the Fearless
(1371–1419)
| | | | | | | | | | 29.
Margaret III, Countess of Flanders
(1393–1466)
| | | | | | | 7.
Mary of Burgundy, Duchess of Cleves
(1393–1466)
| | | | | | | | | | | | 30.
Albert I, Duke of Bavaria
(1350–1405)
| | | | | | | 15.
Margaret of Bavaria
(1363–1424)
| | | | | | | | | | 31.
Margaret of Brieg
(1342–1386)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
Notes
[
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]
- ^
Marshall, Rosalind K. (2003).
Scottish Queens, 1034-1714
. Tuckwell Press. pp. 57?58.
- ^
Marshall, Rosalind K. (2003).
Scottish Queens, 1034-1714
. pp. 57?58.
- ^
Marshall, Rosalind K. (2003).
Scottish Queens, 1034-1714
. p. 60.
- ^
Louise Olga Fradenburg,
City, Marriage, Tournament: Arts of Rule in Late Medieval Scotland
(University of Wisconsin Press, 1991), p. 173.
- ^
Christine McGladdery,
James II
(John Donald: Edinburgh, 1990), p. 45.
- ^
G. Du Fresne de Beaucourt,
Chronique de Mathieu d'Escouchy: 1444-1452
, vol. 1 (Paris, 1863), pp. 177-8
- ^
Rosalind K. Marshall,
Scottish Queens: 1034?1714
(John Donald: Edinburgh, 2007), p. 60:
Exchequer Rolls
, 5 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 382.
- ^
Grants "Old and New Edinburgh"
- ^
Marshall, Rosalind K. (2003).
Scottish Queens, 1034-1714
. p. 66.
- ^
Anne Echols, Marty Williams: An annotated index of medieval women
- ^
Rachel M. Delman, 'Mary of Guelders and the Architecture of Queenship in Fifteenth-Century Scotland',
Scottish Historical Review
, 102:2 (2023), pp. 211?231.
doi
:
10.3366/shr.2023.0611
- ^
Marshall, Rosalind K. (2003).
Scottish Queens, 1034-1714
. p. 67.
- ^
Laing, David (1862).
"Remarks on the Character of Mary of Gueldres, Consort of King James the Second of Scotland; in connextion with an attempt to determine the Place of her Interment in Trinity College Church, Edinburgh"
(PDF)
.
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
.
4
: 567?68, 573
. Retrieved
3 July
2021
.
- ^
Wilson, Daniel (1884).
"St Ninian's Suburb and the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity Founded at Edinburgh by Queen Mary of Gueldres, the Widow of James II in 1462"
.
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
. 6 (New Series): 152
. Retrieved
3 July
2021
.
- ^
Wilson (1884).
"St Ninian's Suburb"
. Museum: 147?58
. Retrieved
3 July
2021
.
- ^
Wilson (1884).
"St Ninian's Suburb"
. Museum: 146
. Retrieved
3 July
2021
.
References
[
edit
]
- Haeger, Knut (1982),
Skotsk kronika (A Scottish Chronicle)
(in Swedish), Stockholm,
ISBN
91-20-06736-4
{{
citation
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- Thomas Finlayson Henderson
(1893).
"Mary (d.1463)"
. In
Lee, Sidney
(ed.).
Dictionary of National Biography
. Vol. 36. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Marshall, Rosalind Kay (2003),
Scottish Queens, 1034–1714
, Tuckwell,
ISBN
9781862322714
- Weir, Alison (1995),
Lancaster and York: The War of the Roses
, London,
ISBN
978-0-09-954017-5
{{
citation
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- Richard Oram:
The Kings and Queens of Scotland
- Timothy Venning:
The Kings and Queens of Scotland
- Mike Ashley:
British Kings and Queens
- Elizabeth Ewan, Sue Innes and Sian Reynolds:
The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women
External links
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Royal consorts in England until 1603
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