Anthony Van Dyck Lord George Stuart Seigneur D'Aubigny

Lord George Stewart (or Stuart), 9th Seigneur d'Aubigny (17 July 1618 – 23 October 1642) was an Anglo-Scottish nobleman of French descent and a third cousin of King

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after hi ...

. He supported that king during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

as a

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

commander and was killed aged 24 at the

Battle of Edgehill The Battle of Edgehill (or Edge Hill) was a pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642. All attempts at constitutional compromise between ...

in 1642.

Origins

He was the 3rd son of

Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox (157930 July 1624), KG, 7th Seigneur d'Aubigny, lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was a Scottish nobleman and through their paternal lines was a second cousin of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. H ...

(1579–1624), 7th

Seigneur d'Aubigny Duke of Aubigny (french: Duc d'Aubigny) is a title that was created in the Peerage of France in 1684. It was granted by King Louis XIV of France to Louise de Kérouaille, the last mistress of King Charles II of England, and to descend to Charles ...

, by his wife

Katherine Clifton, 2nd Baroness Clifton Katherine Clifton, 2nd Baroness Clifton (c. 1592 – buried 17 September 1637), was an English-born Scottish peer (later known as the Countess of March, then Duchess of Lennox and then Countess of Abercorn). Birth and origins Katherine was bo ...

(c.1592–1637). His eldest brother was James Stewart, 1st Duke of Richmond, 4th Duke of Lennox (1612–1655) of

Cobham Hall Cobham Hall is an English country house in the county of Kent, England. The grade I listed building is one of the largest and most important houses in Kent, re-built as an Elizabethan prodigy house by William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham (1527� ...

in Kent.

Youth in France

His father died of spotted fever when George was aged 6 and he became a ward of his cousin King

. He was brought up (with his elder brother

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

and younger brother

Ludovic Ludovic is a given name and has also been a surname. People with the given name A * Ludovic Albós Cavaliere (born 1979), Andorran ski mountaineer * Ludovic Ambruș (born 1946), Romanian wrestler who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics * Lud ...

) at the

Château d'Aubigny The Château d'Aubigny in the parish and Manorialism, manor of Aubigny-sur-Nère in the ancient Provinces of France, province of Berry, France, Berry in France, is an historic ancestral seat of a junior branch of the Scottish House of Stewart, know ...

in the parish of

Aubigny-sur-Nère Aubigny-sur-Nère () is a town and commune in the Cher department in the administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. Geography An area of forestry and farming surrounding a small light industrial town, situated in the valley of the r ...

in the ancient

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Berry in France, as a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, under the charge of his paternal grandmother, Katherine de Balsac (d.1631/2), Dowager Duchess of Lennox,Cust 1891, pp. 100–105. widow of Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Earl of Lennox (1542–1583). Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox was the favourite of the young King James I & VI (and a first cousin of that king's father

Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1546 – 10 February 1567), was an English nobleman who was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the father of James VI of Scotland and I of England. Through his parents, he had claims to both the Scottis ...

), who in 1579 had returned to Scotland from his French origins at Aubigny and was showered with honours by the young Scottish king, from 1603 also King of England. The Château d'Aubigny and the lordship of that manor (''Seigneurie d'Aubigny'') was first acquired by his distant relative Sir

John Stewart of Darnley Sir John Stewart of Darnley, 1st Comte d'Évreux, 1st Seigneur de Concressault, 1st Seigneur d'Aubigny (1429) was a Scottish nobleman and famous military commander who served as Constable of the Scottish Army in France, supporting the French ag ...

, 1st

Comte d'Évreux ''Comte'' is the French, Catalan and Occitan form of the word 'count' (Latin: ''comes''); ''comté'' is the Gallo-Romance form of the word 'county' (Latin: ''comitatus''). Comte or Comté may refer to: * A count in French, from Latin ''comes'' * A ...

(c.1380–1429), a Scottish nobleman and famous military commander who served as Constable of the Scottish Army in France, supporting the French against the English during the Hundred Years War, and a fourth cousin of King

James I of Scotland James I (late July 139421 February 1437) was King of Scots from 1406 until his assassination in 1437. The youngest of three sons, he was born in Dunfermline Abbey to King Robert III and Annabella Drummond. His older brother David, Duke of ...

(reigned 1406 to 1437), the third monarch of the

House of Stewart The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter fi ...

Career

In 1632 at the age of 14 he inherited the Seigneurie d'Aubigny (

lordship of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

), following the death of his 17-year-old elder brother Henry Stewart (1616–1632), who died in Venice. By 1633 he was a student at the

Collège de Navarre The College of Navarre (french: Collège de Navarre) was one of the colleges of the historic University of Paris, rivaling the Sorbonne and renowned for its library. History It was founded by Queen Joan I of Navarre in 1305, who provided for th ...

, part of the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

. He did homage to

Louis XIII of France Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

for the lordship of Aubigny on 5 August 1636, shortly after his eighteenth birthday. Later that year he moved to England. He fought with the French against the Spanish in the

Battle of Montjuïc (1641) The Battle of Montjuïc took place on 26 January 1641 during the Reapers' War. A Spanish force under Pedro Fajardo launched an attack on the Catalan army led by Francesc de Tamarit, with French cavalry support. The Spanish force had rece ...

. As civil war loomed in England, Stewart joined the forces of King Charles at York where he was knighted on 18 April 1642 along with his brother Bernard.

Death, burial & succession

He was mortally wounded during the first engagement of the

on Sunday 23 October 1642, aged 24. Also killed later during the Civil War fighting for the Royalist cause were his two younger brothers Lord John Stewart (1621–1644) and Lord Bernard Stewart (1623–1645),Manganiello 2004, p. 518. the famous Van Dyck double-portrait of whom – the iconic image of

Cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ) ...

s – survives in the National Gallery, London. George was buried in

Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral of the Anglican diocese of Oxford, which consists of the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. It is also the chapel of Christ Church, a college of the University of Oxford. This dual r ...

. The lordship of Aubigny passed to his next brother Ludovic Stewart (d.1665).

Marriage and children

In 1638, at the age of 20 and secretly, he married

Katherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the ...

(d.1650), a daughter of

Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, (13 August 15843 June 1640) was an English nobleman and politician. Born at the family estate of Saffron Walden, he was the son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, by his second wife, Catherine Kny ...

, without her father's consent, thus offending his guardian the king. The surviving portrait of George Stewart by Anthony van Dyck, now in the National Portrait Gallery, London, may have been painted to mark his marriage; the Latin inscription ''Me Firmior Amor'' ("love is stronger than me") may allude to his conflicting loyalties. His wife survived him and remarried to

James Levingston, 1st Earl of Newburgh James Livingston, 1st Earl of Newburgh (c. 1622 – 4 December 1670) was a Scottish peer who sat in the House of Commons of England from 1661 to 1670. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. Livingston was the only son of Sir J ...

, and following the defeat of the Royalists both were suspected in 1648 of plotting to rescue the exiled King Charles I and on the discovery of the supposed plot fled to

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

where Katherine died in 1650. By Newburgh she had one further child, Elizabeth Levingston. By his wife George Stewart had two children: * Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox (1638–1672), of

in Kent and of

Richmond House Richmond House is a government building in Whitehall, City of Westminster, London. Its name comes from an historic townhouse of the Duke of Richmond that once stood on the site. History Stewart Dukes of Richmond Richmond House was first built ...

in London, last in the male line of the Stewarts of Aubigny, who was the heir of his infant first cousin Esmé Stuart, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 5th Duke of Lennox (1649–1660), the son and heir of James Stewart, 1st Duke of Richmond, 4th Duke of Lennox (1612–1655), of

in Kent. After his death in 1672, childless but having married three times, the titles of Richmond and Lennox (which had merged into the crown respectively in 1485 (on the accession of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond as King

Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beauf ...

), and in 1586 on the accession of King James I & VI as King of Scotland (being the heir of his paternal grandfather

Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox (21 September 1516 – 4 September 1571) was a leader of the Catholic nobility in Scotland. He was the paternal grandfather of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. He owned Temple Newsam in Yorkshire, ...

(d.1571)) became available for re-grant by King Charles II, and the French territorial title of Aubigny was also vacant. The Stewarts of Aubigny had been much beloved by the Stuart monarchs and Charles II conferred their titles on his last mistress Louise de Kérouaille and his illegitimate son by her Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox (1672–1723). At the request of the English king, the French king created Louise ''Duchesse d'Aubigny'' in the

peerage of France The Peerage of France (french: Pairie de France) was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 in the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France (french: Pair de France, links=no) was ...

, which title was inherited at her death by her grandson Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 2nd Duc d'Aubigny (1701–1750). The titles are still held today by his descendant, seated at Goodwood House in Sussex. * Katherine Stewart (1640–1702), of

in Kent, heiress of her childless brother, who later inherited via her paternal grandmother the title Baroness Clifton of Leighton Bromswold; the dukedoms passed to male heirs only. she married firstly

Henry O'Brien, Lord Ibrackan Henry O'Brien, Lord Ibrackan, or Lord O'Brien (c. 1642 – 1 September 1678), styled Hon. Henry O'Brien until 1657, was an Irish nobleman and politician. He was the son of Henry O'Brien, 7th Earl of Thomond, and his first wife, and cousin, Anne ...

, and secondly Sir Joseph Williamson.

Notes

References

* *

External links

Genealogy of George Stewart, 9th seigneur d'Aubigny on The Peerage website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart d'Aubigny, George, 9th Seigneur 1618 births 1642 deaths Cavaliers University of Paris alumni Younger sons of dukes Younger sons of barons Military personnel killed in action People killed in the English Civil War

George Stewart, 9th Seigneur d'Aubigny Lord George Stewart (or Stuart), 9th Seigneur d'Aubigny (17 July 1618 – 23 October 1642) was an Anglo-Scottish nobleman of French descent and a third cousin of King Charles I of England. He supported that king during the Civil War as a Royali ...

17th-century Scottish people Burials at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford