Jane, Janet, or Jean Kennedy (died 1589) was a companion of
Mary, Queen of Scots, during her captivity in England.
Jane was perhaps a daughter of
Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassilis
Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassilis ( ) (12 May 1515 – 15 November 1558) was Scottish landowner, soldier, politician, and judge. He served as Treasurer of Scotland.
Biography
The son of Gilbert Kennedy, 2nd Earl of Cassilis, he succeeded ...
.
Servant of the captive queen
After the
battle of Carberry Hill, Jane waited on Mary at
Lochleven Castle where Mary was confined and
signed abdication papers. Varying accounts mention her jumping from a wall while practising for the Queen's escape, or leaping from a window to join the Queen as she fled the island, and helping row the boat to
Kinross. Stories of Kennedy's role at Lochleven were publicized by
Nicolas Caussin
Nicolas Caussin (1583– July 2, 1651) was a French Jesuit, orator; and for a time, confessor to King Louis XIII of France. His treatise, ''The Holy Court'', a guide for courtiers in living a Christian life, was published in 1624. Caussin was rem ...
in ''La Cour Sainte'' (Paris, 1664).
In England, Jane was listed as a "maid" in Queen Mary's household at
Tutbury Castle in October 1569, her name recorded by a French scribe as "Gin Cannate." At
Sheffield Castle, in 1571, she was listed as a "maid of the chamber." The
Earl of Shrewsbury wrote to
William Cecil about a suspected servant called Martin, mentioning he seemed to be forming a relationship with "Jane Kenyte, the Scottish queen's woman". Shrewsbury made him swear on the Bible to have no further dealings with her.
In 1586, at
Chartley Manor, Jane, described a Gentlewoman of the Queen's chamber, was responsible for
Mary's jewels. An inventory of the jewels and silver in Jane's keeping was made when Mary was taken to
Tixall
Tixall is a small village and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the English county of Staffordshire lying on the western side of the Trent valley between Rugeley and Stone, Staffordshire and roughly 4 miles east of Stafford. The popula ...
for a fortnight and her possessions searched. Jane was also in charge of linen and laundry. At
Fotheringhay Castle, Jane Kennedy and
Elizabeth Curle helped Mary onto the scaffold and Jane tied her blindfold. Jane and Elizabeth had been chosen for this duty by Mary herself. The two ladies are featured and named in the ''Blairs Memorial Portrait'' of Mary Queen of Scots; Jane holds a white cloth. Another version of the picture is in the Royal Collection.
After Mary
At the funeral of Queen Mary at
Peterborough Cathedral on 1 August 1587, her ladies joined the procession in this order; Barbara Moubray, Christine Hog (the wife of
Bastian Pagez), Renée du Raullay, Marie Pagez, Jane Kennedy, and Susannah Kirkcaldy.
Jane Kennedy collected two beds from Mary's belongings, one for the
Duchess of Guise, the other for Madame de Châlons. She told the Spanish ambassador
Bernardino de Mendoza that she had blindfolded Mary at the execution, as she had precedence of birth before Elizabeth Curle. Mendoza was considering if she should have a pension from Spain. He wrote that her ship was driven back to Portsmouth by a storm.
Jane Kennedy returned to Scotland from France in January 1588. She talked to James VI for two hours about Mary's last days and told his courtiers about the execution. King James was sad and pensive and had no supper that day.
She married
Andrew Melville of Garvock
Andrew Melville of Garvock (died 1617) was a Scottish courtier and servant of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Family background
Andrew Melville was a younger son of John Melville of Raith in Fife and Helen Napier of Merchiston. His older brother James M ...
. Garvock is near to Dunfermline. Andrew was a brother of the diplomats
James Melville of Halhill and
Robert Melville. In 1568 he had brought a gold chain to Mary when she was imprisoned in
Lochleven Castle, which she had left with the goldsmith
James Mosman
James Mosman or Mossman (died 1573) was a Scottish goldsmith.
He was a son of John Mosman, a goldsmith working in Edinburgh. It has been suggested that the Mosman family was of Jewish origin.
He married Mariota Arres, and secondly in 1571, Jan ...
to make into a necklace. He became the master of Mary's household in England. Andrew and Jane were placed in joint custody of Mary's remaining jewels and silver plate. Mary had asked Andrew to take some of her belongings back to Scotland and her son
King James VI
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until h ...
after her execution, including portraits of her ancestors and a piece of
unicorn horn
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.
In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years or ...
. Andrew Melville was detained in England for a time after Mary's execution, and James VI asked his ambassador
Archibald Douglas to secure his release. Douglas found that Melville was already free.
Loss of the ferry boat
Jane and her servant Susannah Kirkcaldy were drowned on the 7 or 8 September 1589 crossing the
river Forth between
Burntisland
Burntisland ( , sco, also Bruntisland) is a former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 6,269. It was previously known as Wester Kingho ...
, where the Melvilles held
Rossend Castle, and
Leith. The ferry boat was "midway under sail, and the tempest growing great carried the boat with such force upon a ship which was under sail as the boat sank presently." Jane had been summoned by James VI to await the arrival of
Anne of Denmark, who was then expected to arrive at Leith.
The ferry boat sank after colliding with another vessel during the storm, and the sailors of the other boat, William Downie, Robert Linkhop, and John Watson of Leith were put on trial for the deaths of sixty passengers in January 1590. The outcome of the trial is not recorded.
The loss of the ferry boat in
stormy weather with all but two of the passengers was subsequently blamed on
witchcraft. In the following year people from
North Berwick were
made to confess to raising the storms and incriminate
Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell. According to the account of the witch trials in the tract ''
Newes from Scotland'',
Agnes Sampson
Agnes Sampson (died 28 January 1591) was a Scottish healer and purported witch. Also known as the "Wise Wife of Keith", Sampson was involved in the North Berwick witch trials in the later part of the sixteenth century.
Background
Sampson live ...
confessed to causing the storm by sinking a dead cat into the sea near Leith.
In later years the disaster came to be blamed on an error of the sailors, said to be drunk in calm weather by a writer in 1636, who added that £10,000 of goods and jewels were lost.
Andrew Melville of Garvock
Andrew Melville continued to serve as a Master of the Royal Household. He was given £200 to buy clothes to attend the
coronation of Anne of Denmark. In 1591 he was on hand to
protect the King at Holyroodhouse when he was surprised by Francis, Earl of Bothwell. Andrew, who lived on the north side of
Holyrood close, armed himself and entered the palace through the
Abbey using a secret passage. In July 1594 he and his brothers entertained the Danish and German ambassadors who had arrived for the
baptism of Prince Henry.
He remarried to Elizabeth Hamilton and James VI gave a ring to his wife at the christening of their child in 1594. In 1600 they had a daughter, Janet, and a son Andrew in 1603, and John in 1604. He died in 1617. In January 1624 his daughter Anna married Sir James Murray of
Tippermuir
Tibbermore is a small village situated about west of Perth, Scotland. Its parish extends to Aberuthven; however, the church building is now only used occasionally for weddings and funerals.
Previously known as Tippermuir, it was the site of ...
, known as the compiler of a miscellany of verse. His son George married the widow of the king's servant David Drummond.
In fiction
In
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...
's play ''
Maria Stuart'', Jane, as "Hanna Kennedy" is portrayed as Mary's nurse, and Andrew is "Melvil."
[ Strickland, Agnes, ''Lives of the Queens of Scotland'', vol. 7 (London, 1858) pp. 507-8.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Jane
16th-century Scottish people
1589 deaths
Court of Mary, Queen of Scots
Deaths by drowning in the United Kingdom
Year of birth unknown
Scottish ladies-in-waiting
Witchcraft in Scotland