Mary Fleming () (1542–fl. 1581) was a Scottish noblewoman and childhood companion and cousin of
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
. She and three other
ladies-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...
(
Mary Livingston
Mary Livingston (c. 1541–1582) was a Scottish noblewoman and childhood companion of Mary, Queen of Scots, one of the famous "Four Marys".
Life
Mary Livingston was born around 1541, the daughter of Alexander Livingston, 5th Lord Livingston (c. ...
,
Mary Beaton
Mary Beaton (1543–1598) was a Scottish noblewoman and an attendant of Mary, Queen of Scots. She and three other ladies-in-waiting ( Mary Livingston, Mary Fleming and Mary Seton) were collectively known as "The Four Marys".
Family
Mary wa ...
and
Mary Seton
Mary Seton (1542 – 1615) was a Scottish courtier and later a nun. She was one of the four attendants of Mary, Queen of Scots, known as the Four Marys. She was a sister at the Convent of Saint Pierre les Dames in Reims at the time of her death.
...
) were collectively known as "The Four Marys". A granddaughter of
James IV of Scotland, she married the queen's renowned
secretary
A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...
, Sir
William Maitland of Lethington
William Maitland of Lethington (15259 June 1573) was a Scottish politician and reformer, and the eldest son of poet Richard Maitland.
Life
He was educated at the University of St Andrews.
William was the renowned "Secretary Lethington" to ...
.
Life
Mary Fleming was the youngest child of
Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming
Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming (c. 1494 – 10 September 1547), was Lord Chamberlain of Scotland to King James V, from 1524.
Early life
He was the son and heir of John Fleming, 2nd Lord Fleming, who was killed in a feud with the Tweedie of D ...
, and
Lady Janet Stewart
Janet Stewart, Lady Fleming (17 July 1502 – 20 February 1562), called ''la Belle Écossaise'' (French language, French for 'the Beautiful Scotswoman'), was a Scottish courtier. She was an Legitimacy (family law), illegitimate daughter of King J ...
. She was born in 1542, the year her father was taken prisoner by the English at the
Battle of Solway Moss
The Battle of Solway Moss took place on Solway Moss near the River Esk on the English side of the Anglo-Scottish border in November 1542 between English and Scottish forces.
The Scottish King James V had refused to break from the Catholic Chu ...
. Her mother was an illegitimate daughter of James IV of Scotland. Lady Fleming became a governess to the infant queen, also born in 1542, and the dowager queen,
Mary of Guise
Mary of Guise (french: Marie de Guise; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. She ...
, chose Lady Fleming's daughter Mary to be one of four companions to the young queen. Mary Fleming and Mary, Queen of Scots, were first cousins.
In 1548, five-year-old Mary Fleming and her mother accompanied Mary, Queen of Scots, to the court of King
Henry II of France
Henry II (french: Henri II; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I and Duchess Claude of Brittany, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder bro ...
, where the young queen was raised. Mary Fleming's father having died the previous year in the
Battle of Pinkie
The Battle of Pinkie, also known as the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh ( , ), took place on 10 September 1547 on the banks of the River Esk near Musselburgh, Scotland. The last pitched battle between Scotland and England before the Union of the Cro ...
, her mother had an affair with the French king, the product of which was a son born around 1551.
Mary, Queen of Scots, and her companions returned to Scotland in 1561 after the death of
Francis II of France
Francis II (french: François II; 19 January 1544 – 5 December 1560) was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King consort of Scotland as a result of his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560.
He ...
. The English diplomat
Thomas Randolph recorded that the queen was consoled by Mary Fleming when she was disturbed by the discovery of the French poet
Chastelard hiding in her bedchamber. After having "some grief of mind", the queen took Mary to be her "bedfellow".
On 26 May 1562 the four women attended Mary at the ceremony of the opening of the
Parliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, PÃ rlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...
. Thomas Randolph described the procession of "four virgins, maydes, Maries, damoyselles of honor, or the Queen's mignions, cawle
all
All or ALL may refer to:
Language
* All, an indefinite pronoun in English
* All, one of the English determiners
* Allar language (ISO 639-3 code)
* Allative case (abbreviated ALL)
Music
* All (band), an American punk rock band
* ''All'' (All al ...
them as please your honor, but a fayerrer
airersyghte was never seen".
During the
twelfth day of Christmas pageant in January 1564, Mary Fleming played the part of queen of the Bean. Thomas Randolph was drawn into the dance, and described the costumes:
"The queen of the Bean was that day in a gown of cloth of silver; her head, her neck, her shoulders, the rest of her whole body so be-sett with stones, that more in our whole jewel house were not to be found. The Queen herself that day apparreled in colours white & black, no neither jewel or gold about her that day, but the ring that I brought her from (Queen Elizabeth) hanging at her breast, with a lace of black and white about her neck."
On 19 September 1564,
William Kirkcaldy of Grange
Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange (c. 1520 –3 August 1573) was a Scottish politician and soldier who fought for the Scottish Reformation but ended his career holding Edinburgh castle on behalf of Mary, Queen of Scots and was hanged at the co ...
wrote that the Royal Secretary, William Maitland, was showing an interest in Mary Fleming: "I doubt not but you understand me by now, that our secretary's wife is near dead, and he a suitor to Mrs Fleming, who is as fit for him, as I am to be Pope!"
Marriage to Maitland
![Signatures of William Maitland and Mary Fleming](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Signatures_of_William_Maitland_and_Mary_Fleming.jpg)
Mary Fleming married the queen's royal secretary,
Sir William Maitland of Lethington, who was many years her senior. The wedding was held at
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...
on 6 January 1566.
The following evidence may suggest that the marriage was successful despite rumors that they were unhappy and that Mary wished to murder her husband:
# The wedding occurred after a three-year courtship that weathered ambivalent relations between Maitland and Mary, Queen of Scots, to whom Mary Fleming was a lady-in-waiting and had been since the age of five.
# Maitland was so infatuated with Mary Fleming that he wrote to
William Cecil about it.
# The courtship was the talk of both the Scottish and English courts.
Mary Fleming and her husband were in
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...
in 1573 when it was held by supporters of Mary, queen of Scots against an English army supporting the government of
James VI of Scotland. She was captured with her husband when the castle surrendered on 28 May 1573. She was surrendered to Regent
Morton Morton may refer to:
People
* Morton (surname)
* Morton (given name)
Fictional
* Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3''
* A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise
* A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...
and kept a prisoner in
Robert Gourlay's House. Her husband was carried out of the castle on a
litter
Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. Litter can also be used as a verb; to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, ...
because he was unable to stand or walk. He died at Leith on 9 June 1573 before his trial in the custody of William Drury.
Mary Fleming wrote to
William Cecil on 21 June imploring that the body of her husband, "which when alive has not been spared in her hieness service, may now after his death, receive no shame or ignominy". As a result, Queen Elizabeth asked
Regent Morton
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton (c. 1516 – 2 June 1581, aged 65) was the last of the four regents of Scotland during the minority of King James VI. He was in some ways the most successful of the four, since he won the civil war that had b ...
to spare the body, which he did.
On 29 June 1573, and again on 15 July, she was ordered to return a
chain or necklace of rubies and diamonds in her possession that had belonged to Mary, queen of Scots. The piece had been a pledge for money lent to
William Kirkcaldy of Grange
Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange (c. 1520 –3 August 1573) was a Scottish politician and soldier who fought for the Scottish Reformation but ended his career holding Edinburgh castle on behalf of Mary, Queen of Scots and was hanged at the co ...
, captain of Edinburgh Castle. The piece was described as "a chayn of rubeis with twelfth merkis of diamantis and rubeis and ane merk with twa rubys in 1578.
Later life
Mary Fleming did not receive the restoration of Lethington's estate and properties until 1581 or 1582 by grant of King
James VI
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
, gaining a rehabilitation on 19 February 1584 for herself and her son. She was allowed the benefit of a property Maitland had given her,
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
in
East Lothian.
She had two children, a boy James, who later became a Catholic and lived in France and Belgium in self-imposed exile, and a daughter Margaret, who married
Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Roxburghe
Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Roxburghe (1650) was a Scottish nobleman.
Early life
He was the eldest son of William Ker of Cessford (died 1605), and Janet Douglas. His mother was the widow of James Tweedie of Drumelzier, and the third daughter of ...
. In 1581, Mary, queen of Scots asked Elizabeth I to grant Fleming safe conduct so she could visit the imprisoned queen of Scots. There is no evidence that Mary Fleming went. The last documents attributed to her are her letter to
William Cecil and a letter to her sister discussing some bad feelings that existed between Fleming and her brother-in-law
Coldingham
Coldingham ( sco, Cowjum) is a village and parish in Scottish Borders, on Scotland's southeast coastline, north of Eyemouth.
Parish
The parish lies in the east of the Lammermuir district. It is the second-largest civil parish by area in Berwi ...
.
She married secondly, George Meldrum of Fyvie.
[''Scots Peerage'', vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 541.]
In popular culture
In the 2007 film ''
Elizabeth: The Golden Age'', Mary Stuart's lady-in-waiting Annette Fleming, played by
Susan Lynch
Susan Lynch (born 5 June 1971) is a Northern Irish actress. three-times an IFTA Award winner, she also won the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 2003 film ''16 Years of Alcohol''. Her other film appearances in ...
, is an allusion to Mary Fleming.
In the 2013-2017 CW television series ''
Reign
A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Andorra), of a people (e.g., the Franks, the Zulus) or of a spiritual community (e.g., Catholicism, Tibetan Buddhism, N ...
'', the character Lady Lola Fleming, played by
Anna Popplewell
Anna Katherine Popplewell is an English actress. Popplewell is known for playing Susan Pevensie in the fantasy film series '' ''The Chronicles of Narnia' (2005–2010), which grossed an excess of US$1.5 billion and earned her a number o ...
, is based on Mary Fleming.
In the 2018 film ''
Mary Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
'', Mary Fleming is played by actress
Maria-Victoria Dragus.
Lady Mary Fleming features prominently in the novel The Abbott by Walter Scott, where she shares Mary Stewart's imprisonment in
Loch Leven castle
Lochleven Castle is a ruined castle on an island in Loch Leven, in the Perth and Kinross local authority area of Scotland. Possibly built around 1300, the castle was the site of military action during the Wars of Scottish Independence (1296†...
and escape from it.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Mary
1542 births
16th-century Scottish people
16th-century Scottish women
Court of Mary, Queen of Scots
Scottish ladies-in-waiting
Year of death unknown
People of the Scottish Marian Civil War
Daughters of barons