Isabella Stewart (autumn of 1426 – 13 October 1494/5 March 1499), was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

princess who became Duchess of Brittany by marriage to

Francis I of Brittany Francis I (in Breton Fransez I, in French François I) (11 May 1414 – 17 July 1450), was Duke of Brittany, Count of Montfort and titular Earl of Richmond, from 29 August 1442 to his death. He was born in Vannes, the son of John V, Duke of Bri ...

. Also known as Isabel, she was the second daughter of

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 Ro ...

and Joan Beaufort.

Life

It was said she was more beautiful than her elder sister

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...

, who married the

Dauphin of France Dauphin of France (, also ; french: Dauphin de France ), originally Dauphin of Viennois (''Dauphin de Viennois''), was the title given to the heir apparent to the throne of France from 1350 to 1791, and from 1824 to 1830. The word ''dauphin'' ...

, and that

John V, Duke of Brittany John V, sometimes numbered as VI, (24 December 1389 – 29 August 1442) bynamed John the Wise ( br, Yann ar Fur; french: Jean le Sage), was Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort from 1399 to his death. His rule coincided with the height of t ...

proposed to marry her; thus he sent ambassadors to Scotland to take a description of her. They reported "she was handsome, upright and graceful but she seemed simple too". The Duke's reply was "My friends, return to Scotland and bring her here, she is all I desire, and I will have no other; your clever women do more harm than good". The marriage contract was signed on 19 July 1441 and ratified on 29 September of that year, but the marriage did not take place as Duke John V died on 29 August 1442. Isabella of Scotland Arms

Once in Brittany, Isabella married instead with the eldest son of her groom, now

Francis I, Duke of Brittany Francis I (in Breton Fransez I, in French François I) (11 May 1414 – 17 July 1450), was Duke of Brittany, Count of Montfort and titular Earl of Richmond, from 29 August 1442 to his death. He was born in Vannes, the son of John V, Duke of Bri ...

at the Château d'Auray on 30 October 1442, after which the whole court went to

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

for eight days of festivities. On the marriage, her husband gave her an illuminated

Book of Hours The book of hours is a Christian devotional book used to pray the canonical hours. The use of a book of hours was especially popular in the Middle Ages and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscrip ...

known as the

Hours of Isabella Stuart The Hours of Isabella Stuart, Duchess of Brittany (MS 62) is an illuminated Book of Hours produced at Angers either between 1417 and 1418 or before 1431 (there are two competing theories as to its commission), in the workshop of the Rohan Master ...

. Upon her husband's death in 1450, there were talks of Isabella's marrying Charles, Prince of Viana, heir to the disputed

Kingdom of Navarre The Kingdom of Navarre (; , , , ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona (), was a Basque kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France. The medieval state took ...

, but this proposal fell through due to the disapproval of

Charles VII of France Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461), called the Victorious (french: le Victorieux) or the Well-Served (), was King of France from 1422 to his death in 1461. In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, Charles VII inherited the throne of F ...

. Her brother

James II of Scotland James II (16 October 1430 – 3 August 1460) was King of Scots from 1437 until his death in 1460. The eldest surviving son of James I of Scotland, he succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of six, following the assassination of his father. ...

made vigorous efforts to persuade her to return to Scotland, where he hoped to arrange a second marriage for her. Isabella however refused, saying that she was happy and popular in Brittany and was in any case too frail to travel, and complaining that her brother had never paid her dowry.MacDougall, Norman '' James III'' Revised Edition John Donald Edinburgh 2009 Isabella died ca. 1494/99, which suggests that her claims of ill health 40 years earlier were much exaggerated.

Issue

* Margaret of Brittany (1443–1469, Nantes), married Francis II, Duke of Brittany. * Marie of Brittany (1444–1506), married John II, viscount of Rohan and count of Porhoët.

References

Sources

*Alison Weir, ''Britain's Royal Families'' *Annie Forbes Bush ''Memoirs of the Queens of France'' , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Isabella Of Scotland 1426 births 1494 deaths House of Stuart House of Dreux 15th-century French women writers Scottish princesses Duchesses of Brittany 15th-century Breton women 15th-century Scottish women Daughters of kings