Margaret Stewart, Mistress of Ochiltree (died 1627) was a courtier in the household of
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...
in Scotland and looked after her children
Prince Henry,
Princess Elizabeth, and
Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649.
Charles was born ...
Career
Margaret was the daughter of
Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven and
Janet Stewart, daughter of
John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Atholl and Lady Janet Campbell.
Her three siblings were;
Henry Stewart, 2nd Lord Methven (died 3 March 1572),
Dorothea Stewart, Countess of Gowrie, and Joan Stewart,
Countess of Argyll.
Margaret Stewart was called the "Mistress of Ochiltree" after she married Andrew Stewart, Master of Ochiltree in 1567, eldest son of
Andrew Stewart, 2nd Lord Ochiltree and Agnes Cunningham. After his death in 1578 she married Uchtred Macdowall of
Garthland, but was still called, and signed her name, "Margaret, Mistress of Ochiltree", or "Margaret, Lady Ochiltree".
Margaret Stewart the second wife of the minister
John Knox
John Knox ( – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Church of Scotland.
Born in Giffordgate, a street in Haddington, East Lot ...
, was her sister in law.
She had a long running dispute with Lord Robert Stewart,
commendator of
Whithorn
Whithorn (; ), is a royal burgh in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christian church in Scotland, "White/Shining House", built by ...
over
Cruggleton Castle and its lands. In August 1579 she was awarded the goods of John Douglas, chamberlain of Whithorn, who refused to surrender the castle to her.
She was paid £100
Scots in September 1579 presumably for a royal pension. She was friendly with
Patrick Vaus of Barnbarroch, who paid her 500
merks towards a royal pension she had from the incomes of Whithorn Priory in December 1582. She wrote to him on 20 August 1583 from Perth calling him "brother", and asking him to pay her debt to an Edinburgh tailor, Nicoll Spens. She called him "brother" as a member of the extended family of Janet Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Atholl, who had married four times, so making Margaret Stewart a relative of the Ruthvens, the
Kennedys of Girvanmains, and the Gordons of Sutherland.
On 1 February 1591 she was listed as a member of the household of Anne of Denmark with her daughters Mary, Martha, and Jean. Margaret had a male and a female servant and a page. She was paid substantial sums from the royal treasury, and may have been a leading figure in the queen's household, a role known as "
hofmesterinde" at the Danish court.
James VI came to
Holyrood Palace
The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly known as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood has s ...
on 25 July 1595 from
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most historically and architecturally important castles in Scotland. The castle sits atop an Intrusive rock, intrusive Crag and tail, crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill ge ...
, after receiving a letter from
Sir Robert Melville assuring him the queen was ill, on the testimony of the Mistress of Ochiltree and other gentlewomen. There was some doubt over the queen's illness because a plot was suspected.
On 11 October 1603 Margaret Stewart was given a royal pension of 300 and later 700
merks annually for her service to Anne of Denmark and her children from 1590 to 1603, and especially for looking after
Lady Margaret,
Duke Robert, and
Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms.
Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
at
Dunfermline Palace
Dunfermline Palace is a ruined former Scottish royal palace and important tourist attraction in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. It is currently, along with other buildings of the adjacent Dunfermline Abbey, under the care of Historic Environmen ...
before he was put in the keeping of
Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline.
On 4 May 1621 she wrote from
Dalkeith Palace to her son and
Sir Robert Kerr, a gentleman of the king's chamber, asking him to ask the King for payment of her pension by the depute treasurer
Gideon Murray
Sir Gideon Murray of Elibank (died 1621), was a Scottish courtier and landowner, who served as Treasurer-Depute of Scotland.
Family
Gideon Murray was the third son of Sir Andrew Murray of Black Barony (died 1572), and Grisel Beaton, a daughter o ...
. She reminded him that she had served Anne of Denmark since the month of her arrival in Scotland to the day she left in June 1603.
Family
Her children formed links at court, especially as ladies in waiting in the household of Anne of Denmark, where she was the senior lady in waiting. Her second son Josias Stewart sided with the rebels
Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell and
Hercules Stewart, but was pardoned for his treason. Her children were;
*
Andrew Stewart, who became the 3rd Lord Ochiltree, and then by an exchange of titles, Baron Castle Stuart.
* Josias Stewart of Bonington, who was a supporter of
Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell. In 1595 he revealed information to the
Privy Council of Scotland
The Privy Council of Scotland ( — 1 May 1708) was a body that advised the Scottish monarch. During its existence, the Privy Council of Scotland was essentially considered as the government of the Kingdom of Scotland, and was seen as the most ...
about a band or league between the Earl and the Catholic rebel Northern earls. He was the executor and administrator of the estates of his sister Jean Stewart, Lady Bargany and her son Thomas Kennedy.
* Mary (or Margery) Stewart (d. 1606) was a lady in waiting in the household of Anne of Denmark, she married Sir
Roger Aston
Sir Roger Aston (died 23 May 1612) of Cranford, Middlesex, was an English courtier and favourite of James VI of Scotland.
Biography
Aston was the illegitimate son of Thomas Aston (died 1553), Thomas Aston (died 1553). Scottish sources spell his n ...
an English favourite of
James VI
James may refer to:
People
* James (given name)
* James (surname)
* James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician
* James, brother of Jesus
* King James (disambiguation), various kings named James
* Prince Ja ...
who had appointed him
Gentleman of the Bedchamber
Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the Royal Household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Households of the United Kingdo ...
in 1587, and in 1596 keeper of
Linlithgow Palace
The ruins of Linlithgow Palace are located in the town of Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland, west of Edinburgh. The palace was one of the principal residences of the monarchs of Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland in the 15th and 16th ce ...
, where two of her daughters were born.
* Anne Stewart, married Andrew Kerr of Ferniehirst, called Lord Jedburgh, who had been Captain of the King's Guard. At the marriage of the "young laird Farnieherst" in January 1585 the king's bed caught fire.
*
Jean Stewart, also a maiden in the household of Anne of Denmark, married
Gilbert Kennedy younger of Bargany. The wedding was celebrated at court with food and music and King James gave her clothes. It was said that James VI compelled the Laird of Bargany to arrange the marriage without a dowry, because he had sided with kirk ministers against him. The queen arranged a loan for the dowry.
* Margaret Stewart, also a maiden in the queen's household, who married in January 1596 Sir John Stewart younger of Traquair. Their son
John Stewart of
Traquair
Traquair () is a small village and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the Scottish Borders; Counties of Scotland, until 1975 it was in the county of Peeblesshire. The village is situated on the B709 road south of Innerleithen at .
H ...
inherited, and was made Lord Stewart of Traquair, and Earl of Traquair in 1633.
[Balfour Paul, ''Scots Peerage'', vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 403.]
* Martha Stewart, who married Nicholas Rutherford of Hundalee.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Margaret
1627 deaths
Scottish noblewomen
17th-century Scottish nobility
Court of James VI and I
16th-century Scottish women
17th-century Scottish women
Year of birth uncertain
Governesses to the Scottish court
Household of Anne of Denmark
Scottish ladies-in-waiting