Scandalous Affairs: Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, created her own scandals

We’re all familiar with King Henry VIII and his six wives, but few know that his sister, Margaret, was way ahead of him in the scandalous divorce and remarriage department. 

Queen Margaret, wife of King James IV of Scotland, was Margaret Tudor, one of two sisters of Henry VIII.  Margaret traveled to Scotland when she was only 14 to wed James IV, 30.  Before their marriage, James had seven, or maybe eight, illegitimate children by four different women.  But once they were wed, he and Margaret reportedly had a loving relationship.  During their ten year marriage, she bore him six children.

But when her husband died in a battle (fighting his brother in law Henry’s forces) only one child was living: seventeen month old, James V.  Margaret was named regent in the royal will, for as long as she remained a widow.

It was a singular honor from her husband, for she was not a popular choice.  Not only was she a woman, but she was also the sister of the king who had just killed her husband.  Yet all began well, and for the first year or so, she balanced the competing forces of those who sought an alliance with England and those who wanted Scotland to cleave to the Auld Alliance with France. 

At this point, however, after what had seemed a staid and balanced life, her tale develops striking similarities to that of her brother.  At 25, she apparently developed appetites of her own and her subsequent marriages, alliances, and divorce, changed the course of history and destroyed her position and influence. 

Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus

Less than a year after her husband’s death , she married Archibald Douglas, the 6^th Earl of Angus, suddenly and secretly, without asking so much as a by-your-leave, simultaneously losing the regency, the trust of the French-leaning barons, and possession of her young son.  In addition, the marriage did not sit well with the other Scots barons, who resented her for preferring Angus, a staunch ally of the English king. 

This left an opening for the French faction to resurge and bring the Duke of Albany over from France to serve as regent.

Things went downhill from there.  

Margaret soon learned that her new husband, the Earl of Angus was living openly with a former lover – and using Margaret’s money to do so.  For the next fourteen years, Margaret, and Scotland, went through a dizzying array of shifting alliances.  The regency, along with the possession of the boy king, shifted between Angus and the regent named by the French faction.  Margaret attempted to get along with all of them, but finally, allied with one of Angus’ enemies, she seized physical control of her eight year old son and fired on her husband when he came to take the boy back.

Queen Margaret defies Parliament - painting by John Faed

She was not allowed to keep control, however, and eventually, Margaret went to England for a year, and bore the daughter that Angus had fathered.  Yet she returned to Scotland to do her duty as a queen and a mother. 

An attempt to reconcile with her husband was unsuccessful.  Weary and despairing, she wrote to her brother Henry that she was considering divorce.  Ironically, Henry sent her a pious and crabby note saying that marriage was “divinely ordained.”  (He, of course, changed his mind on that not too many years later.)  In addition, Angus was an ally, who helped to keep Scotland from swinging too far to the French side, so Henry preferred to keep him close.

To no avail.  Margaret petitioned the Pope for a divorce.  Meanwhile, she swung her support more to the French faction, thinking, perhaps, that they could help her persuade the pope to grant the divorce.  Meanwhile, Angus kidnapped the young king, virtually holding him hostage for two years.  Finally, young James V, now 16, escaped and started to rule in his own right. 

By this time, Margaret, still married to Angus, had formed a new romantic alliance, this time with Henry Stewart, whom she married within months after she learned her divorce from Angus was official.  (The grounds upon which the Pope granted her divorce seem flimsy, even for the time.  It was that Angus was pre-contracted to another woman and Margaret was ignorant of it at the time of their marriage.)

Again, her union with Henry Steward was unpopular, but her son, now finally ruling in his own right, seemed fond of the man and gave him the title 1^st Lord of Methven.  For a time, he and Margaret were close advisors to James V.

Alas, Methven was no more reliable than Angus and she discovered he was keeping a mistress in one of Margaret’s own castles.  She sought another divorce, but her son would not support it and her last husband outlived her.  Late in life, her daughter in law, King James’ second wife, helped restore Margaret to a level of dignity and respect. 

And by then?  She had expressed a yearning to be reunited with Angus…

A husband, a divorce, another husband, the desire for another divorce…Queen Margaret created scandals that, in their own way, rivaled her brother Henry’s. 

 

Blythe Gifford has been known for medieval romances featuring characters born on the wrong side of the royal blanket. Now, she’s written a Harlequin Historical trilogy set on the turbulent Scottish Borders of the early Tudor era.  The books are RETURN OF THE BORDER WARRIOR, November 2012, CAPTIVE OF THE BORDER LORD, January 2013, and TAKEN BY THE BORDER REBEL in March 2013.  The Chicago Tribune has called her work "the perfect balance between history and romance."  Visit her at www.blythegifford.com, www.facebook.com/BlytheGifford, www.pinterest.com/BlytheGifford or on Twitter @BlytheGifford.  

Author photo by Jennifer Girard.

The Illegitimate Children of James V

Blythe Gifford

A post on the children of James V, King of Scots, (right) could well be expected to focus on his only surviving child, a daughter who became Mary, Queen of Scots, a queen whose name is known by those who know nothing else of Scotland’s history.

His two legitimate sons, James Stewart and Robert Stewart, were born about a year apart and died about a month apart, just after Robert was born, about mid-year in 1541 and just about a year before King James himself died, leaving Mary Queen at the age of six days.

King James no doubt had never expected succession to come down to an infant girl, for although he had only three legitimate heirs, he fathered at least nine children out of wedlock, three of those before he was twenty. Seven of those children were sons.

It is these illegitimate children I write about today.

As with so many Scottish kings, James was crowned while still an infant, at the age of one, just after the death of his father, James IV, in 1513. The tale is told that young James V was encouraged in his debauchery by one of his regents, but to be fair, illegitimate children had long been a royal prerogative, in England and Scotland. Young James came by it honestly. His own father had seven children out of wedlock by four different mistresses.

But James, who became king in his own right at age 16, was able to best his father. And although the identities of some of the mothers of his children are lost to history, some of his mistresses were the daughters of Scottish nobles. Their children were treated accordingly. This meant that several of them played prominent roles in Scottish history and proved problematic to their half sister, Queen Mary.

Five of the illegitimate sons of King James V were named “Priors” as children. This meant they held the five richest livings in the Scottish Church—Holyrood, Kelso, Melrose, Coldingham, and St Andrews. (This did not happen, of course, without the approval of the Pope. James apparently wrote asking his permission for three of his illegitimate sons to receive ecclesiastical positions before 1532, when the boys were still babes.)

I’ve listed the children below. Don’t worry if you get confused. Three are named James, their father’s name; two are named Robert.

James Stewart, Abbot of Kelso and Melrose. Perhaps born as early as 1529, when his father was 17, James was the son of Elizabeth Shaw “of Sauchie.” He died before age 30.

John Stewart, Lord Darnley. Born 1531/32, before James V was 20, he was reported to be the son of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Carmichael, a woman two years younger than he. John lived to be barely 32, but long enough to be active in the Scottish Reformation, to marry, and to have children.

James Stewart, Earl of Moray and Mar. James (shown here) was also born somewhere between 1531 and 1533, but his mother was Margaret, daughter of the 4th Lord Erskine who was his father’s favorite mistress. (There were even rumors King James thought to marry Margaret Erskine.) He went on to become the most powerful of James’ illegitimate children. A stanch Protestant, he remained close to his half-sister Queen Mary until she married Henry Stuart, a Catholic. (According to some counts, the earl “changed sides” five times during her reign.)
After her death, however, he was Regent for young James VI, his nephew, who later became James I, uniting England and Scotland under one king. The Earl was shot in 1570, before the age of 50, by a supporter of Queen Mary, the first recorded assassination by a firearm.

Robert, Earl of Orkney. Born in 1533, Robert’s mother, Euphemia, was daughter of Lord Elphinstone, and also granted livings from the church, both before and after the Reformation. King James VI re-created the title Earl of Orkney for him in 1581, when he was approaching fifty.

Adam Stewart. Also the son of an earl’s daughter and a prior of the church. He is reported to have married and died in 1606.

Jean Stewart. This daughter married (and subsequently divorced for desertion) Archibald Campell, the 5th earl of Argyll.
T
hree other children recorded are: James Stewart (another one), Robert Stewart, also a Prior, and Margaret Stewart. Two of these are of “unknown” mothers.

Had King James had half the number of healthy legitimate heirs, history might have been very different.

Blythe Gifford has written five, 14th century medieval romances for Harlequin Historicals featuring characters born on the wrong side of the royal blanket, most recently HIS BORDER BRIDE. The Chicago Tribune called her work "the perfect balance between history and romance." She is working on her next book, which will again be set on the Scottish Borders.