Margaret Seton

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Margaret Seton, with her father and brothers, Frans Pourbus the Elder
Margaret Seton, with her father and brothers, Frans Pourbus the Elder

Margaret Seton, Lady Paisley (died 1616) was a Scottish aristocrat and a favourite of Anne of Denmark.

She was a daughter of George Seton, 7th Lord Seton and Isobel Hamilton, a daughter of Sir William Hamilton. A family group portrait by Frans Pourbus the Elder painted in 1572 has a French inscription, her father's advice to her, "My daughter, fear God and for your honour, since the honour of ladies is tender and delicate". She wears two bands of jewels and pearls in her auburn hair with a ruby and a sapphire as their centrepieces. Her necklace or carcanet has precious stones set in gold alternating with diamonds. The artist may have depicted actual family jewels.[1]

In July 1568 Regent Moray granted her the goods of a number of men from Tranent, Winton, Longniddry, Winchburgh, and elsewhere, all tenants and servants of her father. They were implicated in the escape of Mary, Queen of Scots from Lochleven Castle and supporting her at the battle of Langside. Mary had first made her way to the Seton castle of Niddry in West Lothian and Lord Seton's retainers had escorted her to Hamilton.[2]

After she married Claud Hamilton in 1574 she was known as "Lady Paisley". Married women in early modern Scotland did not change their surnames when they married.[3] She continued to sign her letters, "Margaret Setoun".[4]

Margaret Seton, Lady Paisley, came to Stirling Castle with Anne of Denmark to collect Prince Henry

Her brother, Alexander Seton, asked for leave from his duties in Edinburgh to visit her at Paisley in December 1591 because she was ill.[5]

She and her mother Isobel Hamilton, Lady Seton, became favourites of Anne of Denmark, the wife of James VI.[6][7]

On 25 December 1602 Beatrix Ruthven, forbidden from the royal presence since the Gowrie Conspiracy, was smuggled into the apartments of Anne of Denmark at Holyrood House posing as a gentlewoman servant to Lady Paisley and her daughter Lady Angus, at the queen's request.[8]

On 7 May 1603,[9] Anne of Denmark came to Stirling Castle accompanied by Lady Paisley and others, hoping to collect her son Prince Henry. At Stirling, Marie Stewart, Countess of Mar and her step-son the Master of Mar prevented this. They sat down to dinner and the queen became unwell. Jean Drummond and Lady Paisley's daughter-in-law Marion Boyd, Mistress of Paisley, helped carry the queen to bed where she had a miscarriage. She told Lady Paisley and her physician Martin Schöner that she had taken "balm water".[10]

Lady Paisley wrote from Monkton to Anne of Denmark on 1 September 1610. She was hoping that the queen could help her avoid censure by the Presbytery of Ayr. She wrote that she had suffered from debilatating headaches and toothache for the last four years.[11]

She died in February 1616.[12]

Marriages and children[]

She married Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley in August 1574 at Niddry Castle. The wedding was celebrated with "great triumphs".[13] Their children included:

Three children who died as infants, Margaret (1577), Henry (1585), and Alexander (1587), are commemorated by an inscription at Paisley Abbey.[14]

References[]

  1. ^ Rosalind Marshall & George Dalgleish, The Art of Jewellery in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1991), p. 14.
  2. ^ Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1963), p. 73 no. 340.
  3. ^ Jenny Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community (London, 1981), p. 30.
  4. ^ Original Letters Relating to the Ecclesiastical Affairs of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1851), p. 257.
  5. ^ George Seton, Memoir of Alexander Seton (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 24-5.
  6. ^ Martin Hume, Calendar State Papers Simancas, vol. 4 (London, 1892), p. 604
  7. ^ HMC Calendar of the papers of the Marquis of Salisbury at Hatfield, vol. 6 (London, 1895), p. 540.
  8. ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, 13:2 (Edinburgh, 1969), p. 1095 no. 891: Leeds Barroll, Anna of Denmark (Philadelphia, 2001), p. 27.
  9. ^ Eva Griffith, A Jacobean Company and its Playhouse: The Queen's Servants at the Red Bull Theatre (Cambridge, 2013), p. 117.
  10. ^ William Fraser, Memorials of the Earls of Haddington, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1889), p. 211
  11. ^ Original Letters Relating to the Ecclesiastical Affairs of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1851), p. 257: James Paterson,. History of Ayr, vol. 1 (Ayr, 1847), p. 457.
  12. ^ William Fraser, Memorials of the Montgomeries, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1859), p. 129.
  13. ^ Thomas Thomson, A diurnal of remarkable occurrents that have passed within Scotland (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 341
  14. ^ Charles Rogers, Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland, vol. 1 (London, 1871), p. 423.
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