Queen Consorts

[Prince_Lieven]

I always had a special interest in Mary II and Anne, I think they were capricious and from my point of view they never really got to learn what the word 'love' means!

Yes, I am interested in them too. I think Mary was a nice woman, but Anne was a total cat! Anyway, this belongs on another thread, so I'll start one umigon!

[bell_the_cat]

I forgot to mention the four queens regnant (sorry it was my first post!):

Margaret Maid of Norway 1283-1290 reigned 1286-1290
Mary I 1542-1587  reigned 1542-1567
Mary II 1662-1694 reigned 1688/9-1694
and Anne 1665-1714 reigned 1702-1707

[Prince_Lieven]

I forgot to mention the four queens regnant (sorry it was my first post!):

Margaret Maid of Norway 1283-1290 reigned 1286-1290
Mary I 1542-1587  reigned 1542-1567
Mary II 1662-1694 reigned 1688/9-1694
and Anne 1665-1714 reigned 1702-1707

Don't worry, and welcome! Mary I, Mary II and Anne have their own topics now, anyway.

[bell_the_cat]

Joan Beaufort

Joan Beaufort was the daughter of John Beaufort the duke of Somerset. She was born about 1406 and was the niece of King Henry IV of England. Due to the unfortunate circumstance that her father was born while her grandfather’s second wife was still alive she had no claim on the English throne (this didn’t seem to be a problem for her niece Lady Margaret “Mags” Beaufort though).

When she was about 18 years old she met and fell in love with King James I of Scotland who was at that time a “guest” of the English king in the Tower of London.
James was imprisoned from 1406-1424. In fact he was quite well treated and received a good education. He wrote a very beautiful poem “the King’s Quhair” (“The King’s book”) which was dedicated to Joan. Their marriage was the reason he was allowed back to Scotland.

James and Joan were crowned at Scone in May 1424. His reign can best be described as a successful attempt to modernise Scotland, and James was by all accounts an able and attractive ruler. James and Joan had several children including the future James II. However as all modernisers find out there are always people who don’t like the changes. This group formed itself around the family of the Earl of Atholl (the son of Robert II and Euphemia of Ross who argued that Robert II’s first marriage had been illegal). This was to be his undoing.

In February 1437 James and Joan were at Perth when a group of conspirators burst into their apartment. Joan and her ladies attempted to fend of the assassins while James (doesn’t sound very brave, I know) tried to escape down the toilet! Inadvertently he had ordered the very same sewage channel to be bricked up a few days before because his tennis balls kept rolling in. To cut a long story short he could not escape and was stabbed to death.

I think the murderers must have regretted leaving Joan alive, because she wreaked a terrible revenge on them. Everyone involved including the aged Earl of Atholl was cruelly (and I mean cruelly) put to death. I can’t say I blame her, as the future of her children (and the country) was at stake.

Joan married again quite soon and had a second family with James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorne (cool name!). She lived to see her son attain his majority, dying in 1445 at the age of about forty, not bad for those days. I think she must have been quite a go-getting sort of person. I imagine her doing a lot of the running in her courtship of James (though I’ve no primary sources to prove this!). Also her second marriage shows that she wasn’t the sort to cry over spilt milk and could pick up the pieces and get on with her life.

[Prince_Lieven]

Thanks for that interesting and informative post, bell the cat!  

[bell_the_cat]

Thank you, Prince Lieven

Here's Yolande de Dreux, another of my favourites, just 'cos I like the name:

Yoleta (Yolanda) de Dreux

I like the name Yolanda – it’s quite common in Italy I think, and Gilbert & Sullivan fans will recognise it as Iolanthe.

She was the second wife of Alexander III. He had been married to Edward I’s sister Margaret. They had had their ups and downs (which is another story) but she produced two sons and a daughter before dying in 1275. Their sons, David and Alexander died in 1281 and 1283/4 respectively and their daughter Margaret Queen of Norway died in 1283 giving birth. She left behind her new-born daughter Margaret and a fourteen year old (!) husband King Erik. Baby Margaret was Alexander’s only living descendant.

At this point (why do I get the feeling Alexander was a putter-offer?) he decided it might be a good idea to get married again. And in 1285 he married Yolanda. I think he may have also been trying to move away from the English connection. Edward’s idea of a family party had been to invite his brother in law to a reunion and then pretend that Alexander had really been paying him fealty as overlord of Scotland.
So being connected with one of the great families of France might have seemed like a good idea. Also Yolanda was probably only a teenager!

They married in November 1285. Less than six months later he was dead when his horse fell over the cliff with him on it (as Kimberly has mentioned on another thread). You can see the spot if you look across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh on a good day. He was supposedly hurrying to see his new bride, but I’m not sure I believe that – they’d been married for five months already!

So Yolanda was the shortest reigning scottish queen ever.

It took Erik (another procrastinator) four years to send his daughter to be crowned Queen of Scotland. Margaret the “Maid of Norway” set sail in 1290, but never arrived. She died in Orkney in September 1290 (Orkney at that time belonging to Norway!). She was seven years old. King Edward took the opportunity to assert his claim to suzerainty over Scotland and the rest is history, i.e. Braveheart and so on. It was a terrible time for Scotland and really the end of a “golden age” of prosperity. If only had married again a bit sooner….

I’ve often wondered what became of Yolanda (Yoleta). Does anyone know what happened to her? I like to think she returned to France and married a rich nobleman.

Update: I’ve just done a search for her and yes! she married Arthur de Montfort in 1293, dying in 1323 – so a happy end after all (for her if not for Scotland ).

[Prince_Lieven]

Thanks for that!  

I find Elizabeth, wife of Robert II quite interesting.  

Elizabeth Mure, the daughter of Sir Adam Mure, married Robert in 1336 and died before 1355. Her children by Robert were always looked upon as having perhaps a little stain of illegitimacy.

1. Robert III.

2. Walter, Earl of Fife - married Elizabeth, daughter of Duncan, Earl of Fife and his wife Mary, whose mother was Joan, daughter of Edward I of England.

3. Robert, Duke of Albany - married Margaret Graham and had - Murdoch, Duke of Albany, Janet, Mary, Margaret, Joan, Beatrice and Isabella. Robert married secondly Muriella Keith, and had - John, Andrew, Robert, Marjorie and Elizabeth.

4. Alexander, Earl of Ross - married Euphemia, daughter of the Earl of Ross. No children.

5. Elizabeth - married Sir Thomas de la Haye, Lord of Errol and had - William, Gilbert, Elizabeth and Alice.

6. Isabella - married the Earl of Douglas and later Sir John Edmundston and had no children.

7. Jean - married Sir John Keith and had - Robert. Then she married John Lyon and had - John. She married thirdly Sir James Sandilands and had - James.

8. Margaret - she married John, Lord of the Isles and had - Donald, Lord of the Isles, John, Alexander, Angus, Hugh, Marcus, Mary and Elizabeth.

9. Marjorie - married Joh, Earl of Moray and had - Thomas, Alexander, james and Euphemia. Married then Sir Alexander Keith and had - Christina.

Robert II later married Euphemia, daughter of the Earl of Ross - is this why Elizabeth's children were not seen as fully legitimate? Because she was not noble?

[Prince_Lieven]

I can't seem to find much on Mary of Gueldres, save that her dates were 1433-1463, and she was Queen Regent for her son James III.

Margaret was the daughter of Christian I of Denmar and Dorothea of Brandenburg. She was born in 1456 and married James in 1469. Her father was unable to pay the promised dowry and so had to cede the Shetlands and the Orkneys to Scotland. Margaret died in 1586.

Marie de Guise was born in on 22 November, 1515, the daughter of Claude, Duc de Guise and Antoinette de Bourbon. In 1534, when she was 19, she married Louis of Orleans, Duke of Longueville. Apparently they were a happy couple. Marie gave birth to a son, Francois in 1535. In 1536, she was present when James V of Scots married Madeleine, daughter of the French King. Marie's husband Louis died in 1537, and in August the same year Marie had another son, Louis. After the early death of Madeleine, James was looking for a new wife. Marie rejected a propsal from James's uncle Henry VIII and decided to marry James herself. Her son Louis had died aged 4 months.

On May 18, 1538, she was married to James by proxy in Notre Dame Cahtedral, Paris. She arrived in Scotland in June and was crowned. She had two sons by james but both died young. Her daughter Mary was born in 1542 and she became a widow 6 days later when james died.

While Mary went to France to be trained as a future Queen of that country, it was Marie who governed the Scots as regent, frequently consulting her Guise relatives. She died on June 11, 1560.

[bell_the_cat]

Hi Prince_Lieven

Yes, it was the children of Elizabeth Muir and Robert II who were  (maybe) illegitimate. She had been his mistress and they were married (if at all) in pretty dubious circumstances. At this time (1340s), I don't think he was expecting to become King.

The children of Euphemia were legitimate, she was, as you say, the daughter of the Earl of Ross.

One of them was Walter, the Earl of Atholl, whose claim to the throne was the cause of the murder of James I (see above). Before he was executed the old man was forced to wear a red hot iron crown, in allusion to his ambition to be king.

I don't know why he had two sons called Walter, that seems to me to be a bit odd, Walter One and Walter Two.

[ChristineM]

Well, as a Scot, you ALL leave me speechless.   All I can say is that Mary of Guise and I share a birthday (over 450 years apart) and my mother (much to her continuing regret) is named 'Euphemia' but she is NOT the daughter of the Earl of Ross.

tsaria

[Prince_Lieven]

LOL - thanks for that, tsaria. Not the daughter of the Earl of Ross, you say? What a shame!   Is Euphemia a common name in Scotland, or is it common to a particular generation?

[Prince_Lieven]

Hi Prince_Lieven

Yes, it was the children of Elizabeth Muir and Robert II who were  (maybe) illegitimate. She had been his mistress and they were married (if at all) in pretty dubious circumstances. At this time (1340s), I don't think he was expecting to become King.

The children of Euphemia were legitimate, she was, as you say, the daughter of the Earl of Ross.

One of them was Walter, the Earl of Atholl, whose claim to the throne was the cause of the murder of James I (see above). Before he was executed the old man was forced to wear a red hot iron crown, in allusion to his ambition to be king.

I don't know why he had two sons called Walter, that seems to me to be a bit odd, Walter One and Walter Two.

Thanks for the info!   Yes, it is strange to have two sons with the same name . . . in England, Edward I's first child with his first wife was called Eleanor . . . by the time his youngest child by his second wife was born, this Eleanor would have been in her mid-40s, but was already dead. The new baby's name? Eleanor of course!  

[ChristineM]

Now a can contribute to this thread at MY level.  

Euphemia is a generational name.  However, it was a royal/aristocratic name for centuries.   It has pretty much disappeared over the last couple of centuries.

However, my mother is Hebridean.   Her native tongue is Gaelic (Scots!!!, Prince Lieven although she can understand a fair amount of Irish Gaelic).   In Gaelic the name is 'Erica' - (Oirigh) which translates into English as 'Euphemia'.

Now, which would you prefer?

tsaria

[Prince_Lieven]

I would imagine there are many similarities between Irish Gaelic and Scots Gaelic . . . the English form of my name is William. Which would you prefer?  

[ChristineM]

I did not realise that Liam is also a diminutive of Wil liam.  So much preferable to Bill, Billy, Will or Willie.

My maternal grandfather was Uilleam which translates to English as William.

Now, we are being very, very self-indulgent Prince Lieven...   Better get back on topic.

tsaria