Traquair’s Royal Connections - Part III
Here we go then, part three of my look at the Stuart’s of Traquair and the long connection to the throne of Scotland.* We left the story with the death of King James IV at the Battle of Flodden, with James Stuart, the First Laird of Traquair, also among the dead. This was not to be the end of either house however, we pick the story up at Linlithgow Palace, in September 1513…
*A wee note again on names, I will continue to use Stuart rather than Stewart as it is the spelling most familiar to our modern eyes.
19. James V (1513 - 1542)
After Flodden Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots, is reported to have sat in the high tower of Linlithgow Palace waiting, in vain, for his return. The room she sat in is adorned with the Tudor Rose and does have a wonderful aspect, however all the views in the world could not make James come back. He was gone, and his son and heir was only a year old. James IV’s will stated she was to reign as Regent while she remained unmarried so that is what she did - for a year. Margaret remarried (into the powerful Douglas family - the Earl of Angus) and the Duke of Albany became Regent, with the infant James being passed around and fought over like a political hot tattie. We have to remember the context of the time - Scotland had just been devastated by Flodden, it was vulnerable to attack and with a child King and English Queen Mother it was a dangerous time. Eventually Margaret manged to get James back, and evict Albany from his role. James was still treated like a prisoner by his ambitious step dad Angus, albeit a very well educated and comfortable one. He was finally able to escape from this captivity to become his own king and, with a chunky Stuart army in tow, began to kick some ass. Border Chief’s, Lord in the Isles and many of his former captors (Douglas Family) - they all suffered at the Kings hand. Famously in Borders circles, he invited the Armstrong Clan/Family to meet him at Carlenrig, Teviotdale. The Armstrong family (led by Johnnie of that name) were perhaps the most notorious and powerful Border Reivers, but James was in no mood to negotiate. He ordered 30 men be hung in that lonely spot in 1530. If his aim was to pacify The Borders then it didn’t work - the Reiving times would last for several generations to come. He is known as the most architecturally interested Scots King and lavishly spent on his Scottish residences - Falkland, Stirling, Holyrood, Linlithgow all still show traces of the work undertaken in his reign. In particular the restored apartments at Stirling are among the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in Northern Europe.
The Tudor Rose at Linlithgow Palace
Found in the small room at the very top of the palace, reputed to be where Queen Margaret waited, in vain, for James IV’s return.
Meanwhile at Traquair, William Stuart had become second Laird after James’ death at Flodden. He married Christian Hay of Neidpath - daughter of Lord Yester. A match designed to build harmonious, neighbourly relations? Well, it didnae really work! The Stuarts of Traquair and Hays of Neidpath were at best frosty and at worst bloody hostile for a few centuries. The aftermath of the battle of Flodden helped usher in the era of Border Reivers and Traquair suffered many raids in the 16th century. It was an increasingly difficult time to be a Border Laird. William was to be succeeded in the Lairdship by all four of his sons, including two who would, arguably, take the House of Traquair to its greatest eminence under the next monarch. So let’s meet her. Yes, that’s right - after 19 Kings of Scots it’s time for our first Queen. Mary was born in 1542, the daughter of James V and his French (second) Wife Marie De Guise. James was injured in another Border battle at Solway Moss (trips to the Borderlands did not go well for the Stuart Kings), and died when Mary was only six days old. The historical wags will tell you that the shock of his only legitimate, surviving child being a woman killed him which makes for a funny line, but has a serious aspect - Mary was a woman in a mans world as the turbulence and strife of her short life demonstrates. Let’s find out…
Jacobus Rex 5
Restored, elaborate decoration from the reign of James V - Stirling Castle.
20. Mary, Queen of Scots (1542 - 1567)
How to tackle Mary, Queen of Scots? Hmm, there are several books published each year which chronicle her incredible life far more detail, and historical heft than I can muster so here’s a highly personal and poorly informed go at explaining it…
Born, becomes Queen at 6 days old, Scotland ruled by Regents, Henry VIII wants her married to his son so invades Scotland and sacks much of The Borders (the so called Rough Wooing), Mary is hidden away in castles for safety, moved to France for safety with her four ladies (also ALL called Mary), marries the Dauphin (Prince of France), noises up her mother in law (Mary is, after all, a Queen married to a Prince), becomes Queen of France, husband no 1 dies, moves back to Scotland to rule, is 5 feet 11 tall, beautiful and fiercely Catholic - she is surrounded by angry wee Presbyterian men calling her a whore, tours Scotland extensively across three summers to get to know a country that is suspicious of her (hence why every old house in Scotland seems to have a connection), marries her cousin Lord Darnley (a bit of a shit), tries to make relationship with her cousin Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth and her advisors are terrified of Mary who, as granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, has a very strong claim to England’s throne, Darnley and others murder her friend and Secretary David Rizzio in front of Mary, she gives birth to a son (the future James VI), Darnley himself is murdered in a plot involving explosion and strangulation so that’s husband No 2 gone, marries Lord Bothwell - a notorious and highly shady Borders strongman, nobles of Scotland turn against Mary and Bothwell and defeat them in battle, she is captured, miscarries and forced to abdicate in favour of her son, she is imprisoned, Bothwell escapes but is eventually jailed in Denmark and dies insane and starved (husband No 3 gone), Mary escapes her capture and flees to England where she spends more than 18 years in captivity, she pleas with Elizabeth to meet her, they never meet, Mary is implicated in a plot to kill Elizabeth, Elizabeth finally signs her death warrant, Mary is executed in 1587.
Much of this is well known. As various movies will tell you “in her end was her beginning”, Mary’s life and story has been romanticised and poured over for more than 400 years, with the most recent Hollywood movie coming just a couple of years ago starring Saoirse Ronan as Mary and Margot Robie as Elizabeth. It’s hard not to be taken in by her story, she had a lot of misfortune, but also made some strange decisions - particularly around husbands. It seems Mary felt that the support of a strong man would bolster her reign - while Elizabeth went the other way, and became history’s ice queen. What Elizabeth feared from Mary (her taking her throne) did not come to pass directly, but history shows us that Mary’s willingness to keep The Stuart line going through her heir was successful - on Elizabeth’s death it was young James VI of Scotland who would become James I of England and Ireland in 1603. The seed planted more than a century before with the marriage of James IV and Margaret Tudor had borne fruit - one Monarch ruled the British Isles for the first time.
Queen Mary’s Crucifix and Rosary
At Traquair The Queen found staunch allies who shared her Catholic faith in post reformation Scotland.
Image courtesy of www.traquair.co.uk
Mary did of course visit Traquair, the most famous of all Scottish monarchs to do so. You can see her bed, the crib used by her infant son James VI and revel in the atmosphere of a house which feels little changed from her time there. She visited with Darnley (the man who would be King), and the 4th Laird is reputed to have reprimanded the spoiled, drunken Darnley when he spoke out of turn regarding The Queen. Sir John Stuart, 4th Laird (and second of the four sons of William the 2nd Laird), was Captain of The Queens Bodyguard and was on the scene to assist her during the horrific murder of Rizzio. The Traquair Stuart’s were loyal to their Monarchs and at this time were as integral to Scottish politics as they ever would be - the 5th Laird (another William!) became a close courtier of James VI. He was also given the role of Governor of Dumbarton Castle and was close to the nation’s purse strings in the late 1500’s. Although the Stuart’s would be elevated to an Earldom under the 7th Laird, it is arguable that this period in the mid to late 1500’s was the peak of the House’s powers.
A final word on Mary, Queen of Scots. She remains fascinating due to the incredible story however I feel the more I learn about her that she is almost a peripheral figure in her own life, like the men of the day just wanted her out of the way so that things could get back to normal with a man on the throne. She continues to prove an enduringly interesting figure and I am in no doubt she will be the first thing many visitors to Traquair enquire about!
Traquair
The central portion of the house which would still be recognisable to Mary, Queen of Scots. The wings came later.
21. James VI of Scotland and I of England & Ireland (1567 - 1625)
James VI and I visited Traquair as a baby as we noted above. His reign began when his mother was forced to abdicate, with more regents involved due to him being an infant. I am glad I am not writing a blog about Regents as i’d be running out of space.
History remembers James as the man who united the crowns (on Elizabeth’s death Sir Robert Carey rode from London to Edinburgh in a carefully planned route to deliver the news within two days). He left Scotland he had ruled for over 35 years to head to London and would only return north of the border once in his life. 1603 was, according to a lot of English commentators, the start of the House of Stuart. Hopefully these blogs have demonstrated the first couple of hundred years in Scotland were pretty interesting in their own right. Anyway, back to James VI. He was a protestant, as we negotiate the choppy waters of post reformation Britain. At Traquair, the Stuart Laird’s followed their King into the new, Protestant faith, leaving behind Roman Catholicism (for now…) In recent years quite a light has been shone upon James VI early interest in witchcraft - including publishing a paper on Demonology. The witch trials of his era and later are an ugly scar on Scotland and it is right we continue to examine his reputation and role in this abomination in our nation’s history. The latest scholarly writing on James suggests that rather than maintaining his belief in the supernatural into later adulthood, he instead deplored witch trials but questions remain over his role. This will continue to be debated as this period of our history is explored.
James believed passionately that the Kingdoms of Scotland & England should be united, not just under his rule as Monarch but as a unified nation. As an aside, Wales had become part of the Kingdom of England in 1530 but thankfully still retains its wonderful language, culture and identity in the face of the Anglian juggernaut. Debates over the possibility of this union would rage over the next century, with the religious backdrop of Scottish Presbyterianism, English Episcopalian and Roman Catholicism never far away.
As for James VI and his connection with Traquair, he was there as a baby, with Queen Mary and Lord Darnley, during the time of the Fourth Laird. By the time his long and eventful run as King of Scots and King of England, ended Traquair was run by the its seventh Laird, John Stuart, who would become the first Earl of Traquair during the reign of James’ son, King Charles I.
As with all these Monarchs, I have barely scratched the surface of the important reign of King James VI - though if you want to find out more you are probably reading the wrong blog (try ‘The Wisest Fool’, a new biography of James recently written by Steven Veerapen and published by Birlinn). He does not have the same romance that surrounds some of his Stuart predecessors and successors, but with the benefit of historical distance it would appear that he was able to govern Scotland more effectively from London than many of the other Stuarts did in the thick of action in Scotland with one hand constantly reaching for a sword. Before I get any letters, this isn’t a cry for the glory of Unionism, just my own observations. James, for his many faults, was an effective King for Scotland. His son however nearly tore the country to bits.
22. Charles I of Scotland and England (1625 - 1649)
Charles became King on the death of James in 1625. Although born in Dunfermline he lived almost all of his life south of the border. His Scottish coronation came 7 years after he received the English crown at Westminster Abbey. Conscious that you, my long suffering reader, will be getting tired of dates and the complex 17th century history of Britain by now, I will try and succinctly put the story of Charles into a paragraph…
Charles believed in the divine right of Kings, i.e. not answerable to any earthly power. Unlike the canny and intelligent James VI and I, Charles made an enemy of his people and his government with some of his policies - seen as the behaviour of a tyrant. He was protestant but married a French Catholic Princess Henrietta Marie which angered the Protestant Briton’s (in Scotland we are now in the Covenanting times). He further angered his Scottish subjects with his attempts to force an English, Episcopalian Church upon us, complete with Bishops and all the trappings of Anglicanism our own Kirk of Scotland had shed. This was not successful (and is why his namesake King Charles III attends Crathie Kirk in Balmoral as a member of The Kirk run by a General Assembly, but in England he is Supreme Governor of The Church as was very clear at his coronation), and led to him being unpopular north of the Border as well. All of this helped create a series of wars known as the English Civil War, or more accurately the War of the Three Kingdoms due to the effect on England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles was eventually captured by his parliament, tried and executed with the Monarchy abolished in England, and later Scotland. The 7th Laird of Traquair, John Stuart, was as hinted at earlier made Earl of Traquair and Lord of Linton & Cabertson in 1628 due to his loyalty to King Charles I, who also appointed him to the lofty role of Lord High Treasurer of Scotland. This Earldom would be passed to male heirs for over 200 years before becoming extinct in 1861. It was during his Earldom that the last significant battle took place in The Borders, at Philiphaugh. It is rumoured that the Royalist Commander James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, attempted to find safe refuge at Traquair upon his escape from heavy defeat at the battle, approaching from across Minch Moor. No refuge was forthcoming, despite Stuart’s loyalty to the crown. Graham is arguably Scotland’s greatest ever military campaigner but during the tumultuous 17th century even his time was eventually up. The first Earl was ambitious and expanded his estate, fighting for his King during the Civil Wars but, not for the last time, this loyalty to the Stuart Kings put Traquair on the ‘wrong side’ of history. He was tarnished by his association to the Anglican King, imprisoned, and eventually impoverished before dying 10 years after King Charles.
Traquair today, the maze is a much more recent addition - see this blog for more information on it.
23. Charles II of Scotland (1649 - 1651) and England, Scotland and Ireland (1660 - 1685)
Charles was proclaimed King of Scots immediately upon his father’s execution however it wasn’t to last and following defeat by Oliver Cromwell in 1651 he escaped to Europe, awaiting restoration. Scotland therefore joined England and Ireland under Cromwell’s Commonwealth. At the risk of sweeping over some chunky political and military posturing (why stop now!), he was restored in 1660 and we’ve arguably not come close to Republicanism since.
Of more interest to our story at Traquair, Charles II restored reign coincided with the second Earl. Somewhat like King Charles I, this Protestant noble married a Roman Catholic. Or two as it happened. And it was his second wife, Lady Seton, who persuaded him to return to the old faith. This happened on his deathbed, at the age of 46, and took The Stuarts of Traquair again on to the supposedly wrong side of history but helped to ensure the romance and charm of 17th century Jacobitism which, to this day, makes Traquair so special in Scotland. This should be remarked upon as showing a remarkable resilience of character in The Stuarts of Traquair - it was very dangerous indeed to be a Roman Catholic in 17th century Scotland. The Mass would have only been conducted in private and secret (the Chapel you can visit at Traquair today did not exist), and the priest stairs I enjoyed running up and down as a kid spending summer days at Traquair were not there for amusement or to add a bit of quaint colour to an auld hoose - this was life or death. The Third Earl (young William Stuart) was hauled up before the Privy Council of Scotland, along with his mother Countess Anne (the former Lady Seton), with the aim of making sure he was not raised a Roman Catholic. Sadly, he died as a teenager before this dispute could be sorted and his brother, Charles, became the Fourth Earl in 1673. A fascinating man, with immense conviction who made, in marriage, a formidable and lasting connection which resonates to this day. Given the 170-year ordeal of moving from the end of Medieval Scotland to the brink of Great Britain and modernity, I think this feels like a good time to have a break - I will return with a fourth and final part to this blog which will take us from the Fourth Earl and his support for the Jacobite cause in the 1715 rising, right up to the present day and Catherine, 21st Lady of Traquair.
Any inaccuracies are entirely my own - I am by no means an academic historian, these blogs are written to encourage your own further interest in our history, rather than making any claim to be the definitive word! I am indebted to Traquair’s own website and archive, as well as the writing of John A. Anderson, Professor Veitch, Dr Clement Gunn, William Chambers, JW Buchan as well as Lord Wemyss and the team behind the Scheduled Monuments of Peeblesshire - great men whom I attempt to honour by making their work and research better known to modern readers.
