See also

Joan BEAUFORT (bef1407-1445)

1. Joan BEAUFORT, daughter of John de Beaufort EARL OF SOMERSET (aft1371-1410) and Margaret de Holand (aft1381-1439), was born before 1407. She married James I KING OF SCOTLAND on 2 February 1424 in St. Mary Overy, Southwark. She married James STEWART on 21 September 1439. She died on [Julian] 15 July 1445 in Dunbar Castle.

 

James I KING OF SCOTLAND, son of Murdac, Duke of Albany ( - ), was born in December 1394 in Dunfermline Abbey. He died on 21 February 1437. He died in 1437. He and Joan BEAUFORT had the following children:

 

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James II KING OF SCOTLAND (1430-1460)

 

Sir James STEWART, son of John STEWART (c. 1350-1421) and Isabel MacDougall de Erqadia (c. 1362-1439), was born in 1383 in Innermeath, Argyllshire. He died in 1451. He and Joan BEAUFORT had the following children:

 

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John STEWART (c. 1440-1512)

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James STEWART (1442-1499)

Second Generation

2. James II KING OF SCOTLAND, son of James I KING OF SCOTLAND and Joan BEAUFORT, was born on 16 October 1430 in Holyrood. He died on 3 August 1460 in Roxburgh. He married Mary of Gueldres.

 

James II was just 6 years old when he succeeded to the throne following the murder of his father. He was nicknamed ¡®Fiery Face¡¯ after a large birthmark on his face.

He was crowned at Holyrood Abbey ending the tradition since Kenneth MacAlpin of crowning at Scone. During his minority three rival families, William Crichton of Edinburgh, Alexander Livingstone of Stirling and William Douglas, fought for control. When James took over power of king he had Livingstone arrested, and is said to have personally killed William Earl of Douglas when he invited him in February 1452 for negotiations at Stirling castle.

Having taken control of the warring factions, James created new earldoms and set about organising central government and introduced central taxation. The University of Glasgow was founded in 1451.

He successfully played the Lancastrians and Yorkists in England against each other, and in 1460 besieged Roxburgh with a large army and iron cannons newly imported from Flanders. Standing too close to a cannon which exploded he was fatally struck and killed by flying metal.

 

Mary of Gueldres and James II KING OF SCOTLAND had the following children:

 

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James III KING OF SCOTLAND (1460-1488)

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Mary ( - )

 

3. John STEWART, son of Sir James STEWART and Joan BEAUFORT, was born circa 1440. He had the title '1st Earl of Athol'. He married Eleanor SINCLAIR on 19 April 1475 in Dunkeld Cathedral. He died on 15 September 1512 in Laighwood, Perth. He was buried in Dunkeld Cathedral. He married Betarix (Margaret) DOUGLAS.

 

Betarix (Margaret) DOUGLAS, daughter of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas ( - ), died in 1475.

 

Eleanor SINCLAIR, daughter of William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney, Earl of CAITHNESS ( - ) and Marjory SUTHERLAND ( - ), died in 1518.

 

4. Sir James STEWART 1st Earl of Buchan, son of Sir James STEWART and Joan BEAUFORT, was born in 1442. He had the title '1st Earl of Buchan (of the third creation)'. He died in 1499. He married Margaret OGILVIE. He married Margaret MURRAY.

 

Sir James "Hearty James" Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan of the third creation (1442-1499), the second son of Sir James Stewart, "the Black Knight of Lorne," by Joan Beaufort the widow of James I of Scotland. He was a younger half-brother of James II of Scotland and Margaret of Scotland, first wife of Louis XI of France. He was also a younger brother of John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl.

By 1466, James married Margaret Ogilvie, the heiress of Sir Alexander Ogilvie of Auchterhouse. They were parents to two children, Alexander Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan (d. 1505) and Isabel Stewart of Buchan. A mistress of James IV of Scotland. She may have been the mother of Lady Janet Stewart, who was in turn a mistress of Henry II of France.

In 1467, James III of Scotland, granted to his uncle and his wife the lands of the Baronies of Strathalva and Down, with the Castle of Banff, and the fishings of the water of River Deveron. In 1469, James III conferred the Earldom of Buchan on James Stewart. James took the titles of Earl of Buchan and Lord Auchterhouse. James III gave Traquair House and all its lands to his favourite, Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd. Then a few years later to his "Master of Music" who in turn sold it on to the King's uncle the Earl of Buchan for the equivalent today of a few pounds. When the southern barons entered into a conspiracy against the King, the Earl of Buchan naturally remained loyal. The King crossed the Forth, and passed into the north-eastern counties, where a strong force rallied round him. He then marched southward, and came in sight of the rebellious barons at Blackness in West Lothian, and the Earl of Buchan attacked and drove back the left wing of the insurgent army.

Negotiations were opened, and the Earl of Buchan insisted on severe measures against the insurgent nobles; but George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly and William Hay, 3rd Earl of Erroll were opposed to this, and they retired to the north. It was evident, however, that Buchan’s view was right. A pacification was arranged in May, 1488, in which the barons promised to return to their allegiance and maintain the rights of the Crown and the peace of the kingdom; and thereupon the King disbanded his army and returned to Edinburgh.

James Stewart had several illegitimate children with his mistress Margaret Murray (b. abt 1446), many of which were later legitimized by a royal charter issued in 1488-1489, James Stewart, 1st Laird of Traquair (1480-1513) and Agnes Stewart (married first Adam Hepburn, 2nd Earl of Bothwell, secondly Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home and thirdly Robert Maxwell, 4th Lord Maxwell). Like her half-sister, Isobel, Agnes was the mistress of King James IV of Scotland, and was probably the mother of Lady Janet Stewart. She died in February, 1557.

The Earl of Buchan died in 1499, and was succeeded by his son, Alexander.

 

Margaret OGILVIE was the daughter of Sir Alexander OGILVIE of Auchterhouse ( - ). She and James STEWART had the following children:

 

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Alexander STEWART ( -1505)

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Isobel STEWART ( - )

 

Margaret MURRAY, daughter of Patrick MURRAY of Philiphaugh ( - ), was born circa 1446. She and James STEWART had the following children:

 

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James STEWART (1480-1513)

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Agnes STEWART ( -1557)

Third Generation

5. James III KING OF SCOTLAND, son of James II KING OF SCOTLAND and Mary of Gueldres, was born on 3 August 1460. He died on 11 June 1488. He married Margaret of Denmark.

 

James III of Scotland (1451/ 1452 – June 11, 1488) was the son of James II and Mary of Gueldres, created Duke of Rothesay at birth, and King of Scots from 1460 to 1488. James was an unpopular and ineffective monarch owing to an unwillingness to administer justice fairly, a policy of pursuing alliance with the Kingdom of England, and a disastrous relationship with nearly all his extended family.

His reputation as the first renaissance monarch in Scotland has sometimes been exaggerated, based on late chronicle attacks on him for being more interested in such unmanly pursuits as music than hunting, riding and leading his kingdom into war. In fact the artistic legacy of his reign is slight, especially when compared to that of his son, James IV and grandson, James V. Such evidence as there is consists of portrait coins produced during his reign, displaying the king in three-quarter profile, and wearing an imperial crown, the Trinity Altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes, which was probably not commissioned by the king, and an unusual hexagonal chapel at Restalrig near Edinburgh, perhaps inspired by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

 

Margaret of Denmark and James III KING OF SCOTLAND had the following children:

 

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James IV KING OF SCOTLAND ( -1513). James died in 1513 in Flodden.

 

6. Mary, daughter of James II KING OF SCOTLAND and Mary of Gueldres, married James Lord Hamilton.

 

Sir James Lord Hamilton, son of Sir James HAMILTON ( -bef1441) and Janet LIVINGSTONE ( - ), had the title '6th of Cadzow, 1st Lord Hamilton'. He died on 6 November 1479. He and Mary had the following children:

 

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James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran (c. 1475-1529). James was born circa 1475. He had the title '1st Earl of Arran'. He died in March 1529.

 

7. Alexander STEWART, child of Sir James STEWART 1st Earl of Buchan and Margaret OGILVIE, had the title '2nd Earl of Buchan'. He/she died in 1505.

 

The line ended with his great grandson.

 

8. Isobel STEWART of Buchan was the child of Sir James STEWART 1st Earl of Buchan and Margaret OGILVIE.

 

She was a mistress of James IV of Scotland. She may have been the mother of Lady Janet Stewart, who was a mistress of Henry II of France.

 

9. Sir James STEWART 1st of Traquhair, son of Sir James STEWART 1st Earl of Buchan and Margaret MURRAY, was born in 1480. He had the title '1st Baron (Laird) of Traquhair'. He married Catherine RUTHERFORD on 9 November 1505. He died on 9 September 1513 in Battle of Flodden.

 

James III gave Traquair and all its lands to his favourite; Robert Lord Boyd, then a few years later to his Master of Music who in turn sold it on to the King's uncle the Earl of Buchan for the equivalent today of a few pounds. Buchan's second (illegitimate?) son, James Stuart, became the first Laird of Traquair in 1491, and it is from him that the present family is decended.

Described at this time as the "turris et fortalicis de Trakware", it stood with walls averaging nearly 6 foot thick, and can still be seen at the North West corner of the house. James Stuart had plans to extend the tower, but he fell with his King at the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513.

"This James, being a man of great spirit and fortitude, accompanied King James IV to the fatal field of Flowdon, where he lost his life with his royal master, anno 1513".

 

Catherine RUTHERFORD was the daughter of Philip RUTHERFORD ( - ) and Elizabeth KERR ( - ). She and James STEWART had the following children:

 

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William STEWART ( - ). William had the title '2nd Baron of Traquhair'.

 

10. Agnes STEWART, daughter of Sir James STEWART 1st Earl of Buchan and Margaret MURRAY, died in February 1557. She married Adam HEPBURN. She married Alexander HOME. She married Robert MAXWELL.

 

Agnes, as well as having three husbands, was (like her half-sister Isobel) the mistress of King James IV of Scotland, and was probably the mother of Lady Janet Stewart.

 

Adam HEPBURN had the title '2nd Earl of Bothwell'.

 

Alexander HOME had the title '3rd Lord Home'.

 

Robert MAXWELL had the title '4th Lord Maxwell'.