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Marion Boyd (mistress)

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Marion Boyd (fl. late 15th century) of Bonshaw, also known as Margot or Margaret, was a mistress of King James IV of Scotland, and his first important mistress. She was the daughter of Archibald of Nariston and Bonshaw (dead before May 1507), and his wife Christian Mure (still living on 28 January 1523). She had two brothers, Robert of Bonshaw and Patrick. She had also a sister, whose name is not known, married, first, to Hugh Mure of Polkellie, and, secondly, to Archibald Craufurd of Craufurdland, and another sister, Elizabeth, married to Thomas Douglas, younger of Lochleven.[1]

Marion and James IV had two children who reached adulthood: Alexander, Archbishop of St Andrew, born about 1490, and Catherine, who married James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Morton.[2]

Marion also had an illegitimate son with James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran. Their son James Hamilton of Finnart was born illegitimate about 1495 but was later legitimated in 1512.[3] Her three granddaughters were mentally ill[4] and declared legally incompetent.

She was related to Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran, and a niece of Elizabeth Boyd, the second wife of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus. Her relationship with the king was linked with the rise and fall of Angus's influence at the court.

Genealogical table

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Marion Boyd's relatives (selective chart)
Robert Boyd
1st Lord Boyd

d. c. 1482
Mariot MaxwellJames II
of Scotland

1430 – 1460
Mary of Guelders
c. 1435–1463
Alexander Boyd
3rd Lord Boyd

d. a. 1508
Christian Mure
Archibald Boyd
of Nariston
and Bonshaw
Thomas Boyd
Earl of Arran

d. c. 1474
Mary Stewart
Countess of Arran

1453 – 1488
James Hamilton
1st Lord Hamilton

c. 1415 – 1479
John Mure of Rowallan
d. 1513
Marion Boyd
d. 1559
James IV
of Scotland
1473 – 1513
James Hamilton
1st Earl of Arran

. 1475 – 1529
Janet Bethune
c. 1490
c. 1522
Mungo Mure
of Rowallan
c. 1500-1547
Alexander Stewart
archbishop of St Andrews

c. 1493-1513
Catherine Stewart
Countess of Morton
d. after 1554
James Douglas
3rd Earl of Morton

d. 1548
James Hamilton
of Finnart

c. 1495 – 1540
James Douglas
Regent Morton
Earl of Morton
c. 1516 – 1581
Elizabeth DouglasBeatrix DouglasMargaret Douglas
Countess of Arran

d. 1579
James Hamilton
Regent Arran
Duke of Châtellerault
c. 1519 – 1575
[edit]

References

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  1. ^ Paul, James Balfour (1904–1914). The Scots peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom. Robarts - University of Toronto. Edinburgh : D. Douglas. pp. 145–146.
  2. ^ Stedall, Robert (2014). The Survival of the Crown: Volume II: The Return to Authority of the Scottish Crown following Mary Queen of Scots' Deposition from the Throne 1567-1603. Book Guild Publishing. p. 179. ISBN 9781846249655.
  3. ^ McKean, Charles (2004). "Hamilton, Sir James, of Finnart (c.1495–1540)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/12080.
  4. ^ Joseph Bain (1898). Calendar of the State Papers relating to Scotland and Mary, Queen of Scots 1547-1603, Vol. I A.D ... University of Michigan. p. 615.