The Four Marys
A most enjoyable visit to
Linlithgow on Thursday catching up with some other members of the Society,
including two our London members in Scotland for
the New Year celebrations.
After walking round and admiring
(yet again) the splendour of the Palace where Mary was born, a meal in the 'Four
Marys' restaurant in the High Street which much enjoyed.
Needless to say some discussion
as to the identity of the four Marys and what became of them. Agreed these were;
1. Mary Seton who never married and the only one of the four to accompany Mary
into captivity. Because of declining health she was released from service in
1583 and retired to France living in the convent of St. Pierre at Rhiems. Nevertheless she
survived until at least 1615
2. Mary Beaton daughter of Robert
Beaton of Creich and nephew of Cardinal Beaton. Regarded as the most classically
beautiful of the four. Married Lord Ogilvie of Boyne
and died sometime before 1599.
3. Mary Livingston - known as 'Lusty' - married John Semple of
Belries son of Lord Semple. May be buried in Linlithgow Churchyard.
4 Mary Fleming - married William Maitland of Lethington. On
his death following the fall of Edinburgh
Castle in 1573 she
married George Melrum of Fyvie.
Needless to say we then tried to
make sense of the traditional Scots ballad the "Four Marys".
"Yestreen the Queen had Four Maries
The nicht she'll have but three
There was Marie Seton and Marie Beaton
and Marie Carmichael and me"
While there was a Mary Carmichael, daughter of John Carmichael of that
ilk who was for a while warden of the west marches there is no record of her
ever serving at Court.
Who then is the "Me?
It is believed that this may
refer to a Mary Hamilton who has absolutely no connection with Mary or her
period. but a Mary Hamilton who was executed by Czar Peter the Great in
Russia in 1719.
This Mary Hamilton was lady in waiting to the Czar's second wife the Empress
Catherine (with whom it is recorded she insulted over
her looks) was a favourite of the Czar and
was married to a Minister of State. She had an affair with an officer of the
guard and a babe was found wrapped in a Court napkin. Under torture Mary
admitted not only to the murder of this child but also previously of another
two and was condemned to death. After the execution the Czar picked up the
severed head and kissed the still quivering lips.
A ballad was written in Russia about the death and it is believed this
found its way to Scotland
and adapted to suit a Scottish audience
