Marie Stewart (7 April 1576 – 11 May 1644) was a Scottish courtier and Countess of Mar by marriage. She was the daughter of Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox and Catherine de Balsac d’Entragues (d. c.1631) and a favourite of James VI of Scotland. After her marriage to John Erskine, 2nd Earl of Mar, as was customary in Scotland, she did not change her name, and signed her letters as "Marie Stewart".Claire M. Elder, "Stewart [Stuart], Marie, countess of Mar", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 8 August 2024. E. Dunbar Dunbar, Documents Relating to the Province of Moray (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1895), p. 54.
Marriage and conversion In February 1584 James VI proposed that Marie Stewart might marry Lord Home or John Home of Coldenknowes. She was said to be "little above seven years old".William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 27 no. 26.
Marie and her older sister Henrietta came to Scotland in 1588, arriving at Leith while James VI was at the siege of Lochmaben Castle.John McGavin, "Spectatorship in Scotland", Janet Hadley Williams & J. Derrick McClure, Fresche Fontanis (Cambridge Scholars, 2013), p. 289 citing NRS GD 75/563. Their older brother Ludovic had been summoned to Scotland in November 1583. In June 1588, James VI requested that Edinburgh town council host the two sisters for 15 or 20 days.James Marwick, Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh: 1573-1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 524. Henrietta married George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly on 21 July.David M. Bergeron, The Duke of Lennox, 1574-1624: A Jacobean Courtier's Life (Edinburgh, 2022), p. 27.
Her second sister, Gabrielle was a nun in France at Glatigny, and a scheme for her to marry Hugh Montgomerie, 5th Earl of Eglinton in 1598 came to nothing.David M. Bergeron, The Duke of Lennox, 1574-1624: A Jacobean Courtier's Life (Edinburgh, 2022), p. 28: Scots Peerage vol. 5 (1908), p. 356: William Fraser, Memorials of the Montgomeries Earls of Eglinton, vol 2 (Edinburgh, 1859), no. 201, now NRS GD3/2/15/10.
Marie became a lady-in-waiting in the household of Anne of Denmark, queen consort of James VI, in December 1590 at Henrietta's request.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 429. The Masters of the Queen's Household wrote a memorandum about expenses of meals, and mentioned that Marie Stewart ought to have a breakfast because she was a "tender bairn".Michael Pearce, "Maskerye Claythis for James VI and Anna of Denmark", Medieval English Theatre, 43 (Cambridge: Brewer, 2022), p. 121. On 13 June 1592 Anna of Denmark ordered matching orange gowns with green sleeves for herself, Marie Stewart, and the Danish maiden of honour Margaret Vinstarr, a demonstration of favour and loyalty.Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: The Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts (Manchester, 2020), p. 139: Jemma Field, 'Female dress', Erin Griffey, Early Modern Court Culture (Routledge, 2022), p. 400: Michael Pearce, "Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland", The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019) p. 148.
It was thought that Marie might marry the Earl of Argyll instead of a suggested bride, Agnes Douglas, a daughter of the Earl of Morton by the persuasion of "very great personages".Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 687. This match had been discussed in March 1589 by an English man at the Scottish court, Thomas Fowler, who noted that Marie Stewart and her sister were Catholics.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 17 citing British Library Cotton Caligula D. I. f. 395
In December 1592 Marie married the widower John Erskine, Earl of Mar. The banns were published at Stirling on 17 September 1592. The wedding was first planned to be at Dalkeith Palace, on 1 October, but the Earl was ill.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 778. He was older at thirty five, she was regarded as "ane tender bairn".Michael Pearce, "Maskerye Claythis for James VI and Anna of Denmark", Medieval English Theatre, 43 (Cambridge: Brewer, 2022), p. 121. A story descended in the family of the Earls of Haddington and was recorded by Sir Walter Scott that at first Marie scorned the older man, and James VI hearing of this, encouraged his old friend, swearing an oath, "ye shanna die, Jock for onny lass in a' the land", meaning in modernised terms "you shall not die, Jock, for any lass in all the land".Robert Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1848), p. 244
The wedding celebrations were held at Holyrood Palace and Alloa Tower in December 1592.HMC Marquis of Salisbury at Hatfield, vol. 4 (London, 1892), p. 252: David Moysie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 161. James and Anne of Denmark gave her clothes,National Archives of Scotland, E22/8, E35/14, E35/14. See REED transcriptions, edited by Sarah Carpenter, Royal Court of Scotland 1590-1592 including a "pair of baleen bodies" (a bodice stiffened with whalebone).Jemma Field, "Dressing the Stuart Court", Kate Anderson, Art & Court of James VI & I (Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland, 2025), pp. 48–49. The wedding gown shone with glittering cloth of gold and cloth of silver.Jemma Field, "Female dress", Erin Griffey, Early Modern Court Culture (Routledge, 2022), p. 402: Jemma Field, "Dressing the Stuart Court", Kate Anderson, Art & Court of James VI & I (Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland, 2025), pp. 48–49. There was a masque in costume in which Anne of Denmark performed.Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019) pp. 146, 148-9. : Michael Pearce, 'Maskerye Claythis for James VI and Anna of Denmark', Medieval English Theatre 43, 2021 (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2022), pp. 121-122. The festivities at Alloa were cut short when Sir John Carmichael and Sir George Home arrived from Edinburgh with news of the crisis caused by the discovery of the Spanish blanks.Thomas Thomson, The historie and life of King James the Sext (Edinburgh, 1825), p. 260.
Marie was a Catholic, and the earl was urged by the Kirk of Scotland to make her embrace the Protestant religion.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 773, 778, 780: for the banns see Stirling old parish register, 17 September 1592: for costume see NRS E35/14. In 1609 a marriage was planned between their son John Erskine and Jean Hay, daughter of the Earl of Errol who was thought to be Catholic. The king asked the Earl of Mar for Jean to make her profession of faith before the church, before the marriage. After the marriage she should be instructed and taught "according to that president whiche you haif alreddy kyithed in your owne wyife" - that Jean Hay should be taught the Protestant religion as Marie had been.HMC Mar & Kellie vol. 1 (1904), p. 65.
Marie was instructed by the minister of Stirling, Patrick Simson (1556-1618).Archibald Simson, A godly and fruitful exposition on the twenty five psalme (London, 1622).John McGavin, "Spectatorship in Scotland", Janet Hadley Williams & J. Derrick McClure, Fresche Fontanis (Cambridge Scholars, 2013), p. 292. Simson preached to her sister and brother-in-law, the Marquess of Huntly, when they were warded in Stirling Castle in March 1609.James Maidment, Letters and Papers of James the Sixth (Edinburgh, 1838), p. 164. Marie was considered an excellent convert. James Caldwell minister of Falkirk dedicated his The Countesse of Marres Arcadia, or Sanctuarie Containing morning, and evening meditations, for the whole weeke (John Wreittoun: Edinburgh, 1625), to her, including a dedicatory letter by P. Anderson mentioning that "The Countesse of Pembroke's Arcadia is for the bodie; but the Countesse of Marre her Arcadia is for the Soule", and "amongst the many Noble Ladies of this Kingdome, your Honour to bee a true Paterne of modest Pietie, a perfect mirror of feminine gravitie, & a liberall supplier of the necessities of the poore, yea, in time of dearth, and scarsetie: And as his Majestie long since, in his Booke of Poesies, called your Noble Father the Phoenix of al the Nobility; so may the world esteeme your Honour to be another elect Lydia of that same Noble qualitie". The reference is to Lydia of Thyatira, an early convert to Christianity.
Faction in Scotland Marie Stewart was at court in May 1593, with her sister Henrietta, Countess of Huntly, and on 31 May with Anne of Denmark and the ladies of the royal household went to Leith to inspect the ship of the Danish ambassadors Niels Krag and Steen Bille at Leith, and rewarded the sailors with gold coins.Michael Pearce, "Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland", The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), pp. 138-151, p. 150. : Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 94 no. 63: Acta Legationis Scotica, 1593: A journal of the Danish embassy 1593 (Latin), p. 17, Rigsarkivet
In October 1593 she was visited at Brechin Castle by her brother-in-law, the Earl of Huntly.Annie I. Cameron, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 190. Her brother, the Duke of Lennox was also at Brechin, and Marie was given a charter, a sasine, of fishing rights on the West Esk.Robert Renwick, Extracts from the records of the Burgh of Stirling, 1 (Glasgow, 1887), p. 269 no. 58
In a letter to Mar in September 1594, James VI called Marie Stewart his "aunt".G. P. V. Akrigg, Letters of King James VI and I (University of California, 1984), p. 137: HMC Mar & Kellie, 1 (London, 1904), p. 43. James gave Marie a ring set with 11 diamonds, worth £300 Scots in May 1595.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, "King James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588–1596", Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XVI (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2020), p. 82. This gift was probably after the birth of her son, who was baptised at Stirling on 20 July 1595 with the king as a godparent.Annie I. Cameron, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 627, 643, 645-6. Marie Stewart and her sister Henrietta were Dames of Honour at the christening of Prince Charles on 23 December 1600 at Holyrood Palace.John Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 3 (London, 1823), p. 527.
Marie was involved in factional politics, supporting her husband and also the cause of her sister and the Earl of Huntly.Ruth Grant, 'Friendship, Politics and Religion', in Miles Kerr-Peterson & Steven J. Reid,James VI and Noble Power (Abingdon, 2017), pp. 69-70. In October 1595 the Earl of Mar's faction hoped that Anne of Denmark would influence the selection of the Chancellor of Scotland in their favour. Marie visited the queen at Linlithgow Palace but was kept waiting outside her chamber door for an hour.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1952), pp. 51-2. Marie argued with her brother, the Duke of Lennox, in May 1602 about accusations her husband may have made and implicated Sir Thomas Erskine. James Sempill of Beltrees reported her conversation to Robert Cecil.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 13 part 2 (Edinburgh, 1969), pp. 993-4. The Earl of Northampton reported this back to Mar.[David Dalrymple], The Secret Correspondence of Sir Robert Cecil with James VI King of Scotland (London, 1766), pp. 136-8.