Elizabeth Barlay or Barlow (died 1518) was an English lady in waiting to Margaret Tudor the wife of James IV of Scotland.

Background Details of her English family are obscure. She may have been a daughter of John Barlow and Christian Berlay, or their relative. An 18th-century genealogical manuscript claimed that she was a sister of the bishop William Barlow and the explorer Roger Barlow.Wroth, Lawrence C. “Some American Contributions to the Art of Navigation 1519-1802.” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. 68, 1944, p. 73. JSTOR website Retrieved 27 Dec. 2024.E. Taylor, A Brief Summe of Geographie, by Roger Barlow (Hakluyt Society, 1932), Appendix III, p. 188 Some members of the Barlow family were involved in the rebellion of Perkin Warbeck. Despite this, she found a place at court and joined the household of Margaret Tudor in England in March 1503.Michelle Beer, Queenship at the Renaissance Courts of Britain (Woodbridge, 2018), pp. 118-9. The Barlow genealogical manuscript says this was due to the patronage of Margaret Neville, Countess of Oxford.E. Taylor, A Brief Summe of Geographie, by Roger Barlow (Hakluyt Society, 1932), p. 188.

At court in England and Scotland In England, as a member of the Queen of Scots' retinue, she was given chamlet silk for a gown.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1901), p. cii. In June 1503 she was given a gown of tawny chamlet edged with black velvet, and a kirtle of black wool worsted lined with linen and wool cloth, and linen for smocks and headdresses. "Mistress Zouche" and the chamberer (bedchamber servant) Frances Baptiste received similar clothing.Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland: 1357-1509: Addenda 1221-1435, pp. 345-6 nos. 1720, 1724, pp. 436-7 During the journey north, Elizabeth Zouche married Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare at Collyweston,Barbara J. Harris, "The View from My Lady's Chamber: New Perspectives on the Early Tudor Monarchy", Huntington Library Quarterly, 60:3 (1997), p. 241. and her sister Elianora Zouche married John Melton, and neither came to Scotland with Margaret Tudor.Michael K. Jones & Malcolm G. UnderwoodThe King's Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (Cambridge, 1992), p. 114: Ralph Churton, The Lives of William Smyth Bishop of Lincoln and Sir Richard Sutton Knight, p. 212.

The Scottish royal accounts for 1503, 1505 and 1506 include her fee of 50 English shillings for six months.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 120, 325, 337. She injured her arm in August 1505 and was attended by the royal apothecary, John Mossman.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1901), pp. cii, 158, 325. In February 1505 the king gave her velvet for a gown, and satin for a summer gown in July 1506. As a New Year's Day gift in 1507 she was given a pair of rosary beads of gold with a cross costing £62 Scots.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1901), pp. 92, 116, 360.

Lady Elphinstone She married Alexander Elphinstone, 1st Lord Elphinstone in August 1507.William Fraser, Elphinstone Family Book, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1897), pp. 2, 38-9: Michelle Beer, Queenship at the Renaissance Courts of Britain (Woodbridge, 2018), pp. 118-120. A charter from James IV of Innernochty and other lands mentions that she was resolved to stay in Scotland all the days of her life.Joseph Robertson, Illustrations of the Topography of Aberdeen and Banff, vol. 4 (Aberdeen, 1862), pp. 217-8.

In August 1507 Margaret Tudor gave her a velvet and satin gown, a featherbed, bedclothes, and a "verdure" bedcover, probably as a marriage giftMichelle Beer, Queenship at the Renaissance Courts of Britain (Woodbridge, 2018), p. 83: Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1901), p. 322.

Alexander Elphinstone played a "Squire of the Black Lady" at the royal tournament in Edinburgh in 1507. The role was to escort the "Black Lady", possibly played by Ellen More or Elizabeth Berlay, in her triumphal chair from Edinburgh Castle to the tournament ground. Elphinstone and his companion William Ogilvy were dressed in outfits of white damask.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1901), pp. xlix, 258-259: Michelle Beer, Queenship at the Renaissance Courts of Britain (Woodbridge, 2018), p. 83.

Elphinstone and Elizabeth Berlay were made keepers of Stirling Castle in succession to Andrew Aytoun in January 1508.Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 232 no. 1590. James IV also made them keepers of Kildrummy Castle.HMC 9th Report: Lord Elphinstone (London, 1884), p. 190 no. 34. In 1508 they transferred their rights over lands at the Wester town of Tillicoultry known as Colinstoun to James Schaw of Sauchie and his wife Alison Home.Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 260 no. 1729. In 1513 Kildrummy was regranted to the couple and united with Innernochty into the Lordship of Elphinstone.

Her two maidens, her attendants, were given 5 French gold crowns each in January 1512, the same gift was given to an African servant of the queen, Ellen More.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), p. 324.

Lord Elphinstone was killed at the Battle of Flodden in September 1513,A general & heraldic dictionary of the Peerage & Baronetage of the British Empire Vol.I, 4th edit. along with many other Scottish noblemen, and was succeeded in the lordship by their son Alexander.

Later life She later married John Forbes, 6th Lord Forbes.HMC 9th Report: Lord Elphinstone (London, 1884), pp. 190-1 no. 36.

Elizabeth Berlay died in September 1518.

Marriages and children The children of Lord Elphinstone and Elizabeth Barlow included: Alexander Elphinstone, 2nd Lord Elphinstone Euphemia Elphinstone, who was a mistress of King James V of Scotland and mother of Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney. She married John Bruce of Cultmalindie. Her son Laurence Bruce was the builder of Muness Castle on Unst.Peter D. Anderson, 'James V, mistresses and children of (act. c.1529–1592)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004

According to the genealogy of the Forbes family by Matthew Lumsden, she was the mother of:Matthew Lumsden, Genealogy of the Family of Forbes (Inverness, 1819), p. 12. Arthur Forbes of Putachie, called Black Arthur, who was killed at the battle of Tillieangus in 1571 Jean Forbes (1516-1542), who married (1) John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Atholl, (2) Alexander Hay of Delgatie, (3) William Leslie of Balquhain

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