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Dorothea Stewart, Countess of Gowrie

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Dorothea Stewart, Countess of Gowrie was a Scottish aristocrat. The dates of the birth and death of Dorothea Stewart are unknown.

Ruthven Castle, now known as Huntingtower
Dirleton Castle, exterior of the Gowrie lodging

Early life

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She was the oldest daughter of Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven and Janet Stewart, daughter of John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Atholl and Janet Campbell. Her siblings were Henry Stewart, 2nd Lord Methven, Margaret Stewart, Mistress of Ochiltree, and Joan Stewart, Countess of Argyll.

19th-century writers examined the possibility that Dorothea Stewart was the daughter of Margaret Tudor, or her granddaughter and daughter of a Master of Methven, said to have been killed at the battle of Pinkie in 1547.[1]

Married life

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Dorothea Stewart married William, Master of Ruthven on 17 August 1561 at Perth. The parish register suggests it was a double wedding, her half-sister, Elizabeth Kennedy (died 1572), the daughter of Janet Stewart and Hugh Kennedy of Girvanmains, married Patrick Vans on the same day.[2] Later, the Mistress of Ochiltree referred to Patrick Vaus of Barnbarroch in her letters as her "brother". He was the wife of her half-sister.[3]

William Ruthven became Lord Ruthven and was later made Earl of Gowrie. Their main home was Huntingtower Castle near Perth, then known as Ruthven Castle. The name Ruthven was pronounced "Ryven".

In October 1570 for her "terce" or jointure lands, Ruthven gave her Dirleton Castle and a third of the lands of Dirleton and Hassington, Haliburton, Ballernoch, Newton, and Cousland.[4]

Her husband was executed for treason in May 1584 at Stirling.[5]

She was commanded to surrender Dirleton, Ruthven, Cousland, and the Gowrie lodging in Perth to the crown in May 1584.[6]

Dorothea Stewart came to the opening of Parliament on 22 August 1584 and knelt down on the High Street crying to the king for grace for her children. James Stewart, Earl of Arran pushed her away, and she fainted and was left on the street.[7]

Later life

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Dirleton Castle and other properties were restored to Lady Gowrie and her family. A disgraced courtier, William Keith of Delny stayed at her house adjacent to Holyrood Palace in July 1590. There were plans in 1591 for Dorothea Stewart to marry William Keith of Delny but James VI forbade it.[8] In July 1593 the house attracted suspicion when it was used to access the palace during the Earl of Bothwell's second Raid of Holyrood.[9]

Dorothea Stewart and her second husband Andrew Kerr of Faldonsyde complained in 1597 about a group of local men who stole rabbits from the links of Dirleton and terrorised her tenants.[10]

After the slaughter of her family at Perth on 5 August 1600, the Master of Orkney and Sir James Sandilands rode to Dirleton to arrest her two surviving sons, Patrick and William. They told Lady Gowrie her sons would be kept by Chancellor, the Earl of Montrose, a proposition which caused her great and visible distress, even though Montrose was the father-in-law of her daughter Margaret. The two young men were riding to safety in England.[11]

She was still living at Dirleton in November 1600. She hoped that the king could be persuaded to support her daughters, "quhais estait is verie desolait" and she was not able to help them herself.[12] A part of the ruined castle is known as the Gowrie lodging.

Family

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Mary Ruthven, Anthony van Dyck, Museo del Prado

Dorothea Stewart's children included:

References

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  1. ^ James Scott, A History of the Life and Death of John, Earl of Gowrie (Edinburgh, 1818).
  2. ^ James Scott, A History of the Life and Death of John, Earl of Gowrie (Edinburgh, 1818), pp. 62–3.
  3. ^ Correspondence of Sir Patrick Waus of Barnbarroch (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. xxix-xxx, 276-7
  4. ^ Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1963), p. 181 no. 961.
  5. ^ William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1584-1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 118.
  6. ^ David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1578–1585, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1880), p. 663.
  7. ^ David Calderwood, History of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1843), pp. 197-8
  8. ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 371, 547.
  9. ^ Annie Cameron, Calendar of State Papers: 1593–1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 130-133.
  10. ^ David Masson, Register of the Privy Council, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 408; vol. 6 (1884), p. 497.
  11. ^ Samuel Cowan, Ruthven Family Papers (London, 1912), p. 186 citing David Calderwood, History of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1845), p. 46
  12. ^ HMC 9th Report and Appendix: Elphinstone (London, 1884), p. 196.
  13. ^ David Calderwood, History of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1844), p. 128, calls her "Jeane Ruthven".
  14. ^ James Balfour Paul, Scots Peerage, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 115
  15. ^ William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1584-1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 118.