Annabella Stewart and the wives of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly
Paul Gifford
1501), married Annabella, daughter of King James I, in 1459. He
divorced her in 1471 and married Elizabeth Hay. The question of the
identity of the mothers of his children has long vexed genealogists
and will continue to do so. However, between the extremes of the one
claim, mentioned by Giovanni Ferreri (Ioannes Ferrerius), in Scotorum
historiæ a prima gentis origine (Paris, 1574), cited by John Riddell,
in Tracts Legal and Historical (1835), p. 84, that Annabella’s only
child was a daughter who married the Earl of Erroll, and Sir Robert
Gordon of Gordonstoun’s assertion, in his A Genealogical History of
the Earldom of Sutherland (1813; originally written in the 17th
century), and repeated in William Gordon, The History of the Ancient,
Noble, and Illustrious Family of Gordon (1726-1727) that Annabella
(whom he calls Lady Jane Stuart) was the mother of four sons and six
daughters, we need to accept the undoubted probability that Annabella
was the mother of more than one and less than ten.
His first wife was Elizabeth Dunbar, Countess of Moray, widow of
Archibald Douglas, Earl of Moray, who had died 1 May 1455, and the
contract for the marriage was dated at Forres, 20 May 1455. The
marriage was dissolved some time before March 1459/60, for the reason
that her sister Janet had been the wife of the Master of Huntly’s
uncle. Elizabeth married, before July 1463, Sir John Colquhoun of
Luss. In 1494, her grandson, Malcolm Colquhoun, was her heir.
Riddell notes that this must mean that her two children by her first
husband, James and Janet Douglas, may have been dead. We can presume
that Elizabeth had no issue with George Gordon, although, as …
remarks, there is no direct evidence to prove that.
The Master of Huntly married, before 10 March 1459/60, Annabella
Stewart, youngest daughter of James I. On that date, James II granted
her two hundred merks of land of the lordship of Aboyne, which the
Earl of Huntly had resigned. The marriage had began to end by 12 May
1466, when George, Lord Gordon, made an agreement with Nicholas Hay,
Earl of Erroll, by swearing on the Gospels that he would have no
“actual delen” with his sister, Elizabeth Hay, until he could marry
her lawfully. The author of the article on Gordon in Paul’s Scots
Peerage remarks that John Riddell had misread the year 1466 as “1476,”
causing confusion regarding the parentage of the children. Finally,
the Earl obtained a divorce from Annabella, on the grounds that she
was related to his first wife in the third and fourth degrees of
consanguinity.
He then married, by banns on the 4, 11, and 18 August 1471, Elizabeth
Hay, daughter of William Hay, Earl of Erroll. She was still alive on
27 June 1509, when she pursued an action against Janet, Lady Lindsay.
If we choose to accept Ferrerius’s statement that Annabella’s only
child was a daughter who married the Earl of Erroll, we must accept
the fact that Elizabeth Hay was the mother of all the rest of the
legitimate children, especially since the Earl of Huntly swore on the
Gospels that he would not consummate the marriage until he married
Elizabeth. We might accept that his two known illegitimate children
may have been born sometime between 1466 and 1471. Thus, lacking any
documentary evidence to prove the identity of his legitimate
children’s mother one way or the other, we are left to estimate the
dates of their births.
Issue of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly, by Annabella Stewart:
i. Isobel Gordon, born probably about 1460. She married William Hay,
3rd Earl of Erroll. She must have died before 14 Oct. 1485,
when he had a contract to marry Elizabeth Lesly, daughter of George,
1st Earl of Rothes. Her son William, 4th Earl of Erroll, was married
by 1495 and certainly 1497, so he may have been born about 1478. The
second son Thomas Hay of Logie married in 1493, which may have been a
contract made in childhood. Thomas’s daughter Beatrix had a charter
to her and her husband in 1522 and his son George, who became 7th Earl
of Erroll, married in 1528, so birth years of 1502 and 1505 for the
daughter and son and 1480 for the father would be reasonable. The
remaining two children, Mr. John Hay, and Beatrix (who was contracted
to marry in 1501), may have been born in 1482 and 1484.
Issue of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly, which was probably born
before his marriage to Elizabeth Hay but was legitimate:
ii. Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly. The Scots Peerage remarks
that the identity of his mother “has been much disputed.” In support
of Annabella, it notes that he was sitting in Parliament in 1485 and
was one of the Lords of the Articles. On the other hand, a charter
dated 21 Feb. 1504/5 names Elizabeth, Countess of Huntly, as his
mother; in addition on 4 July 1492, the Earl of Huntly had a record
made of his marriage to Elizabeth Hay and the divorce from Annabella.
As the author of the article implies, such an action would mean that
Alexander would be made illegitimate and thus unable to inherit the
title. Alexander contracted (alternatively, with his brother Adam) on
20 Oct. 1474 to marry Jean Stewart, daughter of John, Earl of Atholl.
Alexander’s heir, John, Lord Gordon, was the father of a son born in
1513 or so. Alexander’s daughter, Christian, married by contract
dated 22 Nov. 1503 Sir Robert Menzies of that Ilk, and Janet, married,
before 28 Feb. 1506/7, Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll.
Christian’s child, Sir Alexander Menzies of Menzies and Weems, may
have been born in 1504. Both Janet and Christian seem to have been
able to consummate their marriages at these times. Thus we might
assign years of birth of 1485 and 1489 to them and of 1491 to John.
If Alexander was born in 1472, as the Scots Peerage suggests, he might
be old enough to have father a son whose heir was born in 1513, but
Janet and Christian would remain problems. If so, they were child
brides, born perhaps about 1493 and 1495, and their own children would
have had to have been born later.
iii. Elizabeth Gordon, born perhaps about 1466 or perhaps earlier.
She married, by a contract dated at Aberdeen, 11 January 1481/2,
William Keith, 3rd Earl Marischal. He sat in Parliament on 18 Mar.
1481/2, so he must have been an adult then. His heir, Robert, 4th
Earl, was married by 1506 (the Scots Peerage says 1505), and, with six
children by the approximate year of his death (1514), he must have
been an adult at marriage, so we can assign him a year of birth as
1485. This suggests that Elizabeth probably was of childbearing age
in 1482. The histories of her other children support that. Elizabeth
married Colin, Master of Oliphant, who died at Flodden in 1513,
leaving two children; son David had a charter in 1514; son William
witnessed a charter in 1511 and died at Flodden in 1513. Elizabeth’s
youngest children, Agnes and Christian, appear to have been born
around 1503-1506.
iv. Janet Gordon. She married, as her first husband, Alexander
Lindsay, Master of Crawford, who died before 1491, said to be in
1489. He sat in Parliament in 1481. She then married, before 20 June
1494, Patrick, Master of Gray. This was annulled and, before Mar.
1508/9, she married Patrick Butter of Gormock. Finally, she married,
before Nov. 1535, James Halkerston of Southwood. Janet had no
children, but her two spouses were certainly adults when she married
them.
Issue of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly, which was said to be
illegitimate:
v. Agnes Gordon. She married James Ogilvy of Findlater. Their eldest
son, Alexander, entered into a bond of manrent in 1514, so he must
have been born no later than 1493 or so.
vi. Alexander Gordon. He received letters of legitimation on 8 Oct.
1500. He is not mentioned by William Gordon.
vii. Daughter. She married Gasper Cullen, ancestor of Captain Cullen,
executed at Leith in 1571. William Gordon includes her, but she is
not mentioned in the SP.
Issue of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly, presumably by Elizabeth
Hay:
viii. Adam Gordon of Aboyne, born before 14 Oct. 1474, when named in a
marriage contract, and died 17 March 1537. He married Elizabeth,
daughter of John, 8th Earl of Sutherland. His heir, according to the
SP, was born about 1501. He was born perhaps about 1472.
ix. William Gordon of Schivas, born perhaps about 1478, killed at
Flodden in 1513. He married Janet Ogilvy, daughter of the Laird of
Boyne.
x. Margaret Gordon, born probably 1474. She was contracted,
alternately with her sister Catherine, on 21 Feb. 1490/1 to marry
Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell. They married between February
and April 1491. Their son Adam was born soon afterwards, and the
second son Patrick was probably born about 1494.
xi. Catherine Gordon, born perhaps about 1476, died October 1537 in
England. She married, in January 1495/6, Perkin Warbeck, who died 23
Nov. 1499. She married, as he second husband, James Strangeways of
Fyfield; thirdly , in 1517, Sir Matthew Cradock, of Swansea; and
fourthly, Christopher Assheton, of Fyfield.
xii. James Gordon, born perhaps about 1480, named as a brother of
William in an entail of the lands of Schivas on 16 May 1498.
xiii. Eleanor Gordon, born perhaps about 1484. It was proposed in
1504 to marry John Crichton of Invernyte. She may have married Sir
William Sinclair of Westray; his wife Helen Gordon, said to be the
daughter of Adam Gordon, Earl of Sutherland, married about David
Hepburn.
xiv. Agnes Gordon. She married, according to Ferrerius, Sir Gilbert
Hay of Kilmalamak, and had a charter from King James IV on 20 Aug.
1510.
So the chief question becomes identifying the mother of Alexander,
Elizabeth, and Janet. George seems to have had children by a
concubine prior to his marriage in 1471 to Elizabeth Hay. Were these
three children illegitimate? Alexander, it is certain, was not, even
if there were another son named Alexander who was legitimated in 1500,
since he appears in a marriage contract in 1474. Would such powerful
nobles as the heir-apparent to the Earl Marischal have entered into a
marriage contract with an illegitimate daughter? Elizabeth’s marriage
contract clearly identifies her as “douchter to the said lord Erle of
Huntlie.”
The short answer has to be that Annabella was the mother not only of
Isobel, but of Alexander, Elizabeth, and probably Janet as well. She
could have given birth to them between 1460 and 1464 or 1466, when
George was beginning divorce proceedings. He likely took a concubine
about this time, and had two or three children between 1467 and 1470
or so. The marriage to Agnes produced about seven children between
1472 and the late 1480s.
This question has been brought up on this list several times before,
over the past 15 years. Discussion has never gotten past what the
Scots Peerage says, which is very ambivalent at best. Obviously there
are no right and wrong answers-----Ferrerius, though close in time,
could have missed naming some daughters, just as well as any other
author. There are unlikely to be any forgotten documents that will
turn up and suddenly answer all our questions.
So, what do you think? Were Elizabeth and Alexander children of
Annabella? Or were they illegitimate, masquerading as legitimate
somehow? Could Ferrerius (1574) possibly be in error?
Paul Gifford
Douglas Richardson
On Nov 12, 2:45 pm, Paul Gifford <pgiff...@umflint.edu> wrote:
> George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly, Chancellor of Scotland (d. 8 June
> 1501), married Annabella, daughter of King James I, in 1459. He
> divorced her in 1471 and married Elizabeth Hay. The question of the
> identity of the mothers of his children has long vexed genealogists
> and will continue to do so. However, between the extremes of the one
> claim, mentioned by Giovanni Ferreri (Ioannes Ferrerius), in Scotorum
> historiæ a prima gentis origine (Paris, 1574), cited by John Riddell,
> in Tracts Legal and Historical (1835), p. 84, that Annabella’s only
> child was a daughter who married the Earl of Erroll.
Specifically Giovanni Ferrerio stated the following in 1544:
“Patri Alexandro successit filius Georgius, ab Huntly secundus Comes,
et regni Scotiæ Cancellarius, qui Jacobi, ejus nominis primi Regis,
filiam Annabellam Stuart, despondente patre, in uxorem accepit, ex qua
postea filiam sustulit, quæ deinde Gulielmo, Errolliæ Comiti,
matrimonio juncta prolem copiosam genuit; ac certis postea rationibus
inductus, Georgius Comes, impetrata primum a Rege facultate, Dominam
Annabellam repudiatam dimisit. Et secundis denuo nuptiis cum Domina
Elizabetha Hay, Errolliæ Comitis germana, copulatur, quæ ipsi prolem
utriusque sexus multam peperit.” [Reference: Advocates Lib.,
Edinburgh, MS 35.5.5A].
> Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun’s assertion, in his A Genealogical History of
> the Earldom of Sutherland (1813; originally written in the 17th
> century), and repeated in William Gordon, The History of the Ancient,
> Noble, and Illustrious Family of Gordon (1726-1727) that Annabella
> (whom he calls Lady Jane Stuart) was the mother of four sons and six
> daughters, we need to accept the undoubted probability that Annabella
> was the mother of more than one and less than ten.
Why must one accept a late date statement written two hundred years
after the fact? Annabelle Stewart can hardly have been the mother of
ten children as her marriage to George Gordon lasted six years or
less. The only thing "probable" is that Sir Robert Gordon can not be
trusted as a source, especially when he doesn't even have Annabelle
Stewart's name correctly stated.
> The Master of Huntly married, before 10 March 1459/60, Annabella
> Stewart, youngest daughter of James I. On that date, James II granted
> her two hundred merks of land of the lordship of Aboyne, which the
> Earl of Huntly had resigned. The marriage had began to end by 12 May
> 1466, when George, Lord Gordon, made an agreement with Nicholas Hay,
> Earl of Erroll, by swearing on the Gospels that he would have no
> “actual delen” with his sister, Elizabeth Hay, until he could marry
> her lawfully.
The dispensation for the marriage of George Gordon and Elizabeth Hay
is dated 25 June 1466. It is Andrew MacEwen's position and mine that
George and Elizabeth were married in 1466.
> He then married, by banns on the 4, 11, and 18 August 1471, Elizabeth
> Hay, daughter of William Hay, Earl of Erroll. She was still alive on
> 27 June 1509, when she pursued an action against Janet, Lady Lindsay.
Mr. MacEwen believes that the 1471 marriage was actually a re-marriage
of the couple.
>If we choose to accept Ferrerius’s statement that Annabella’s only
> child was a daughter who married the Earl of Erroll, we must accept
> the fact that Elizabeth Hay was the mother of all the rest of the
> legitimate children, especially since the Earl of Huntly swore on the
> Gospels that he would not consummate the marriage until he married
> Elizabeth.
Yes, that would mean that Elizabeth Hay was the mother of ten
legitimate children, four sons and six daughters.
> So the chief question becomes identifying the mother of [George Gordon's illegitimate children] Alexander, Elizabeth, and Janet.
I'm not sure why you term this "the chief question." There is
evidence that Elizabeth Hay was the mother of George Gordon's
legitimate son and heir, Alexander. This would necessarily place her
as the mother of his younger legitimate sons, Adam, William, and
James. Basically you are lacking evidence to prove the maternity of
George Gordon's numerous daughters. That would be the "chief
question."
<The short answer has to be that Annabella [Stewart] was the mother
not only of
< Isobel, but of Alexander, Elizabeth, and probably Janet as well.
Giovanni Ferrerio states that Annabelle was the mother only of
Isabel.
M Sjostrom
would have been son of Annabel.
by the way, Andrew MacEwen is going to demonstrate that Alexander was son of
Hay
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/gen-medieval/2004-12/1102316451
observe that Douggie (whom some of you so much like) has supplied the view
to the effect that their 1471 was merely a confirmation, and that Huntly
received a divorce from Annabel already in 1466 or earlier
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/gen-medieval/2009-11/1257377216
I think that it must be understood that the swearing on 12 May 1466 means
necessarily nothing further than that Huntly did not at that time have
intercourse with Elizabeth Hay.
What if he already had, and there was a baby, or one coming....
Huntly may have merely promised to keep it in his pants (or, actually, to
resort to his concubines) meanwhile, when the deed already were done...
I have speculated to the effect that this crucial couple (Huntly and Hay)
anyway made their marriage vows before 1471 and started to have kids already
in (late) 1460s
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/gen-medieval/2009-11/1257358044
I want to underline that too much noise has imo been made of Alexander's
eventual succession to the earldom, too much noise as proof to show that he
would have been born after his parents were finally publicly legitimately
married - after 1471.
There is no necessity in that argument. If Alexander was birthed by
Elizabeth Hay, in say 1466; then Huntly got his ecclesiastical divortium
from Annabel; then Huntly married officially the same Elizabeth Hay; this
all means that Alexander, son of Elizabeth Hay, at least became legitimate
heir because of the Scots accepted the legitimatio per matrimonium
subsequens. And one of keys is the fact that because the church granted
divortium, then Annabel and Huntly had not in principle ever been married
(their so-called marriage was NULL, remember that this is what catholic
annulments meant) and thusly Alexander was not an adulterine child, instead
he was born when his father technically was still unmarried - and
afterwards his parents subsequently married one another.
In my opinion, the fact that Alexander succeeded his father as his heir to
the earldom, actually weighs in favor of Alexander beng child of Elizabeth
Hay. Because, after all these annulments, Hay was the sole woman with whom
Huntly ever was validly married, according to the canon law. Of course the
eldest son of the sole canonical wife was better situated to succeed than
any son of an earlier (and annulled) wife.
Had Alexander not been son of Elizabeth Hay, I would venture towards opinion
that in such a case, the next boy, Adam of Aboyne, validly born of Hay,
would actually had a good case to succeed to the earldom, in front of
Alexander.
Paul Gifford
> I think it is flogging a dead horse to try to convince people that Alexander
> would have been son of Annabel.
>
interest is Elizabeth Gordon, wife of William, Earl Marischal. I'll
accept that Elizabeth Hay was her mother, but still there are some
issues of chronology. If Elizabeth Hay's first child was born in
1467, it would be close to the theoretical year of birth I came up
with by looking at her children and grandchildren (above). Still, the
range of years for the children's births is pretty tight.
I just got a copy of Ferrerius (from the House of Gordon, Aberdeen:
New Spalding Club, 1907, v. 2,p. 24). He says that Catherine, the
"White Rose," was the first daughter; The second married Lord Lindsay
and then the Master of Crawford. The third married the Earl
Marischal. The fourth married the Earl of Bothwell. If we are to
believe this birth order literally (eliminating Catherine, because she
was married much later), Elizabeth (unless a twin, which is not
implied) would have been born in 1469, or more likely, 1471. Since
her son seems to have been an adult when he married in 1505, she would
have had to have been an awfully young mother (and considering her
other older children as well). Plus, if her youngest child was born
around 1506 (a guess, but reasonable), a year of birth as 1471 seems
untenable. Therefore we must conclude that Ferrerius has the birth
order wrong.
From the point of view of birth year, Alexander being born around
1469-70 is not a problem, I suppose, if 15-year-old heirs sat in
Parliament, because his eldest grandson was born probably in 1513.
But so many children in such a tight timespan is still cause for some
questioning, perhaps, that Annabella had only one daughter.