Mary Beaton

Mary Beaton (1543–1598) was a Scottish noblewoman and an attendant of Mary, Queen of Scots.

From Wikipedia

Mary was born in 1543, the third of five children of Robert Beaton, 4th Laird of Criech and Joanna Renwall. Mary's mother was one of Marie de Guise's ladies-in-waiting. Her aunt, Janet Beaton was a mistress of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who would in 1567, become the third husband of Queen Mary.[1]
In 1548, at the age of five, Mary Beaton was chosen by Marie de Guise to accompany her daughter Mary, Queen of Scots, to France. She, along with three other girls who also accompanied the Queen, became known as the "Four Marys."
Mary, described as having been pretty and plump, with fair hair and dark eyes, attracted the attentions of an older man, Thomas Randolph. At the time of the courtship, in 1564, Randolph was 45 and Mary was 21. Randolph was Queen Elizabeth's English Ambassador to the Scottish court, and wanted Mary Beaton to spy on her mistress for him, which she refused to do. Mary Beaton eventually married Alexander Ogilvy of Boyne in April 1566, having one son, James, born in 1568. Little else is known of her life.
After the execution of Queen Mary, it was claimed by the writer Adam Blackwood in 1587 that Mary Beaton's handwriting was similar to the Queen's and so some of her private letters might have formed the basis for the casket letters produced to incriminate Queen Mary.[2]
She died in 1598 at the age of 55. (see conflict on death date below).

From The Scottish Nation: Or the Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours, and Biographical History of the People of Scotland, Volume 1 (Google eBook) William Anderson Fullarton, 1867. Page 288. "Bethune of Creich."

His eldest daughter, Mary Bethune, was one of the queen's “ four Marie's," whose extraordinary beauty has been nearly as much celebrated as her own. An original portrait of Mary Bethune, in full court dress, is still preserved at Balfour house in Fife, as is also one of the Cardinal. She married, in 1566, Alexander Ogilvy of Boyne, the representative of an old and respectable branch of the noble family of Findlatcr. Both she and her husband were alive in 1606. The marriage contract between these parties has been published by the Maitland Club, in Part I. of their Miscellany. It is subscribed by the queen and Henry Durnley, and by the earls of Huntly, Argde, Bothwell, Murray, and Athol, as cautioners for the bridegroom; by Ogilvy himself as Boyne and by Mary Bethune. The signatures of the bride's father and Michael Balfour of liurleigh, his cautioner, are wanting. The beauty of Mary Bethune has been celebrated by George Buchanan.

from Scotland Magazine The Four Marys: James Irvine Robertson looks at the tale of Mary, Queen of Scots ladies in waiting

"Last night there were four Marys, Tonight there’ll be but three. There was Mary Seaton and Mary Beaton And Mary Carmichael and me."
Mary Beaton was plump, pretty, fair-haired, dark-eyed, a bit scatty but probably the brightest of the four since her royal mistress bequeathed her library of French, English and Italian books to her.
Her family were Fife lairds and court functionaries and her mother another of Mary of Guise’s ladies-in-waiting. Her aunt Janet was mistress to the Earl of Bothwell who would become the Queen’s third husband. Like the others she came back to Scotland with her monarch and there she was wooed by the English ambassador Thomas Randolph. She was 21, he 45. He wanted her to spy on the Queen but his charm was insufficient to break her loyalty. Mary married Alexander Ogilvy of Boyne in April 1566 by whom she had a son. The Queen named her marriage day and signed the contract.

inspired ...

"Mary Hamilton" in A Room of One's Own

In her highly influential text A Room of One's Own, author Virginia Woolf alludes to the characters in the ballad. She refers by name to Mary Beton, Mary Seton, and Mary Carmichael as recurrent personae, leaving only Mary Hamilton, the narrator of the ballad, unmentioned. Mary Beton plays the prominent role in Woolf's extended essay, as she serves as the speaker.

References

1. Antonia Fraser, Mary, Queen of Scots, p.303
2. Blackwood, Adam, History of Mary Queen of Scots, Maitland Club (1834), p.82.

links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Hamilton#Source_of_the_ballad
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Gx7EwN3VY Joan Baez sings "Mary Hamilton," 1960

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Lady Mary Beaton (1543–1598) was a Scottish noblewoman and an attendant of Mary, Queen of Scots. She and three other ladies-in-waiting (Mary Livingston, Mary Fleming and Mary Seton) were collectively known as "The Four Marys"

==Family== Mary was born in 1543, the third of five children of Robert Beaton, 4th Laird of Creich, and Joanna or Jane Renwall. Mary's mother was one of Marie de Guise's ladies-in-waiting; she died in June 1577 at Dunbog in Fife.[2] Mary's aunt, Janet Beaton, was a mistress of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who would in 1567 become the third husband of Queen Mary.

In 1548, at the age of five, Mary Beaton was chosen by Marie de Guise to accompany her daughter Mary, Queen of Scots, to France. She, along with three other girls who also accompanied the Queen, became known as the "Four Marys."

In June 1563 Mary Beaton wrote to Anne Carew, Lady Throckmorton, the wife of the English diplomat Nicholas Throckmorton, thanking her for the present of a ring brought to her in Edinburgh by Captain Tremayn. Mary sent her ring to Lady Throckmorton in return. She signed this letter "Marie de Bethune".

Black velvet gowns were made for Mary Beaton and Lady Livingstone in February 1564 by the Queen's tailor Jehan de Compiegne.

Marriage
Mary, described as having been pretty and plump, with fair hair and dark eyes, attracted the attentions of an older man, Thomas Randolph. At the time of the courtship, in 1564, Randolph was 45 and Mary was 21. Randolph was Queen Elizabeth's ambassador to the Scottish court, and wanted Mary Beaton to spy on her mistress for him, which she refused to do.

In April 1565 Mary Beaton and Randolph teamed up to play bowls with the queen and Lord Darnley at Stirling Castle. They won, and Darnley gave Beaton a ring and a brooch with two agates worth fifty crowns.[6] One of Randolph's Scottish contacts, Alexander Clark sent him a letter teasing him about their relationship in a joke using nonsense words; "And as to your mistress Marie Beton, she is both darimpus and sclenbrunit, and you in like manner without contrebaxion or kylteperante, so you are both worth little money."[7]

George Buchanan wrote Latin verses praising her in his Valentiniana.[8]

Mary Beaton eventually married Alexander Ogilvy of Boyne in April 1566.[9] They had one son, James, born in 1568.

In June 1566 she was with Mary, Queen of Scots, in Edinburgh Castle when she gave birth to Prince James, later James VI. Beaton told Sir James Melville of Halhill, who rode to London with the news.

After the execution of Queen Mary, it was claimed by the writer Adam Blackwood in 1587 that Mary Beaton's handwriting was similar to the Queen's and so some of her private letters might have formed the basis for the casket letters produced to incriminate Queen Mary.

In May 1590 she greeted the new queen of Scotland, Anne of Denmark, at the Shore of Leith, with the Countess of Mar, Lady Seton, Lady Thirlestane, and Lady Dudhope and 30 other gentlewomen.

Mary, Queen of Scots, made a will leaving her books to Beaton, who had literary interests, but she probably never received the queen's library. She gave a copy of the Comedies of Terence in Latin and French to James VI.

Later, she became a friend of the poet William Fowler, who served as secretary to Anna of Denmark. He dedicated a translation from Ariosto to "The right honourable Ladye Marye betoun Ladye Boine." She wrote a poem to preface his translation of the Triumphs of Petrarch.

She died in 1598 at the age of 55.

In popular culture
In the 2013-17 CW television series Reign, the character, Lady Kenna, played by Caitlin Stasey is loosely based on Mary Beaton.

In the 2018 film Mary, Queen of Scots, Mary Beaton is played by Northern Irish actress Eileen O’Higgins.

Resources
St Andrews: Noble order of Royal Scots
Antonia Fraser, Mary, Queen of Scots, Dell Publishing Co., Inc. New York, March 1971
Also known as Mary Bethune. new.scotsoflou.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Clan-BETHUNE.pdf Taken from Scottish Clan and Family Encyclopedia, by Collins. HarperCollins Publishers 1994.

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