Lady Janet Stewart
Janet Stewart, Lady Fleming (17 Jul 1502 – 20 Feb 1562) was an illegitimate daughter of James IV of Scotland and served as governess to her niece, Mary, Queen of Scots. Janet was briefly a mistress to Henry II of France, by whom she had an illegitimate son, Henri d'Angouleme.[1] Her daughter, Mary Fleming, was one of the Queen's Four Maries.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Family
Her mother was Isabel Stewart of Buchan, daughter of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan, known as "Hearty James".[2] Isabel was a distant relative (specifically, half second cousin once removed) of James IV by a common ancestor, Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland.
James IV is known to have fathered several other royal bastards; Lady Janet Stewart was a half-sister to, among others, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, Alexander Stewart, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and James V of Scotland, her father's only legitimate child to reach adulthood.
[edit] Marriage and Issue
Lady Janet married Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming, even though they were related within a forbidden degree of affinity. By Lord Fleming she had eight children:
- Johanna, b. 1525.
- Janet, b. 1527, m. 1st, John Livingston, eldest son of Alexander, 5th Lord Livingston and brother of Mary Livingston, one of the Queen's "Four Maries."
- John, 5th Lord Fleming, b. 1529.
- Bridget, b. 1530.
- James, 4th Lord Fleming, b. 1534. His only daughter and heiress, Jean (1554–1609), would marry John Maitland, the younger brother of William Maitland, his sister Mary's husband. His grandson by Jean was John Maitland, 1st Earl of Lauderdale.
- Agnes, b. 1535, m. to William, 6th Lord Livingston.
- Margaret, b. 1536, m. 1st, to Robert Graham, Master of Montrose, by whom she had a son, John, 3rd Earl of Montrose; 2ndly, to Thomas Erskine, Master of Mar, younger brother of the 17th Earl of Mar, but had no issue; and 3rdly, John Stewart, 4th Earl of Atholl, high chancellor of Scotland, by whom she had three daughters and a son, John Stewart, 5th Earl of Atholl. Margaret Fleming was said to be a witch and to possess the power to cast spells.[3]
- Mary, b. 1543, m. 6 Jan 1567, to William Maitland of Lethington.
[edit] Governess, mistress to royalty
Lord Fleming was killed at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. The next year, probably due to her membership in the royal House of Stewart, the widowed Lady Fleming became a governess to the infant Mary, Queen of Scots. As Queen Mary was the daughter of Lady Fleming's half-brother, Lady Fleming could be considered a "half-aunt" to the Queen. Her own daughter, Mary Fleming, also joined the Queen's court as a lady-in-waiting.
They accompanied the young queen to France in 1548. The Bishop of Orkney, Robert Reid was worried that Lady Fleming might not be able to explain any symptoms of illness seen in Mary to French doctors, as she was fluent only in the Scots language.[4] Soon, Lady Janet attracted the attentions of King Henry II of France and became his lover. She became pregnant by the king and bore him an illegitimate son. Either before or after the child's birth, she was sent back to Scotland. Her son, Henri de Valois-Angoulême (1551–June, 1586), was "the chief and most highly favored natural son of the King". He was legitimated and became the "Grand Prior of France, Governor of Provence, and Admiral of the Levantine Sea."[5]
A letter from Mary of Guise written to her brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine in October 1552 described Janet's situation in Scotland. There had been some talk that Janet would marry Henri Cleutin, Guise's military advisor. Although one of Janet's daughters had told Mary of Guise that her mother did not wish to leave Scotland, Mary of Guise knew that Janet had discussed leaving Scotland with the Governor, Regent Arran, and wanted to see Henry II that winter. Guise told the Cardinal to reassure the Queen of France, Catherine de' Medici that Janet would not leave Scotland.[6]
[edit] Ancestry
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[edit] References
- ^ Robert J. Sealy, The Palace Academy of Henry III, (Droz, 1981), 206.
- ^ Norman MacDougall, James IV of Scotland
- ^ Weir, 43
- ^ Pollen, John Hungerford, ed., Papal Negotiations of Mary Queen of Scots, SHS (1901), p.414, Reid to Giovanni Ferreri, 26 December 1548.
- ^ Riddell, John, Stewartiana Edinburgh (1843), 47-51
- ^ Calendar State Papers Spain, vol.10 (1914), p.588 as footnote.
[edit] Sources
- Weir, Alison. Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2004. Web. <http://books.google.com/books?id=EzKzPflzIJkC>.
