Mary Stewart, Countess of Buchan

Mary Stewart, Countess of Buchan (before 1428 – 20 March 1465) was the fifth daughter of James I of Scotland and Lady Joan Beaufort. She married Wolfert VI of Borselen, a Zeelander nobleman and lived in the Netherlands until her death in 1465. She had two children who died young.

Family

Mary had five sisters and two twin brothers, one of whom died in infancy. Her surviving brother became James II of Scotland. Her sisters married into various European royal dynasties. Her sister Margaret became the dauphine of France, but died childless at age 20, apparently of fever. Her sister Isabella became the duchess of Brittany and had two daughters. Another sister, Eleanor, married a Habsburg archduke and lived in Austria, but died without offspring. Her sister Joan, a deaf-mute, stayed in Scotland and married a Scottish earl, leaving four children, and her youngest sister, Annabella, was twice married and twice divorced and had children with her second husband, a Scottish earl.

Marriage

In 1444, Princess Mary married Wolfert VI van Borselen^[1] in Veere, Zeeland, Netherlands. He was the son of Hendrick van Borselen, Count of Grandpré and Jean van Halewyn. The marriage stimulated commercial relations between Scotland and the Low Countries.

Also in 1444, Mary was created the 1st Countess of Buchan. In 1464, her husband was a Marshal of France, and he was later created Wolfart VI, Lord of Veere and Count of Grandpre. He was also called the Earl of Buchan.

Mary died on 20 March 1465, 30 to 40 years old, without surviving issue (Their son Charles had died in 1451). She was buried in Sandenburg, ter Veere, Zeeland. After her death, her husband married Charlotte de Bourbon, daughter of Louis I, Count of Montpensier. Their daughter Anna married a grandson of Philip the Good. Wolfart died 1487.

The title of Buchan was eventually conferred, in 1469, on her half-brother James Stewart (her mother's son by her second marriage), who was called the 1st Earl of Buchan.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Mary Stewart, Countess of Buchan

16. Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland               8. Robert II of Scotland                       17. Marjorie Bruce               4. Robert III of Scotland                             18. Sir Adam Mure of Rowallan or Rawalla               9. Elizabeth Mure                       19. Joan Cunningham[2] or Janet Mure of Ponkelly or Pokellie[3]               2. James I of Scotland                                   20. Sir Malcolm Drummond, 10th of Lennox               10. Sir John Drummond, 11th of Lennox                       21. Margaret de Graham               5. Anabella Drummond                             22. Sir William de Montifex               11. Mary Montifex                       1. Mary Stewart, Countess of Buchan                                         24. Edward III of England               12. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster                       25. Philippa of Hainault               6. John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset                             26. Paen de Roet               13. Katherine Roet                       3. Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots                                   28. Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent               14. Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent                       29. Joan of Kent               7. Margaret Holland                             30. Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel               15. Alice FitzAlan                       31. Eleanor of Lancaster

References

1. Also spelled van Borselleen, Borsselen, or Borssele.
2. McAndrew, Scotland's Historic Heraldry, p 173
3. http://thepeerage.com/p10210.htm#i102098

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