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Margaret Fleming, Countess of Atholl
(1532 - 1586)
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Margaret Fleming, daughter of the 3rd Lord Fleming and a niece of King James V, married three times, outlived three husbands, and became Countess of Atholl. A close friend of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was popularly reputed to be a witch.
Royal connections
Margaret was born in 1532, a daughter of Malcolm, 3rd Lord Fleming, and Janet Stewart, a natural daughter of King James IV. She was therefore a first cousin of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a sister of Mary Fleming, one of the queen’s “Four Marys”.
Three marriages
Margaret married first Robert Graham, Master of Montrose, who was killed at Pinkie in 1547. Their son John became the 3rd Earl of Montrose. In 1548 she received a dowry of a hundred pounds a year from the lands of Drumquhassle. Her second husband was Thomas Erskine, Master of Erskine, who died in 1551.
Her third husband was John Stewart, 4th Earl of Atholl, one of the leading Catholic nobles of Scotland and Chancellor from 1578. They had a son, John, later 5th Earl, and daughters including Grizel, who married the Earl of Crawford, and Mary, who married the Earl of Erroll. When Atholl died suddenly in April 1579 there were rumours that he had been poisoned, and Margaret appeared before the king and council to protest that the inquiries should not prejudice her son.
The witch
Margaret’s nickname in the family records is “the witch”. According to a story told at the time, when Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to James VI in 1566, the Countess of Atholl used enchantment to cast the pains of the queen’s labour onto another lady of the court, Lady Reres. She is also said to have commissioned a jewel known as the “hart horn herse” as a gift for the queen.
Later life
As a widow Margaret held a liferent in extensive Atholl lands, including the baronies of Fos and Rattray. She fell into debt in 1583 and remained loyal to the imprisoned queen, writing to her in 1585. Margaret died in 1586, the year before Queen Mary’s execution.