It's the 8th of August. That's a key date in Scottish history, if
you like: a wedding, a peace treaty, and a bit of intrigue all
rolled into one. This is the marriage of the thistle and
the rose. Hi I'm Bruce Fummey. If you're interested
in the people places and events in Scottish history
then at the bottom left-hand side there's a button that you can click to
subscribe anytime during this video. In the
meantime. let me tell you a story.
Do you enjoy a royal wedding? Let me know in the comments section below.
In 1495 James IV of Scotland would have been 22,
...a man in his prime. By all accounts he'd fallen deeply and madly in love
with a young woman called Margaret. Margaret Drummond to be precise.
Her family were based at Drummond Castle near Crieff,
where you can currently go to visit the stunning gardens.
They were used as the location of the gardens of Versailles in the filming of
Outlander. They're fantastic! James wrote love poems to Margaret.
He was devoted to her to the exclusion of all other mistresses
(no small thing for a king in those days). She stayed at Stirling castle in
Lithgow Palace, he visited Drummond Castle. He gave her
dad a plum job at court. You peel those plums and I'll see your
daughter. That's frivolous. It seemed like true love.
They were an item. There are some suggestions that they
were secretly married, and blissfully devoted to each other.
How romantic... but why secretly? Let me tell you about another Margaret,
another relationship, another marriage. More formal this time,
with foreign policy implications.
In 1496, not long after James's love affair when Margaret Drummond had begun,
things had been a bit tetchy with English crown.
We don't have time. As part of making the peace
negotiations had started for James to marry the now six-year-old Princess
Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII and the sister
of the future Henry VIII. She was little older than James's eldest
bastard daughter. Now I know what you're thinking: adult
royal males and underage girls, it wouldn't happen these days. Anyway
it almost didn't happen then, because there was some uncertainty as to
whether either side really was committed to striking this deal
to marry the Scots king and the English princess.
On English side Henry VII's advisers worried that if his male line failed
then a Scottish king would take over England.
Henry said: 'Supposing, which god forbid, that all my male progeny should become
extinct and the kingdom devolved by law to Margaret's heirs,
will England be damaged thereby? For since it ever happens that the less
becomes subservient to the greater, the accession be that of Scotland to England
just as formally happened to Normandy, which devolved upon our ancestors in the
same manner, and was happily added to our kingdom by
hereditary right as a rivulet to a fountain.
Aye? What if the rivulet to your leaky fountain had already married a common
Scottish woman that he actually was in love with? What about that then eh?
Actually that would be a bit problematic wouldn't it?
An already tense diplomatic situation and James
blows off Henry's daughter, Princess Margaret, for non-royal Margaret Drummond.
Yeah not good. The problem is that by 1501 this infatuation slash
love affair slash relationship slash secret married life
to common Margaret didn't seem to be going away, and it might tear
slash apart the royal marriage and peace treaty.
This is Dunblane Cathedral. Margaret Drummond and her sisters are buried here.
Margaret and two of her sisters died together after eating the same meal.
Food poisoning... or poisoning food? We can't go inside just now because of
coronavirus, but if we could we'd see a plaque which reads:
In memory of Margaret eldest daughter of John first Lord Drummond,
by tradition privately married to king James IV and poisoned at Drummond Castle
with her sisters Euphemia and Sybillia by some of the nobles who desired the
king's marriage with the Princess Margaret of England
the drummond ladies were laid to rest here in 1501.
On the 24th of January 1502 the treaty of marriage
between James Stewart and Margaret Tudor was agreed.
Some say the two events were linked, I couldn't possibly comment.
Now the dowry to be paid for Margaret was paltry
£35 000 scots, payable and three annual instalments.
That's less than the English had offered as father James III for the daughter of
Edward IV, and it was less than both the French
dowries who would be paid for the marriages of his son James V
Now I'm not trying to condone the
chattel status of women, I'm just observing the relative power positions
of the parties to this particular negotiation.
But striking the deal was just the first stage.
On the 27th of June 1503 a 13 year old English princess
headed north with her entourage to meet her future husband,
the 29 year old King of Scots, and they would tie the knot they would
bind the thistle in the rose in perpetual
peace. What must it have been like for a 13 year old girl to leave her
family, her luxurious and elegant surroundings,
her high-speed broadband, and head to travel the country's roads
for days; from south to the north, where she'd
never been. Then north again across a border to a foreign land, with
which yours had been at war for centuries.
Maybe never to return. The princess processed
through village town and hamlet with cheers along the way,
being led through each by a local worthy.
You can imagine the fanfare, the excitement of locals, who had never
before and probably would never again, see a
princess and a future queen in the flesh.
She on display for a moment, and then back to monotonous roads.
By the end of July the English entourage, two thousand strong, met a Scots welcome
party of half that size at Berwick. They took
refreshments together before many of the English turned back
and the princess and her large personal court continued
on to Dunbar, Dalkeith, and eventually here in
Edinburgh. The princess behaved impeccably. The king
received her with dignity and honour and gentility.
And as she entered Edinburgh there was a choir to meet her.
as she traversed the town gate. The wedding ceremony, the culmination of
long diplomatic work and legal negotiations,
was held here at Holyrood then margaret was anointed the queen of Scots. It was
lavish. The highest ranking ladies joined the
princess. The pomp was huge. The ceremony was grand. Archbishops,
noblemen and the highest rank in the land sat down to a first
course of 12 dishes. Oh who's got the space for pudding?
The evening dinner was held in a room decorated with a coats of arms of
Scotland and England. The windows adorned with Scottish
thistles and English roses. The problem with thistles and roses is
that both their flowers mask prickly problems. At least the
thorny subject of Margaret Drummond was gone by accident or design.
Because this wedding wasn't just a wedding. After a hundred years of
conflict it also marked the confirmation of a treaty of perpetual peace
between Scotland and England and Henry VII paid the first instalment of
Margaret's dowry. There would never again be a conflict
between the Scots and our neighbours to the south.
All in all the 8th of august 1503 was a perfect day.
The Scottish royal garden looked rosy in the short term
the problem with long-term contracts is they have to survive long term.
What if something happened to Henry VII and he succeeded by Margaret's brother
Henry VIII. Will Henry VIII honour the financial
terms of Margaret's inheritance?
Is he the kind of guy to prioritise perpetual peace?
That's a story for another day, but I
hope you enjoyed today's one. If you did, do the
lakey sherry thing. And there's a link to see how you can
support or become a member. In the meantime Tha mi an dochas gum bith lath math leibh
Tiorridh an drasda