Montgomerie
The Earl of Arran, duke of Châtellerault
This first case is rather interesting, because the heraldic consequences last to this day (see
Cockaygne vol.1 appendix B, and Stodart for a near-full account).
James Hamilton, 2nd earl of Arran, was regent of Scotland during the minority of Mary Queen of
Scots (he was in fact heir presumptive, being her second cousin through his grandmother, and next in
line for the throne). Immediately, here were two main contenders for her hand: Henry VIII's eldest
son the prince of Wales, and Henri II's eldest son François Dauphin of France. The earl, as regent,
was the kingpin: he was finally persuaded by the French to sign a treaty with them for the marriage of
François and Mary. The earl even went so far as to convert to Catholicism. His price was spelled
out in the treaty of Châtillon (27 Jan 1548), which promised "to confer the title of duke, with a duchy
in the kingdom of France of 12,000 livres of revenue, for him and his heirs." The deed was made by
letters patent of 8 Feb 1549 (Père Anselme 5:586), which gave the duchy of Châtellerault with all its
revenues and fees, "which we guarantee to the amount of 12,000 livres per year of revenue". In
other words, the main point was a title and a guaranteed income, which the king of France promised
to top off if it fell short of the promised amount. Note that the duchy was not held in peerage, but
that the remainder included all heirs (unless specified otherwise, that meant male as well as female).
The letters were registered on 2 Apr 1549.
~~~~In 1559 the duke of Châtellerault returned to Protestantism ; as a result,
his French lands and estates were confiscated for treason in July 1559 (Calendar of State Papers,
3:393). The treaty of Edinburgh between Scotland and England (7 Jul 1560) included a promise that
the duke of Châtellerault would be returned to the possession and enjoyment of all the lands he
possessed before that date. It seems, however, that things did not follow through. As it turned out,
the young François II, king at the death of his father in 1559, died in December 1560, Mary
returned to Scotland and no one was much in a hurry to make good on the promise.
~~~~The duchy was
given to Diane de Poitiers, former mistress of Henri II, in 1563, who exchanged it back in 1582. It
was then given, in peerage, to the duc de Montpensier, royal prince of the Bourbon line (1584). The
earl of Arran spent a lot of time trying to regain the revenues of his duchy, but his efforts were
rebuked: once, during an interview with the king of France, his attempt to bring up the topic of the
duchy was abruptly cut short. All he obtained from the king of France was a pension of 4,000 F "in
recompense for the duchy" in 1565 (Calendar of State Papers, 8:295, 319).
Heraldry
The 2nd earl of Arran used the title of duke of Châtellerault on his seals, as did his wife (Laing,
Catalogue of the British Museum), but it is noteworthy that he did not modify his arms on that
occasion. He bore Quarterly Arran and Hamilton in 1549, but Quarterly Hamilton and Arran
after 1552. A seal on a document of that year shows these arms with the French ducal coronet and
the collar of the French order of Saint-Michel, and the title "dux castri hiraldis" in the legend.
The Title of Duke of Châtellerault and the
Hamilton-Abercorn Controversy
The 2nd earl died in 1575. None of his male descendants ever used the title of duke of Châtellerault
on their seals, and they all used Quarterly Hamilton and Arran: the 3d earl, the 1st and 2d
marquesses of Hamilton, the 1st duke and the duchess of Hamilton after whom the name and arms
passed to the family of Douglas (Stevenson and Wood). But the successors remained interested in
the revenue which had been promised in 1548, and pressed the case repeatedly, as he had done
himself. Finally, a "brevet" of 4 Oct 1616 from Louis XIII of France granted an annual sum of
12,000 livres to them as compensation for the duchy. It seems, however, that the marquis of
Hamilton was harbouring hopes of restoring his ducal title, judging by a letter of Sir Richard Browne,
English ambassador to France, dated Jan 13-23, 1643: "I have seen letters lately written from a
person of great quality in Sctoland, bearing the Earl of Laudian's speedy coming over hither with his
Majesty's leave to treat the renewing of the ancient alliances between the crowns of Scotland and
France; upon which treaty many particular interests depend, as, the reestablishing the marquis
Hamilton in the duchy of Chatellerault, of the marquis Douglas in that of Touraine" (cited in John
Evelyn: Diary
Introduction
~~~1415 had been a bad year for France: the army of Henry V of
England defeated the French at
Agincourt (Azincourt in French) and the French nobility was
decimated. English troops occupied
Northern France, and the treaty of Troyes (1420) was imposed on
the mad king Charles VI and his divided court. The treaty provided
for the marriage of Henry V with Charles VI's daughter, and the
accession of Henry V to the French throne upon the death of
Charles VI, passing over the Dauphin Charles, son of Charles VI.
Earlier,in June 1419, the Dauphin had escaped Paris and taken
refuge in Bourges. There, he summoned the Scots to his help,
and a contingent of soldiers arrived from Scotland, led by the
duke of Albany, the earl of Douglas and Sir John Stuart, lord
of Darnley. For the next 5 years, these Scottish soldiers
provided crucial support to the Dauphin, who assumed the name
of Charles VII on the death of his father in 1422. They allowed
the party of Charles VII to resist the English, until fortune
changed sides with the counter-offensive led by Joan of Arc
in 1429-31. In particular, a stunning victory was achieved at
Baugé in 1421, during which the duke of Clarence, brother of
the English king, was killed. The Scottish troops were badly
defeated at Verneuil in 1424, and again trying to relieve the
besieged town of Orléans in 1429. Orléans was relieved by Joan
of Arc, and Paris and Normandy were retaken in 1436. The remnants
of this Scottish force remained in the service of the king of
France, reorganized in 1475 as the Gardes Écossaises, and
remained the premier corps of the King's Household Troops until
the Revolution. The captainship of these troops remained
hereditary in the Stuart of Darnley family until the 17th c.
The Earl of Douglas, Duke of Touraine
~~~One of the leaders of the Scottish expeditionary force was
Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas (called Archambault
Douglas in French texts). Obviously, Charles VII had little
money with which to reward his supporters, although his
supporters were few. One way to express his gratitude was to
bestow honors; and giving fiefs was a way to help them support
the costs of war far from home. The earl of Douglas was made
Constable of France in 1421. By Letters Patent of April 19,
1424, he was given the duchy of Touraine to hold in peerage by
him and his heirs male of the body (Père Anselme 3:231). The
earl was killed at the battle of Verneuil on May 27, 1424. His
only son Archibald, who had been made count of Longueville,
succeeded as 5th earl of Douglas; he had left France for
Scotland in 1423, and at the time of his father's death a rumor
reached France that he had died without children; the king
assumed the title extinct and gave the duchy to Louis d'Anjou
on Nov. 21, 1424. When the news were disproved, the 5th earl
was allowed to retain the title of duke of Touraine (Dictionary
of National Biography, s.v. Archibald Douglas, Père Anselme, 3:231).
He died in 1439. His only two sons, William and David, were
executed for treason in 1440 in Edinburgh and the descent of
the 4th earl was extinct.
Heraldry
The 4th earl of Douglas used two arms on his seals: one was
Quarterly Douglas and Galloway, en surtout Murray of Rothwell
(Stevenson and Wood), another was Quarterly Douglas, Galloway,
Murray and Annandale (Catalogue of Seals, 16054). One seal,
attributed to him, shows a modified version: Quarterly France,
Douglas, Annandale, Galloway with the title of duke of Touraine,
earl of Douglas and of Longueville in the legend. However, both
Laing (suppl. 282) and
the catalogue of the British Museum (16055) date it to 1421, which
is impossible; moreover, the title of count of Longueville was
given to the 4th earl's son. I suspect that the latter seal
belonged to Archibald, 5th earl. In any event, a seal of his
widow Margret, daughter of Robert III king of Scots, shows
Quarterly France, Douglas, Annandale, Galloway impaling Scotland,
and the title of duchess of Touraine (on a document dated 1425;
Laing).
Both the 5th and 6th earls used the same shield with a quarter
of France and the title of duke of Touraine (Stevenson and Wood). No other earl of Douglas did so.
It is not clear where the escutcheon comes from. This was the first time that a French king conferred
a peerage on someone who was not of royal blood. Hitherto, the differenced arms of France
became associated with the peerage, so that the arms of Touraine, Burgundy modern, Anjou, Berry,
Alençon, as provinces, are all differenced versions of the arms of France. In other words, there were
no arms of Touraine proper to be borne by a non-royal.
Although there is no evidence to that effect, I suspect that the reason for the escutcheon is the same
as that for the escutcheon of the Stuarts of Darnley, which is well documented, and for the quarter of
the Kennedy of Bargany. Thus, the escutcheon of France is not a mark of peerage, and does not
represent the duchy of Touraine (or the seigneurie of Aubigny in the case of the Darnley), but a
special augmentation conferred by the king independently of any fief.
The Stuarts of Darnley, seigneurs d'Aubigny
~~~~Another Scottish officer was Sir John Stuart, lord of Darnley (See Cust for a full account of the
Stuarts of Aubigny). member of a junior branch of the house of Stuart, which had since become
royal, was born ca. 1365. After Baugé, he was given the lordship of Concressault in Berry (30 mi
north of Bourges), and later the nearby lordship of Aubigny-sur-Nère on March 26, 1424, to him
and his heirs male of the body (Père Anselme 5:921; Aubigny, given by its lords in 1080 to the
chapter of Saint-Martin of Tours, was bought by the king of France in 1180, and given in apanage
twice before; it had returned to the crown in 1416 on the death of the duc de Berry). Then, by
Letters Patent of January 1428, he received the county of Évreux. The text of the letters patent do
not indicate that it was given in peerage (Père Anselme 3:98). Furthermore, a deed of March 15,
1427, signed by Darnley, gives the king the option to buy back the county for 50,000 crowns in
gold (Cust).
In February 1428, letters patent gave to Sir John Stuart of Darnley, count of Évreux, the right to
"bear forever in his arms, escutcheons of France, that is to say, in the first and last quarter thereof in
each 3 flowers de lys of gold in a field azure, so and in such form as the same is here portrayed,
depicted and blazoned. WIlling and granting that this our present gift, grace and grant may by him
and his descendants who ought to bear his said arms be enjoyed and used from time to time
forever." (Cust).
John Stuart of Darnley was killed in battle on Feb 9, 1429, trying to relieve Orléans. His eldest son
Alan inherited the lands in Scotland, and his second son John inherited Aubigny and Concressault (it
is not clear when Évreux was returned to the king, but none of his descendants ever used the title; in
any event, Évreux was still in the hands of the English at the time). The descendants of Alan, who
became earls of Lennox, remained in close contact with the Aubigny branch: John († 1482), his son
Bérault († 1508), and Bérault's daughter Anne who married her cousin Robert Stuart, grandson of
Alan († 1543). Aubigny then went to another younger son of the elder branch, John Stuart († 1567),
whose son Esme († 1583) was made earl of Lennox in 1580 and 1st duke of Lennox in 1581. The
successive lords of Aubigny dutifully swore liege homage to the king of France (in 1636 by George
Stuart, in 1656 by Ludovic Stuart, in 1670 by Charles Stuart).
Meanwhile, the elder branch had ended with Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen
of Scots, and father of James VI (I of England); thus, when the 6th duke of Lennox and 11th
seigneur d'Aubigny died in 1672, the heir to Aubigny was the king of England and Scotland, Charles
II. Louis XIV, however, was reticent to have a foreign sovereign own fiefs in France, and refused to
acknowledge the inheritance, but accepted to give the fief of Aubigny to Charles II's mistress
Louise-Renée-Renée de Kéroualle, duchess of Portsmouth, with reversion to an illegitimate son of
hers, of Charles II's choosing, and his heirs males (Dec 1673). By Letters Patent of Jan 1684, the
fief of Aubigny was created a duchy-peerage, with the same terms, although the letters were not
registered until 1787 in the parliament of Paris (Père Anselme, 5:929; the fact that the Parliament
had not registered the letters is apparent in the liege homage given to the king of France by Louise
de Kéroualle in 1684 and her grandson Charles in 1734: the gave homage for the "seigneurie" or
"terre et châtellenie d'Aubigny", not for the duchy). On the duchess of Portsmouth's death in 1734
the title passed to her grandson the second duke of Lennox and Richmond, whose descendant still
holds
Heraldry
~~~~The Stuarts of Darnley took advantage of the honor bestowed upon their ancestor. John Stuart of
Darnley used to bear Or, on a fess chequy argent and azure a bend sable. There is no evidence
on the arms he bore after the grants were made to him, but his son Alan bore Quarterly Stuart and
France. Bérault Stuart of Aubigny bore Quarterly France on a bordure gules 8 buckles or, and
Stuart, while the first four earls of Lennox (from 1470 to 1571) used Quarterly: France, and
Stuart on a bordure gules 8 (sometimes 10 or 12) buckles or, en surtout Lennox (argent a
saltire between four roses gules). The heir and grandson of the 4th earl being James VI of
Scotland, the title went to a younger son of the 4th earl, and then a younger brother. With this 6th
earl, the bordure with buckles is now in the French quarter and replaced by a bordure engrailed
gules in the Stuart quarter (Stuart-Darnley). The 7th earl of Lennox becomes duke of Lennox in
1581, and the 1st, 2d and 5th dukes use the same arms. Also, starting in 1579, the saltire of Lennox
is engrailed. But the 2d, 4th and 6th dukes place the bordure engrailed on the French or the Stuart
quarter (Stevenson and Wood, Catalogue of Seals).
The dukes of Aubigny place an escutcheon bearing Gules three buckles or to stand in for Aubigny,
although the buckles in fact come from John Stuart of Bonkyl († 1298), ancestor of the Stuarts of
Darnley.
The Stuarts d'Aubigny of Baltimore
In Heraldic Marylandiana (1968) , Harry Wright Newman tells the story of Alexander Stuart, son
of Sir Alexander Stuart, born in 1718; a Jacobite, he went to France where he was given on June
10, 1738 the barony of "Stuart d'Aubigny", on account of his being descended from Alexander, son
of the earl of Lennox. He later moved to Annapolis, MD where he settled. The title was supposedly
confirmed in 1885 by the French government, and the current holder is Donald Franklin Stewart, of
Baltimore, MD.
Perhaps the descent is from Alexander († before 1508), 3d son of John Stuart of Darnley, 1st earl
of Lennox. In any event, I find the story rather dubious, but there it is.
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