scotlandsladies:The Ladies ♕ Queen Consorts [17/25] ↳ Mary of Guelders (c.1434 -1463), Queen Consort

scotlandsladies:The Ladies ♕ Queen Consorts [17/25] ↳ Mary of Guelders (c.1434 -1463), Queen Consort from 1449 to 1460Mary was born sometime in 1434 to Arnold, Duke of Guelders and Catherine of Cleves. She was a great-niece of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and spent many of her adolescent years at the Burgundian court; there she was educated and greatly influenced by Philip’s third wife, Isabella of Portugal. After a failed marriage negotiation with France, Philip and Isabella, negotiated and helped pay for her Scottish marriage to James II, King of Scots. It was mid-June, when she landed in Scotland and both nobles and the common people came to see her as she made her way to the capital.On 3 July 1449, the fifteen-year-old Mary married the nineteen-year-old James, at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh. Promptly after the marriage ceremony, James’ spouse was dressed in purple robes and crowned queen. James gifted Mary several presents, of which included several castles and the income of many lands making her independently wealthy. The couple had seven children together, two of which died in infancy. In May 1454, she was present at the victorious siege of Blackness Castle, James gave the castle to Mary as a gift. The queen made many donations to charity and to religion; she founded a hospital outside Edinburgh for the poverty-stricken and benefited the Franciscan friars in Scotland. On 3 August 1460, King James was accidentally killed by a cannon explosion and Mary acted as regent for their nine-year-old son James III. Before his death, James had been involved in the planning of a new castle, Ravenscraig Castle, as a home for his queen. Sometime in 1460, Mary began the construction of the castle as a memorial to her husband and as a dower house. In 1461, Mary willingly gave shelter in Scotland to Margaret of Anjou and her son Edward of Westminster, when they fled from England during the Wars of the Roses. She aided the deposed queen further, by giving her Scottish troops to help the Lancastrian cause. The women grew a companionship and had arranged a preliminary betrothal between their children. When Mary’s uncle Philip,Duke of Burgundy struck up an alliance with the new king of England, Edward IV, Mary’s support for Margaret began to threaten this alliance. Edward proposed marriage to Mary, but she rejected. After Philip was able to coerce Mary to call off the betrothal of her daughter and Margaret’s son, her relationship with Margaret became strained. In 1462, Mary paid the Lancastrian royals to leave Scotland and peace was made with the York King. She even hinted at the prospect of marriage between herself and Edward IV,curiously it never happened. The former queen never remarried, but she reportedly had several affairs when she was regent, notably one with Patrick Hepburn, 1st Lord Hailes. On 1 December 1463, Mary of Guelders died at the unfinished Ravenscraig Castle, from severe sickness, at the age of thirty.She was buried in Trinity College Kirk in Edinburgh, which she founded. In 1848, despite a formal protest, the church was demolished to allow for the construction of the Waverley Railroad Station. At that time, Mary’s remains were relocated to Holyrood Abbey. -- source link

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