Mary of Lorraine ^{1 2 3}

   Another name for Mary was Marie de Guise.

  General Notes:

Sister of François de Guise, and of the second cardinal of Lorraine, and eldest of the twelve children of Claude de Lorraine, 1st Duke of Guise, and Antoinette de Bourbon. Left a widow in 1537, after a year of married life with Louis II d'Orleans (m.1534), Duke of Longueville, she refused to marry Henry VIII, King of England, but at the express command of Francis I consented to go to Scotland to wed (9 May, 1538) James V, king of Scotland, whose first wife, Margaret of France, had died a year before. By James V she had (7 or 8 Dec, 1542) one daughter, Mary Stuart, and a week later (14 Dec.) she became a widow and regent. Henry VIII sought to take advantage of this regency to establish in Scotland an anti-Catholic influence, and to this end wrung from Mary of Guise the treaty of 12 March, 1543, which promised Mary Stuart in marriage to Edward, his son. Mary of Guise, however, particularly after the death of her advisor, Cardinal Beaton, looked to France for the support of a Catholic policy, and it was decided by the Estates of Scotland (5 Feb., 1548), that Mary Stuart should be sent to that country, Scotland's oldest and most faithful ally, to be married to the young Dauphin Francis, son of Henry II. While the Reformation continued to progress in Scotland, Mary de Guise, through the advice and assistance of her brothers, François de Guise and the second Cardinal of Lorraine, succeeded in maintaining her authority. From Paris her brothers kept her informed of the great success achieved by her daughter, Mary Stuart. "She rules the king and queen", wrote the Cardinal de Lorraine. On the marriage of Henry II with the Dauphin Francis, Henry II desired them to assume the titles of king and Queen of England and Ireland, alleging that Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII, and Anne Boleyn, was ineligible, having been the child of an illegitimate marriage, also a heretic. The Guises hoped for a brief period that as a result of their policy Catholic rule would be established throughout Britain. Nicholas de Bellève, Bishop of Amiens, and several doctors of the Sorbonne, went to Scotland in 1559 to prevail upon Mary of Guise to put on trial all non-Catholic ecclesiastics. Though of a moderate temper, and though she wrote to the Guises that the only means of preserving the old religion in Scotland was to allow the people complete liberty of conscience, the queen dared not oppose the order from France. A revolt followed; the Protestants pillaged churches and monasteries and entered Edinburgh. John Knox proclaimed the right of insurrection against tyranny; and the assembly of the peers and the barons of the kingdom declared Mary of Guise deposed from the regency (21 Oct., 1559). She was then at Leith, guarded by a troop of French soldiers. They soon overcame the Protestant troops and she was then able to enter Edinburgh, but an English army sent by Elizabeth to the assistance of the Protestant laid siege to Edinburgh, and at this juncture, Mary of Guise died.

  Noted events in her life were:

• Acceded: Queen of Scotland, 1538.

Mary married Louis of Orléans on 4 Aug 1534. (Louis of Orléans was born in 1510 and died in 1537.)

  Marriage Notes:

Mary was the eldest child of Claude de Lorraine, 1er duc de Guise of Lorraine. By her first marriage, to Louis d'Orléans, 2e duc de Longueville, on Aug. 4, 1534, she had one son, François, 3e duc de Longueville. Widowed in 1537, she married King James V of Scotland in 1538, frustrating the hopes of England's King Henry VIII for her hand.

Mary next married James V Stewart of Scotland, son of James IV Stewart of Scotland and Lady Margaret Tudor of England, on 9 May 1538. (James V Stewart of Scotland was born on 10 Apr 1512 in Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland and died on 14 Dec 1542 in Falkland, Fife.)