Margaret Drummond

Margaret Drummond (c. 1475 - 1502) was a daughter of John Drummond, 1st Lord Drummond and a mistress of King James IV of Scotland. Her untimely death has been the subject of a very persistent romantic legend.

Related Topics:
1475 - 1502 - John Drummond, 1st Lord Drummond - Mistress - James IV of Scotland - Legend

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is definitely known that in 1502 she died of food poisoning, along with two of her sisters, while staying with her parents. As a general rule, claims of poisoning made in relation to a historical figure who died after a sudden illness should be treated with caution, but in this case, with three people who presumably died shortly after eating the same meal, the contemporary judgement should be accepted. The three sisters are buried together in Dunblane Cathedral. This did not cause a great deal of suspicion at the time, standards of food hygiene are unlikely to have been very good then, cases of accidental food poisoning have happened in any period.

Related Topics:
1502 - Food poisoning - Dunblane Cathedral

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She had been a mistress of King James IV of Scotland, and they had one daughter, Margaret. However, the king had had several mistresses in his time, their relationship had ended a few years earlier, and actually seems to have been shorter lived than his relationships with either Marion Boyd or Janet Kennedy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

More recently it has been widely suggested that she was murdered, either by English agents or pro-English elements in the Scottish nobility, in order to force the king to marry the English princess Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York. James IV and Margaret Tudor were actually married a year after her death. The King is considered to have been either planning to marry Margaret Drummond or possibly being already secretly married to her.

Related Topics:
English - Scottish - Nobility - Margaret Tudor - Henry VII of England - Elizabeth of York

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The marriage between James IV and Margaret Tudor (the "Marriage of the Rose and Thistle", as the poet William Dunbar described it) in 1503 was actually the marriage which brought about the Union of the Crowns exactly 100 years later, since it enabled their great-grandson James VI of Scotland to claim the English throne on the death of Elizabeth I, because of his descent from Henry VII.

Related Topics:
William Dunbar - 1503 - Union of the Crowns - James VI of Scotland - Elizabeth I

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Therefore, it is sometimes implied, if only James IV had married Margaret Drummond instead of Margaret Tudor, the Union of the Crowns would not have taken place and Scotland would have remained an independent country. This is an extremely big "might have been", but the idea has been repeated in numerous historical novels and popular histories.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nowadays serious historians are sceptical: her death was probably just a case of accidental food poisoning. The idea that James had to be pressurised to marry Margaret Tudor is dubious, as Scotland was the less important country it is more likely that he pressurised Henry VII to give him his daughter. Also, negotiations for the marriage had been taking place for some time before Margaret Drummond died.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~