Mary Maitland

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Mary Maitland
Bornc. 1550
Died1596
Other namesMarie Maitland

Marie Maitland (born about 1550, [1] died 1596) was the transcriber of the Maitland Quarto manuscript (1586) as well as a poet in her own right. Crucially, the Maitland Quarto contains explicitly lesbian poetry penned by Marie, which is among the earliest sapphic poetry in any language in Europe since Sappho herself. The Maitland Quarto is thus a significant primary source of Scottish and world LGBT history. Together with the Maitland Folio manuscript, the Maitland Quarto is one of the Maitland Manuscripts, [2] which are important sources for Scots literature of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. She recorded and preserved her father's extensive writings as his sight became increasingly poor, eventually resulting in his blindness. [1]

Contents

Early life

Two pages of the Maitland Quarto Manuscript transcribed by Marie. The original is in the Pepys Library in Cambridge. Maitland Quarto Manuscript.jpg
Two pages of the Maitland Quarto Manuscript transcribed by Marie. The original is in the Pepys Library in Cambridge.

Marie Maitland was the daughter of Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington and Thirlestane (1496–1586) and Mariotta (or Margaret) Cranstoun (died 1586), the daughter of Sir Thomas Cranstoun of Corsbie, Berwickshire, Scotland. [2]

Marie had three brothers and three sisters. [4] Her eldest brother, William Maitland of Lethington (died 1573), was Secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots. [5] Her second eldest brother was John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane (1543-1595), Lord Chancellor of Scotland. [5]

The Maitland Manuscripts

The Maitland folio and quarto manuscripts are anthologies of poems compiled and authored by the Maitland family. The manuscripts are written in Italic and Secretary hands. John Pinkerton was the first to suggest that Marie Maitland was the scribe. Her name appears twice on the titlepage of the quarto manuscript. [6] Some poems within the Maitland Quarto are written by her while others name her or are dedicated to her. These lines, in the Scots language, come from the end of Poem 49, which was almost certainly written by Marie.

And thoucht adversitie ws vex
Yit be our freindschip salbe sein
Thair is mair constancie in our sex
Than evir amang men hes bein

And though adversity us vex
Yet by our freindship shall be seen
There is more constancy in our sex
Than ever among men has been. [7]

In 2021, Scottish researcher and writer Ashley Douglas and the educational charity Time for Inclusive Education developed secondary school lesson plans about the poetry of Marie Maitland and the Scotland in which she lived and wrote, which formed part of the world-first launch of LGBT inclusive education in Scotland. They also commissioned an imagined modern portrait of Marie Maitland, which is currently on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Family and relationships

In 1586, Marie was contracted to marry Alexander Lauder of "Haltoun", or "Hatton", (buried in Holyrood Abbey 14 November 1627), Sheriff Principal of Edinburgh. Haltoun is an estate near Kirkliston. [6] Alexander Lauder was a son of William Lauder (died 1596) and Jean Cockburn (died 1600). [8] Jean Cockburn's aunt, Elizabeth Douglas, Lady Temple Hall, was a poet, working in the same circle of East Lothian poets. [9]

Alexander Lauder with his younger brother got into trouble in 1596. They threatened Alexander McGill, the Provost of Corstorphine "under colour of friendship" because they wanted him to sign a contract. [10]

Marie Maitland, Lady Haltoun's children included:

Marie Maitland died in June 1596. Soon after, Alexander Lauder married Annabella Bellenden, a sister of the lawyer, Lewis or Ludovick Bellenden of Auchnoule, and sister-in-law of the courtier Margaret Livingstone, Countess of Orkney. Annabella would be a stepmother for their young children. [13]

George Lauder, a son of Alexander Lauder and Annabella Bellenden, was a soldier. [14] [15] [1] He was a friend of William Drummond of Hawthornden and gained a considerable reputation as a poet. [16]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Crockett, William Shillinglaw (1893). Minstrelsy of the Merse: The Poets and Poetry of Berwickshire : a Country Anthology. J. and R. Parlane. p.  35.
  2. 1 2 "Maitland, Mary (d. 1596), writer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/68146.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ↑ Lethington, Richard Maitland of (2012-02-12), English: Two pages from the Maitland Quarto Manuscript of Scots literature. Sixteenth Century. Held by the Pepys Library in Cambridge. , retrieved 2019-09-23
  4. ↑ Henderson, Thomas Finlayson, "Maitland Richard (1496-1586)", Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, vol. 35, retrieved 2019-09-23
  5. 1 2 Loughlin, Mark. "Maitland, William, of Lethington". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
  6. 1 2 Joanna M. Martin, The Maitland Quarto (Scottish Text Society, 2015), pp. 28-32.
  7. ↑ Jane Stevenson & Peter Davidson, Early Modern Women Poets (1520-1700), An Anthology (Oxford, 2001), p. 98: Bob Harris & Alan R. MacDonald, Scotland: Making and Unmaking of the Nation (Dundde, 2006), p. 289.
  8. ↑ Jane Stewart Smith, The Grange of St. Giles (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 239-40: Register of the Privy Council', 1578-1585 (Edinburgh, 1880), pp. 635, 637.
  9. ↑ Sebastiaan Verweij, The Literary Culture of Early Modern Scotland (Oxford, 2017), pp. 81, 84-87.
  10. ↑ Winifred Coutts, The Business of the College of Justice in 1600 (Edinburgh: Stair Society, 2003), pp. 561-2, NRS CS7/187/346v.
  11. ↑ Jane Stewart Smith, The Grange of St. Giles (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 245.
  12. ↑ Helen Lauder's will details her costume and jewellery, National Records of Scotland CC8/8/51 pp. 151-2.
  13. ↑ Jane Stewart Smith, The Grange of St. Giles (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 241.
  14. ↑ Bayne, Thomas Wilson, "Lauder George", Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, vol. 32, retrieved 2019-09-23
  15. ↑ Bayne, Thomas Wilson (1892). "Lauder, George"  . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 195.
  16. ↑ Jane Stewart Smith, The Grange of St. Giles (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 243-5.
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