Mary Livingston

Mary Livingston (c. 1541–1579) was a Scottish noblewoman and childhood companion of Mary, Queen of Scots, one of the famous "Four Marys".

For those of the same or a similar name, see Mary Livingstone (disambiguation).
Mary Livingston
Born1541
Scotland
Died1579 (aged 38-39)
Scotland
NationalityScottish
Known forLady in waiting to Mary, Queen of Scots
Spouse(s)
Lord John Sempill of Bruntschiells and Beltrees
​
(
m. 1565⁠–⁠invalid year)
ChildrenJames Sempill
Parent(s)Alexander Livingston, 5th Lord Livingston
Agnes Douglas

Life

Mary Livingston was born around 1541, the daughter of Alexander Livingston, 5th Lord Livingston (c. 1500–1553) and his second wife Agnes Douglas, a daughter of John Douglas, 2nd Earl of Morton.

As a child, she and three other girls of similar age and standing, were chosen by the queen's mother, Mary of Guise, to become one of Queen Mary's ladies-in-waiting. The other three "Marys" were Mary Fleming, Mary Seton and Mary Beaton. Her younger sister Magdalen Livingston was a maid of honour to Mary, Queen of Scots.[1]

A wedding at Queen Mary's court

In March 1565, Mary Livingston married John Sempill of Beltrees, a son of Robert Sempill, 3rd Lord Sempill (c. 1505–1576), who had been born in England.

The leading preacher of the Scottish Reformation, John Knox, disapproved of Queen Mary's court, and included some remarks on the marriage in his History of the Reformation in Scotland. According to Knox, Sempill was called the "Dancer", and Livingston was known as "Lusty" and pregnant before their wedding. Knox disapproved of grants of lands made by Queen Mary to the couple in 1565 including the barony of Auchtermuchty, rather than given to hard-working administrators.[2] The 19th-century writer Agnes Strickland researched the marriage, noting that it was delayed rather than "shame-hastened" as Knox suggested, and had been discussed in autumn 1564.[3]

The marriage was celebrated at Court during the Shrove-Tide feast on 5 March, called "Fasterins Eve" in Scotland, and there was a Masque, for which a painter was paid £12 for making props. The diplomat Thomas Randolph called it the "great marriage of this happie Englishman that shall marrie lustie Livingston." Randolph heard of a plan to invite the Earl of Bedford who was Governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed to the wedding because Sempill's mother was English. The Earl of Bedford had not previously visited Edinburgh.[4] Queen Mary gave her a present of a bed made from scarlet and black velvet, with embroidered taffeta curtains and silk fringes.[5] Gifts of beds were not uncommon at the Scottish court, in 1593 Anne of Denmark gave her Danish maiden Margaret Winstar a rich velvet and silk bed.[6]

Furs and jewels

She retained some of Mary Queen of Scot's jewels and sent them with Robert Melville of Murdocairny to her at Bolton Castle.[7] John Sempill was charged by Regent Lennox to return some of the queen's jewels and furs of "martrick" and sable in his wife's keeping, but refused and was imprisoned in Blackness Castle. This fur may have been a zibellino, several were recorded in Mary's inventories.[8]

Family

Her children included:

In the 2013-17 CW television series Reign, the character, Aylee, played by Jenessa Grant is loosely based on Mary Livingston.

In the 2018 film Mary, Queen of Scots, Mary Livingston is played by actress Liah O’Prey.

References
  1. James Balfour Paul, Scots Peerage, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1908), pp. 438-9
  2. Laing, David, ed., Works of John Knox: History of the Reformation, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1846), pp. 415–16.
  3. Strickland, Agnes, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, vol. 4 (Blackwood, 1853), pp. 94-6<
  4. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 113, 125, 133
  5. Robertson, Joseph, ed, Inventaires de la Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. lxxxii, 31, 153
  6. Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: The Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts (Manchester, 2020), p. 135.
  7. Joseph Robertson, Inventaires (Edinburgh, 1863), p. clviii: William Fraser, The Melvilles: Melville & Leven Correspondence, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 8 no. 9.
  8. Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1569-1571, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1903), pp. 436, 438.


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