| Notes |
- Note Annabella (Princess) Stewart previously shown as mother of most of2nd Earl's children.
Below from
Doug Hickling
Dhhic@comcast.net
"I suggest a major revision...""for George (2nd Earl of Huntly) Gordonbecause the authorities show scant reason for attributing more than onechild to the earl's marriage to Annabella Stewart.
According to SP 6:528-531, Ferrerius, the early Gordon historian wholived with a member of the family during the mid-1500s (see SP 4:533),was of the opinion that Elizabeth Hay was the mother of all of the futuresecond earl's sons and that only Isabel was a daughter of PrincessAnnabella.
The SP article says that the future earl married Annabella before 10March 1459-60, but, after six years of marriage and no male children,Huntly directed his affections toward Elizabeth Hay. In a writ dated 12May 1466, the future earl "swore on the Gospels that he would have no'actual delen' with the lady until he could have her to wife lawfully."This writ is among the Slains charters transmitted by the Earl of Errollto the General Register House, but it does not seem to have beenpublished.
The SP article on Hay, Earl of Erroll, at 3:565, cites this writ as acontract for the marriage of Elizabeth Hay to George, Lord Gordon.
The SP article at 4:529 says that, because John Riddell (1785-1862)inadvertently quoted the date of this writ as 12 May 1476 instead of 12May 1466, much confusion was caused among subsequent scholars as itpostponed the date of the earl's marriage to Elizabeth to 1476 or later,making Ferrerius's statements that she was the mother of the earl's sonsappear to be chronologically impossible.
The 19th century authorities, such as Alexander Sinclair's 1871 articlein THE HERALD AND GENEALOGIST, volume 6: 595-597, cited in CP 6: 677,note a, quotes a marriage contract between John, Earl of Atholl andGeorge Gordon, second earl of Huntly dated 14 October 1474. The contractprovided "Alexander, son and apparent heir to the said George is to marryand have to wife, as soon as he arrives to lawful age, Joan, daughter ofthe said John, and failing of the said Alexander, Adam the son of thesaid George, and so forth from son to son lawfully gotten, or for to begotten by the said George, etc.." Sinclair argued that, since, as hethought erroneously, the earl did not marry Elizabeth Hay until 1476, twoyears after the date of the contract, all of the second earl's sons wereby Annabella. Sinclair concluded not only that Elizabeth had had nochildren at all by Huntly, but also that Ferrerius "who is seldommistaken" was wrong in making all three sons Elizabeth's offspring.
At 4:529, the SP article notes that Huntly's divorce from Annabella waspronounced at
Aberdeen on 24 July 1471, granted on the ground that Elizabeth Dunbar,his first wife, was related in the fourth degree of consanguinity toAnnabella. Earl George moved almost immediately to marry Elizabeth Hay,the banns being published on 4, 11, and 18 August 1471 at the church atFyvie. At page 529, note 2, the same article states that, based upon themarriage date of 1471, Ferrerius's statement is "now seen to be correctthat she was the mother of the Earl's sons." SP concludes that ElizabethHay was the mother of the earl's sons and of some of the daughters, but,based upon Ferrerius, shows only Isabel to have been Annabella's daughter.
In its entry for Alexander, third Earl of Huntly, at 4:531, SP explainsthat the fact that Alexander was sitting in Parliament in 1485 and as oneof the Lords of the Articles would tend to support the view thatAnnabella was the earl's mother. On the other hand, SP seems to havefound even more compelling evidence that Elizabeth Hay was Alexander'smother based upon (1) a charter of 21 February 1504-5 to Elizabeth,Countess of Huntly, in which "she is distinctly referred to as 'mother'of Alexander, Earl of Huntly," and (2) at the earl's request, on 4 July1492, the divorce of Lady Annabella and the publication in 1471 of thebanns of his father and Elizabeth Hay were recorded in the ConsistorialCourt of Aberdeen, "a proceeding he would hardly have taken had he beenthe son of the Princess."
CP 6:676-677, says that the identity of the mother of Alexander Gordon,3rd Earl of Huntly, is "very doubtful," and generally quotes from the SParticle discussed above. CP accepts 24 July 1471 as the date of thedivorce of Annabella and the second earl and agrees that George Gordon,the second earl, remarried in 1471, shortly after his divorce. At thecarryover note on p. 677, CP says that Annabella apparently obtained adivorce from the second earl because of his "carnal copulation" withElizabeth Hay. This raises, without resolving, the issue of whether eachparty obtained a divorce against the other.
One could conclude that the earl's marital intimacy with Annabella hadalready ended by 12 May 1466 when he had entered into a contract to marryElizabeth Hay, even though he promised his wife on the Gospels that hewould not have "actual delen" with Elizabeth until he was free to marryher. Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl Huntly, may well have been born toElizabeth Hay in 1466 or earlier, a birth which was legitimated by hersubsequent marriage to Huntly following the publication of banns.Alexander's subsequent insistence on recording his father's divorce fromAnnabella and of the publication of the banns leading up to his father'smarriage to Elizabeth may have been intended to show Alexander'slegitimacy. Further, had Alexander been born by 1466, his attendance inParliament in 1485 would not seem unduly premature.
Brian Tompsett agrees with SP that the second earl married Annabellabefore 10 March 1459-60. On his sheet for Gordon, George of Huntly2nd, Tompsett lists all four of the earl's sons and two of his daughtersas children of Annabella. He agrees that the earl and Elizabeth Hay weremarried in August 1471 and assigns three daughters to this marriage. Hisnote cites CP 6:677, but that article mentioned above says only that theidentity of the third earl's mother is "very doubtful," and says nothingat all about the identity of the mother of the earl's other children.Tompsett also sets forth somewhat contradictory information on his sheetfor Stuart, Annabella (Jean) where he lists ten children: 5 sons--one ofwhom seems to appear twice--and 5 daughters.
Stirnet under "Gordon02" states in its introduction that the Gordonfamily may have falsely claimed descent from Annabella because of theprestige that resulted from a royal descent, but recognizes that thesecond earl's divorce from Annabella may have been related to the absenceof male children. Stirnet..." (athttp://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/gg/gordon02.htm) "adopts thearticle appearing in the 1934 edition of BURKE'S PEERAGE, apparently alsoaccepting 1476, instead of 1471, as the date of the earl's marriage toElizabeth Hay.
Whatever may have been BURKE'S position with regard to the mother of theearl's children in 1934, the current 106th edition of BURKE'S PEERAGE &BARONETAGE, at 1480, shows the second earl's three wives and his marriageto Elizabeth Hay in August 1471, but it declines to identify the motherof any of the earl's four sons and three daughters listed in the article.
Probably the last and most authoritative word on Annabella's children asthe
Countess of Huntly belongs to Alison Weir in BRITAIN'S ROYAL FAMILIES, at232. She regards Isabel as the only probable child of Annabella'smarriage to the earl. She says that "Annabella was also possibly, butimprobably," the mother of Janet, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Agnes. Weirshows no sons resulting from this marriage, and says that it is "highlyimprobable" that Alexander, 3rd Earl of Huntly, was her son. Obviously,if Alexander was not Annabella's child, then neither were the youngersons and daughters. Without mentioning him, Weir seems generally toagree with Ferrerius in identifying Annabella's children by the secondearl. My own view is that, had Riddell not erroneously copied the dateof the 1466 writ as 1476 or had Elizabeth Hay been the royal princessinstead of Annabella, the Gordon family historians would have continuedto follow Ferrerius.
I note that of the 70 gedcoms available through Rootsweb, 63 of themaccept Annabella as the mother of the 3rd earl and only seven hold outfor Elizabeth Hay, so you have a lot of company, although I suspect thatmuch of the support for Annabella is due to her royal connections. Ialso think that very few of these gedcom owners have done any research onthe matter, and, like the Gordon/Huntly family, are happy to endorse adescent from King James I."
Douglas Hickling
Dhhic@comcast.com
516 Blair Avenue
Piedmont CA 94611
(August 2003)
SP = Scots Peerage
CP = The Complete Peerage by G E Cokyane
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