Mary Stuart
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Mary of Gueldres
MARY of Gueldres (d. 1463), queen of James II of Scotland, was the daughter of Arnold, duke of Gueldres, by Catherine, duchess of Cleves, and daughter of John, duke of Burgundy. She was brought up at the court of her kinsman, Philip the Good of Burgundy, who in 1449 recommended her to the Scottish commissioners as a fitting consort for their king. Charles VII of France, whom they thereupon consulted, having also strongly advised the match, a treaty for the marriage was agreed upon between Philip and James II, 1 April 1449. In the treaty she is described as 'nubilis et formosa.' She set sail from Flanders in a splendid galley, escorted by a large retinue of nobles, and' three hundred men of arms in thirteen other ships; and after paying her devotions at the chapel of St. Andrew, in the Isle of May, landed at Leith on 18 June. Thence she journeyed to Edinburgh, where not improbably the palace of Holyrood had been built for her reception (Burnet, Preface to Exchequer Rolte, vol. v. p. lxxvi). Philip of Burgundy granted her a portion of sixty thousand crowns, while James II settled on her, in the event of her surviving 'him, a dower often thousand crowns to be secured on lands in Strathearn, Atholl, Methven, and Linlithgow. The marriage was celebrated at Holy rood on 3 July.
On the death of James II at the siege of Roxburgh, 3 Aug. 1460, Mary, taking with her the infant prince, James III, immediately set out for the camp, and so inspired the soldiers to redouble tneir efforts to capture the castle, that soon after her arrival it was carried by assault. During the minority of