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Mary Seton
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Mary Seton
Mary Seton (1542–1615) was a Scottish courtier and later a nun. She was one of the four attendants of Mary, Queen of Scots, known as the Four Marys. She was a sister at the Convent of Saint Pierre les Dames in Reims at the time of her death.
Mary Seton was the daughter of George Seton, 6th Lord Seton, and his second wife Marie Pieris or Pierres, a daughter of René Pierres, of Plessis Baudouin, and Antoinette d'Hommes. Marie Pierres was a lady-in-waiting to Mary of Guise, the wife of King James V of Scotland. The French Pierres family claimed to have descended from the Percy family of Northumberland.
As a child, Mary Seton became a lady-in-waiting to the young Mary, Queen of Scots, along with three other girls of similar age and of a similar standing in Scots society. They were famously known as "The Four Marys": she and Mary Beaton, Mary Fleming and Mary Livingston. The Four Marys accompanied Queen Mary in France, where she later married the Dauphin, Francis II of France. Mary Seton was the only one of the four not to marry, and continued in service with Mary, in Scotland and during her captivity in England.
When Queen Mary returned to Scotland, after her ceremonial entry at Edinburgh in September 1561, she went to Linlithgow Palace, while the four Marys, accompanied by the Queen's uncle, the Grand Prior of Malta, François de Lorraine (1534-1563), went to the house of Mary Seton's brother George Seton, 7th Lord Seton, Seton Palace, for dinner.
After their defeat by the Confederate lords at the battle of Carberry Hill on 15 June 1567, Mary Seton accompanied the captive queen back to Edinburgh. Seton assisted the queen's escape from the island fortress of Lochleven Castle by standing at a window dressed in the queen's clothes while she fled to the mainland in a small boat. The Queen came to England following the battle of Langside.
After the Queen's escape, Mary Seton was allowed to leave Lochleven and joined Mary's household in England. Her role and talent as the Queen's hairdresser were described in detail by Sir Francis Knollys, Queen Mary's keeper at Carlisle Castle, in his letter to William Cecil of 28 June 1568. Mary had told Knollys that Mary Seton was the finest 'busker' of a woman's head and hair in any country. Knollys wrote that;
"Yesterday, and this daye she dyd sett sotche a curled heare uppon the Queen, that was said to be a perewyke that showed very delycately: and every other day lightly ... (word lost) she hathe a newe devyce of head dressyng, withowte any coste, and yett setteth forthe a woman gaylye well."
At first Mary Seton was given a room to herself with two beds, one for her maid or 'gentlewoman' Janet Spittell. She also had a manservant called John Dumfries. In March 1569 the Earl of Shrewsbury noted that Queen Mary would sit and sew in his wife Bess of Hardwick's chamber at Tutbury Castle accompanied by Mary Seton and Lady Livingston. Mary Seton formed a relationship with Christopher Norton, and seems to have plotted for Mary's escape. Norton was executed for his part in the Northern Rebellion.
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Mary Seton
Mary Seton (1542–1615) was a Scottish courtier and later a nun. She was one of the four attendants of Mary, Queen of Scots, known as the Four Marys. She was a sister at the Convent of Saint Pierre les Dames in Reims at the time of her death.
Mary Seton was the daughter of George Seton, 6th Lord Seton, and his second wife Marie Pieris or Pierres, a daughter of René Pierres, of Plessis Baudouin, and Antoinette d'Hommes. Marie Pierres was a lady-in-waiting to Mary of Guise, the wife of King James V of Scotland. The French Pierres family claimed to have descended from the Percy family of Northumberland.
As a child, Mary Seton became a lady-in-waiting to the young Mary, Queen of Scots, along with three other girls of similar age and of a similar standing in Scots society. They were famously known as "The Four Marys": she and Mary Beaton, Mary Fleming and Mary Livingston. The Four Marys accompanied Queen Mary in France, where she later married the Dauphin, Francis II of France. Mary Seton was the only one of the four not to marry, and continued in service with Mary, in Scotland and during her captivity in England.
When Queen Mary returned to Scotland, after her ceremonial entry at Edinburgh in September 1561, she went to Linlithgow Palace, while the four Marys, accompanied by the Queen's uncle, the Grand Prior of Malta, François de Lorraine (1534-1563), went to the house of Mary Seton's brother George Seton, 7th Lord Seton, Seton Palace, for dinner.
After their defeat by the Confederate lords at the battle of Carberry Hill on 15 June 1567, Mary Seton accompanied the captive queen back to Edinburgh. Seton assisted the queen's escape from the island fortress of Lochleven Castle by standing at a window dressed in the queen's clothes while she fled to the mainland in a small boat. The Queen came to England following the battle of Langside.
After the Queen's escape, Mary Seton was allowed to leave Lochleven and joined Mary's household in England. Her role and talent as the Queen's hairdresser were described in detail by Sir Francis Knollys, Queen Mary's keeper at Carlisle Castle, in his letter to William Cecil of 28 June 1568. Mary had told Knollys that Mary Seton was the finest 'busker' of a woman's head and hair in any country. Knollys wrote that;
"Yesterday, and this daye she dyd sett sotche a curled heare uppon the Queen, that was said to be a perewyke that showed very delycately: and every other day lightly ... (word lost) she hathe a newe devyce of head dressyng, withowte any coste, and yett setteth forthe a woman gaylye well."
At first Mary Seton was given a room to herself with two beds, one for her maid or 'gentlewoman' Janet Spittell. She also had a manservant called John Dumfries. In March 1569 the Earl of Shrewsbury noted that Queen Mary would sit and sew in his wife Bess of Hardwick's chamber at Tutbury Castle accompanied by Mary Seton and Lady Livingston. Mary Seton formed a relationship with Christopher Norton, and seems to have plotted for Mary's escape. Norton was executed for his part in the Northern Rebellion.