[MR] Arms of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, especially fellow Scots,

On this day in 1515, Margaret Douglas was born. She was the daughter of
Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus and Margaret Tudor (former Queen
Consort of James IV, King of Scots, and daughter of English King Henry VII,
thus sister of Henry VIII). Margaret Douglas was also the mother of Henry
Stewart, Lord Darnley, the irritating and dipsomaniacal husband of Mary
Queen of Scots (and Mary's aunt as well, suggesting some genetic
inbreeding). Quite a pedigree, and a fascinating and powerful woman.

If you would like to know more about this remarkable lady, a biography page
with illustrations can be seen at
https://www.douglashistory.co.uk/history/margaretlennox.htm . More about
Margaret Douglas is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Douglas .

What I want to comment upon is Margaret's arms:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Douglas#/media/File:Arms_of_Margaret_Douglas,_Countess_of_Lennox.svg
 .

Her full blazon reads thus (translated from a French source):  Party: on 1:
quarterly, in 1: azure, three fleurs-de-lys or within a bordure gules
charged with eight loops (Aubigny), 2nd and 3rd, Or, a chequy of fess
argent and azure within a bordure engrailed gules (Stewart of Darnley)
overall of an inescutcheon argent, a saltire between four roses gules
(Lennox) on party 2: quarterly, 1st azure, a lion rampant argent crowned or
(Galloway), 2nd, r, a lion gules surmounted by a bendlet sable (Abernethy),
3rd, or, five piles point gules (Brechin), 4th, or, a fess chequy argent
and azure, overall on a bend Gules, three loops Or (Stewart of Bonkyl),
overall an inescutcheon, Argent, a man heart Gules, and on a chief Azure,
three mullets of the field (Douglas).

The Wikipedia version is mercifully truncated and doesn't include the full
heraldic description of the image's right side (bearer's left) with the two
lions rampant.

But Margaret's arms tell us something about what English/Scottish heraldry
had become by the 16th century: rather than being devices for quick
recognition on the battlefield, heraldry had turned into a bewildering
collection of bits and pieces representing both the bearer's genealogy and
their various titles. My sympathies to any herald who had to announce the
Countess through her blazon. What a mess!

Thank goodness SCA heraldry is kept simple. I tip my *chapeau à bec* to our
heralds!

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Gules, a duck contourny and on a chief argent three pheons inverted gules.
Continuing a crusade to keep Merry Rose relevant and in business.