Elizabeth Gordon, Heiress of Gordon

Elizabeth Gordon, Heiress of Gordon († 1439), Scottish baroness and progenitress of the Gordon Earls and Marquesses of Huntly.

Elizabeth Gordon, Baroness Gordon
Died16 March 1439
Huntly Castle, Strathbogie, Aberdeenshire
Noble familyClan Gordon
Spouse(s)Alexander Seton, Lord Gordon, j.u.
FatherAdam de Gordon, Lord Gordon
MotherElizabeth Keith

Life

Elizabeth Gordon was the daughter of Adam de Gordon, Lord of Gordon[lower-alpha 1] and Elizabeth Keith, daughter of William Keith, Marischal of Scotland.[1]

Elizabeth, underage at the time of her father's death, was a ward of Walter Haliburton of Dirleton. Sir William Seton purchased her wardship on 7 March 1408 for a liferent of 50 merks from the barony of Tranent. Sir William betrothed her to his eldest son Sir John Seton but he declined preferring a daughter of the Earl of March; Elizabeth was then married to his younger brother, Alexander Seton, who in 1406 was a prisoner along with the future king James I of Scotland.[2]

Huntly Castle, originally called Strathbogie, erected by Sir Adam de Gordon, Lord of Gordon, Elizabeth's father.

Elizabeth and Alexander wed in 1408.[3] He acquired through his marriage to Elizabeth Gordon the lands of Gordon and Huntly, confirmed to them on 20 July 1408.[3] This was according to custom of the time that Elizabeth Gordon, of her own free will, resigned her lands before Parliament at Perth and she and the Regent Albany issued a new charter of "All and whole of the lands and baronies of Gordon and Huntly lying within the sheriffdom of Berwick; the lands of Fogo and Faunes with their pertinents; the lands of Strathbogie and Beldygordon with the pertinents in Aberdeenshire; to be held by the said Alexander and Elizabeth and their heirs lawfully procreated; whom failing the true and lawful heirs of the said Elizabeth whomsoever; rendering the services used and wont."[2]

Three years later, Alexander fought at the Battle of Harlaw and was knighted before 1419.[4] In 1421–2 he traveled to France and visited King James of Scotland. Alexander Seton was one of those who negotiated for the release of the Scottish monarch and was a hostage for his king, but was released after a year in England to return to his family in Scotland.[4] In that same year Alexander and Elizabeth were granted a charter for half the lands of Culclarochy and part of Gerry in the barony of Drumblade.[5] About 1436 Alexander was created a Lord of Parliament as Alexander Seton, Lord Gordon.[4]

In 1428, Alexander and Elizabeth were granted a dispensation from the pope long after their marriage when it was determined they were within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity; the dispensation stating that Alexander Seton had contracted marriage with Elizabeth, the heiress of Gordon, "per verba de presenti publici, juxta morem patriae" (Latin: publicly in accordance with all customs of the time).[2] Elizabeth died at Strathbogie on 16 March 1439 while Alexander died in 1440–41.[6] Elizabeth was buried at St. Nicholas Church in Aberdeen.[7]

Family

The children of Alexander Seton and Elizabeth Gordon were:

Notes
  1. The Gordons were originally from Normandy, the founder of the family coming to Scotland in the twelfth century, probably in the train of David I of Scotland, and received a grant of the lands of Gordon in Berkshire. See: Robert Seton, An old family: or, The Setons of Scotland and America (New York: Brentano's, 1899), pp. 49-50.

References
  1. George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage; or, a History of the House of Lords and all its members from the earliest times, Vol. VI, eds. H. A. Doubleday & Howard de Walden (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1926), pp. 1, 2, 675
  2. The records of Aboyne MCCXXX-MDCLXXXI, ed. Charles Gordon Huntly (Aberdeen: The New Spalding Club, 1894), p. 372
  3. George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage; or, a History of the House of Lords and all its members from the earliest times, Vol. VI, eds. H. A. Doubleday & Howard de Walden (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1926), p. 1
  4. The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, ed. James Balfour Paul, Vol. IV (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1907), p. 519
  5. John Malcolm Bulloch, The House of Gordon, Vol. 1, (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, Ltd., 1903), p. 121
  6. George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage; or, a History of the House of Lords and all its members from the earliest times, Vol. VI, eds. H. A. Doubleday & Howard de Walden (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1926), pp. 2, 43
  7. The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, ed. James Balfour Paul, Vol. IV (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1907), p. 521
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