Jean Stewart, Lady Bargany
[4] The incident came to be regarded as a conflict between the gentlemen of the king's household known as 'cubiculars' and the financial officers called the 'Octavians' who were unpopular with some, and thought to be led by Roman Catholic interests.
[5] As the two chronicles mention, after this disturbance Lord Lindsay of the Byres' property was forfeit, and the old Laird Bargany was punished by a marriage for his son Gilbert that was to "the wreck of his house".
Years later, in 1615 the loan for dowry or "tochter" money was still not paid, and their son claimed the sum from John Stewart of Traquair and his legal tutor Robert Stuart.
In April 1615 the Privy Council of Scotland wrote to King James that Traquair ought not to be liable because Sir William had been following the queen's direction "whose commandment was ever unto him a law".
In May, Anne of Denmark asked her lady-in-waiting Jean Ker, Countess of Roxburghe to write to her husband to intercede with King James to the same effect, to pay what Traquair owed for the dowry.
[9] Among sonnets possibly by the poet William Fowler in the Hawthornden manuscripts held by the National Library of Scotland,[10] one is dedicated to a "Jean Stewart".
The subject of the poem, identified by an anagram "A trustie ane" for "Jean Stuart", is a woman blessed with a "dowry deck'd".
[11] The sonnet is given here below with a suggested modernised version by Jamie Reid-Baxter: Lyke as the heavens with dowries hathe you dect Aboue the com̄on course of humaine race, As nature hath you clad in eche respect With bewtye, bounty, witt, & comly grace, As all the Gods ther vertues in you place, What heaven what earth or man may you devyse, As loue himself is painted in your face To hurt & heale with Archers of your eyes, As chastety close hidden in you lyes, As al your graces euerye man dothe muse, As you to serue eche one ther spreit applyes, So wish I you (A trustie ane) to chuse: And, mistris myne, if ye my truthe will trye, Ye shall not fynde a trustier then I.
(modernised) Just as the heavens have bedecked you with dowries Surpassing the general experience of humankind, And nature has clothed you in every way With beauty, generosity, wit and lovely gracefulness, And all the gods have placed their virtues in you, - Whatever heaven, earth or man can devise for you – And love himself is painted in your face, To hurt and heal with the arrows shot from your eyes, And chastity lies deep and hidden in you, And every man wonders at all your graces And each one devotes his spirit to serving you - So by the same token, I wish you to choose 'A trusty one': And mistress mine, if you will try my troth, You will not find anyone trustier than I am.
[16] The Earl claimed in his defence to the Privy Council that Bargany's party that day included men who had been denounced by the king as rebels.
[18] Jean Stewart fell ill from some sort of fever and went to see the queen's physician Martin Schöner at court in London, but he gave her no hope and she died at Stilton in Cambridgeshire on her way back to Scotland on 16 August 1605.
Other household goods listed included "buirdclaith" (tablecloths) of dornick and damask linen, pots, pans, spits and racks.
On 6 October 1619 after her usual morning prayers at Bargany Castle, she was walking in the garden with her psalm book in her hands, and was surprised by her husband's servant Patrick Kennedy, who asked where she had been.
Margaret found her way out of the back door and escaped through the hedge and waded through the deep water of the Girvan, hiding in the woods and reaching the safety of her aunt's house at Dailly the next day.
