Margaret Fleming, Countess of Atholl

Margaret Fleming, Countess of Atholl (1536-1586) was a Scottish courtier and landowner rumoured to be involved in the occult.

[2][3] Bannatyne was an enemy and political opponent of her husband, the Earl of Atholl, whom he described as an "idolator and depender on witches.

"[4] In October 1570 Mr Archibald Douglas obtained a jewel that had been made for Mary, Queen of Scots as propaganda for the Scottish succession to the English throne.

The jewel was conjectured to have been commissioned by the "witches of Atholl", meaning apparently Margaret Fleming, Countess of Atholl, and her daughters, or her companions at Dunkeld including Mary Fleming and a French lady in waiting, Marie Pyennes, Lady Seton.

[9] The clerk of the Privy Council, Alexander Hay, mentioned the jewel in a letter to Regent Mar in November 1570, after speaking to Thomas Randolph.

A rumour started that they had been poisoned at the request of Annabell Murray, Countess of Mar, her sister-in-law, or Regent Morton.

She mentioned that the Scottish court "changes manners", meaning that at present the young king's advisors did not favour Mary, although James VI had great affection for her and her liberty.

[19] Queen Elizabeth would not allow it, and when she heard Mary was upset at the decision, she wrote to her jailer Amias Paulet with the suggestion that the request for companions was suspicious.