Jean Stewart, Lady Bargany (c.1577 – 1605) was a Scottish lady in waiting to Anne of Denmark. She was a younger daughter of Andrew, Master of Ochiltree and Margaret Stewart, Mistress of Ochiltree. Jean was a maiden in the household of Anne of Denmark and her mother was the senior lady in waiting. Her marriage is of special interest to historians
Marriage
Jean Stewart married Gilbert Kennedy of Bargany and Ardstinchar, the third son of Thomas Kennedy of Bargany and Agnes Montgomerie daughter of Hugh Montgomerie, 2nd Earl of Eglinton. Bargany Castle, demolished in the seventeenth century, was on the south side of the Water of Girvan in Dailly parish in Ayrshire.
Two chronicles, possibly by the same author, state that James VI of Scotland arranged this marriage for Kennedy to a bride without a dowry to punish the family because Thomas Kennedy laird of Bargany had taken part in a riot in Edinburgh on 17 November 1596.
The older laird of Bargany had appeared with others in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh and made a religious protest. James VI was in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh with most of the Privy Council and the Octavians. After a sermon given by Walter Balcanquhall in St Giles, the congregation came out crying "the sword of Gideon" and some called for arms. The royal guard escorted James VI back to Holyroodhouse. 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. 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".
A dowry for Jean Stewart
Some details known about the marriage contract and settlement appears to contradict the story found in the chronicles. James VI bought clothes for Jean Stewart and paid for food and musicians at the wedding in Edinburgh in 1597. Anne of Denmark first tried to obtain Lord Lindsay's forfeit as a dowry for her favourite, Jean Stewart. Then she arranged a loan for the dowry, asking Sir William Stewart of Traquair, Jean Stewart's brother-in-law, to be a guarantor. He had protected the king on the day of the riot, and became a cautioner for the money. 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. It was noted that Jean Stewart had been a "gentlewoman married out of the queen's company". 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". The Privy Council noted that the king and queen were also cautioners for the loan and "personallie bound in the contract". In May, Anne of Denmark asked her lady-in-waiting Jean Ker, Countess of Roxburghe to write to her husband to intercede with James to the same effect, to pay what Traquair owed for the dowry.
The Jean Stewart sonnet
Among sonnets possibly by the poet William Fowler in the Hawthornden manuscripts held by the National Library of Scotland, one is dedicated to a "Jean Stewart". The subject of the poem, identified by an anagram "a trustie ane" for "Jean Stuart", is blessed with a "dowry deck'd". This poem may refer to Jean Stewart, Lady Bargany, although Sebastiaan Verweij has suggested another lady was the subject, "Jean Stewart", Jean Campbell, who was a great-granddaughter of King James IV of Scotland, and the second wife the Duke of Lennox. The sonnet is given here below with a suggested modernised version:
Kennedy feud
Thomas Kennedy of Bargany died on 7 November 1597 and Gilbert Kennedy became the laird of Bargany and Ardstinchar. James VI settled the barony of Bargany on Thomas Kennedy and Jean Stewart on 12 August 1597. Jean Stewart continued to be known as "Lady Bargany". They had a son Thomas and two daughters who died young.
Gilbert Kennedy of Bargany was drawn into the long-standing family feud with John Kennedy, 5th Earl of Cassilis. On 3 January 1598, Thomas Kennedy of Culzean, called the Tutor of Cassilis, shot pistols at Bargany's servants Alexander Kennedy and David Mure and others at Maybole and pursuing them the next day at the Place of Auchendrane. The Tutor claimed that Alexander Kennedy had been insinuated into his household, and he had been ambushed in Maybole.