STEWART, Margaret co-heiress, Countess of Angus and Mar ^{1 2}

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  General Notes:

"Margaret Stewart and her sister Elizabeth enjoyed the Angus estates in common until February 1379, when Elizabeth surrendered to her elder sister all her rights as co-heir of their father, an arrangement confirmed by King Robert II. A month before, in a charter by her to her half-brother, John Sinclair of Herdmanston, Margaret describes herself as Countess of Mar and daughter of the late Thomas Stewart, Earl of Angus, but after the arrangement with her sister she took the title of Countess of Angus and Mar."

from Scots Peerage (vol 1) ²

Margaret married Thomas Earl of Mar, son of Donald Earl of Mar, Regent of Scotland and Isabel STEWART.¹ (Thomas Earl of Mar was born about 1330 and died by 21 June 1374 ^{1 3}.)

  Marriage Notes:

"The Earl (of Mar) married, first .... Margaret, daughter of Sir John Graham, Earl of Menteith, and Mary, Countess of Menteith, but because he had no issue by her .... divorced her, and married, secondly, Margaret Stewart, the elder daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Stewart, Earl of Angus, by whom also he had no issue."

from Scots Peerage (vol 5) ¹

Margaret next married William DOUGLAS Earl of Douglas, 'Earl of Mar', jure uxoris, son of Sir Archibald DOUGLAS Regent of Scotland and Beatrice LINDSAY.² (William DOUGLAS Earl of Douglas, 'Earl of Mar', jure uxoris was born about 1320, died in May 1384 in Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland ⁴ and was buried in 1384 in Melrose Abbey, Roxburghshire, Scotland ⁴.)

  Marriage Notes:

"In 1374 Douglas is found styling himself Earl of Douglas and Mar, as he had obtained the latter title after the death of his brother-in-law Thomas, thirteenth Earl of Mar. The latter's sister, Margaret of Mar, Countess of Douglas, became in 1374 Countess of Mar in her own right, and the Earl of Douglas entered into possession of her estates, and also of the title of Mar. There is no doubt he held and used the double title to the end of his life, but by what tenure he held the title is doubtful, some stating that it was by the courtesy of Scotland, and others that he was created Earl of Mar. There are arguments on both sides, but they need not be discussed here, as they have already been stated and decided upon in the House of Lords. All that need be noted here is that Thomas, thirteenth Earl of Mar, died sometime between 22 October 1373, when he had a safeconduct to go to England, and 21 June 1374, when the Earl of Douglas, in writing to the monks of Melrose, styles himself also Earl of Mar. A later date has been assigned to Mar's death, but these dates seem to fix it about 1374." (page 152)

"Hume of Godscroft and others have assigned three wives to this Earl of Douglas: first, Margaret, or Agnes, Dunbar, who is said to be the mother of James, second Earl of Douglas, and of Archibald Douglas, Lord of Galloway ; second, Margaret of Mar ; and third, Margaret Stewart, Countess of Mar and Angus. But his only wife was Margaret of Mar, daughter of Donald, and sister of Thomas, Earl of Mar. Douglas and she were married, so far as can be ascertained, in 1357, and she survived him, marrying, as her second husband, before July 1388, Sir John Swinton of Swinton, and dying in 1390. By her the Earl had issue only one son" (page 153)

from Scots Peerage (vol 3) ²