Marie Maitland facts for kids

Marie Maitland (c. 1550 – 1596) was a Scottish writer and poet, a member of the Maitland family of Thirlestane Castle, and later Lady Haltoun. Her first name is sometimes written as "Mary".

Poetry overview

Two pages of the Maitland Quarto Manuscript transcribed by Marie. The original is in the Pepys Library in Cambridge.

She was the transcriber of the Maitland Quarto manuscript (1586) as well as a poet in her own right. The Maitland Quarto contains explicitly lesbian poetry penned by Marie, which is among the earliest Sapphic poetry in any language in Europe since the time of Sappho herself. The Maitland Quarto is a significant primary source of Scottish and world LGBT history. Together with the Maitland Folio manuscript, the Maitland Quarto is one of the Maitland Manuscripts, which are important sources for Scots literature of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. She recorded and preserved her father's extensive writings as his sight became increasingly poor, eventually resulting in his blindness.

Early life

Marie Maitland was the daughter of Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington and Thirlestane (1496–1586) and Mariotta (or Margaret) Cranstoun (died 1586), the daughter of Sir Thomas Cranstoun of Corsbie, Berwickshire, Scotland.

Marie had three brothers and three sisters. Her eldest brother, William Maitland of Lethington (died 1573), was Secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots. Her second eldest brother was John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane (1543-1595), Lord Chancellor of Scotland.

The Maitland Manuscripts

The Maitland folio and quarto manuscripts are anthologies of poems compiled and authored by the Maitland family. The manuscripts are written in Italic and Secretary hands. John Pinkerton was the first to suggest that Marie Maitland was the scribe. Her name appears twice on the titlepage of the quarto manuscript. Some poems within the Maitland Quarto are written by her while others name her or are dedicated to her. These lines, in the Scots language, come from the end of Poem 49, which was almost certainly written by Marie.

In 2021, Scottish researcher and writer Ashley Douglas and the educational charity Time for Inclusive Education developed secondary school lesson plans about the poetry of Marie Maitland and the Scotland in which she lived and wrote, which formed part of the world-first launch of LGBT inclusive education in Scotland. They also commissioned an imagined modern portrait of Marie Maitland, which is currently on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Family and relationships

In 1586, Marie married Alexander Lauder of "Haltoun", or "Hatton", (buried in Holyrood Abbey 14 November 1627), Sheriff Principal of Edinburgh. Haltoun is an estate near Kirkliston. Alexander Lauder was a son of William Lauder (died 1596) and Jean Cockburn (died 1600). Jean Cockburn's aunt, Elizabeth Douglas, Lady Temple Hall, was a poet, working in the same circle of East Lothian poets. She would not have been known as "Marie Lauder" after her marriage, because women in early modern Scotland did not usually adopt their husband's surnames.

Alexander Lauder with his younger brother got into trouble in 1596. They threatened Alexander McGill, the Provost of Corstorphine "under colour of friendship" because they wanted him to sign a contract.

Marie Maitland, Lady Haltoun's children included:

• Alexander Lauder younger of Hatton (died 1623), who married Susannah Cunningham, a daughter of the Earl of Glencairn
• Richard Lauder of Hatton (1589-1675), his younger daughter Elizabeth married Charles Maitland, later Earl of Lauderdale.
• Jane Lauder, who married (1) Alexander Hay of Smithfield, (2) Bryce Sempill of Boghauche and Cathcart
• Helen Lauder (died 1620), who married Thomas Young of Leny, a lawyer.

Marie Maitland died in June 1596. Soon after, Alexander Lauder married Annabella Bellenden, a sister of the lawyer, Lewis or Ludovick Bellenden of Auchnoule, and sister-in-law of the courtier Margaret Livingstone, Countess of Orkney. Annabella would be a stepmother for their young children.

George Lauder, a son of Alexander Lauder and Annabella Bellenden, was a soldier. He was a friend of William Drummond of Hawthornden and gained a considerable reputation as a poet.