Henry Stewart
Arms of Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven.
Born	c. 1495
Died	c. 1552
Title	1st Lord Methven
Spouses	Margaret Tudor Janet Stewart
Parent(s)	Andrew Stewart, 1st Lord Avondale Margaret Kennedy

Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven (c. 1495 – 1552) was Master of the Scottish Artillery and third, and last husband, ofMargaret Tudor, eldest daughter ofHenry VII of England andElizabeth of York.^[1]

He was a son ofAndrew Stewart, 1st Lord Avondale, and his wife Margaret Kennedy. His brother wasAndrew Stewart, 1st Lord Ochiltree. Henry was a fifth-generation male-line descendant ofMurdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany, through his son Walter. He was thus a fourth cousin, twice removed ofJames IV of Scotland, first husband ofMargaret Tudor.

His friendship with Margaret Tudor, the queen mother, was first noted in September 1524, and he was appointed master carver to James V, directory of Chancery, and Master of Artillery.^[2] In January 1525, when Margaret Tudor was ill, he threatened the secretary of theDuke of Albany, offering to throw him down the stairs to her apartments atEdinburgh Castle.^[3]

Henry and Margaret Tudor were married on 3 March 1528, after Margaret's long-sought divorce from her second husband,Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, was finally granted in March 1527 byPope Clement VII. Margaret was already the mother ofJames V of Scotland, with her first husband,James IV, andMargaret Douglas, with Angus. They had no issue surviving most records, which were destroyed by order of James VI.^[4] Reaction to the marriage was swift: Margaret and Henry were besieged atStirling Castle byLord Erskine, with the support of James V and her former husband, the Earl of Angus. Henry was imprisoned.

However, after James V escaped from the care of the Douglas family and joined his mother atStirling Castle,^[5] Henry was created Lord Methven. Margaret made him captain of hercastle of Newark inEttrick.^[6] In 1539, Henry and Margaret let their coalfield at Skeoch to John Craigyngelt. As rent he would supply 100 loads to Margaret's lodging at Stirling Castle.^[7]

Henry was discovered to have been keeping a mistress in one of Margaret's castles. Margaret Tudor wished to divorce him but James V was reluctant to allow it.^[8] After she died in 1541, Methven was able to marry his mistress,Janet Stewart, daughter ofJohn Stewart, 2nd Earl of Atholl and Lady Janet Campbell. Her maternal grandparents wereArchibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll and Elizabeth Stewart. Elizabeth was a daughter ofJohn Stewart, 1st Earl of Lennox and Margaret Montgomerie. Margaret was a daughter ofAlexander Montgomerie, 1st Lord Montgomerie and Margaret Boyd.

Henry and Janet were parents to four children:

• Henry Stewart, 2nd Lord Methven (d. 3 March 1572).
• Dorothea Stewart, who marriedWilliam Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie.
• Joan Stewart. MarriedColin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll.
• Margaret Stewart. Married (1st) Andrew Stuart, Master of Ochiltree, eldest son ofAndrew Stewart, 2nd Lord Ochiltree (who was her paternal cousin); (2nd) Uchtred Macdowall of Garthland

On 10 September 1524, Methven was made Principal Master of the Royal Artillery, ("Magnalium nostrorum seu machinarum bellicarum, videlicet: artailzery"), 25 years later he would direct the Scottish artillery at theSiege of Haddington.^[7]

During the war of theRough Wooing, Methven wrote to queenMary of Guise, the widow of James V, on 31 December 1547 to discuss the use of artillery in the war. He said thatRegent Arran had been advised that the modest ("sober") Scottish artillery used at theSiege of St Andrews Castle could have taken the castle, and the later prolonged and expensive siege, after Arran had departed, had harmed public opinion. Similarly, a recent ineffective show of artillery atBroughty Castle had only warned the English to get more support and re-fortify. Now, to take Broughty from the English, more cannon needed to be supplied. Methven asked for French captains with intelligence of the field, and intelligence to assiege and order artillery to the best effect.^[9]

The historianMarcus Merriman connected Methven's letter with the employment of an Italian military engineerMigliorino Ubaldini who directed the construction of new fortifications atEdinburgh Castle.^[10]

Methven wrote to Mary of Guise again on 3 June 1548 with more strategic advice. He said that he had friends all over Scotland and had been diligent in acquiring intelligence of the motives of those Scots who favoured the English. He found four principal motives; religion, fear, regard for a belief in prophecy, and the ignorant conceit that English justice and rule might be better. He advised her that there were so many dissidents that the unity of Scotland would be best served by offering an act of remission, a general pardon, rather than punishment, as her husband James V had done for rebels during his minority, (on 10 December 1540). Methven thought the defeat atPinkie, which he called the "jeornay of Penke", was due to these causes, and the unorderly haste of the Scottish army.^[11]

He added that he heard it was already widely known inPerth by the end of May that the Scottish artillery at the siege of Broughty Castle would be moved to theSiege of Haddington. The citizens of Perth hoped a French army would come to protect them from Broughty's English garrison. Methven had issued the guns at Broughty to theEarl of Argyll. Methven starting moving the guns on 6 June. As an example to the locallairds who were obliged to do this work, he yoked 240 oxen and began to drag the guns through his andLord Ruthven's lands. At Haddington, he reported on 5 July; "all nycht all our greit artallzery lawborit and has dong the tolbutht and reft an pece that lay betuix it and the kirk of the Freyris." But on 17 July, the French officerD'Essé ordered the guns to be withdrawn. As English reinforcement approached Methven took the Scottish and French guns to Edinburgh and Leith, and ordered their repair.^[11]

• Buchanan, Patricia Hill (1985).Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots. Scottish Academic Press.ISBN 9780707304243.
• HMC 9th report and appendix, Lord Elphinstone (London, 1884), 191.
• Cameron, Annie (1927).The Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine. Scottish History Society.

• House of Stuart
• 1490s births
• 1552 deaths
• Court of James V
• Scottish people of the Rough Wooing
• Scottish soldiers
• 16th-century soldiers
• Peers created by James V
• Younger sons of barons
• Husbands of Margaret Tudor

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