1. When were the Boyds over thrown in 1469? Most of the Boyds know that in 1469 that Lord Boyd, Robert Boyd, was overthrown as the Sole Regent of Scotland and his eldest surviving son, Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran, fled Scotland with his wife, Prince Mary Stewart, back to Denmark. However, the date of these events in 1469 does not seem to be known. In Boyd history it is said that the Earl of Arran brought the Princes Margaret of Denmark, to be married to King James III, in 1469. In the publication The Chiefs of Colquhoun and Their Country, by William Fraser, 1869, page 39 says – ”According to the ordinance of Parliament, Andrew Muirhead, Bishop of Glasgow; William Tulloch, Bishop of Orkney; Andrew Lord Evandale; Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran; and Mr Marin Vans Grand Almoner and Confessor to the King, were sent to ambassadors to the Court of Denmark to negotiate a marriage between King James the Third And the Princess Margaret, the only daughter of Christian the First, King of Denmark and Norway. This they had the good fortune to bring to a successful termination. The youthful bride laned in Scotland on 6th July 1468, accompanied by a brilliant train of Lords and ladies, and the marriage was celebrated with much pomp and solemnity on the 10th of that month, in the Abbey Church of Holyrood House.” This date of marriage of 1468 is not consistent with other data. In the book Kings & Queens of England & Scotland, by Allen Andrews, 1994, page 126, it says – “Married [King James III] in Holyrood House on July 13, 1469 when he was 18 and she was 12, Margaret, daughter of King Christian I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. She died in 1486.” I am not quite sure why such a noted author as William Fraser, would have made such a mistake over the year and said the King married in 1468 and not in 1469. Although many Scottish historians say that Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran, had “forced”, Princess Mary Stewart too marry him in 1467, when his father was the Sole Regent of Scotland. It is assumed that this date of marriage was 26 April 1469, when they had four Charters for land in various parts of Scotland, granted to both of them? Andrews does not say when she was born, but as Princess Mary was said to older than her brother King James, III, I can only assume it was before 10 July 1451, when he was born – most likely in about 1450, as their father was married on 3 July 1449. Thus, making her about 17 years old and Thomas Boyd in his early twenties. Many Boyd’s will know the story that when Thomas Boyd returned to Scotland with Princess Margaret of Denmark, that she had come to Leith to warn him that if he came ashore, that the King would arrest him and execute him for treason, like his uncle, Sir Alexander Boyd. But they did not know the date of this arrival in 1469. However, The Scots Peerage Founded on Wood's edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom, ed Sir James Balfour Paul, Volume V, 1908, pp 141-142, says:- "2. Sir Alexander Boyd of Drumcol, 'a mirror of chivalry.' He was apparently knighted between Martinmas 1448-1449, and certainly before the later date. (Exch. Rolls, v. 329, 356) He had a grant of the wardships of half Simonstoun and Bernvile, 1456, (Exch. Rolls, vi. 178) and the same year was appointed Warden of Thrieve Castle on it's surrender to the King, (Ibid., 208.) but was shortly afterwards removed to Dumbarton Castle. (Ibid., 209) He was appointed by James III. one of the envoys to treat with the English ambassador 11 April 1464, Cal. of Documents relating to Scotland, iv 1341) and concluded a fifteen years truce at York, January 1464-65. (Acta Parl. Scot., suppl. 30) He occurs as a witness 10 February and 24 March 1465, (Fraser's Chiefs of Colquhoun, ii. 294-295) and 28 November following was again one of the Scottish envoys appointed to meet the English ambassador at Newcastle on 4 December. (Cal. Doc. Scot., iv 1362; Acta. Parl. Scot., suppl. 30.) In 1466 he was appointed to superintend the knightly exercises of the young King. On the downfall of his brother he remained in Scotland, being ill, appeared before Parliament to answer the charges made against him, and was attainted, (Acta Parl. Scot., ii; 186 Boyd papers, etc.) and executed on the Castle Hill at Edinburgh 22 November 1469. (Pinkerton, ii. 258) He married Janet Kennedy, who as his widow had an annuity of 20 pound allowed her, 1471. (Exch. Rolls, viii. 53) She would appear to have died the same year, as there are no further payments to her. They had issue:-" That he [Sir Alexander Boyd, brother of Lord Boyd] was executed on 22 November 1469. This outline of him in Burke’s Peerage, does not say when Sir Alexander Boyd trial was held, but in those days in Scotland, you were executed quite quickly after the trail finished (and without any appeal, etc), so I assume that this trail took place in early or mid-November 1469. Thus, meaning that Lord Boyd was removed as the Sole Regent in November 1469 or late October 1469. But I have yet to find any specific date in 1469 when this removal of Lord Boyd took place. However, the date of Thomas Boyd’s arrival – on 6 July 1469 - with date of the execution of Sir Alexander Boyd on 22 November 1469 are not consistent with fact that Lord Boyd was overthrown by the Scottish Lords in late October or early November 1469. So, is the story that Princess Mary warned her husband – Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran – to flee Scotland before his father was overthrown in late 1469 true? Or was he on some later trip and arrived back in Scotland in late 1469? As the story goes, Princess Mary, is said to have returned to Denmark with Thomas Boyd and had two children by him – a boy and a girl – in Europe. The fact that she warned her husband that he was about to be executed and then having two children by him, does not sound like someone whom was forced to marry. Although, as a Royal Princess, she would have known that she would have had little choice in picking her own husband and in 1467, she may not have been pleased at having been married off to Thomas Boyd. While her marriage may have been “forced”, I can only assume, from these actions, that she grown to love her husband by spending some five years in exile from Scotland, rather than returning home. In 1484, their son, James Boyd, now 2nd Lord Boyd and only 15 or 16 years old, was killed by the Montgomeries and others at Irvine, Ayrshire, so that he could not become King of Scotland, if King James III’s children had died. However, that did not stop Hamilton’s, from Princes Mary’s second marriage, from claiming this right for many years. These two dates of 6 July 1469 and 22 November 1469, make the story that Thomas Boyd had fled Scotland after he had brought Princess Margaret of Denmark to be Scotland unlikely. However, he may have been on another trip and was returning later in 1469, when she warned of his execution. I trust that I have been able to point out the incognisance in these two Boyd stories of 1469 and that this will allow others to search for data on when Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran and Princess Mary Stewart left Scotland to go to Denmark. And that this story can be further be developed on the new CLANBOYD-HOB.groups.io net list, so that these two Boyd stories of 1469, can be put into their correct prospective and our Boyd history Thank you for your future assistance to this quest and I look forward to anyone’s finding additional facts on these two stories. Mike Boyd Brisbane, Aust. (A Boyd researcher of 40 years) ([email protected])