Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven

Coat of arms of Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven

Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven († 1551 ) was a Scottish nobleman and military man.

He came from a branch of the Stewart family . He was the second son of Andrew Stewart, 1st Lord Avondale from his marriage to Margaret Kennedy, daughter of John Kennedy, 2nd Lord Kennedy .

On September 10, 1524 he was awarded the office of Principal Master of the Royal Artillery .

With his first wife, known as The Lady Leslie , he had an unknown son who died in 1547.

After the death of his first wife, he entered into a relationship with Margaret Tudor (1489–1541). She was a daughter of King Henry VII of England , widow of King Jacob IV of Scotland , mother of the underage King Jacob V of Scotland and had in the dispute over the guardianship of Jacob V in 1527 from her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6. Earl of Angus , get divorced. On March 3, 1528, Henry and Margaret were married. With her he had a daughter, Dorothea Stewart, who died in infancy. Since the marriage took place without formal royal permission, the Earl of Angus, as guardian of James V, had the couple besieged at Stirling Castle by an army under John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine , and Henry imprisoned. A little later, the young Jacob V managed to flee to his mother and take over power himself. Henry was released and on July 17, 1528 the young king made him Lord Methven . His wife's possessions, which Henry now managed, included Stirling Castle, Methven Castle , Doune Castle , Linlithgow Palace and Newark Castle .

After Margaret's death, by 1544 at the latest, he married Lady Janet Stewart, daughter of John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Atholl , widow of Alexander Gordon, Master of Sutherland , and Sir Hew Kennedy of Girvan Mains. With her he had a son and heir and four daughters:

• Henry Stewart, 2nd Lord Methven († 1572);
• Janet Stewart ⚭ 1551 Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll ;
• Jean Stewart ⚭ 1560 Patrick Wood of Bonnytoun;
• Margaret Stewart, ⚭ (1) Andrew Stuart, Master of Ochiltree, son of the 2nd Lord Stewart of Ochiltree ⚭ (2) Uchtred Macdowall of Garthland († 1593);
• Dorothea Stewart ⚭ 1561 William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie .

In 1545 he was admitted to the Scottish Privy Council and in 1546 he was lay judge at the Court of Session .

In 1547 he fought in the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh and commanded the Scottish artillery at the siege of Haddington (1548).

He was last documented on October 10, 1551 and probably died a little later.

Web links

• Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven on thepeerage.com
• Methven, Lord (S, 1528-1580) at Cracroft's Peerage

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Lord Methven 1528-1551	Henry Stewart