Richard Maitland

Richard Maitland, Lord Lethington ( 1496 - August 1, 1586 ) was a Scottish statesman , historian and poet during the Renaissance .

Life

Maitland was the eldest son of Sir William Maitland, who died with King James IV in 1513 at the Battle of Flodden Field . He was educated in St Andrews and Paris and served under King James V. He was knighted and in 1515 heir to the feudal baronies Lethington in East Lothian and Thirlestane in Berwickshire . As part of Rough Wooing , his castle at Lethington was burned down by an English army in 1549 . In 1559 he was one of the diplomats who negotiated the Upsettlington Peace Treaty with the English.

Under Queen Maria Stuart he became Ordinary Lord of Session (Judge of the Court of Session ) in 1561 , received the title of Lord Lethington as Scottish Law Lord for life and was admitted to the Scottish Privy Council . He also held the state offices of the Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland and the Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland . Although he went blind around 1561, he held his offices until 1584.

Maitland wrote satirical and patriotic verses dealing with the arduous conditions in Scotland. However, he is mainly remembered for his collection of early Scottish poems known as the Maitland Folio Manuscript . His daughter later added another anthology to this collection - the “Maitland Quarto Manuscript” .

He married Margaret Cranston († March 1586), daughter of Sir Thomas Cranstoun of Corsbie. With her he had three sons and four daughters:

• William Maitland of Lethington (c. 1525–1573), Scottish Foreign Secretary , ⚭ (1) Janet Menteith, ⚭ (2) 1567 Mary Fleming, daughter of Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming ;
• John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland , of Thirlestane (around 1545–1595), Scottish Minister of Justice , ⚭ 1583 Jean Fleming, daughter of James Fleming, 4th Lord Fleming ;
• Thomas Maitland (around 1550–1572);
• Helen Maitland ⚭ Sir John Cockburn of Clerkington;
• Margaret Maitland ⚭ William Douglas of Whittinghame;
• Mary Maitland († 1596) ⚭ 1586 Sir Alexander Lauder of Hatton;
• Isabel Maitland ⚭ Sir James Heriot of Traboun.

literature

• Thomas Finlayson Henderson:  Maitland, Richard (1496–1586) . In: Sidney Lee (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 35:  MacCarwell - Maltby. MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London 1893, pp 368 - 370 (English).

Web links

• Sir Richard Maitland, Lord Lethington on thepeerage.com
• The practiques of Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington