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Guyonne de Breüil

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Guyonne de Breüil was a French lady-in-waiting at the court of Mary, Queen of Scots in France and Scotland.

Family background

She was a daughter of Henri Lyonnet de Breil, seigneur de Paluau and Anne de Baudreuil. In 1527 she married Jean de Beaucaire, sieur de Puyguillon or Puiguillon (1505-1578), in 1527. The Château du Puy-Guillon is at Vernusse in the Auvergne.

Gilbert de Beaucaire, sieur de Puigillon, (her brother or father-in-law), was involved in the negotiations for the marriage of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise in 1538. He was sent to ask Francis I of France to make good his promises of a dowry for Mary of Guise.

In June 1552, the Cardinal of Lorraine sent Jean de Beaucaire, Sieur de Puyguillon, usually known as "Peguillon", to Scotland to address the financial affairs of Mary of Guise. He became one of masters of Mary, Queen of Scots' household, retiring in 1574.

Scottish court

In September 1561 they both came to Scotland with Mary, Queen of Scots.

They returned to France for a visit in August 1562 with their son. Her husband, bringing letters from Mary, was a given a passport to come to London and meet Elizabeth I. They were accompanied by Mademoiselle de Fonte-Pertuis and two more of Mary's gentlewomen. The passport issued at Berwick-upon-Tweed mentions their 14 mounted servants and 12 footmen, and the colours and sizes of their horses and mares, measured in "handfuls".

Their companion, Suzanne Constant, Mademoiselle de Fontpertuis, was one of the queen's maidens, she received bedlinen with the queen's four Maries in 1561, dined with them, and was given the "second dule" mourning clothes. She was given a crimson silk chamlet gown with gold embroidery to take back with her to France in August 1562, probably for her marriage to Jean Hurault, seigneur de Veuil. Her name appears in the treasurer's accounts as "Simpartew" or "Fimpartew".

A menu was drawn up for the royal household in Scotland just before they left, specifying meals and allowances. The document noted that the budget for the table for the queen's gentlwomen could be reduced following the departure of "Pinguillon et Fontpertuis.

Family

Guyonne de Breüil's daughter Marie de Beaucaire (1535-1613), was also a member of Mary's household in France. According to Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, she was a great favourite of Mary and was then known as "Mademoiselle de Villemontays". She married Sébastien, Duke of Penthièvre in 1556, a master of Mary's household. He came to Scotland as a soldier during the siege of Leith in 1560 and was known as "Martigues" from his French title. He returned to Scotland in April 1562 to request that Mary be the godmother of their daughter, Marie (1562-1623). She married Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur in July 1579.

In 1566 Mary, Queen of Scots, made a will leaving some of her jewellery to the daughter of Martigues including a necklace with rubies, diamonds and pearls, a cottoire of pearls, a pearl headdress, and a pearl necklace.

Another daughter of Guyonne de Breüil, Françoise de Beaucaire, married a Spanish aristocrat, Pierre de Salzedo. Another daughter, Maquize de Beaucaire (1533-1609) was a nun and Abbess of Saint Georges, Rennes.

References

  1. Rosalind K. Marshall, Queen Mary's Women: Female Relatives, Servants, Friends and Enemies of Mary, Queen of Scots (Edinburgh, John Donald, 2006), p. 48.
  2. Dana Bentley-Cranch & Rosalind K. Marshall, 'Iconography and Literature', Janet Hadley Williams, Stewart Style, 1513–1542 (Tuckwell, 1996), pp. 286–87.
  3. M. Greengrass, 'Mary, Dowager Queen of France', Innes Review, 38:38 (1987), p. 176.
  4. Annie Cameron, Warrender Papers, vol. (Edinburgh: SHS, 1931), pp. 21-22.
  5. Rosalind K. Marshall, 'Prosoprographical Analysis', Nadine Akkerman & Birgit Houben, The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe (Brill, 2014), pp. 221-2.
  6. Alexander Wilkinson, Mary Queen of Scots and French Public Opinion (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 22.
  7. Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1562 (London, 1867), p. 244 no. 475: TNA SP59/6 f.117.
  8. Sébastien de l' Aubespine, Négociations, lettres et pièces diverses relatives au règne de François II (Paris, 1841), p. 746.
  9. Joseph Robertson, Inventaires de la Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 62, 126-7.
  10. Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1916), pp. xxvi-xxvii, 84.
  11. Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, vol. 4 (New York, 1854), p. 26: Elizabeth Benger, Memoirs of the Life of Mary Queen of Scots, vol. 2 (), pp. 474-9: Thomas Thomson, Menu de la Maison de la Royne, faict par Mons. De Piguillon (Edinburgh, 1824).
  12. Louis Paris, Négociations, lettres et pièces diverses relatives au règne de François II, (Paris, 1841), p. 745.
  13. Joseph Robertson, Inventaires (Edinburgh, 1863), p. xxxvii.
  14. Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 621 no. 1096.
  15. Joseph Robertson, Inventaires (Edinburgh, 1863), p. xxxvii.
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