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Margaret Hepburn of Ardrossan

From EastKingdomWiki

Photo
Margaret Hepburn of Ardrossan.jpg
Margaret at Caid Crown Tourney 2009
Information
Resides: Shire of Caer Adamant

(Camden, DE)

Status: Active
Awards:
This individual may not have an entry in the Order of Precedence, or may not have added their OPID yet. Volunteer editors may add it in the future.
Heraldry
Florydevice.jpg
Ermine a fess cotised flory on the outer edge azure. Registered August 2003 via the Outlands.
Award & Office Badges
Companion of the Order of the Laurel

04/09/05 Laurel (Outlands)
12/21/02 Flower (Outlands)
09/27/97 Harp Argent (Caid, Costuming)
09/13/03 Stag's Heart (Outlands)
11/08/08 Order of the Dophin (Caid)
03/17/90 Award of Arms (Ansteorra)
03/02/08 Ambassador of Courtesy (Starkhafn, Caid)
11/01/00 Popular Company of Sojourners (Drachenwald)

William Blackfox Award Best Special Issue A.S.41An Outlandish History Editor A special edition newsletter commemorating the history of the Kingdom of the Outlands in honor of its 20th anniversary as a Kingdom.
Minister of Arts and Science

Introduction

  • Began playing in the SCA in the fall of 1988 in the Kingdom of Ansteorra.
  • Since then, has lived in Caid, Drachenwald, the Outlands, Caid again and now the East Kingdom.
  • Name registered July of 2001 via Drachenwald.
  • Elevated to the Order of the Laurel 9 April 2005 in the Kingdom of the Outlands for costuming, research and household arts.
  • Margaret's Laurel Patent The work of Ban-Fili Cailte Chatchairn of the Outlands.

Persona

Margaret was born late in the Year of Our Lord 1545 at Nunraw Abbey, near Garvald, East Lothian, Scotland. Her father, Andrew Hepburn, was a lawyer employed by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, well-known for his skill as a scribe. Her mother, Madeleine Guinefort de Joinville, whose family had long been in service to the de Guise household, came to Scotland as a sempstress in the retinue of Her Highness the Queen Consort, Marie de Guise.

Margaret was mostly raised at the Abbey as her parents followed the Court on its travels, the Abbess being a Hepburn cousin. At 12, Margaret was fostered out to the Beaton household near Brechin; Lady Beaton was the former Joanna Grisenoirs, a French-born lady in waiting to Her Highness.

After Her Highness' death in 1560, Edinburgh and its environs were no longer safe for those who were openly Catholic and Andrew sent his wife and daughter to France for a time. Margaret and her mother first travelled to Rheims, France, where Her Highness was buried. They then lived in the household of Marie de Guise's mother Antoinette de Bourbon, wife of the Duke de Guise.

While living in Joinville, Margaret's mother Madeleine attempted to arrange a marriage for her with a French cousin. Desiring that his daughter wed a Scotsman, her father stepped in and instead contracted a marriage for her with a son of the Montgumery family, Simon, who had been studying at Scots College in Paris and was serving as a member of the French King's Scots guard. Simon and Margaret wed in Paris. After the birth of their son, they both desired to once again live in Scotland and left France. They lived briefly in Bruges, where they remarrried in a Protestant service. Scotland was now a Protestant country and they wanted there to be no question of their son's legitimacy. Eventually, they returned to the east coast of Scotland, living in the Ayrshire town of Ardrossan, in the Valley of the Clyde.

In addition to managing the household, Margaret owns several saltpans in nearby Saltcoats and sells her salt, as well as butter and cheese, in Glasgow. She uses some of the money from her business to fund her cookery books and expensive spices, as well as her secret vice - French novels.

In 1580, Simon sued Margaret for divorce due to never receiving a Papal dispensation as they were related in the third degree of consanguinity. As the Reformed Church in Scotland only now recognizes the impediments listed in Leviticus, he petitioned the Roman Catholic Church directly. Rather than fighting the bill of divorcement, Margaret retained a very fine Edinburgh lawyer, Douglas Glendenning, who helped her craft an intricate divorce settlement helping her retain her dowry, all rights to the businesses she created during her time as wife as well as a generous jointure to be administered by her lawyer. Margaret has retained ownership of their home in Ardrossan as part of her divorce settlement. According to Margaret, Simon has settled in France and is running his family's business from there. Her businesses continue to thrive and she has added a local trade in medicinal herbs. Her mekkilwort and foxtrie are particularly prized amongst local housewives.

Offices & Positions

  • Deputy Herald, Shire of Caer Adamant
  • Chronicler, Barony of Starkhafn, Kingdom of Caid
  • Chronicler, Shire of Blackwater Keep, Kingdom of the Outlands
  • Herald, Shire of Blackwater Keep, Kingdom of the Outlands
  • Minister of Arts & Sciences, Kingdom of the Outlands
  • Chronicler, Shire of Flintheath, Kingdom of Drachenwald
  • Minister of Arts and Sciences, Barony of Dun Or, Kingdom of Caid
  • Minister of Arts and Sciences, College of Twr Cath, Barony of the Stargate, Ansteorra

Event Staff

  • Feast Steward, Dun Or Baronial Anniversary, Kingdom of Caid 10/1996
  • Autocrat, Flintheath Yule, Kingdom of Drachenwald, 12/1999
  • Competition Co-Ordinator, Kingdom A&S Competition, Kingdom of the Outlands, 2002
  • Competition Co-Ordinator, Kingdom A&S Competition, Kingdom of the Outlands, 2003
  • Feast Steward, War of the Staked Plains, Shire of Blackwater Keep, Kingdom of the Outlands, 10/2003
  • Autocrat, Kingdom A&S Competition, Kingdom of the Outlands, 4/2005
  • Feast Steward, Starkhafn Yule, Barony of Starkhafn, Kingdom of Caid 12/2008
  • Co-Autocrat, The Laird's Kitchen: Cooking Thynge, Shire of Caer Adamant, 3/2012
  • Feast Steward, Yule in July, Shire of Caer Adamant, 7/2016

Projects & Publications

A Scottish Betrothal Tournaments Illuminated Issue #163 Third Quarter 2007

Registered Heraldic Badges

Daisybadge.jpg Greyhoundbadge.jpg Skullbadge.jpg

  • A marguerite proper charged on the seeds with the Roman capitals M and H conjoined azure. Registered August of 2003 via the Outlands
  • A greyhound couchant regardant coward azure collared and ermined argent. Registered January of 2008 via Caid.
  • A skull argent jessant de lys gules. Joint badge with Simon Montgumery. Registered March of 2009 via Caid.