Series 5 > Campbell Letters 1559-1583

INTRODUCTION
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paid in instalments. In exchange, the groom’s family would settle land,
the wife’s terce, or third, upon the bride. Other provisions concerning
future offspring were often included as part of the contract. In many
instances the need for an alliance was more pressing than the need for
the actual marriage. Negotiations for a match could take place when the
couple were far too young to marry, sometimes only shortly after they
had been born, and an ante-nuptial contract would be agreed. In
subsequent years such contracts were frequently abandoned when
circumstances had altered and alliances with other houses seemed more
attractive.
The importance of marriage alhances for noble lineages has led to the
assumption that the predominant role in the negotiations was played by
the male head of the house. These letters demonstrate that Katherine in
particular, and probably Scottish noblewomen in general, were more active
in the negotiations than has hitherto been realised. Katherine appears
not only to have taken the initiative over the marriage of her eldest son,
the Glenorchy heir, but also to have been the prime mover for most of
the negotiations. There is some evidence that Grey Cohn was mostly
concerned with the financial and legal details and Katherine with her
children’s welfare and relationships. However, advice was given direcdy
to Lady Glenorchy about the size of the tocher, and a joint commission
to treat, signed by both Katherine and Grey Cohn, was required by the
matchmakers before the formal negotiations could begin.
The letters provide rare and fascinating details of the actual conduct of
the negotiations for two of the marriages of the Glenorchy children.
One marriage was an all-Campbell match between Anne, fourth daughter
of Katherine and Grey Colin, and John, the son ofjames Campbell, sixth
laird of Ardkinglas. As they were both young children when the contract
was negotiated in 1570-1, the marriage was not solemnised until 29 March
1586. The other concerned an alliance with the earl of Atholl through
the betrothal of Black Duncan and Atholl’s third daughter, Jean Stewart,
which took place in Dunkeld in November 1573.Two other marriages
of Katherine and Grey Colin’s children were negotiated before 1583,
although there is no trace of them in the correspondence. On 24 May
1574 their daughter Margaret was betrothed to James Cunningham,
grandson of the fourth earl of Glencairn; they were married in Perth on
5 September 1574.1 Archibald, their fourth son, was betrothed to Margaret,
daughter of Andrew Toscheoch of Monzie, in August 1581.2 After the
RMS, iv, 2254; GDI 12/25/36-9.The marriage date is given in Scot’s transcript of
the Perth Marriage Registers, printed in Northern Notes and Queries, iv (1890), 40.
22,24 Aug. 1581, GDI 12/25/40.