Janet Beaton, Lady of Branxholme and Buccleugh (1519–1569) was an aristocratic Scottish woman. She was a mistress of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell.
She had a total of five husbands. One of her nieces was Mary Beaton

Mary Beaton

Mary Beaton was a Scottish noblewoman and an attendant of Mary, Queen of Scots.- Family :Mary was born in 1543, the third of five children of Robert Beaton, 4th Laird of Criech and Joanna Renwall. Mary's mother was one of Marie de Guise's ladies-in-waiting...

, one of the four ladies-in-waiting

Lady-in-waiting

A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...

 of Mary, Queen of Scots, known in history as the four Marys. In her lifetime, she was accused of having been a witch. Janet was immortalised as Sir Walter Scott's Wizard Lady of Branxholm in his celebrated narrative poem "Lay of the Last Minstrel".

Family

Janet was born in 1519, one of the eleven children of Sir John Beaton, 2nd Laird of Creich and Janet Hay, daughter of John Hay, provost

Provost (civil)

A provost is the ceremonial head of many Scottish local authorities, and under the name prévôt was a governmental position of varying importance in Ancien Regime France.-History:...

 of Dundee

Dundee

Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...

 by his wife Elizabeth Crichton. Her father was the hereditary keeper of Falkland Palace

Falkland Palace

Falkland Palace in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a former royal palace of the Scottish Kings. Today it is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, and serves as a tourist attraction.-Early years:...

. Her brother was Robert Beaton, 3rd Laird of Creich, and her sister, Elizabeth Beaton was a mistress of King James V of Scotland

James V of Scotland

James V was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss...

, by whom she had an illegitimate daughter, Jean. Her niece was Mary Beaton, one of the celebrated ladies-in-waiting of Mary, Queen of Scots, known as "the four Marys". Janet was also related to Cardinal David Beaton and Queen Mary's ambassador to France, James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow.

Marriages and children

Janet married her first husband, Sir James Crichton of Cranston Riddell in 1538 when she was nineteen years of age. In 1540, a year after Sir James's death, she married Sir Simon Preston of Craigmillar Castle

Craigmillar Castle

Craigmillar Castle is a ruined medieval castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is situated south-east of the city centre, on a low hill to the south of the modern suburb of Craigmillar. It was begun in the late 14th century by the Preston family, feudal barons of Craigmillar, and extended through the...

; they were divorced in 1543 on grounds of consanguinity

Consanguinity

Consanguinity refers to the property of being from the same kinship as another person. In that respect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person...

 and her own admitted adultery with her future third husband. Sometime before June 1544 Janet married, as his third wife, her paramour Sir Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch

Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch

Sir Walter Scott, 1st of Branxholme, 3rd of Buccleuch , known as "Wicked Wat", was a nobleman of the Scottish Borders and the chief of Clan Scott who briefly served as Warden of the Middle March. He was an "inveterate English hater" active in the wars known as The Rough Wooing and a noted Border...

, Chief of the Clan Scott

Clan Scott

Clan Scott is a Scottish clan. Clan Scott is not a Highland clan but Lowland, from the Borders region of Scotland. Families and clans from this area prefer to be known as Borderers instead of Lowlanders.-Origins:...

 (1495- 4 October 1552), by whom she had five children:

• Walter Scott
• David Scott
• Grisel Scott (born 1552), married firstly, William Borthwick, 6th Lord Borthwick, by whom she had five sons; she married secondly, Walter Cairncross.
• Janet Scott, married firstly John Cranstoun of Cranstoun, by whom she had issue; she married secondly, Robert Scott of Haining.
• Margaret Scott, married Robert Scott of Thirlestane, by whom she had issue.

In 1550, Janet's husband Sir Walter was appointed Warden of the Middle March

Border Reivers

Border Reivers were raiders along the Anglo–Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. Their ranks consisted of both Scottish and English families, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality...

 and the following year, Warden and Justiciar of Liddesdale

Liddesdale

Liddesdale, the valley of the Liddel Water, in the County of Roxburgh, southern Scotland, extends in a south-westerly direction from the vicinity of Peel Fell to the River Esk, a distance of...

.
On 4 October 1552, Sir Walter was killed in a skirmish in Edinburgh's High Street with members of his clan's rivals, the Clan Kerr

Clan Kerr

Clan Kerr is a Scottish clan that played an important role in the history of the Border country of Scotland.-Origins:The origins of the name Kerr are disputed as being either:*Caer *Ciar...

 who ran him through with swords. In 1558, Janet marched at the head of an armed party consisting of two hundred members of her clan to the Kirk of St. Mary of the Lowes in Yarrow

Yarrow

Achillea millefolium or yarrow is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere. In New Mexico and southern Colorado, it is called plumajillo, or "little feather", for the shape of the leaves. In antiquity, yarrow was known as herbal militaris, for its use in...

, where she knocked down the doors in an attempt to apprehend Sir Peter Cranstoun. Janet was brought before the Justice; however a warrant issued by the regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 Marie of Guise brought the proceedings against her to a halt.

Janet had a total of five husbands.

Affair with Bothwell

Janet had many love affairs throughout her life, the most significant of these began sometime around the year 1558 with James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. He was twenty-four at the time and she was almost forty. Janet was described as having possessed "an unfading beauty", combined with audacity, determination and sexuality. Her ageless beauty was attributed to Janet's practice of sorcery

Magic (paranormal)

Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

, and it was rumoured that she and Bothwell may have gone through a form of "hand-fasting" ceremony.

Janet Beaton was immortalised by Sir Walter Scott in his narrative poem "Lay of the Last Minstrel" as Wizard Lady of Branxholm, who could '"bond to her bidding the viewless forms of air". Bothwell would go on to marry in 1566 Lady Jean Gordon

Jean Gordon, Countess of Bothwell

Jean Gordon, Countess of Bothwell was a wealthy Scottish noblewoman and the first wife of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell who became, after his divorce from Lady Jean, the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. Lady Jean herself had a total of three husbands...

 a wealthy Highlander

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

 heiress, the sister of the 5th Earl of Huntly

George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly

George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly , was Lord Chancellor of Scotland and major conspirator of his time.-Biography:...

; immediately following his divorce from Jean in 1567, he became the third husband of Queen Mary of Scotland.

In 1567, following the murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley

Henry Stewart or Stuart, 1st Duke of Albany , styled Lord Darnley before 1565, was king consort of Scotland and murdered at Kirk o'Field...

, Janet Beaton's name was written on a placard in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 accusing her of having used witchcraft to influence the queen in consenting to her second husband's murder by Bothwell and the other conspirators. The same sorcery perpetrated by Janet was allegedly used against Queen Mary which caused her to become enamoured of Earl Bothwell.
At Dunbar Castle

Dunbar Castle

Dunbar Castle is the remnants of one of the most mighty fortresses in Scotland, situated over the harbour of the town of Dunbar, in East Lothian.-Early history:...

, Janet was one of the three atttendants of Queen Mary following the latter's abduction by Bothwell. The other two women were Janet's younger sister Margaret, Lady Reres and Bothwell's widowed sister, Jean Hepburn

Jean Hepburn

Jean Hepburn, Lady Darnley, Mistress of Caithness, Lady Morham was a Scottish noblewoman and a member of the Border clan of Hepburn. Her brother was James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. Jean's first husband was John Stewart, 1st Lord Darnley, an illegitimate...

.

Janet Beaton died in January 1568/9.