Thomas
Earl of Arran

In 1467 Thomas Boyd married the Princess Mary, the King's sister, and was created Earl of Arran.

In 1463 he made a treaty of marriage between the King and Margaret, daughter of King Christian of Denmark and Norway, by which the Orkney and Shetland Islands were coded to Scotland.

After this marriage the power of the Boyds was suddenly collapsed. Sir Alexander, as already mentioned, was beheaded. The Earl of Arran was warned and fled abroad. Lord Boyd fled to England and in his absence was condemned to death and his title and estates forfeited. He later served the King of France and received a baron's pay of four shillings a day.

After his attainder in 1469, he fled to the continent, and is said to have served under Charles the Bold of Burgundy, and to have died at Antwerp. In a letter of John Paston he is referred to as "the most courteous, gentlest, wisest, kindest, most companionable, freest, largest, most beautiful knight" and as one of "the lightest, deliverst, best spoken, fairest archer, devoutest, most perfect and truest to his lady of all the knights that ever . . ." the writer ". . . was acquanted with."

By his wife, the Princess Mary he left issue:

1. James
2. Crizel or Margaret - married first Alexander, fourth Lord Forbes, secondly David third Lord of Kennedy, created Earl of Cansilis, and died at Flodden

A SEGMENT OF SCOTTISH HISTORY THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE BOYDS (cont)

"A Short History of Scotland" P. Hume Brown, 1908

But it was Lord Boyd's eldest son, THOMAS BOYD, who became their greatest man. This Thomas was one of the cleverest men then living in Scotland; he was one of the best knights of the time, and he knew how to make himself pleasant to everybody. It is no wonder, therefore, that he became so great a person in the country. He was first made Earl of Arran, and then he was married to the king's sister*, the princess Mary. But the pride of the Boyd's was soon to have a fall. They had, of course, made many enemies who envied their wealth and power. The Boyd's were to fall as quickly as they had risen.

King James was now about eighteen years old, and his councillors began to think it was time for him to be married. They found a queen that brought a handsome gift to Scotland. It will be remembered that, when Alexander III conquered the Western islands from King Haakon of Norway it was agreed that Scotland should pay a huge sum of money every year for them. Since the time of James I the money had not been paid, and now Christian, king of Norway, who was also king of Sweden, began to rumble and to say that the money must be paid or the islands given back.

How did James concillors get out of this difficulty? They sent Thomas Boyd to Christian to propose that his daughter Margaret, who was only twelve years old, should marry the King of Scots. He was delighted with the proposal. As he had not enough money to pay his daughter's dowry, he gave his feudal rights over the Orkney islands as a pledge. He was unable to find the money, and in 1472, four years after the marriage, the Orkney and Shetland islands were annexed to the Scottish crown. So at last all the islands around the Scottish coasts had come to be part of the kingdom of Scotland. But what has this to do with the family of the Boyds? We have just seen that Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran, had been sent to Denmark to propose the marriage between James and Margaret. But he was also sent there a second time to bring the bride to Scotland. Now, while he was away in Denmark, the enemies of the Boyds (and there were many of them) laid a plot to have him taken prisoner when he returned and then to have him and many others of his family put to death. However, Arran's wife, the princess Mary, heard of the plot, and, when the ship arrived at Leith, she went aboard secretly and warned him of his danger, and both sailed to Denmark, where he was safe from his enemies.

There was two of the Boyds still in their hands, Arran's father, Lord Boyd, and his uncle, Sir Alexander Boyd. Both were charged with being traitors of the king, and were condemned to death; but only Alexander was executed, as Lord Boyd escaped to England. As all their lands were taken from them their greatness lasted only a few years. This was another lesson to the nobles that in the end the king was too strong for any of them. Yet the nobles never defied the king's power so much as they did during the remainder of James's III reign. *This was the closest the Boyds ever came to the Scottish Royal throne.

Thomas Boyd and Mary Stewart had a son James Boyd who was killed by a Hamilton (Hugh Montgomery????) in a duel when only 16 years of age. This son James Boyd was nephew to James III and the Hamiltons didn't want a Boyd with royal blood that close to the throne.