View source for Christina Stewart, 4th Countess of Buchan

{{Short description|Scottish noblewoman}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
'''Christina Stewart Douglas, Countess of Buchan''' ({{circa|1548}} – 20 September 1580), also known as '''Christian''',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lodge |first1=Edmund |title=The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage: With Sketches of the Family Histories of the Nobility |date=1838 |publisher=Saunders and Otley |page=[https://archive.org/details/genealogyofexist01lodg/page/67 67] |url=https://archive.org/details/genealogyofexist01lodg |access-date=21 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> was a Scottish noblewoman, the ''[[suo jure]]'' [[Countess of Buchan]].
== Career ==
She succeeded her grandfather [[John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Buchan]] in 1551. In that year she was the heir to her father, [[Fiefdom|enfeoffed]] in the lands, jurisdictions, and offices enumerated in her grandfather's charter of 1547.  She was only three years of age at her mother's death, and was placed under the guardianship of [[Margaret Erskine]], wife of [[Robert Douglas of Lochleven|Robert Douglas]] of [[Lochleven Castle|Lochleven]].<ref name="peerage">{{cite book |last1=Paul |first1=James Balfour |title=The Scots Peerage |date=1904 |publisher=Edinburgh: D. Douglas |pages=268–269 |url=https://archive.org/stream/scotspeeragefoun02paul#page/268/mode/2up |access-date=21 June 2018}}</ref>
In January 1549–1550, though Christina was only a young child, a contract of marriage was arranged between her and [[James Stewart, Earl of Moray|James Stewart]], afterwards [[Earl of Moray]] and Regent, which would give him possession of her lands. He was the son of [[Margaret Erskine]] by [[King James V]]. Notwithstanding this contract, he later married [[Agnes Keith, Countess of Moray|Agnes Keith]]. Christina married Moray's half-brother, Robert Douglas, second son of Margaret Erskine and [[Robert Douglas of Lochleven]]. In his wife's right, Robert Douglas became [[Earl of Buchan]] and [[Sheriff of Banff]].<ref name="peerage"/>
When [[Mary, Queen of Scots]] was imprisoned in [[Lochleven Castle]] in July 1567, Robert Douglas, Earl of Buchan, was one of the few people allowed to visit her.<ref>Joseph Bain, ''Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1563–1569'', vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 350.</ref>
In 1574, Christina Stewart and her husband obtained a charter of the family estates, heritable offices, and the Earlshill in conjunct fee, with remainder to the heirs-male of the marriage, heirs female, heirs of the body of the Countess, and finally, to the nearest lawful heirs of the Earl. Her husband, as Earl of Buchan, took a prominent part in the political movements made in the minority of [[James VI]], and he supported his brother Regent Moray in opposition to the adherents of Mary, Queen of Scots. After [[James Hamilton (assassin)|Regent Moray's assassination]] in January 1570, he was one of the four lords to whom the government of the country was committed in name of the King.<ref name="peerage"/>
== Family ==
Her children included one son and three daughters:
* [[James Douglas, 5th Earl of Buchan]];
* Christian, who married to [[Richard Douglas (letter writer)|Richard Douglas]], brother of [[William Douglas of Whittinghame]];
* Mariota, who married Alexander Irvine of [[Drum Castle|Drum]];
* Elizabeth, who married, in 1592, Andrew Fraser of Muchals, and had issue.
The Earl of Buchan died at Mills of Drum, near [[Aberdeen]], 18 August, and the Countess at Aberdeen 20 September 1580.<ref name="peerage"/>
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{S-start}}
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{{succession box
| title  = [[Countess of Buchan]]
| before = [[John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Buchan|John Stewart]]
| after  = [[Robert Douglas, 5th Earl of Buchan|Robert Douglas]]
| years  = 1551–1580
}}
{{S-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchan}}
[[Category:1540s births]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:1580 deaths]]
[[Category:Earls of Buchan (1469 creation)|4]]
[[Category:16th-century Scottish people]]
[[Category:16th-century Scottish women]]
[[Category:16th-century Scottish peers]]
[[Category:Scottish countesses|Buchan]]