Montgomerie named executor in mother's will
Poet involved
What happened
In 1583 the last will and testament of Margaret Fraser, mother of Alexander Montgomerie, named the poet as her executor. Margaret Fraser was a great-granddaughter of Sir John Stewart of Derneley and thereby linked the Hessilheid Montgomeries of Ayrshire to the Stewart line of King James VI. The document is preserved among the life-records relating to the poet.
Literary impact
The family connection through his mother helps explain the unusually intimate footing Montgomerie once enjoyed with James VI and the Lennox dukes. Awareness of this kinship informed both the personal tone of certain sonnets addressed to royal and noble patrons and the poet's sustained presence within the Stewart court circle.
Source: Poems of Alexander Montgomerie and Other Pieces from Laing MS. No. 447, ed. George Stevenson
