Can someone who's pre-1500 qualified add a marriage date for me please

Question

I've mananged to find some sources for the marriage of Margaret Graham and John Somerville which I've added to Margaret's profile. However, the system won't let me edit the marriage as John was born pre-1500.  Could someone who's pre-1500 qualified update the marriage date please?

Comments

I went to add September 1510 but got an automated data warning, so I didn't. Could you confirm that the following is correct?

Caution: Unusual information. Is the following correct?

• A birth date (Somerville-60 born 3 Jul 1489) is more than 40 years before or after a sibling's birth date (Stewart-2324 born 1531).
• A spouse's birth date (Graham-887 born Mar 1504) should not be more than 80 years or less than 10 years before the marriage date (Sep 1510).

---

Thanks Liz.  I was actually working on Margaret Graham and both sources I found gives their marriage date as 1510. I've now looked at the Scots Peerage entry for the Lords Somerville (vol 8, page 14 at https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefoun08pauluoft/page/14/mode/2up) and that also gives a marriage date of 1510.  However they're a bit of a circular reference - Vol 8 of the peerage says see Vol 6; and Vol 6 of the peerage says see "Memories".  

I actually think Margaret's birth should be earlier because her parents' marriage date appears to be based on a charter where they appear as spouses.

The Stewart-2324 appears to be an illegitimate son of King James V and John Somerville's mother.  I'll add medieval to the tags as I think the Scottish medieval team need to have a look at this one!

---

Thanks Sheena! Don't know about Scotland at this time, but for medieval England, a lot of marriage contracts were made when those contracted were still quite young.

Answer 1

According to the Sept. 1510 marriage date stated in Memorie, Margaret would have been six years old at that time and 16 at the birth of her first son - both of which are possible.  I have a bit of a problem with Memorie as the sole source, however, because its historical accuracy is somewhat questionable, albeit it is stated in the preface that "in the more ancient part of the narrative...some pains have been bestowed in correcting the more obvious errors." So, while the text indicates that John married Margaret in September of 1510, it is not sourced by either Somerville or "our genealogists (see footnote)."  Moreover, Balfour, in both Vols. 6 and 8 of Scots Peerage only references the contract date, not the marriage date as given in Memorie.  Can another source be located that corroborates the marriage as occurring in 1510?  If so, I would be happy to add the date to the profile.

Comments

I've been through the Nationl records of Scotland online catalogue, the Scottish Archives Newtork online catalogue, Volunes 2-4 of the Register of the Great Seal and the Recors of the Parliaments of Scotland and I can't find anything

All the secondary sources seem to refer back to Balfour Paul and the Memorie.

---

I can add the marriage date and mark it as uncertain, if you note the particulars under Research Notes:  That it was found in Memorie, it was not sourced, and your attempt to corroborate the date through other sources, which were not found.  When entering the marriage date in the biography, it would need to be noted that this date is possible, but uncertain.  Let me know if you want to move forward.