Marie de Coucy
| Marie de Coucy | |
|---|---|
| Queen Consort of Scotland | |
| Tenure | 1239–1249 |
| Born | c. 1218 France |
| Died | 1285 France |
| Burial | Newbattle Abbey, Scotland |
| Spouse |
Alexander II of Scotland (m. 1239; d. 1249) Jean de Brienne, Grand Butler of France (m. c. 1257) |
| Issue | Alexander III of Scotland |
| Father | Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy |
| Mother | Marie de Montmirel |
Marie de Coucy (c. 1218 – 1285) was a Queen consort of the Kingdom of Scotland by marriage to King Alexander II of Scotland. She was a member of the royal council during the two last years of the king's minority in 1260-1262.
Marie was the daughter of Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy and his third spouse Marie de Montmirel () (1192 – 1267) and a great-great granddaughter of Louis VI of France. According to the chronicler Matthew Paris, she was beautiful and very wealthy. In 1238, Alexander II of Scotland needed to have an heir after the death of his first childless spouse. King Henry of England claimed sovereignty over Scotland, which was opposed by Alexander II, who wished to make an alliance with France against England. Enguerrand III was a powerful French vassal and a known enemy of England, and the marriage between Marie and Alexander II was regarded as a French-Scottish alliance against England.
On 15 May 1239 Marie married King Alexander II of Scotland in Roxburgh. The marriage brought an alliance between the Scots and the Coucy lordship, and for the rest of the 13th century, they exchanged soldiers and money. She brought a large train of French followers to Scotland. In her retinue was her chancellor Richard Vairement and her nephew Enguerrand de Guines, who came to have some influence in Scottish affairs. Her nephew married Christiane de Bailleul, a cousin of King John Balliol, and thus became a Scottish magnate. Two years after her marriage, she gave birth to the future King, Alexander III of Scotland.
Alexander II died on 8 July 1249 during an expedition against the Lord of Argyll on the island of Kerrera. Immediately after the news reached her, Marie made sure her eight-year-old son was crowned as soon as possible at Scone. Although her son was a minor and was placed under regency, Marie did not become regent. On 9 June 1250 Marie and her son Alexander III was present in Dunfermline for the observance of the canonization Saint Margaret of Scotland and the translation of her remains to the new shrine.
In autumn 1250 Marie returned to Picardy and, for the rest of her life, she divided her time between France and Scotland. In 1252 she attended the wedding between her son Alexander III and Margaret of England in York with a great entourage of French and Scottish nobles.
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