Mary de Monthermer
| Mary de Monthermer | |
|---|---|
| Countess of Fife | |
| Born | October 1297 |
| Died | 1371 |
| Spouse(s) | Duncan IV, Earl of Fife |
| Issue | |
| Father | Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer |
| Mother | Joan of Acre |
Mary MacDuff, Countess of Fife (née de Monthermer; October 1297 – circa 1371) was an English noblewoman. She was a daughter of Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer and his wife Joan of Acre. Other sources have her being born in 1298.
Mary's mother Joan was a daughter of Edward I of England. In early 1297, her mother faced the intense disapproval of King Edward when she decided in early 1297 to secretly marry Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in her household. For her second marriage, the King had hoped to marry Joan to Amadeus V, Count of Savoy. Ralph was subsequently imprisoned at Bristol Castle for a brief time. This she did in July 1297, and is said to have told him that it was no disgrace for an earl to marry a poor woman, it was not blameworthy for a countess to advance a capable young man. Monthermer was released and their Clare estates restored. Monthermer was made Earl of Gloucester and Hertford during his wife's lifetime.
He and Joan had two sons and a daughter before her death on 23 April 1307. Mary de Monthermer was the eldest of them. Mary and her full-siblings most likely lived in her mother's quarters in Windsor Castle and Marlborough Castle until her marriage. Mary also had four half-siblings from her mother's first marriage to Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford. They were Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford, Eleanor de Clare, (wife of Hugh le Despenser the Younger), Margaret de Clare, and Elizabeth de Clare.
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