Bernard Stewart, Lord of Aubigny

Bernard Stewart (French Bérault Stuart) (c. 1452 – 1508), 3rd Lord of Aubigny, was a French soldier, Commander of the "Garde Écossaise", and diplomat belonging to the Scottish family of Stewart of Darnley.

Bernard was a member of the French force which fought alongside Henry Tudor at Bosworth Field. He commanded French forces in the Second Italian War, and was victorious against a Spanish force under Ugo de Moncada at the Battle of Terranuova on 25 December 1502. He was again victorious at the Seminara the following year, a field where he had previously defeated the great Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba during the First Italian War in 1495.

He married firstly Guillemette de Boucard (died ?), secondly Anne de Maumont (died after 1510), Countess of Beaumont-le-Roger, becoming Count (jure uxoris) of Beaumont-le-Roger. He was granted the titles of Count of Arena, Marquis of Squillace, Marquis of Girace and Duke of Terranuova in the Kingdom of Naples.

He was later ambassador to the King of Scots James IV. It was as a result of this mission that Aubigny became the subject of two ballads by William Dunbar, "The Ballad of Lord Bernard Stewart" and "Elegy on the Death of Lord Bernard Stewart". Castle of Aubigny-sur-Nère. James IV made him a member of the Order of St Michael. He died in Scotland at Corstorphine about 12 June 1508.

Aubigny left one child, a daughter named Anne. Anne married a distant cousin, Robert Stewart, a future Marshal of France.

He was the author of a book on military science, "Traité sur l'art de la guerre", reprinted in 1976.

References

*Contamine, Philippe, "Entre France et Écosse: Bérault Stuart, seigneur d'Aubigny (vers 1452–1508), chef de guerre, diplomate, écrivain militaire", in James Laidlaw (ed.) "The Auld Alliance: France and Scotland over 700 years." Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, 1999. ISBN 0-9534945-0-0