Margaret Fleming, Countess of Atholl was a Scottish courtier and landowner rumoured to be involved in the occult. She was a daughter of Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming and Janet Stewart, Lady Fleming, a daughter of James IV of Scotland. She was a courtier and supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots. She is known for stories told about her by her contemporary enemies. Richard Bannatyne, a secretary of John Knox, recorded a story that when Mary, Queen of Scots was in childbirth in Edinburgh Castle, Margaret Fleming magically transferred her labour pains to Margaret Beaton, Lady Reres. Bannatyne was an enemy and political opponent of her husband, the Earl of Atholl, whom he described as an "idolator and depender on witches." In October 1570 Mr Archibald Douglas obtained a jewel that had been made for Mary, Queen of Scots as propaganda for the Scottish succession to the English throne. He showed it to the English diplomat Thomas Randolph, who sent the jewel to London. It was shaped like an antler chandelier and showed Mary enthroned with two fighting lions, with the inscription "Fall what may Fall the Lion shall be Lord of All", with a motif of intertwined roses and thistles. The allusion is to the prophecy of Berlington. Randolph was horrified by the implications of this piece which he said was a token to be sent to Mary. The jewel was conjectured to have been commissioned by the "witches of Atholl", meaning apparently Margaret Fleming, Countess of Atholl, and her daughters, or her companions at Dunkeld including Mary Fleming and a French lady in waiting, Marie Pyennes,. The clerk of the Privy Council, Alexander Hay, mentioned the jewel in a letter to Regent Mar in November 1570, after speaking to Thomas Randolph. Hay said Lady Atholl sent it to Mary, but it fell into Elizabeth's hands. It was no bigger than the palm of a hand, and in the shape of a "hierse of a harthorne" and "well decked with gold and enamelled". According to Hay, the design included the royal arms of Scotland and an image of Mary herself in royal robes, with a lion worrying a leopard, and the motto quoted by Randolph. The matter, wrote Hay, was "daintie" and kept secret, but it was known Elizabeth was not pleased. Richard Bannatyne also described this jewel. On 24 April 1579 her husband, the Earl of Atholl died at Kincardine Castle, near Auchterarder, soon after attending a banquet at Stirling Castle. Margaret Fleming was also unwell. A rumour started that they had been poisoned at the request of Annabell Murray, Countess of Mar, her sister-in-law, or Regent Morton. Agnes Graham, the wife of William Murray of Tullibardine, and also a sister-in-law of Margaret Fleming, wrote to Annabell Murray assuring her that the Countess of Atholl's complaints against her were "forged lies". The Earl's will mentions their tapestries, and she had 186 stones weight of new wool in the wardrobe of Balvenie Castle. Their other homes were at Dunkeld and Blair. She died in 1586.
