Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

Lesbian Love Affair of 16th Century Scotland

September 18, 2026

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5 min read

The Lesbian Love Poetry Hidden in a 16th-Century Scottish Manuscript

In 1586, Marie Maitland wrote her name twice on the front page of a manuscript she had compiled—a collection of 95 poems that would sit unnoticed for centuries in the National Library of Scotland. Among the verses by her father, a high court judge, and by King James VI himself, Marie had slipped in about thirty anonymous poems. One of them, Poem 49, begins with a woman declaring that another woman "ravish my affection" and ends with her wishing she could take the husband's role. This is not a friendship poem. It is among the earliest known lesbian love poetry in any European language since Sappho, and it was written in the most hostile possible context: Reformation-era Scotland, where the new Calvinist order was obsessed with policing private life and sex outside marriage.

The Woman Behind the Manuscript

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What you'll learn

1 (03:22) **Marie Maitland: Scotland's 16th-Century Sappho** - Historian Ashley Douglas introduces Marie Maitland, a woman who wrote passionate lesbian love poetry in Reformation-era Scotland, and explains why her story is so significant.
2 (10:46) **The Accidental Discovery in the Archive** - Ashley recounts how she stumbled upon Marie's lesbian poetry while researching a blog post on Scottish language manuscripts.
3 (15:41) **Proving Marie Wrote the Poems** - Ashley presents the evidence linking Marie Maitland directly to the lesbian poetry in the manuscript.
4 (18:51) **The Perfect Cover: A Blind Father and a Convenient Fate** - Ashley details how Marie's family circumstances provided a unique escape from the expected path of marriage.
5 (27:48) **Financial Independence: The Key to Freedom** - Ashley explains how Marie's family set her up with independent wealth, a critical factor for a woman who would not marry.
6 (32:03) **What the Poems Reveal: Love, Desire, and a Broken Heart** - Ashley analyzes the most powerful poem, Poem 49, to show the depth of Marie's relationship.
7 (38:01) **The Search for the Lover's Identity** - Ashley discusses the challenges of identifying the woman Marie was writing to.

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Show Notes

In the midst of the most hostile period in Scottish history, comes a passionate lesbian love story.

Set against post-Reformation Scotland, with Mary Queen of Scots on the throne, is Marie Maitland whose erotic lesbian poetry gives us a rare and significant insight into same-sex love and desire at this time.

What exactly do her poems say? And how was she able to get away with it at such a dangerous time in history for queer people?

Joining Kate today is Ashley Douglas, historian, translator and author of With My Own Hand, the first book telling the story of Marie Maitland.

This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

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