Ashley Douglas is a young, Scottish, female, lesbian historian, living and working in 21st-century Edinburgh. Marie Maitland was a young, Scottish, female, lesbian documenter, living and working in 16th-century Edinburgh. What are the chances of the two of them meeting, in any way, shape or form?
‘With My Own Hand – The Secret Life of Marie Maitland, Scotland’s 16th-Century Sappho’ by Ashley Douglas, published by Hachette UK (July 2026)
A Historian’s Quest for Edinburgh’s Queer Past
When you think you might have glimpsed a ghost—and one who might actually have something very special in common with you—what else can a historian do than pursue that possibility? That’s exactly what historian and author (amongst other huge talents) Douglas did.
Being a historian helps, and having academic credentials and support helps. But, my word, she had to do a lot of pushing and shoving to move the mountains that shut off the archive materials she needed to see if she could find her spectre who had so tantalisingly appeared to her.
There are good reasons why archived materials are kept safe and sound, but when a historian with proper bona fides like Douglas’s can hardly get past the portals of the Pepys Library in Cambridge, what hope is there for mere mortals to find out about our past, our forebears, our history?
Marie Maitland and the Secrets of the Maitland Manuscript
Anyway, fair play to her, Douglas persisted and her book ‘With My Own Hand’ reveals what she found on her ghost hunt. I call it a ghost hunt, but only because she didn’t even know if what she was looking for existed. But her hope was high and her persistence paid off.
When you think you might have glimpsed a ghost—and one who might actually have something very special in common with you—what else can a historian do than pursue that possibility? That’s exactly what historian and author (amongst other huge talents) Douglas did.
She found Marie Maitland and, far from being a ghost, it turns out she was a very modern woman living in very turbulent times—the times of Mary Queen of Scots and great uncertainty and strife.
After all, we’re pretty much aware that women were men’s chattels back then—first you belonged to your father and then to your husband. No choice there whatsoever. And if you happened to be unmarried—which was so very rarely the case—and your father died, you became your brother’s property, to do with what he would.
Through her tireless and meticulous research, Douglas discovered a bit of an anomaly: a woman who was not only not married off by eighteen, as was usual back in the 16th century, but whose father acknowledged it wasn’t going to happen and so set her up to be independent, in return for painstakingly copying out his poetry into a manuscript which survives to this day and for being his secretary, as he began to irretrievably lose his sight.
What he may or may not have known was that his daughter had interleaved her own poetry between the pages of his own. Would he have minded? Would it have mattered?
The Maitlands sat at the right hand of the Queen and then her son, the King, during these difficult times and Marie’s father was known for keeping his head down (and therefore on) and keeping the peace as far as humanly possible at court. Perhaps he was the same at home.
Through her tireless and meticulous research, Douglas discovered a bit of an anomaly: a woman who was not only not married off by eighteen, as was usual back in the 16th century…
However, Poem 49 is as erotic as it comes, was written by Marie and is pretty indisputably to another woman. Maybe Dad wouldn’t have been quite so quiet if he knew about that, despite his courteousness in royal circles. We’ll never know the whole truth of Marie’s story and Douglas is fully aware that academic opinion doesn’t necessarily agree with her take on the contents and authorship of the Maitland Manuscript.
Why ‘With My Own Hand’ Matters for LGBTQ+ History
Does it matter? Yes and No. It’s a fabulous story and, though a work of non-fiction, this is a teasing and tantalising historical drama, beautifully written by Douglas. You can feel her love for her subject and her plight throughout.
But it matters in a very significant way. If Douglas is right and Marie wrote Poem 49, which is undoubtedly written to a woman, then here we have historical written evidence of lesbianism in 16th-century Scotland.
As the book’s subtitle suggests, Maitland may then be considered a latter-day Sappho and a beacon to many 21st-century young lesbian women that there have always been women like them. And that really is important.
How does this rhythm feel to you now, and would you like to pull out one of the key sentences (like the one about Poem 49) as a stylized blockquote to break up the layout even further?
Featured Image: With My Own Hand – Cover
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