Oui, les sources sont contradictoires; certaines de celles que vous indiquez parlent de fiançailles en 1498, mais les extraits sont très courts, il faudrait les développer.
En croisant « Janet Kennedy » et « Archibald Douglas », on trouve sur Internet 465 résultats dont la plupart mentionnent un mariage annulé au bout d’un an, mais cela n’est pas plus significatif que si de nombreux livres affirmaient le contraire, les deux versions s’appuyant chacune sur deux sources qu’elles reprennent à de nombreuses reprises.
Cependant, j’ai trouvé celle-ci
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bi ... &id=I19400
qui donne des informations plus détaillées et inédites ; j’ai mis en évidence en gras une partie du texte anglais et traduit la note concernant Janet Kennedy :
Citer :
EARLDOM of ANGUS (SCT) (XXI, 5) 1462
Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, popularly called "Bell the Cat" and "The Great Earl", Warden of the East Marches 11 April 1481 and was continued in that office by James IV with whom he was in great favour. He was P.C. and was High Chancellor 1493-98, His advice to the King against the fatal engagement at Flodden being insultingly received, he quitted the field shortly before the fight, bidding his two sons remain, both of whom were there slain, with their King.
He m. 1stly, 4 Mar 1467/8, Elizabeth, 1st daughter of Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd, by Mariot, daughter of Sir Robert Maxwell of Calderwood. She d. before 21 Feb 1497. He m. 2ndly, about 1498, Janet, 1st wife, or possibly mistress, of Sir Alexander Gordon (who was slain at Flodden, 9 Sep 1513), daughter of John Kennedy, 2nd Lord Kennedy, by his 2nd wife Elizabeth, Dowager Countess of Erroll. There are charters by him dated 20 Jul and 25 Sep 1498, of lands granted to her for life, "with remainder to the heirs male procreated or to be procreated betwixt them". She, however, must soon have deserted him, for on 1 Jun 1501, she obtained a charter (under the name "Janet Kennedy, Lady Bothwell") from James IV (by which King she was mother of James Stuart, created (as an infant) Earl of Moray in 1501), on condition of her remaining "absque marito seu alio viro, cum Rege, etc." (c). In 1531 Janet Kennedy founded a prebend in the collegiate church of St. Mary-in-the-Fields, near Edinburgh, for the good of the deceased Archibald, Earl of Angus, formerly her husband. He m. lastly, in 1500, Katherine, daughter of Sir William Stirling, of Keir, by Margaret, daughter of James Crichton, of Ruthvendeny. She signed a discharge as "Katryne Cress of Angus" 10 Aug 1510, but on 14 May 1513, she is designated simply as Katherine Stirling, and she was then probably separated from the Earl, and living with Alexander, Lord Home, by whom she had an illegitimate son about this time. The Earl d. at the Priory of St. Ninian or Whithorn, in Galloway, between 29 Nov 1513 and 31 Jan 1513/4 (x). [Complete Peerage I:156-7, XIV:26-7]
(c) This lady nowhere appears upon record as Countess of Angus. On 6 and 28 Nov 1505 she is referred to in civil actions as the spouse of Sir John Ramsay of Trarinzean (the forfeited Lord Bothwell), and the fact that she is called Lady Bothwell in the abovementioned charter of 1 Jun 1501 does not point to her having married him before that date, but, as stated in the 'Scots Peerage' that name was applied to her on account of the lands settled on her by Angus having included the Lordship of Bothwell. It is a strange coincidence that she should afterwards have married a man who had been Lord Bothwell, but a lady who was held so lightly by the marriage tie is a cause of trouble to genealogists
Traduction de la note (c) (personnelle, je précise, donc non exempte d'erreurs, corrigez éventuellement)
Cette dame n'apparaît dans aucun texte comme la Comtesse d'Angus. Le 6 et 28 novembre 1505 elle est mentionnée dans des actions civiles comme l’épouse de Sir John Ramsay de Trarinzean (le lord Bothwell privé de son titre) et le fait qu'elle est appelée lady Bothwell dans la charte du 1er juin 1501 mentionnée ci-dessus ne la désigne pas comme l'ayant épousé avant cette date, mais, comme exposé dans le « Scots Peerage » que le nom lui a été appliqué à cause des terres dont elle avait été investie par Angus et qui incluaient la seigneurie de Bothwell. C'est une coïncidence étrange qu'elle eût ensuite épousé un homme qui avait été Lord Bothwell, mais une dame que les liens du mariage ont tenue si peu est une source de confusion pour les généalogistes.
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