5th Earl of Huntly George Gordon

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• Reference Number: 36990

Notes:

Second son of the 4th Earl, he was Sheriff of Inverness from 1556. As Captain of Badenoch, he was in charge of carrying letters send from Edinburgh to Mary of Guise in Inverness from Dunkeld throughout the summer of 1556.[1] However, he was attainted and sentenced to death for treason in 1563. He was imprisoned at Dunbar castle until the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to Darnley in 1565, when his lands and dignities were nominally restored. [2]
He allied himself with James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was married to his sister Jean, and joined Queen Mary at Dunbar after Rizzio's murder in 1566. He became Lord Chancellor of Scotland in 1567, and joined Bothwell in the plot to murder the Regent Moray at Jedburgh. He signed the bond at Craigmillar Castle for Darnley's murder, and accompanied Bothwell and Mary on the visit to Darnley before his murder.
His estates were fully restored after Bothwell's acquittal in 1567. Bothwell's divorce from his sister was facilitated by his influence over her, and he witnessed the marriage contract between Mary and Bothwell. He connived at the capture of the Queen, and accompanied her to Edinburgh, escaping to the north after her flight. He joined the partisans at Dumbarton Castle, and after a temporary agreement with Moray he conspired for her deliverance from Loch Leven castle in 1567. After the Queen's escape to England in 1568, he held all the north in alliance with Argyll, but received Mary's order to disperse.
Huntly made an agreement with Regent Moray at St Andrews on 14 May 1569. Huntly was to make up his quarrel with the Earl of Morton, repress rebellion amongst his former allies, and surrender a royal cannon kept at Huntly Castle. In return, Regent Moray would give the Earl and his followers a remission for all their crimes against the King since 11 June 1567, and promised an Act of Parliament to forgive his role as 'pretended Lieutenant to the Queen's Grace' between August 1568 and March 1569.[3]
After this temporary submission he gained possession of Edinburgh Castle, held a parliament, captured the Regent Lennox at Stirling and, in 1572, came to terms with the Regent Morton.

Died:
Strathbogie (the old name of Huntly in Scotland)

George — Anne Hamilton. [Group Sheet]

1. George Gordon was born 1562, Scotland; died 13 Jun 1636, Dundee, Angus, Scotland.
2. Jean Gordon

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• Reference Number: 36994

George — Elizabeth Keith. Elizabeth (daughter of Robert Keith) was born , Aberdeenshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet]

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• Reference Number: 36997

Notes:

Elizabeth Keith, Countess of Huntly, was a Scottish noblewoman and the wife of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, Scotland's leading Catholic magnate during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1562, Elizabeth encouraged her husband to raise forces against Queen Mary which led to his being outlawed, and after his death, his titles forfeited to the Crown.[1] Elizabeth's son Sir John Gordon was executed for having taken part in his father's rebellion.
She succeeded to the title of Countess of Huntly on 27 March 1530. Her daughter, Lady Jean Gordon, Countess of Bothwell was the first wife of James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Family

Elizabeth was born on an unknown date in Dunnottar Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the eldest daughter of Robert Keith, Master of Marischal and Lady Elizabeth Douglas. Her paternal grandparents were William Keith, 3rd Earl Marischal and Elizabeth Gordon, and her maternal grandparents were John Douglas, 2nd Earl of Morton and Janet Crichton. Her brother was William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal (died 7 October 1581).

Portrait of Lady Jean Gordon, Countess of Bothwell, daughter of Elizabeth Keith. She was the first wife of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell
[edit]Marriage and issue

On 27 March 1530, she married George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, the wealthiest and most powerful landowner in the Scottish Highlands, whose estates approached those of an independent monarch.[2] He was also the leading Catholic magnate in Scotland. Her brother promised to give Elizabeth five thousands merks as a tocher.[3] Upon her marriage, Elizabeth became the Countess of Huntly. The Huntlys' chief residence was Strathbogie Castle in the Scottish Highlands. The Earl became Lord Chancellor of Scotland in 1546 following the death of David Beaton, Archbishop of St. Andrews. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Pinkie on 10 September 1547 and Elizabeth came with him to Berwick-upon-Tweed, returning to Scotland at the end of the month.[4]
He and Elizabeth together had a total of twelve children:[5][6]
Thomas Gordon, married Jean Gordon, daughter of John Gordon, 11th Earl of Sutherland and Lady Elizabeth Stewart.
George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (died 19 October 1576), on 12 March 1558 married Lady Anne Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault and Lady Margaret Douglas, by whom he had issue.
Lady Margaret Gordon, married John Forbes, 8th Lord Forbes, by whom she had issue.
Lady Jean Gordon (1546- 14 May 1629), married firstly on 24 February 1566, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, whom she divorced on 3 May 1567; secondly on 13 December 1573, Alexander Gordon, 12th Earl of Sutherland, by whom she had issue; and thirdly in December 1599 Alexander Ogilvy of Boyne.
Lady Elizabeth Gordon, married John Stewart, 4th Earl of Atholl, by whom she had two daughters.
Alexander, Lord Gordon (died 18 September 1552/11 August 1553), married Barbara Hamilton, daughter of Regent Arran, the marriage was childless.
Sir John Gordon, , (executed 2 November 1562), married the widow of the Laird of Findlater.
William Gordon (died in Paris, France)
James Gordon (died 1620 in Paris)
Sir Adam Gordon (b. 1546 died 1580)
Sir Patrick Gordon (killed in 1594 at Glenlivet)
Robert Gordon
[edit]Huntly's rebellion

Elizabeth was described as having made all the decisions for her husband, and often "turned to the aid of her familiars and witches when inspiration from any other source was lacking".[7] She was better educated and her writing was superior to that of the Earl.[8] She also was surrounded by a large and splendid train of personal attendants.[9] On 23 August 1550, she ordered the execution of William MacIntosh, 15th Laird MacIntosh for having committed treason against Huntly who was accompanying the Scottish Regent Marie of Guise to her native France.[10]
In 1562, after her husband's title of Earl of Moray was taken from him and granted to Lord James Stewart, the illegitimate half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots and husband of Elizabeth's niece Lady Agnes Keith the Earl of Huntly rebelled and raised a force of his own retainers against Queen Mary. Elizabeth encouraged her husband in his rebellion, and persuaded him to attack the queen's troops at Aberdeen and there apprehend Queen Mary.[11] with the purpose of forcing her into marriage with their son, Sir John.[12] On 22 October, at the Battle of Corrichie, Huntly and his men were defeated by Queen Mary's army led by James Stewart, Earl of Moray. Huntly died of apoplexy on the battlefield, while Elizabeth's sons John and Adam, themselves having actively participated in the rebellion and battle, were captured and shortly afterwards on 2 November, Sir John was executed by the orders of Queen Mary for treason. The life of seventeen-year old Adam was spared as was that of George, Lord Gordon who had denied the queen entrance to the castle of Inverness where he held the post of sheriff; George, although pardoned, was nonetheless ordered to Dunbar Castle where he remained in custody until 1565 when his dignities were nominally restored to him. In 1563, the year following the Battle of Corrichie, Huntly's title and possessions were forfeited to the crown at a macabre session of Parliament with Queen Mary in attendance, in which his embalmed corpse was set up for all to see, and was pronounced guilty of treason and the sentence of forfeiture passed upon it.[13] Strathbogie Castle was duly stripped of its furnishings and these were sent to the queen's palace of Holyrood and to the Earl of Moray's new castle of Darnaway.[14] Among the Huntlys' confiscated belongings were elaborate tapestries, velvet-covered beds, hung with fringes of gold and silverwork, figures of animals, and vessels of gilded and coloured glass.[15]
Later, as a token of the queen's clemency towards the Huntlys, Elizabeth and her second eldest daughter, Jean were given positions at the royal court.
On 24 February 1566, Jean became the first wife of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell who, following his divorce from Jean in 1567, would marry as her third husband, Mary, Queen of Scots.
In March 1566, Elizabeth, who had by that time become a loyal adherent of Queen Mary, spent the night tending the queen, who was in her sixth month of pregnancy, at Holyrood Palace following the murder of David Rizzio. She devised various plans for Mary's escape which the latter rejected as having been impracticable. She finally managed to smuggle a letter to her son George, who also had become Mary's partisan, ordering him to stand by at Seton with a party of nobles to aid the queen on her journey to Dunbar Castle after she successfully escaped from the palace.[16]
Elizabeth Keith died on an unknown date.

Birth:
Dunnottar Castle

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 36995

John — Margaret Stewart. Margaret (daughter of James Stewart, IV and Margaret Drummond) was born 1497. [Group Sheet]

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• Reference Number: 36996

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 36998

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• Reference Number: 37019

Notes:

Birth:
Stirling Castle

Died:
Battle Of Flodden Field

James — Margaret Drummond. Margaret (daughter of John Drummond) was born Abt 1475; died 1501, Scotland; was buried , Dunblane, Perthshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet]

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• Reference Number: 37022

Notes:

Margaret Drummond (mistress)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Margaret Drummond (c. 1475 - 1501) was a daughter of John Drummond, 1st Lord Drummond and a mistress of King James IV of Scotland. She was a great-great-great-great-niece of the Margaret Drummond who was King David II's second queen.
Her death has been the subject of a very persistent romantic legend.

She was definitely the mistress of James IV for much of 1496, and possibly for as long as 1495 to 1497. There are records from 1496 which refer to her living in the royal castles at Stirling and Linlithgow. However, the king had a number of mistresses in his time, and this relationship seems to have been shorter than those he had with either Marion Boyd or Janet Kennedy.
[edit]Family

Margaret and James IV had a daughter, Margaret Stewart. She married firstly John Gordon, Lord Gordon, (son of Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly and Margaret Douglas, daughter of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas). Their sons were George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly and Alexander Gordon (archbishop of Glasgow). She married secondly Sir John Drummond of Innerpeffry.
[edit]Circumstances of death

It is definitely known that in 1501 she died of food poisoning, along with her sisters Eupheme and Sibylla, while staying at their parents' residence. As a general rule, claims of poisoning made in relation to a historical figure who died after a sudden illness should be treated with caution, but in this case, with three people who presumably died shortly after eating the same meal, the contemporary judgement should be accepted. The three sisters are buried together in Dunblane Cathedral, their graves can still be seen in front of the altar. This did not cause a great deal of suspicion at the time; standards of food hygiene are unlikely to have been very good then, and cases of accidental food poisoning have happened in any period.
After her death the king paid for masses to be said for her soul, and continued to support their daughter.
[edit]Murder theories

It has been widely suggested in more recent years that Margaret Drummond was murdered, either by English agents or by pro-English elements in the Scottish nobility. Many believe that James IV was planning to or had already secretly married Drummond, and her death was necessary in order to allow or force the King to marry the English princess Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York. The (comparatively recent) plaque on her grave in Dunblane Cathedral claims that she was commonly believed to be "privately married" to the king, and that she was murdered by Scottish nobles who supported the English marriage.
Furthermore, the "Marriage of the Rose and Thistle", as the poet William Dunbar described it, brought about the Union of the Crowns exactly 100 years later, as it enabled their great-grandson James VI of Scotland to claim the English throne upon the death of Elizabeth I through his descent from Henry VII.
Had James IV married Margaret Drummond instead of Margaret Tudor, the Union of the Crowns might never have taken place and Scotland might have remained an independent country. This idea has been the theme of numerous historical novels and popular histories.
Serious historians are skeptical of the theory. It is not supported by the contemporary evidence, and originates in a history of the Drummond family written by Viscount Strathallan in 1681. Her death was probably a case of accidental food poisoning, a common cause of death at that time. The idea that James had to be pressured to marry Margaret Tudor is dubious. As Scotland was the less important and poorer country, it is more likely that James IV pressured Henry VII to give him his daughter. It is also clear that negotiations for the marriage had been taking place before Margaret Drummond died.

Buried:
Dunblane Cathedral

Died:
food poisoning