5th Earl of Huntly George Gordon

Male - 1576


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  • Name George Gordon 
    Title 5th Earl of Huntly 
    Gender Male 
    Reference Number 36990 
    Died 19 Oct 1576  Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • Strathbogie (the old name of Huntly in Scotland)
    Person ID I36990  Thompson-Milligan
    Last Modified 12 Apr 2018 

    Father George Gordon,   b. 1514, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 28 Oct 1562  (Age 48 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother Elizabeth Keith,   b. Aberdeenshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Relationship natural 
    Family ID F12261  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Anne Hamilton 
    Children 
     1. George Gordon,   b. 1562, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 13 Jun 1636, Dundee, Angus, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 74 years)  [natural]
     2. Jean Gordon  [natural]
    Last Modified 12 Apr 2018 
    Family ID F12259  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • 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.