James Stewart, Regent of Scotland First Earl of Moray

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Born c. 1531 and murdered 1570. Moray, born James Stewart, was the illegitimate half-brother of Mary Queen of Scots. Moray was a ruthless, and clever politician who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Ambitious and power-hungry, he was the most powerful nobleman of his age. He played a major part in driving Mary from Scotland. [2, 3]**

James Stuart/Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray lived from 1531 to 23 January 1570. A half brother of Mary Queen of Scots, he was a convert to Protestantism who variously supported and opposed her, before eventually, while acting as Regent to the infant James VI, defeating her in battle and forcing her into exile and imprisonment in England.

James Stewart was the illegitimate son of James V of Scotland and Lady Margaret Erskine, daughter of John Erskine, 4th Earl of Mar. During Mary Queen of Scots' childhood years in France, James became an early convert to Protestantism. He then joined with the Protestant lords opposing the efforts of Mary's mother, Marie de Guise, who as Regent of Scotland sought to preserve the Catholic status quo, using French troops against both the English and internal Scottish dissent.

When Mary Queen of Scots returned from France in 1561, James Stewart became her chief adviser, and the following year she made him the 1st Earl of Moray. In 1562 he led Mary's forces to put down a rebellion by the 4th Earl of Huntly: and in the same year married Agnes Keith, daughter of William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal.

In 1565 James Stewart strongly opposed the marriage between Mary and Lord Darnley. When the marriage went ahead anyway, Stewart raised a rebellion against Mary in Ayrshire. On 26 August 1565, Mary led an army out of Edinburgh to put down the rebellion, pursuing the rebels over much of southern Scotland in what became known as the Chaseabout Raid. James Stewart escaped and sought sanctuary in Queen Elizabeth I's England, a country with which he had been trying to negotiate closer links.

Stewart was among those who plotted a coup attempt against the now heavily pregnant Mary in March 1566, the first step of which was the murder of her Private Secretary, David Rizzio. The coup was defeated after Mary turned Lord Darnley against the other consiprators, and he helped her to safety at Dunbar Castle under the protection of James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.

Mary's ruthless suppression of the conspirators against her overlooked Stewart, partly because he was in England at the time, and partly because his involvement remained unknown to her. As a result he was able to returning to Scotland in 1566, being pardoned by Mary for his rebellion following her marriage to Darnley. By luck or design, he happened to be in France when Lord Darnley was murdered, and during the period of uproar that followed Mary's marriage to the Earl of Bothwell culminating in Mary's forced abdication in favour of her infant son James VI.

James Stewart returned to Scotland to be appointed Regent to the young James VI. When Mary later escaped from Lochleven Castle and attempted to regain power, it was James Stewart who led the forces that defeated her at the Battle of Langside on 13 May 1568, leading to her ill-judged flight to, and imprisonment in, England.

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray ruled Scotland as a very effective Regent for James VI until 23 January 1570. During a visit to Linlithgow he was assassinated by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, a supporter of Mary. In death he wrote one last small footnote in history: his was the first ever recorded assassination by a firearm anywhere in the world. James Stewart was buried at St Giles Kirk in Edinburgh.

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Family/Spouse: Anna Agnes Keith, Countess of Moray. Anna (daughter of William Keith, Fourth Earl of Marischal and Margaret Keith) was born on 14 Jul 1530 in Midlothian, Scotland; died on 16 Jul 1588 in Midlothian, Scotland; was buried on 25 Aug 1588 in Saint Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Countess of Moray

Doune Castle, standing on a grassy eminance commanding the village and the river, is the setting for one of the most haunting and dramatic ballads in the repertoire, The Bonnie Earl 0' Moray'. The castle was built in the late fourteenth century by the Duke of Albany, later passed to the Crown and thence to the Earls of Moray, who own it still. The second Earl was murdered at Donibristle in Fife in 1592. If the words of the ballad about the event are to be believed, the king may have had a hand in it, or if he didn't was not much upset. He went hunting on the day of the funeral. The good-looking Earl was a lightweight and hardly deserved to be immortalised in such poignant words and music.
?i?Ye Hielands and ye Lawlands,
0 where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl o' Moray,
And laid him on the green.
He was a braw gallant,
And he rode at the ring;
And the bonnie Earl o' Moray,
He might have been a King.
0, lang will his ladye look
Frae the Castle Doune
Ere she see the Earl o' Moray
Come soundin?sup?'?/sup? through the toun.?sup?'?/i??/sup?
And if you stand on the ramparts, you'll realise that she could have seen him coming from a very long way off.
[ "Reflections on Scotland" by Ian Wallace pub.1988 ]


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Vital Information
Open Details
Name
Elizabeth Stewart 2d Countess of Moray
Sex
Female
Birth
1567
Arran, Bute, Scotland
Christening
Add
Death
18 November 1591
Westminster, London, England, United Kingdom

Birth:
Event Description: From Gini Tree

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Family/Spouse: James Stewart, VI, King of Scotland and England, Second Earl of Moray, Second Lord Doune. James (son of James Stewart, First Lord Doune and Margaret Campbell) was born about 1568 in Beath, Fife, Scotland; died on 7 Feb 1591/92 in Gloucestershire, England; was buried in Saint Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Margaret married Frances Hay, Ninth Earl of Erroll on 27 Jun 1584 in Edinburgh Parish, Midlothian (Edinburghshire), Scotland. Frances was born on 30 Apr 1564 in Erroll Castle, Inchetuthyll, Perth, Scotland; died on 16 Jul 1631 in Kirktown of Slains, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Grizel married Sir Ninian Kilchattam Stewart, Baronet about 1600 in Ballintoy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Ninian (son of Sir John James Stewart and Isabella Edmondstone) was born about 1580; died on 23 Dec 1664. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Margaret married John Stewart about 1600 in Traquair, Inverliethen, Peebles, Scotland. John was born in 1576 in Beith Parish, Ayrshire, Scotland; died on 30 Jul 1607 in Loneheid Lochwinnoch, Saint Ninians, Stirling, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married Sir Charles Howard, First Earl of Nottingham about Sep 1603 in Covent Garden, London, Middlesex, England. Charles was born in Dec 1536 in Nottinghamshire, England; died on 14 Dec 1624 in Effingham, Surrey, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married Lord William Monson about 1625 in England. William was born about 1595 in South Carlton, Lincolnshire, England; died about 1673. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Alternate Name
Birth Name
James Stewart, 3rd Earl of Moray
Birth Name
Earl Moray James Stewart III
Birth Name
James Stewart "3rd Earl of Moray"
Birth Name
James Stewart III Earl of Moray
Title of Nobility
3rd Earl of Moray
Milltown, , Moray, Scotland
Custom Fact
Birth Place
Elgin, Morayshire, Scotland

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Lord married Lady Ann Gordon, Countess of Moray on 2 Oct 1607 in Darnaway Castle, Dyke, Elgin, Scotland. Ann (daughter of Lord George Gordon, First Marquis of Huntley and Lady Gordon, Henrietta Gabrielle Stewart, Marchioness of Huntly) was born in 1590 in Huntly Parish, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; died in 1674 in Darnaway Castle, Dyke, Elgin, Scotland; was buried in 1674 in Darnaway Castle, Dyke, Elgin, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Family/Spouse: John Abernethy. John was born about 1572 in Saltoun Parish, East Lothian, Scotland; died after 30 Jun 1612. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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James married Dorothy Dunlap on 9 Aug 1614 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Dorothy was born about 1595 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland; died in 1645 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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James married Jonet Gilmour on 3 Feb 1645/46 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Jonet (daughter of James Gilmour, Jr. and Issobell Clark) was born about Feb 1622/23 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland; was christened on 6 Feb 1622/23 in High Church, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland; died about 1675 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]