Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stewart, Matthew (1516-1571)
STEWART, MATTHEW, fourth or twelfth Earl of Lennox (1516–1571), regent of Scotland, son of John, third earl of Lennox [q. v.], by Anne, eighth daughter of John Stewart, first earl of Atholl [q. v.], was born in Dumbarton Castle 21 Sept. 1516 (Fraser, Lennox, i. 364). He succeeded his father in 1526, and on 13 Feb. 1530–1 came to an agreement with Sir James Hamilton of Finnart on behalf of James Hamilton, second earl of Arran [q. v.], whereby ‘for the removal of suspicion and hatred’ conceived by him against ‘the said James, earl of Arran, for the slaughter of the deceased John, earl of Lennox, committed beside Linlithgow,’ Sir James Hamilton became bound to fee six chaplains to ‘do suffrage for the soul of the said deceased earl for seven years; three of them to sing continually in the college kirk of Hamilton, and the other three to sing continually in the Blackfriars, Glasgow’ (Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. iii. 393). On 21 April 1531 he had letters under the privy seal appointing him and his heirs keepers of the castle of Dumbarton (ib.) He was present as a peer in parliament on 26 April 1531 and 17 May 1532; but shortly after the latter date he went to France, and obtaining a command of Scots men-at-arms, accompanied his uncle Robert, seigneur of Aubigny, in the campaign in Provence in 1536 [see under Stewart, John, first (or ninth) Earl of Lennox]. In January 1537 he was naturalised as a French subject.
After the death of James V in 1542 Lennox was induced by Cardinal Beaton and the French party to return to Scotland to assist in the overthrow of Arran. On the ground of Arran's illegitimacy (Hamilton Papers, i. 409–10) Lennox was put forward as next heir to the throne after the Princess Mary, and therefore entitled to act as governor in place of Arran; and the hope was also held out to him of a marriage with the queen dowager, Mary of Guise [q. v.] (Privy Council to Angus and his brother, 10 Feb. 1542–3, ib.) Escaping the English vessels which had instructions for his capture, he landed at Dumbarton, 3 March 1543, with only two ships and a small company (ib. p. 510), but according to repute, ‘with much French gold’ (ib. p. 511), with which he is said to have boasted he would fill the Scottish purses (ib.), although, according to Sadler, it amounted to no more than five thousand crowns (ib. p. 519). In April he had an interview with Arran, to whom he delivered a flattering message from the French king, with the offer of troops and money to maintain him against an English invasion (Sadler, State Papers, i. 162–3). Later he was reputed to have expressed his willingness ‘to remain a prisoner’ if the ‘French king did not accomplish such things as he offered’ (ib. p. 173). Finding, however, that the governor had no mind to accept his offers, he refused to subscribe the act acknowledging his authority (ib. p. 185), and thereupon was required to deliver up the castle of Dumbarton on pain of treason (ib. p. 197). He excused himself for declining to do so on the ground that Stirling of Glorat, the captain, refused to deliver it up (ib. p. 201); and after promising to submit himself to Arran and ‘confess him to be governor and second person of the realm,’ he, on Arran's approach with a strong force, fled to the highlands (ib. p. 202). A little later, however, he secretly returned to Lennox, and, having gathered a body of followers, on 21 July joined with other lords in an attempt to rescue the queen dowager and the infant princess from the power of Arran. With a force of ten thousand men they marched towards Edinburgh, and compelled the governor to deliver up his charge, whereupon Lennox escorted the queen dowager and the infant princess back to Stirling (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 28). Thereafter, according to David Lindsay, the ‘Cardinal’ (Beaton), who had now persuaded Arran—in dread of his rival, Lennox—to come to terms with him, caused the queen dowager ‘to entertain him very tenderly and put him in hope of marriage,’ that she ‘might pacify him by her love:’ i.e. reconcile him to the unlooked-for new alliance of the cardinal with Arran. There was a rival suitor in the Earl of Bothwell, but, according to Lindsay, Lennox far excelled Bothwell in personal grace and strength, as well as in knightly accomplishments, for he ‘was ane strong man, of personage weill proportioned in all his members, with lustie and manlie visage, and vent verrie strecht up in his passage: quhairfoir he appeired verrie pleasant in the sight of gentlewomen’ (Chronicles, pp. 422–3). But Lindsay also records that she gave to both ‘nothing but fair words;’ and Lennox (suspecting that the cardinal was using him merely for his own aggrandisement, and had no desire, but the opposite, that he should be successful in his suit) began to look out for a new alliance. Of necessity it could be found only among the cardinal's enemies, and without any scruple or the least consideration either for France or Scotland, he gave Henry VIII, through the Earl of Glencairn, to understand that his services might be bought by the hand of Henry's niece, Lady Margaret Douglas [q. v.], daughter of Angus, and by Henry's help to recover ‘his right and title to this realm (Scotland), which he sayeth the governor now usurpeth’ (Hamilton Papers, ii. 56).
Than this offer of Lennox nothing at this crisis could have been more welcome to Henry. He could now make Lennox his trump card in place of Arran, who, in fear of Lennox's rivalry, had succumbed to the cardinal. That Lennox was next heir to the Scottish throne after Arran would have been sufficient for Henry's purpose; but the fact that his claims to be the rightful heir instead of Arran had already been backed by the cardinal and the catholics elevated him into an almost heaven-sent instrument. His pretensions to the hand of the Lady Margaret, far from being objected to, were merely an additional commendation, since his marriage with her would bind up his interests more completely with England. But both as an earnest of his good faith and as a most important step towards the attainment of Henry's purpose, it was deemed advisable to ask him, before negotiations proceeded further, to give up to England Dumbarton Castle, regarded as the key to the west of Scotland (the Privy Council to Sadler, 11 Oct. ib. p. 98). The difficulty was that Lennox supposed this to be his main trump card, and that to give it up would place him in Henry's power. He therefore point blank refused, Sadler reporting that Lennox would sooner part with his life, and that if Henry pressed him to give it up he would join the French party (Hamilton Papers, ii. 108; Sadler, State Papers, i. 308). Failing thus to obtain definite assurances from England, he broke his promise to attend a convention of Angus and other lords of the English party held in Douglas Castle about the end of October (ib. i. 325); but although the cardinal, alive to the danger of his alliance with England, made every endeavour to reconcile him to Arran's governorship, he failed, and on the arrival of a French fleet with a supply of stores, artillery, and treasures for the Scots against England, Lennox, to make sure of what in any case would be of vital assistance to himself, secured it in Dumbarton Castle (Diurnal, p. 29).
Profoundly distrusting the cardinal, Lennox in January 1544 definitely joined Angus and the English party, and united with them in an advance against Edinburgh. Their forces numbered over four thousand, but Arran being prepared to give battle with a much more powerful array, they were forced to pretend to come to terms (Hamilton Papers, i. 250; Diurnal, p. 30). An agreement was therefore signed, 23 Jan. 1543–4, between commissioners of Arran on the one side, and of Angus and Lennox on the other, for mutual obedience to the queen of Scotland (Cal. State Papers, Scot. i. 45); but, this notwithstanding, Lennox did not scruple to continue his negotiations with England, and on 17 March he and Glencairn agreed to put the king of England in possession of several of the strongest fortresses in Scotland, including Dumbarton, and to promote the marriage of the young Princess Mary of Scotland to Prince Edward. For reward Lennox was to obtain the hand of the Lady Margaret and to be appointed governor in place of Arran on the ground of Arran's illegitimacy, while Glencairn was immediately rewarded for his services in the negotiation by a grant of one thousand crowns per annum (ib. p. 46). Further, Lennox undertook to become a protestant and promote the preaching of ‘the word of God’ in Scotland.
Having thus broken his allegiance to his religion and his country, Lennox, on 28 May, set sail from Dumbarton to England (Hamilton Papers, ii. 399; Diurnal, p. 33), landing at Chester on 6 June (Hamilton Papers, i. 403). Proceeding to London, he there on 26 June signed a treaty with Henry's commissioners for his marriage to the Lady Margaret. On the one hand he not merely agreed to surrender to Henry the castle of Dumbarton and the Isle of Bute, but to give up to him what title he had to the Scottish throne, and to support him in his claim to be supreme lord of Scotland; and in return Henry confirmed his agreement of 17 March consenting to the marriage with Lady Margaret, and also granted him lands in England to the annual value of 1,700 marks (Cal. State Papers, Scot. Ser. i. 47). In the final ratification of the bargain there was small delay: obtaining letters of naturalisation on 10 July 1544, Lennox was married the same day to the Lady Margaret.
Although the specially momentous results of this unscrupulous faction could scarcely have been foreseen by either party, it is no matter of wonder that Lennox now regarded his interests as mainly bound up with those of Henry VIII, and that, recreant to his country and his faith, he was steadfastly true to his new master. He had little to hope for elsewhere. Moreover his own intellectual mediocrity and lack of personal stamina were now atoned for by his partnership with the Lady Margaret. Never had any one, some moral considerations apart, a more admirable helpmeet, and never was there a partnership more cordial and complete. Uniting to the dominant will and resolute ambition of the Tudors the subtle cunning of the Douglases, she gradually took the reins, with the admiring consent of her lord and master, into her own hands. With more than willing devotion he allowed himself to be finally guided by her judgment in every important purpose of his career, while she with sleepless activity and great feminine cleverness set herself to make the utmost of every political opportunity, and to win for her house all that was within the range of possible attainment. Nor did Henry allow Lennox to dally in the performance of his part of the bargain. Before his honeymoon was over he had to undertake an expedition against the west of Scotland, with eighteen ships and about six hundred men. On 8 Aug. he was proclaimed by the English king lieutenant for the north of England and south of Scotland (Cal. State Papers, Henry VIII, No. 449), and on the 10th he arrived at Dumbarton (Diurnal, p. 35). Stirling of Glorat, the captain of the castle, cordially welcomed Lennox its owner, but when Lennox proceeded to hint of its delivery to the English, captain and garrison at once took up arms, and Lennox and his retinue, in dread of their lives or of captivity, fled precipitately to their ships. Proceeding down the Clyde, Lennox was fired upon by Argyll while passing Dunoon, but landed and defeated Argyll's followers, and, continuing his voyage, invaded Cantyre and also plundered the Ayrshire coasts. But he nevertheless returned to Bristol without having achieved anything of the least practical value to the king of England. In December following he received instructions to go to Carlisle, and from thence to treat with the Earl of Angus and bring him to the interests of England (Cal. State Papers, Scot. Ser. p. 48). In 1545 he was again appointed to the command of an expedition against the west coast of Scotland; but before anything was accomplished he was called away to assist Hertford [see Seymour, Edward, first Duke of Somerset] in his invasion of Scotland from the south. After Hertford's retreat towards the end of September he passed over to Ireland, and on 17 Nov. sailed with a large armament from Dublin to attempt the capture of Dumbarton, but arrived only in time to discover that it had passed into the hands of his rival. On 1 Oct. of the same year he was pronounced guilty of treason by the Scottish parliament, and sentence of forfeiture was passed against him (Acta Parl. Scot. ii. 456), his lands being parcelled out among various noblemen.
After the death of Henry VIII, Lennox in September 1547, while Somerset advanced by the east coast and routed the Scots at Pinkie Cleugh, made a diversion by invading the west marches with Lord Wharton at the head of five thousand men; and, having blown up the church and steeple of Annan and razed the town to the ground, he obtained the submission of the whole of Annandale, compelling the inhabitants to give pledges for their fidelity (Cal. State Papers, Scot. p. 68). He also took part in an invasion of Scotland in the following year (ib. p. 79). With the accession of Mary Tudor to the English throne, his star was in the ascendant, for his wife and he were special friends of the queen; but with Elizabeth on the throne the Lennox fortunes seemed to have reached their lowest ebb. Nothing was to be obtained through Elizabeth in the way of satisfying his main ambition—the recognition of his wife's eventual right to the succession to the English and Scottish crowns. Necessarily as regards England the main hope of Lennox and his wife was in the catholics; and without the same aid their chances in Scotland appeared still more hopeless than in England. Consequently their house at Temple Newsam, in Yorkshire, became more and more the centre of catholic intrigue in Britain. For the fulfilment of their main ambition, their hopes, especially after the death of Francis II of France, the husband of Mary Stuart, became concentrated on their eldest son, Henry Stewart, lord Darnley [q. v.]; for by his marriage to the young widowed queen of Scots, who also claimed to be rightful queen of England, he might secure to his and their descendants the unexampled honour of succession to both crowns.
When Arran in 1559 became a convert to protestantism, it was thought that the French party would do their utmost to win Lennox (ib. For. 1558–9, No. 1111), and in truth Lennox was only too willing to be won. On the death of Francis, he sent his servant Nesbitt to Scotland to treat regarding his return (ib. 1559–60, Nos. 467–8); and he afterwards defended himself to Elizabeth for doing so, on the ground that he was simply ‘travelling for his right’ (ib. No. 579)—that is, for the repeal of the sentence of forfeiture and restoration to his estates. With Mary in Scotland, his return thither became to him a still more engrossing object of desire; and although the mere thought of it so provoked and alarmed Elizabeth that in 1562 she sent him to the Tower, she in 1564 allowed herself to be persuaded—either through the flattery of the Lady Margaret, or by the influence of intrigues which it is now impossible to trace, or from a special freak or purpose of her own, which now baffles full explanation—to grant his request. An important point in his favour was probably the fact that both Moray and Maitland ‘were disposed rather to further than hinder his coming’ (ib. For. 1564–5, No. 557). Their reasons are not quite clear, but their lack of love for Châtelherault was one; and no doubt also Lennox had had private communication with them. They must have been well aware that his main purpose was to promote a marriage between Darnley and Mary. This they may have imagined beyond his attainment, at least without their sanction; and besides they had no personal knowledge either of Lennox or of Darnley, and, until they knew them, may have thought Darnley an eligible suitor for Mary.
Lennox arrived in Scotland in September 1564, and shortly afterwards, on the 22nd, he was released from the horn by open proclamation at the market cross of Edinburgh (Diurnal, p. 77). After this necessary preliminary, he on the 23rd rode with his attendants in gaudy style to Holyrood Palace, where he had an interview with the queen, and gave presents to her and the principal nobles (ib.) On 9 Oct. proclamation was made of his restoration to his lands and of the repeal of the doom of forfailture (ib. p. 78); and on the 27th he and Châtelherault were formally—but only formally—reconciled at Holyrood Palace. With the permission of Elizabeth, Darnley was soon afterwards permitted to come to Scotland; but when Elizabeth learned that the Queen of Scots had determined to marry Darnley, she on 10 June 1565 sent a belated and impotent summons to Lennox and Darnley to return to England (ib. p. 125).
After the marriage of Mary and Darnley, Lennox on 6 Sept. 1565 was appointed lieutenant over all the western counties (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 366); and on 10 Oct. he was named leader of the vanguard of the army against Moray and the rebel protestants (ib. p. 379); but during the remainder of his son's life he, although of necessity continuing to reside in Scotland, was little more than a political cipher. Notwithstanding his fervent attendance at mass in the queen's chapel (Knox, ii. 514), he probably lost the queen's regard even before his son did; and in fact there was a dispute between Mary and her husband as to whether Lennox or Bothwell should be commander of her forces against the rebels. His haughty manners provoked the resentment of most of the nobility, while, like his son, he lacked the qualities necessary to secure even toleration of his pretensions. Worst of all, he was neither wise enough nor in character strong enough to be a proper mentor to his son, over whom he speedily lost all control. His wife, who could have exercised a salutary influence over both son and husband, was detained a captive by Elizabeth, and could not hold free communication with them even from a distance.
Lennox was privy to the plot for the murder of Riccio; but it was of course without his knowledge that Darnley treacherously conspired with the queen for her escape; and thereanent he was reported to be ‘much offended with his son,’ as he well might be (Randolph to Cecil, 21 March 1566, Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1566–8, No. 205). Despised almost from the beginning by the queen, and almost equally with his son the object of her wrath, for his part in the plot against Riccio, Lennox was helpless to prevent the estrangement becoming a public scandal, but he had sufficient good sense to warn the queen in October of Darnley's purpose to leave the kingdom, and to inform her that it was not in his power to turn him from it (Le Croc to Bethune, 15 Oct. 1566, in Keith's History, ii. 450). He proved equally impotent to protect Darnley from the inevitable dangers that attended his stay in Scotland. Not only so, but it may have been through his unwise and blind advice that Darnley was lured into the toils which ended in his murder. After its occurrence, Lennox adopted an attitude at once prudent and determined. His wise restraint was probably due to the advice of others; his courage was always adequate for any demand upon it.
On 20 Feb. 1566–7 he addressed a letter to the queen begging her to call a meeting of the estates, that prompt measures might be taken for the discovery of the murderer (Keith, ii. 525); and it was only when he found that appeals to her were vain that, on 24 March, he formally accused Bothwell of the crime and demanded that he should be brought to trial. This demand it was impossible to pass by; but matters were so arranged that Lennox was unable to appear at the trial as Bothwell's accuser. Bothwell having filled the city with his own supporters, Lennox deemed it necessary to bring with him a force adequate for his protection; but when the queen learned that he was approaching the city with three thousand followers, she sent her commands to him at Linlithgow not to enter Edinburgh with more than six in his company (Cal. State Papers, For. 1566–8, No. 1097; Diurnal, p. 108). Not daring to place himself under the protection of Bothwell and the queen, Lennox sent his servant, Robert Cunningham, ‘to pursue in his name’ (ib.), but the substitute was not accepted, and, on the ground that no accuser had appeared, Bothwell was formally acquitted of the charge of murder and declared not guilty. On 29 April Lennox, deeming a longer stay in Scotland not only useless but unsafe, set sail from the west coast for England (ib. p. 109); but after the queen's surrender at Carberry Hill and imprisonment in Lochleven, he was on 23 June nominated regent provisionally (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 541), and he returned to Scotland in July. On the escape of Mary from Lochleven, he joined the lords who defeated her at Langside; and at the Westminster conference in November 1568 he appeared and delivered a paper in which he accused the Queen of Scots of conspiracy against the life of his son.
After the assassination of Moray, Lennox was on 16 June 1570 appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom; and on 12 July he was on the recommendation of Elizabeth—who, however, resolved to detain the Lady Margaret in England—chosen regent. With no party in Scotland was his election popular; and it so provoked the queen's sympathisers that in a parliament held at Linlithgow on 10 Aug., they declared their intention never to acknowledge him as regent, while Kirkcaldy of Grange resolved openly to espouse the cause of the queen, and to hold the castle of Edinburgh on her behalf. Huntly also assembled his forces and marched south to Brechin, but was on 18 Aug. surprised by Lennox, who was at least a good soldier, and completely defeated. Shortly afterwards he issued a proclamation against ‘the Earl of Huntly's calumnies,’ that he ‘was a sworn Englishman’ (summarised in Calderwood's History, iii. 9); and, proceeding westwards, he besieged the castle of Doune, which surrendered within three days. Elizabeth now sought to interpose to bring about an arrangement between the two parties, and on 14 Jan. 1571 an abstinence for two months was agreed upon; but during its continuance the Hamiltons seized the house of Paisley from Lord Sempill's servants, and Lennox, having appointed the lieges to meet him at Glasgow, defeated Hamilton and obtained its surrender on 12 Feb. On 2 April one of his followers, Captain Thomas Crawford [q. v.], by a daring feat of climbing, succeeded in capturing the all but impregnable stronghold of Dumbarton; and thus established the authority of the regent over all the west of Scotland. On 13 April Kirkcaldy published at the market cross of Edinburgh a public cartel against Lennox, and as a counter-move Lennox, having on 11 May arrived at Leith with a large force, on the 14th fortified a space at the head of the Canongate to enable him to hold a parliament within the freedom of Edinburgh. After various decrees of forfailture had been passed, the parliament was adjourned until August at Stirling, and while the chief nobility of the regent's party were assembled there, the town early on the morning of 4 Sept. was surprised by an armed party sent by Grange from Edinburgh. Many of the nobility, including the regent, were taken prisoners; but while a portion of the raiders had dispersed in quest of plunder, a rescue was effected by Mar, and the party put to flight, although not before the regent had been stabbed in the back by Captain Calder.
Mortally wounded, Lennox rode back to the castle, and died at four o'clock in the afternoon (4 Sept. 1571) after commending the young king to the care of the assembled lords, and beseeching Mar to carry a last message of love to his wife. He was buried in the chapel royal of Stirling. George Buchanan, who had so warmly espoused the cause of the murdered son, commemorated the father in a Latin epitaph. By Lady Margaret Douglas, Lennox had four sons and four daughters; but of these only two sons survived infancy: Henry, lord Darnley [q. v.], and Charles, who, the earldom of Lennox being on the death of the regent vested in James VI, succeeded to the lordship of Darnley with all the family estates and heritable jurisdictions. He married, in 1574, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Cavendish [q. v.] (and sister of William, first earl of Devonshire), by whom he had an only daughter, Lady Arabella Stuart [see Arabella]; the fifth earl died in London in 1576, aged 20, and was buried in Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey.
[Letters and Papers, Henry VIII; Cal. State Papers, temp. Eliz. Domestic, Foreign, Spanish, and Venetian Series; Hamilton Papers; Sadler Papers; Reg. P. C. Scotl. vols. i–ii.; Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1543–80; Histories by Knox, Lindsay of Pitscottie, Bishop Leslie, Buchanan, Calderwood, Keith, and Spotiswoode; Diurnal of Occurrents; History of James the Sext, Melville's Memoirs and Richard Bannatyne Memorials (all in the Bannatyne Club); Lord Herries's Memoirs in the Abbotsford Club; Sir William Fraser's Lennox; see also under Lady Margaret Douglas.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.258
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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