Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 4.djvu/295

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HUNTLY.
297

to death 8 Feb. 1562/3, and imprisoned at Dunbar till, on 28 Aug. 1565, he was restored to the Lordship of Gordon[1] and, on 8 Oct. following, to the Earldom of Huntly and all the lands[2] and dignities of his late father, becoming thus FALL OF HUNTLY [S.] He was High Chancellor [S.], 23 March 1595. He was in close alliance with the notorious Earl of Bothwell [S.] whom he assisted in all his measures, even so far as in getting a divorce for him from his own sister so as to enable him to marry the Queen. He signed the bond to support James VI. [S.], 1767, and carried the sceptre at the first Parl., 5 Dec. 1567. but in 1568 joined the association for Queen Mary and raised forces for her. He was proclaimed a traitor by the Regent Lennox but submitted and was pardoned at the treaty of Peith, 23 Feb. 1572/3. He m. before 21 March 1548) Anne (sister of his brothers wife above mentioned), 3d da. of James (Hamilton), 2d Earl. of Arran [S.], Due de Chatelllherault in France, the well known Regent [S.], by Margaret, da. of James (Douglas), 1st Earl. of Morton [S.] She was living 17 April 1574. He d. suddenly at Strathbogie[3] in May 1576.

VI. 1576Marquesate [S.]I. 1599. 1 and 6. George (Gordon), Earl of Huntly [S.] only s. and h., b. about 1563; suc to the Earldom [S.] in May 1576. He was Capt of the Gaurd in 1588, but in or before that year, entered into treasonable correspondence with Spain, raising a rebellion in 158U9which was defeated and another in 1594 in which he defeated the Royal troops of 7,000 men. He had, between these actions, been trusted with the Royal Commission against the Earl of Bothwell [S.] in 1591 under colour whereof he contrived the murder, 7 Feb. 1591/2, of his personal enemy James (Stewart), Earl of Moray [S.][4] Being, however, in great favour with the King (from whom he in 15S7 had had a grant of the Abbacy of Dunfermline) he was cr.,[5] 17 April 1599 MARQUESS[6], OF HUNTLY, EARL OF EN'ZIE, and LORD GORDON OF BADENOCH [S.] Tho' apparently always of the old faith and intriguing for its restoration, he twice (1610 and 1616) made profession of the new creed. In 1630 he was compelled to give up (for £5,000) the heritable Sheriffships of Aberdeen and Inverness, his power being considered too great for any one man. He m., 21 July 15SS, Henrietta, 1st da. of Esme (Stuart, 1st DUKE OK LENNOX [S.], by Katharine, 9th and yst. child of Guillaume de Balsac, Seigneur D'En'ragnee, by Louise D'Hduiekes, his wife.[7] He d. at Dundee, 13 June 16?6, in his 74th year, and was bur. from Strathbogie at Elgin. His widow, who was b. in France 1570, d. there 2 Sep. 1642, and was bur., (in her mother's grave) at Lyons.


  1. (a) This apparently means the peerage Barony of Gordon probably, at that time, considered as having devolved with the Earldom. See, however, p. 50, note "d." sub "Gordon."
  2. (b) The restoration of the lands awaited the ratification of Parl, which was not obtained till 19 April 1567.
  3. (c) From apoplexy, according to the author of the "House of Gordon," but Bannatyne "Memorials," pp. 333-38), treats of it as a sort of judgment for the share he took in Darnley's murder, he vomiting blood "black like soot," &c.
  4. (d) "He was stabbed to death. Huntly struck him the last blow in the face with his dagger whereupon Moray upbraided him with having spoilt a better face than his own. The incident of Moray's murder is the theme of the old ballad 'The bonnie Earl of Moray.' The outrage provoked such an outburst of indignation that Huntly deemed it desirable to retire to his own dominions." [Nat Biogr., sub "Gordon."
  5. (e) The occasion was the baptism of the Lady Margaret Stuart, the second da. of the King. At the same time Lord John Hamilton was cr. Marquess of Hamilton [S.] See full account of this ceremony in Nisbet's "Heraldry," vol. ii, p. 163. See also p, 141 of this vol., note "a," sub " Hamilton."
  6. (f) Riddell (p. 873) observes "The title of Marquis was known to us as early as the 29th of Jan. 1487, which is the date of the constitution of the Marquisate of Ormond a locality in Scotland as well as in Ireland." Sir Robert Gordon in his "Earldom of Sutherland" (p. 230) states that the Earl of Huntly having been with the Earls of Angus and Erroll restored by Parl. in 1597 to his honours was in 1599 "honored with the heretable title and dignitie of Marquis, whereat the Earl of Angus much repyned."
  7. (g) See "the Stuarts of Aubigny," by Lady Elizabeth Cust 4to, 1891.