344 SUTHERLAND. XII. 1507. /..'. Alkxandku (Gordon), Earl of Sutherland [S.], 2.1 and yst. and only Btirv, s. anil l>y second wife ; 6. at Tarnawny, Midsummer 1552 ; sue. to the ptera</e,( b ) [S.] 23 June 1567; hit wardship being Bold to his father's rival, tin* Karl of Caithness, who appears to have designed his death (') but {mm whom he escaped in 1569, anil was enfeoffed in his Earldom, 27 July 1573. He resigned the saint 1 in favour of his s. and h. ap. reserving his life rent and received a royal novodamtu, 23 March 15S0, accordingly ; Sheriff of Sutherland, 1560. He m. firstly, Barbara, 1st da. of his said guardian, George [BlXCLAlfc), Haul OP Caithness [S. 1 , by Elizabeth; da. of William (Uhaham), 2.1 E*«* Of MOHTHOSB [8.] Her, lie divorced in 1573 ( ,: ) He m. secondly, J8 Dec. 1573, at Strathbogio, Jean, the repudiated wife •) of the well known James (HbpBHBX), Kaiii. 0* BOTBWELI [8.J, 2d da. of George (GonDOX), 4th K.wn. ok Htnti.t [S.], by Elizabeth, da. of Robert (Keith), Loud Keith [SL] He d. at Dunrobin, 8 Dec. 1594, in his 43rd year, sod was bur. at Dornoch. (') His widow »». thirdly (contract 1599) Alexander OniLYT, of Boyne, whom she survived for many years, and d. 14 May 1629, in her 84th year.(<J XIII. 1591. 13. John (Cordon), Earl of Sutherland [S.J, l.~t s-. and h.( h ) i b. 20 July 1576 ; sue. to the petrtu/t [S.l 0 Dec. 1594, in his 19th year : bore the sword before the King [S.] in parL 1697. He, after resignation, obtained 29 April 1601, a nnvndamttt of the Earldom in favour, failing heirs male of his body, of his br. Hubert Gordon and other members of that family. He m. 1 Feb. 1600, at Edinburgh, Agnes, 1st da. of Alexander ElI'BIXstuxb, 4th LOHD Ku'HINstosb [S.]. by Jean, da. of William (Livingstone), Loud Livingstone [S .]. He (/. of* bloody flux, at Dornoch, 11 Sep. 1615, aged 39('). His widow d. 18 Sep. 1017, at C'racock, aged 36 ( k ) (") John, his elder br., <(. an infant. ( b ) He is the first of these Earls, who is described (as are all the succeeding ones) as " Lord of Strathiiaver " iu Gordon's " Hut. Suth." which district he acquired from the Karl of Ilnntly- See p. 292, note, " b," sub " Strathiiaver." ( c ) Lord Caithness's scheme was to many his second Bon to Margaret, eldest sister of Karl Alexander, which lady would have then been heir to her brother's Earldom of Sutherland. [Gordon's " Hist. Suth."] (<*) " Ane unfitt match indeid, a youth of 15 mareid to a woman of 32 yeirs ; but a match fitt enough to cover her incontioance and ivil lyff, which shoe led with V- Macky, for the which shoe wes afterwanls divorced from Karle Alexander." [Gordon's 11 Hist. Suth."] This was in 1573 in which year, before 13 Dec, she died. ( e ) Her marriage was annulled, 7 May 1567, as being between parties within the 4th degree of consanguinity, by which means the Earl was left free to marry Mary, Queen of Scots. (') " A most assured performer of his word . . . verie constant and resolute in the prosecution of his purposes . . . verie upright id all actions, unfitt for these of our dayes." [Gordon's " Hist. Suth."] (t) " A vertuous and comlie Lady, judicious, of excellent memorie and of great understanding above the capacitie of her sex . . . Shoe alwise managed her etl'airS with so great prudence and forsight that the enemies of her familie culd never prevails against her," [Gordon's " Hist. Suth," where, as an instance, is mentioned that sue continued uninterruptedly to enjoy her dower from the Karldom of Bothwell, tho' that dignity had twice been forfeited during the period.] She was "a Papist," and, late in life, was excommunicated. (•') The 4th 8. was Sir Robert Gordon, of Gordonstoun, the historian of the family. See p. 341, note "a." He was b. 14 May 1580, and was cr. a Baronet of Nova Scotia (being the first of that order) 28 May 1625, and d. 1656 aged 76, leaving issue, of which Sir Kobert, the 4th Bart {d. 1772) claimed, in 1766, the Karldom of Sutherland His male line, however, became extinct on the death of his yst. s., Sir William, the 6th Bart, 5 March 1 795, aged 56, who also was the last, of the issue male of the 1st Bart and even of Adam Gordon, the first of the house of Gordon who was Earl of Sutherland, inasmuch as, at his death, the heir male of him, the said William, was found to be descended from a younger brother of the said Karl Adam. (') Gordon {"Hist. Suth.") after giving him the good character he usually bestows on any of that race, says that he died much in debt, incurred iu lawsuits and iu "scttiDg up of some salt-panus at Broray." ( k ) " A ladie of good inclination, of a ineik disposition and verie provident. [Gordon's " MM. Sulk."]
