The Raid of Ruthven was a
political conspiracy
This is a list of political conspiracies. In a political context, a conspiracy refers to a group of people united in the goal of damaging, usurping, or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power throug ...
in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
which took place on 22 August 1582. It was composed of several
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
nobles, led by
William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, 4th Lord of Ruthven (c. 1541May 1584) was a Scottish peer known for devising the Raid of Ruthven.
Life and career
William Ruthven was born in 1541 in Ruthven Castle, in Perthshire, Scotland, the son of Patr ...
, who abducted
King James VI of Scotland
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
. The nobles intended to reform the government of Scotland and limit the influence of French and pro-Catholic policy, and to prevent or manage the return of
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
from England. Their short-lived rule is known as the "Ruthven" or "Gowrie Regime".
Scottish coup d'état
Ruthven Castle
In July 1582 the discontented lords made a bond to support each other in their enterprise to displace Catholic influences around the young king. Their party became known as the "Lords Enterprisers", their opponents were the King's favourite, the French
Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox
Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Earl of Lennox, 6th Seigneur d'Aubigny, (26 May 1583) of the Château d'Aubigny at Aubigny-sur-Nère in the ancient province of Berry, France, was a Roman Catholic French nobleman of Scottish ancestry ...
, and
James Stewart, Earl of Arran
Captain James Stewart, Earl of Arran (died 1595) was created Earl of Arran by the young King James VI, who wrested the title from James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran. He rose to become Lord Chancellor of Scotland and was eventually murdered in ...
, who shared control of the government. James VI was seized while hunting near the castle of Ruthven in
Perthshire
Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...
on 22 (or 23) August. The 17th-century historian
David Calderwood
David Calderwood (157529 October 1650) was a Church of Scotland minister and historian. Calderwood was banished for his nonconformity. He found a home in the Low Countries, where he wrote his great work, the Altare Damascenum. It was a serious ...
named the Ruthven Raiders as the Earls of
Mar
Mar, mar or MAR may refer to:
Culture
* Mar or Mor, an honorific in Syriac
* Earl of Mar, an earldom in Scotland
* MAA (singer) (born 1986), Japanese
* Marathi language, by ISO 639-2 language code
* March, as an abbreviation for the third month ...
and
Gowrie
Gowrie ( gd, Gobharaidh) is a region in central Scotland and one of the original Provinces of Scotland, provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It covered the eastern part of what became Perthshire. It was located to the immediate east of Atholl, an ...
, the
Master of Glamis, the Laird of Easter-Wemyss,
Lewis Bellenden
Sir Lewis Bellenden of Auchnole and Broughton (c. 1552 – 27 August 1591, in Edinburgh), was the eldest son of Sir John Bellenden of Auchnole & Broughton, whom he succeeded as Lord Justice Clerk on 15 March 1577.
Career
He was knighted about 1577 ...
,
Lord Boyd,
Lord Lindsay,
the Abbot of Dunfermline,
David Erskine, Commendator of Dryburgh
David Erskine, Commandator of Dryburgh was a Scottish landowner.
He was a son of Robert Erskine, Master of Erskine, a brother of John Erskine, Lord Erskine, and Jean Home.
In 1556 his uncle, the Earl of Mar, installed him as Commendator of Drybur ...
, the
Abbot of Paisley
The Abbot of Paisley (later Commendator of Paisley; Prior of Paisley before 1219) was the head of the Cluniac monastic community of Paisley Abbey and its property. The monastery was founded as a priory at Renfrew in 1163, but moved to Paisley in 1 ...
, the Prior of Pittenween, and the
Constable of Dundee.
To prevent a rescue attempt by the Duke of Lennox's soldiers, the Earl of Mar stationed an armed force at
Kinross
Kinross (, gd, Ceann Rois) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the historic county of Kinross-shire.
History
Kinross's origins are connect ...
to break their march north. The Earl of Arran's brother,
William Stewart reached Ruthven and fought the raiders, lost two fingers and was captured. Arran himself arrived and was captured. The Ruthven lords presented the King with a lengthy "supplication" explaining the motives of their surprise action, dated 23 August. Some sources including the letters of
Robert Bowes, an English diplomat sent to Scotland after the event, state the King was captured at Ruthven Castle on 23 August.
The King was held and controlled by the Ruthven Lords for almost a year, and was moved around a number of houses. He was taken to Perth the next day, where the earl of Gowrie had a large townhouse, as Provost of the town.
David Moysie
David Moysie () was a Scottish notary public, known as the author of the ''Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, 1577–1603''.Also Moise, Moyses, Mosey.
Life
He was by profession a writer and notary public. A notarial attestation of a lease by hi ...
wrote that the lords gave him their "supplication" at Perth, then he was taken to
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...
at the end of August. At Stirling the Ruthven party was swelled by
Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, the
Earl of Glencairn
Earl of Glencairn was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1488 for Alexander Cunningham, 1st Lord Kilmaurs (created 1450). The name was taken from the parish of Glencairn in Dumfriesshire so named for the Cairn Waters which run ...
and Laurence, Master of Oliphant, and their retainers to the number of 400.
Copies of relevant papers, such as the Lords's "supplication" of 23 August 1582 and Lennox's protest, "D'Obany's petition", were given by
John Colville to Robert Bowes and sent to England, where they remain in the
Public Record Office
The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was m ...
.
Ruthven Castle's name was officially changed to
Huntingtower in 1600 after the
Gowrie House conspiracy.
Opponents of the Regime
The earl of Gowrie remained at the head of the government assisted by figures like the
Master of Glamis. The king's favourite Esmé Stewart, Duke of Lennox, the main politician targeted by the coup, was sent to
Dumbarton Castle
Dumbarton Castle ( gd, Dùn Breatainn, ; ) has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Scotland. It sits on a volcanic plug of basalt known as Dumbarton Rock which is high and overlooks the Scottish town of Dumbarton.
History
Dumba ...
, then forced into exile in France, after lingering at
Rothesay Castle
Rothesay Castle is a ruined castle in Rothesay, the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in western Scotland. Located at , the castle has been described as "one of the most remarkable in Scotland", for its long history dating back to the beginn ...
on the
Island of Bute
The Isle of Bute ( sco, Buit; gd, Eilean Bhòid or '), known as Bute (), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault.
Formerly a constituent is ...
, and died in Paris in May 1583. Another prominent politician, the recently ennobled James Stewart, Earl of Arran, was imprisoned at Dupplin, Stirling, Ruthven (Huntingtower), then confined at his own
Kinneil House
Kinneil House is a historic house to the west of Bo'ness in east-central Scotland. It was once the principal seat of the Duke of Hamilton, Hamilton family in the east of Scotland. The house was saved from demolition in 1936 when 16th-century mu ...
.
Among the rest of the nobility, the Ruthven regime was opposed by the Earls of Huntly, Crawford, Morton (Maxwell) and Sutherland, and the Lords Livingston,
Seton, Ogilvy,
Ochiltree
Ochiltree is a conservation village in East Ayrshire, Scotland, near Auchinleck and Cumnock. It is one of the oldest villages in East Ayrshire, with archaeological remains indicating Stone Age and Bronze Age settlers. A cinerary urn was found in ...
and Doune, all of whom were reported to support Arran and Lennox.
Policy
![Portrait of James I of England and James VI of Scotland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Portrait_of_James_I_of_England_and_James_VI_of_Scotland.jpg)
The resultant Gowrie regime favoured what has been described as an ultra-
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
regime and was approved by the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivray ...
as the 'late act of the
Scottish reformation
The Scottish Reformation was the process by which Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland broke with the Pope, Papacy and developed a predominantly Calvinist national Church of Scotland, Kirk (church), which was strongly Presbyterianism, Presbyterian in ...
'. The Regime was approved by influential ministers of the Kirk of Scotland from the pulpit. These churchmen were called "Melvillians" after their spokesman
Andrew Melville
Andrew Melville (1 August 1545 – 1622) was a Scottish scholar, theologian, poet and religious reformer. His fame encouraged scholars from the European continent to study at Glasgow and St. Andrews.
He was born at Baldovie, on 1 August 154 ...
. The noble leaders of the regime also included those who were "discomfited" by the fall of
James Douglas, Regent Morton in 1581, and the Douglas family, who had been exiled in England, were re-instated on 28 September 1582.
The coup was also prompted by an urge to curb excessive spending at court. Because of its extravagance, the Earl of Gowrie as
Lord High Treasurer of Scotland
The Treasurer was a senior post in the pre- Union government of Scotland, the Privy Council of Scotland.
Lord Treasurer
The full title of the post was ''Lord High Treasurer, Comptroller, Collector-General and Treasurer of the New Augmentation'', ...
was owed £48,000
Pound Scots
The pound (Modern and Middle Scots: ''Pund'') was the currency of Scotland prior to the 1707 Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was introduced by David I, ...
. This debt was never repaid. A number of cost-saving measures for the royal household were proposed by Gowrie and his
exchequer
In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's ''current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government reven ...
colleagues. These were described as "havand respect to the order of the hous of your hieness goudsire King James the fifth of worthie memorie and to the of your majesties present rents," a reference to the thriftiness of
James V
James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, and duri ...
.
Queen Elizabeth was pleased with events and sent £1000 in September 1582 with Robert Bowes, a payment declared as the wages of the King's Guard. In response, the opponents of the Ruthven Regime, the Earls of Huntley, Argyll, Atholl, Crawford, Montrose, Arran, Lennox and Sutherland, wrote a letter from Dunkeld (near Atholl's
Blair Castle
Blair Castle (in Scottish Gaelic: Caisteil Bhlàir) stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl, ...
) to the town of Edinburgh describing this force, funded by England, as four hundred men-of-war raised for the purpose of conveying James VI to their "auld enemies" in England. They urged the townspeople of Edinburgh to arm themselves and seize the King, who was at
Holyroodhouse
The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace or Holyroodhouse, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh ...
, on their behalf. The people of Edinburgh did not follow up on this suggestion.
The reaction of
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster".
Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wals ...
was more circumspect. He wrote to the
Earl of Shrewsbury
Earl of Shrewsbury () is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland ...
, the keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots, with news of progress in Scotland on 26 September 1582. Walsingham thought that 'thinges stand not yet in so good termes as were to be wished.' He found King James' own letters, and his speech in favour of the
Duke of Lennox
The title Duke of Lennox has been created several times in the peerage of Scotland, for Clan Stewart of Darnley. The dukedom, named for the district of Lennox in Dumbarton, was first created in 1581, and had formerly been the Earldom of Lenn ...
made at Stirling on 14 September, to demonstrate 'of what rare towardliness that yonge prince is, and howe dangerous an enemye therefore he would prove unto England yf he should happen to runne to any other coorse.'
Colonel William Stewart was sent as ambassador by the regime to England in April 1583 to ask for £10,000 and yearly £5000 as an income from the English lands of
Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox
Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox (21 September 1516 – 4 September 1571) was a leader of the Catholic nobility in Scotland. He was the paternal grandfather of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. He owned Temple Newsam in Yorkshire, E ...
, and for the ratification and renewal of the 1560
Treaty of Edinburgh
The Treaty of Edinburgh (also known as the Treaty of Leith) was a treaty drawn up on 5 July 1560 between the Commissioners of Queen Elizabeth I of England with the assent of the Scottish Lords of the Congregation, and the French representatives o ...
. The Colonel was to enquire discreetly after the succession to the English throne. Robert Bowes, the English diplomat, stayed in Edinburgh and followed events. As it seemed opportune, he was instructed by
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster".
Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wals ...
to seek out the
casket letters
The Casket letters were eight letters and some sonnets said to have been written by Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Earl of Bothwell, between January and April 1567. They were produced as evidence against Queen Mary by the Scottish lords who opposed ...
which had been used to incriminate Queen Mary in 1568, but the Earl of Gowrie refused to hand them over.
Gowrie was also courted by France, receiving in February 1583 an offer of a yearly pension of 100,000 crowns for the state, 2000 crowns personally, and a lump sum of 10,000 crowns. Two French ambassadors, La Mothe and Maineville, hoped to secure French influence over James's choice of bride. James VI heard the French embassy of La Mothe in the presence of
William Davidson William or Bill Davidson may refer to:
Businessmen
* Bill Davidson (businessman) (1922–2009), Michigan businessman and sports team owner
** William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan, named in honor of Bill Davidson
* William Davidson ( ...
who would later deliver Mary, Queen of Scots death warrant.
Failure of the Gowrie Regime
Gowrie's regime was ineffectually supported by
Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
and her Secretary Walsingham. After ten months, the king gained his freedom at
St Andrews
St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...
in July 1583. James VI first stayed at the New Inns of St Andrews but was persuaded to sleep in
St Andrews Castle
St Andrews Castle is a ruin located in the coastal Royal Burgh of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. The castle sits on a rocky promontory overlooking a small beach called Castle Sands and the adjoining North Sea. There has been a castle standing a ...
. The faction opposed to the Gowrie regime was there in strength, and the Lords Enterprisers were dismissed from court, and a number of their followers who were salaried court servants were sacked. James VI went to Stirling and
Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace, in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a royal palace of the Scottish Kings. It was one of the favourite places of Mary, Queen of Scots, providing an escape from political and religious turmoil. Today it is under the stewardship of ...
, then joined Arran for a banquet at Kinneil House on 13 November, and returned to Edinburgh. The Earl of Arran gained a brief ascendancy over
Scottish affairs
''Scottish Affairs'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering Scottish politics. It was established in 1992 and has been published by Edinburgh University Press since 2014. It is the successor to the ''Scottish Government Yearbooks'', whic ...
. The earl of Gowrie was pardoned, but kept plotting and was later
beheaded
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
for
high treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
. In November 1585, however, Arran himself was removed from public affairs.
As Queen Elizabeth was displeased by the fall of the Ruthven Regime, Walsingham was sent as ambassador to Scotland in September 1583. He spoke to James VI at Perth, and was convinced that Queen Mary's influence was dominant in Scotland, and working to the young king's confusion. He wrote to Elizabeth that Mary, "though she cannot live many years" would see his overthrow. James VI had not enjoyed the Ruthven government. Walsingham found the King unable to take his complaints seriously, and he laughed at Walsingham, "falling into a distemperture", telling him that he was an "absolute King" and would order his subjects as he would "best lyke himself."
Arran and the Earl of Crawford hired Kate the Witch to disrupt Walsingham's visit, with £6 and a length of plaid cloth. She stood outside the royal palaces complaining about the amity with England, the kirk, and the nobility.
Last of the Oliphants
Two of those implicated in the Raid, the eldest son of the Chief of
Clan Oliphant
Clan Oliphant is a Highland Scottish clan.
History
Origins of the clan
Although this remains the subject of ongoing research the earliest member of this Clan known to date is Roger Olifard, who witnessed a foundation charter to the Clunic prio ...
, Laurence Master of Oliphant, and his brother-in-law
Robert Douglas, Master of Morton, were exiled in 1584. The ship in which they sailed to France was lost at sea, and it was rumoured that their ship had been captured by a Dutch ship and they were killed in the fighting or drowned with their ship. Later, there were reports that they had been sold to a Turkish slave ship. In 1589, a Scot, James Hudson, with the Scottish ambassador, appealed to Francis Walsingham for his help finding the men, reported to be slaves in the castle of
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
. In 1601, Robert Oliphant went to Algiers to look for his kinsmen, carrying a letter of introduction to Sultan
Mehmed III
Mehmed III (, ''Meḥmed-i sālis''; tr, III. Mehmed; 26 May 1566 – 22 December 1603) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. Mehmed was known for ordering the execution of his brothers and leading the army in the L ...
written by Queen Elizabeth, who also recommended her ambassador John Wroth help the search.
A plaque to their memory was raised in the English church in Algiers. The 17th-century historian of the Douglas family,
David Hume of Godscroft
David Hume or Home of Godscroft (1558–1629) was a Scottish historian and political theorist, poet and controversialist, a major intellectual figure in Jacobean Scotland. It has been said that "Hume marks the culmination of the Scottish humani ...
laid the blame for their loss on Robert's mother,
Agnes Leslie, Countess of Morton
Agnes Leslie, Countess of Morton (born after 1541 – c. 1606) was a Scottish noblewoman, being the daughter of George Leslie, 4th Earl of Rothes as well as a great-granddaughter of King James II. She was the wife of William Douglas, 6th Earl ...
, for her attempt in 1584 to prevent them supporting the Earl of Gowrie, which was considered misguided.
[Reid, David, ed. (2005), ''David Hume of Godscroft's History of the House of Angus'', vol. 2, STS, p. 313]
See also
*
John Colville
*
Robert Boyd, 5th Lord Boyd
Robert Boyd, 5th Lord Boyd (c. 1517 – 3 January 1590) was a Scottish noble and courtier.
Biography
Robert was the only son and heir of Robert, 4th Lord Boyd. He was born about 1517, and first appears in the historical record on 5 May 1534, wh ...
References
{{reflist
The Ruthven Raid
External links
Moysie, David, ''Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland'', vol.1 Bannatyne Club (1830)Stevenson, Joseph, ed., ''Correspondence of Robert Bowes, the ambassador of Queen Elizabeth in the court of Scotland'', Surtees Society (1842)
16th century in Scotland
1582 in Scotland
1583 in Scotland
History of Perth and Kinross
James VI and I