James Hamilton | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The Duke of Châtellerault wearing the collar of theOrder of St Michael | |
| Tenure | 1529–1575 |
| Predecessor | James, 1st Earl of Arran |
| Successor | James, 3rd Earl of Arran |
| Born | c. 1519 |
| Died | 22 January 1575 Hamilton Castle,Lanarkshire, Scotland |
| Spouse | Margaret Douglas |
| Issue Detail | James,John,Claud,Anne & others |
| Father | James, 1st Earl of Arran |
| Mother | Janet Bethune |
James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Châtellerault, 2nd Earl of Arran (c. 1519 – 22 January 1575), was aScottish nobleman andRegent of Scotland during the minority ofMary, Queen of Scots from 1543 to 1554. At first pro-English andProtestant, he converted toCatholicism in 1543 and supported a pro-French policy. He reluctantly agreed toMary's marriage toFrancis, eldest son of KingHenry II of France, and was rewarded by Henry by being madeDuke of Châtellerault in 1549. During theScottish Reformation, he joined the ProtestantLords of the Congregation to oppose the regency ofMary of Guise.
James Hamilton was born about 1519 inHamilton inLanarkshire.[1] He was the eldest legitimate son ofJames Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran by his second wife, Janet Beaton (or Bethune).[2] His paternal grandmother,Mary, was the eldest daughter of KingJames II. His father's family descended fromWalter FitzGilbert, the founder of theHouse of Hamilton,[3] who had received the barony ofCadzow fromRobert the Bruce.[4] His mother was the daughter ofSir David Beaton of Creich. She was the widow of Robert Livingstone of Easter Wemyss, and the second wife of the 1st Earl of Arran. They had married in 1516.[5][6]
In 1529 he succeeded his father asEarl of Arran while still a minor.[6] He was made a ward ofJames Hamilton of Finnart, his illegitimate elder half-brother.[7]
In 1532 Lord Arran marriedMargaret Douglas, who was about ten years older than him. She was a daughter ofJames Douglas, 3rd Earl of Morton, and Catherine Stewart, herself a natural daughter ofJames IV.[8] The marriage was arranged by James Hamilton of Finnart. Margaret Douglas was given the house and lands ofKinneil House for her lifetime should her husband die before her. James Hamilton of Finnart paid Morton 4,000marks as part of the marriage settlement.[9]
James and Margaret had five sons:
— and three daughters:
In 1544 Arran tried to divorce his wife. She seemed to have been suffering of poor mental health. Significantly two of their sons, James and Claud, later became insane.[23]
An inventory of a chest of Margaret Douglas's clothes includes a purple velvet night gown with goldpassementerie lined with red taffeta, a gown of black cloth of gold with goldpassementerie lined with black taffeta, and other gowns and kirtles.[24]
In 1536, on the death ofJohn Stewart, Duke of Albany, grandson of KingJames II, Lord Arran, came to be next in line to the throne after the King's descendants. Several of the children of the immediate royal family proved to be short-lived, so on the death of KingJames V on 14 December 1542, theEarl of Arran stood next in line to the Scottish throne after the king's six-day-old daughterMary, Queen of Scots, for whom Arran was appointedGovernor and Protector of Scotland.[25] In 1543, supporters ofMatthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, challenged Arran's claim and legitimacy by suggesting that his father's divorce and second marriage were invalid.[26][27]
Initially, Arran was aProtestant and a member of the pro-English party. In 1543 he helped to negotiate the marriage of the young Queen Mary toEdward, son of KingHenry VIII of England, who hadbroken with Rome. In the same year, he authorised thetranslation and reading of the Bible in the vernacular.[28] On 27 January 1543 he arrestedCardinal Beaton, who favoured theAuld Alliance. Beaton was imprisoned atDalkeith Palace and thenBlackness Castle. Acting on pro-English advice, in March 1543 Arran prevented Mary of Guise from moving Mary, Queen of Scots fromLinlithgow toStirling Castle.[29]
However, Henry VIII doubted Arran's commitment to English policy and wanted him deposed. On 18 March 1543, Arran met the English ambassador,Ralph Sadler, in the garden atHolyrood Palace.[30] Later that dayGeorge Douglas of Pittendreich, brother ofLord Angus, told Sadler, that despite their successes:
if there be any motion now to take the Governor from his state, and to bring the government of this realm to the king of England, I assure you it is impossible to be done at this time. For, there is not so little a boy but that he will hurl stones against it, and the wives will handle their distaffs, and the commons universally will rather die in it, yea, and many noblemen and all the clergy be fully against it.[31]
Regent Arran celebrated the Treaty of Greenwich at theHolyrood Abbey on 25 August 1543.[32] However, in September Arran turned around. He secretly met Cardinal Beaton atCallendar House and reconciled himself with his former enemy. Shortly after he becameCatholic and joined the pro-French faction.[33][34] Around this timeFriar Mark Hamilton wrote a history of the Hamilton family.[35][36] Arran made penance for his "godly fit" at the Franciscan Friary in Stirling. Mary, Queen of Scots, wascrowned at Stirling on 9 September.[37]
Arran capturedDalkeith Castle in November 1543, but failed to capture the pro-EnglishGeorge Douglas. In December, theParliament of Scotland declared theTreaty of Greenwich void due to shipping incidents.[38] The seven-year war with England now called theRough Wooing was declared on 20 December 1543. Arran spent Christmas withMary of Guise atStirling Castle where they played cards.[39] The declaration of war was brought byHenry Ray to give to Parliament. Arran replied that the parliament was dissolved, and so he thought it expedient not to answer Henry VIII on the points raised at the time.[40]
In 1544 an attempt was made to transfer the regency from him to Mary of Guise. A convention of nobility at Stirling in June suggested she should be regent instead.[41] Conflict seemed possible, but Arran when fortified Edinburgh her forces retired.[42] Later, in March 1545, he agreed to abandon some of his responsibilities to her and she formed an advisory council. Arran and Cardinal Beaton decided to act against the Earl of Lennox and besiegedGlasgow Castle in March 1544.[43]
In June 1547 Arran gathered a large army to expel the English fromLangholm and the surrounding area.[44] He had a banner made from taffeta decorated with gold foil and colours, and another banner for his trumpeter. Horses dragged the artillery and carts laden with cannonballs and tents out of Edinburgh Castle. The guns were dragged toward Langholm with oxen.[45] Arran had an armoured "jack" covered with purple taffeta, then changed his mind, choosing purple velvet.[46] A Scottish spy, David Maitland, who signed himself "Ye Wait Quha" wrote of the preparations toThomas Wharton, that it was "the starkest host and the monest, and with the best order that wes sen Flodwn", that is, "the strongest host and most numerous, in the best order since Flodden."[47]
In September 1547 Arran assembled a large Scottish army to resist an English invasion led byEdward Seymour, Duke of Somerset but was defeated at thebattle of Pinkie.[48] He was forced to abandon some of his clothes at the battlefield.[49] He nevertheless held onto the regency and continued to lead forces against the occupying troops. For two weeks in February 1548, Arran led a campaign inTeviotdale withMonsieur d'Essé to recaptureFerniehirst Castle and punish borderers. He held discussions atJedburgh withNicolas Durand de Villegaignon over the site and financing of a new fort.[50]
Arran reluctantly agreed in July 1548 to Mary's marriage toFrancis, eldest son ofHenry II of France. Henry II, by theTreaty of Haddington claimed to be Protector of Scotland,[51] and rewarded Arran by making himDuke of Châtellerault on 8 February 1549 and a knight of theOrder of Saint Michael.[52]
On 19 April 1550, Regent Arran and hisPrivy Council made legislation about foodstuffs and rising prices. The people of Scotland were to reduce their diets and banqueting. Prices were set for wild birds and rabbits, swans would be 5 shillings, plovers 5 pence. River birds including herons and ducks were to be caught by hawking. It was forbidden to shoot deer or birds for the table with "half hag or culverin or pistolate". These acts were ratified by Parliament.[53]
Arran came to the north of Scotland in 1552, visiting Aberdeen,Dunnotar Castle, andHuntly Castle where his daughter Barbara Hamilton lived with the family of her husband Alexander, Lord Gordon. He held "justice ayres" or courts and was accompanied by musicians, much like a Scottish monarch on progress.[54]
In 1554, Châtellerault, as he was now, surrendered the regency to Mary of Guise, and was appointed her lieutenant in Scotland.[55] He gave up the regency on the condition that he would be Queen Mary's heir if she died childless. The Scottish succession, however, had been secretly promised to France.
Châtellerault was still recognised as a significant figure in Scotland. In September 1557,Philip II of Spain, as the husband ofMary I of England sentChristophe d'Assonleville to broker peace between Scotland and England. Assonleville was instructed to speak to Mary of Guise, the Duke of Châtellerault, and representatives of Edinburgh. He was also instructed to speak with Châtellerault about amicable relations between the Scots and their Flemish trading partners. Assonleville's instructions still include his former title of "governor", though "lieutenant" was now correct.[56]
In the first months of theScottish Reformation, Châtellerault continued to support Mary of Guise. He faced a Protestant army with the French commander atCupar Muir in June 1559. He changed his allegiance in August 1559, joining the ProtestantLords of the Congregation to oppose the regency of Mary of Guise, and as a result his French dukedom and its estates were taken back by the new French king,Francis II, the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. In order to discredit Châtellerault with the English government, a letter was forged by his enemies, in which Châtellerault declared his allegiance to Francis II, but the plot was exposed. On 27 February 1560, he agreed to theTreaty of Berwick with QueenElizabeth I of England, which placed Scotland under English protection and made provision for an English army to come to thesiege of Leith.[25]
After the death of Mary of Guise on 15 June 1560, Châtellerault persuaded theParliament of Scotland to back a plan to marry his sonJames Hamilton to Elizabeth I, and then after the death of Francis II on 5 December 1560, he attempted, without success, to arrange for James to marry the young widowed Queen Mary.[57][48] However, Mary marriedLord Darnley in 1565.
In 1566 Châtellerault withdrew to his former estates in France, where he made vain attempts to regain his confiscated duchy, which in 1563 had been granted toDiane de France. In 1569, he returned to Scotland in support of Mary, but was imprisoned by theEarl of Moray, Regent of Mary's infant son,James VI. Parliament declared him a traitor. Moray was assassinated on 23 January 1570 while Châtellerault was still in prison. Nevertheless, Châtellerault was rumoured to have been an accomplice in the regent's murder byJames Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh.[58] Châtellerault was released from prison on 20 April 1570. In 1573 he gave up his support for Mary and recognised her infant son as king.[18]
Châtellerault died at Hamilton on 22 January 1575.[59][60] He was succeeded by his eldest son James as the 3rd Earl of Arran. However, as James was insane, John his younger brother stood in for him.
| Timeline | ||
|---|---|---|
| As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages. | ||
| Age | Date | Event |
| 0 | 1519, about | Born, probably inHamilton, South Lanarkshire,Lanarkshire, Scotland.[61] |
| 2–3 | 1522, about | Mother died |
| 9–10 | 1529 | Father died; he succeeded as the2nd Earl of Arran[62] |
| 12–13 | 1532, c. 23 September | Married Margaret Douglas, daughter of the Earl of Morton[63] |
| 22–23 | 1542, 14 Dec | Accession ofMary, Queen of Scots, succeedingKing James V[64] |
| 23–24 | 1543, early | Appointed regent forMary Queen of Scots[65] |
| 23–24 | 1543, Sep | Turned around: MetCardinal Beaton atCallendar House and became Catholic |
| 23–24 | 1543, 20 Dec | England declared war, starting theRough wooing |
| 24–25 | 1544 | Tried to divorce his wife but failed |
| 27–28 | 1547, 10 Sep | Defeated by the English at theBattle of Pinkie Cleugh |
| 29–30 | 1549, 8 Feb | CreatedDuke of Châtellerault byHenry II of France[66] |
| 34–35 | 1554 | Lost the regency toMary of Guise |
| 38–39 | 1558 | Queen Mary married Francis, Dauphin of France |
| 39–40 | 1559, 10 Jul | Henry II of France died. |
| 40–41 | 1560, 27 Feb | Treaty of Berwick negotiated. |
| 40–41 | 1560 5 DecN.S. | Francis II of France died. |
| 42–43 | 1562 | Son James, his eldest, declared insane |
| 45–46 | 1565 | Queen Mary remarried toDarnley |
| 47–48 | 1567, 24 Jul | Accession ofKing James VI of Scotland, succeedingQueen Mary I[67] |
| 48–49 | 1568, 13 May | Queen Mary lost theBattle of Langside and fled to England. |
| 50–51 | 1570, 23 Jan | RegentMoray murdered; Châtellerault might have been involved |
| 55–56 | 1575, 22 Jan | Died atHamilton, South Lanarkshire |
| Hamilton's relationship to the house of Stuart[68] |
|---|
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Arran, Earls of".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 642–644.| Peerage of Scotland | ||
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| Preceded by | Earl of Arran 1529–1548 | Succeeded by |
| French nobility | ||
| Vacant Title last held by Charles de Valois | Duke of Châtellerault 1548–1559 | Vacant Title next held by Diane de France |
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| People | |
| Other | |
