The Ainslie Tavern Bond (also known as the "Ainslie Band", or the "Ainslie Tavern Band") was a document signed on about 20 April 1567 by a number of Scottish bishops and nobles. The bond approved the Earl of Bothwell's acquittal on 12 April of implication in the murder of Lord Darnley, recommended him as an appropriate husband for Mary, Queen of Scots, and pledged to assist in defending such a marriage. [1] [2]
Lord Darnley had married Mary on 29 July 1565, but their marriage proved disastrous. On 9 March 1566, Mary's Italian private secretary, David Rizzio, was murdered in the Queen's presence at Holyrood. The murderers were led by Lord Ruthven, but it was widely believed that the murder arose from Darnley's jealousy. There followed a carefully choreographed series of events, aimed at substituting Bothwell for Darnley as Mary's husband. The extent of Mary's own complicity was and remains intensely controversial, but the preponderant view has been that she is likely to have been an accomplice in Bothwell's designs. [3]
On 10 February 1567, the bodies of Darnley and his servant were discovered in Kirk o'Field in Edinburgh. Suspicion immediately fell on Bothwell. On 12 April 1567, he was formally acquitted of involvement in Darnley's murder, but suspicions about the nature of his trial were not allayed by the fact that he had attended the meeting of the Privy Council at which the trial had been arranged.
Following his acquittal, Bothwell invited the leading temporal and spiritual peers to a dinner in an Edinburgh tavern, kept by one Ainslie, as a result of which the event became known as "Ainslie's Supper" and the document associated with it "the Ainslie Tavern Bond". The bond was subscribed by eight bishops, nine earls and seven lords. [4] It was subsequently alleged that Mary had previously on 19 April 1567 signed a warrant authorising the Lords to sign the Bond. [5] Other sources suggest that the Bond was ratified by the Queen following its execution. [6]
The historian Julian Goodare notes that only one of various texts of the bond mentions "Aynsley's supper". He suggests an alternative reading, that the Lords convened to discuss the bond in Bothwell's lodging in Edinburgh and Ainslie was the caterer who provided the supper. Chronicle writers including James Melville of Halhill and Claude Nau describe a meeting in Bothwell's house or lodging in Holyrood Palace. [7]
According to a note sent to William Cecil, the signatories were the Earl of Moray; the Earl of Argyll; the Earl of Huntly; the Earl of Cassillis; the Earl of Morton; the Earl of Sutherland; the Earl of Rothes; the Earl of Glencairn; and the Earl of Caithness with the Lord Boyd; the Lord Seton; the Lord Sinclair; the Lord Sempill; the Lord Oliphant; the Lord Ogilvie of Airlie; the Rosse-Hacat (sic); Carleil of Torthorwald; the Lord Herries; the Lord Home; and the Lord Innermeath. [8] The Bishop of Ross [9] and the Lord Elphinstone slipped away without signing. [10]
Other copies add the Earl of Erroll, the Lord Glamis, the Lord Fleming and the Archbishop of St Andrews, with the Bishops of Aberdeen, Whithorn (Galloway), Dunblane, Brechin, Ross, and Orkney. [11]
Julian Goodare notes that one copy of the bond text derives from the recollection of John Reid, an associate of the Earl of Morton. Goodare suggests that the signatories named by Reid were those aristocrats who planned and discussed the bond before the supper meeting. [12]
On 24 April 1567, Bothwell waylaid Mary on the road from Stirling (whether with or without her connivance) and conducted her to Dunbar Castle, where he allegedly ravished her. There remained significant obstacles to performance of the bond, not the least of which was the fact that Bothwell had married Lady Jean Gordon on 24 February 1566. Their marriage was formally annulled on 7 May 1567. A week later, on 15 May 1567, Bothwell and Mary were married at Holyrood, to the general scandal of Europe. The marriage divided Scotland into two camps and led to the Battle of Carberry Hill on 15 June 1567, at which Mary was defeated and captured, though Bothwell escaped.
The bond of 19 April 1567 was discussed in November 1568 and mentioned in the document called "Hay's Book of Articles", which narrates events from Darnley's murder to Moray's regency from the Confederate Lords' viewpoint. The articles say that the Lords were trapped at the supper into signing the bond. [13]
The Earl of Morton became Regent of Scotland, and in 1581 he was put on trial and executed. Before he was beheaded, he told some kirk ministers that he had signed the bond on the queen's orders, "therefore I subsryvit to the quenis marriage with the erle Bothwell, as sindrie utheris of the nobilitie did, being chargit therunto be the quenis writ and command". [14]
Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was an English nobleman who was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the father of James VI of Scotland and I of England. Through his parents, he had claims to both the Scottish and English thrones, and from his marriage in 1565 he was king consort of Scotland. Less than a year after the birth of his son, Darnley was murdered at Kirk o' Field in 1567. Many contemporary narratives describing his life and death refer to him as simply Lord Darnley, his title as heir apparent to the Earldom of Lennox.
James Hepburn, 1st Duke of Orkney and 4th Earl of Bothwell, better known simply as Lord Bothwell, was a prominent Scottish nobleman. He was known for his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, as her third and final husband. He was accused of the murder of Mary's second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, a charge of which he was acquitted. His marriage to Mary was controversial and divided the country; when he fled the growing rebellion to Norway, he was arrested and lived the rest of his life imprisoned in Denmark.
David Rizzio or Riccio was an Italian courtier, born in Pancalieri close to Turin, a descendant of an ancient and noble family still living in Piedmont, the Riccio Counts di San Paolo e Solbrito, who rose to become the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, is said to have been jealous of their friendship because of rumours that Rizzio had impregnated Mary, and he joined in a conspiracy of Protestant nobles to murder him, led by Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven. Mary was having dinner with Rizzio and a few ladies-in-waiting when Darnley joined them, accused his wife of adultery and then had a group murder Rizzio, who was hiding behind Mary. Mary was held at gunpoint and Rizzio was stabbed numerous times. His body took 57 dagger wounds. The murder was the catalyst of the downfall of Darnley, and had serious consequences for Mary's subsequent reign.
Lord Darnley is a noble title associated with a Scottish Lordship of Parliament, first created in 1356 for the family of Stewart of Darnley and tracing a descent to the Dukedom of Richmond in England. The title's name refers to Darnley in Scotland. Outside the Peerage of Scotland, another Earldom of Darnley was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1729.
Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll was a Scottish nobleman, peer, and politician. He was one of the leading figures in the politics of Scotland during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the early part of that of James VI.
George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly, was Lord Chancellor of Scotland and major conspirator of his time.
The Chaseabout Raid was a rebellion by James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, against his half sister, Mary, Queen of Scots, on 26 August 1565, over her marriage to Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. The rebels also claimed to be acting over other causes including bad governance, and religion in the name of the Scottish Reformation. As the government and rebel forces moved back and forth across Scotland without fighting, the conflict became known as the "chase about raid." Queen Mary's forces were superior and the rebel lords fled to England where Queen Elizabeth censured the leader.
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 her rule. In particular, the text of the letters was taken to imply that Queen Mary colluded with Bothwell in the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley. Mary's contemporary supporters, including Adam Blackwood, dismissed them as complete forgeries or letters written by the Queen's servant Mary Beaton. The authenticity of the letters, now known only by copies, continues to be debated. Some historians argue that they were forgeries concocted in order to discredit Queen Mary and ensure that Queen Elizabeth I supported the kingship of the infant James VI of Scotland, rather than his mother. The historian John Hungerford Pollen, in 1901, by comparing two genuine letters drafted by Mary, presented a subtle argument that the various surviving copies and translations of the casket letters could not be used as evidence of their original authorship by Mary.
Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange was a Scottish politician and soldier who fought for the Scottish Reformation but ended his career holding Edinburgh castle on behalf of Mary, Queen of Scots and was hanged at the conclusion of a long siege.
Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney and Lord of Zetland (Shetland) was a recognised illegitimate son of James V, King of Scotland, and his mistress Eupheme Elphinstone. Robert Stewart was half-brother to Mary, Queen of Scots and uncle to James VI and I of Scotland and England.
Alexander Gordon was a 16th-century Scottish churchman who was successively archbishop of Glasgow, titular archbishop of Athens, bishop of the Isles and bishop of Galloway.
The murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, took place on 10 February 1567 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Darnley's lodgings were destroyed by gunpowder; his body and that of his servant were found nearby, apparently having been strangled rather than killed in the explosion. Suspicion was placed upon Queen Mary and the Earl of Bothwell, whom Mary went on to marry three months after Darnley's murder. Bothwell was indicted for treason and acquitted, but six of his servants and acquaintances were subsequently arrested, tried, and executed for the crime.
The Battle of Carberry Hill took place on 15 June 1567, near Musselburgh, East Lothian, a few miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland. A number of Scottish lords objected to the rule of Mary, Queen of Scots, after she had married the Earl of Bothwell, who was widely believed to have murdered her previous husband Lord Darnley. The Lords were intent to avenge Darnley's death. However, Bothwell escaped from the stand-off at Carberry while Queen Mary surrendered. Mary abdicated, escaped from prison, and was defeated at the battle of Langside. She went to exile in England while her supporters continued a civil war in Scotland.
James Ross, 4th Lord Ross of Halkhead was a Scottish nobleman and an adherent to the cause of Mary, Queen of Scots.
George Hay, 7th Earl of ErrollPC was a Scottish nobleman and politician.
John Lyon, 8th Lord Glamis was a Scottish nobleman, judge and Lord High Chancellor of Scotland.
Julian Goodare is a professor of history at University of Edinburgh.
Alexander Hay of Easter Kennet was a Scottish lawyer and politician.
Events from 1566 in the Kingdom of Scotland.