Alexander Hamilton of Innerwick was a Scottish landowner and supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots.
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Alexander Hamilton of Innerwick was a Scottish landowner and supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots.
His home was Innerwick Castle in East Lothian, Scotland, near the village of Innerwick.
He was a son of James Hamilton of Innerwick and Helen Home, a daughter of Mungo Home of Coldingknowes. [1]
In September 1567, Regent Moray ordered Alexander Hamilton of Innerwick to go into ward (confinement) at Falkland Palace. The holders of neighbouring strongholds were also detained at this time. [2]
In 1568 Mary, Queen of Scots, escaped from Lochleven Castle and made her way to Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton of Innerwick signed the bond made at Hamilton to support Mary. [3] He came "in arrayed battle" to the battle of Langside, where her forces were defeated by Regent Moray. [4]
Regent Moray brought Hamilton of Innerwick and six other Hamilton lairds captured on the battlefield as prisoners to Edinburgh to stand trial in the tolbooth. The lairds were condemned and their hands were bound for execution, but they were given a reprieve and imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle. [5]
He married Isobel Home (died 1591), a daughter of Bartholmew Home of Simprim. Their children included:
The Battle of Langside was fought on 13 May 1568 between forces loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots, and forces acting in the name of her infant son James VI. Mary’s short period of personal rule ended in 1567 in recrimination, intrigue, and disaster when, after her capture at Carberry Hill, she was forced to abdicate in favour of James VI. Mary was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, while her Protestant half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, was appointed Regent on behalf of his nephew. In early May 1568 Mary escaped, heading west to the country of the Hamiltons, high among her remaining supporters, and the safety of Dumbarton Castle with the determination to restore her rights as queen. Mary was defeated and went into exile and captivity in England. The battle is generally considered the start of the Marian civil war.
James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray was a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland. At times a supporter of his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, he was the regent of Scotland for his half-nephew, the infant King James VI, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570. He was the first head of government to be assassinated with a firearm.
James Stewart, Earl of Moray was a Scottish nobleman and diplomat.
John Erskine, 1st Earl of Mar was a Scottish aristocrat and politician. He was the custodian of the infant James VI of Scotland and Regent of Scotland.
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Innerwick Castle is a ruined castle in East Lothian, Scotland, near the village of Innerwick, 5 miles (8.0 km) from Dunbar, on the Thornton Burn, and overlooking Thornton Glen.
Elizabeth Keith, Countess of Huntly, was a Scottish noblewoman and the wife of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, Scotland's leading Catholic magnate during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1562, Elizabeth encouraged her husband to raise forces against Queen Mary which led to his being outlawed, and after his death, his titles forfeited to the Crown. Elizabeth's son Sir John Gordon was executed for having taken part in his father's rebellion.
Agnes Keith, Countess of Moray was a Scottish noblewoman. She was the wife of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland and the illegitimate half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots, making her a sister-in-law of the Scottish queen. As the wife of the regent, Agnes was the most powerful woman in Scotland from 1567 until her husband's assassination in 1570.
James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh and Woodhouselee was a Scottish supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, who assassinated James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland, in January 1570. He shot Moray from the steps of his uncle Archbishop John Hamilton's house in Linlithgow.
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The Marian civil war in Scotland (1568–1573) was a period of conflict which followed the abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her escape from Lochleven Castle in May 1568. Those who ruled in the name of her infant son James VI fought against the supporters of the Queen, who was exiled in England. Edinburgh Castle, which was garrisoned in her name, became the focus of the conflict and surrendered only after an English intervention in May 1573. The conflict in 1570 was called an "internecine war in the bowels of this commonwealth", and the period was called soon after an "internecine war driven by questions against authority."
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Adam Gordon of Auchindoun (1545–1580) was a Scottish knight, younger brother of the Earl of Huntly and military leader during the Marian civil war on behalf of Mary, Queen of Scots in north west Scotland. In Scottish ballad lore, Adam became known as Edom o'Gordon.
Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar and Kenmure, was a Scottish courtier, landowner, and supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots.
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Barbara Hamilton was a Scottish courtier.
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James Home of Coldenknowes was a Scottish landowner, soldier, and keeper of Edinburgh Castle.