Andrew Wood of Largo | |
---|---|
Born | Scotland |
Died | 1515 Scotland |
Allegiance | Kingdom of Scotland |
Service | Royal Scots Navy |
Years of service | 1488-1515 |
Rank | Captain |
Sir Andrew Wood of Largo (died 1515) was a Scottish sea captain. Beginning as a merchant in Leith, he was involved in national naval actions and rose to become Lord High Admiral of Scotland. He was knighted c. 1495. He may have transported James III across the Firth of Forth to escape the rebels in 1488.
Andrew Wood's family lands were at Largo, Fife. The family are traditionally thought to be a branch of the Wood family from Bonnington or Bonnyton in Angus. Probably beginning his career as a merchant in Leith, he was knighted by James III and married Elizabeth Lundie. [1]
According to tradition, Wood was given a grant of the lands of Largo around 1480, in return for the service of maintaining a ship to take the King and Queen on pilgrimages to the shrine and well of Saint Adrian on the Isle of May. [2] It was believed that a visit to the shrine could help a woman become pregnant. [3]
James IV confirmed the royal gift of the lands of Largo in July 1488. [4] On 18 May 1491, James IV gave permission for the building of a castle with iron gates or "yetts" at Largo. [5] Wood was keeper of Dunbar Castle and superintended the rebuilding and repairs in 1497. As a reward for his services at Dunbar in defence against the English army and fleet, James IV gave him lands in 1504, [6] and on 21 August 1513, James IV made his lands a free barony. A clause of this grant stipulates that Wood should be ready to ferry James IV and Margaret Tudor to the Isle of May. [7] [8]
The Latin clause from the 1513 charter reads "in peregrinationem nobiscum et cum carissima consorte nostra et successoribus nostris ad insulam de Mayo cum ad hoc requisiti fuerint", which can be translated as "to travel with us and with our dearest wife and our successors to the Isle of May whenever they shall be required for this purpose". [9]
His heir was Andrew Wood. Another son, John Wood was assassinated in 1570. [10] Andrew Wood is the subject of the historical novel The Admiral by Nigel Tranter.
Andrew Wood's naval exploits feature in the chronicle of Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie which credits his family as one of its sources.
Wood began his naval career as a privateer under James III (reigned 1460–1488), and flourished under James IV (reigned 1488–1513). By 1489 he was master of the king's ship the Flower [11] and the Yellow Carvel. The Scottish ships fought and captured five English ships offshore near Dunbar. In response, the English launched a larger expedition the following year under Stephen Bull, which attacked Wood's ships in the Firth of Forth. The fight lasted two days (stopping only at night) and was watched by crowds in Edinburgh. Wood eventually triumphed, despite being outnumbered in ships and guns, and the English ships were captured. [12] James IV knighted Wood following this battle, and allowed him to impress some of the captured English sailors, who later were put to work build the castle at Largo. [13]
Sir Andrew was the first Captain of James IV's carrack, the Great Michael, which when constructed was the largest ship in Christendom.
James V 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, daughter of Henry VII of England. During his childhood Scotland was governed by regents, firstly by his mother until she remarried, and then by his first cousin once removed, John Stewart, Duke of Albany. James's personal rule began in 1528 when he finally escaped the custody of his stepfather, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. His first action was to exile Angus and confiscate the lands of the Douglases.
James IV was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauchieburn, following a rebellion in which the younger James was the figurehead of the rebels. James IV is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland. He was responsible for a major expansion of the Scottish royal navy, which included the founding of two royal dockyards and the acquisition or construction of 38 ships, including the Great Michael, the largest warship of its time.
James III was King of Scots from 1460 until his death at the Battle of Sauchieburn in 1488. He inherited the throne as a child following the death of his father, King James II, at the siege of Roxburgh Castle. James III's reign began with a minority that lasted almost a decade, during which Scotland was governed by a series of regents and factions who struggled for possession of the young king before his personal rule began in 1469.
The ruins of Linlithgow Palace are located in the town of Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland, 15 miles (24 km) west of Edinburgh. The palace was one of the principal residences of the monarchs of Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries. Although maintained after Scotland's monarchs left for England in 1603, the palace was little used, and was burned out in 1746. It is now a visitor attraction in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.
The Royal Scots Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Scotland from its origins in the Middle Ages until its merger with the Kingdom of England's Royal Navy per the Acts of Union 1707. There are mentions in Medieval records of fleets commanded by Scottish kings in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. King Robert I developed naval power to counter the English in the Wars of Independence (1296–1328). The build-up of naval capacity continued after the establishment of Scottish independence. In the late fourteenth century, naval warfare with England was conducted largely by hired Scots, Flemish and French merchantmen and privateers. King James I took a greater interest in naval power, establishing a shipbuilding yard at Leith and probably creating the office of Lord High Admiral.
Michael, popularly known as Great Michael, was a carrack or great ship of the Royal Scottish Navy. She was the largest ship built by King James IV of Scotland as part of his policy of building a strong Scottish navy.
The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth, approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) off the coast of mainland Scotland. It is about 1.5 kilometres long and 0.5 kilometres wide. The island is owned and managed by NatureScot as a national nature reserve. There are now no permanent residents, but the island was the site of St Adrian's Priory during the Middle Ages.
Lower Largo or Seatown of Largo is a village in Fife, Scotland, situated on Largo Bay along the north side of the Firth of Forth. It is east of, and contiguous with, Lundin Links.
Dunbar Castle was one of the strongest fortresses in Scotland, situated in a prominent position overlooking the harbour of the town of Dunbar, in East Lothian. Several fortifications were built successively on the site, near the English-Scottish border. The last was slighted in 1567; it is a ruin today.
Upper Largo or Kirkton of Largo is a village in the parish of Largo, near the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. It rests on the southern slopes of Largo Law, half a mile north of Largo Bay and the rather larger village of Lower Largo. It is the home of Largo Cricket Club.
Garvald is a village south-east of Haddington in East Lothian, Scotland. It lies on the Papana Water south of the B6370, east of Gifford. The combined parish of Garvald and Bara, borders Whittingehame to the East, Morham to the North, Yester to the West, and Lauder to the South. It is mainly an agricultural parish. The red freestone once constantly mined in this parish was well known throughout the whole country.
Margaret was a Scottish warship of the 16th century.
Clan Wood is a Lowland Scottish clan from North Esk, Largo Bay and Angus in Scotland.
William Sinclair was a Scottish nobleman, the 2nd Earl of Caithness and chief of the Clan Sinclair, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
Scotland in the late Middle Ages, between the deaths of Alexander III in 1286 and James IV in 1513, established its independence from England under figures including William Wallace in the late 13th century and Robert Bruce in the 14th century. In the 15th century under the Stewart Dynasty, despite a turbulent political history, the Crown gained greater political control at the expense of independent lords and regained most of its lost territory to approximately the modern borders of the country. However, the Auld Alliance with France led to the heavy defeat of a Scottish army at the Battle of Flodden in 1513 and the death of the king James IV, which would be followed by a long minority and a period of political instability.
John Drummond of Milnab was a 16th-century Scottish carpenter in charge of the woodwork of the palaces, castles and guns of James IV of Scotland and James V of Scotland.
Saint Adrian of May was a martyr-saint of ancient Scotland, whose cult became popular in the 14th century. He is commemorated on 3 December. He may have been a bishop of Saint Andrews.
George Leslie, 2nd Earl of Rothes was a Scottish peer. He was the son of Andrew Leslie, Master of Rothes and Marjorie Sinclair, and the grandson of George Leslie, 1st Earl of Rothes.
The Comptroller of Scotland was a post in the pre-Union government of Scotland.
Andrew Aytoun, was a Scottish soldier and engineer, and captain of Stirling Castle.