George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, the…
February 1592 CE
George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, the son of George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly, and of Anne, daughter of James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran and Duke of Châtellerault, had been educated in France as a Roman Catholic.
He had taken part in the plot which led to the execution of James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton in 1581 and in the conspiracy in 1583 that had saved King James VI from the Ruthven raiders.
He had in 1588 signed the Presbyterian confession of faith, but continued to engage in plots for the Spanish invasion of Scotland.
Huntly had on November 28 been appointed captain of the guard, and while carrying out his duties at Holyrood his treasonable correspondence had been discovered.
King James, however, finding the Roman Catholic lords useful as a foil to the tyranny of the Kirk, was at this time seeking Spanish aid in case Queen Elizabeth I tried to challenge his right to the English throne; Huntly, always one of his favorites, had been pardoned.
Huntly had subsequently raised a rebellion in the north in April 1589, but was obliged to surrender, and after a short imprisonment in Borthwick Castle was again freed.
He has now involved himself in a private war with the Grants and the Mackintoshes, who are assisted by the Earls of Atholl and Moray.
He sets fire to Murray's castle of Donibristle in Fife on February 8, 1592, and stabs the earl to death with his own hand.
This outrage, which is to originate the ballad The Bonnie Earl of Moray, brings retribution on Huntly; his enemies ravage his lands.