Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly

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The family coat of arms of the Earls of Huntly combines the coat of arms of the Gordon family (mother), the Barony Badenoch , the Seton family (father) and the Fraser family (great-grandmother in maternal line).

Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly ( 1409 - July 15, 1470 in Huntly , Aberdeenshire ) was a Scottish peer .

Life

He was the eldest son of Sir Alexander Seton († 1440/41) and Elizabeth Gordon († 1439) and after his birth initially bore the name Alexander Seton . His mother was the daughter of Sir Adam Gordon of that Ilk († 1402) and had inherited the feudal baronies Gordon in Berwickshire and Huntly in Aberdeenshire when her only brother John Gordon († 1407) died childless .

In early 1427 he married Egida Hay, daughter of the late Sir John Hay of Tullibody, and was enfeoffed on January 8, 1427 with the feudal barony of Tullibody in Clackmannanshire . The marriage was annulled in November 1438 at the latest. In March 1440 at the latest, he had married Elizabeth Crichton († 1479), daughter of William Crichton, 1st Lord Crichton .

He was knighted around 1439 . When his parents died, inherited their possessions. After some inheritance disputes with the Keith clan , he received in 1440 from the estate of his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Keith († around 1437), the feudal baronies Aboyne , Cluny , Glentanner and Glenmuick in Aberdeenshire. His inherited possessions were confirmed to him on April 3, 1441 by the crown as a hereditary fief.

During the minority of King Jacob II , he usurped the barony of Abergeldie , for which he later paid rent to the crown.

Presumably during the assembly of the Scottish Parliament in June 1445 he was elevated to Earl of Huntly and is first documented as such on July 3, 1445.

As an aftervasal of Clan Ogilvy of Inverquharity , he kept lands near Panbride in Angus drawn into a conflict with Clan Lindsay . The conflict culminated in the Battle of Arbroath on January 24, 1446 in which the Ogilvys were defeated by an army under David Lindsay, 3rd Earl of Crawford and the Earl of Huntly had to flee the battlefield.

In 1451 King James II enfeoffed him with the feudal barony of Badenoch in Inverness-shire and Ruthven Castle in Perthshire .

When the black line of Clan Douglas rebelled against James II together with Clan Lindsay in 1452 , the Earl of Huntly defeated General of the North as royal lieutenant with a united army of the Gordon and Ogilvy clans on May 18, 1452 at the Battle of Brechin the army of Clan Lindsay under Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford .

Since he was hereditary chief of the Clan Gordon through his mother , he formally changed his family name from "Seton" to "Gordon" in 1457.

In 1460 he joined the siege of the English castle Roxburgh , in the course of which King Jacob II died.

In 1464 he had the wooden fortifications of Kingussie in Inverness-shire rebuilt from stone.

Tomb of Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly, in the ruins of Elgin Cathedral

He died in Huntly in 1470 and was buried in Elgin Cathedral.

progeny

From his first marriage to Egida Hay he had a son:

  • Sir Alexander Seton of Tullibody and Touch ⚭ Elizabeth Erskine.

From his second marriage to Elizabeth Crichton, he had five children:

He had two daughters from an illegitimate relationship with a so-called "Fair Maid of Moray" from the Cumming clan of Altyre :

  • Janet Gordon ⚭ Sir James Innes of that Ilk;
  • Margaret Gordon († 1506) ⚭ Hugh Rose of Kilravock.

literature

Web links

predecessor Office successor
New title created Earl of Huntly
1445-1470 		George Gordon
personal data
SURNAME Gordon, Alexander, 1st Earl of Huntly
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seton, Alexander, 1st Earl of Huntly; Seton, Sir Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH around 1409
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1470
Place of death Huntly , Aberdeenshire