James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran

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James Hamilton

James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran (* 1515/16; † January 22, 1575 in Hamilton , Lanarkshire ) was a Scottish nobleman who took over the Earldom of Arran as his heir in 1529. From 1543 to 1554 he reigned for the minor Queen Maria Stuart . From 1549 to 1560, Arran also held the French title of Duke of Châtellerault .

origin

The Hamiltons were a powerful and influential clan in Scotland .

Hamilton's grandfather - James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton (1415–1479) - was the third wife of Mary Stewart , who was a daughter of the Scottish King James II and his wife Maria von Geldern . Mary Stewart was married to Thomas Boyd, then Earl of Arran , in her first marriage and inherited the Earldom of Arran as a childless widow. From the marriage between James Hamilton and Mary Stewart came James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran (1475-1529), and Elisabeth Hamilton.

The 1st Earl of Arran was married a total of three times and maintained several long-term relationships in addition to his marriages. From an illegitimate connection came John Hamilton (1511-1571), who held the office of Archbishop of St. Andrews from 1546 to 1571 and was an avid advocate of the Counter-Reformation in Scotland.

James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran, was third married to Janet Beaton in 1515. For this marriage, he required the Church's dispensation to dissolve his marriage to Isabella Weir, which he received from James Beaton, then Archbishop of Glasgow. The eldest son from the marriage of the 1st Earl of Arran to Janet Beaton was James Hamilton, since 1529 2nd Earl of Arran.

James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran was considered to be the Scottish heir to the throne due to his descent from James II until the birth of the eldest son of James V (1540). However, the sons of Jacob V died in April 1541, so Arran's claims to the succession to the throne until the birth of Maria Stuart on December 8, 1542 were renewed. After Jacob V died on December 14, 1542, Arran was considered the presumed heir to the throne of Maria Stuart.

Elisabeth Hamilton - the sister of the 1st Earl of Arran - was married to Matthew Stewart, 2nd Earl of Lennox . Elisabeth and Matthew Stuart are the grandparents of Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox and great-grandparents of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley .

Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox, did not recognize Arran's claim to the throne. He claimed that Janet Beaton was not the lawful wife of the 1st Earl of Arran and that Arran's claims to the throne were not justified because of his alleged illegitimate birth. Instead, Lennox claimed - due to his mother's descent from Jacob II - the line of succession for himself. This dispute resulted in bitter hostility between the families of both applicants.

The beginning of the reign in 1543

Cardinal David Beaton (Archbishop of St. Andrews) submitted an alleged will a few days after the king's death. In it, Jacob V stipulated that his minor daughter should be represented by four regents (Arran, Argyll , Huntly , Moray - the Gang of Four Regents). Beaton was to become the queen's tutor, which would have meant the actual reign for him. But Arran was not ready to give up his claim to the reign. On January 3, 1543, with the help of his clan, friends and aristocratic partisans, he forced the appointment to regent. A few days later, Beaton was arrested.

King Henry VIII of England then allowed a group of nobles who had been in English captivity since the Battle of Solway Moss (November 24, 1542) to return to Scotland. In return, France sent John Hamilton (Arran's half-brother) and Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox , to Scotland.

The returnees forced the convocation of the Scottish Parliament on March 13, 1543. The parliament - twelve Protestants and four Catholics took part - decided the following points:

  1. Arran is recognized as the second man of the kingdom and the next contender for the crown.
  2. Maria Stuart should be with the English heir to the throne Edward - the later King Edward VI. - get married.
  3. The scriptures can be read in the local language.

Because of the last point, Arran - John Knox was a fan of avid propaganda - was regarded by Protestants as a champion of their religion. Only Marie de Guise resisted the general enthusiasm for Arran. She described Arran as “ a simple-minded and the most unreliable man in the world, because what he decides today, he rejects tomorrow. "

On July 1, 1543, the Greenwich Peace Treaty was signed between England and Scotland. Maria Stuart was to marry the English heir to the throne Edward and Arran's son James (who later became the 3rd Earl of Arran) to Elisabeth (who later became Queen of England). Henry VIII planned the partition of Scotland. North of the Forth Arran was to rule as an independent king, south of the Forth Maria Stuart was to rule as Queen dependent on England. Furthermore, the Scots should immediately hand over all castles south of the Forth to the English. The pro-English party supported these plans and ratified the Treaty of Greenwich on August 25, 1543. Arran distanced himself from this treaty because Scottish independence was not guaranteed. He therefore allied himself with his former opponent Cardinal Beaton, who had since escaped from custody.

Cardinal Beaton managed to raise 7,000 followers with the help of French funds. From July 21, 1543, Beaton's pro-French Catholic party controlled the fortress-like Stirling Castle , enthroned on a volcanic rock , to which Mary Queen of Scots was brought to safety on the day of the surrender.

On September 8, 1543 (Protestant since 1538 and now repentant of his faith) Arran received communion through Cardinal Beaton. Beaton promised Arran to marry Mary Stuart to Arran's son of the same name and on September 9, 1543 the cardinal crowned the Queen of Scots. The Earl of Arran carried the crown, the Earl of Lennox the scepter and the Earl of Argyll the sword at this ceremony. The pro-England party stayed away from the coronation and on December 15, 1543 the Scots terminated the treaty with England. Beaton and Arran now intended to renew the " Auld Alliance " with France.

England's "rough courtship" 1544 to 1547

Since the birth of the future French king Franz II in January 1544, Cardinal Beaton and Maria de Guise tried to initiate a marriage between Maria Stuart and Francis. Arran acted indecisively; on the one hand he did not want an open break with Henry VIII, on the other hand he now wanted to marry off his own son to Maria Stuart. Because of this, he increasingly found himself in an isolated position within the Scottish aristocratic groups.

The English King Henry VIII was unwilling to accept this change in Scottish politics. He wanted to force the extradition of Maria Stuart by force and gave Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, the following order to " rough wooing ":

“ Take fire and sword, burn down the city of Edinburgh after you have plundered it and stolen what you like, exterminated it and destroyed it in the eternal memory of the vengeance of God which has come upon it for its falsehood and unfaithfulness. Punish man, woman and child with fire and sword without exception wherever you encounter any resistance. "

In May 1544, November 1544 and September 1545, English troops under Edward Seymour, who believed he had to lead a crusade against the Catholic Church, murdered and plundered Scotland.

Cardinal Beaton and Marie de Guise increasingly determined Scottish politics. The previously Pro-French Lennox moved to the pro-English camp due to his personal rivalry with the regent. He married Margaret Douglas (a niece of Henry VIII) and was firmly bound to England from 1544.

The acts of violence between the Pro-English Protestants and the Pro-French Catholics - some of them were religious clashes between the clans - escalated. In early 1546, Arran canceled all his promises and treaties with England and in March 1546 Cardinal Beaton had the Protestant preacher George Wilshart burned. Thereupon Henry VIII demanded the removal of Beaton, who was finally murdered on May 29, 1546 by young nobles in the archbishopric castle at St. Andrews. These young nobles - soon they were just called "the Castilians" - then defended the castle at St. Andrews for fourteen months. Soon they were seen as a symbol of Protestant resistance to the regent, the " unfortunate man ", as the angry John Knox publicly expressed himself .

In the spring of 1547 Arran asked the new French King Henry II for help. It was granted, French troops landed in Scotland in July 1547 and captured the castle of St. Andrews on the 30th of the month. The prisoners were deported to France. John Knox supported the "Castilians" since April 1547, but after his capture he was sentenced to a galley sentence of several years . In August 1547, English troops again invaded Scotland under the leadership of the English Lord Protector Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset .

On September 10, 1547 the decision was sought between Scots and English in the battle of Pinkie Cleugh . Arran led the Scottish troops into position at Edmonstone Edge, beyond the village of Musselburgh. On the one hand he doubted - wrongly - the loyalty of the Scots who had returned from England, on the other hand he feared - rightly - the lack of discipline of the Scottish troops. After the English arrived on the battlefield, the Scots stormed from their safe position and rushed at them determined to fight. Arran failed to get his troops back to their safe positions. The bravely fighting Scots suffered a crushing defeat against the well-drilled and disciplined fighting English army. After the battle, the English plundered and marched to Stirling Castle to force the extradition of Maria Stuart.

Between September 11 and 18, 1547, Arran managed to get the little queen to safety in the former Augustinian monastery Inchmahome Priory on an island in the Lake of Menteith . On September 29, 1547, the English withdrew from Scotland, but kept important cities such as Haddington occupied. A little later, Arran brought Maria Stuart back to Stirling Castle.

After the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, the English and Scots were at a stalemate. The English could not gain supremacy over Scotland. The Scots could only maintain their independence with the help of the French. In 1551, the Peace of Angers between England and Scotland ended the "rough courtship".

The restoration of the “Auld Alliance” with France from 1548 to 1554

In November 1547 Arran began to negotiate with France, in December 1547 the arrival of 50 French captains in Scotland and on January 27, 1548 the Earl of Arran and Henry II signed a treaty in which the Scottish regent undertook, the Scottish To convene parliament. Parliament should approve a marriage between Mary Queen of Scots and the French heir to the throne Franz, the Scottish queen should then be brought to France. The French also demanded the surrender of the most important Scottish fortresses. Arran then took the Queen to Dumbarton Castle on the west coast of Scotland in February 1548 , a place difficult to reach for the English and the French alike.

Arran renounced the envisaged marriage of his son James with Maria Stuart, but negotiated the award of a French duchy in return. After the Scottish Queen arrived safely in France in August 1548, Henry II was finally ready to transfer the French Duchy of Châtellerault with an annual income of £ 12,000 to Arran . In order to guarantee the loyalty of the Scots to the Alliance, the King of France demanded the extradition of Arran's eldest son James. Officially, he acted as the commander of the " Scottish Guards ", in fact James had to live as a hostage in France. Finally, in February 1549, the Duchy of Châtellerault was transferred to Arran.

In 1548 and 1549, with the help of 6,000 soldiers - including Italian and German mercenaries - under the command of the French general André de Montalembert, Seignieur d'Esse, the Scots recaptured all the cities and fortresses occupied by the English.

In 1549, Arran's half-brother John Hamilton began the Scottish Counter-Reformation, although the reformed "Kirk" had not yet established itself in Scotland. In 1552, John Hamilton's Catechism was published, a vernacular that interpreted the fundamental doctrines of the Catholic faith. As a result, the Hamilton clan was discredited among the Protestants, and Arran lost his Protestant supporters. Since 1553, the Protestants in Scotland were on the defensive because they lacked English support when Mary the Catholic took office as Queen of England. The pro-French and Catholic parties nevertheless favored Marie de Guise , the mother of the coming queen, for the reign of Scotland . The regent was forced to resign in April 1554 and Parliament transferred the reign to Maria de Guise. Arran left a state budget with £ 30,000 in debt.

After the reign from 1554 to 1575

As a result of the accession of the English Queen Elizabeth I in November 1558 and the return of John Knox in May 1559, the Protestants in Scotland grew stronger. In October 1559, Arran joined the Scottish rebels around James Stewart - the later Earl of Moray. These “Lords of the Congregations” posed as patrons of the Protestant Church and asked England for help. The insurgents occupied Edinburgh and demanded the removal of the regent Maria de Guise. On February 27, 1560, the "Lords of the Congregation" signed the Treaty of Berwick with England, in which England was granted intervention to protect the Protestants. Maria de Guise requested French help, but due to domestic political difficulties ( Amboise conspiracy ), France was unable to provide military support. On June 11, 1560 Maria de Guise died and on July 6, 1560 England and Scotland signed the Treaty of Edinburgh , which led to a rapprochement between the two kingdoms. This contract ended the Franco-Scottish alliance of the " Auld Alliance ". Arran then lost the title and income of Duke of Châtellerault.

Arran's son was able to flee France in 1559 with the help of English agents. Soon afterwards the young man was wooing Queen Elizabeth of England in London. His prophetic lines to William Cecil , later Lord of Burghley, have survived: “ When I wonder why I think so often of Your graces, I find myself in such confusion that I think I have lost my mind. "

In 1561 Arran planned to remarry his son James to Maria Stuart. However, this failed due to the resistance of the Scottish lords. In 1562 Arran tried to marry his son again to Elisabeth. This also failed because Elisabeth again refused to give her consent. It was now widely known that Arran's son suffered from a mental illness and was imprisoned for it. This personal tragedy for Arran led to a definitive break with Maria Stuart.

A few days after the wedding between Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Arran approached again the Protestant camp around John Knox and James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray . He participated in Moray's uprising against the Queen in August and September 1565 and emigrated to France after the defeat of the rebels. He returned to Scotland in 1569 but was arrested shortly after his arrival and remained imprisoned until 1573. After he took his subjects' oath of the underage King James VI. performed, Arran was allowed to return home to his goods. He died there on January 22, 1575.

children

His marriage to Margaret Douglas, the eldest daughter of James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Morton , on September 23, 1532 resulted in five sons and three daughters:

literature

  • Antonia Fraser : Maria Stuart - Queen of the Scots ; 1989 licensed edition for Manfred Pawlak Verlagsgesellschaft, Hersching; ISBN 3-88199-636-2
  • Jenny Wormold: Maria Stuart ; Verlag Ploetz Freiburg-Würzburg 1992; ISBN 3-87640-500-9
  • John E. Neale: Elizabeth I - Queen of England ; unabridged licensed edition for Eugen Diederichs Verlag Munich; 2nd edition 1995; ISBN 3-424-01226-2

Web links

predecessor Office successor
James Hamilton Earl of Arran
1529-1575 		James Hamilton
Domaine royal Duke of Châtellerault
1549–1560 		Domaine royal
personal data
SURNAME Hamilton, James, 2nd Earl of Arran
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hamilton, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH 1515 or 1516
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 1575
Place of death Hamilton