John Stewart, 4th Earl of Atholl

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John Stewart, 4th Earl of Atholl PC (* between 1533 and 1542, † April 25, 1579 in Kincardine Castle near Auchterarder , Aberdeenshire , Scotland) was a Scottish nobleman from the Stewart family .

Life

He was the son of John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Atholl and his wife Grizel Rattray, a daughter of Sir John Rattray, and followed his father in 1542 as 4th  Earl of Atholl .

In 1560 he was one of the three nobles who voted against the Reformation and the Creed in Parliament and declared their attachment to the Roman Catholic Church. Together with Murray and Morton he faced Huntlys and fought him in October 1562 at the Battle of Corrichie . He supported the planned marriage of Queen Elizabeth I to James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran .

After the arrival of Maria I from France in 1561, he became one of her twelve private advisors and, due to his religious beliefs, soon had even greater influence than Murray or Maitland. He was one of the main supporters of the wedding to Darnley , became the leader of the Roman Catholic nobles and was with Knox the most powerful man in government. According to John Knox , he publicly attended mass in the Queen's Chapel and had full confidence in Mary in her project to reintroduce Roman Catholicism. The fortress of Tantallon Castle was given to him, and in 1565 he was appointed Lieutenant of Northern Scotland . In the same year the French ambassador described him as “très grand catholique hardi et vaillant et remuant, comme l'on dict, mais de nul 850 jugement et experience”.

After the murder of David Rizzio in 1567, he joined the Protestant lords against Mary. He appeared in Carberry Hill as one of the leaders against her and was subsequently involved in her capture at Loch Leven Castle . In July he was present at the coronation of James I and became a member of the Regency Council for Mary's abdication . In May 1568 in Langside he was absent, in July he again became a supporter of Mary and in 1569 voted for her divorce from Bothwell . In March 1570, he and a number of other lords joined in a letter to Elizabeth asking for support for Mary's claims. He attended the April meeting in Linlithgow , counter to a celebration of the King in Edinburgh.

In 1574 he was persecuted as a Catholic and threatened with excommunication.

He had been unsuccessful in preventing Morton's appointment to the Regency Council in 1572, but in 1578 he and the Earl of Argyll succeeded in driving him out of office. On March 24th, James took over the government and dissolved the Regency Council. Atholl and Argyll became new members, on the 29th Atholl was appointed Lord Chancellor of Scotland. As a result, Morton managed to get to Stirling Castle and take over the guardianship of James. Atholl and Argyll, who were in correspondence with Spain in order to receive support from there, moved with strong forces to Stirling and reached a compromise according to which all three lords were accepted into the government.

On the way to a banquet on April 20, 1579, Atholl suddenly fell ill and died on April 25. He was buried in St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh on July 4th .

family

In his first marriage he was married to Elizabeth, the daughter of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly , with whom he had two daughters before 1547 . In 1557 he married Margaret, daughter of Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming, in his second marriage. With her he had three daughters and a son who succeeded him as 5th Earl of Atholl.

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predecessor Office successor
John Stewart Earl of Atholl
1542-1579 		John Stewart
personal data
SURNAME Stewart, John, 4th Earl of Atholl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH between 1533 and 1542
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 1579
Place of death Kincardine Castle at Auchterarder, Aberdeenshire, Scotland