THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY, 1600

A Continuing Mystery which may never be solved

Gowrie Conspiracy - A Continuing Mystery

On 5 August 1600 there occurred at the Gowrie House in Perth a mysterious incident which has come down to us as "the Gowrie Conspiracy" about which several books have been written. It involved a supposed attempt on the life of James VI and the deaths of John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie and his brother, Alexander. The king had ridden from Falkland Palace, having heard a story about the discovery of a crock of gold. It is impossible to tell how much of the evidence on both sides was invented afterwards to account for all the bizarre happenings of that day.

James was allegedly lured up into a turret overlooking the courtyard where he is supposed to have been threatened with a dagger. The king called "Murder! Murder!" from the turret window and this sparked off a riot and panic in the courtyard below. During this scuffle the Earl of Gowrie was killed at his own front door and when his brother came dashing down the stairs to the rescue he was also killed.

The probable truth is that there was no conspiracy at all. The king was terrified of naked steel and must have genuinely (but mistakenly) fancied himself to have been in danger of his life. Crying out as he did, his entourage naturally thought the worst and defended themselves and their king, killing, amongst others, their host and his brother, neither of whom, so far as we can prove, had any idea what was happening. Both bodies were taken to Edinburgh and a macabre sitting of Parliament convicted the corpses of treason. The king, however, was determined to make the incident appear to be a conspiracy against his life and he therefore confiscated all the Gowrie lands, possessions and monetary wealth. One of his courtiers, the future Sir William Stewart of Grantully, was given the Gowrie lands of Strathbraan 'for the saving of our lives at the late conspiracy at Perth on the fifth day of August last bypast'. James Murray, the king's Cup Bearer, ancestor of the Earls of Mansfield, received Scone and Stormont, which the same family possesses to this day. The incident was opportune for James: Gowrie's grandfather had been one of the Murderers of David Rizzio in 1566 and his father had organised the Ruthven Raid. Besides, the King owed Gowrie Ł80,000, a debt that could now be set aside.