History of the Stewarts | Battles and Historic Events
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Murder of the Bonnie Earl o' Moray - Ye Hielands and ye Lowlands - 1592
The Earl of Moray was the eldest son of James Stewart 1st Lord Doune. From his distant relative James VI, he received in the year 1580 a gift of the ward and marriage of the two daughters of the regent Moray, and a few days later he married Elizabeth, the elder and soon after assumed,the title of the Earl of Moray through her.
On 5 March 1590 he was commissioned to execute the acts against the Jesuits. He then entered into an alliance with his wife´s cousin Francis Stewart, 1st Earl of Bothwell. In late 1590 he decided, along with the Earl of Atholl, to assist the Laird of Grant when his house was being besieged by Huntly; Huntly retreated to Edinburgh and on 23 January 1591 presented a supplication against Moray for his "having taken part with the malefactors in the north", both earls were then commanded to proceed to Edinburgh and sign bands to keep the peace
Huntly then obtained a special commission to pursue Bothwell and his associates, who the King feared were planning a rebellion. To prevent Bothwell from obtaining shelter with the Earl of Moray, a distant cousin and ally, Moray was persuaded by Lord Ochiltree, to come south on the condition of receiving a pardon. It is claimed in the traditional ballad, The Bonny Earl o´ Moray, that James was jealous of Moray´s favour with his Queen, Anne of Denmark, on account of his good looks.
Moray had arrived at Donibristle, a house of his mother on the Fife coast, when on 7 February 1592 it was suddenly beset by the followers of Huntly, who called on him to surrender. He declined to do so, and Huntly set fire to the house. Moray stayed for a time inside, and, suddenly dashing out, he broke through the cordon surrounding the house, and made for the rocks on the seashore. The burning of his helmet tassle is supposed to have however, betrayed him, and he was followed and killed. The corpses of the earl and of Dunbar, Sheriff of Moray, who had also been killed by Huntly´s followers, were brought over by the earl´s mother to Leith, to be placed in the tomb of the Regent Moray in St. Giles´s church; but for some months they remained in their coffins unburied, their friends refusing to bury them until the killing was punished.
Captain Gordon, one of Huntly´s followers, who being wounded was unable to escape to the north, was brought to Edinburgh and executed; but this was not enough to satisfy popular feeling, and the King deemed it prudent to retire from Edinburgh to Glasgow, until Huntly entered himself in ward in Blackness Castle. This Huntly did on 12 March, but on the 20th he was released on giving surety that on six days´ notice he would appear and stand his trial whenever called on to do so. This murder remains famous to this day as the earl was just 27 years old at the time of his death and his murderer´s punishment was a mere week long house arrest.
"The Bonnie Earl o´ Moray" a ballad about the murder was probably written as far back as the 17th century, although it didn´t appear in print until the 1740s and has been catalogued under the name "The Bonnie Earl o´ Moray" as Child Ballad No. 181. Benjamin Britten did an arrangement of the ballad.
On 5 March 1590 he was commissioned to execute the acts against the Jesuits. He then entered into an alliance with his wife´s cousin Francis Stewart, 1st Earl of Bothwell. In late 1590 he decided, along with the Earl of Atholl, to assist the Laird of Grant when his house was being besieged by Huntly; Huntly retreated to Edinburgh and on 23 January 1591 presented a supplication against Moray for his "having taken part with the malefactors in the north", both earls were then commanded to proceed to Edinburgh and sign bands to keep the peace
Huntly then obtained a special commission to pursue Bothwell and his associates, who the King feared were planning a rebellion. To prevent Bothwell from obtaining shelter with the Earl of Moray, a distant cousin and ally, Moray was persuaded by Lord Ochiltree, to come south on the condition of receiving a pardon. It is claimed in the traditional ballad, The Bonny Earl o´ Moray, that James was jealous of Moray´s favour with his Queen, Anne of Denmark, on account of his good looks.
Moray had arrived at Donibristle, a house of his mother on the Fife coast, when on 7 February 1592 it was suddenly beset by the followers of Huntly, who called on him to surrender. He declined to do so, and Huntly set fire to the house. Moray stayed for a time inside, and, suddenly dashing out, he broke through the cordon surrounding the house, and made for the rocks on the seashore. The burning of his helmet tassle is supposed to have however, betrayed him, and he was followed and killed. The corpses of the earl and of Dunbar, Sheriff of Moray, who had also been killed by Huntly´s followers, were brought over by the earl´s mother to Leith, to be placed in the tomb of the Regent Moray in St. Giles´s church; but for some months they remained in their coffins unburied, their friends refusing to bury them until the killing was punished.
Captain Gordon, one of Huntly´s followers, who being wounded was unable to escape to the north, was brought to Edinburgh and executed; but this was not enough to satisfy popular feeling, and the King deemed it prudent to retire from Edinburgh to Glasgow, until Huntly entered himself in ward in Blackness Castle. This Huntly did on 12 March, but on the 20th he was released on giving surety that on six days´ notice he would appear and stand his trial whenever called on to do so. This murder remains famous to this day as the earl was just 27 years old at the time of his death and his murderer´s punishment was a mere week long house arrest.
"The Bonnie Earl o´ Moray" a ballad about the murder was probably written as far back as the 17th century, although it didn´t appear in print until the 1740s and has been catalogued under the name "The Bonnie Earl o´ Moray" as Child Ballad No. 181. Benjamin Britten did an arrangement of the ballad.
Reference: The Bonnie Earl o' Moray
