Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 13.djvu/99

 , his successor as chancellor, remained faithful to the king in his struggle against the ambitious projects of the Earl of Douglas, assisted by Livingston. In 1445 he was created a baron by the title Lord Crichton, and along with Kennedy was the chief adviser of the youthful monarch. In 1448 he was sent with two others to France to obtain a renewal of the league with that country, and to arrange a marriage between James and one of the daughters of the French king. After arranging a friendly treaty they, by advice of the French king, who had no daughter of a suitable age, proceeded to the court of Arnold, duke of Gueldres, where they were successful in arranging a marriage with Mary, his only daughter and heiress. Crichton was present in the supper chamber at Stirling in 1452 when James stabbed Douglas to death with a dagger. Crichton died in 1454. So much had the king been dependent on his advice that the courtiers dreaded to announce to him his great loss. He founded the collegiate church of Crichton 26 Dec. 1449. By his wife Agnes he had a son James, second lord Crichton (1430–1469), who, under the designation of Sir James Crichton of Frendraught, was appointed great chamberlain of Scotland in 1440, and held that office till 1453; and two daughters, Mary, married to Alexander, first earl of Huntly, and Agnes, married first to Alexander, fourth lord Glaumis, and secondly to Ker of Cessford.



CRICHTON, CREIGHTON, or CREITTON, WILLIAM (fl. 1615), jesuit, was a native of Scotland. When Nicholas de Gouda, the pope's legate, was engaged in a secret embassy to that country in 1561–2, all the ports were watched and guarded, and it was only by the extraordinary courage and ingenuity of John Hay and Crichton that de Gouda escaped unharmed. Crichton accompanied him to Antwerp and became a member of the Society of Jesus. He returned to Scotland in the beginning of Lent 1582, and was received into the house of Lord Seton, the only member of the royal council who remained constant to his religion. He also entered into correspondence with the Duke of Lennox, cousin and guardian of James VI, who was still a minor. It was not without great difficulty that he obtained an interview with Lennox, for he had to be introduced into the king's palace at night, and hidden during three days in a secret chamber. The duke promised that he would have the young king instructed in the catholic religion or else conveyed abroad in order to be able to embrace it with more freedom. To secure this object Crichton made some concessions on his side, chiefly of a pecuniary nature. The articles of this agreement were drawn up by Crichton and signed by the duke. Armed with this document Crichton proceeded to Paris, where the Duke of Guise—the king's relative—the archbishop of Glasgow, Father Tyrie, and other Scotchmen, all considered the catholic cause as good as gained. They therefore despatched Crichton to Rome and Parsons into Spain. The object of their mission was that they might secure the safety of the young king and of the Duke d'Aubigny, by assembling a strong military force to guard them, and that they might at the same time provide a catholic bride for the king. The pope subscribed four thousand gold crowns, the king of Spain twelve thousand. ‘But,’ says Crichton, ‘the plan, which might have been easily carried out in two months, was spread over two years, and so came to the knowledge of the English court.’ Elizabeth took alarm, and soon afterwards the Earl of Gowrie and the confederate lords seized the person of the young king.

In compliance with the pope's desire, and at the earnest request of the catholic nobility, Crichton was sent to Scotland again in 1584, and with him Father James Gordon; but their vessel was seized on the high seas by the admiral of Zeeland, acting for the protestants of Holland, who were in rebellion against their own sovereign (, Hist. Notes, pp. 409, 1084). Gordon was set at liberty, but Crichton and Ady, a secular priest, were condemned to die for the murder of the Prince of Orange, whose assassination was believed to have been the work of jesuits. A gallows was erected for the execution of Crichton, but at this juncture a treaty was concluded between the Dutch and the queen of England. Elizabeth on learning that Crichton was a prisoner at Ostend requested the negotiators of the treaty to have him given up to her, and sent a ship across to Ostend for the special purpose of conveying him to England. A ridiculous story was circulated that some papers which he tore in pieces were blown on board again, pieced together, and found to contain a proposal for the invasion of England by Spain and the Duke of Guise (, Hist. of Scotland, ed. 1864, iv. 95).

He was committed to the Tower on 16 Sept. 1584, and appears to have remained there till 1586. His liberation is attributed to a confes-