Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 54.djvu/316

 obtained a divorce from the Earl of Lennox on account of his impotency. Her child by Arran, according to Calderwood, was ‘born a quarter of a year before’ he married her; and before baptism could be granted ‘he and his lady had to underlie the discipline of the kirk’ (, iii. 596). For some time he and Lennox had been in collision with the kirk for the ‘intrusion’ of Robert Montgomerie [q. v.] into the bishopric in Glasgow, and on 9 May 1582 he and Lennox ‘fell out in outrageous words’ against the commissioners of the kirk sent to the king on the subject (ib. p. 619). Also when certain articles on the subject were presented to the king and nobility at Perth in July, Arran asked, ‘with a thrawn face and in boasting manner, who dare subscribe these treasonable articles’ (ib. p. 631). It was especially the attitude of Arran and Lennox towards the kirk in the Montgomerie case that led to the raid of Ruthven on 22 Aug., when the king was seized by the protestant lords [see, first ]. As soon as he knew what had happened, Arran, who was at Kinneil, hastened to Ruthven, trusting by the Earl of Gowrie's friendship to obtain access to the king. Learning that Mar was guarding the approaches, he sent his brother, Sir William Stewart, to attack Mar and divert his attention, and while Mar was engaged with Stewart he succeeded in gaining access to the castle unperceived; but instead of obtaining an interview with the king, he ‘was put in a close chamber and afterwards transported to Dupplin’ (ib. iii. 637). Finally he was placed under the charge of Gowrie, first in Stirling and afterwards at Ruthven. While at Ruthven he offered, on condition of being placed at liberty, to reveal as much as would cost Lennox his head. No doubt the offer was made con amore, nor was it a vain boast; but Lennox's head was not desired, his banishment being deemed sufficient. The offer, therefore, was not accepted; on the contrary, an order was made on 19 Oct. for his continued detention in custody of the Earl of Gowrie at Ruthven Castle until it was definitely known that Lennox had left the kingdom, after which Arran was to be at liberty to reside anywhere ‘benorth the Earn’ (Reg. P. C. Scotl. iii. 519). ‘Gowrie, however,’ says Calderwood, ‘was drawn by the king to be a friend of Arran;’ and the council, at the king's request, agreed on 15 Nov. to set Arran at liberty, which would have been done but for the remonstrance of Bowes, the English ambassador (, iii. 690). In May 1583 Colonel Sir William Stewart (fl. 1575–1603) [q. v.] informed Queen Elizabeth of the king of Scots' desire that Arran should return to court, he having given a promise not to return without her consent (ib. iii. 714); but the request was refused. Nevertheless, after the king's escape from the Ruthven raiders, Arran on 5 Aug. came to the king at Falkland and was well received (ib. iii. 722). In September he was made provost of Stirling, and was entrusted with the keeping of the important fortress and royal residence of Stirling Castle. Although described by Calderwood with some justice as ‘a profound mocker of all religion, more fit to be the executioner of some Nero nor counsellor to a Christian prince, let be sole guide and commander of the commonwealth’ (ib. iv. 47), he now began to wield an influence over the king quite as paramount as that formerly exercised by Lennox. On 15 May 1584—the Earl of Argyll having fallen into ill-health—he had a gift of the survivancy of the chancellorship, with the power to act in the absence of Argyll, and on the death of Argyll he was placed in full possession of the chancellorship. The failure of a plot of the protestant nobles for the overthrow of his ascendency, due to the capture of the Earl of Gowrie by Colonel Stewart, established his supremacy on a more secure basis than ever. Gowrie, at whose trial Arran was one of the jury, was executed at Stirling on 2 Aug.; and the other protestant lords who had engaged in the conspiracy fled into England. On the ground of having, whether truly or falsely, discovered a plot for the capture of the castle of Edinburgh through the treachery of the constable, Arran on 8 Aug. obtained the charge of this fortress as well as of Stirling (ib. iv. 170). Still further to consolidate his authority, he entered into private communication with Elizabeth, who, resolving to make use of him so far as suited her own purposes, appointed Lord Hunsdon to hold a conference with him at Berwick (see specially, iv. 171–97); and at the conference, if Arran did not succeed in impressing the ambassador with his entire devotedness to Elizabeth, he induced her to believe that there was no immediate necessity for his overthrow. Having thus succeeded in staving off any design for the immediate return of the banished lords, he resolved to make the best use of the breathing space afforded him, and set himself to crush his more prominent enemies in Scotland by wholesale forfeitures, among those on whom such sentences were passed being the Earl of Angus, the Earl and Countess of Mar, the Master of Glammis, and others (ib. iv. 190). During