Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 54.djvu/324

  [Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1424–1513 and 1513–1580; Cal. State Papers, Henry VIII, vols. iii. iv.; Lennox Muniments in Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep.; Sir William Fraser's Lennox (privately printed); Histories by Buchanan, Leslie, and Lindsay; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 97.]

 STEWART, JOHN, (1481–1536), regent of Scotland, was the only son of Alexander Stewart, duke of Albany [q. v.], by his second wife, Anne de la Tour d'Auvergne, third daughter of Bertrand II, comte d'Auvergne et de Boulogne. Early left an orphan by the death of his father in 1485, Albany was brought up by his mother in France, and continued through life to consider France his native country, its king his master, and to sign his name Jehan. He held the office of admiral of France, and was a knight of St. Michel, the tutelary saint of France. He married, on 8 June 1505, his cousin, Anne de la Tour, comtesse de la Tour d'Auvergne, elder child and heiress of his mother's brother, Jehan III, comte d'Auvergne, whose younger sister married, ten years later, Lorenzo de' Medici, duke of Urbino, nephew of Leo X, and was mother of Catherine de' Medici.

The Scots, however, treated him as a Scot, described him as John, duke of Albany, and their parliament not only elected him regent, but declared him next heir to the crown. Before the first parliament or general council met after Flodden at Perth, on 26 Nov. 1513, a request was sent by Cumming, the Lyon king, to Louis XII, that Albany might come and assume the government of Scotland. He was unable or unwilling, but sent Antony d'Arcy de la Bastie as his representative. With De la Bastie came James Ogilvy (afterwards abbot of Dryburgh) as ambassador of Louis XII, and at the meeting of the general council at Perth they expressed the desire of the French king to renew the old alliance with Scotland, and that Scottish ambassadors should visit France with full powers. The French king, they said, was willing, if the Scots desired it, to send Albany to Scotland for its defence. The lords of council declared their consent to the renewal of the alliance, and their wish that Albany should be sent with Robert Stuart, seigneur d'Aubigny, the captain of the bodyguard of Scottish archers, and all other Scotsmen who could get license from the French king, to protect their country against the English [see under, first (or ninth) ]. The influence of Henry VIII, who then supported his sister, Margaret Tudor, in the regency of Scotland, and was carrying on the negotiations which resulted in the marriage of his sister Mary to Louis XII, was sufficient to prevent Albany's departure until after the accession of Francis I, at whose consecration, on 25 Jan. 1515, Albany was present. While still in France he acted as the representative of Scotland, and on 2 April 1514 sold in Paris to the French king for forty thousand crowns of Tours the Great St. Michael, the pride of the Scottish fleet, which had been built by James IV.

It was not till May 1515 that Albany sailed from St. Malo to the west coast, to avoid English cruisers. Landing at Dumbarton on 18 May, he at once went to Glasgow, where, on the 22nd, he wrote as regent of Scotland to Francis I signifying his assent to the treaty between France and England, in which Scotland was to be included. On the 26th he was received with acclamation in Edinburgh, and comedies, says Leslie, were acted to welcome him. Parliament met on 12 July, when Albany was declared tutor and governor both of the kingdom and the king, the queen mother having forfeited her right of guardianship and regency by her marriage to the young Earl of Angus [see, sixth ]. Early in August she was forced to surrender Stirling and her children to Albany. Though closely watched, she escaped to Tantallon, and thence on 23 Sept. to Harbottle, where she gave birth on 30 Oct. to Lady Margaret Douglas [q. v.], afterwards Countess of Lennox and mother of Darnley. Albany resided at Holyrood. Among the nobles who had urged his coming to Scotland was Lord Hume or Home, the chamberlain [see, third ]; but an imprudent remark Albany made when he first saw Hume, who was a little man, ‘Minuit præsentia famam,’ alienated the proud border chief. He and his clan rebelled, and towards the end of August Albany assembled a large army on the Borough Muir, with which he marched to the borders, visited on his way De la Bastie at Dunbar, and seized Hume Castle and the chamberlain before 12 Sept. Hume was put in charge of James Hamilton, first earl of Arran [q. v.]; but that feeble noble liberated Hume, and entered into a band or league with him and Angus against Albany, which was abetted by Lord Dacre of the north, the English warden of the marches. Albany returned north and seized Arran's estates; but at Hamilton Castle, the chief seat of Arran, terms were made. Arran was pardoned and detached from the league. Albany also endeavoured by conciliatory language to induce Margaret, who had fled to England, to return to Scotland, but without success. The sudden death of her infant