Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 1.djvu/272

 222 COMPLETE PEERAGE arran at Hamilton. (*) Will pr. i6 June 1576 at Edinburgh. His widow was living 24 May 1579. IV. 1575 to 1 58 1, 3. James (Hamilton), Earl of Arran i^c. [S.], and 1586 to s. and h. (') b. 1537 or 1538. In May 1543 nego- 1609. tiations were in progress for his marriage with the Princess Elizabeth. Being taken prisoner by the murderers of Cardinal Betoun, he was deprived, by Act. of Pari. 14 Aug. 1546, of all right of succession, until he was free. In 1554 he was commander of the Scots Guards in France. In 1560 he was again sug- gested by the Lords of the Congregation as a husband for the afsd. Elizabeth, when Queen [E.], and, in 1561, he openly aspired to be husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. Soon afterwards, however, he was declared to be insane, notwithstanding which, he was imprisoned 9 Apr. 1562, and in 1579 was included in the attainder of his brothers, whereby his titles became forfeited, and so continued for six years, till the act of forfeiture was repealed, 10 Dec. 1585. During this period, however, he, in 1 58 1, resigned the Earldom of Arran [S.] in favour of James Stewart (as mentioned below), which resignation was " reduced " by the Court of Session (") in 1586 "as the act of a person incompetent in consequence of insanity, " whereby he was restored to his honours. (*) He d. s.p.. Mar. 1609, aged about 71. V. 1581 I. James Stewart, of Bothwellmuir, 2nd s. of Andrew, to 2nd Lord Ochiltree [S.], by Agnes, da. of John Cunn- 1585. INGHAM, of Caprington, and grandson of Andrew, ist Lord Ochiltree [S], by Margaret, da. (by Beatrice, his ist wife) of James (Hamilton), ist Earl of Arran [S.]. He served the States of Holland against the Spaniards, returned in 1579 to Scotland, and was made, by the King, a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, P.C., Capt. of the Guard, and tutor to the insane Earl of Arran [S.] above mentioned. Under pretence that he was the lawful h. of that family, and that the children of the abovenamed James (Hamilton), ist Earl of Arran by his second wife (from whom sprang the succeeding Earls), were illegitimate, he obtained, 22 Apr. (") He is said to have been of gentle nature, but appears to have been fickle and vacillating, and without any convictions either in politics or religion. V.G. ('') According to Douglas, vol. i, p. 702, the French Dukedom of Chitellerault did not descend to him, having been resumed by the Crown of France. C) See Hewlett's furisprudence, p. 24, where the absolute supremacy of the Court of Session in adjudicating on Scottish Peerages is recognized, and where it is stated that " There can be no doubt that, on sufficient cause, the Court of Sesiion had jurisdiction to reduce a resignation, and, if a resignation were reduced, to reduce all titles flowing from, or grounded uf>on it. " (*) He is stated, in 1592, to be "married to this Lord Glamis' aunt," but nothing is known of any such match. He appears to have been " crackbrained and fantastic " rather than actually insane, V.G.