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“We then look to the peaceful
seats of our modern landowners, the smiling fields, the well-filled
stackyard, and the fearless flock, and cannot but feel grateful for the
change, and rejoice that it is no longer necessary to renew our castles or
keep them in repair. We may therefore turn from these remains of massive
walls without regret, while the breezes that sigh among their ruins
“Tell of a time when music’s
flow,
In bridal bower or birthday hall,
Hath often changed from mirth to woe,
From joyous dance to vengeful call;
Tell of a time when from their steep
The mournful bier oft wound its way,
And kindred scarce had time to weep
When summoned to the bloody fray.
Enough—my heart can bear no more
But sickens as those scenes increase,
And gladly turns from fields of gore,
To praise the Lord of love and peace.
Hail, pure Religion! let our hearts
Thy spirit feel, thy virtue own;
Let Industry and peaceful arts
Our home with love and plenty crown!”
—Dr Longmuir.
"I CANNOT,” says Shaw the
historian of Moray, in giving an account of the old lordship of Badenoch—“I
cannot trace the possession of this country higher than to the Cummines,
Lords of Badenoch, who, I doubt not, were lords of it in the twelfth or
beginning of the thirteenth century.” “By an agreement in 1225 between
the Bishop of Moray and Walter Cumyn of Badenoch, the bishop,” says Skene,
“frees him from any claim he had for the title of the ‘ Can ’ of his lord
the king from the lands of Badenoch.” In an agreement between the same
parties “ between a.d. 1224 and 1233, regarding lands in Badenoch, it is
provided with regard to the native-men (nativi), that the bishop shall have
all the cleric and two lay native-men—viz., Gyllemaluock Macnakeeigelle and
Sythad MacMallon, with all their chattels and possessions, and with their
children and all their posterity, and the chattels of their children; and
Walter Cumyn to have all the other lay native-men of lands in Badenoch; and
when, after the War of Independence, Robert the Bruce erected the whole
lands extending from the Spey to the Western Sea into an earldom of Moray in
favour of his nephew, Thomas Randolph, the earldom was granted, with all its
manors, burgh townships, and thanages, and all the royal demesnes, rents,
and duties, and all barons and freeholders (libere tenentes) of the said
earldom, who hold of the Crown in capite, and their heirs were to render
their homages, fealties, attendance at courts, and all other services, to
Thomas Randolph and his heirs, and to hold their baronies and tenements of
him and his heirs, reserving to the barons and freeholders the rights and
liberties of their own courts according to use and wont; and Thomas Randolph
was to render to the king the Scottish service and aid due as heretofore for
each davoch of land.”
History does not record by whom or at what time a castle was originally
built here. Tradition has it that the first castle bearing the name of
Ruthven was erected by one of the Comyns, but what was its form, for what
period it stood, or when or by whom it was destroyed, is involved in
obscurity. In the latter half of the fourteenth century the castle of that
time was the principal stronghold of Alexander Stewart, the notorious Wolf
of Badenoch, on whom his father, King Robert II., in 1371 bestowed the
lordship of Badenoch. On the failure of the Wolfs descendants the lordship
reverted to the Crown. In 1451 the castle was seized and demolished by John,
Earl of Ross, who had broken out in open rebellion when King James II. was
exerting himself to weaken the power of the Douglases, with some of whose
adherents the young Earl was connected by marriage. From the sixth or
seventh decade of the fifteenth century downwards the castle was possessed,
except for short intervals, by the powerful house of Gordon, which for a
period extending to nearly four centuries—first under the title of the Earls
of Huntly, and afterwards under that of the Dukes of Gordon—exercised as the
feudal superiors and Lords of Badenoch such potent sway in the district, and
figured so prominently in Scottish history. Indeed, since the middle of the
sixteenth century so intimately were the successive castles associated with
the Gordon family that the subsequent history of the one is to a great
extent embraced in that of the other. The power of which the Earls of Huntly
were possessed was almost uniformly exerted in support of the royal
authority, and the many baronies which they received from their sovereign
were conferred in reward of their loyalty and valour. About the year 1451
the king, in reward for signal services, granted the lordship of Badenoch to
Sir Alexander Gordon, who in 1449 had been created Earl of Huntly. In a
confirmation of this Earl’s lands by the king in 1457, the onerous cause is
said to have been “ for keeping the crown on our head.” George, the second
Earl, who succeeded to the title on the death of his father in 1479,
founded, it is related, Gordon Castle and the Priory of Kingussie. So
important were his services considered in the way of extending the royal
authority in the north and west Highlands, that in 1508-9 he was appointed
to the heritable sheriffship of Inverness. His jurisdiction under that
sheriffship embraced not only that county, but also the counties of Ross and
Caithness, and he was empowered to appoint deputies for certain divisions of
his sheriffdom. These deputies were to hold their courts respectively at
Kingussie for the district of Badenoch, at Inverlochy for that of Lochaber,
at Tain or Dingwall for Ross, and at Wick for Caithness. Alexander, the
third Earl, was made Hereditary Sheriff of the County and Constable of the
Castle of Inverness; and obtained a charter of the Castle of Inverlochy in
Lochaber, and the adjacent lands.
George, fourth Earl of Huntly, who succeeded his grandfather in 1524, was
the possessor of wealth and power little less than princely. In 1549, for
his eminent services in maintaining the public tranquillity, he obtained a
grant of the earldom of Murray, with its lands and revenues, and of the
sheriffship of Elgin and Forres; and he had also tacks and possessions in
Orkney and Shetland, besides the bailliary and tacks of the earldom of Mar
and lordship of Strathdee. He was Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, and in
1543 he obtained a commission of “Lieutenandry of the Northe.” Under this
commission his right extended from the Mearns to the Western Ocean, and
comprehended the whole northern parts of Scotland, and the islands within
the shire of Inverness, as well as those of Orkney and Shetland. The
authority thus conferred on him was of the most unlimited description,
giving him the power of governing and defending the inhabitants within these
bounds, and, when necessary, of raising armies and compelling the lieges to
join them. He was empowered to bear the royal banner, and to make such
statutes and ordinances for the preservation of justice as he might deem
expedient. He might invade those who rebelled against his authority with
fire and sword; imprison, punish, and “justify” them as their offences
required; take their castles, and appoint constables to them; and, if
necessary, he was empowered to treat with the rebels, so as to bring them
back to their obedience and duty. He held the king’s castles of Inverness
and Inverlochy, and he had belonging to himself the castles of Strathbogie,
Bog of Gight (now Gordon Castle), Darnaway, Ruthven in Badenoch, Drummin in
Glenlivat, besides having the command of several houses of defence in the
counties of Aberdeen and Banff, which were either in possession of members
of his own family, or of parties on whose allegiance he could depend.
In the year 1556, according to Bishop Lesley, Mary of Guise, the Queen
Regent, “makeing hir voyage in the north partis, come in the month of Julii
to Invernes, accompaneit with the Erles of Huntly, Argyle, Atholl, Merchall,
Bishop of Ros and Orknay, and syndre uther nobill men, and hir foirsaid
counsaloris of Frenchemen [Monsieur Doisel, the resident French Ambassador,
and Monsieur Rubay, Vice-Chancellor], quhair sho held justice aris with the
most extreme and rigorous punishment.” According to the account given by
Gordon of Straloch, it was during this tour that her Majesty, with a great
retinue, principally composed of Frenchmen, was received by the Earl of
Huntly in his Castle of Strathbogie, which he had recently enlarged and
adorned at great expense. After a stay of some days, lest she should
incommode her host, the Queen prepared to depart. Huntly, who had always
been her Majesty’s firm supporter, entreated her to prolong her visit. She
wished to inspect the cellars and well-filled store-houses of her guest,
where there appeared an incredible quantity of fowls and venison. The
Frenchmen, on asking from whence a supply so large, and at the same time so
fresh, could be procured, were informed by the Earl that he had many hunters
and fowlers dispersed in the mountains, woods, and remote places of his
domains, from whence they daily sent to him the game which they caught,
however distant their quarters might be. On which Doisel exclaimed to the
Queen that such a man was not to be tolerated in so small and poor a kingdom
as Scotland; and, with reference to the evils which had resulted from the
overgrown power of the Douglases in former reigns, he said that Huntly’s
wings ought to be clipped, lest he should become too arrogant.
In 1561 the Earl of Mar, who regarded the Lord Chancellor Huntly as a
dangerous rival, had acquired such a predominant influence in the councils
of Queen Mary, that he succeeded in wresting from Huntly the title and
estates of the earldom of Murray. Instigated by Murray, the Queen in 1562
set out on an expedition to the north with the view of crushing the power of
the Gordons. At Murray’s instance Sir John Gordon (a son of Huntly) had
previously been imprisoned in connection with a scuffle between him and his
brother-in-law, Lord Ogilvy, but had made his escape from prison, and had
proceeded to his father’s castle. Murray prevailed upon the Privy Council to
adopt the resolution that the Earl of Huntly “ shall either submit himself,
and deliver his disobedient son John, or utterly to use all force against
him, for the subversion of his house for every
“With what show of reason,” says Sheriff Glassford Bell, “the unfortunate
Huntly could be subjected to so severe a fate, it is difficult to say. He
had come to offer his obedience and hospitality to the Queen on her first
arrival at Aberdeen ; he remained perfectly quiet during her journey through
that part of the country which was subject to him ; he sent to her, after
she returned to Aberdeen, the keys of the houses of Findlater and Deckford,
which she had summoned unsuccessfully on her march from Cullen to Banff; and
he delivered to her out of his own castle a field-piece which the Regent
Arran had long ago given to him, and which Mary now demanded. He added that
‘ not only that which was her own, but also his body and goods, were at her
Grace’s commands.’ His wife, the Countess of Huntly, led Captain Play, the
person sent for the cannon, into the chapel at her castle, and placing
herself at the altar, said to him: ‘Good friend, you see here the envy that
is borne unto my husband. Would he have forsaken God and his religion as
those that are now about the Queen’s grace, and have the whole guiding of
her, have done, my husband had never been put at as now he is. God, and he
that is upon this holy altar, whom I believe in, will, I am sure, preserve,
and let our true meaning hearts be known ; and as I have said unto you so, I
pray you, let it be said unto your mistress. My husband was ever obedient
unto her, and so will die her faithful subject.’
“That Mary should have given her sanction to these iniquitous proceedings,
can only be accounted for by supposing, what was in truth the case, that she
was kept in ignorance of everything tending to exculpate Huntly, whilst
various means were invented to inspire her with a belief that he had
conceived, and was intent upon executing, a diabolical plot against herself
and government. It was given out that his object was to seize upon the
Queen’s person—to marry her by force to his son, Sir John Gordon—and to cut
off Murray, Morton, and Maitland, his principal enemies. Influenced by these
misrepresentations, which would have been smiled at in later times, but
which, in those days, were taken more seriously, the Queen put the fate of
Huntly into the hands of Murray. Soon after her return to Aberdeen, an
expedition was secretly prepared against Huntly’s castle. If resistance was
offered, the troops sent for the purpose were to take it by force, and if
admitted without opposition, they were to bring Huntly a prisoner to
Aberdeen. Intimation, however, of this enterprise and its object was
conveyed to the Earl, and he contrived to baffle its success. His wife
received the party with all hospitality ; threw open her doors, and
entreated that they would examine the whole premises, to ascertain whether
they afforded any ground of suspicion. But Huntly himself took care to be
out of the way, having retired to Badenoch.
“Thus foiled again, Murray, on the 15th October, called a Privy Council, at
which he got it declared that unless Huntly appeared on the following day
before her Majesty, ‘to answer to such things as are to lay to his charge,’
he should be put to the horn for his contempt of her authority, and ‘his
houses, strengths, and friends taken from him.’ However willing he might
have been to have ventured thus into the lion’s den, Huntly could not
possibly have appeared within the time appointed. On the 17th of October he
was therefore denounced a rebel in terms of the previous proclamation, and
his lands and titles declared forfeited. Even yet, however, Huntly acted
with forbearance. He sent his Countess to Aberdeen on the 20th, who
requested admission to the Queen’s presence, that she might make manifest
her husband’s innocence. So far from obtaining an audience, this lady, who
was respected and loved over the whole country, was not allowed to come
within two miles of the Court, and she returned home with a heavy heart. As
a last proof of his fidelity, Huntly sent a messenger to Aberdeen, offering
to enter into ward till his cause might be tried by the whole nobility. Even
this offer was rejected 3 and, goaded into madness, the unfortunate Earl at
length collected his followers round him, and, raising the standard of
rebellion, not against the Queen, but against Murray, advanced suddenly upon
Aberdeen.
“This resolute proceeding excited considerable alarm at Court. Murray,
however, had foreseen the probability of such a step being ultimately taken,
and had been busy collecting forces sufficient to repel the attack. A number
of the neighbouring nobility had joined him, who, not penetrating the prime
minister’s real motives, were not displeased to see so proud and powerful an
earldom as that of Huntly likely to fall to pieces. On the 28th of October,
Murray marched out of Aberdeen at the head of about 2000 men. He found
Huntly advantageously stationed at Corrachie, a village about fifteen miles
from Aberdeen. Huntly’s force was much inferior to that of Murray, scarcely
exceeding 500 men. Indeed it seems doubtful whether he had advanced so much
for the purpose of fighting, as for the sake of giving greater weight to his
demands to be admitted into the presence of the Queen, who, he always
maintained, had been misled by false counsel. Perceiving the approach,
however, of his inveterate enemy Murray, and considering the superiority of
his own position on the hill of Fare, he relinquished all idea of retreat,
and determined at any risk to accept the battle which was offered him. The
contest was of short duration. The broadswords of the Highlanders, even had
the numbers been more equal, would have been no match for the spears and
regular discipline of Murray’s Lowland troops. Their followers fled; but the
Earl of Huntly and his two sons, Sir John Gordon and Adam, a youth of
seventeen, disdaining to give ground, were taken prisoners. The Earl, who
was advanced in life, was no sooner set upon horseback, to be carried
triumphantly into Aberdeen, than the thoughts of the ruin which was now
brought upon himself and his family overwhelmed him; and, without speaking a
word, or receiving a blow, he fell dead from his horse.”
His son, Sir John Gordon, who was pronounced the author of all these
troubles, was soon afterwards tried at Aberdeen, condemned, and beheaded.
His youth and magnanimity, we are told, excited the compassion of the
beholders, which was deepened by the manner in which he was mangled by the
unskilful executioner. The Queen is said to have witnessed his death with
many tears.
“Adam Gordon was indebted to his youth for saving him from his brother’s
fate. He lived to be, as his father had been, one of Mary’s most faithful
servants. Lord Gordon, the late Earl’s eldest son, who was with his
father-in-law, the Duke of Chatelherault, at Hamilton, was soon afterwards
seized and committed to prison, Murray finding it convenient to declare him
implicated in the Earl’s guilt. Having remained under arrest for some
months, he was tried and found guilty, but the execution of his sentence was
left at the Queen’s pleasure. She sent him to Dunbar Castle ; and as Murray
could not prevail upon her to sign the death-warrant, he had recourse to
forgery; and had the keeper of the castle not discovered the deceit, the
Lord Gordon’s fate would have been sealed. Mary was content with keeping him
prisoner, till a change in her administration restored him to favour, and to
the forfeited estates and honours of his father.”
Of George, the fourth Earl of Huntly’s three daughters, Lady Elizabeth
married John, Earl of Athole ; Lady Margaret, John, Lord Forbes ; and Lady
Jane, the infamous James, Earl of Bothwell, from whom being divorced in
1568, she married Alexander, Earl of Sutherland, who died in 1594, and
surviving him, she married Alexander Ogilvie of Boyne, who subsequently
became Earl of Northumberland.
George, the fifth Earl of Huntly, was one of Queen Mary’s Privy Council,
Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, and Lieutenant-General of all her
Majesty’s forces in the north. George, the sixth Earl, a favourite at the
Court of James VI., finding himself in danger from the prevailing faction,
retired to his possessions in the north for the purpose of improving his
estates and enjoying domestic quiet. One of his first measures, we are told,
was to erect a castle at Ruthven in Badenoch, in the neighbourhood of his
hunting-forests. It is related that he “ built the castle twice, it being
burnt by a venture or negligence of his servants after he once finished the
same.” This Earl, who was created Marquess of Huntly in 1599, enjoyed the
family honours for the long period of about sixty years. Spalding pronounces
a glowing eulogium upon him as one who in time of trouble was of invincible
courage; a lover of rest and quietness ; a moderate and temperate liver in
his diet; a builder and planter of all curious devices; a good neighbour in
his marches—disposed rather to give than to take; in youth a prodigal
spender, but in age more wise and worldly, mightily envied by the Kirk for
his religion, and by others for his greatness. “He departed this life a
Roman Catholic; being about the age of threescore and fourteen years, to the
great grief of his friends and lady, who had lived with him many years both
in prosperity and adversity.” He died at Dundee in 1636, on his way home
from Edinburgh, and was buried by torchlight in the Cathedral of Elgin.
In a rare and curious little volume, published at Glasgow in 1764, entitled
‘ The History of the Feuds and Conflicts among the Clans in the northern
parts of Scotland, &c., from the year mxxxi unto mdcxix, now first published
from a Manuscript wrote in the reign of King James VI.,’ an interesting
account is given of the discovery in 1592 of the so-called “Spanish Blanks,”
or Spanish conspiracy, which at the time created such consternation, and two
years subsequently led to the siege of Ruthven Castle and the battle of
Glenlivet.
Immediately following the account of these “ blanks,” the narrative in that
history proceeds:—
“Afterward, the year of God 1594, the Popish earls, Angus, Huntlie, and
Erroll, were, at the earnest suit of the Queen of England’s ambassador,
forfeited at a parliament held at Edinburgh the penult of May 1594. Then was
the king moved to make the earl of Argyle his Majesty’s lieutenant in the
north of Scotland, to invade the earls of Huntlie and Erroll. Argyle being
glad of this employment (having received money from the Queen of England for
this purpose), makes great preparation for the journey, and addresses
himself quickly forward; thinking, thereby, to have a good occasion to
revenge his brother-in-law the earl of Murray’s death; so, on he went, with
full assurance of a certain victory, accompanied with the earl of
Tullibairnie, Sir Lauchlan Maclean and divers islanders, Macintosh, Grant,
and Clan-Macgregor, Macneill-Warray, with all their friends and dependers,
together with the whole sirname of Campbell, with sundry others, whom either
greediness of prey, or malice against the Gordons, had thrust on forward in
that expedition, in all above 10,000 men. And, coming through all the
mountainous countries of that part of Scotland, they arrived at Riven of
Badenoch, the 27th of September, the year 1594, which house they besieged,
because it appertained to Huntlie.”
Argyle himself, we are told, “had in his company to the number of sax
thowsand men weill provided with muscatis, bowis, arrowis, and twa-handit
swordis; of the quhilk nomber there war fyftene hundreth muscateirs and
hagbutters.” As the old Scottish ballad has it :—
“Macallan More came from the
wast
With mony a bow and brand
To wast the Rinnes, he thought best,
The earll of Huntlie’s lands.
He swore yat none should him gainestand,
Except that he war fay;
Bot all sould be at his command
That dwelt benorthern Tay.”
But “Macallan More” (Mac
Chailein Mhoir), though backed by English gold and supported by such a large
following, including the Chief of the Mackintoshes, swore and “reckoned
without his host.” The Macphersons, under their own Chief Cluny—acting, as
they had ever done, quite independently of the Mackintosh Chief—so gallantly
defended the castle in the interests of Huntly that Argyle was compelled to
give up the siege. Argyle then proceeded through the hills towards
Strathbogie with the intention of carrying fire and sword through Huntly’s
lands in that district. Arriving near Glenlivet, Argyle found that Huntly
and Errol were in the vicinity with 1400 or 1500 men. “ Argyle disposed his
army on the declivity of a hill, in two parallel divisions. The right wing,
consisting of the Macleans and Macintoshes, was commanded by Sir Lachlan
Maclean and Macintosh; the left, of Grants, Macneills, and Macgregors, by
Grant of Gartenbeg; and the centre, of Campbells, &c., by Campbell of
Auchinbreck. This vanguard consisted of 4000 men, one-half of whom carried
muskets. The rear of the army, 6000 strong, Argyle commanded in person. The
Earl of Huntly’s vanguard was composed of 300 gentlemen, led by the Earl of
Errol, Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindoun, the Lairds of Gight and Bonnitoun,
and Captain, afterwards Sir, Thomas Carr. The Earl himself brought up the
rest of his forces, having the Laird of Cluny upon his right hand and the
Laird of Abergeldie upon his left. . . Argyle’s position on the slope of the
hill gave him an advantage over his assailants, who, from the nature of
their force, were greatly hampered by the mossiness of the ground at the
foot of the hill, which was interspersed by pits from which turf had been
dug. But, notwithstanding these obstacles, Huntly advanced up the hill with
a slow and steady pace.” The battle raged with great fury for two hours,
during which both parties fought with great bravery, “the one,” says Sir
Robert Gordon, “for glorie, the other for necessities’ In the heat of the
action the Earl of Huntly had a horse shot under him, and was in imminent
danger of his life; but another horse was straightway got for him. After a
hard contest the main body of Argyle’s army began to give way, and retreated
towards the Burn of Alltcoileachan; Huntly pursued the retiring foe beyond
the burn, when he was hindered from following them farther by the steepness
of the hills, so unfavourable to the operations of cavalry. On Argyle’s side
500 men were killed, including Macneill of Barra and the Earl’s two cousins,
Lochnell and Auchinbreck. The Earl of Huntly’s loss was trifling—among them
Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindoun and the Laird of Gight; whilst the Earl of
Errol and a considerable number of persons were wounded. At the conclusion
of the battle the conquerors returned thanks to God on the field for the
victory they had achieved. Among the trophies found on the field was the
ensign belonging to the Earl of Argyle, which was carried with other spoils
to Strathbogie, and placed upon the top of the great tower. So certain had
Argyle been of success in his enterprise, that he had made out a paper
apportioning the lands of the Gordons, the Hays, and all who were suspected
to favour them, among the chief officers of his army. This document was
found among the baggage which he left behind him on the field of battle. |
