George, the 4th Earl of Huntly, was a powerful Highland lord, controlling the Northeast of Scotland. Although Antonia Fraser states that his situation was almost that of an independent monarch, he was a Catholic, was a first cousin of Queen Mary, and had been at least as loyal to Mary as Lord James. Not that that’s saying much.
He was head of the Gordon family, who were feuding with the Ogilvies, and in June 1562, George’s third son, John, wounded Lord Ogilvie in a street brawl in Edinburgh.
The whole story is pretty unsavoury really. Lord Ogilvie’s second wife accused his son, James, of making unwanted advances towards her, and persuaded Ogilvie to disinherit him and give his lands to John Gordon. She then became John Gordon’s mistress, but when he found he could get no more land from her, he shut her up in a ‘close chamber’ and deserted her.
When he was imprisoned for the brawl, he escaped and fled to his father’s lands.
On 11th August 1562, Mary Queen of Scots rode north, partly on a planned progress to the Highlands, partly to punish John Gordon and to demonstrate that she was Queen and even the Gordons were subordinate to her. Lord James had his own reasons to be wary of Huntly. Huntly had been paid the revenues of the earldom of Moray since 1549, but the Earldom of Moray had been bestowed secretly on Lord James by Mary at the end of January 1562, and up to now no-one had informed Huntly.
At Aberdeen, Elizabeth, the Countess of Huntly pleaded with the Queen to forgive her son. Mary agreed, provided Lord John surrendered himself in Stirling. This he did, but shortly afterwards he escaped again and gathered an army of 1000 men. He proceeded to move north to harrass the Queen’s train, later admitting that he planned to abduct Mary, seduce her, and become King.
He only succeeded in enraging Mary, who refused to stay with Huntly and announced Lord James as the new Earl of Moray.
When she reached Inverness, Alexander Gordon, another of Huntly’s sons, refused to allow her entry to the castle, even though it was a royal possession. Huntly heard of this, and realising that other Highlanders were rallying to the Queen, instructed his son to let her into the castle. Mary then had a pretty good time, dressing in highland dress, sightseeing, and hunting.
By September she had returned to Aberdeen, and began to amass an army. She requested that Huntly send her his canon, but he tried to play for time, offering to support the Queen in her hunt for his son, Lord John, so long as he could bring an army with him.
On 16th October both Huntly and his son were declared outlaws and Mary demanded the surrender of Strathbogie, Huntly’s home castle. Huntly took to the hills, whilst Elizabeth, his wife attempted to meet with the Queen, but was refused.
She then consulted with the witches she was accustomed to keeping around her, and learned thatby nightfall Huntly would be lying in the Aberdeen Tolbooth, without any wound on his body. Egged on by this, Huntly gathered his army and marched on Aberdeen, taking up position on the Hill of Fare, above Corrichie field.
Over the next few days, the royal harquebusiers forced the Huntly army from its position on the hill down into the swamp at the bottom of it, where they were trapped by Lord James’ forces. Huntly, Sir John, and another of his sons, were brought before Lord James. At this point, the Earl of Huntly dropped dead off his horse - the Diurnal of Occurents stating that ‘he burst and swelled’. Spooky, huh?
When the battle was over, his body was thrown over a pair of fish baskets and taken to the Tollbooth at Aberdeen for the night. His corpse was then disembowelled and sent to Edinburgh to be embalmed.
Seven months later, in May 1563, Huntly’s corpse was tried in fron of Parliament and the Queen. It was found guilty of treason, and its' belongings and title seized. The corpse was then deposited in Blackfriars Priory, finally being put to rest in the family tomb in Elgin Cathedral in April.
Lord John Gordon was executed on 2nd November 1563. Two of Huntly’s sons were spared, but when the elder was allowed to succeed his father three years later, the properties were too dissipated for him to be the power his father had been. Meanwhile, the empty space left in the north was filled by Lord James, who was rewarded with the sherriffdoms of Elgin Forres and Inverness, as well as the Earldom of Moray. And of course, the loss of the leading Catholic lord could only weaken the Catholic cause, to the benefit of the Protestant lords.