Harrower Family Tree » John Erskine (1487-1555)

Sources

1. Web Site Information, John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine (7 July 1487 – 11 November 1555) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Erskine,_5th_Lord_Erskine

   John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine (7 July 1487 – 11 November 1555) was a Scottish nobleman.
   
   He was the son of Robert Erskine, 4th Lord Erskine (died 1513) and Isabel Campbell, a daughter of George Campbell of Loudon.
   
   His family was claimant to the earldom of Mar; this was recognized in 1565 for his son, John. Following a dynastic dispute in the 19th century, John Lord Erskine was acknowledged, retrospectively, as the 17th Earl.
   
   Career
   
   On 3 August 1522, Erskine was appointed keeper of the ten-year-old King James V of Scotland and Stirling Castle. He had strict instructions from Margaret Tudor to hold the castle keys and set a password every night for the King's guards. The instructions were given again by act of the Parliament of Scotland in 1523.[1]
   
   In 1533 Lord Erskine was paid for work building new park and garden ditches and dykes at Stirling Castle.[2]
   
   In 1535 he travelled to England to collect the collar of Order of the Garter from Henry VIII of England on behalf of James V.[3] The ceremony took place at Windsor Castle and later Erskine met Henry VIII at Thornbury Castle.[4] James V had given Lord Erskine a detailed instruction about his precedence in the Garter Chapel;
   
   "Ye shall purchase to have the place was promised to us next to the King of France amongst kings, and failing thereof that ye take documents to fulfill for our part and leave it so."
   
   Erskine returned to London where Cromwell's servant John Gostwyk gave him a gift of silver plate, £20 to his companion the Lyon King of Arms, David Lyndsay, and 80 crowns to the Rothesay Herald.[5]
   
   John Erskine was also a commissioner for the marriage negotiations of James V and Mary of Bourbon.[6] After James married Madeleine of Valois, Mar took receipt of Dunbar Castle, which was formerly garrisoned by John Stewart, Duke of Albany for France.[7]
   Marriage and family
   
   John Erskine was the son of Robert Erskine, 4th Lord Erskine and Isabel Campbell. He married Lady Margaret Campbell, daughter of Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll and Elizabeth Stewart.
   
   Their daughter Margaret Erskine was a mistress of King James V of Scotland and the mother of Regent Moray, she later married Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven.
   
   Lord Erskine died soon after November 1555. He was succeeded as Lord Erskine by his son John, who was later made Earl of Mar by Queen Mary in 1565.
   
   Children of John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine and Lady Margaret Campbell include;
   
   John Erskine, Earl of Mar (d. 1572)
   Robert Erskine, Master of Erskine, father of David Erskine, Commendator of Dryburgh
   Thomas Erskine, Master of Erskine, diplomat, and father of Adam Erskine, Commendator of Cambuskenneth
   Sir Alexander Erskine of Gogar
   Catherine Erskine, who married Alexander Elphinstone, 2nd Lord Elphinstone
   Margaret Erskine
   Arthur Erskine of Blackgrange (d. 1571), master stabler to Mary, Queen of Scots, who married Magdalen Livingstone
   
   External links
   
   Erskine family tree
   [S11] Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 242. Hereinafter cited as Britain's Royal Family.
   [S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, (2000), volume V, page 105. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
   [S8] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, page 104. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition.
   [S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume 8, 418; volume 7, 100.
   http://thepeerage.com/p10834.htm#i108333
   
   Footnotes
   
   HMC Mar & Kellie (London, 1904), 11–14.
   James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 154.
   James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer: 1531-1538, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 315.
   State Papers Henry VIII, part iv part 2, vol.5 (London, 1836) 41, 25 April 1536.
   Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol. 9 (London, 1886), no. 165.
   Hay, Denys, ed., Letters of James V (HMSO, 1954), 294–295, 297. (James V's copy of the Statutes of the Order of the Garter (in French) delivered to Erskine, is now in the National Library of Scotland, MS. 7143)
   HMC Mar & Kellie (London, 1904), 11–14.

2. Web Site Information, John Erskine, Earl of Mar (died 28 October 1572) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Erskine,_Earl_of_Mar_(died_1572)

   John Erskine, Earl of Mar (died 28 October 1572) was a Scottish aristocrat and politician. He was the custodian of the infant James VI of Scotland and Regent of Scotland.
   
   Erskine was a son of John, 5th Lord Erskine and Lady Margaret Campbell, a daughter of Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll. His father was a guardian of King James V and afterwards of Mary, Queen of Scots.
   
   Career
   
   John was Commendator of Dryburgh Abbey from 1547,[1] He succeeded his father as 6th Lord Erskine in 1552.
   
   Erskine joined the religious reformers in 1559, but was never very ardent in the cause.[2] He did subscribe to the letter asking the Calvinist reformer John Knox to return to Scotland in 1557. The custody of Edinburgh Castle was in his hands during the struggle between the regent, Mary of Guise, and the Lords of the Congregation, during which he appears to have acted consistently in the interests of peace.[2]
   
   When Mary, Queen of Scots, returned to Scotland in 1561 Lord Erskine was a member of her council and was in favor of her marriage with Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. His wife was Annabella Murray, daughter of William Murray of Tullibardine and sister of William Murray of Tullibardine, Comptroller of Scotland in 1563. She was a frequent companion of Queen Mary; John Knox called Annabella a "verray Jesabell".
   
   In 1565 Erskine was granted the earldom of Mar when the queen restored the charter to him and his heirs "all and hail the said earldom of Mar".[3] Prior to this the title of Earl of Mar was held by Mary's half-brother James Stewart. John Erskine is regarded as both the 18th earl (in the 1st creation) and the 1st earl (in the 7th). Some sources deem him the 17th Earl, still others as the 6th Earl.
   
   Mar was made Sheriff of Stirlingshire and Keeper of Stirling Castle and the parks of Raploch and Gallowhill on 18 July 1566. He became the keeper of Queen Mary's son, James, at Stirling Castle on 19 March 1567.[4] He prevented the young prince from falling into the hands of Lord Bothwell, and when the Scottish nobles rose against Mary and Bothwell, Mar was one of their leaders. He took part in the government of Scotland when Mary was imprisoned at Lochleven Castle and abdicated.[2] When Mary escaped from Lochleven, on 5 May 1568 Regent Moray ordered Mar to increase security at Stirling by reducing the number of retainers in the castle.[5]
   Regent of Scotland
   
   On 5 September 1571 he was chosen Regent of Scotland, but he was overshadowed and perhaps slighted by James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton.[2] One of Mar's first actions was to execute two prisoners, George Bell and George Calder, by having them broken on the wheel. This method of execution was said to be after the manner of France. Bell had guided the Queen's men in the raid on Stirling and Calder was thought to have shot Regent Lennox.[6] Bell confessed, after torture, that he had shouted "Shoot the Regent!".[7]
   
   As the Marian Civil War continued, Mar came to Leith and made preparations to besiege Edinburgh and its castle, which was held for Queen Mary by William Kirkcaldy of Grange. He placed artillery at the Pleasance to the east of the city. The guns were brought from Dumbarton Castle, Stirling, Dundee, and Dunbar.[8] Mar's guns were directed at first at Adam Fullerton's house, and then at the town wall. The walls were damaged but Mar gave up and returned to Leith. He sent to Queen Elizabeth I for armed support from England, following Morton's advice.[9]
   
   The King's cause suffered a number of reverses. At Aberdeen, the forces of Forbes family were defeated at the battle of Craibstone and Corgarff by the Marian Adam Gordon of Auchindoun. Broughty Castle near Dundee fell to the Marian Laird of Parbroath.[10] Lord Maxwell planned to marry Elizabeth Douglas at Dalkeith but Marian forces ambushed those carrying food, silver ware, and wine to the banquet at the handfasting.[11] Queen Elizabeth sent two ambassadors to Scotland, Thomas Randolph to speak with Regent Mar, and Henry Carey, Marshall of Berwick to the Laird of Grange in Edinburgh Castle.[12]
   
   Mar was in touch with William Cecil and William Drury in England, particularly by letters and messages carried by Nicolas Elphinstone. On 1 August 1572 he declared a two-month truce with the Queen's party, known as an Abstinence.[13] He wrote in September to Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox about the progress of the Abstinence, and the mint operated in Edinburgh Castle by his enemies. Mar assured her that her grandson, the six-year old James VI, would soon be able to speak to her for himself. At this time he was disturbed by news that one of the jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots had been marketed in France and sold to Charles IX. Mar's last surviving letter to Cecil expressed his hopes to settle border disputes during the continued abstinence.[14] Queen Elizabeth wrote to congratulate him on becoming Regent on 2 October, and discuss the "pernicious practices" of Mary, Queen of Scots, to regain power to the prejudice of her son James VI. She urged him to punish and execute anyone implicated in the murder of Regent Lennox.[15]
   Death
   
   He died at Stirling on 29 October 1572 after a short illness, widely agreed to have been natural causes. However, some sources indicate that he may have been poisoned at the behest of the Earl of Morton. Mar's illness, according to James Melville, followed a banquet at Dalkeith Palace given by Morton.[16] James VI continued to regard Annabella Murray with affection and wrote to her as "Minnie". She was the governess of his son Prince Henry at Stirling.
   Architecture and material culture
   
   John Erskine began building the house at Stirling called 'Mar's Wark', now a ruin under the care of Historic Scotland. The other seat of the family was Alloa Tower. An inventory mentions his silver plate, table linen, and a bed with curtains of red and yellow chequered silk. The posts of the bed were made of walnut and turned (probably carved).[17]

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Historical events

• Birthday July 7, 1487
• Day of death November 11, 1555

Same birth/death day

• Also born on July 7
• Also died on November 11

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