1568 - Mary Queen of Scots escape from Lochleven castle - were George Douglas & John Drysdale paid to help?

[Ronald Drysdale]

Mary Queen of Scots' last official letters as Queen of Scotland show that both George Douglas & John Drysdale had possible pecuniary interests in helping her to escape from Lochleven Castle and regain the Scottish throne.

Background

Mary Queen of Scots

Reign - 14 December 1542 – 24 July 1567

On 24 July 1567, while imprisoned in Lochleven castle, Mary was forced to abdicate the Scottish throne in favour of her son, the infant James, and to appoint her illegitimate half-brother James Stewart, Earl of Moray, as regent.

Prior to that, the Scottish King, Lord Darnley, had been murdered and Mary was considered a prime suspect in this deed.

The infant James was the only son of Mary & Lord Darnley. Both Mary and Darnley were great-grandchildren of Henry VII of England

James VI King of Scotland - the infant King

Reign 24 July 1567 – 27 March 1625

Coronation 29 July 1567

Mary's last letters as Queen of Scotland were written while she was imprisoned at Lochleven Castle, the last three of which, were written on the 20th, 21st and 22nd July 1567 respectively & are of interest to us due to the fact that they promised gifts to John Drysdale (Lochleven), Williame Hendersone (?) and George Douglas brother of William Douglas of Lochleven.

John Drysdale was to be given the goods that had been seized from a Captain William Blackadder after his rushed conviction & brutal execution for the murder of Lord Darnley.
Note it is thought that Captain Blackadder was innocent of this deed

Williame Hendersone [Henryson] to be given lands in Lauder (don't know who this chap is) his name appears in quite a few Melrose Charters in 1570s gtanted by Commendator James Douglas together with James Drysdale of Lochleven.

George Douglas was promised lands in Tillicoultry

However, If Mary was no longer queen, then these pledges would probably be worthless!

Darnley's Murder - reference:

During the investigation into the murder of Lord Darnley we find these mentions:

".......Captain Blakater, who had been drinking wine in William Hendersons [Henryson] house at the Tron"

Ref: http://www.tradeshouselibrary.org/uploads/4/7/7/2/47723681/the_trag...

Following on from this,  John Drysdale was officially investigated for complicity in Mary's escape but eventually found not guilty.

Best Regards

[Ronald Drysdale]

Hi all,

In the previous post I omitted the source publication for the quoted pages, this source was quite hard to locate and is only available for single page downloads here:

Registrum Secreti Sigilli Regum The Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland vol 5 pt.2

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000234888

I also said I did not know who William Henderson was, only that he had appeared in some charters granted by James Douglas Commendator of Melrose together with James Drysdale.

After further checking it seems that William Henderson was one of the regular Douglas gang and is mentioned in the letter of remission, issued in early July 1566 in favour of William Douglas of Lochleven, brother George Douglas, William Hendersoun, Andrew Lamby and James Drysdaill, all previously associated with the Earl of Morton (James Douglas) and involved in the Rizzio affair.

Returning to John Drysdale, it seems that following the escape attempt by Mary Queen of Scots on 2 May 1568, William Douglas of Lochleven started an investigation into those involved and asked Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange to look into it.

He reported his findings on 1st June 1568 in a letter to William Douglas and, as far as can be seen from the online translation of the 'auld scots' prose, John Drysdale, although a suspect was not considered to be one of the main conspirators:

"Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange to the Laird of Lochleven.

I have duly inquired as much as I can to gain true knowledge of all those who were part of the counsel and conspiracy regarding the Queen taken out of Lochleven and as yet I believe I have not obtained the truth of all things, but so far I have been told this. It was once intended to have taken your great boat with disguised men and thus come to the place and take her out by force, but seeing that you had laid up the great boat, it was once devised to have made four boats that could have carried forty men in the night and likewise taken her out by force.
Seeing that this could not take effect, it was devised to have stolen men in St. Serf's inch [island on Loch Leven] and the means would have been drawn by George to cause them to carry the Queen forth to have played her in the said inch. Seeing that all these three did not take effect, this last was taken in hand and executed devised by the Queen herself, George and the lad Willie and Curssell were on the council who received all writing messages and taking from Willie sent by George to the Queen.

I can try no more of your servants to be of this council / and yet I perceive John Dryfdaill to have been a carrier of both letters and messages from her but as far as I can learn he was not directly upon the council of her way taking but suspected / and that because they did once speak of the great boat to him which they judged to be revealed by him but to say the truth it appears to me the lad Willie was long of council / and it was counselled him to tell you that which he told you as to them that came in company with Lord Seaton I need not to tell you their names but James Wartlaw was their guide and laid them quietly in the hill where they might see the going in and out of the boat when I know further.

May you understand it, and so I commit you to the eternal in Edinburgh Castle the first of June.

Yours to his power, To the Right Honorable Lord of Lochlewin."

Best regards

[William Douglas]

Page 400  

At Loch Leven, 22 July:

A letter issued by our sovereign lady [Queen Mary], after her lawful age was declared in Parliament, to her loyal subject George Douglas, the full brother of William Douglas of Loch Leven.

By this letter, Her Majesty gives, grants, assigns, and transfers to him, in recognition of good and faithful service rendered to her, all the rents, fees, customs, profits, and dues whatsoever from her lands at Tullibody (Tulycultrie). These are to be paid to him as an annual pension for the rest of his life.

He is authorised to collect these yearly, either directly or through his agents and servants, from the tenants and occupiers of said lands—both those currently there and anyone who may live there in future—at the usual times of payment.

The letter also commands those tenants and leaseholders to promptly and obediently pay these dues to George Douglas, or to his authorised agents, and to no one else.

Page 401:

This grant guarantees that George Douglas should be treated as if the rents and duties were paid directly to the royal financial officers—like the comptroller or chamberlains—even though they are now redirected to him. As such, those officers are officially released from any responsibility for collecting these rents or profits from the tenants of Tullibody (Tulycultrie).

Furthermore, the document orders that these officers must not interfere with George, his agents, or his servants in any way. They are not to hinder or challenge him in collecting, receiving, or managing these revenues for the rest of his life. No fines, seizures, or legal penalties may be imposed on the tenants for making payments to George instead of the usual royal officials.

The income he receives will be fully acknowledged and accounted for in the royal treasury’s annual audit (the “chekker”) by the appointed auditors. These auditors are explicitly commanded to deduct and approve the amounts he receives each year in the financial records, once the grant letter is formally registered—regardless of any laws or statutes that might otherwise conflict with this arrangement.

Lastly, the Queen issues a command for the Lords of Council to formally issue legal letters in George's name, requiring the tenants and officers to cease any obstruction and comply with this new order.

It’s a comprehensive package—offering George Douglas not only financial benefit but legal shield and administrative authority over crown lands.

[Ronald Drysdale]

Hi William,

Thankyou for translating the old Scots, now it's comprehensible it seems like a good package indeed!

But did he ever manage to enjoy the fruits of these proceeds from Tillicoultry?

Best regards