Earl of Glencairn

“ CUNNINGHAM, ALEXANDER, first Earl of Glencairn (d. 1488) , was descended from a family which obtained the manor of Cunningham, in the parish of Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, in the twelfth century. He was the eldest son of Sir Robert Cunningham (who received a charter of the lands of Kilmaurs from Robert, duke of Albany, and was knighted by James I) by his wife Ann, a daughter of Sir John de Montgomery of Eglinton and Ardrossan. He was created a lord of parliament by the title Lord Kilmaurs about 1450. ”

“ He remained in London till 1543, when he returned with the Scots nobles taken prisoners at Solway Moss, residing mostly with the Earl of Glencairn. In 1544 he was employed by the Earl of Lennox in negotiations with Henry VIII relative to the marriage of Lennox to Lady Margaret Douglas, the king of England's niece. ”

“ This attempt of Dalyell's had been made in unison with the Earl of Glencairn's rash but gallant expedition to the Highlands, when Glengarry, Lochiel, Struan, and other chiefs, whose swords were never in the scabbard when Scotland or her king required them, met in the wilds of Lochearn, and made an arrangement to rise in arms and attempt a restoration ”

“ Shortly before the death of the queen-regent on 10 June, Glencairn with other protestant lords had an interview with her at which she expressed her desire for peace, and advised that both the French and English forces should be sent out of the kingdom (ib. ii. 70) . After the parliament of August 1560 the Earls of Glencairn and Morton and Maitland of Lethington were sent ambassadors to England to claim the assistance of Elizabeth against the French invasion, and to propose a marriage between her and the Earl of Arran. ”

“ The Earl of Crawford was created Duke of Montrose, Lord Kilmaurs was raised to the rank of Earl Glencairn, and the Lairds of Balnamoon, Lag, Balyard, and others, received grants of land. All was settled, as the weak, but good, monarch thought, amicably and lastingly. Yet how vain are the anticipations of mortals! At the very time when a species of jubilee was celebrating in Edinburgh, on the re-organisation of the court and the restoration of peace and tranquillity, the uncompromising rebel lords were triumphing in another victory over the mind and sentiments of the prince. ”

“ In March 1557 he signed the letter asking Knox to return to Scotland; in the following December he subscribed the first “band” of the Scottish reformers; and he anticipated Lord James Stewart, afterwards the regent Murray, in taking up arms against the regent, Mary of Guise, in 1558. Then, joined by Stewart and the lords of the congregation, he fought against the regent, and took part in the attendant negotiations with Elizabeth of England, whom he visited in London in December 1560. When in August 1561 Mary queen of Scots returned to Scotland, Glencairn was made a member of her council ”

“ Some dissensions had existed among the royalists respecting the chief command of the army, which had been finally conceded to Glencairn; but neither he nor the nobility who were with him, were prepared to expect that the king would have appointed, to such an important charge, a man so much their inferior in station as Middleton. The intelligence was accordingly received with discontent ”

“ After Henry, in deference to the remonstrances of Glencairn and Cassilis, had agreed to modify his ambitious views in reference to Scotland, Glencairn, with Sir George Douglas and others, on 1 July, met the English commissioners at Greenwich to arrange for a marriage between Prince Edward of England and the Scottish queen. As an early adherent of the reforming party Glencairn was one of the chief supporters of Wishart, who about this time returned to Scotland. ”

“ After the arrival of Queen Mary in Scotland in 1561, Glencairn was among those elected members of her privy council, but he never went so far as Argyll and Lord James Stuart in his toleration of her papal practices. Influenced by the representations of Knox to some of the nobility in the west of Scotland, as to the dangers which he feared were shortly to follow, Glencairn, with the barons and gentlemen of the district, assembled in September 1562 at Ayr, where they signed a bond for the defence of the protestant religion (Knox, Works, ii. 348) . ”

“ Notwithstanding the desertion of the Campbells, Glencairn’s army was so increased by daily accessions of force that he considered himself in a condition to cope with the enemy, and, by the advice of his officers, resolved to descend into Aberdeenshire, and beat up the quarters of the English. Another reason which urged him to leave the Highlands was a scarcity of provisions in the districts which had been occupied by his army, and which could no longer afford to support such a large body of men. ”

“ On the cloth being removed, Glencairn proposed the health of the commander-in-chief, whom he thus addressed:—“My lord general, you see what a gallant army these worthy gentlemen here present and I have gathered together, at a time when it could hardly be expected that any number durst meet together: these men have come out to serve his majesty, at the hazard of their lives and all that is dear to them: I hope, therefore, you will give them all the encouragement to do their duty that lies in your power.” ”

“ Arran immediately occupied Glasgow, and Glencairn, attended by only a few followers, took refuge in Dumbarton Castle. Lennox left the castle in his hands and went to England, but when in the following August Lennox, relying on the co-operation of Glencairn, made a descent on the west of Scotland, he found that Glencairn and his son declined meanwhile to give to the cause of Henry any active support. ”

“ Nay, never frown on me, or rattle your swords, my lords of Cassilis and Glencairn," she added, waving her small white hand, on which the jewels flashed like the scorn that lighted up her eyes; "I am a woman, and claim a woman's privilege to speak; and thus I repeat again, that I anticipate the future of my daughter, a Stuart and a Guise, among you with grief and horror! The Earls of Bothwell and Glencairn have spoken well and plausibly ”

“ Lilburne suspected that the Assembly was in touch with new stirrings towards a rising in the Highlands, to lead which Charles had, in 1652, promised to send Middleton, who had escaped from an English prison, as general. It was always hard to find any one under whom the great chiefs would serve, and Glencairn, with Kenmure, was unable to check their jealousies.
Charles heard that Argyll would appear in arms for the Crown, when he deemed the occasion good; meanwhile his heir, Lord Lorne, would join the rising. ”

“ On September 9 Mary was crowned at Stirling. But Beaton could not hold both Arran and his rival Lennox, who committed an act of disgraceful treachery. With Glencairn he seized large supplies of money and stores sent by France to Dumbarton Castle. In 1544 he fled to England and to the protection of Henry, and married Margaret, daughter of Angus and Margaret Tudor, widow of James IV. He became the father of Darnley, Mary’s husband in later years, and the fortunes of Scotland were fatally involved in the feud between the Lennox Stewarts and the House of Hamilton. ”

“ Subjects, your queen commands you; nobles and knights, a lady, the fairest lady of her sex, appeals to your chivalry and honor. Hear, and be forgiven!—”
“Forgiven!” shouted Glencairn, in tones of deep feeling and yet deeper scorn—“forgiven! we came not here to ask for pardon, but for vengeance, and vengeance will we have! The blood of Darnley craves for punishment upon his murderers! We are come to punish; not to sue for pardon, not to return in peace, until our end is gained, and Scotland’s slaughtered king avenged!” ”

“ I was about to start for the Indies, a wretched exile, a disappointed failure, and noo fate once mair alters my destiny.” With a glad laugh he seized Lord Glencairn’s outstretched [152] hand, and, turning to his loved ones, he cried, his voice ringing out clear and strong, a conscious thrill of pride running through it, “Nae more tears, mither, except those of happiness, nae more sorrow or care, for I can leave ye all wi’ a light heart noo, wi’ joy instead o’ sadness. ’Tis true I go from here an outcast, but I’ll return to ye a hero.” ”

“ The burning of Leith by the English forces alienated from Henry the support of all the Scottish nobles with the exception of Lennox and Glencairn. On 17 May Glencairn, in consideration of an ample pension, and Lennox, on the promise of receiving the government of Scotland, concluded at Carlisle an agreement with Henry to acknowledge him as protector of the realm of Scotland, to use their utmost endeavours to deliver into his hands the young queen, and to obtain possession in his behalf of the principal fortresses. ”

“ Robert Somerford, Lady Glendare could afford to be gracious, amiable, kindly-mannered,—in a word, herself. There were many points in his favour, the chief perhaps being that there was not the slightest chance of his ever succeeding to the title and rent-roll of the Glendares. Between him and the earldom stood the young lords, and an elder 165brother of his father, the Honourable Cecil Somerford, who lived abroad, and was known by the family generally to have formed some undesirable attachment which rendered a residence in England impossible. ”

“ He was still dangerous; he was trying to make himself trusted by the Protesters, who were opposed to Charles. It may be doubted if any great potentate in Scotland except the Marquis wished to revive the constitutional triumphs of Argyll’s party in the last Parliament of Charles I. Charles now named his Privy Council and Ministers without waiting for parliamentary assent—though his first Parliament would have assented to anything. He chose only his late supporters: Glencairn who raised his standard in 1653 ”

“ After the suppression of the rebellion, the chief of Glengarry made his submission to General Cadogan at Inverness. He died in 1724. By his wife, Lady Mary Mackenzie, daughter of the third Earl of Seaforth, he had a son, John Macdonnell, who succeeded him.
In 1745, six hundred of the Macdonnells of Glengarry joined Prince Charles, under the command of Macdonnell of Lochgarry, who afterwards escaped to France with the prince, and were at the battles of Preston, Falkirk, and Culloden. The chief himself seems not to have engaged in the rebellion. He was however arrested, and sent to London. ”

“ These imprudent observations called up Glengarry, but he was restrained by Glencairn, who said that [295] he was more concerned in the affront put upon the army by Munro than he was, and, turning to Munro, he thus addressed him:—“You, Sir, are a base liar; for they are neither thieves nor robbers, but brave gentlemen and good soldiers.” A meeting took place in consequence early next morning between Glencairn and Munro, about two miles to the south of Dornoch, when the latter was severely wounded. ”

“ Besides Glencairn himself, his lady, two of his sons, and certain of his friends were partakers. When he returned to Calder, divers from Edinburgh, and from the country about, assembled there, for the preaching as well as for the right use of the Lord's Table, which they had never practised before. Thence he departed the second time to the Laird of Dun. His teaching was then with [121] greater liberty, and the gentlemen required that he should likewise minister unto them the Table of the Lord Jesus, whereof were partakers the most part of the gentlemen of Mearns. ”

“ There is really no authority at all for making him a follower of Richard. All Wales and Cheshire were indignant at the King’s deposition and treatment, and Glyndwr, even supposing his Irish expedition to have been mythical, may well have shared this indignation. But in such a case his antecedents were, from private attachments, wholly Lancastrian. Not only had he been Bolingbroke’s squire, but his former master, the Earl of Arundel, had been a pronounced foe of the late King. ”

“ In the wilds of Glendochart Rob began to frame daring political schemes, which the protection afforded to him by his kinsman, Sir John Campbell, of Glenorchy, now Earl of Breadalbane, enabled him to mature, and arms were collected and hidden in secret places, and men were prepared for the coming strife. ”

“ And none knew whether the shaft was pointed at them or at the object of their mirth, who stood before him with clasped hands and a smile meant to be winning on her weak face, listening with all her senses.
“How true that is,” murmured Lady Glencairn.
“Yes, indeed,” sighed Eppy soulfully. “What [205] fools some people make of themselves, and they never know it, which is the funny part of it.” She darted a quick glance at Lady Glencairn, who returned the look calmly and evenly, although she was saying to herself, “Is she the fool she appears, or is she giving me a dig, I wonder?” ”

“ Of a long time no man in the whole isle did mute. All were lulled up in a lethargic fear and despair; only the other year, Glencairn and Balcarras, understanding of an order to apprehend them as corresponding with the King, retired to the hills of Athol. Kenmure having escaped from England, when his house was burnt and his rents seized upon, got to the Lennox with a few horse. Lorn being but coarsely used by his father, joined with Kenmure. ”

“ However, it is a matter too serious for us to undertake by ourselves, but is for the king himself to take in hand. A raid can be punished by a counter-raid; but now that Glendower has declared himself sovereign of Wales, and that everything points to the fact that the men of his nation are all ready to support him, it is a matter that touches his majesty very closely; and I doubt not that, as soon as he has finished this war with the Scots, he will march hither, at the head of his army. ”