How Mary Queen of Scots' half-brother became first Western leader to be assassinated with a gun

Death usually came early for the men called James who ruled Scotland. They were murdered in drains, blown up by canons and felled on battlefields. Pretty standard for the times, really. One James, however, met his end in a global first.

You didn’t even need to wear the crown to attract the Grim Reaper. James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, could never be king. Wrong side of the blanket, as they used to say. His father was most certainly a king, James V.

He played to type and died at only 30 in 1542, but unusually, he managed to die in a bed at Falkland Palace. He had just been told that his queen had given birth to a daughter, his only legitimate heir.

And that the Scottish army had been butchered at Solway Moss. Can hardly blame the man for turning his face to the wall to breathe his last, saying of the House of Stewart, “it cam’ wi’ a lass, it will gang wi’ a lass”.

The lass in question, of course, was the Stewart superstar, Mary, Queen of Scots. But she wasn’t his only child. Far from it. James had an eye for the ladies, and was known to be as much of a lad as the 16th century would allow a king to be, which was pretty laddish.

One eye-catching beauty at court was Lady Margaret Erskine. Around 1531, she gave birth to a son. Everyone knew who the father was.

Hotheaded statue-smasher

James Stewart was illegitimate, but he was a king's son, and half-brother to that tiny, legitimate queen. James V made good provision for all his children. The boy was raised with the kind of education a young nobleman expects, and throughout his life he acquired lands and a title or two. He’s usually best known as the Earl of Moray.

He was a little hotheaded in his youth, but by the time his half-sister’s wedding to the Dauphin of France came around in 1558, James was firmly on the guest list. The ceremony was celebrated in the full pomp and glory expected for the marriage of Catholic royalty. A year later, in 1559, James Stewart demonstrated his allegiance to the Scottish Reformation by smashing statues in newly Protestant kirks in Perth.

He and his half-sister may have had religious differences, but he proved an able defender of her rights and realm while she was in France. When she returned to Scotland as a young widow, he supported her. So grateful was Mary that she created that earldom for him. He probably had his own reasons for such public loyalty. Well, this is 16th-century Scotland. No one can be totally trusted.

Blown up and strangled

The relationship soured when Mary fell for a totally unsuitable boyfriend, and married him despite the fury of Elizabeth I, the Scottish court and everyone else Lord Darnley had annoyed, and that was a long list.

This second wedding unravelled her reign. The next few years were marked by raids, rebellions and assassinations. David Rizzio, the Queen’s favourite, brutally murdered in front of her. Darnley strangled. An entire house blown sky-high.

Mary then married the Earl of Bothwell, prime suspect in her husband's murder. The kingdom was sliding into chaos. At least there was a legitimate heir to the throne, the future James VI and I.

When Mary was forced to abdicate, her half-brother stepped forward to take the reins. He’d conveniently been absent when most of the mayhem was breaking. Handy. There were few who could accuse him of anything, and actually fewer left standing to oppose him. Even Bothwell was on the run now. 

Mother and baby turned out in snow

The man who could not be king became Regent, and actually started to make a good job of it, which probably annoyed his half-sister no end. He was brutal in his attempts to end Scotland’s civil war, but did extend a reasonable hand to rebellious Catholic lords. Castles like Dumbarton were still holding out, but Regent Moray looked like the man who could get things under control. 

James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh was not a fan. The Hamiltons were loyal to Mary. This Regent was destroying Hamilton lands and houses. It was even said that Bothwellhaugh’s wife and baby were turned out of their home in the dead of winter on the commands of the Regent himself, and died in the snow. People heard his wife’s ghost screaming in the woods. He decided to take matters into his own hands.

On January 23, 1570, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray rode past a window in Linlithgow.  A gunshot rang out. The man they called the Gude Regent heeled over in his saddle from the impact of a bullet fired from an assassin's match-lock carbine. He was hit just below the navel. He made it to his lodging, dismounted and walked into the house. He died later that night.

Not a contract killer

His body was transported to Edinburgh’s St Giles’ Cathedral. John Knox, who had banned big showstopper sermons at funerals, made an exception for his friend and fellow-Reformer. 

And what of our assassin? Was he just a gunman with a grudge? Or part of a conspiracy? This was no lone shooter. Almost certainly there was a network behind the rifle. Hamilton escaped on a good horse and made it to France. He was offered money for a contract hit on a French noble, Gaspar Il de Coligny, but refused, saying he had no quarrel with the man. 

Other Hamiltons paid the ultimate price and were hanged.  The Gude Regent was only 30 when he died. Another Stewart to meet a violent early end, but his death secured his place in the history books. James Stewart, Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland, was the first head of a western government to be assassinated by a man with a gun.