A Love Beyond: A Scottish Historical Romance (The Reivers Book 2)

by Belle McInnes

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  John, fifth lord Fleming, succeeded to the title, and quickly established himself as part of an inner circle at court that included his brother-in-law, the sixth lord Livingston, and the fifth lord Seton.[i] All three were brothers to one of the queen's Four Maries, and this partly may explain why these lords rose to prominence.

  John, lord Fleming and Mary's Personal Rule: 1561-7

  It did not take lord Fleming long to establish a close relationship with his cousin queen following her return to Scotland in August 1561. Not only had she visited him at his Cumbernauld home but also organized his wedding feast at Holyrood which took place the following May when he married Elizabeth Ross.

  As part of the queen's inner circle he was frequently at Holyrood palace where, as one historian highlighted, its architectural layout 'enabled monarchs to withdraw to the remoteness of their private apartments and render them inaccessible if they wished'.[ii] In the case of Mary, this is what happened: the largely Protestant council met on the ground floor while the queen more often preferred not to attend. She opted to spend her time with 'those close to her in her household and at court, like lord Seton and the Flemings, who were never members of the council, and Bothwell, who was, but only attended rarely'.[iii]

  Despite this, in a letter to Cecil dated June 3, 1565, Randolph expressed surprise that Fleming had sided with the queen in support of her intended marriage to Darnley.[iv] The wedding took place at the end of July and was followed by the earl of Moray's abortive rebellion against the queen. In what became known as the Chaseabout Raid, so called because no pitched battle took place, Fleming nailed his colours firmly to the queen's side by joining his brothers-in-law, Atholl and Livingston, as three of the eleven lords on her side.

  His conspicuous support for the queen almost cost him his life in March 1566 when he found himself at Holyrood on the night of the Rizzio murder. He, like Atholl and Livingston, left unceremoniously out of a rear window in fear of their lives as they believed the conspirators also sought them out as being the queen's staunchest supporters. Following Mary and Darnley's own escape from the palace, Fleming, with Bothwell, Huntly, Seton and Livingston, joined up with them and safely escorted the royal couple to Dunbar.

  By this time, Fleming had begun to detest Darnley both in his behaviour towards the queen and to himself. On one occasion, Darnley requested that Fleming, along with lords Livingston and Lindsay, join him in going to mass. Darnley took their refusal badly and 'gave them all evil words', threatening to confine them to their chambers before forcibly making them attend.[v] On another occasion, when Fleming found himself in the company of Darnley on the Isle of Inchkeith in the Firth of Forth, the English diplomat Drury reported that he witnessed Darnley doing something so disgusting that he could not bring himself to describe it.[vi]

  Fleming was also aware of Darnley's part in the Rizzio affair and would have witnessed first-hand the tension between the queen and her husband as they made their escape from Holyrood. It was also recorded that some of the lords who supported Mary no longer spoke with Darnley, while others 'especially Lord Fleming' were openly critical of his behaviour towards the queen.[vii]

  Despite his open contempt for Darnley, Fleming was not involved in his murder at Kirk o'Field in 1567. However, he appeared to support Mary's fateful decision to marry his cousin Bothwell (left). Fleming's name appeared on a list of those who signed the Ainslie Tavern bond showing support for Bothwell's plan to marry the queen.[viii] He was also a witness to the signing of the marriage contract and then attended the wedding along with a small handful of nobility, including his brothers-in-law Maitland and Livingston.

  Darnley

  The marriage was not popular amongst the Scottish nobility and Scottish people but Fleming continued to remain loyal to the queen. His non-appearance at her side at Carberry Hill has not been fully explained but a letter from Hamilton to him on the preceding day and his subsequent actions are clear indications where his loyalties remained.[ix] Following Carberry, when the queen decided to hand herself over to the mercy of the nobles who confronted her, Fleming and Seton met briefly with Bothwell on his escape north and then abandoned him to make his escape.

  In support of the imprisoned queen: 1567-72

  Fleming was one of the queen's supporters who signed a bond calling for her release from Loch Leven castle a fortnight after Carberry Hill. It was not successful and a defiant Fleming refused to attend the coronation of James VI and the December parliament. He returned to Dumbarton castle where he had been governor since 1565 and it was here he was ensconced when Mary made her dramatic escape from Loch Leven.

  Fleming left Dumbarton to be at Mary's side at Langside where they observed the humiliating defeat of her army. It was then left to Fleming, Livingston and Herries, to accompany Mary on her three-day journey south to Solway. Once the party reached England, Fleming was entrusted with the mission to seek military assistance from France. This task he was unable to fulfil as he was intercepted in London by Cecil and prevented by Elizabeth from carrying it out.

  Fleming then appeared in York as one of Mary's commissioners at her first trial. Afterwards, he returned to Scotland to find that his lands had been forfeited on the instructions of the regent Moray and the Scottish parliament. Undaunted, he headed for Dumbarton where he resisted all attempts to surrender the castle to Moray.

  The death of Moray brought Fleming no respite: his tenants in Biggar, Thankerton and Glenholm were forced to pay large sums of money and, in Cumbernauld, the deer were destroyed to create hardship for his people. Eventually, in 1571, Dumbarton was taken but Fleming was able to escape and head for France. There he was able to organise some military support for Mary but the ships were wrecked off the coast of England.

  However, he did manage to get back to Scotland and Edinburgh castle, the remaining stronghold with allegiance to the deposed queen. It was here that Fleming was fatally wounded in rather bizarre circumstances on 5 July 1572. An accidental shot from a French soldier ricocheted into his knee; he remained in the castle until he was taken by litter to Boghall castle in Biggar where he died on 6 September.

  Conclusion

  What made John, 5th lord Fleming, stand out from all the other Marian lords, was his unwavering support for the queen. He supported Mary's marriage to Darnley; joined her forces in the Chaseabout Raid; escorted her to Dunbar after the Rizzio murder; signed the Ainslie Bond, the Mary-Bothwell marriage contract and attended the wedding. Fleming then escorted Bothwell north after Carberry; signed the bonds for Mary's release from Loch Leven; stood by the queen's side at Langside; accompanied her on her flight to England; sought foreign aid to restore her position in Scotland; attended Mary's first trial as one of her commissioners; refused to surrender Dumbarton Castle; and died from a wound sustained while still giving service to the queen's failing cause in 1572. He certainly deserves to be ranked as one of 'Mary's most faithful friends'.[x]

  What is less easy to establish is why he was so driven in this support for Mary. Perhaps, as one historian has suggested, Fleming retained Catholic sympathies and supported the queen for religious reasons.[xi] If that was the case, it raises questions as to why he resisted the queen's request to take mass in February, 1656.[xii] This response from Fleming suggests that no matter how lukewarm he might have been in his allegiance to the reformed church he had no desire to see Scotland abandon it and we must look beyond religious reasons to understand his unwavering support over 20 years for the queen.

  Another suggestion has been that Fleming was motivated by reward and personal ambition. Certainly he received various gifts from the queen, normally addressed to 'her devoted and loyal cousin'. These ranged from twenty chadders of oatmeal to a third of the rents of Whithorn Priory.[xiii] He was also appointed to the almost hereditary position of Lord Chamberlain at the end of June 1561 and then, in 1565, to that of governor of Dumbarton castle. Fleming recognised, that in the context of the Marian civil war, Dumbarton castle gave him the fette
rs of the kingdom in his hand, a claim based on accessibility to French overseas supplies and domination of the Clyde.[xiv] But this, and an unusually generous pension, must have fallen short of any expectations of receiving an earldom as was reported to have been the queen's intention in the summer of 1565.[xv] Perhaps the rapidity of the events which followed the queen's marriage to Darnley overtook her; but it did not diminish Fleming's support.

  The key to understanding Fleming's allegiance stems from kinship and marriage connections. Close family links were established from the very beginning of the queen's life when her aunt and John Fleming's mother, Lady Janet Fleming, became her governess. That family connection was further cemented through two of his sisters: Mary, as one of the Four Maries, and Margaret, as one of her principal ladies-in-waiting. A third sister, Agnes, married lord Livingston, brother to another of the Four Maries, and this brought together the queen, the Flemings and the Livingstons.[xvi] The queen placed considerable weight on these family ties and when she wrote to Elizabeth in 1568, she proudly referred to John as 'my cousin Lord Flemying a faithful subject'. Fleming's actions on her behalf during the civil war would suggest that he too valued that family connection.

  born

  mar.

  10 May 1562 Hon Elizabeth Ross (d. after 14 Apr 1578), only child of Hon Robert Ross, Master of Ross (by his wife Agnes Scott, widow of Thomas Scott of Abbottshall, and dau. of ..... Moncrieff), 1st son and heir ap. by his first wife of Ninian [Ross], 3rd Lord Ross

  children

  1. Hon John Fleming, later 6th Lord Fleming later 1st Earl of Wigtown

  1. Hon Margaret Fleming, mar. after 19 Apr 1588 Sir James Forrester of Carden

  2. Hon Elizabeth Fleming (d. after 24 Sep 1579)

  3. Hon Jean Fleming (d. Oct 1630), mar. after 1582/3 William Bruce of Airth

  4. Hon Mary Fleming, mar. after 9 Dec 1581 Sir James Douglas, 8th of Drumlanrig, and had issue

  died

  6 Sep 1572

  suc. by

  son

  note

  Chamberlain of Scotland 1565-72; Master Usher of the Queen's Chambers 1565-72; Governor of Dunbarton Castle 1565; a supporter of Mary I, Queen of Scotland, fighting for her at Carberry Hill 1567 and Langside 1568; accompanied the Queen on her flight to England 1568 and returning to Scotland the next year was forfeited by Parliament; held Dunbarton Castle for the Queen until 1571, when he escaped to France and returned shortly before his death the next year

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  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  William Livingstone, 6th Lord Livingston, (died 1592), was a Scottish lord of Parliament.

  William became Lord Livingston in 1550, his elder brother John, Master of Livingstone was killed in 1547 at the battle of Pinkie. He was a Protestant. His sister Mary Livingston was one of the four attendants of Mary, Queen of Scots. He fought for Queen Mary at the battle of Langside in 1568.

  ?

  William Livingstone

  Also Known As:"Elphinstone"

  Birthdate:1528

  Birthplace:Callendar, Stirlingshire, Scotland

  Death:Died November 10, 1592 in Callendar, Stirlingshire, Scotland

  Immediate Family:

  Son of Alexander Livingston, 5th Lord Livingston of Callendar and Agnes Douglas of Morton

  Husband of Agnes Fleming

  Father of Janet Livingston; Hon. John Livingston; Alexander Livingston, 1st Earl of Linlithgow; Hon. Henry Livingston; Sir George Livingston of Ogilface, Baronet of Nova Scotia and 2 others

  Brother of Lady Janet, Dame Livingston Bruce; Elizabeth Livingston; Thomas Thomas Livingston I of Livingston; Honorable Helen Livingston; Honorable Marion Livingston and 1 other

  Half brother of William Livingston

  Occupation:6th Lord of Callendar

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  Lord Livingstone died in that country about 1558. His eldest son having had no issue, his second son, William, succeeded as sixth Lord Livingstone. Thomas, the youngest son, was ancestor of the Livingstones of Haining. His lordship's youngest daughter, Mary, a maid of honour to her majesty, was one of the queen's Maries. She married in 1567, John Sernple of Beltries, when the queen gave them conjunct liferent of Auchtermuchty and other lands. According to John Knox, "shame hasted" the marriage, and on this occasion he said Mary Livingstone the lusty married John Semple the dancer. (Knox's Historie, p. 345.)

  William, the sixth lord, adhered to Queen Mary, and fought for her at the battle of Langside. He was one of the queen's commissioners at the conference at York in 1568 and retained her confidence to the last. He is described by Bruce the Jesuit in 1589 as a "very catholic lord," and it is certain that he favoured the plots of' the papists in that and the following year. He married Agnes, second daughter of the third Lord Fleming, and died in 1592. His eldest son, Alexander, seventh lord, when master of Livingstone, accompanied the duke of Lennox to France, on his exile in December 1582. He was the first earl of Linlithgow.

  —

  William [Livingston], 6th Lord Livingston, PC

  mar.

  bef. 1 Oct 1553 Hon Agnes Fleming (d. bef. 18 Oct 1597), 3rd dau. of Malcolm [Fleming], 3rd Lord Fleming, by his wife Lady Janet Stewart, illegitimate dau. of James IV, King of Scotland

  children

  1. Hon Alexander Livingston, later 7th Lord Livingston later 1st Earl of Linlithgow

  2. Hon John Livingston (d. young)

  3. Hon Henry Livingston (d. young)

  4. Hon Sir George Livingston of Ogleface, 1st Bt. (d. c. 1616), mar. Margaret Crichton, dau. of William Crichton of Drumcrocemuir, and had issue

  5. Hon Sir William Livingston of Culter (d. 2 May 1607), mar. Margaret Maxwell (widow of Edward Maxwell, Abbot of Dundrennan), dau. of Sir William Baillie of Lamington, and had issue

  1. Hon Jean Livingston (d. 15 Sep 1651), mar. bef. 10 Aug 1579 Alexander [Elphinstone], 4th Lord Elphinstone, and had issue

  2. Hon Margaret Livingston (d. after 21 Mar 1619/20), mar. (1) 1581 Sir Lewis Bellenden of Auchinoule, Justice-Clerk of Scotland, and (2) betw. 1595 and 29 Oct 1598 her second cousin Patrick [Stewart], 2nd Earl of Orkney

  died

  betw. 18 Oct and 29 Nov 1592

  suc. by

  son

  note

  Privy Councillor [S] 1565; fought for Queen Mary I at the Battles of Castlehill 1565 and Langside 1568

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  William, was also close to Queen Mary, and she was to visit Callendar House many times on her return from France. He stayed with the Queen throughout her troubled reign and on into her exile in England. Following her execution at Forthergay in 1587, Lord William returned to Callendar House, where he died in 1592.

  2 - http://web.ukonline.co.uk/tom.paterson/places/SAfalkII.htm

  While Queen Mary was yet an infant, Henry VIII cherished the hope of subjugating Scotland by her union in marriage with his son Edward. The Earl of Arran, then Regent, favoured the scheme; but Cardinal Beaton and the Earl of Murray were its determined opponents These personages agreed to have a meeting at Falkirk on 4th September 1543; and at Callendar House a treaty was signed, which put an end to the proposal.

  This celebrated but unfortunate sovereign appears to have been on an intimate footing with the family of Callendar. On the 12th of August 1562, she dined there with a part of her train on her way to the north; and on 1st July 1565, she stood godmother to the infant Baron of Callendar, son of William, sixth Lord Livingstone. She slept at Callendar with the infant Prince James, on the night of the 18th January 1567, and again on the 24th of the same month1 when on her way to visit her husband Darnley, then ill of the small-pox at Glasgow; with whom she returned to Falon the 28th, and proceeded to Edinburgh on the following day. Soon After this, Mary was a captive at Lochleven. After her escape from thence, Lord Livingstone was one of those who welcomed her on her arrival at Niddry Castle; and on the field of Langside, distinguished himself by his gallant conduct at the head of his vassals, composed of inhabitants of Falkirk. He rode with the Queen from that fat
al field, and, along with her, was confined in different prisons by Elizabeth. At Bolton they were joined by Lady Livingstone, who, with her husband, were for several years the principal attendants, or rather companions, of the captive Queen. In 1578, they were both released from their sufferings by death, and their remains were conveyed to Falkirk for interment.

  THE death of the Regent Moray in 1570 proved a great blow to the infant king's party, for there was no man of equal mark and energy to take his place. The friends of the exiled queen raised their heads again, and in a force which might well give the ruling party some anxiety. Seeing the imminence of the danger, Elizabeth yielded to the wishes of Mary's enemies, and sent an army under Sir William Drury entered Scotland in the ensuing month, and committed the like havock in Lanarkshire, so as to disable the queen's friends of the house of Hamilton.

  And when the English troops came thence to Linlithgow on their return, "they herrit all the Monkland, the Lord Fleming's bounds, my Lord Livingstone's bounds, together with all their puir tenants and friends, in sic maner that nae heart can think thereon but the same must be dolorous.'—D. O. Yet this was but a foretaste of the woes which a disputed succession was now for three years to lay upon the land.