a vessel on the outlook for the Earl of Bothwell, and Elizabeth ordered that he should be detained in England. Notwithstanding the remonstrances of Mary he was not permitted to leave till the beginning of 1566. He was in Edinburgh at the time of Rizzio's murder, but the third day afterwards departed out of the town, along with the Earls of Atholl and Caithness and the bishops (Knox, ii. 523). Along with Huntly he supported Bothwell in all his ambitious projects, and after Bothwell had been cleared by an assize of the murder of Darnley was restored to his estates at the same time as Huntly. He also signed the band in Ainslie's tavern for Bothwell's marriage. Sutherland had been long at feud with his neighbour George, fourth earl of Caithness, who, it is said, instigated his cousin, Isobel Sinclair, wife of Gilbert Gordon of Gartay, to poison him and his countess. While they were at supper at Helmsdale in July 1567 they were both suddenly seized with a violent illness, and died five days afterwards at Dunrobin Castle. Sutherland's only son, Alexander, who had been hunting and arrived late, was prevented by his father, who already felt the influence of the poison, from partaking of supper, and thus escaped sharing the fate of the earl and countess. Sutherland is described by the historian of the family as of comely stature and proportion, of a fair and good countenance, kind, courteous, mild, and affable. He was thrice married: first, to Lady Elizabeth Campbell, only daughter of Colin, third earl of Argyll, and relict of James, earl of Moray, natural son of James IV; secondly, to Lady Helen Stewart, daughter of John, third earl of Lennox, and relict of William, fifth earl of Errol, by whom he had two sons, John, who died in infancy, and Alexander (see below), who succeeded him as twelfth earl, and three daughters; and, thirdly, to Marian, eldest daughter of George, fourth lord Seton, relict of John, fourth earl of Monteith, who was poisoned at the sametime as her husband.
Gordon, Alexander, (eleventh or) twelfth Earl of Sutherland (1552-1594), was the second son of John, (tenth or) eleventh earl, whom he succeeded in 1567. His wardship was entrusted to his sister Margaret, who committed it to John Murray, earl of Atholl. The latter sold it to George Sinclair, earl of Caithness, who married Sutherland in 1568 to his daughter Barbara, a profligate woman of twice his age. Sutherland escaped from his guardian next year, and was infeoffed of his earldom 27 July 1573. He shortly afterwards divorced his first wife, and married, 13 Dec. 1573, Jean, daughter of George Gordon, fourth earl of Huntly [q. v.], who had been married to James Hepburn, earl of Bothwell [q. v.], from whom she was divorced 7 May 1567; she afterwards married as her third husband Alexander Ogilvy of Boyne, and died 14 May 1629, aged 83. By her Sutherland had two daughters and four sons; of the latter, John, the eldest. succeeded him as (twelfth or) thirteenth Earl of Sutherland, and Robert (1580-1656) [q.v.] was the historian of his family. Alexander Gordon was nearly all his life engaged in a struggle with the Earls of Caithness to secure possession of his earldom. He died at Dunrobin 6 Dec. 1594.
[Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), ii. 576-7; Sir Robert Gordon's History of the Earldom of Sutherland, pp. 131-8; Cal. State Papers, For. Ser., reign of Elizabeth; Sadler State Papers; Diurnal of Occurrents (Bannatyne Club); Histories of Knox, Leslie, Buchanan, and Calderwood.]
GORDON, JOHN, D.D. (1544–1619), dean of Salisbury, probably the eldest son of Alexander Gordon [q. v.], bishop-elect of Galloway, was born on 1 Sept. 1544. He first studied at St. Leonard's College, St. Andrews. In June 1565 he was sent to pursue his education in France, having a yearly pension granted him by Queen Mary, payable out of her French dowry. He spent two years at the universities of Paris and Orleans. On 4 Jan. 1568 he was confirmed by royal charter in the bishopric of Galloway and abbacy of Tongland, vacated in his favour by his father; the charter specifies his skill in classical and oriental tongues. At this time he was in France, in the service of the protestant leader, Prince Louis of Condé, but he soon came to England, entered the service of Thomas, duke of Norfolk, and attended him at the conferences of York (October 1568) and Westminster (November 1568), held for the purpose of considering Mary's guilt. When Norfolk was sent to the Tower (October 1569), Gordon transferred his services to Mary herself, and seems to have remained with her till January 1572, when she was deprived of her household. Mary commended him to the French king, and he enjoyed the post of gentleman ordinary of the privy chamber to Charles IX, Henry III, and Henry IV, with a yearly pension of four hundred crowns. He saved the lives of several countrymen at the massacre of St. Bartholomew, but never renounced protestantism. In 1574 he exhibited his Hebrew learning in a public disputation at Avignon with the chief rabbi Benetrius. By his marriage in 1576 with Antoinette, widowed daughter of René de Marolles, he acquired an estate which gave him the style of sieur of
