properly dates from the arrival of Lennox in Scotland. Lennox spent much of his time in Atholl, and, there can scarcely be a doubt, was fully apprised of all the ulterior purposes dependent on the proposed marriage of the queen to Darnley. Huntly having been forfeited, Atholl was now the leader of the Scottish catholic nobles, and the ‘singular trust’ (Randolph to Cecil, 24 Oct. 1564, in Cal. State Papers, For. 1564–5, No. 757) which Lennox placed in him was fully justified. As soon as the queen had decided on marrying Darnley, Atholl and Riccio superseded Moray and Maitland respectively as the queen's chief counsellors, and towards the close of April 1565 the queen virtually placed herself under the protection of Lennox, Atholl, and Ruthven.
Before the queen's marriage to Darnley Argyll was rumoured to have purposed the invasion of Atholl with a powerful force; but a proclamation from the queen was apparently effectual in preventing hostilities (Knox, ii. 491–2). Atholl was present with the queen in her journey from the parliament of Perth to Callander, and assisted to protect her and Darnley against the plot of Moray for their capture. On the outbreak of Moray's rebellion after the marriage, he was on 23 Aug. named lieutenant in the north (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 357), and on 10 Oct. he was appointed to lead the rearguard in the force raised for the suppression of Moray (ib. p. 379).
Knox states that after the marriage Atholl went openly to the mass in the queen's chapel (Works, ii. 514). When the queen, with Riccio, began to prepare for a catholic revolution, she bestowed on Atholl the stronghold of Tantallon, which was taken from Morton (Lord Herries, Memoirs, p. 73). Atholl had no connection with the plot against Riccio, and possibly Lennox and Darnley did not even make known to him their special grievances against the queen. On the evening of the assassination he was at supper in an apartment of the palace with Huntly, Bothwell, and other lords in attendance on the queen. Attempting to make their escape by a back way, they were intercepted and forced to return (ib. p. 77); but they afterwards got out by a window (Melville, Memoirs, p. 147), and they left Edinburgh before the queen's escape to Dunbar (Knox, ii. 523). It was with Atholl that Maitland took refuge after Riccio's assassination, and therefore Atholl, like the majority of even the catholic nobles, was probably by no means grieved that Riccio had been ‘taken away.’ Through Atholl's interposition Maitland was again permitted to come to court (Randolph to Cecil, 2 April 1566, Cal. State Papers, For. 1566–8, No. 242, and Randolph to Cecil, 20 Aug. ib. No. 677); but Atholl was undoubtedly kept in the dark as to the plot against Darnley, with whom and with Lennox he would seem to have remained on friendly terms; and, in common with other catholic nobles, he probably witnessed with dismay the increasing predominance of Bothwell. So much, indeed, was he shocked by the assassination of Darnley, and by the queen's association with the principal assassin, that he did not scruple to join the protestant lords in taking up arms against her. He was reputed to have held, not long after the murder, a private conference with Moray and Morton at Dunkeld for concerting measures for avenging it (Darnley to Cecil, February 1566–7, Cal. State Papers, For. 1566–8, No. 977); and on 8 May he also entered with other lords into the bond at Stirling for this purpose (ib. No. 1181; Knox, ii. 156; Lord Herries, Memoirs, p. 93). An attempt to capture Bothwell and the queen at Borthwick Castle failed, mainly because Atholl did not arrive in time to enable the lords to surround it; but shortly afterwards he joined them along with Lethington, and he was one of the leaders against the queen when she surrendered at Carberry Hill. In Morton's declaration regarding the discovery of the casket containing the alleged letters of Mary to Bothwell, he is mentioned as one of those present when the casket was opened and the letters were first read. He approved of her removal to Lochleven Castle, received her demission of the government (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 533), was present at the young king's coronation at Stirling (ib. p. 537), and consented to act as one of the council of regency until the return of Moray from France (ib. p. 540). Gradually, however, his sympathies veered again towards the queen, especially after her escape from Lochleven. At first he did not openly support her; but he was in secret communication with Maitland, and privy to the designs for her restoration. With a view to this he in 1569 voted in support of her divorce from Bothwell (ib. ii. 8).
After the assassination of the regent Moray, Atholl, ‘inspired,’ according to Calderwood, ‘by the secretary,’ advised that the council should delay taking active measures against those concerned in it ‘until there were a fuller assembly of the nobility’ (History, ii. 527). Shortly afterwards he, with Huntly, Lethington, and others, openly joined the Hamiltons in a league against the
