ARRAN COMPLETE PEERAGE 223 1 58 1, a grant of the comitatus of Arran, the Baronies of Hamilton, ^c, and on 28 Oct. 1581, was cr. EARL OF ARRAN, LORD OF AVANE and HAMILTON [S.], to him and his heirs male. His influence over the King having become supreme, he was appointed Chancellor of Scot- land, Sep. 1584, Lieut, of the Realm, {ffc. He fled, however, after the talcing of Stirling, was declared an enemy to his country, and was attainted in Nov. 1585. He m., 6 July I58i,() Elizabeth, recently wife of Robert (Stewart), Earl of Lennox, afterwards Earl of March [S.], against whom she had obtained a decree of nullity of marriage, 19 May 1581, and formerly widow of Hugh (Fraser), Lord Lovat [S.], being ist da. of John (Stewart), 4th Earl of Atholl [S.], by his ist wife, Elizabeth, da. of George (Gordon), 4th Earl of Huntly [S.]. Her rapacity equalled that of her husband. She d. " miserablie " in Sep. 1595. He, after his disgrace, lived (as Capt. Stewart) on his own estate in Ayrshire, but returned to Court in 1592, where he was well received by the King. He d. 5 Dec. 1595, being assassinated by Sir James Douglas, of Parkheid, at Symon- town, CO. Lanark, in revenge for the death of his uncle, the 4th Earl of Morton. 3 z c c^ u o '^ — w NH en VL 1609. 4. James (Hamilton), Marquess of Ham- ilton, Earl of Arran, and Lord Hamilton [S.], nephew and h. of the (ivth) 3rd Earl of Arran, being s. and h. of John Hamilton, ist Marquess of Hamilton [S.], to , £i. g i^ whose peerage he had sue. in 1604, which John was next br. of ' ^3 < ^ James, the insane Earl of Arran [S.] abovenamed, and had been cr., v.f., 17 Apr. 1599, Marquess of Hamilton, Earl of Arran, fe'c. [S.]. He d. 2 Mar. 1624/5, ^^'^ 3^- o 2q= (*) This is the date always given, and is doubtless correct. The Scots Peerage gives no place, particulars, or authority, but states that the marriage was ' hurriedly arranged, ' the reason therefor being shown by the birth of a child, 8 Jan. 158 1/2, for which premature event the parents had to do ecclesiastical penance. A letter, dated 25 Feb. [1587] mentions the Earl's approaching marriage with " Athole's sister, " as also that of the Earl of Angus with " Jean Lyonne, " which latter event took place in July 1587. The "approaching " ceremony must have been of a confirmatory character. Fontenay, writing to the Queen of Scots, 15 Aug. 1584, describes him and his wife, and their influence over James VI as follows : — " D'argent et la grandeur sont les moyens de la gaigner, estans propres instruments pour se servir de leur ambition et avarice. Et luy et elle ^galement ont I'esprit vif p^ndtrant fin, convoiteux de bien et grandeurs, haultain, hardy a entreprendre et capable de beaucoup d'affaires, bref qui possedent si avant le Roy que la plus part du people et des seigneurs estime v6ritable- ment qu'il a est^ par eulx ensorcel^. " Calderwood calls her " a meete matche for suche a spous, depending upon the response of witches, and enemie to all human societie. " V.G. In 1585 the Earl submitted a ' Protest ' or ' Renunciation, ' to Pari, bearing on the legitimacy of Walter Stewart of Morphie. {ex inform. M.J.Shaw Stewart).
