GORDON, George 4th Earl of Huntly ²

  General Notes:

George Gordon inherited his estates aged 10 years.

"George, fourth Earl of Huntly, who succeeded to the earldom in 1524, was made Lord Chancellor of Scotland on the death of Cardinal Beaton, and got the Great Seal in 1546. He also got a grant of the earldom of Moray from Queen Mary, 13th February 1548, and was appointed the queen's Lieutenant in the North. During the queen's absence in France, Huntly had been deprived of the chancellorship, which the queen, on her return, restored to him, but at the same time took from him the earldom of Moray, which she gave to her natural brother, Lord James Stewart, Prior of St. Andrews, who had recently been created Earl of Mar.

This gave rise to implacable enmity between the two earls, of which the enemies of Moray, and of his friend the Earl of Morton, took advantage to plot his ruin. Huntly being at the head of the Catholic party, the queen's maternal relations of the house of Guise had great expectations that he would restore that religion, and they held out hopes to him that the queen would marry his second son, Sir John Gordon of Findlater. It is possible that Huntly entertained this project proposed to him, although he never intended to seize the queen, or to force her to it against her will, as his enemies gave out. If this had been his design, he might easily have executed it, as the queen was frequently in his power, had he been disposed to use force."

from Historical Records of the Leslie Family

This enmity led to the Battle of Corrichy at Meikle Tap near Aberdeen in 1562, at the end of which Huntly was slain, his son, John, taken prisoner and executed, and their lands foreited. ¹

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Provost, 10 January 1544-1546, of Aberdeen. ³ "On Huntly's appointment to the provostship, Thomas Menzies was retained as depute, but this arrangement does not appear to have continued any time, as on the 18th May, 1544, writing from Stirling, tlie earl addresses himself to the Council, mentioning that he had received information that many burgesses were leaving the town with their goods, and not providing as they ought for its safety. He also instructs the Council and community that, during his absence, they are to obey his cousin and servitor, Mr. John Gordon, baillie; Henry Irvine, Alexander Rutherford, William Rolland, and none others; and he likewise informs them that he has given command to his friends to rise in their support if need be. At the Michaelmas election in 1545, the earl made choice of a Council to suit his own views, but not without protest from Thomas Menzies, acting for himself and his adherents. The election of this Council appears to have been made within the Greyfriars Convent, and here Menzies appeared and entered his protest against recognising any Council but such as was elected by the 'toun as use has been past memory of man.' This protest was productive of no good, however, but rather the reverse, for Baillie John Gordon, one of Huntly's firmest supporters, tauntingly told Menzies that all his 'bughing sail not make it nor yet your stane house,' while to Menzies' brother Gilbert, Gordon shouted 'Weil, are ye lauchand, I sail gar you greit.'' "

from Aldermen and Provosts

George married Elizabeth KEITH Countess of Huntly, daughter of Robert KEITH Master of Marischal and Elizabeth DOUGLAS, on 27 March 1530.¹ (Elizabeth KEITH Countess of Huntly was born about 1510 ⁴.)