Acts of Succession
1534, 1536, 1543.Henry VIII used statutes to make the adjustments to the succession that his complicated matrimonial history necessitated. The first Act (25 Hen. VIII c. 22) declared Mary ...
Babington plot
(1586)A conspiracy to coordinate a Spanish invasion of England with a rising of English Catholics, to assassinate Elizabeth I, and to replace her on the throne with Mary, Queen of Scots. Anthony ...
battle of Pinkie Cleugh
1547.One of the first decisions taken by Somerset when he became protector for Edward VI in 1547 was to settle the long‐running war against Scotland with a decisive blow. The Scots had rejected ...
duke of Clarence, Albert Victor Christian Edward
(1864–92).Clarence was the first son of Edward, prince of Wales. He seems to have been congenitally handicapped: at the age of 5 he was described as ‘languid and listless’. At 13 he went to Dartmouth ...
Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley
(c. 1532–88).Son of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, Dudley became one of Elizabeth I's most prominent courtiers. Until his death in 1588, he was master of the queen's horse and a privy ...
Edinburgh castle
Stands on Castle Rock dominating the city of Edinburgh and is approached across the Esplanade, the site of the annual military tattoo. It houses the crown jewels (Honours) of Scotland, and occupies a ...
Elizabeth I
[Na]English queen from ad 1558, of the House of Tudor. Born 1533, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. She died in 1603, aged 69, having reigned 44 years.
France: the ‘Auld Alliance’
The French connection, often whimsically known as the ‘Auld Alliance’, was an intermittent phenomenon but in the three centuries or so after 1296, it operated in four main areas: warriors ...
golf
Though the Dutch game of kolf has been claimed as the origin, the first undoubted reference to golf was in 1457 when the Scottish Parliament deplored its popularity, since it took young men away from ...
Gordon family, earls of Huntly
In 1444–5, Sir Alexander Seton of Gordon was created first earl of Huntly, and changed the family name to Gordon; thus was established one of the most powerful and influential ...
Hamilton family
The Hamilton family can trace its origins to the Anglo‐Norman period. The earliest record is to Walter, son of Gilbert (or Walter FitzGilbert), who appears on 10 January 1295 as ...
Henry Stewart Darnley, Lord
(1545–67).The son of Matthew Stewart, 4th earl of Lennox, and grandson of Margaret Tudor, Darnley's place in the English succession was second only to that of Mary Stuart. Darnley was born and ...
house of Stuart
One of Europe's most resilient royal dynasties, the Stewart or Stuart family ruled Scotland in direct descent from 1371 to 1688, inheriting also the thrones of England and Ireland in 1603. The family ...
James Francis Edward Stuart
B. 10 June 1688, s. of James II and Mary of Modena; m. Maria Clementina, da. of James Sobiewski, 28 May 1719; issue: Charles Edward, Henry; d. 1 Jan. 1766, bur. St Peter's, Rome.James Stuart, ‘the ...
James I
King of England, James VI of Scotland, b. 19 June 1566, s. of Henry, Lord Darnley, and Mary, queen of Scots; acc. Scotland 24 July 1567; England 24 Mar. 1603; m. Anne, da. of Frederick II of Denmark, ...
James II
King of England and Ireland, James VII of Scotland, b. 14 Oct. 1633, 2nd s. of Charles I and Henrietta Maria; acc. 6 Feb. 1685; deemed to have abdic. 11 Dec. 1688; m. (1) Anne, da. of Edward Hyde ...
James II
(1430–60),king of Scots (1437–60). James II is the first Scottish king of whose appearance we can be fairly certain. He is portrayed as a confident young man, his hands on a dagger at his belt, with ...
James III
(1452–88),king of Scots (1460–88). The eldest of the three sons of James II and Mary of Gueldres, James was born at St Andrews in May 1452. His father's death at the siege of Roxburgh (August 1460) ...
James V
(1512–42),king of Scots (1513–42). Born on 10 April 1512, James inherited the throne when barely 18 months old on the death of his father James IV at Flodden. The protracted regency which ensued ...
Lords of Congregation
1557.A group of Scottish nobles who pledged their lives to maintain, set forward, and establish the reformed religion in Scotland. Signed by the earls of Argyll, Glencairn, and Morton, Lord Lorne, ...
