James Stewart, Earl of Arran

In April 1573, James was sent as a "pledge" or hostage to England for the security of the English army and artillery sent to the "Lang Siege" of Edinburgh Castle, which was held by supporters of Mary Queen of Scots.

He was a follower of Esmé Stewart, and in January 1580 he accused the former Regent Morton, still the effective power in Scotland, of participation in the murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.

[2] Their government of Scotland, and their correspondence with France and Spain, made them unpopular in England and with the "ultra-Protestant" sector at home, although the young King greatly admired Lennox and enjoyed his company.

James VI was invited to stay hunting in Perthshire, and he was taken at Huntingtower Castle by the Earl of Gowrie and his political faction on 22 August 1582, a kidnap known as the Ruthven Raid.

The next day they gave the King their supplication or mandate, which stated;We have suffered now about the space of two years such false accusations, calumnies, oppressions and persecutions, by the means of the Duke of Lennox and him who is called the Earl of Arran, that the like of their insolencies and enormities were never heretofore born with in Scotland.

[7] Arran assembled a force of 12,000 men and regained power in July 1583,[2] an ascendancy that would last for two years, and the Ruthven Raiders and their followers were banished to Newcastle upon Tyne.

[10] Arran was made keeper and governor of Edinburgh Castle and in November 1584 he was ordered to survey the state of repair and faults in its fortifications, and prospect for a new well, according to "his experience and judgement in the art militaire.

"[11] As part of his strategy to maintain good relations with England, Arran sent copies of the king's poetry book, The Essayes of a Prentise in the Divine Art of Poesie, printed in Edinburgh by Thomas Vautrollier and bound in orange vellum, to Cecil and Lord Hunsdon on 28 December 1584.

[14] Arran fell from power after a border incident when the Englishman Francis Russell, son of the second Earl of Bedford, was killed with a "shot from a dag" on 27 July 1585.

[16] He was unable to prevent the Banished Lords of the Ruthven Raid returning from England, seizing Stirling Castle on 4 November 1586, and declaring him a traitor.

The English ambassador Robert Bowes heard that his supporters included the Duke of Lennox, Sir George Home, James Sandilands, Colonel William Stewart, Thomas Erskine, and the Laird of Dunipace, who plotted his rehabilitation and the wreck and overthrow of the Chancellor John Maitland and the Hamilton family.