James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton
In 1553, James Douglas succeeded to the title and estates of his father-in-law, including Dalkeith House in Midlothian and Aberdour Castle in Fife.
[3] At the start of the Rough Wooing war, James and his brother David communicated with Henry VIII of England on the possibility of their surrendering Tantallon Castle to the English army that burnt Edinburgh in 1544.
The English commander Lord Hertford wrote to the Master of Morton in April 1544, discussing his journey towards Berwick-upon-Tweed, and hoping he could leave the castles of Dalkeith and Tantallon in the hands of allies.
After the Treaty of Boulogne in 1550, James was exchanged for the English soldier John Luttrell, returned from captivity in England, and began to use his title of "Earl of Morton".
James's political activities and allegiances during the Scottish Reformation were at first equivocal in 1559, but in February 1560 he signed the Treaty of Berwick which invited an English army into Scotland to expel the Catholic regime of Mary of Guise.
[6] On their way back from London, Grey de Wilton hosted the Scottish ambassadors at Berwick and gave James a personal tour of the latest fortifications there.
Morton attended the remarkable stand-off at the battle of Carberry Hill in June 1567, where Mary's new husband, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell offered to settle the matter by single combat.
When Mary escaped from Lochleven, he led the vanguard of the army which defeated her forces at the Battle of Langside in 1568, and he was the most valued privy counsellor of the Earl of Moray during the latter's brief term of office as Regent of Scotland.
On 18 November 1571, the new Regent, John Erskine, Earl of Mar, sent Morton with Robert Pitcairn, Commendator of Dunfermline and James MacGill of Nether Rankeillour to negotiate with Elizabeth's representative Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, Governor of Berwick upon Tweed.
As Regent of Scotland, Morton expected the support of England and Elizabeth, and a week after his election, he wrote to William Cecil, Lord Burghley following his discussions with the English ambassador Henry Killigrew: The knowledge of her Majesty's meaning has chiefly moved me to accept the charge (the Regency), resting in assured hope of her favourable protection and maintenance, especially for the present payment of our men-of-war their bypast wages, "without the quhilk I salbe drevin in mony great inconvenientis.
In February 1573 he effected a pacification with George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly, the Hamiltons and other Catholic nobles who supported Mary, at Perth with the aid of Elizabeth's envoy, Henry Killigrew.
In July 1573 Morton had the king's chamber at Stirling Castle panelled, 60 new gold buttons made for his clothes, and gave him a football.
Andrew Melville, who had taken over as leader of the Kirk from John Knox, was firmly against any departure from the Presbyterian model and refused to be won by a place in Morton's household.
Morton rigorously pursued the collection of a third of the income from every Church benefice, a revenue that had been allocated to finance the King's household.
[19] Queen Elizabeth wrote to her agents in Scotland expressing her astonishment and displeasure because, as she was convinced her influence had brought Morton to the regency, his forced resignation reflected badly on her.
[20] On 27 April 1578, by the action of John Erskine (son of Regent Mar) and his brothers, the Commendators of Cambuskenneth and Dryburgh, Morton gained possession of Stirling Castle and the person of the king, regaining his ascendancy.
On 12 August 1578, the forces of his opponents faced his army at Falkirk, but a truce was negotiated by two Edinburgh ministers, James Lawson and David Lindsay, and the English resident Robert Bowes.
In May 1579, at St Andrews, an eccentric called Skipper Lindsay publicly declared to Morton in the King's presence during the performance of a play that his day of judgement was at hand.
In September, Esmé Stewart, Sieur d'Aubigny, the king's cousin, came to Scotland from France, gained the favour of James by his courtly manners, and received the lands and earldom of Lennox, the custody of Dumbarton Castle, and the office of chamberlain.
The young James VI was declared to have reached his majority and formally began his personal rule with some ceremony in Edinburgh in September 1579, and the period of the Regents was concluded.
His head, however, remained on "the prick on the highest stone",[30] (a spike) on the north gable of the ancient Tolbooth of Edinburgh (outside St Giles Cathedral) for eighteen months, until it was ordered to be reunited with his body in December 1582.
[citation needed] After the execution of her husband, Morton's wife, Dame Elizabeth Douglas was found by an inquest to be incapable of managing her affairs, as she was "idiot and prodigal" in the language of the time.
King James VI signed a warrant to appoint a legal guardian called an "administrator and tutor" to supervise and protect her property.
Lennox would work to give Maxwell rights over the Morton earldom, and make him the legal guardian of James Douglas and Dame Elizabeth's three daughters.
