James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

Moray was born in about 1531, the most notable of the many illegitimate children of King James V of Scotland. His mother was the King's favourite mistress, Lady Margaret Erskine, daughter of John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine,[2] and wife of Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven. On 31 August 1536 he received a royal charter granting the lands of Tantallon and others. James was appointed Prior of St Andrews, Fife, in his childhood in 1538.[3] This position supplied his income.

As early as May 1553, the imperial ambassador to England, Jean Scheyfve, heard that Mary of Guise planned to make him Regent of Scotland in place of James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault.[4]

On 5 August 1557, Moray, his half-brother Lord Robert, and Lord Home led a raiding party from Edinburgh towards Ford Castle in Northumberland and burnt houses at Fenton, before retreating on the approach of an English force led by Henry Percy.[5] James attended the wedding in Paris in 1558 of his legitimate half-sister, Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Dauphin of France, who became King Francis II. To fund this trip his mother obtained credit from Timothy Cagnioli, an Italian banker in Edinburgh.[6]

James became a supporter of the Scottish Reformation. At Perth, Scotland in June 1559 he plucked down the images in various churches.[7] An English commentator praised James for his virtue, manhood, valour and stoutness as a leader of the Protestant Lords of the Congregation.[8]

Despite their religious differences, Moray became one of the chief advisers to his sister, Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1561 after her return from France. She was the only surviving child of his father's marriage to Mary of Guise. Although James disturbed her priests celebrating mass at Holyroodhouse in September 1561,[9] she made him Earl of Moray and Earl of Mar (the Mar earldom was soon afterwards withdrawn)[10] the following year, both earldoms being new creations.[11] With the lucrative Moray earldom came Darnaway Castle with its medieval hall, notable even then as "verie fayer and large builded." Moray also had a smaller house called Pitlethie near Leuchars in Fife, which his father had used.[12]

In October 1562, Moray defeated a rebellion by George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, at the Battle of Corrichie near Aberdeen. The theretofore very powerful and wealthy Huntly, who controlled large areas of northeastern Scotland, died immediately after this battle.[10] Moray opposed the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to Lord Darnley in 1565, and he embarked upon the unsuccessful Chaseabout Raid, together with the Earl of Argyll and Clan Hamilton. He was subsequently declared an outlaw, and took refuge in England. Returning to Scotland after the murder of David Rizzio, he was pardoned by the Queen,[2] and once more became one of her key advisers. He contrived, however, to be away at the time of Darnley's assassination in 1567, and avoided the tangles of Mary's subsequent marriage with James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, which followed the Darnley murder by mere weeks, by going to France.[2]

James Stewart (c. 1531–1570), 1st Earl of Moray (1562), Regent of Scotland (1567–1570), 1568

Mary was forced into abdication at Loch Leven Castle on 24 July 1567, where she was imprisoned for some ten months (1567–1568).[10] Moray returned to Edinburgh from France on 11 August 1567, escorted from Berwick-upon-Tweed by James Melville of Halhill, with a French ambassador, De Lignerolles. William Cecil, the English secretary of State had arranged his transport from Dieppe in an English ship.[13] He was appointed Regent of Scotland on 22 August, for the minority infant King James VI (born 1566), son of Queen Mary and Lord Darnley.[14] The appointment was confirmed by Parliament in December. To raise money Moray sent his agent Nicolas Elphinstone to London to sell Mary's jewels and pearls.[15]

Mary escaped from Lochleven on 2 May 1568, and the Duke of Chatelherault and other nobles rallied to her standard. Moray gathered his allies and defeated her forces at the Battle of Langside, near Glasgow on 13 May 1568.[2] Mary was compelled to flee, and decided to go to England; she could have equally have departed for France, although this would have taken more time and resources to arrange.[10] For this and the subsequent management of the kingdom he secured both civil and ecclesiastical peace, and earned the title of "The Gude Regent".[16]

Agnes, Countess of Moray by Hans Eworth

On 8 February 1561/2 at Holyrood,[23] Moray married Agnes Keith, daughter of William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal. The marriage produced three daughters:[24]

• Elizabeth Stuart, 2nd Countess of Moray (Aug 1565[25] – 18 November 1591), married James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray on 23 January 1580/1581
• Lady Annabel Stuart (? – before 1572)
• Lady Margaret Stuart (8 Apr 1569 – 1586), contract for the marriage signed on 27 June 1584 with Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll, without issue.[24]

Assassination of the Regent Moray. Victorian stained glass window in St Giles' Kirk, Edinburgh.

On Thursday 19 January 1570 Moray was at Stirling Castle where he had invited the English diplomat Sir Henry Gate, Marshal of Berwick, and the soldier Sir William Drury for dinner in the Great Hall. Later in his bedchamber he told the English visitors he would meet them and certain Scottish nobles at Edinburgh on Monday or Tuesday to discuss the rendition of English rebels. Moray was troubled by the problem of Dumbarton Castle, which was held against him by supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots.[26] On 21 January, he sent letters to summon Morton, Lindsay and Home to the meeting in Edinburgh.[27]

Moray was assassinated in Linlithgow on 23 January 1570 by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, a supporter of Mary. As Moray was passing in a cavalcade in the main street below, Hamilton fatally wounded him with a carbine shot from a window of his uncle Archbishop Hamilton's house.[28] He was the first head of government to be assassinated by a firearm.[29]

Moray's body was shipped to Leith, then taken to Holyrood Abbey.[30] Moray was buried on 14 February 1570 in St Anthony's aisle at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh. Seven earls and lords carried his body; William Kirkcaldy of Grange held his standard, and John Knox preached at the funeral.[30] Knox's own prohibition of funeral sermons (on the grounds that they glorified the deceased and displayed distinctions between rich and poor) was waived for the occasion.[31] Moray's tomb was carved by John Roytell and Murdoch Walker, with a brass engraved by James Gray.[32] His wife, Agnes Keith, was buried inside his tomb when she died in 1588.[33] Moray was succeeded by his eldest daughter and heir, Elizabeth Stewart, 2nd Countess of Moray, whose husband, James Stewart of Doune acquired the earldom on their marriage.

A stained glass window installed in St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, in the 1880s depicts Moray's assassination and John Knox preaching at his funeral.[34] There is a bas-relief sculpture by Amelia Hill in Linlithgow commemorating the assassination, and a Regent Moray Street next to the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.

The Earl of Moray is depicted in many fictional works which focus on the life and times of Mary, Queen of Scots. These include:

• Sir Walter Scott's 1820 novel The Monastery (where he is identified as the "Earl of Murray")[35]
• The 1923 film The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots where he is portrayed by Lionel d'Aragon
• The 1936 film Mary of Scotland where he is portrayed by Ian Keith
• The 1940 film Das Herz der Königin where he is portrayed by Walther Suessenguth
• The 1971 film Mary, Queen of Scots (where he is portrayed by Patrick McGoohan)[36]
• Thea Musgrave's 1977 opera Mary, Queen of Scots[37]
• The 2013–2017 television series Reign (in which he is portrayed by Dan Jeannotte)[38]
• The 2018 film Mary Queen of Scots in which he is portrayed by James McArdle