John Fleming, 5th Lord Fleming

John Fleming, 5th Lord Fleming (1529–6 September 1572), was a Scottish nobleman and a supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots.

John, Fifth Lord Fleming
Born1529
Died6 September 1572
NationalityScottish

Life

He was the son of Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming, lord high chamberlain, by his wife Johanna or Jonet Stewart, natural daughter of James IV. He succeeded his brother James Fleming, 4th Lord Fleming.

He was Governor of Dumbarton Castle in 1565 and was made the Principal Master Usher of the Queen's Chamber.[1] He supported Mary, Queen of Scots, fighting for her at the Battles of Carberry Hill and Langside. He accompanied her on her flight to England in 1568 and returned to Scotland in 1569. He held Dumbarton Castle for the Queen until 1571, when he escaped to France.[2] In 1572 he returned again to Scotland, landing at Blackness Castle with money to pay Marian troops. Shortly after joining the garrison still holding Edinburgh Castle for Mary, he was wounded in the knee by a musket ball which had ricocheted after being fired by a French soldier. When the wound became infected, he was carried in a litter to Boghall Castle in Biggar, where he died two months later.[3][4]

Family

He married on 10 May 1562, Elizabeth Ross (died after 14 April 1578), only child of Robert Ross, Master of Ross by his wife Agnes Scott.[5] Elizabeth was a lady in waiting to Mary, Queen of Scots and she paid for the wedding banquet.[6] They had the following children:

  • John Fleming, later 6th Lord Fleming later 1st Earl of Wigtown
  • Margaret Fleming, married after 19 April 1588, Sir James Forrester of Carden
  • Elizabeth Fleming (died after 24 September 1579)
  • Jane Fleming (died October 1630), married after 1582/3 William Bruce of Airth
  • Mary Fleming, married after 9 December 1581, Sir James Douglas, 8th of Drumlanrig, and had issue.

While John was defending Dumbarton Castle against the supporters of James VI in 1570 in the cause of Mary, Queen of Scots, his young family was harassed at his houses at Biggar and Cumbernauld Castle by Regent Lennox's men. It was reported:

"they wald noct suffir his wyf within na boundes (expelled from her home), thre infantis with hir, the eldest of thame nocht thre yeir auld, schaiking thame furct of ther claythes and bedding most schamefullie ... and ther is twa of thame can noct speik."

As well as the farm livestock, the King's men took his deer and wild white cattle for Lennox's table in Edinburgh.[7]

Notes
  1. Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 5 part 1 (1957); p. 648 no. 2150, p. 634 no. 2208.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Potter, Harry (2003), Edinburgh Under Siege 1571 - 1573 (Tempus, 2003), p.103
  4. Fleming, Alexander & Mason, Roger, Scotland and the Flemish People (Birlinn, 2019), p. 167
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 622.
  7. Boyd, William K., ed., Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1903), p. 455.
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
James Fleming		 Lords Fleming
1558–1572		 Succeeded by
John Fleming
Political offices
Preceded by
4th Lord Fleming		 Great Chamberlain
1565–1572		 Succeeded by
1st Duke of Lennox

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