John Gordon, 11th Earl of Sutherland

John Gordon, 11th Earl of Sutherland (1525-1567) was a Scottish magnate. John Gordon supported the chief of his family, his cousin the Earl of Huntly against the Earl of Moray. After Huntly's defeat at Corrichie, he went into exile, and shortly after his return to Scotland he was murdered by a kinswoman.

Minority

John Gordon was the son of Janet Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Atholl and Alexander Gordon, Master of Sutherland, son of Elizabeth de Moravia (d.c. 1535) a sister of John de Moravia, 9th Earl of Sutherland, and Adam Gordon, a son of the Earl of Huntly (d. 17 March 1538). Elizabeth and Adam quashed a rival claimant to the earldom in 1518 at the Battle of Alltachuilain.

Alexander Gordon, Master of Sutherland, was made Earl of Sutherland in December 1527 when his mother the Countess Elizabeth resigned her rights. Alexander died in 1530, and Janet Stewart married Hugh Kennedy of Girvanmains, and subsequently, Henry Stewart, Lord Methven.

John, although still a minor, attended the Parliament of Scotland in December 1543 that rejected the Treaty of Greenwich. Some time after May 1544, John married Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll. She was the Countess of Moray, being the widow of James Stewart, Earl of Moray, who was a son of James IV of Scotland and Janet Kennedy.

On 4 May 1546 John was formally made the Earl of Sutherland. In the following year John commanded part of the rear guard at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh.^[1]

Elizabeth Campbell, Countess of Moray died in 1547, and in 1548 John married Helenor Stewart, who had previously been married to William Hay, 6th Earl of Erroll, (d.1541). She was the daughter of John, Earl of Lennox, and her sister Elizabeth had a son with James V of Scotland, Adam Stewart, Prior of the Charterhouse at Perth.^[2]

Regency of Mary of Guise

In the Autumn of 1554 Mary of Guise paid for a ship, troops and a cannon to be used by John, 11th Earl of Sutherland and his step-brother Hugh Kennedy of Girvanmains to arrest Iye du Mackay, chief of the Clan Mackay, who had caused mischief in Sutherland. They sailed in the Lion and captured Borve Castle, Sutherland. Kennedy subsequently captured Iye Mackay and brought him to Edinburgh.^[3]

Exile and death

In September 1562, Mary, Queen of Scots and her half-brother James Stewart newly made Earl of Moray came north to Inverness and Aberdeen. Their discussions with John's cousin the Earl of Huntly led to armed conflict. After the battle of Corrichie, secret letters between John Gordon and the Earl of Huntly were discovered. John Gordon fled to Louvain in Flanders. At the Parliament of Scotland on 28 May 1563, in the presence of Queen Mary, Huntly and Sutherland were forfeited.^[4] In 1565 Queen Mary of Scotland restored the Earls of Huntly, Sutherland and others of the name Gordon who had been forfeited.

The Earl of Sutherland was invited to return to Scotland. The Earl of Bedford, Governor of Berwick on Tweed sent a privateer called Wilson who carried Swedish letters of marque to intercept his ship, and the Earl was imprisoned at Berwick. Sutherland was considered a danger to English policy in Scotland. Mary, Queen of Scots, demanded the release of the Earl, who was now sick with an ague. Bedford wrote to Elizabeth on his behalf. The Earl was released in February 1566 after the assurance that he was reconciled with the Earl of Moray. On his return he married Marie Seton, daughter of Lord Seton. Both were poisoned at Helmsdale Castle by Isobel Sinclair, and died at Dunrobin Castle on 23 June 1567.^[5]

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