The Raid of Holyrood was an attack on Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh on 27 December 1591 by Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell in order to gain the favour of King James VI of Scotland.Gareth Russell, Queen James: The Lives and Loves of Britain's First King (London: William Collins, 2025), p. 160. Bothwell subsequently staged a raid at Falkland Palace, and in July 1593 made another attempt at Holyrood.David M. Bergeron, The Duke of Lennox, 1574-1624: A Jacobean Courtier's Life (Edinburgh, 2022), pp. 38-40.
Background
Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell was a nephew of Mary, Queen of Scots. He fell from the favour of James VI and was accused of witchcraft during the North Berwick witch trials. Expelled from court, he broke into Holyrood Palace (twice) and tried to capture Falkland Palace (once) and planned to enter Dalkeith Palace, either to regain the King's favour or to kidnap him. Bothwell could count on a number of loyal followers amongst the Scottish lairds. Despite his following, he was forced into exile and died in Naples in 1612.Edward Cowan, 'Darker vision of the Scottish renaissance', in Renaissance & Reformation in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1983), pp. 132-134.
There was an alleged plot to seize James VI at Holyrood back in December 1582. Robert Bowes was told that Alexander Stewart and others intended to destabilize the Ruthven regime, an English-leaning Scottish government, and return Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox to power at the Scottish court. The conspirators would surprise the king during supper. The raiders would enter the palace through the Abbey, using the "dark stair" into a long gallery, then access the "little gallery" under the king's lodging when his attendants were eating elsewhere. The palace porter John Bog would give them keys. Some of the alleged conspirators were arrested and Bowes was told that they were shown the "boot", an instrument of torture, in order to make them talk.Bowes Correspondence (London, 1842), pp. 267-268, 270-271, 276.
First raid on Holyrood, December 1591
Sir James Melville of Halhill, a gentleman in the household of Anne of Denmark, the courtier Roger Aston, and the English ambassador Robert Bowes, described the first raid on Holyrood Palace. Bothwell came with sixty followers after supper on Monday 27 December 1591, including the lairds James Douglas of Spott, Archibald Wauchope of Niddrie, John Colville, and Archibald Douglas (a son of the Earl of Morton).Maurice Lee junior, John Maitland of Thirlestane (Princeton, 1959), p. 235: William Boyd & Henry Meikle, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 609-10, 618-9.
Douglas of Spott went to release some of his servants that were imprisoned in the gatehouse or "porter lodge" on suspicion of the murder of the old laird of Spott. The space was originally a workshop for a glazier, Thomas Peebles and James V had converted it into a workshop for mending the royal tapestries.John G. Dunbar, Scottish Royal Palaces (Tuckwell: East Linton, 1999), pp. 178, 198. Now it was a prison where one man, Sleich of Cumlege in the Merse, had been tortured with the "boot", a device for crushing the legs, on Christmas Day.'Account of the attempt upon Holyroodhouse, 1591', Blackwood's Magazine (October 1817), p. 31Thomas Thomson, Historie and life of King James the Sext (Edinburgh, 1825), pp. 243-5 Spott's action raised the alarm more quickly than Bothwell's party wanted. The king and his courtiers barricaded themselves inside the palace helped by Harry Lindsay of Kinfauns, while Andrew Melville of Garvock and Sir James Sandilands brought help from outside.Thomas Thomson, James Melville: Memoirs of his own life (Edinburgh, 1827), pp. 398-400John Spottiswoode, History of the Church of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1847), p. 418
James VI and Anne of Denmark retreated to the tower of the palace, while most of the court were still at supper in the great hall. Accorded to Roger Aston they "ram-forst the dores" against Bothwell's men until help came from the people of Edinburgh.Letters of John Colville (Edinburgh, 1858), p. 251 "reinforst the dores". Bothwell's men tried to break through with hammers and burn doors. The Chancellor John Maitland of Thirlestane was besieged in his chamber. Harry Lindsay defended the queen's door. Both the King and Queen were in the tower secured with an iron yett.'Account of the attempt upon Holyroodhouse, 1591', Blackwood's Magazine (October 1817), p. 31.
A shot from the chancellor's chamber window killed Robert Scott, a brother of the Laird of Balwearie, and another raider was hit on the backside. The courtiers fought back with "staffs and other invasive weapons".Historie and life of the James the Sext, p. 244. Taking advantage of the darkness, Bothwell's men retreated through the stables. Seven of Bothwell's men were captured and hanged.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 609-10 no. 639, 618-9 no. 646.'Account of the attempt upon Holyroodhouse, 1591', Blackwood's Magazine (October 1817), p. 31. Anne of Denmark successfully pleaded with James VI for the lives of some, especially John Naysmyth.Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1589-1593, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 621, 631-2, 641, 648.
Following the raid, motivated by the "feir of the erle Bothuell", James VI and Anne of Denmark lodged for a time in the Edinburgh house of a wealthy merchant Nicoll Uddart, which was thought to offer more security than the Palace.Amy L. Juhala, "Edinburgh and the Court of James VI", Julian Goodare & Alasdair A. MacDonald, Sixteenth-Century Scotland (Brill, 2008), p. 354.
The Schaw twins Archibald Wauchope of Niddrie was shot and injured in the hand by John Schaw, a gentleman of the equerry.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 619 no. 646. John Shaw,John Spottiswoode, History of the Church of Scotland (London, 1668), p. 387. who had recently been awarded a property confiscated from Euphame MacCalzean,John Maitland Thomson, Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 636-637 no. 1881Gareth Russell, Queen James: The Lives and Loves of Britain's First King (London: William Collins, 2025), p. 161. and his twin brother Patrick were fatally injured in the struggle in the stable. Their sister Marjory was awarded a royal pension.Clare Jackson, The Mirror of Great Britain: A Life of James VI and I (Allen Lane, 2025), p. 68. The twins were commemorated in a poem by Alexander Montgomerie, the Epitaph of Jhone and Patrik Shaues which compares John and his twin brother Patrick to Castor and Pollux.David J. Parkinson, Alexander Montgomerie Poems, vol. 1 (STS: Edinburgh, 2000), p. 99 & vol. 2 (2000), pp. 81-2: National Records of Scotland E20/9.By CASTOR and by POLLUX you may boste,Deid SHAWIS ye live, suppose your lyfis be loste.David J. Parkinson, Alexander Montgomerie Poems, vol. 1 (STS: Edinburgh, 2000), p. 60.
Suspicions It was said that during the raid Margaret Douglas, Countess of Bothwell, waited in a house nearby in the Canongate with jewels and money, ready to receive the captive queen. She left secretly in the night in fear after the retreat.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 619. The Privy Council later banished her from the King's presence, declaring that,the said Erllis wyffe, quha, as is knowne, hes bene a griter mellair in thir treassounable actionis and counsellis then become a woman; bot, howsoevir his Majestie, in respect of hir sex and present conditioun, thocht nocht convenient to deal so hardlie with hir at this tyme as she had worthelie deservit, yit meanit nocht nor nawayes allow that she sould remane ewest his persone or repair to his presensOr in modern spelling: the said Earl's wife, who, as is known, has been a greater dealer in these treasonable actions and counsels than becomes a woman; but, however his Majesty, in respect of her sex and present condition [pregnancy], thought it not convenient to deal so hardly with her at this time as she had worthily deserved, yet means not in any way to allow that she should remain near his person or repair to his presence.David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1592-1599, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 23.
Suspicion fell on the Duke of Lennox because one his retainers, William Stewart, took part in the Raid and fled.James Dennistoun, Moysie's Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 87 Newsletters sent around Europe emphasised the role of Colonel William Stewart.The Fugger News-Letters (London, 1926), p. 236. Chancellor Maitland distrusted Lennox' offer of a refuge during the Raid.Maurice Lee, John Maitland of Thirlestane (Princeton University Press, 1959), pp. 235-6. A list of fifty suspected to have been at the Raid of Holyrood includes the Earl's half-brother Hercules Stewart, Robert Hepburn in Hailes, John Ormiston in Smailholm, and John Gibson, the grieve of Crichton, who was taken to the gallows but reprieved.David Calderwood, History of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1844), pp. 141-2. James VI made a proclamation against the masked riders, conspirators who "rydis missellit" with their faces covered and disguised.David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1585-1592, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), p. 713-4.
Elizabeth I wrote to Anne of Denmark in French to congratulate her on escaping Bothwell's "wicked miserable enterprise" and that she should encourage James VI to punish the offenders and be as vigilant as her father, Frederick II of Denmark had been.Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1589-1593, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 624 no. 650. In England, Christopher Hatton heard that Bothwell had intended to kill the Chancellor, John Maitland. James VI would now try more seriously to capture Bothwell, and promised his confiscated goods and lands to the Duke of Lennox, to secure his support.Paul E. J. Hammer, 'Letters from Cecil to Hatton, Religion, Politics and Society in Sixteenth-Century England (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 228-229.
Raid of Falkland, June 1592 On 28 June, between one and two o'clock in the morning, Bothwell, with 300 followers, attempted to capture Falkland Palace and the king. Forewarned, the king and queen and his immediate courtiers withdrew to the tower and locked it from within. Bothwell's main assault was at the back gate near the tennis court. The defenders fired on his supporters from the tower. Melville of Halhill alleged that some who liked Bothwell loaded their guns with paper, while Bothwell refrained from using the explosive petards he had brought to blow the gates open.Memoirs, p. 409.
Bothwell gave up and left with the horses from the royal stables. The English border reiver Richie Graham of Brackenhill and his companions including Thomas Musgrave of Bewcastle sacked Falkland town, taking horses, clothing, and money.Joseph Bain, Calendar of Border Papers: 1560-1594, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 516 On 29 and 30 June proclamations were issued for Bothwell's pursuit and the arrest of his accomplices, including James Scott of Balwearie, Martine of Cardone, and Lumsden of Airdrie. An Edinburgh burgess, George Marjoribanks, described the Raid of Falkland in his journal:after the forfaltour of the said Earl of Bothwell, he with his complices came to Falkland quher [where] the King wes for the tyme, of purpois for to have taken the King from sick [such] as then hade courte and governiment of him, and witheld hes nobility from him. Bot they could get the King taken, in respecte of the strenth of the place.John Graham Dalyell, Annals of Scotland: From the Yeir 1514 to the Yeir 1591, by George Marioreybanks (Edinburgh, 1814), pp. 56–57.