Sir James Hamilton of Finnart (c. 1495 – 16 August 1540) was a Scottish nobleman and architect, the illegitimate son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran, and Marion Boyd states Finnart was the son of a daughter of Lord Boyd. of Bonshaw. Although legitimated in 1512 while still a minor, he continued to be known as the "Bastard of Arran". As a key member of the Hamilton family, and second cousin of James V, King of Scotland, he became a prominent member of Scottish society.
Rise The nurse of a child of Marion Boyd is mentioned in the royal accounts in February 1498, when James IV was at Ayr.Thomas Dickson, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), p. 378.
Hamilton was granted the lands of Finnart in 1507 and knighted at a young age in 1511. As a child he joined the king's household and was given gifts of boots and shoes.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 4, pp. 53, 82, 99, 233. In 1513 he was accepted as his father's heir, should his father not have legitimate heirs, which he later did. During the winter 1517/18 James was in France and brought back letters from Francis I to Scotland. At the end of March 1518 he returned to France with replies concerning the murder of Antoine d'Arces, sieur de la Bastie and his father's actions against the culprits.Hay, Denys, Letters of James V (HMSO, 1954), pp. 56-58. Arran struggled with Regent Albany and James V later in 1526 formally forgave him, Arran, the Earl of Eglinton, Lord Avandale, Hugh Campbell of Loudoun, and others for bearing arms against Albany with 5000 or 6000 men at "Kittycrocehill" by Glasgow.Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1908), no. 3409.
In 1520 Hamilton played a part in provoking the "Clear the Causeway" fight with the Earl of Angus in Edinburgh's High Street. Hamilton and his father managed to escape from the skirmish by stealing horses and crossing the Nor Loch marshes. In September 1526 Hamilton murdered John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox, who had surrendered to the Hamilton side following the Battle of Linlithgow Bridge. On 22 October 1526, Hamilton was made Keeper and Captain of Linlithgow Palace with a legal ceremony involving the symbolic presentation of stones and earth followed by his entry to the palace and the closure of the doors behind him.Beveridge & Russell, ed., Protocol Books of Thomas Johnson (SRS: Edinburgh, 1920), p. 78-9 no. 384.
George Buchanan wrote that in revenge for the murder of Lennox a groom from the earl's stable stabbed Hamilton at the Pend of Holyroodhouse.Buchanan, George, History of Scotland (Glasgow, 1827), pp. 296, bk. xiv, cap. xxxi. Unharmed, at court he was made principal sewer, a noble waiter at the king's table, and master of the king's stables.Cameron, Jamie, James V (Tuckwell, 1998), p. 204, (appointments in 1527 under the Angus regime) He was involved in persecution of the Protestants, including his own cousin Patrick Hamilton, who was burnt at the stake in 1528. When his father died in 1529, he became guardian of his half-brother the nine or ten-year-old James, 2nd Earl of Arran, and was for a time the most influential of the Hamilton dynasty, and one of the most powerful men in Scotland.
In November 1528 he was described by an English diplomat Thomas Magnus with disapproval as one of the young king's counsellors, as "Sir James Hamylton, whoe did sley the Erle of Lenneux." Magnus thought Finnart and other unsuitable courtiers including the Sheriff of Ayr, the Laird of Buccleuch, Lord Maxwell, and Lord Methven, the husband of Margaret Tudor were responsible for continuing the forfeit and attainder of the Earl of Angus. However, Magnus also heard that Finnart and the Sheriff of Ayr, two "cherished servants" of James V met the forfeited rebels Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie and George Douglas of Pittendreich at Cockburnspath to discuss the restoration of the Earldom of Angus. This meeting and familiarity with Douglas family would later be used against Finnart.State Papers Henry Eighth, vol. 4 part 4 (London, 1836), pp. 526, 530.
Master of Work for building royal palaces and castles
He was appointed Steward of the Royal Household and Master of Works to King James. King James granted Hamilton the Draffan estate in Lanarkshire, on which he built Craignethan Castle in 1530.Iain McIvor in Apted, Gilyard-Beer & Saunders ed., Ancient Monuments and their Interpretation, Craignethan Castle, 239-261 He probably also built Cadzow Castle near the South Lanarkshire town now known as Hamilton. In Linlithgow, Hamilton acquired the site of a large townhouse from his cousin James Hamilton of Kincavill in January 1531.Beveridge & Russell, ed., Protocol Books of Thomas Johnson (SRS, 1920), pp. 78-9 no.3 84, the site was nos. 77-87 High Street, Linlithgow.
In 1536, Hamilton supplied James V with equipment for hunting horses, hounds and hawks, and the King ordered Patrick, Lord Gray, who was indebted to the crown, to pay him 850 Scottish merks.Beveridge & Russell, ed., Protocol Books of Thomas Johnson (SRS, 1920), p. 28.
As Master of Works, he was responsible for restorations to the royal palaces of Linlithgow, Blackness Castle and possibly Falkland Palace. His major work was creating the renaissance palace at Stirling for which he was richly rewarded.
In 1537, the treasurer allowed Finnart the composition fee for the Wardship of the heir of Patrick Butter of Gormo against £133-6s-8d he had spent at Linlithgow and Blackness Castle.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol.6 (1905), p.2, 304.(Finnart had owed for this wardship since 1532) This pattern of financing continued, and at Stirling Castle on 22 September 1539, Finnart was given a substantial gift of lands in recompense for his service in completing works at Stirling Palace and Linlithgow Palace, including; Strathaven Castle, Crawfordjohn, Gorgie in Renfrewshire, and other lands made into a barony of Avondale.Register of the Great Seal of Scotland 1513-1546, (1883), 453-454, no. 2021. Finnart's building work continued at Stirling Palace with an advance of £4000 Scots in October 1539, and £300 for works at Linlithgow and Blackness Castle in April 1540.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol.7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 256, 302.
A later historian, William Drummond of Hawthornden, mentioned an advance of 3000 Crowns in April 1540 for rebuilding a castle on the Isle of Bute, meaning Rothesay Castle, but this is not recorded in the royal accounts. After his execution in August 1540, Finnart left debts for the building work at Stirling Palace. The royal blacksmith, William Hill, was paid for the ironwork and yetts he had made in August 1541.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 471. As late as January 1542, Edward Lytall's wife was paid £487 for the ironwork and timber she had supplied.Accounts of the Lord Treasurer of Scotland. vol. 8, p. 55 A priest, sir James Nycholsoun, finished off the work at Stirling, which Finnart had begun in May 1538,Accounts of the Master of Works, vol. 1 (HMS0, 1957), pp. 227-228. spending £1459-15s-10d before Christmas 1540,Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 474. and a carpenter Robert Robertson was appointed master of work to complete the palace.
Fall In 1540 King James became convinced that Hamilton was plotting against him, although no evidence for this was presented. Arrested on charges of treason in late July, on 16 August Hamilton was tried, convicted and executed. Amongst the charges presented on 16 August, were these, which dated back 12 years, and suggest concerns about the security of the royal bedchamber;"Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, having been convicted of the treasonable shooting of guns and firing of missiles outside the palace of Linlithgow and from the bell-tower of the same, at the king and the people in his company, both at the time the king came to the palace and when he withdrew from the same, and especially at his lodging place in the same town, the king being personally present at the time of the firing of the said missiles. And for art and part in the treasonable imagination, planning, and consultation, vulgarly called devising, of assassinations, at the time it is said he was with Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie and James Douglas of Parkhead at the chapel of St Leonard near Edinburgh, after the forfeiture of Archibald Douglas, formerly Earl of Angus, George Douglas of Pittendreich his brother, and the said Archibald Douglas, his father, and also during the siege of Tantallon Castle in consultation with the said Douglases, how he would enter by the window near the upper part of the bed, 'the bedhead' (superiorem thori - literally above the pillows), in the King's palace near Holyrood Abbey, and how there he would commit the slaughter of the King. And for common treason and conspiracy against the King, his realm and lieges. Therefore it was given that this James forfeited his life, lands, rents and possessions to the king as his escheat, to remain with him in perpetuity."Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1814), p. 362 December 1540: translation adapted from Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 (RPS) St Andrews University ref: 1540/12/7
After Finnart was beheaded at Edinburgh, James V seized Craignethan Castle. He installed a garrison led by James and David Orrok.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 393. The silverwork from the chapel was taken to Edinburgh and engraved by John Mosman with the arms of the king's infant eldest son, James, Duke of Rothesay.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 397. James V redeemed two silver flagons from Mungo Tennant, a merchant who had lent Finnart money which he used to pay for hauling timber to the building work at Stirling Castle.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 393.
A chest with Finnart's papers was brought to Edinburgh, and many of these were destroyed by crown officers.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 397: HMC 9th Report: Dalyell of the Binns, part 2 (London, 1884), pp. 231, 234. Cardinal Beaton gave money to his widow, as she was his relative.Robert Kerr Hannay, Rentale Sancti Andree (SHS, 1913), pp. 108, 122.
After his death, Finnart is said to have appeared to James V in a dream, and declared that he "would shortly lose both arms, then his head." This prophecy came true, as the King lost both of his young sons in 1541, and died himself in 1542. The story was recorded by John Knox and George Buchanan.Fraser, Antonia (1970). Mary Queen of Scots (Panther), p. 29.
Evidence and theories on Finnart's execution