Crichton Castle (20)
Vaulted cellars under the 16th century extension.
The Hepburns
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, succeeded his father in 1556. He had an interesting life!!
In 1559 he visited Copenhagen and fell in love with a woman named Anna Tronds, a Norwegian noblewoman whose father, Kristoffer Trondson, was a Norwegian admiral. They are believed to have subsequently married. They then travelled to Flanders, where Bothwell ran out of money and asked Anna to sell all her possessions. She complied and subsequently visited her family in Denmark to ask for more money. His treatment of Anna was to play a part in his eventual downfall.
Back in Scotland, Bothwell sided with Mary of Guise (widow of King James V and mother of Mary Queen of Scots) during the Scottish Reformation. In October 1559, Bothwell and 24 followers took 6000 crowns of English money destined to be used against Mary of Guise, from the Laird of Ormiston, following an ambush near Haddington. The Protestant faction were not amused. The Earl of Arran and Master of Maxwell besieged and captured Crichton Castle, whereupon the castle was ransacked and Bothwell's legal charters and evidences taken away.
Bothwell met Queen Mary when he visited the French Court in the autumn of 1560, after leaving Anna Tronds in Flanders. Mary was then Queen of France and she and her husband, King Francis II, granted Bothwell 600 Crowns and the post and salary of a gentleman of the French King's Chamber. The following year Bothwell was back in Paris, to escort the widowed queen back to Scotland.
In a reversal of fortunes, Crichton Castle was the scene of wedding festivities in January 1562, when Bothwell's sister Jean married John Stewart, Prior of Coldingham and illegitimate son of King James V. John Stewart's half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, spent a few nights at the castle while attending this wedding. I'll come back to John Stewart and Jean Hepburn in a couple more photos.
Crichton Castle (20)
Vaulted cellars under the 16th century extension.
The Hepburns
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, succeeded his father in 1556. He had an interesting life!!
In 1559 he visited Copenhagen and fell in love with a woman named Anna Tronds, a Norwegian noblewoman whose father, Kristoffer Trondson, was a Norwegian admiral. They are believed to have subsequently married. They then travelled to Flanders, where Bothwell ran out of money and asked Anna to sell all her possessions. She complied and subsequently visited her family in Denmark to ask for more money. His treatment of Anna was to play a part in his eventual downfall.
Back in Scotland, Bothwell sided with Mary of Guise (widow of King James V and mother of Mary Queen of Scots) during the Scottish Reformation. In October 1559, Bothwell and 24 followers took 6000 crowns of English money destined to be used against Mary of Guise, from the Laird of Ormiston, following an ambush near Haddington. The Protestant faction were not amused. The Earl of Arran and Master of Maxwell besieged and captured Crichton Castle, whereupon the castle was ransacked and Bothwell's legal charters and evidences taken away.
Bothwell met Queen Mary when he visited the French Court in the autumn of 1560, after leaving Anna Tronds in Flanders. Mary was then Queen of France and she and her husband, King Francis II, granted Bothwell 600 Crowns and the post and salary of a gentleman of the French King's Chamber. The following year Bothwell was back in Paris, to escort the widowed queen back to Scotland.
In a reversal of fortunes, Crichton Castle was the scene of wedding festivities in January 1562, when Bothwell's sister Jean married John Stewart, Prior of Coldingham and illegitimate son of King James V. John Stewart's half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, spent a few nights at the castle while attending this wedding. I'll come back to John Stewart and Jean Hepburn in a couple more photos.