George Gordon, 1st marquess and 6th earl of Huntly

George Gordon, 1st marquess and 6th earl of Huntly (born c. 1563—died June 13, 1636, Dundee, Scot.) was a Scottish Roman Catholic conspirator who provoked personal wars in 16th-century Scotland but was saved by his friendship with James VI (James I of England).

Son of the 5th earl (George Gordon), he was educated in France as a Roman Catholic. Although he signed the Presbyterian confession of faith in 1588, he was soon engaging in plots for the Spanish invasion of Scotland. Elizabeth I discovered this and sent on to James VI some of Huntly’s treasonable correspondence with the Spanish authorities, but James soon pardoned him. Huntly thereupon raised a rebellion in the north of Scotland, but was obliged to submit and, after a short imprisonment in Borthwick Castle, was again set at liberty.

Within three years he had received a royal commission to proceed against his hereditary enemy, the Earl of Moray. He set fire to Moray’s castle of Donibristle in Fife on Feb. 7, 1592, and Huntly himself is said to have taken part in stabbing the earl to death. This outrage, which originated the ballad “The Bonnie Earl of Moray,” brought down upon Huntly his enemies, who ravaged his lands. In December the “Spanish Blanks” (eight blank papers, two of which bore Huntly’s signature, which were taken from a man leaving for the Continent) led to another charge of treason against him. Despite the outcry of the ministers, James refused to take severe action against the powerful northern earls until, in the summer of 1594, Huntly joined the earls of Erroll and Bothwell in an open rebellion. Huntly and Erroll gained a victory in October over Argyll’s troops at Glenlivet, but Huntly’s castle of Strathbogie was blown up by James, and he left Scotland in March 1595.

He returned secretly, submitted to the kirk, and was restored to his estates. Huntly was created a marquess in April 1599, and soon after, with the Duke of Lennox, he was appointed lieutenant of the north. He was treated with great favour by the king and was reconciled with Moray and Argyll. Doubts, however, as to the genuineness of his abjuration continued from time to time to trouble the kirk. He was excommunicated in 1608 and warded in Stirling Castle until late in 1610, when he again signed the confession of faith. After the accession of Charles I in 1625 Huntly lost much of his influence at court. For another minor private war he was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle in 1635. He died declaring himself a Roman Catholic.