STEWART, John Lord Darnley

1531 - 1563  (~ 32 years)

• Name	STEWART, John Lord Darnley  [1, 2]
  Born	Apr 1531	Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Died	Dec 1563	Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland   [1]
  	Age: 32
  Person ID	I7018	My Genealogy
  Last Modified	16 Sep 2023

  
  

  Father	STEWART, James 5th King of Scotland,   b. 10 Apr 1512, Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgowshire, West Lothian, Scotland ,   d. 14 Dec 1542, Falkland Palace, Falkland, Fife, Scotland  (Age 30 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	CARMICHAEL, Elizabeth "Mistress",   b. 1515, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland ,   d. 5 May 1572, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland  (Age 57 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Family ID	F4468	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	HEPBURN, Lady Jean Jane,   b. 1534, Crichton Castle, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland ,   d. 27 Jul 1599  (Age 65 years)
  Married	4 Jan 1562	Crichton, Midlothian, Scotland
  Children	1. STEWART, Hercules,   b. 1562, Coldingham, Berwickshire, Scotland ,   d. 18 Feb 1594, Scotland  (Age 32 years)  [natural]   2. STEWART, Francis 1St Earl of Bothwell,   b. Dec 1562, Coldingham, Berwickshire, Scotland ,   d. 4 Nov 1612, Naples, Napoli, Campania, Italy  (Age ~ 49 years)  [natural]   3. STEWART, Margaret,   b. 1563, Coldingham, Berwickshire, Scotland ,   d. 14 Sep 1608, Will, Will, Illinois, USA  (Age 45 years)  [natural]   4. STEWART, Marjory,   b. 1568, Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland ,   d. 25 Nov 1607, Scotland  (Age 39 years)  [natural]
  Last Modified	16 Sep 2023
  Family ID	F1858	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		Dictionary of National Biography Volumes 120 22-1
  		John Stewart, 1st Lord Darnley
  		John Stewart Lord of Darnley

  
  

• Notes

  STEWART, Lord JOHN (1531–1563), prior of Coldingham, was a natural son of James V of Scotland by Elizabeth, daughter of John, lord Carmichael, and half-brother of Lord James Stewart [q. v.], ‘the regent Moray,’ and of Lord Robert Stewart, earl of Orkney [q. v.] In a dispensation of Clement VII to James V, dated in 1534, dispensing with ‘the defects of birth’ of the king's three natural sons, on the king's desire that they should ‘be enlisted in the spiritual army,’ John Stewart is stated to be in his third year (Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. p. 670). On 6 Dec. 1546 the queen regent bestowed on him and his convent the lands of Greigston (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1546–80, No. 41). He received letters of legitimation from Queen Mary at the same time as his brother, Lord James Stewart, 7 Feb. 1551–2 (ib. No. 565). In the answer of Maitland to the English privy council, 10 Dec. 1559, he is mentioned as one of the neutrals (Cal. State Papers, For. 1559–60, No. 392), but Knox includes him among those who before the meeting of parliament in August 1560 had renounced popery (Knox, Works, ii. 88). After the celebration of the queen's first mass in Scotland the priests were committed to the protection of Lord John Stewart and his brother, Lord Robert, who, Knox states, ‘were both protestants, and had communicated at the table of the Lord’ (Works, ii. 271). Shortly afterwards the stronghold of Dunbar was committed to his custody (Randolph to Throgmorton, 26 Aug. 1561; Cal. State Papers, For. 1561–2, No. 455). Writing to Cecil, 24 Aug. 1561, Randolph remarks that ‘Lord John of Coldingham hath not least favour’ at court ‘by his leaping and dancing,’ and that he was ‘like to marry the Earl of Bothwell's sister’ (Keith, History of Scotland, ii. 94; Cal. State Papers, For. 1561–2, p. 377). The marriage took place in the following January at Seton, ‘with good sport and many pastimes’ (Randolph to Cecil, 15 Jan. 1561–2, ib. No. 802). Indeed it is very evident that Lord John, though he had ‘communicated at the table of the Lord,’ was a protestant of a very different complexion from his brother, Lord James. Thus in December 1561 he, along with his brother-in-law Bothwell, headed an unseemly riot, which ‘highly commoved all godly hearts,’ when an attempt was made to get hold of one Alison Craik, who, it was supposed, was the mistress of the Earl of Arran (Knox, Works, ii. 315). On 30 Dec. 1562 Randolph also reports to Cecil that ‘this day’ the queen had gone ‘to Dunbar to be merry with the Lord John’ (Cal. State Papers, For. 1562, No. 1375). While holding justice courts in the north of Scotland, he died at Inverness, probably in December 1563. Throgmorton stated (letter to Cecil, 9 Dec. 1563, in Cal. State Papers, For. 1563, No. 1470) he was to have been made captain of a thousand Scots men of arms, which the cardinal of Guise was raising, had he not died. According to Knox it was affirmed that he ‘asked God mercy that he had so far borne with’ the queen ‘in her impiety, and maintained her in her wickedness against God and his servants.’ Knox further expressed the opinion that he had good cause to lament his wickedness, the more especially as he was reputed to have expressed the desirability of sticking Knox in his pulpit, rather than that he should trouble the queen as he was doing’ (Works, ii. 392). By his wife, Lady Jane Hepburn, daughter of Patrick, third earl of Bothwell, he had two sons: Francis Stewart Hepburn, fifth earl of Bothwell [q. v.]; and Hercules. [Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1546–80; Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep.; Knox's Works; Cal. State Papers, Foreign, reign of Elizabeth.] John, Lord Darnley, had one son, Francis Stewart (1562–1612), who succeeded him as prior of Coldingham and ultimately became the ‘madcap’ earl of Bothwell. [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

  
  

• Sources

  [S295] Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22, Ancestry.com, (Name: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2010;;). [S308] Ancestry Family Trees, (Name: Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.;;), Ancestry Family Tree.