On this day in history, 14th April 1578, James Hepburn, 1st Duke of Orkney and 4th Earl of Bothwell, died aged 44 at Dragsholm Castle after being imprisoned and held in appalling conditions by Frederick, King of Denmark, It is said that the imprisonment caused Bothwell to go insane.
Here is a factfile on James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, and third husband to Mary Queen of Scots:-
Birth – c1534
Parents – Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell and Lord High Admiral, known as the “Fair Earl”, and his wife Agnes Sinclair, daughter of Henry Sinclair, 3rd Lord Sinclair.
Titles – In 1556, on his father’s death, James became 4th Earl of Bothwell and Lord High Admiral of Scotland.
Marriages – In 1559/1560 Bothwell visited Denmark on the way to France and met Anna Throndsen (Anne Thorssen). He is alleged to have seduced and even married Anne but deserted her. In 1566 he married Jean Gordon, second eldest daughter of George Gordon, Earl of Huntly, but the marriage was not a happy one as Jean accused Bothwell of adultery with her maid and seamstress, Bessie Crawford. The marriage was annulled in May 1567 on the grounds of consanguinity. Eight days after the divorce, Bothwell married Mary Queen of Scots.
Mary Queen of Scots – Bothwell was one of the men implicated in the murder of Mary Queen of Scots’s second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, who was murdered on the 10th February 1567. Bothwell was tried and acquitted. On the 24th April 1567, Mary was riding to Linlithgow Palace when she was intercepted by Bothwell, who warned her that it would be dangerous for her to carry on to Edinburgh. He offered to take her to safety to his castle at Dunbar and it was there that he took her prisoner and allegedly raped her. On the 12th May, Mary made Bothwell the Duke of Orkney and the couple were married at Holyrood on the 15th May 1567.
The Scottish Lords did not approve of the marriage and rose up against Mary and Bothwell. Mary was captured and imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, where she miscarried twins, fathered by Bothwell, in July 1567. On the 24th July 1567, Mary was forced to abdicate and her son, James, became James VI of Scotland, with James Stewart, Earl of Moray and Mary’s illegitimate half brother, acting as regent. Bothwell escaped capture but all of his titles and estates were forfeited by an act of Parliament.
The End – Bothwell fled to Scandinavia but it was there that his past caught up with him. He was captured off the coast of Norway, which at that time was a Danish territory, and taken to Bergen, the home of his former love, Anna Throndsen, who then sued him for abandonment. Bothwell was able to settle the case with Anna out of court, giving her one of his ships and promising her an annuity.
Although he managed at first to gain the Danish King’s goodwill, by offering to help him recapture the Orkneys and Shetland Isles, his luck ran out after the fall of Mary Queen of Scots and he was imprisoned in Dragsholm Castle, in Zealand. Solitary confinement there led to Bothwell going insane. He died on the 14th April 1578 and was buried at the church of Fårevejle (Faareveille).
Related posts:
The Murder of Lord Darnley
Mary Queen of Scots Marries Lord Darnley
James I
Mary, Queen of Scots – 8th December 1542
20 June 1567 – The Casket Letters Discovered
24 April 1558 – Mary Queen of Scots Marries the Dauphin
Reign – Early Years
Elizabeth I Timeline
Death of Sir Francis Walsingham – 6 April 1590
The Murder of David Rizzio – 9 March 1566
4 September 1588 – Death of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
4 September 1588 – The Death of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
I think if I’d been chained to a pillar for 10 years I’d go insane too. What a terrible way to go, so much time to realise the hopelessness of your situation.
Sad ending for a man who changed the course of history. When it came to his relationship with Mary of Scots, will we ever know for sure if it was it true love, ambition, dysfunction or a combination of all three?
Horrible ending for anyone …. Darnley’s death had to have been more merciful. Thank you, Claire, for the article, though.
I have never known how to take this man and his story. If he truly kidnapped the Queen and then forced himself on her, then he is reprehensible. If they were in love, which I suspect, then his actions become daring and romantic. But such a sad end for him. I can’t say I blame him too much for Darnley’s death–I’ve always felt Darnly deserved the end he got. Hate to be judgemental but stabbing a man to death in front of your prenant wife just isn’t good, anyway you cut it.
LOL, Anne! I agree with you about Bothwell and Darnley!
It gives me some insight into Mary if Darnley and Bothwell were the 2 husbands SHE chose. That’s some poor judgment on her part.
I have to agree with impish. Mary had very poor judgement when it came to men.
I won’t blame him for going mad in the end. Really a sad and horrible way to go. They even say he haunts the place.
By the way, you can visit Dragsholm Castle in Denmark and see his supposed sarcophagus. The church where it can be visited is not far away from Dragsholm as I recall.
Bothwell was one of the few Lords who remained loyal to the Stewart royal family, protective of the Regent Mary of Guise and later to Mary Queen of Scots. He appeared to be immune to the religious posturing many others used to disguise their own ambitions. Political loyalty was a rare commodity among the many Scottish lords who were repeatedly shifting sides. He consistently hazarded his own safety and his worldly goods to protect the Scottish royal family. He can be credited with some nobility for that. It was tantamount to what we recognize as patriotism today. Meanwhile the rogue Scottish lords were accepting money from the English court to destabilize their own, the Scottish court.
It is unclear if MQofS ride to Hermitage to visit Bothwell after his wounding in October 1566 was out of respect for his continued loyalty to the Stewart royal family against the English [and Scottish lords in league with the English], or if there was also a personal motive. It is not impossible that she found him attractive. Darnley had no doubt cured her interest in boy-men. MQofS also probably found that in this land of wild Scots, after Rizzio’s murder, he was the only person she felt she could still trust. She was constantly surrounded by wild Scots who either wanted to impregnate her and sire the next King or murder her, or both. Is not trust when you can find it among humans, a bridge to love?
However Bothwell was a rogue with his several wives and mistresses who were not indifferent to his romantic misadventures. What could be more alluring than a beautiful young Queen? Perhaps he did take MQofS by force — the first time.
Reading this reminds me of the old adage you learn something new every day. I did not know she was pregnant with children by Bothwell nor that she had miscarried as such with twins. I love the history I love from this site. It so Rocks.