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| He succeeded his grandfather on 17 March 1537-38, when still in his minority, as he was born in 1525. The non-entry, ward, and relief casualties exigible from his estates were granted by King James V, on 1 April 1538, to Sir John Campbell of Calder. The Earl took an active part in affairs, even before his majority, and threw his influence on the side of the Catholic party after the King's death. This was owing to his relationship to the Earl of Huntly, and the two Earls both signed, on 24 July 1543, what was known as the Cardinal's Band, an obligation to support Beaton in his policy. The young Earl, though still a minor, sat in the Parliament at Edinburgh in December 1543. On 4 May 1546 he was served heir to his father, and as the earldom had been in the hands of the Crown since Earl Adam's death, the nonentry duty amounted to the large sum of £5333, 6s. 8d. Scots, the yearly rental being stated as £666, 13s. 4d., or 1000 merks Scots. In the following year he describes himself as Lieutenant north of Spey, an authority probably delegated to him by Huntly. That year also he was at the battle of Pinkie, and escaped from the rout, though Huntly was taken prisoner. In 1548 he and his brother-in-law Robert Stewart, Bishop of Caithness, entered into an agreement by which the Earl agreed to protect the Bishop and his chapter, and to defend them and their interests in every way, in return for £100 Scots yearly. Later, he was induced by the Bishop to enter into amicable relations with his neighbours, the Earl of Caithness and Donald Mackay of Farr. He had a tack from the Crown of the earldom of Moray, and about the same time he was received as tenant of the earldom of Ross, a fact which Sir Robert misdates and misrepresents.14 |
| When the Queen-Dowager left Scotland for France in August 1550, the Earl of Sutherland went in her train, and it is said received the order of St. Michael from the French King. He had returned and was in Scotland in 1553. In 1554 a series of incidents occurred which Sir Robert Gordon misdates. It is to the year 1555 he erroneously refers the Earl's acquisition of the care of the earldom of Ross, and attributes to this the opposition of the Mackays ending in the siege of Borve Castle and the capture of Mackay. But the tenancy of the earldom of Ross was granted in 1548 or 1549, and the hostility of the Mackays is said to have been manifested while the Earl was absent from Scotland. In 1554, however, matters grew to a head, and the Queen- Dowager was appealed to. A letter from the Earl himself lielps to fix the order of events, which hitherto have been known only in a confused way. On 26 July 1554, he writes to the Queen-Dowager from Dunrobin, a simple story, to the effect that he had been 'wonderus seik', which led Mackay [lye du Mackay] to send a hundred men with his cousin John [Mor] Mackay, to do the Earl a mischief, who came to 'ane sanctuarie or gyrtht' called Navidale, and took away certain women and goods. The Earl's men followed up the marauders, and set upon them on 'this last St. James evin [24 July], ane wonderus evill day of weitt, and has slane and drownit mony of thaim and brocht agane the women and gudis.' He purposes to hold Mackay 'walkand', till the coming of the ship with munition. This shows that he expected aid, and in the following month Sir Hew Kennedy of Girvanmains sailed from Leith under a Commission of Justiciary, and between that and 4 October 1554, Borve was taken. On 14 October, Kennedy wrote to the Queen-Dowager that he was to meet Mackay on the 18, and hoped to win him to submit to her. Mackay did submit on 11 November, sailed with Kennedy on the 16, and was sent to Dumbarton on 16 December 1554, where he remained a considerable time. Sir Robert Gordon inverts the order of these events and places them in the years 1555 and 1556, being probably misled by the appointment of the Earl as Crown bailie of the lands of Parr on 22 October 1555.15 |
| The Earl also received a large accession of territory from the Church. In 1553 his brother-in-law, the Bishop of Caithness, appointed him bailie of the diocese, and in 1557 many Church lands were conveyed to him in return for feuduties. The Earl also attended Parliament and took part in the affairs of the time, but a wound received in a skirmish with some French mercenaries laid him aside for a time. He seems to have adhered to the Catholic party in the crisis of the Reformation, and he favoured the Earl of Huntly, who was then in opposition to Queen Mary. The battle of Corrichie, fought on 28 October 1562, brought about the death of Huntly, and it was found that Sutherland was in correspondence with him. He was accused of treason, and in June 1563 was condemned and forfeited by the Parliament. He went abroad and remained in Flanders for a time, but in 1565 was recalled to Scotland. On his way homeward, however, his vessel vsras taken, and he himself brought prisoner to Berwick. Queen Mary was very desirous of his release, but Queen Elizabeth refused to set him free until she was induced by the Earl of Moray to do so. He was rehabilitated in his estates and dignities by a letter under the Great Seal on 12 December 1565, and returned to Scotland on 7 March 1565-66, two days before the murder of Rizzio. On 25 March 1566 the Earl received from Henry and Mary a new charter of his lands, the whole being erected into a free earldom to be called the earldom of Sutherland, and he was infeft in May following. He was present at the Parliament of 19 April 1567, which finally rescinded his forfeiture, and he was one of those nobles who on that day or the next signed the bond which bound the signatories to promote the marriage of Bothwell with the Queen. He was also one of the few nobles who attended the marriage ceremony in Holyrood 'auld chappell' on 15 May 1567. This was probably his last public act, as he proceeded north, and died on 23 June 1567 at Dunrobin, the victim of poison, administered to him and his Countess in food or drink while staying at Helmsdale, by the wife of his uncle Gilbert Gordon of Garty, Isabel Sinclair, who hoped to secure the earldom to her own son, who, however, was one of those poisoned. The Earl and his Countess were taken to Dunrobin, where they died.16 |
| certainly | The information is supported by primary sources. |
| probably | The information is supported by secondary sources which is most likely based on primary sources. |
| possibly | It is unclear if the secondary source cited is based on primary sources, or the information is an assumption well supported by other evidence. |
| likely | The information is only found in secondary sources with questioned quality, or there is a reason to suspect the information is wrong. Or the information is a likely assumption based on other evidence. |
| apparently | The information is doubtful and poorly documented, but still most likely correct. |
| perhaps | The information might be correct or it might be wrong. It is not supported by any trustworthy sources. It might me an assumption. |
| disproved | The information is proven to be wrong. |