On August 22nd 1582 James VI was abducted and taken to the Castle of Ruthven by the Earls of Mar and Gowrie - the so-called “Ruthven Raid”.
If you read about James, it soon becomes clear that after years of manipulation by the men that controlled the kingdom through him (Regent Morton in particular), he desperately wanted friends he could trust. At the age of 13, when he formally started to reign in his own right, he met a cousin, Esme Stuart, who was French, handsome, worldly, debonair, gentile and charismatic - all the things that James was not!
James was said to be smitten and Esme Stuart immediately began to gather Royal rewards and preferements. He was created Earl of Lennox in 1580, and then Duke of Lennox in 1581. And of course he quickly earned the hatred of those he trampled over during his rise! By 1582, there was widespread opposition to the Royal favourites, Esme Stuart, and also the Earl of Arran. This was made worse by fears that the new Duke of Lennox was a secret Catholic and an agent of the Pope! Against this background, on 22 August 1582, in an event now known as “The Ruthven Raid”, the young king was seized while hunting near Atholl, by a group of Protestant lords led by William Ruthven, the newly created Earl of Gowrie, and brought here to Ruthven Castle. The following day, his abductors tendered a ‘supplication’ to James, to explain their actions, which included the following:
“We have suffered now about the space of two yeeres such false accusations, calumneis, oppressions and persecutions, by the moyen of the Duke of Lennox, and him who is called Erle of Arran, that the like of their insolenceis and enormeteis were never heretofore borne with in Scotland.” At one point during his captivity here in the castle, the young King is said to have burst into tears, to which the Earl of Gowrie responded “Tis better that bairns weep than bearded men!” The King was to remember this treatment and would take his revenge. James remained an unwilling guest of the Earl of Gowrie for some 10 months at Ruthven Castle, during which time he was forced to banish the Duke of Lennox back to France (where he died the following year). The King’s captivity came to an end in June 1583, when he escaped while on a visit to St Andrews. The Ruthven conspirators were in turn banished from the kingdom. The Earl of Gowrie was shortly afterwards pardoned and allowed to return, but after involving himself in further plotting, was executed in May 1584.
