In November, 1585, another Raid of Stirling occurred. The exiled lords who had forsaken the castle in the previous year, collected their forces in the south of Scotland, where they were joined by a number of the Border lairds. Proclaiming that they sought to save the King and the country from the evil rule of James Stewart, Earl of Arran, they advanced northwards with some nine hundred men and camped at St. Ninians on November 1st. Next morning at daybreak they crept into the town, like Buccleuch and Fernihirst fourteen years before, while Arran and Montrose, who had kept watch on the walls, immediately took to flight, the former seeking safety beyond the Bridge of Forth, the latter finding refuge in the castle with the King. Having captured the town with comparative ease, the lords proceeded to invest the fortress which they knew to be ill prepared for a siege. After sending messengers to treat with the invaders, James agreed to surrender, for his attempt to escape by bribing William Maxwell of Newark, who had charge of one of the postern doors, was discovered by the besiegers. The nobles entered the castle on the 4th of November, assuring their sovereign that they had acted from motives of loyalty, while he replied that words were unnecessary, as their weapons had spoken quite loudly enough. Differences were settled for the time, and James professed to be pleased with the change; Arran was banished for ever from the Court, and to Mar, who had forfeited his hereditary privilege, the custody of Stirling Castle was restored.
Too often in Scottish history the conduct of the barons towards the sovereign was insolent and disloyal; but there were occasions in which their coercive action was fraught with good to the country. The nobles who captured James VI. at Ruthven Castle and who besieged him in his own stronghold of Stirling, were actuated to some extent by selfish motives, but at the same time they realised that their measures were such as would confer real benefit upon the land. Yet although the weakness of the King in placing his trust in unpopular favourites justified the daring steps taken by the nobles, it is not a matter for wonder that in his later life the shout of “Treason” escaped from James’s lips whenever an unexpected incident occurred.
James VI. married Anne, second daughter of Frederick II. of Denmark, in 1589, and Stirling Castle was chosen to be the birthplace of their eldest son, who was born in February, 1594. For the Prince’s baptism great preparations were made, including the hasty reconstruction of the Chapel, for James was always anxious to impress his visitors with the dignity of the Scottish Court. The foreign representatives arrived at Stirling before the end of August, and on the 30th of that month the christening service was held.[59] The Prince was carried to the Chapel by Elizabeth’s representative, the Earl of Sussex, who walked under a canopy supported by the Lairds of Cessford, Buccleuch, Dudhope and Traquair; and in the procession Lord Hume carried the ducal crown, Lord Seton bore the basin and Lord Livingstone the towel. The chief officiating clergyman was David Cunningham, Bishop of Aberdeen, who at the King’s command named the royal infant Frederick Henry, and thereafter addressed the congregation in Latin. At the conclusion of the service the company retired to the Prince’s chamber, where James created his child a knight and bestowed on him the usual titles belonging to the eldest son of the King. After a number of less important knights had been made, supper was served in the great hall of the castle, at which, for the entertainment of the guests, a decorated chariot and ship were drawn in, containing viands for the later courses of the banquet.[60] No ill-timed jest spoilt the pleasure of the party, as on the occasion of the festivities in celebration of James’s baptism; but this time, owing to the religious change in Scotland, no French representatives were present at Stirling.
A few months before he departed from Scotland to take possession of the English crown, James looked down from Stirling Castle upon a strange and striking spectacle. On December 21st, 1602, a band of riders, consisting mainly of women, was observed advancing from the west. It was seen that the principal members of the party were bearing bloodstained garments and were displaying them to view with the object of attracting attention. The procession wound its way up the castle hill, and at the King’s command was admitted within the gates. Alexander Colquhoun of Luss was the leader of the company, and from him the King learned that a party of Macgregors had raided the lands of Glenfinlas in the Lennox, had plundered the farms of the Colquhoun tenants, and had killed and wounded a number of men, and that these women bearing the bloody shirts were the relatives of the clansmen who had innocently suffered.
The sorrowing deputation and the accompanying tale of woe so greatly shocked King James that he granted a commission to Alexander Colquhoun, giving him licence to repress such crimes and to lay hold of any malefactors. The knowledge that their enemies possessed this commission so enraged the Macgregors that they rose in great force to oppose the Colquhouns, and inflicted upon them a heavy defeat at the memorable conflict of Glenfruin.[61] Their triumph, however, although sweet for the moment, brought long and bitter sorrow to the victors, as they came to be regarded as the most lawless of the Highland clans, and were pursued with fire and sword at the instance of the Government. To assist in crushing the indomitable race, the Earl of Mar, in 1611, sent two pieces of ordnance from Stirling Castle, to be used in the guerrilla warfare against the hunted Clan Gregor.[62]
James VI.’s son, Henry, was the last Prince of Scotland to be brought up in Stirling Castle. He spent nine years—exactly half of his life—in his royal birthplace on the rock. The King’s former companion, the Earl of Mar, was appointed guardian of the boy, and Annabella, the Countess-Dowager, was authorised to assist her son in his charge. James had perfect confidence in the friend of his youth, but the Queen, partly, perhaps, from political motives and partly from a natural desire to be with her child, endeavoured in 1595 to remove the Prince from the custody of Mar. This intrigue becoming known to the sovereign led to a quarrel between him and his Consort, the result being that the Earl received a written statement from the King granting him full charge of the boy until he should reach the age of eighteen years:—“1595, July 24. Stirling.—Milorde of Mar. Because in the suretie of my sonne consistis my suretie and that I have concreditid unto you the chairge of his keiping upon the trust I have of youre honestie, this present thairfore sall be ane warrande unto you not to delyver him out of youre handis except I commande you with my awin mouth, and being in sikke cumpanie as I my self sall best lyke of, otheruayes not to delyver him for any chairge or message that can cum from me. And in kayce God call me at any tyme that nather for Quene nor Estaitis pleasure ye delyver him quhill he be auchtein yeiris of age and that he commande you himself. At Stirling the xxiiij of Julie, 1595. James R.”[63]
The Queen succeeded in a later attempt to gain possession of her son. After James had set out for England to occupy Elizabeth’s throne, she made her way to Stirling in April, 1603, in order to seize the person of the Prince. The family of Mar, refusing to deliver their charge, even when a band of nobles appeared in support of the Queen, Anne, in her disappointment, fell dangerously ill, whereupon the King dispatched the Duke of Lennox with instructions to the Earl of Mar to deliver the Prince to the Duke.[64] In order to appease the Queen, Lennox and the Council handed the boy to his mother, who at once began her journey with her son, reaching Windsor at the end of June, after a progress of more than four weeks.
On his father’s accession to the English throne, the Prince of Scotland at once became Duke of Cornwall, and almost immediately after his arrival in England he was invested with the Order of the Garter. Not until 1610 was young Henry created Prince of Wales, a title which he was destined to enjoy for little more than two years. In October, 1612, he began to suffer from headaches and languor, but always making light of bodily ailments, he continued to lead an active life and to play his favourite games. Fever, however, most probably typhoid, compelled him to take to his bed. The best physicians were in attendance during his illness, but from the first there was little hope of recovery, and on the 6th of November he lost his speech and peacefully passed away.
So much beloved was the Prince by the people, and such a sensation did his early death create, that nearly all the eminent authors of the day, and many undistinguished mourners, wrote verses extolling his virtues and lamenting his demise. Donne, Heywood and Drummond of Hawthornden, were among the poets whose elegies were called forth by the national bereavement. Henry was a young man of great force of character, who held strong opinions on the topics of the day, and who did not fear to speak out his mind concerning some of his father’s actions. He was naturally of a religious disposition, being strict in his attendance at the services of the Church, and his own deliberations on the different forms of faith led him to become a stronger Protestant than James. Kind-heartedness was one of Henry’s characteristics. His pedagogue in the early Stirling days had been Adam Newton, a man whom the Prince always held in the highest esteem. Newton continued to discharge the duties of tutor after the Royal Family had migrated to England, but, like William Dunbar at the Court of James IV., he longed to be presented to an ecclesiastical benefice. In January, 1606, His Royal Highness sent a letter to the King, reminding him of his promise to give preferment to the tutor, and stating that for two years past Master Newton had been looking for the Deanery of Durham. James complied with his son’s request, and in September the faithful tutor was rewarded with the coveted position.[65]
Steadfast attachment to his early friends was a feature of Henry’s character. When an infant in Stirling Castle, he had been lovingly cared for by David Murray the attendant who slept in his chamber. The trusty Scot followed his young master to England and the friendship between them grew closer as the Prince advanced in years, till at last, when the fatal fever had rendered him almost speechless, he called out repeatedly for David. When Murray approached the bed the dying youth recognised his life-long companion, but sighed as he muttered again and again “I would say somewhat but I cannot utter it.”[66]