General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> Lord Crichton
Alias:<ALIA> Chancellor of /Scotland/
Three years later William was once againChancellor of Scotland. He was
sent to arrange the marriage of the king to Marie of Gueldres, and for
this service to the king he was raised to the peerage as Lord Crichton.
George became Earl of Caithness, and Admiral of Scotland. The political
jockeying continued around the king however, withal of the intricacies of
a game of chess. In 1453, William Lord Crichton dies, but not before
turning vast land oldings over to his wife. The king retaliates by
forcing George         Crichton to name him as heir to much of his lands.
In 1454, George dies, and his son James Crichton attacks castle Blackness
and holdsit successfully against the king. This attempt to regain lost
family      property fails however when James dies suddenly, also in
1454. This ends the "Reign" of the cousins Crichton and their 50-year
rise to power through two Stewart kings
Crichton Castle, Midlothian
James II was only 6 when he was crowned in 1437. Archibald, 5th Earl of
Douglas, head of the grand and powerful Black Douglases was appointed
Regent. When he died two years later, two men, Sir Alexander Livingstone
and Sir William Crichton fought to take the place ofthe Douglases. They
invited the new Earl of Douglas, then only 16 years old,to dine with his
brother and a friend at Edinburgh Castle. At the end of themeal the head
of a black bull was brought to the table, and at this sign allthree were
murdered.
This same William Crichton consolidated and extended the late 14th c.
tower into a Tower, Keep and Gatehouse: the blue and orange parts in the
plan. He also built the Collegiate Church about 500 yards East ofthe
castle, as a place where daily orisons could be sung for the welfare of
his soul.
Towards the end the century further additions were made; the area
coloured black in the plan.
William, the Third Laird of Crichton, having conspired against James III
in 1483, was besieged at Crichton Castle and forced to flee. King James
gave the castle and its lands to his favourite, Sir John Ramsey, who he
created Lord Bothwell. But he too became involved in treachery and so
Crichton was given to Patrick Hepburn, Lord Hailes who became Earl
Bothwell.
Later, on the 10th - 12th January 1562, Mary Queen of Scots was guest
here at the marriage of her half-brother, Lord James Stewart to Lady
Janet Hepburn. The celebretation had been arranged at Crichton by the
hot-headed James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell . . . and future wife of
Queen Mary.
On Queen Mary and Bothwell's downfall in 1567, James VI gave Crichton to
Francis, the child of James Stuart and Janet Hepburn, and in honour of
her family name conferred on him the title of Bothwell.
The new Earl of Bothwell, wildand dangerous, was described thus:
" . . .a terror to the most desperate duellists of Europe, and a subduer
of the proudest champions, both Turks and Christians . . . the gasconades
of France, the rhodomontades of Spain, the fanfaronades of Italy and
braggadocio brags of all other countries . . . "
His frequent travels abroad brought him into contact with the flourishing
of the European Renaissance, and in about 1585 he renovated Crichton in a
stylish andup-to-date manner. (coloured green in the plan)
New kitchens, living quarters, colonades, dining room and withdrawing
rooms were built, as well as a verymodern straight stairway with
landings. All these can be seen today at Crichton, and its flamboyant
decorative conceits make it one of the most interesting of Scottish
castles.