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Marquess John Hamilton[1, 2]

Male 1540 - 1604  (64 years)    Has more than 100 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name John Hamilton 
    Prefix Marquess 
    Birth 1540 
    Gender Male 
    Death 6 Apr 1604 
    Siblings 8 Siblings 
    Person ID I80871  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 19 Dec 2007 

    Father Earl James Hamilton,   b. Abt 1505   d. 22 Jan 1574-1575, Hamilton, Clydesdale, Lanarkshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 70 years) 
    Mother Margaret Douglas,   b. Abt 1512   d. Aft 24 May 1579 (Age 67 years) 
    Marriage Bef 23 Sep 1532 
    Family ID F15600  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Margaret Lyon   d. Dec 1625 
    Marriage Bef 10 Feb 1577-1578 
    Children 
    +1. Earl James Hamilton,   b. Abt 1589   d. 1625 (Age 36 years)
    +2. John Hamilton,   b. Letrick Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 1638
    Family ID F39765  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 19 Dec 2007 

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  • Notes 
    • 1st Marquess of Hamilton
      third son
      Commendator of Arbroath, created Marquess of Hamilton 17 Apr 1599, ancestor of the Dukes of Hamilton
      Administered the Estate of his brother James

      Was given the abbey of Arbroath in 1551. In politics he was largely under the influence of his energetic and unscrupulous younger brother Claud.
      The brothers were the real heads of the house of Hamilton, their elder brother being insane. At first hostile to Mary, they later became her devoted partisans. Their uncle, John Hamilton, archbishop of St. Andrews, natural son of the 1st earl of Arran, was restored to his consistorial jurisdiction by Mary in 1566, and in May of the next year he divorced Bothwell from his wife.
      Lord Claud met Mary on her escape from Lochleven and escorted her to Hamilton palace. John appears to have been in France in 1568 when the battle of Langslide was fought, and it was Claud who commanded Mary's vanguard in the battle. With others of the queen's party they were forfeited by the parliament and sought their revenge On the regent Murray. Although the Hamiltons disavowed all connexion with Murray's murderer, James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, he had been provided with horse and weapons by the abbot of Arbroath, and it was at Hamilton that he sought refuge after the deed. Archbishop Hamilton was hanged at Stirling in 1571 for alleged complicity in the murder of Darnley, and is said to have admitted that he was a party to the murder of Murray. At the pacification of Perth in 1573 the Hamiltons abandoned Mary's cause, and a reconciliation with the Douglases was sealed by Lord John's marriage with Margaret, daughter of the 7th Lord Glamis, a. cousin of the regent Morton. Sir William Douglas of Lochleven, however, persistently sought his life in revenge for the murder of Murray until, on his refusal to keep the peace, he was imprisoned. On the uncertain evidence extracted from the assassin by torture, the Hamiltons had been credited with a share in the murder of the regent Lennox in 1571. In 1579 proceedings against them for these two crimes were resumed, and when they escaped to England their lands and titles were seized by, their political enemies, James Stuart becoming earl of Arran. John Hamilton presently dissociated himself from the policy of his brother Claud, who continued to plot for Spanish intervention on behalf of Mary; and Catholic plotters are even said to have suggested his murder to procure the succession of his brother. Hamilton had at one time been credited with the hope of marrying Mary; his desires now centred on the peaceful enjoyment of his estates. With other Scottish exiles he crossed the border in 1585 and marched on Stilling; he was admitted on the 4th of November and formally reconciled with James VI., with whom he was thenceforward on the friendliest terms. Claud returned to Scotland in 1586, and the abbey of Paisley was erected into a temporal barony in his favour in 1587. Much of his later years was spent in strict retirement, his son being authorized to act for him in 1598. John was created marquess of Hamilton and Lord Evan in 1599.

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