John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie facts for kids

John Ruthven, the 3rd Earl of Gowrie (born around 1577 – died August 5, 1600), was a Scottish nobleman. He died in a very puzzling event known as the "Gowrie Conspiracy." During this event, he and his brother, Alexander Ruthven, were involved in an attempt to harm or kidnap King James VI of Scotland. The reasons for this attempt are still unknown. The king's guards killed both brothers during the incident, and the king survived.

Early Life and Education

John Ruthven was the second son of William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, and his mother was Dorothea Stewart. His older brother, James, who was the 2nd Earl, passed away in 1586. Because of this, John became the Earl of Gowrie when he was still a child.

The Ruthven family had a history of being involved in plots against the king. Like his father and grandfather, John supported religious reformers. In 1592, he was chosen as the Provost (like a mayor) of Perth. This job was often held by members of the Ruthven family.

John went to school in Perth and then studied at the University of Edinburgh. This was around the time his mother and sister helped another nobleman, the Earl of Bothwell, force his way into the king's bedroom at Holyrood Palace.

A few months later, John Ruthven joined other powerful earls in offering their help to Queen Elizabeth I of England. At this time, Queen Elizabeth was not very friendly with the Scottish king. It's also likely that John had connections with the rebellious Earl of Bothwell.

In 1597, John traveled to Italy with his teacher, William Rhynd. They both enrolled at the University of Padua. On his way back home in 1599, he stayed for several months in Geneva with a famous religious reformer named Theodore Beza.

While in Paris, John met the English ambassador, Henry Neville. Neville told Robert Cecil, a key advisor to Queen Elizabeth, that John was very loyal to Elizabeth. This was in February 1599. Neville wrote that John wanted to meet Queen Elizabeth and was loyal to the Protestant religion and the English queen. He also thought John could give useful information about any possible changes in Scotland's politics. When John visited London, Queen Elizabeth and her advisors welcomed him warmly.

In February 1600, John had an encounter with William Stewart of Houston at Holyrood Palace. Stewart had arrested John's father many years earlier. John first tried to move out of Stewart's way, but then changed his mind after his servant told him not to. Stewart noticed this and complained to the king, saying it was an insult and that John was a threat. When John heard about this, he said, "Aquila non captat muscus," which means "the eagle does not catch flies." He meant that Stewart wasn't important enough for him to worry about.

The "Gowrie Conspiracy" happened just a few weeks after John returned to Scotland in May 1600. It led to the killing of John and his brother by King James's attendants at Gowrie House in Perth.

Gowrie House was located inside Perth's town wall, right next to the River Tay. Today, the Perth Sheriff Court stands on that same spot.

The Gowrie Conspiracy: A Mystery

The Gowrie Conspiracy, also called the Gowrie Plot, was a series of events that happened on August 5, 1600. It is still a big mystery today. We know what happened during the attack and how the Ruthven brothers died. However, the reasons behind these events are still unclear.

John Ruthven had reasons to be angry with King James VI. The king had ordered the death of John's father because of an event called the Raid of Ruthven. This raid was partly caused by the large amount of money the king owed the Ruthven family. Some people believed that getting rid of the family would also get rid of the debts, especially if the family was accused of "treason" and lost all their property. There were also rumors that Queen Anne of Denmark was involved in the Gowrie Conspiracy. Some said a letter from her to the Earl of Gowrie was found, asking him to visit the royal court and giving him a valuable bracelet.

What Happened on August 5, 1600

The Gowrie House in Perth around 1650

On August 5, 1600, King James VI of Scotland woke up early to go hunting near Falkland Palace, where he was staying. This was about 14 miles (22 km) from Perth. As he was leaving, with people like Ludovic Stewart (the Duke of Lennox) and John Erskine (the Earl of Mar), a twenty-year-old man named Alexander Ruthven approached him. Alexander was John Ruthven's younger brother.

Alexander told the king that he and his brother had found a foreigner with a lot of money at Gowrie House in Perth. He urged the king to come and question the man himself. The king wasn't sure at first, but he agreed to ride to Perth after his hunt. Alexander quickly sent a servant, Henderson, to tell his brother that the king would be arriving later. Alexander then told the king to hurry and to keep the matter a secret from his courtiers. He also asked the king to bring only a few people with him to Gowrie House.

King James arrived at Gowrie House around 1 PM with ten to fifteen of his men. Even though John Ruthven had been told the king was coming, he didn't seem ready. This made it look like he was surprised. After a small meal, which the king waited an hour for, King James told most of his men to stay behind. He went with Alexander up the main staircase. They passed through two rooms and two doors, which Alexander locked behind them. They entered a small turret-room at the corner of the house, which had windows looking out onto the courtyard and the street.

Here, King James expected to find the mysterious prisoner with the gold. Instead, he found an armed man, who was actually Gowrie's servant, Henderson. Alexander immediately put on his hat and pulled out Henderson's dagger. He threatened the king, saying he would kill him if he opened a window or called for help. Alexander mentioned that the king had ordered the death of his father, the 1st Earl of Gowrie. King James reminded Alexander that he had been kind to his family. Alexander then took off his hat, saying the king would be safe if he stayed quiet. He left the king with Henderson, locking the door behind him. Alexander said he was going to talk to his brother.

While Alexander was gone, the king questioned Henderson. Henderson said he didn't know anything about a plot or why he was in the room. At the king's request, Henderson opened one of the windows and was about to open the other when Alexander returned. It's not clear if Alexander actually went to see his brother. Meanwhile, John Ruthven had spread the word downstairs that the king had left and ridden away. The king's men were looking for their horses to follow him.

The chaos at Gowrie House, imagined by Dutch artist Jan Luyken

When Alexander came back into the turret room, he tried to tie the king's hands. A struggle began. Some of the king's men in the street below saw the king at the window. They also heard him shout "treason" and call for help to the Earl of Mar. John Ruthven pretended not to hear these cries, but kept asking what was wrong. Lennox, Mar, and most of the other lords and gentlemen ran up the main staircase to help the king. But they were stopped by the locked door, which they spent some time trying to break down.

John Ramsay (who later became the Earl of Holdernesse) noticed a small, dark stairway that led directly to the room next to the turret. He ran up it, and Henderson then unlocked the door. There, Ramsay found the king struggling with Alexander. Ramsay pulled out his dagger and wounded Alexander, who was then pushed down the stairway past the king. Thomas Erskine, called by Ramsay, now followed up the small stairs with Dr. Hugh Herries. These two men killed Alexander with their swords.

John Ruthven entered the courtyard with his servant Thomas Cranstoun. When he saw his brother's body, he rushed up the staircase after Erskine and Herries, followed by Cranstoun. In the fight, John Ruthven was also killed. There was some noise and confusion in the town, but it quickly calmed down. However, the king didn't feel safe returning to Falkland Palace for several hours.

Different Ideas About What Happened

Historians have suggested three main ideas to explain the events:

• Idea 1: John Ruthven and his brother planned to kill or, more likely, kidnap King James. They lured him to Gowrie House for this purpose.
• Idea 2: King James made a surprise visit to Gowrie House with the intention of killing the two Ruthven brothers.
• Idea 3: The tragedy was an accident. It happened during an unplanned fight after an argument between the King and one of the Ruthven brothers.
• Another Idea: Some have also suggested that Queen Anne of Denmark was involved in the plot.

To understand which idea is most likely, we need to think about Scotland in 1600.

• Plots to capture the king to force him to do certain things were common. Several had even succeeded, and the Ruthven family had been part of some of them.
• Relations between England and Scotland were very tense. The Earl of Gowrie was seen in London as a supporter of Queen Elizabeth.
• The Kirk (the Scottish church) was often in disagreement with King James. They saw Gowrie as a traditional supporter of their cause and had recently sent someone to Paris to ask him to return to Scotland as their leader.
• Many believed Gowrie was a rival to James for the English crown.
• The Ruthvens believed their father had been killed unfairly, and his widow had been insulted by the king's favorite minister.
• King James owed a large amount of money to the Earl of Gowrie's family. There were also rumors that one of the Ruthven brothers was romantically involved with the queen.

Historians have looked at all the evidence about the Gowrie Conspiracy, but it remains a mystery. The two most recent studies suggest the kidnapping theory. One study from 1957 by W. F. Arbuckle supports the idea of a kidnapping that went wrong. Another study by Maurice Lee suggests that James went to Gowrie House believing Ruthven would give him important political information from London. When James arrived with more men than expected, Alexander realized a kidnapping wouldn't work and tried to kill the king to get revenge for his father's death.

Most modern research, using information that wasn't available until the 20th century, suggests that John Ruthven and his brother did plan to kidnap the king. If this is true, then the idea that James went to Gowrie House to kill the Ruthvens is probably wrong. It would mean that the king's own story, despite some parts that seem unlikely, was mostly true.

What Happened After

The events at Gowrie House caused a lot of excitement and discussion across Scotland. People in England, especially Queen Elizabeth's ministers, also followed the investigation closely. The ministers of the Kirk, who had a lot of power in Scotland, were very difficult to convince, but they eventually accepted King James's version of what happened. He even allowed one of them to question him closely.

Many ministers and their supporters, perhaps because they didn't like King James politically, believed that the king had made up the story of a conspiracy by Gowrie. They thought he did this to hide his own plan to destroy the Ruthven family. King James made this belief seem more likely because he was very harsh with the two younger brothers of the earl, who were certainly innocent.

A clearer reason for the disagreement between the king and the Ruthvens was that the king owed the Earl of Gowrie's family a huge amount of money. This was about £80,000, which included money owed to John's father when he was treasurer, plus interest. John's father had taken on this debt to help the government pay its bills. It was probably because he couldn't pay these debts that the young earl had to stay abroad. When he returned, he asked the court to protect him from his creditors, saying he couldn't pay any more than he already had. He was granted protection from debt for a year on June 20, 1600.

The government tried hard to prove that other people were involved in the plot. A known plotter named Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig was found guilty after his death of knowing about the Gowrie Conspiracy. This was based on letters shown by a notary named George Sprot, who swore Logan had written them to Gowrie and others. These letters, which still exist, were actually faked by Sprot to look like Logan's handwriting. However, some research suggests that the most important letter might have been copied by Sprot from a real letter by Logan, or that it contained the main ideas of such a letter. If this is true, it seems that part of the plot was to take the king to Fast Castle, Logan's very strong fortress on the coast. This would add more proof that the Gowrie Conspiracy was real. Robert Logan died before May 1608. George Sprot was hanged in Edinburgh on August 12, 1608, for knowing about the conspiracy beforehand.

On August 7, 1600, King James's Privy Council of Scotland ordered that the bodies of Gowrie and his brother should not be buried until more decisions were made. They also ordered that no one with the name Ruthven should come within ten miles of the court. Orders were also sent to arrest the Earl's brothers, William and Patrick, but they escaped to England. The bodies of Gowrie and his brother Robert were preserved by a man named James Melville, who was paid by the Privy Council. On October 30, their bodies were sent to Edinburgh to be shown to Parliament. On November 15, Parliament declared that the Ruthven family's lands and titles were taken away, and their family name and honors were ended.

The bodies of the Earl and his brother were hanged and then cut into four pieces at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh on November 19, 1600.

Another law was passed that completely removed the name Ruthven. It ordered that the house where the tragedy happened should be torn down. It also said that the area known as the barony of Ruthven should now be called the barony of Huntingtower. In a letter from November 1600, Patrick Gray, 6th Lord Gray described what happened after the Gowrie Conspiracy. The Ruthven family was told to change their last name, and the House of Ruthven near Perth was renamed Huntingtower. Some people suspected Queen Anne of Denmark, and some of her staff were removed after her child (Prince Charles) was born. Even though she protested, her enemy, Sir Thomas Erskine, was made captain of the royal guard.

Family After the Conspiracy

John Ruthven's two younger brothers, William and Patrick, escaped to England. The brothers went to Berwick-upon-Tweed and hid for a month. Then, the town's marshal, Sir John Carey, helped them travel to Durham and Cambridge.

William Ruthven died in France before 1622.

After King James became King of England in 1603, it was reported that one of the brothers was caught at an inn near Ripon. A man named Francis Wandesford, who had seen him three years earlier, recognized him. Wandesford handed him over to Sir William Ingleby. It was thought that Patrick Ruthven was captured in London in June 1603, but the mayor Robert Lee found out it was a case of mistaken identity. Later, Patrick was truly captured and held in the Tower of London for nineteen years. Patrick Ruthven lived first in Cambridge and then in Somersetshire, receiving a small payment from the crown. He married Elizabeth Woodford, who was the widow of Lord Gerrard. They had two sons and a daughter named Mary. Mary worked for Queen Henrietta Maria and married the Dutch painter Anthony van Dyck, who painted several pictures of her. After Van Dyck's death, she married Sir Richard Pryse, 1st Baronet. Patrick died in poverty in a prison cell in 1652. He was buried as "Lord Ruthven." His son, also named Patrick, asked Oliver Cromwell for help in 1656. He mentioned that the Scottish parliament had given his father back the title of Baron Ruthven in 1641, and he asked for help with his "extreme poverty."

John Ruthven's sisters, Barbara and Beatrix, were helped by Queen Anne of Denmark. Barbara Ruthven went to London. Beatrix (who died in 1625) married John Home of Cowdenknowes. They were the grandparents of James Home, 3rd Earl of Home.