James Graham
James Graham - 5th Earl and 1st Marquis of Montrose - Loyal friend or turncoat?
James Graham (1612-50). Matriculating at St Andrews in 1627 - where a fellow-student ghosted his lecture notes to give Montrose time to attend the races at Cupar - Montrose travelled widely on the Continent. On his return in 1637 he became one of the noblemen who drew up Scotland 'National Covenant' of 1638 against royalist religious innovations in Scotland's Presbyterian Church. Montrose thus became a prominent leader amongst the Covenanters, as the supporters of the National Covenant were known, and was a commander for them in the first and second Bishops' Wars (1639-40).
After meeting Charles I, with other Covenanting leaders, at Berwick, Montrose became disaffected towards the Covenant and its constitutional ramifications. In particular he distrusted the motives of the prominent and influential Covenanting nobleman Archibald Campbell, 8th Earl and 1st Marquis of Argyll (1607-61), and actively came out against him. This caused Montrose to be arrested and imprisoned. In 1643 he was a strong opposer of the Solemn League and Covenant in which the Presbyterians were to throw in their lot with the English parliamentarians; so Montrose made open overtures to Charles I, who appointed him Lieutenant-General of royalist forces in Scotland. In a series of military successes Montrose wreaked havoc on the Covenanting nobles both in battle and on their own estates, including the routing of the infamous Argyll. Montrose's army, however, was itself routed by a government army under David Leslie (1601-82) at Philiphaugh, near Selkirk. In vain Montrose tried to rally support to fight on, but on 3 September 1646 he went into exile via Norway.
On hearing of the execution of Charles I by the parliamentarians in 1649, Montrose swore revenge and undertook an invasion of Scotland. Most of his army were lost by shipwreck as they negotiated the passage from Orkney to Caithness, but, forging ahead, Montrose's remnant forces were cut to pieces at Carbisdale on 27 April 1650. Fleeing from the field, Montrose was captured at the Hill of Wailing and within a month he was hanged in the High Street, Edinburgh, on 21 May. To the end, he protested that he was 'a true Covenanter, a Presbyterian and a loyal subject of the king'.
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