Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll

Coordinates: 55°59′46.9″N 4°56′35.6″W / 55.996361°N 4.943222°W / 55.996361; -4.943222
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55°59′46.9″N 4°56′35.6″W / 55.996361°N 4.943222°W / 55.996361; -4.943222

Archibald Campbell
Earl of Argyll
TenureOctober 1529 – 1558
PredecessorColin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll
SuccessorArchibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll
Bornca. 1507
Argyll, Scotland.
Died1558
Dulnynn, Argyll, Scotland.
NationalityScottish
ResidenceCastle Campbell
Spouse(s)Lady Helen Hamilton
Lady Margaret Graham
Catherine Maclean
IssueArchibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll
Janet Campbell, Lady of Tyrconnell
Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll
Margaret Campbell
Jeanette Campbell, Lady of Duart
Agnes Campbell
ParentsColin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll
Lady Jean Gordon

Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll or Archibald "the Red" Campbell (c. 1507 – 1558), was a Scottish nobleman and politician.

Biography[edit]

Archibald Campbell was the eldest son of Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll (died 1529) and Lady Jean Gordon, daughter of Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly. Immediately after succeeding as Earl of Argyll and to the offices of his father, in October 1529, he was put in command of an expedition to quell an insurrection in the southern Scottish Isles. The voluntary submission of the main chiefs resulted; and Alexander MacDonald of Dunnyveg, a prime mover in the insurrection, was able to convince King James V of Scotland that he was personally well disposed to the government. More than that, MacDonald argued that the disturbances in the Isles were chiefly because the Earls of Argyll had made use of the office of lieutenant over the Isles, for their own personal aggrandizement. Archibald was therefore summoned before the King to give an account of the duties and rental of the Isles, received by him; and, as the result of the inquiry, he was committed for a time to prison. Shortly afterwards, he was liberated, but was deprived of his offices, and they were not restored to him until after the death of King James V.[1]

In a charter of 28 April 1542, Archibald Campbell was called "master of the king's wine cellar". Along with the Earl of Huntly and the Earl of Moray, he was named one of the Council of the Scottish Monarchy in the document which Cardinal Beaton produced as the will of King James V, and which also appointed Beaton governor of the Kingdom and guardian to the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, daughter and heir of King James. After the arrest of Beaton, on 20 January 1543, Archibald retired to his own lands to muster a force in order to maintain the struggle against James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, who had been chosen governor. Shortly afterwards, the Earls of Argyll, Huntly, Moray, and the Earl of Bothwell, supported by many of the barons and landed gentry, as well as by the bishops and abbots, assembled at Perth, vowing their determination to resist the measures of the governor. On being summoned by the governor to disperse, they did not resist; but when it became known that King Henry VIII of England had succeeded in arranging a treaty of marriage between the young queen Mary and his son, Prince Edward Tudor, the Earls of Argyll, Huntly, Bothwell, and Lennox marched from Stirling with a force of ten thousand men, and compelled the governor to surrender to their charge, the infant Queen, with whom they returned to Stirling.[1]

In the summer of 1544, Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, who had joined over to the party of King Henry VIII, plundered the Isle of Arran, and made himself master of the Isle of Bute and Rothesay Castle, with the support of eighteen ships and 800 men supplied by King Henry. As he sailed down the River Clyde, he was fired on by Archibald, who with four thousand men occupied Dunoon Castle. After a consultation with his English officers, Lennox attacked Dunoon Castle, as well as burning the nearby village and church. Sustaining great loss, Archibald was driven out of the castle. Lennox subsequently then laid waste a large part of Kintyre, but as he had not succeeded in regaining possession of his stronghold, Dumbarton Castle, Lennox retreated to his ships and sailed for England around 28 May 1544. Later, on the forfeiture of the estates of Lennox, Archibald was rewarded with the largest share. Although Lennox continued to arouse discontent in the Isles, the practical result of his actions only increased the power of the Earl of Argyll.[2]

At the Battle of Pinkie, on 10 September 1547, the Earl of Argyll, with four thousand west Highlanders, held command of the right wing of the Scottish army. In January 1548, he advanced to Dundee to capture Broughty Castle; but English negotiators deterred him, even if he denied the rumours that he favored England and had been bought off. At the siege of Haddington, he was made "Knight of the Cockle" by King Henry II of France, at the same time as the Earls of Angus and Huntly.[3]

Argyll wrote to Mary of Guise from Dunstaffnage Castle on 12 August 1554 after receiving her instructions to suppress rebellion in the Western Isles. He would proceed towards Mull and meet up with James McConnell and MacLaine, and Salabous, the Captain of Dunbar, had brought his soldiers.[4]

Archibald Campbell had come under the influence of John Knox and the Scottish Reformation. On his way to Geneva in 1556, Knox stayed with him at Castle Campbell. After the agreement of the barons, in December 1557, that the reformed preachers should teach in private houses till the government should allow them to preach in public, Archibald took on the protection of John Douglas, a Carmelite friar. To induce Archibald to renounce the reformed faith, John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, sent him a long letter, to which he wrote a detailed answer.[3]

Archibald Campbell died between 21 August 1558[3] and 2 December 1558 in Dulnynn, Scotland. He was buried at Kilmun Parish Church in Cowal, Scotland.[5] Upon his death, he was succeeded by his son, also named Archibald Campbell.

Family[edit]

Archibald Campbell was married three times. He was married firstly to Lady Helen Hamilton (died in or before 1541), daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran[3] and Janet Bethune.[6] They had a son:

Archibald was married secondly to Lady Margaret Graham, daughter of William Graham, 3rd Earl of Menteith[3] and Margaret Moubray, on 21 April 1541 at the Priory of Inchmahome.[8] They had three children:

Archibald was married thirdly to Catherine Maclean, daughter of Hector Mor Maclean, 8th of Duart and Mary MacDonald, on 12 March 1546.[6]

He had two other children who were illegitimate:

  • Mary Campbell, who married Sir James Stewart of Ardmaleish, son of Ninian Stewart of Ardmaleish and Elizabeth Blair.[8]
  • Agnes Campbell (born illegitimately to Janet Gordon, daughter of Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly).[11]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Henderson 1886, p. 313.
  2. ^ Henderson 1886, pp. 313, 314.
  3. ^ a b c d e Henderson 1886, p. 314.
  4. ^ Annie I. Cameron, Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine (Edinburgh, 1927), pp. 388-9.
  5. ^ Dawson 2004.
  6. ^ a b Lundy 2011 cites Cokayne 2000, p. 201 and Mosley 2003, p. 607
  7. ^ Many popular accounts of the family of Calvagh O'Donnell (c. 1515-1566) confuse the identities of his wives and their relationships to the Earls of Argyll. Calvagh's first known wife, however, was definitely a sister of the 5th Earl, and therefore a daughter of the 4th Earl. "Calendar of the State Papers Relating to Ireland of the Reign(s) of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth", originally published in 1860, Vol. 1, page 159. Accessed 17 Dec. 2017 here through Google Books. This relationship is referenced in correspondence of the English government in 1555 and 1560, although the marriage could have occurred as early as the 1540s, when Manus O'Donnell, Calvagh's father, entered into an alliance with the 4th Earl. "The Dictionary of National Biography", ed. by Leslie Stephen & Sir Sidney Lee, published 1895, page 441. Accessed 14 Dec. 2017 here through Google Books. The only known source for her given name occurs centuries later in the O'Donnell family archives. "Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage", published 1885, Vol. 47, page 1012. Accessed here through Google Books 14 Dec. 2017. By 30 May 1561, Calvagh had remarried to Catherine Maclean, widow of the 4th Earl, who is frequently referred to as the Countess or former Countess of Argyll in English government correspondence. "Calendar of the State Papers Relating to Ireland of the Reign(s) of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth", originally published 1860, Vol. 1, page 591. Accessed here through Google Books 17 Dec. 2107.
  8. ^ a b Lundy 2011 cites Mosley 2003, p. 607
  9. ^ a b Lundy 2011 cites Mosley 1999, p. 104
  10. ^ Michael Pearce, 'Maskerye Claythis for James VI and Anna of Denmark', Medieval English Theatre 43 (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2022), pp. 110-111.
  11. ^ Lundy 2011 cites Cokayne 2000a, p. 222

References[edit]

  • Dawson, Jane E. A. (2004). "Campbell, Archibald, fourth earl of Argyll (1498–1558)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4469. (subscription required)
  • Dawson, Jane E. A. (2004a). "Campbell, Archibald, fifth earl of Argyll (1538–1573)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4470. (subscription required)
  • Lundy, Darryl (26 January 2011). "Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll". The Peerage. Retrieved 14 April 2009. Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll was the son of Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll and Jean Gordon. ... cites:
    • Cokayne, G.E., ed. (2000) [1910-1959]. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant new ed., 13 volumes in 14. Vol. 1 (reprint in 6 volumes ed.). Gloucester, U.K: Alan Sutton Publishing. p. 201.
    • Cokayne, G.E., ed. (2000a) [1910-1959]. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant new ed., 13 volumes in 14. Vol. 3 (reprint in 6 volumes ed.). Gloucester, U.K: Alan Sutton Publishing. p. 222.
    • Mosley, Charles, ed. (1999). Burke's Peerage and Baronetage. Vol. 1 (106th (2 volumes) ed.). Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage. p. 104.
    • Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage (3 volumes). Vol. 1 (107th ed.). Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage. p. 607.
Attribution

External links[edit]

Legal offices
Preceded by Lord Justice General
1529–1558
Succeeded by
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Earl of Argyll
1529–1558
Succeeded by