Reformation Tours: Assassination

Did you know the very first assassination of anyone by a firearm happened right here in Scotland?

On the 23rd January 1570 James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray and Regent of Scotland was shot and killed in Linlithgow.

James was the half brother of Mary Queen of Scots. He was a Protestant and had been a strong supporter of Scotland’s reformation. He led the forces that defeated Mary’s troops at the Battle of Langside in 1568, which forced Mary to flee to exile in England and imprisonment. He acted as Regent to Mary’s infant son James VI and was called the “Good Regent”

His assassin was James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, a supporter of Mary Queen of Scots who had fought for the queen against Moray at Langside and had been captured but released. He shot Moray from an upper window with a carbine before escaping out the rear of the building and onto a fast horse.

John Knox himself preached at Regent Moray’s funeral in St Giles in Edinburgh where he is buried. There is a large stained glass there showing the assassination on the top half and John Knox preaching at his funeral on the bottom half.