- William Kirkcaldy of Grange
Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange (c.
1520 -August 3 ,1573 ), Scottishpolitician and general, was the eldest son of SirJames Kirkcaldy of Grange (d. 1556), a member of an oldFife family.Sir James was
lord high treasurer of Scotland from 1537 to 1543 and was a determined opponent of Cardinal Beaton, for whosemurder in 1546 he was partly responsible. William Kirkcaldy assisted to compass this murder, and when thecastle of St Andrew's surrendered to the French in July 1547 he was sent as aprison er toNormandy , whence he escaped in 1550.He was then employed in
France as asecret agent by the advisers of Edward VI, being known in thecypher s as Corax; and later he served in theFrench army , where he gained a lasting reputation for skill and bravery. The sentence passed on Kirkcaldy for his share in Beaton's murder was removed in 1556, and returning to Scotland in 1557 he came quickly to the front; as aProtestant he was one of the leaders of thelords of the congregation in their struggle with theregent ,Mary of Guise , and he assisted to harass the French troops inFife . He opposed Queen Mary's marriage with Darnley, being associated at this time with Moray, and was forced for a short time to seek refuge in England.Returning to Scotland, he was an accessory to the murder of Rizzio, but he had no share in that of Darnley, and he was one of the lords who banded themselves together to rescue Mary after her marriage with Bothwell. After the fight at
Carberry Hill the queen surrendered herself to Kirkcaldy, and hisgeneral ship was mainly responsible for her defeat at theBattle of Langside . He seems, however, to have believed that an arrangement with Mary was possible, and coming under the influence ofWilliam Maitland of Lethington , whom in September 1569 he released by a stratagem from his confinement inEdinburgh , he was soon vehemently suspected by his fellows.After the murder of Moray, Kirkcaldy ranged himself definitely among the friends of the imprisoned queen. About this time he forcibly released one of his supporters from imprisonment, a step which led to an altercation with his former friend
John Knox , who called him a murderer and throat-cutter. Defying the regent Lennox, Kirkcaldy began to strengthen the fortifications ofEdinburgh castle , of which he was governor, and which he held for Mary, and early in 1573 he refused to come to an agreement with theregent Morton because theterms of peace did not include a section of his friends.After this some English troops arrived to help the Scots, and in May 1573 the castle surrendered. Strenuous efforts were made to save Kirkcaldy from the vengeance of his foes, but they were unavailing; Knox had prophesied that he would be hanged, and he was hanged on the 3rd of August 1573. The town Kirkcaldy was named after Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange.
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