Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl

Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl, Strathearn and Caithness (died March 26, 1437) was a Scottish nobleman, executed for his role in the murder of James I of Scotland.

He was a son of Robert II of Scotland by his second wife Euphemia de Ross, daughter of Aodh, Earl of Ross. He was also a younger half-brother of Robert III of Scotland and an uncle of the above mentioned James I of Scotland.

His first wife was Margaret Barclay, by whom he had two sons:
* Alan Stewart, 4th Earl of Caithness (d. 1431)
* David Stewart, Master of Atholl (d. bef. 1437)

In 1390, his niece Euphemia resigned to him the Earldom of Caithness. In 1404, he was created Earl of Atholl.

He was energetic in retrieving his nephew James I from the Kingdom of England, which was accomplished in 1424, and participated in the trial of Murdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany. He was made Great Justiciar of Scotland and Earl of Strathearn in 1427. He resigned Caithness to his son Alan in 1428, but regained it on Alan's death without issue in 1431.

The depth of his loyalties to James is unclear. The chronicler Buchanan (1582) saw in his efforts to return James to Scotland and support him against Albany and his children a deep-laid plan for those two branches of the House of Stewart to destroy each other — and clear his own way to the throne, reviving the old charge of illegitimacy against his half-brother Robert II. Others aver that it was the imprisonment and subsequent death of his son David that turned him against the king. Whatever the cause, he joined with his grandson Robert Stewart, Master of Atholl and Sir Robert Graham in a conspiracy against James I, which assassinated the king on February 20, 1437.

However, Atholl found little popular support for his cause, and the conspirators were swiftly apprehended. They were attainted and put to death in Edinburgh by a series of tortures remarkable and hideous even for that era. Walter was tortured over a period of three days. On the first, he was put in a cart with a crane, hoisted up, dropped, and jerked violently to a stop to stretch his joints. He was then placed in a pillory and crowned with a red-hot iron crown bearing the inscription "King of all Traitors". On the second day, he was bound to a hurdle and dragged along the main street of Edinburgh. (Some claim he was also blinded and tortured with red-hot iron pincers on this day, but Buchanan speaks only of the hurdle.) On the third, he was disembowelled while alive, his entrails burnt before his face, and his heart was torn out and burnt. Finally, his corpse was beheaded and quartered, and the quarters displayed around the realm.

References

* [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/scothist/ Rerum Scoticarum Historia] , George Buchanan
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=kxFIAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22History+of+Scotland%22 History of Scotland] , George Buchanan