Murray, James Stuart, Earl of

Murray, James Stuart, Earl of a natural son of James V, king of Scotland, deserves our attention for the part he played in the disposition of Scottish ecclesiastical affairs. He was born in 1531, and educated in France with his sister Mary, but joined the Reformers soon after her marriage with the dauphin, and became almost immediately chief of the Protestant party in Scotland. His political history is connected with the fortunes of the queen, after whose imprisonment in Lochleven castle in 1567 he was proclaimed regent, and defeated her troops at the battle of Langside, March 13, 1568. His personal history, in so far as it affects the political, social, and religious history of Scotland during the eventful reign of queen Mary Stuart, has been noticed in our articles on KNOX SEE KNOX and MARY STUART SEE MARY STUART . SEE SCOTLAND. He was shot by James Hamilton, on the accusation that he had seduced (1570) his wife. But this accusation seems groundless; and there is every reason to believe that Hamilton acted as the executioner of a doom pronounced on him (Murray) by his enemies in secret conclave. Earl Murray was beloved by the people, and acknowledged by his contemporaries as a pious and lofty character who labored to promote the interests of the Church, and especially of Protestantism. The Romanists, of course, hated him, and he was slandered. See Butler, Ecclesiastes Hist. 2:550; Fisher, Hist. of the Reformation, pages 359, 367, 369,373,377, 380: Froude, Hist. of England, volumes 8, 9.