James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne
Encyclopedia
James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne (c. 1620 - Feb. 1649) was the second son of George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly
, a Scottish
royalist commander in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
.
controlled the central government. Although there is little direct evidence for Aboyne's personal religious views, he was clearly opposed to extreme Protestantism, and he played a significant role in recruiting Catholics for the royalist cause.
He was educated at King's College, Aberdeen
, and earned youthful military experience in France, where his father commanded of the Garde Écossaise
. Unusually for a younger son, James Gordon also inherited a peerage, becoming 2nd Viscount Aboyne
in 1636.
to deal with the Gordons.
Viscount Aboyne was just nineteen, but he seems to have been regarded throughout the campaign as the effective leader of the anti-Covenanter forces, even before his father and elder brother surrendered. Later, he continued the war in spite of a lack of effective support from King Charles's royal government.
The teenage general suffered two reverses in June 1639 at Megray Hill
and Brig o' Dee
, attributed to unsteady infantry and dissent between his officers, but his losses were light, and his cavalry performed credibly, remaining in the field until they learned that the king had made peace with the Covenanters.
In this short campaign, the Gordon cavalry anticipated the tactics of the English Civil War: they often moved as a mounted column without infantry support, and they usually charged with the sword, discovering how ineffective a pistol caracole
could be at Megray. Unusually, it seems that Aboyne's elite troop of one hundred "gentleman volunteer cuirassiers" were clad in full armour, in contrast to the buff coats and breastplate now favored by most cavalry regiments. This was still sought-after equipment, as it gave protection against bullet and sword-thrusts, and in the English Civil War it was worn by generals' bodyguards and the famous London lobsters
.
broke out, setting King Charles against his Parliament.
Aboyne now worked hard to arrange a military alliance with Clan Donald
and the Irish Confederates
, and came to be associated politically with the Scottish earls of Nithsdale, Crawford and Airlie - all open or suspected Catholics. Not unreasonably, their enemies saw this as a war plan to restore the old religion.
But Aboyne also found common cause with his former opponent Montrose, a loyal royalist as well as a committed Presbyterian; both of them believed the Scottish Covenanters were now likely to enter the war on Parliament's side.
Aboyne spent 1644 with royalist forces around Carlisle, while his brothers raised the faimily's forces in the north. The next spring, he returned to Scotland, fighting in Montrose's victories at Auldearn
, Alford
, and at Kilsyth
; in each battle, he led a flanking charge on the left wing that broke the Covenanters' right. After Alford, there is some evidence that he was promoted in the peerage, under the title of Earl of Aboyne
.
Yet while the army was victorious on the field, Aboyne's personal position was increasingly difficult. His father, the Marquess of Huntly, believed the family's troops should be used to eliminate the Covenanters in the north - in contrast with Montrose, who intended to march south into England. At the same time, the relationship between Montrose and Aboyne was becoming strained, not least when the Earl of Crawford
was appointed to command the army's cavalry, an awkward role when Aboyne commanded the only large mounted force.
In September 1645, Aboyne and the Gordon cavalry withdrew to the north, shortly before the Battle of Philiphaugh
. With hindsight, Aboyne's action is sometimes said to have cost the royalists the battle and the war.
In reality, the war was far from over at Philiphaugh. Montrose moved north, and in spite of Huntly's increasingly pathological inability to cooperate with him, the royalist armies proved largely successful in the field. Aboyne, caught between his father and his general, busied himself raising troops in the central Highlands.
The cause was undermined not by the Scottish war, but by the weakening position of the king in England. At the end of April 1646, King Charles decided that the best course was joining the Covenanters, and ordered his Scottish troops to lay down their arms.
Aboyne escaped, but he had only a few troops left. Excluded from the general pardons issued to Scots royalists, he is said to have fled to France and died in exile in Paris
around February 1649 - of a fever according to some, while others say he died of grief at the news of King Charles's beheading.
Viscount Aboyne had never married, and his title thus became extinct, although the title of Earl of Aboyne
was later revived for his younger brother
. Since his elder brother's death at Alford, he had also been heir to the Marquessate (with the courtesy title Earl of Enzie, although this was rarely used); these dignities now passed to his younger brother, Lord Lewis Gordon
.
George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly
George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly , styled Earl of Enzie from 1599 to 1636, eldest son of George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly by Lady Henrietta Stewart, daughter of Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, was brought up in England as a Protestant, and later created Viscount Aboyne by Charles I.On...
, a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
royalist commander in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1639 and 1651 after these three countries had come under the "Personal Rule" of the same monarch...
.
Early life
Aboyne was a member of the powerful Gordon family, who were notable for their Roman Catholic sympathies in a kingdom where supporters of the Protestant ReformationProtestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
controlled the central government. Although there is little direct evidence for Aboyne's personal religious views, he was clearly opposed to extreme Protestantism, and he played a significant role in recruiting Catholics for the royalist cause.
He was educated at King's College, Aberdeen
King's College, Aberdeen
King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...
, and earned youthful military experience in France, where his father commanded of the Garde Écossaise
Garde Écossaise
The Garde Écossaise was an elite Scottish military unit founded in 1418 by the Valois Charles VII of France, to be personal bodyguards to the French monarchy. They were assimilated into the Maison du Roi and later formed the first Company of the Garde du Corps du Roi...
. Unusually for a younger son, James Gordon also inherited a peerage, becoming 2nd Viscount Aboyne
Viscount Aboyne
Viscount Aboyne was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created on 20 April 1632 for George Gordon, Earl of Enzie, eldest son of George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, with remainder that the title should pass to his second son the Hon. James Gordon on his death or on the death of his...
in 1636.
The Bishops' Wars
In 1639, the First Bishops' War broke out, in which the Protestant faction known as the Covenanters attempted to seize control of church and state. The Covenanter army dispatched the dashing young James Graham, Earl of MontroseJames Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman and soldier, who initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed...
to deal with the Gordons.
Viscount Aboyne was just nineteen, but he seems to have been regarded throughout the campaign as the effective leader of the anti-Covenanter forces, even before his father and elder brother surrendered. Later, he continued the war in spite of a lack of effective support from King Charles's royal government.
The teenage general suffered two reverses in June 1639 at Megray Hill
Megray Hill
Megray Hill is a low lying coastal mountainous landform in Aberdeenshire, Scotland within the Mounth Range of the Grampian Mountains. The peak elevation of this mountain is 120 metres above mean sea level. This hill has been posited as a likely location for the noted Battle of Mons Graupius...
and Brig o' Dee
Bridge of Dee
The Bridge of Dee or Brig o' Dee is a road bridge over the River Dee in Aberdeen, Scotland. The term is also used for the surrounding area of the city. Dating from 1527, the bridge crosses at what was once the City of Aberdeen's southern boundary...
, attributed to unsteady infantry and dissent between his officers, but his losses were light, and his cavalry performed credibly, remaining in the field until they learned that the king had made peace with the Covenanters.
In this short campaign, the Gordon cavalry anticipated the tactics of the English Civil War: they often moved as a mounted column without infantry support, and they usually charged with the sword, discovering how ineffective a pistol caracole
Caracole
The caracole or caracol is a turning manoeuvre on horseback in dressage and, previously, in military tactics.- Dressage caracole :...
could be at Megray. Unusually, it seems that Aboyne's elite troop of one hundred "gentleman volunteer cuirassiers" were clad in full armour, in contrast to the buff coats and breastplate now favored by most cavalry regiments. This was still sought-after equipment, as it gave protection against bullet and sword-thrusts, and in the English Civil War it was worn by generals' bodyguards and the famous London lobsters
London lobsters
The London lobsters, Haselrig's Lobsters or just "Lobsters" were the name given to the cavalry unit of Sir Arthur Haselrig, a Parliamentarian who fought in the English Civil War.-Background:...
.
Scottish Civil War
For the next few years, a tenuous peace held in Scotland. Viscount Aboyne seems to have kept a low profile, living partially in England, but in 1642, the First English Civil WarFirst English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
broke out, setting King Charles against his Parliament.
Aboyne now worked hard to arrange a military alliance with Clan Donald
Clan Donald
Clan Donald is one of the largest Scottish clans. There are numerous branches to the clan. Several of these have chiefs recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms; these are: Clan Macdonald of Sleat, Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, and Clan...
and the Irish Confederates
Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...
, and came to be associated politically with the Scottish earls of Nithsdale, Crawford and Airlie - all open or suspected Catholics. Not unreasonably, their enemies saw this as a war plan to restore the old religion.
But Aboyne also found common cause with his former opponent Montrose, a loyal royalist as well as a committed Presbyterian; both of them believed the Scottish Covenanters were now likely to enter the war on Parliament's side.
Aboyne spent 1644 with royalist forces around Carlisle, while his brothers raised the faimily's forces in the north. The next spring, he returned to Scotland, fighting in Montrose's victories at Auldearn
Battle of Auldearn
The Battle of Auldearn was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It took place on 9 May 1645, in and around the village of Auldearn in Nairn. It resulted in a victory for the royalists led by the Earl of Montrose and Alasdair MacColla over a Covenanter army under the command of Sir John...
, Alford
Battle of Alford
The Battle of Alford was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which took place near the village of Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on 2 July 1645....
, and at Kilsyth
Battle of Kilsyth
The Battle of Kilsyth was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms which took place on 15 August 1645 at Kilsyth. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the battle was another victory for Royalist forces over the Covenanters, and marked the end of William Baillie's pursuit of the...
; in each battle, he led a flanking charge on the left wing that broke the Covenanters' right. After Alford, there is some evidence that he was promoted in the peerage, under the title of Earl of Aboyne
Earl of Aboyne
Earl of Aboyne is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, borne in the Gordon family ....
.
Yet while the army was victorious on the field, Aboyne's personal position was increasingly difficult. His father, the Marquess of Huntly, believed the family's troops should be used to eliminate the Covenanters in the north - in contrast with Montrose, who intended to march south into England. At the same time, the relationship between Montrose and Aboyne was becoming strained, not least when the Earl of Crawford
Ludovic Lindsay, 16th Earl of Crawford
Ludovic Lindsay, 16th Earl of Crawford took part in the strange plot of 1641 called The Incident. Having joined King Charles I at Nottingham in 1642, he fought at the Battle of Edgehill, at the Battle of Newbury and elsewhere during the English Civil War; in 1644, just after the Battle of Marston...
was appointed to command the army's cavalry, an awkward role when Aboyne commanded the only large mounted force.
In September 1645, Aboyne and the Gordon cavalry withdrew to the north, shortly before the Battle of Philiphaugh
Battle of Philiphaugh
The Battle of Philiphaugh was fought on 13 September 1645 during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. The Royalist army of the Marquess of Montrose was destroyed by the Covenanter army of Sir David Leslie, restoring the power of the Committee of Estates.-Prelude:When...
. With hindsight, Aboyne's action is sometimes said to have cost the royalists the battle and the war.
In reality, the war was far from over at Philiphaugh. Montrose moved north, and in spite of Huntly's increasingly pathological inability to cooperate with him, the royalist armies proved largely successful in the field. Aboyne, caught between his father and his general, busied himself raising troops in the central Highlands.
The cause was undermined not by the Scottish war, but by the weakening position of the king in England. At the end of April 1646, King Charles decided that the best course was joining the Covenanters, and ordered his Scottish troops to lay down their arms.
Outlaw and exile
Huntly and Aboyne doubted the Covenanters' mercy, and with their cavalry, they withdrew into the Highlands to wage a guerilla war. They remained under arms until December 1647, when the Marquess was captured in a Covenanter raid.Aboyne escaped, but he had only a few troops left. Excluded from the general pardons issued to Scots royalists, he is said to have fled to France and died in exile in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
around February 1649 - of a fever according to some, while others say he died of grief at the news of King Charles's beheading.
Viscount Aboyne had never married, and his title thus became extinct, although the title of Earl of Aboyne
Earl of Aboyne
Earl of Aboyne is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, borne in the Gordon family ....
was later revived for his younger brother
Charles Gordon, 1st Earl of Aboyne
Charles Gordon, 1st Earl of Aboyne . The fourth son of George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly and Lady Anne Campbell, he was created 1st Earl of Aboyne and 1st Lord Gordon of Strathaven and Glenlivet by Letters Patent on 10 September 1660...
. Since his elder brother's death at Alford, he had also been heir to the Marquessate (with the courtesy title Earl of Enzie, although this was rarely used); these dignities now passed to his younger brother, Lord Lewis Gordon
Lewis Gordon, 3rd Marquess of Huntly
Lewis Gordon, 3rd Marquess of Huntly was a Scottish nobleman.He was the third son of George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly.-Biography:...
.