James Elphinstone, 1st Lord Balmerino
James Elphinstone, 1st Lord Balmerino (1553?-1612) was a Scottish nobleman and politician, disgraced in 1609.
Life to 1605
He was the third son of
On 1 May 1590 he gave a speech in Latin in the
In 1595 was one of the commissioners of the treasury known as the
He was a great favourite with James VI, whom in 1603 he accompanied to London. On 20 February 1604 he was created a peer, with the title of Lord Balmerino, the estates of the
On 15 June 1608
Robert's eldest brother Alexander was Lord Elphinstone. Another brother John Elphinstone was a gentleman in the household of Anne of Denmark, whose duties included spending £4000 of the kings dowry on clothes and costumes for the women of the household at the baptism of Prince Henry in 1594.[7]
Disgrace
It was believed that James intended to appoint Balmerino secretary of state in England, but an end was put to his further promotion by his disgrace. In 1599 a letter signed by James had been sent to
When in 1607 James published his Triplici nodo triplex cuneus in the
The king confirmed the verdict of guilty which the jury found, and Balmerino was in March 1609 sentenced to be beheaded, quartered, and demeaned as a traitor. The sentence, however, was not carried out, due to the intercession of Anne of Denmark at the instance of Jean Drummond, her lady in waiting and Balmerino's relative.[8]
According to a second account of Balmerino, James was not averse to correspondence with Pope Clement, but had scruples about addressing him by his apostolical titles, which were therefore afterwards prefixed by Balmerino to the letter which James, who was aware of its contents, had signed without hesitation. When the matter was brought up again in 1606, severe pressure was put by Dunbar and Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury on Balmerino to induce him to take the whole blame on himself, and on the promise that his life and estates should be secured to him he consented to exculpate the king.
He remained imprisoned at Falkland till October 1609, when, on finding security in £40,000, he was allowed free ward in the town and a mile around. Afterwards he was permitted to retire to his own estate at Balmerino, where he died in July 1612.
Family
He married, first, Sarah, daughter of Sir John Menteith, by whom he had one son,
References
- ^ David Dalrymple, An Historical Account of the Senators of the College of Justice of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1849), p. 206.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 186, 863: David Stevenson, Scotland's Last Royal Wedding (John Donald: Edinburgh, 1997), p. 100.
- ^ Annie I. Cameron, Calendar of State Papers: 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 697.
- ^ HMC 6th Report & Appendix: Lord Moray (London, 1877), p. 667.
- ^ HMC 9th Report: Lord Elphinstone (London, 1882), p. 195 no. 63.
- ^ William Fraser, Elphinstone family book, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1897), pp. 120-1.
- ^ Register of the Privy Council, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 151–2.
- ^ Anna Whitelock, 'Reconsidering the Political Role of Anna of Denmark', Helen Matheson-Pollock, Joanne Paul, Catherine Fletcher, Queenship and Counsel in Early Modern Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), p. 241: Horatio Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice: 1607-1610, vol. 11 (London, 1904), pp. 194 no. 373, 249 no. 466, 278 no. 503.
- Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Elphinstone, James". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.