John Seton, Lord Barns
John Seton, Lord Barns (Born 1553. died 1594) was a Scottish diplomat, courtier and judge.
Life
He was the third son of
He was an attendant to the
Seton was appointed master of the stable to
The Seton family were supporters of
He had an argument at court with James Stewart, Earl of Arran and the Seton family were told to leave court and stay at Seton Palace in December 1582.[5] According to David Hume of Godscroft, the king was ready to go riding when the courtiers were asked left him alone to speak to Arran in private. Seton, as master of the horse stayed, which angered Arran, who made to throw his baton of office at him, and the royal guard hustled him downstairs.[6]
He went abroad. In April 1584 the English ambassador heard various rumours of his return or demise, that he had arrived Dumbarton and was secretly in Edinburgh's Canongate and had met the king at Seton Palace, or that he had sea-sickness in the Irish sea, landed on the Isle of Man, and his ship had at Kirkcudbright by some accident without him, and he was dead.[7]
On 27 January 1587 he was admitted a member of the privy council; and on 17 February 1588 he was appointed, with the title Lord Barns, an
Seton died on 25 May 1594.[1] His castle at Barnes Castle was uncompleted at his death.
The poet William Fowler, who was secretary to the queen Anne of Denmark wrote an epitaph for John Seton which was printed as a broadsheet.[8]
Family
Seton married Anne, daughter of William Forbes, 7th Lord Forbes, on 8 September 1588 at Lord Ogilvie's house in Angus.[9]
Seton had, with other children, a son John who succeeded him. John married Margaret Hay, a daughter of Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll and Elizabeth Douglas, Countess of Erroll.[1] Another son was Hannibal Seton.[10]
Notes
- ^ a b c d Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 51. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 101, 116-7, 191.
- ^ Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal: 1581-1584, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 55 no. 333: David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1578-1585, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1880), p. 416.
- ^ William Boyd, Calendar of State Papers Scotland: 1574-1581, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 634.
- ^ William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1581-1583, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 221.
- ^ David Reid, David Hume of Godscroft's History of the House of Angus, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 2005), p. 284.
- ^ William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1584-1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 57 no. 53, 61 no. 58: Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, vol. 2 (London, 1791), pp. 415-5, dated "1589".
- ^ Sebastiaan Verweij, The Literary Culture of Early Modern Scotland (Oxford, 2017), p. 81: Henry Meikle, Works of William Fowler, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 6
- ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland (Edinburgh, 1915), p. 613.
- ^ George Seton, History of the family of Seton during eight centuries, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1896), p. 897.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Seton, John (d.1594)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 51. London: Smith, Elder & Co.