Sir John Bellenden of Auchnole and Broughton (died 1 October 1576) was, before 1544, Director of Chancery, and was appointed Lord Justice Clerk on 25 June 1547, succeeding his father Thomas Bellenden of Auchnoule. John was knighted before April 1544.
Career With Sir Robert Carnegie, he agreed an indenture with English commissioners for peace on the Scottish border at Berwick upon Tweed.Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 193–4. In 1555 Sir John Bellenden audited accounts for fortifications built by Mary of Guise at Inchkeith. He was a Commissioner for the Treaty of Peace with Anna of Oldenburg, signed at Aberdeen 19 October 1556 confirmed by Mary, Queen of Scots, 26 September 1557. With James MacGill, he prepared a short guide to Scottish law, the Discours Particulier D'Escosse, written in French for Mary, Queen of Scots, and Francis II of France.Thomas Thomson, Discours Particulier D'Escosse (Edinburgh, Bannatyne Club, 1824), p. 32.
After the Siege of Leith, in the articles of the Treaty of Edinburgh, Bellenden was nominated to negotiate the French withdrawal from Scotland on behalf of the Lords of the Congregation.Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, Biography, and Manners, vol. 1 (London, 1791), p. 322.
His brother, Patrick Bellenden of Stenhouse was present at the murder of David Rizzio at Holyrood Palace. Rizzio hid behind Mary, Queen of Scots. John Bellenden was suspected of involvement in the conspiracy.John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), p. 437. According to Mary, Patrick Bellenden pointed his gun at her pregnant belly.Peter Anderson, Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney Lord of Shetland (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1982), p. 48. Anthony Standen later wrote that Patrick had threatened the Queen with a dagger.HMC Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Marquis of Salisbury at Hatfield, vol. 16 (London, 1933), p. 16. At Mary's orders, Patrick was driven out of Scotland and Orkney by Gilbert Balfour and others.HMC 14th Report Part 3 Manuscripts of the Duke of Roxburghe (London, 1894), p. 44. According to the report of Thomas Randolph and the Earl of Bedford, John Bellenden was a suspect on account of his brother's actions. They heard he was replaced as Justice Clerk.Henry Ellis, Original Letters, series 1 vol. 2 (London, 1824), p. 217.
John Bellenden attended at the coronation of King James VI of Scotland on 29 July 1567 at Stirling. On 22 August, there was a public ceremony of inauguration for Regent Moray in Edinburgh, who took an oath before the Justice Clerk at the Tolbooth and was proclaimed by heralds at the Mercat Cross.Amy Blakeway, Regency in Sixteenth-Century Scotland (Boydell, 2015), p. 62: Allan James Crosby, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1566–1568 (London, 1871), p. 325 no. 1620: Joseph Stevenson, Selections from Unpublished Manuscripts (Glasgow: Maitland Club, 1837), p. 289.
In February 1572, during the Marian Civil War, Regent Mar sent him and Robert Colville of Cleish to greet two English ambassadors, Thomas Randolph and William Drury, in Edinburgh and invite them to supper.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1571-1574, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 130.
Sir John Scot of Scotstarvet, writing in the seventeenth century, tells us that "Sir John made the conquests, and left his eldest son Sir Lewis a fair estate, viz. the barony of Broughton, with the superiority of the Canongate and North Leith, having therein near two thousand vassals; the baronies of Auchnoul, Woodhouslie, Abbot's-grange, and many others. And to the eldest son of the third marriage he left the barony of Carlowrie, (Linlithgowshire), and Kilconquhar, Fife, and diverse lands about Brechin."
Family Sir John married three times:Theo van Heijnsbergen, "Literature and History in Queen Mary's Edinburgh", The Renaissance in Scotland: Studies in Literature, Religion, History and Culture (Brill, 1994), p. 197. Marion (or Margaret) Scott, by whom he had three daughters. Two died young and the third, Marion (d. 1604), married John Ramsay of Dalhousie. This was probably the wedding in October 1564, three miles from Edinburgh, described by Thomas Randolph.Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1563-1569, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 88.Calendar State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth, 1564-5, vol. 7 (London, 1870), p. 230 no. 757 Barbara Kennedy, daughter of Sir Hugh Kennedy of Girvanmains by his spouse Janet Stewart, daughter to John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Atholl. The contract was signed by the Regent Mary of Guise herself on 30 September 1555. Barbara was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Regent,HMC 14th Report, Appendix Part III: Duke of Roxburghe (London, 1894), pp. 6, 42. who bought a black velvet gown for her.Michael Pearce, The Dolls of Mary Queen of Scots: Edinburgh Castle Research Reports (Edinburgh, Historic Environment Scotland, 2018), p. 28 Guise contributed £266-13s-4d to her a dowry in October 1555. At this time, her father was employed by Guise on a military mission in the north against the Clan Mackay, and John Bellenden was working with the Regent at her justice ayres in Dumfries and Jedburgh.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1913), lxv, 295. They had four sons and one daughter. They were; Sir Lewis Bellenden of Auchnole & Broughton, Lord Justice Clerk, John's heir. Adam Bellenden, Bishop of Aberdeen. William Bellenden, Vicar of Kilconquhar. Thomas Bellenden of Kilconquhar, Fife, a Senator of the College of Justice (14 August 1591). Annabella Bellenden, married before June 1599, as his second wife, Sir Alexander Lauder of Haltoun, Sheriff Principal of Edinburghshire. His third marriage, to Jonet Seton,James Beveridge & Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal, 1556–1567, 5:2 (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1957), p. 125 no. 2839. was in January 1565.Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1563-1569, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 115. She was a gentlewoman of Mary's bed chamber and was given a purple velvet gown with gold trimming.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 11 (Edinburgh, 1916), p. 343.
References The Scots' Peerage, by Sir James Balfour Paul, Edinburgh, 1905, vol.ii, p. 64/5. Melrose Regality Records, edited by Charles S. Romanes, C.A., Edinburgh, 1917, vol.3, p. 374/5.