Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll (26 February 1629 – 30 June 1685) was a Scottish peer and soldier.
The hereditary chief of Clan Campbell, and a prominent figure in Scottish politics, he was a Royalist supporter during the latter stages of the Scottish Civil War and its aftermath. During the period of the Cromwellian Protectorate he was involved in several Royalist uprisings and was for a time imprisoned.
Despite his previous loyalty, after the Restoration of Charles II, Argyll fell under suspicion due to his hereditary judicial powers in the Highlands and his strong Presbyterian religious sympathies. Condemned to death in 1681 on a highly dubious charge of treason and libel, he escaped from prison and fled into exile, where he began associating with Whig opponents of the Stuart regime. Following the accession of Charles' brother to the throne as James II in 1685, Argyll returned to Scotland in an attempt to depose James, organised in parallel with the Monmouth Rebellion. Argyll's Rising failed, and Argyll was captured and beheaded.
Early life
He was born in 1629 in Dalkeith, Scotland, the eldest son of Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, and Lady Margaret Douglas, the daughter of William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton.
At the age of four, an agreement was made, in accordance with a custom common amongst the Scottish nobility of the time, for young Archibald to be fostered with Colin Campbell of Glenorchy, one of his father's kinsmen.Nugent, "Your louing childe and foster: the fostering of Archie Campbell of Argyll" in Nugent and Ewan (eds.), Children and youth in premodern Scotland, 2015, p. 47 At his parents' insistence he was raised bilingually in English and Gaelic.Nugent, p. 57 He enrolled at Glasgow University in 1643,Archibald Campbell, University of Georgia Law Library and between 1647 and 1649, his father sent him to travel in France and Italy, mainly to protect him from the political upheavals taking place in Scotland at the time. His father, as one of the most powerful nobles in Scotland, became heavily involved in the politics of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, emerging as the leader of the Presbyterian Covenanter party and as the de facto head of the Scottish government for much of the period.
While still on the Continent, young Archibald heard the news of the execution of King Charles I, and wrote to Queen Henrietta Maria assuring her of his loyalty to the Stuart dynasty.Willcock, A Scots Earl in Covenanting Times, p. 22 In the letter he also reiterated his father's loyalty, and defended him against accusations that he had approved of Charles's trial and execution, but added that he would serve the King even against his father, if the latter really meant otherwise than he professed.
1650s In 1650, after his return to Scotland, Lorne married Mary, the daughter of James Stuart, 4th Earl of Moray: the same year he was appointed to the governing Committee of Estates, his first major position of responsibility.
When Charles II was invited to Scotland in 1650 in a brief alliance with the Covenanters against the English Parliament, Lorne was made captain of His Majesty's Foot Guards, appointed by the Scottish parliament to attend on the king's person. At the time Charles was chafing under the social restraints laid upon him by the Presbyterian clergy, but Lorne obtained favour with him by bringing him people he wished to see. Lorne was present with his regiment at the Battle of Dunbar on 3 September 1650, where his regiment was nearly wiped out.Willcock, p. 29
Glencairn's Rising
After Worcester, in the winter of 1653, Lorne joined William Cunningham, 9th Earl of Glencairn, who was in arms in the Highlands with a Royalist force of 700 soldiers and 200 horses. Lorne's father, who had attempted to make peace with Cromwell's regime, warned him against becoming involved, leading to an estrangement. It has since been suspected that the political differences between Lorne and his father were exaggerated by the family in order to ensure they would prosper whichever political side won out, though Lorne's biographer John Willcock felt that his Royalist sympathies were entirely genuine.Willcock, p. 23
Glencairn's irregular forces prepared to invade the Lowlands, but efforts were hampered by constant quarrels between Glencairn's junior commanders. Lorne and Glengarry fell out to the point of drawing swords on each other and remained at odds. Glencairn, for his part, distrusted Lorne. When Lorne and the Viscount of Kenmure went in joint command of a force to suppress the Kintyre remonstrants (radical Presbyterians who disapproved of the moderates' engagement with Charles)Remonstrants, Resolutioners and Protesters, British Civil Wars project Kenmure thought that Lorne treated them too leniently, and complained to Glencairn. In March Lorne argued with James Graham, 2nd Marquess of Montrose, and came close to being killed.
Shortly afterwards, Lorne had a final argument with Glencairn over who had authority over Lorne's own tenants. Lorne refused to give precedence to Glencairn and took his own troops across a nearby river. For the rest of the day Glencairn feared an open battle, but the next night Lorne left his men and departed with only a few officers. The reason for this, according to Baillie, was that a letter from Lorne to the King had been intercepted in which he complained of Glencairn's behaviour, and Glencairn had ordered Glengarry to arrest him. A correspondent of John Thurloe reported a version of events more discreditable to Lorne: that the intercepted letter was written to the general of the English forces, suggesting a plan for attacking Glencairn's men.
Activities against the Commonwealth
In May 1654, Cromwell published his Ordinance of Pardon and Grace to the People of Scotland, offering a general pardon for acts during the conflict. Lorne was, however, among the numerous exceptions to the pardon. In June he was reported as being reconciled with his father, Argyll, and as helping him to raise men for the English. The report was probably wrong, as in September he managed to capture a vessel loaded with provisions for Argyll's men.
Later in 1654, Lorne is thought to have joined John Middleton's attempted insurrection, and by November he and his men were raiding his father's lands for cattle to feed Middleton's troops. Argyll was eventually compelled to ask for an English garrison to protect him from his son. By the beginning of December, however, Lorne had to retire to a small island with only four or five men, and on 16 December George Monck wrote to Cromwell that Lorne was to meet his father and would probably come over to the Protector if allowed. Lorne, however, informed Argyll that he could not capitulate without Middleton's formal approval. Lorne was clearly still in communication with Charles, as in December the latter wrote to Lorne from his exile in Cologne, thanking him for his constancy to Middleton in all his distresses, acknowledging his service to the Royalist cause, and promising future rewards.
On 31 March, Lorne eventually received instructions from Charles, through Middleton, in which he was urged to lose no time in taking such a course, by capitulation or otherwise, as he should judge "most fit and expedient to save his person, family, and estate." He is spoken of as having been "principallie engaged in the enlyvening of the war, and one of the chief movers;" and his "deportments in relation to the enemy and the last war are beyond all ". Another letter to the same effect from Middleton reached him in April, dated from Paris, in which he is similarly praised. Both of these letters were produced at his trial in 1681, in an attempt to reaffirm his history of loyalty to Charles.
Later in 1655, probably in May, conditions for Lorne's surrender were drawn up and finally received Cromwell's approval in August. These were that Lorne and the heads of clans serving him should come in within three weeks; that he should give security for £5,000, his officers and vassals giving proportional security; that Lorne should have liberty to march with his horses and arms (the horses to be sold in three weeks); and that he and his party should enjoy their estates without molestation, and should be freed from all fines or forfeiture. By 8 November the arrangement had been formalised and garrisons were left at Lochaber and Dunstaffnage to ensure Lorne's promises were kept.
Despite his surrender, Lorne was carefully watched by Lord Broghill, who bribed his servants, and who sent accounts of his movements to Cromwell's spymaster John Thurloe. On 20 November Broghill urged Lorne's arrest purely in order that enemies more dangerous at the time might think themselves unobserved. By the following January, however, Lorne had again declared for Charles Stuart, and had taken the island and garrison of Mull. On 8 January, Thurloe was notified that Lorne had a meeting of all his friends (probably to organise his debts, which were substantial). Lorne came to a reconciliation with his father in late March: the latter brokered further agreements with the English Protectorate – of which one was that he or Lorne, whichever the parliament might direct, should go to England whenever desired, provided they had freedom within a compass of twenty miles, and leave to have audience of the council whenever they wished.
Arrest, imprisonment and head injury
Despite his capitulation, Lorne was still regarded with great suspicion. On 13 May 1656, Broghill reported that he was back in correspondence with Charles, repeating the warning later in the year. Broghill suspected that Lorne had been appointed, with Fairfax, to head another Scottish revolt. Probably in consequence of Broghill's information, a new oath was imposed upon the Scottish nobility at the beginning of 1657, whereby they were compelled to swear their renunciation of the Stuarts, and their adherence to the Protectorate. Lorne refused the oath and was immediately imprisoned in Edinburgh castle. In August 1657, Broghill urged that he and Glencairn, as the two most dangerous persons then in Scotland, should be sent to England, where they would have less opportunity for "trinketing".
While Lorne was confined in the castle of Edinburgh a strange accident befell him in March 1658 during a game of "bullets", a form of bowling. It was described by Lamont:
"Being playing at the bullets in the castell, the lieutenant of the castell throwing the bullett, it lighted on a stone, and with such force started back on the Lord Lorne's head that he fell doune, and lay for the space of some houres dead; after that he recovered, and his head was trepanned once or twice."
Lorne recovered slowly and with difficulty from the skull fracture, which in modern times would likely have been diagnosed as a severe concussion, which would explain the nap he took before his execution. Several later historians speculated that some of his erratic behaviour, and occasional fits of temper, in later life, can be explained by it.
The date of his release is not known, but it was probably in March 1659–60, when Lauderdale and the other prisoners taken at Worcester were set free.
At the Restoration