Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond (29 September 157416 February 1624) was a Scottish nobleman and a second cousin of King James VI and I. He was involved in court theatre and the Plantation of Ulster in Ireland and the colonisation of Maine in New England. Richmond's Island and Cape Richmond as well as Richmond, Maine (formerly Fort Richmond), are named after him. His magnificent monument with effigies survives in Westminster Abbey.Stanley, A.P., Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey (London; John Murray; 1882), p. 196.
Origins
He was the eldest son of Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox (1542-1583), a Frenchman of Scottish ancestry, by his wife Catherine de Balsac (1547 - 1631), a daughter of Guillaume de Balsac, Sieur d'Entragues, by his wife Louise d'Humières. Ludovic's father was a favourite and first cousin once removed of King James VI (the King's father Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley having been Esmé's first cousin). Ludovic was therefore himself a second cousin to the King.David M. Bergeron, The Duke of Lennox, 1574-1624: A Jacobean Courtier's Life (Edinburgh, 2022), p. 8.
Career Scotland On 14 November 1583, after the death of his father, he returned from France and was taken to meet King James VI of Scotland at Kinneil House.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 226: David Moysie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 147. He had surrendered the Seigneurie d'Aubigny to his younger brother, Esmé. Later in that month, the Earl of Arran installed him in Holyrood Palace, expelling Francis, Earl of Bothwell from his lodgings.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 226: Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1581-1583, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 638.
In December, the king issued instructions for Ludovic's education and placed him in the royal household under the care of Mr Gilbert Moncreiff. A French servant John Cavallione was to instruct him in boldity exercises and pastimes.William Fraser, The Lennox, 2 (Edinburgh, 1874), pp. 453–455. On 23 December 1583 he was appointed as the High and Great Chamberlain of Scotland and first Gentleman of the King's Bedchamber, as his father had been, with Alexander Erskine of Gogar, Captain of Edinburgh Castle as his deputy. The role included taking oaths of fidelity to the King from the other officers, ushers, and varlets of the Bedchamber and Wardrobe.Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland: 1581-1584, vol. 8 (HMSO: Edinburgh, 1982), pp. 278-9, no. 1679.
Lennox bore the crown at the coronation of Anne of Denmark in St Giles, Edinburgh.James Maidment, Ancient Heraldic and Antiquarian Tracts (Edinburgh, 1837), p. 52. On 4 October 1590 he played cards with the king for the stake of a new "black castor hat lined with velvet".Jemma Field, "Dressing a Queen: The Wardrobe of Anna of Denmark at the Scottish Court of King James VI, 1590–1603", The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 165, citing National Records of Scotland E35/13. . James however became angry with Lennox because he wished to marry Lilias (or Sophie) Ruthven,Registrum Honoris de Morton: Original Papers of the Earls of Morton, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1853), p. 173 (Lilias). a daughter of William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie. James wanted him to marry a daughter of the Earl of Morton or Arbella Stewart and had Lilias Ruthven shut up in Wemyss Castle.Jamie Reid Baxter, 'John Burel', in Houwen, MacDonald, Mapstone, eds,A Palace in the Wild (Leuven, 2000), pp. 210-212: Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 410. Despite this, Lennox rescued his bride from the castle and married her the next day. After 10 days the king's rage subsided and the couple were allowed to come to court.Adrienne McLaughlin, 'Rise of a Courtier', Miles Kerr-Peterson & Steven Reid, eds, James VI and Noble Power in Scotland (Abingdon, 2017), pp. 147-8. After the death of Lilias Ruthven in May 1592, the English diplomat Robert Bowes heard that the king often received Lennox in his bed when he was away from the court and his queen Anne of Denmark.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 678 no. 687.
Robert Bowes, the English diplomat in Edinburgh, described a fight on Edinburgh's Royal Mile between Lennox and John Wemyss of Logie. Logie had upset or made Lennox jealous in an incident in the king's bed chamber. Bowes said the offence was Logie's "disobedience" to the Duke. Lennox confronted Logie on the street on 7 January 1591 and hit him on the head with his sword. King James, who was walking behind Logie, was dragged into a shop for safety.Robert Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1848), p. 222 Lennox was commanded to leave the court for a while, for fighting near the king's person.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 450. The kirk minister Robert Bruce of Kinnaird spoke in his next sermon of the lack of reverence of the "men who troubled our causeway".Jamie Reid Baxter, "Elizabeth Melville, Lady Culross: new light from Fife", The Innes Review 68.1 (2017), p. 51, Scots: "the men quho trublit oure calsay the last day, gif they had bene indewit with the feare of god, or reverence of anie man, that they wold have reverenced the King as they did". Some further details were recorded by David Calderwood. In his version Logie's offence was to refuse to leave the bedchamber at Lennox's command, Alexander Lord Home helped Lennox attack Logie, and the king's refuge was a skinner's shop where he ''.Thomas Thomson ed., History of the Kirk of Scotland by David Calderwood, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1844), pp. 116-7. Soon after, Lennox was returned to court by the queen's intercession.Leeds Barroll, Anna of Denmark (Pennsylvania, 2001), p. 17.
In 1591 he was appointed to the post of Lord High Admiral of Scotland following the disgrace of Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell. On 18 October he was playing golf on the sands of Leith with the Earl of Huntly and they attempted to arrest Bothwell, who escaped, but Bothwell's horse "Valentine" was captured with Robert Scott brother of the Laird of Balwearie. Lennox arrested Michael Balfour of Burleigh and John Wemyss of Logie on 8 August 1592 on suspicion of conspiracy with Bothwell. They were interrogated at Dalkeith Palace. Burleigh was released and Logie escaped with the help of his Danish girlfriend Margaret Winstar.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 578, 750-3.
On 13 February 1593 Lennox decided to play golf with Sir James Sandilands at Leith. On their way they met John Graham, a Lord of Session, who thought Sandilands was attacking him. They had a feud over land ownership. The two groups of attendants fired on each other with pistols and John Graham and Sir Alexander Stewart, a companion of the duke, were killed.Annie I. Cameron, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 49.
On 6 May 1593 the Duke and 15 friends subscribed to a frivolous legal document swearing to abstain from wearing gold and silver trimmings on their clothes for a year,Maria Hayward, Stuart Style: Monarchy, Dress and the Scottish Male Elite (Yale, 2020), p. 49. and the defaulters were to pay for a banquet for all at John Kinloch's house.Clare Jackson, The Mirror of Great Britain: A Life of James VI & I (Allen Lane, 2025), p. 184. This "passement bond" was in part inspired by cheap counterfeit gold and silver thread used in "passements great or small, plain or à jour, bissets, lilykins, cordons, and fringes" which quickly discoloured. The signatories included Lord Home, the Earl of Mar, Lord Spynie, the Master of Glamis, Sir Thomas Erskine, Walter Stewart of Blantyre, Sir George Home, David Seton of Parbroath, and Sir William Keith of Delny.William Fraser, The Lennox, 2 (Edinburgh, 1874), p. 463: Historical Manuscripts Commission, 4th Report: Mrs. Erskine Murray (London, 1874), p. 527, these documents are held by the National Library of Scotland.
As Great Admiral of Scotland, on 12 October 1593 Lennox gave Daniel Leyne a warrant to seize a ship captained by James Keeler of London, which was loading salt at Prestonpans. The ship was taken in recompense for the Bruce of Leith of George Bruce of Carnock, captured by English privateers off the coast of Spain.Annie Cameron, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 196-8, 203. Soon after, as Lennox was now out of favour with James VI, he went to St Andrews in October 1593 and considered returning to France.Annie I. Cameron, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 202.
As the baptism of Prince Henry drew near, John Colville reported a rumour at the Scottish court that James VI had conceived jealousy against Anne of Denmark, and even thought that Lennox might be the father of Prince Henry.Letters of John Colville (Edinburgh, 1858), pp. 109, 115. This disagreement was probably part of a wider factional struggle. Lennox remained in the king's favour, and at the tournament at Prince Henry's baptism in August 1594 Lennox rode in a Turkish costume.Michael Bath, Emblems in Scotland: Motifs and Meanings (Brill, Leiden, 2018), pp. 97-101.
Lennox was made the King's Lieutenant of the North, and took a force to the north of Scotland against the Earls of Huntly and Erroll. The castles of Ruthven in Badenoch and Inverness surrendered to him, and he held justice courts in Elgin. The wages of his soldiers were paid from money given by Queen Elizabeth I to James VI.Annie I. Cameron, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 499. He ordered his sister the Countess of Huntly and the Countess of Erroll to go the court of James VI.Annie I. Cameron, Calendar of State Papers Scotland: 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 513-4. On 8 February 1595 he came to Aberdeen, and was made a burgess of the town at the Mercat Cross.Spalding Club Miscellany, vol. 5 (Aberdeen, 1852), p. 60 Several members of his retinue were also made burgesses, including Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairny and David Moysie secretary-depute to the king.John Stuart, Extracts Council Register of Aberdeen: 1570-1625, vol. 2 (Aberdeen, 1848), p. 106. When his horse was sick, Lennox wrote to the Laird of Kilravock to borrow his "black hackney nag".Cosmo Innes, Genealogical deduction of the family of Rose of Kilravock (Aberdeen, 1848), p. 276.
As a New Year's day gift in 1596 James VI give him a jewel with a crown set with diamonds worth 90 crowns.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), p. 85. In March 1597 James VI allowed Adam Bruntfield and James Carmichael, son of Sir John Carmichael, to fight in single combat on Cramond Island, or the nearby Links of Barnbougle,Annie I. Cameron, Warrender Papers, vol. 1 (SHS: Edinburgh, 1931), p. 279. because Bruntfield accused Carmichael of killing his brother, Stephen Bruntfield, Captain of Tantallon, in treasonous circumstances. Lennox went to the island to be the judge of their fight with the Laird of Buccleuch and Sir James Sandilands. They wore lightweight clothes of satin and taffeta, one in blue, and one in red. Bruntfield killed Carmichael. There were said to be 5,000 spectators.Robert Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1858), p. 285: John Mackenzie, A chronicle of the Kings of Scotland from Fergus the First, to James the Sixth (Edinburgh, 1830), pp. 156-7: 'The Diarey (sic) of Robert Birrell', in John Graham Dalyell, Fragments of Scottish History (Edinburgh, 1798), p. 42