John Murray of Pardewis (died 1592) was a Scottish courtier who opposed James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell in 1567, and fixed painted papers on the Tolbooth of Edinburgh criticising Mary, Queen of Scots.David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), pp. 153–154.

Family background James Murray was the son of William Murray of Tullibardine (died 1562) and Katherine Campbell, daughter of Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy (died 1513) and Margaret Moncreiffe.G. Harvey Johnston, The heraldry of the Murrays (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 19. His older brother William Murray of Tullibardine was Comptroller of Scotland. The main family residences were Tullibardine Castle and the Place of Gask. His sister Annabell Murray, Countess of Mar looked after James VI and I at Stirling Castle.Amy Blakeway, Regency in Sixteenth-Century Scotland (Boydell, 2015), p. 119: Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1966), p. 366 no. 2221.

Pardewis and Bothwell Mary wrote to Elizabeth I for a safe conduct for James Murray to travel to England in August 1564, while she was at Gartly Castle on her second northern progress.Calendar State Papers Scotland, 2, p. 70 no. 89.Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, vol. 1 (London: Dolman, 1844), pp. 221-222.

After the murder of Lord Darnley in February 1567, rumours spread that the Earl of Bothwell and some of the servants of Mary, Queen of Scots (including Bastian Pagez and Francisco de Busso) were to blame. According to the "Book of Articles", the townspeople of Edinburgh fixed "placards secretly in all public places namimg and declaring the murderers, chiefly Bothwell". In response, Bothwell was able to "trouble all painters and other suspects for working or affixing the said placards".John Hosack, Mary Queen of Scots and her accusers, 1 (Edinburgh, 1869), p. 539, (modernised here).

A sign with a mermaid and a hare was displayed on the door of the Tolbooth in Edinburgh and the door of St Giles Cathedral.Debra Barret-Graves, "Mermaids, Sirens, and Mary, Queen of Scots", The Emblematic Queen: Extra-Literary Representations of Early Modern Queenship (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), pp. 69–100.Michael Bath and Malcolm Jones, "Placardes and Billis and Ticquettis of Defamatioun: Queen Mary, the Mermaid and the Hare", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 78:1 (2015), pp. 223–246. On 14 March 1567, John Murray of Pardewis was charged with slandering the Queen by devising and setting up "painted papers" in Edinburgh.John Parker Lawson, History of the affairs of Church and State in Scotland by Robert Keith, 2 (Edinburgh, 1845), p. 533. This was "open and manifest treason". He avoided capture by the Queen's authorities.Retha Warnicke, Mary Queen of Scots (Routledge, 2006), p. 141: John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1887), p. 500.

The chronicle of Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie says that Murray was summoned for "ane paintted wreitting with ane marmaidden with ane crowne on hir heid", and then "passed his way".Michael Bath and Malcolm Jones, "Placardes and Billis and Ticquettis of Defamatioun: Queen Mary, the Mermaid and the Hare", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 78:1 (2015), p. 236: Aeneas Mackay, The historie and cronicles of Scotland, 1 (Scottish Text Society, 1899), p. 193. Two contemporary sketches of the mermaid and hare device were sent to England and remain in The National Archives. The design includes emblems drawn from Claude Paradin's Devises Heroïques. A circle of daggers implies that Bothwell awaits divine punishment.Michael Bath and Malcolm Jones, "Placardes and Billis and Ticquettis of Defamatioun: Queen Mary, the Mermaid and the Hare", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 78:1 (2015), pp. 224–226: TNA SP 52/13 nos. 59, 60.

Bothwell made a challenge to fight any accusers after his acquittal of Darnley's murder, and put his challenge on the door of St Giles.John Parker Lawson, History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland by Robert Keith, 2 (Edinburgh, 1845), pp. 563, 604. John Knox referred to this as Bothwell's "Rodomontade", a reference to Rodomonte in Orlando Furioso who fought the groom at a wedding. Knox says that Murray accepted but did not make his name known. There was no single combat. Bothwell subsequently married Mary.John Knox, The Historie of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland (Edinburgh: Fleming, 1732), p. 409.

At the battle of Carberry Hill in June 1567, Bothwell offered single combat to any of the Confederate Lords. William Kirkcaldy of Grange accepted the challenge,Register of the Privy Seal of Seal of Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1982), no. 397. but Bothwell would not fight him because of his low status. He also refused to fight James Murray of Pardewis, and was reluctant to fight Lord Lindsay. Mary announced there would be no single combat and surrendered.George R. Hewitt, Scotland Under Morton (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1982), p. 10: James Aikman, History of Scotland by George Buchanan, 2 (Glasgow, 1827), pp. 520–521.Alexandre Teulet, Papiers d'État Relatifs à l'Histoire del'Écosse, 2 (Paris: Plon, Bannatyne Club, 1851), p. 164.

James Murray was made Edinburgh's customs official in August 1567, replacing James Curle.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 59. He is sometimes confused with James Murray, brother of the laird of Polmaise, who became Master of the Wardrobe to James VI.Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), p. 273.

In 1580, he delivered jewels belonging to his sister the Countess of Mar to John Sutherland. She wanted them to reset for the wedding of her son John Erskine in October.HMC Mar and Kellie, 1 (London, 1904), p. 32: National Records of Scotland GD 124/15/14. In August 1584, Parliament declared him a traitor for taking part in the "treasonable attempt at Stirling".Register of the Privy Council, 3 (Edinburgh, 1880), p. 685.

Marriages James Murray first married Marion Preston, a daughter of Simon Preston of Craigmillar Castle.Chronicles of the Atholl and Tullibardine families, p. 15.

His second wife was Anna or Annas Lindsay. After his death in 1592, she married William Melville, Lord Tongland.Chronicles of the Atholl and Tullibardine families, p. 15: William Fraser, The Melvilles, 1 (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 171.

In April 1591, James Murray came to the Place of Gask and was a witness to the marriage contract of his niece Lilias Murray and John Grant of Freuchie (d. 1622).William Fraser, The Chiefs of Grant, 3 (Edinburgh, 1883), p. 402. The wedding was celebrated at Tullibardine or Gask in June. James VI attended and participated in a masque in special costume.Michael Pearce, "Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland", The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019) p. 149. Michael Pearce, "Maskerye Claythis for James VI and Anna of Denmark", Medieval English Theatre, 43 (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2022), pp. 116–118.

James Murray died in September 1592. His heirs were his sons John and Patrick Murray of Pardewis. His daughter Jean Murray was contracted to marry Alexander Lindsay of Canterland in Marykirk, a son of David Lindsay of Edzell.Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 78 no. 210, 136 no. 360.

Pardewis was in Fife near Limekilns, which also belonged to James Murray, and in 1593 was included in the dower lands of Dunfermline Abbey granted to Anne of Denmark.John Maitland Thomson, Register of the Great Seal, 1593–1608 (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 26 no. 75. Pardewis was also known as "Brumhill" in the 16th century, and a nearby property is now called "Broomhall". An artificial mound or motte is called the "Perdieus Mount".Peter Chalmers, Historical and Statistical Account of Dunfermline, p. 161."Pedius", Fife Placename Data Murray and his wife also held Dunnygask near Dunfermline and other former Abbey properties, as tenants of the Queen.Registrum de Dunfermelyn (Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 381, 476, 482.

References

External links Sketch of Mary Queen of Scots (The mermaid and the hare), TNA SP 52/13 f.60