Country code |
GB |
Repository code |
234 |
Organisation |
NAS |
Repository |
National Records of Scotland |
Reference |
GD1/1428 |
Title |
Letters of the Earl of Lauderdale to Lord Halton |
Dates |
1671-1675 |
Access status |
Open |
Description |
John Maitland (1616-1682), second Earl of Lauderdale from 1645, was a prominent Covenanter but eventually came over to the Royalist side and was to exert great influence over Charles II for a large part of the rest of his life. Lauderdale was captured at the Battle of Worcester, 3 September 1651, in which the Scots were defeated by Cromwell, and remained a prisoner in England until 1660 when Charles II returned from exile on the continent. These letters stem from a period when Lauderdale was Charles II's Secretary of State for Scotland (1661-1680), a position which earned him the nickname of 'King of Scotland'. He was an Extraordinary Lord of Session, a Privy Councillor and in 1671 also became President of the Council. These letters were written at a time which probably represented the high watermark of Lauderdale's position in Scotland but his position was not without its troubles. His growing unpopularity led the House of Commons to try and impeach him in January 1674 for mismanagement of Scottish affairs and MPs again petitioned the King in April 1675 for his removal. However, Charles II's regard for Lauderdale was indicated by his appointment as Earl of Guildford and Baron Petersham in June 1674, coming soon after (1672) his rise to the Dukedom of Lauderdale, following his marriage to the Countess of Dysart. His residence in England after 1670 was Ham House in Surrey.
Charles Maitland (c.1620-1691) was John's younger brother whose marriage in 1652 to the younger daughter of Richard Lauder of Halton meant he was generally know from that point as Charles Maitland of Halton. After the Restoration of 1660 he became General of the Mint, in 1661 he became a Privy Councillor, in 1669 an Ordinary Lord of Session under the title, Lord Halton, and in 1671 Treasurer-depute. He was a close political ally of his brother. In 1671 Lauderdale's Scottish agents, the Earl of Tweeddale and Sir Robert Moray, were replaced by the Earl of Kincardine and Halton. Halton exercised great influence in Scotland for several years until his and Kincardine's stars waned in the mid-1670s, to be replaced in turn by the Earls of Atholl and Argyll. He succeeded his brother as third Earl following Lauderdale's political downfall in 1680 and death soon afterwards.
Other Scottish personages mentioned in the correspondence include: Alexander Bruce (c.1629-1680), second Earl of Kincardine (from 1662), a founder member of the Royal Society who became an Extraordinary Lord of Session in 1667 and a Tresury Commioner in 1668 and a favourite of Lauderdale's, who refused to testify against Lauderdale during the attempted impeachment of Laudedale in early 1674 but who fell out with him that year, possibly because of the new Duchess of Lauderdale's malign influence on her husband; Sir William Bruce (c.1625-1710), who was Scotland's leading architect of the period and in 1671 appointed Surveyor-general of the Royal Works in Scotland, primarily to oversee the modernisation of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh; Archibald Campbell (1629-1685), eight Earl of Argyll (from 1638) and first Marquess (from 1641) was both a major territorial magnate, as evidenced by his hereditray positions as Justice-General of Argyll and the Isles and Sheriff of Argyll, and a national office-holder, member of the Privy Council (1664) and a Treasury Commissioner whose political fortunes and career amid a host of enemies, both royalists and covenanters, owed much to the support he received from Lauderdale over 2 decades, culminating in the marriage of Argyll's son and daughter to Lauderdale's stepdaughter and nephew; Robert Mylne (1633-1710) who was appointed master mason to Charles II in 1668 and was well known to both Lauderdale and Bruce; and John Murray (1631-1703), first Marquess of Atholl (1677, earl from 1642), who was Sheriff of Perthshire and Lord Justice-General (1661); a Privy Councillor (1661-2), Lord Privy Seal (1672) and an Extraordinary Lord of Session (1673) and an active suppreesor of conventicles (illegal gatherings of Presbyterian dissidents) during the mid-1670s.
On the English side, Anthony Ashley Cooper (1621-1683), Baron Ashley (1661) and Earl of Shaftesbury (1672) was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1661-1672 and a member of the 'Cabal' - which dominated politics betwen 1668 and 1673 - but who fell out with Lauderdale, partly due to the latter's continuing support for the government after it fell during 1673-4 and partly due to Lauderdale's support for the Charles' brother, the Duke of York, after his conversion to Catholicism. |
Level |
Fonds |
Archival history |
These items were purchased by NAS from J L M Gulley, Historical Documents & Manuscripts, London, in April 2008. |
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