Ruthven raid

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Ruthven raid, 1582. This was an episode in the faction fighting during the minority of James VI of Scotland. Resentful of the influence of the king's cousin Esmé Stuart, who led the pro-French and pro-catholic party and had been created earl in 1580 and duke of Lennox in 1581, a protestant group, led by the 1st earl of Gowrie, seized the 16-year-old king and held him captive for ten months. Stuart was forced to return to France but James escaped in June 1583 and took refuge in St Andrews. An insincere reconciliation was followed in 1584 by Gowrie's execution.

J. A. Cannon

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