#stuart kings

THE BLACK DINNER OF 1440

I dedicate this post to the traumatized fans of Game of Thrones. If you've read George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series or seen the most recent episode of the TV version, you are familiar with the shocking and violent betrayal at the heart of the Red Wedding in which many people die in very sad and dramatic ways. As with much of the brutal politicking that wreaks havoc in the fictional kingdom of Westeros, there is a real-life analog to be found in history. I don't doubt the Red Wedding was inspired by the legendary Black Dinner of 1440, a dark night for the Douglas clan of Scotland:

Sir Alexander Livingston and Sir William Crichton, who had recently come to a power sharing agreement of sorts, were convinced that the Douglases, led by the young, headstrong 6th Earl of Douglas, were enemies of the throne.  They felt it necessary to crush the Douglases to secure their own authority.  Although it was fairly easy to secure sufficient evidence to support a charge of high treason against the 6th Earl of Douglas and his associates; it was an entirely different matter to arrest this powerful baron in the midst of his own people in his own castle.

It does not appear to have been difficult for Sir William Crichton to lure the young earl from his castle, and to convince him to present himself at the court of the boy king, James II in Edinburgh Castle for a celebratory dinner of reconciliation.  Thus, the 6th Earl of Douglas, his brother David, and his advisor Sir Malcolm Fleming of Cumbernauld arrived at Edinburgh Castle on November 24, 1440.

According to legend, a banquet was held in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle, and the young James II was charmed with the company of the Douglases.  At the end of the feast, the head of a black bull was brought into the hall.  Under Scottish custom, this formality presaged the death of the principal guest(s) at a dinner.  James II is alleged to have pleaded for the lives of his new friends to be spared, but they were said to have been beheaded in front of the ten year old king.

However, Mr. E.B. Livingston suggests a more likely scenario on pages 43 and 44 of The Livingstons of Callendar, Edinburgh University Press, 1920:

"But what we do know for certain is that on the arrival of the Earl of Douglas at the castle, he was at once arrrested, together with his only brother David, and his friend and counsellor Sir Malcolm Fleming of Cumbernauld, who had accompanied him; that the three of them were hastily tried for high treason, found guilty, and proptly beheaded on the Castle Hill.  The earl and his brother were executed on 24 November, 1440, and Sir Malcolm Fleming four days later.  The later execution must have been carried out contrary to the wishes of Livingston, hence probably the four days' delay.  For about three years later, on 16 August 1443, Sir Alexander Livingston, in the presence of Robert Fleming and four bishops, solemnly purged himself upon oath of having given any counsel, assistance, or consent to the slaughter of Sir Malcolm Fleming.

"Some of the old chronicle writers, who like some modern journalists were not averse to inserting fictitious picturesque details, so as to enliven their narratives, declare that the Douglases were arrested while sitting at dinner, on the signal being given by a black bull's head, supposed to be a sign of sudden death, being placed on the table; and this fable, according to an old historian of the House of Douglas, gave rise to the following doggerel rhyme:—

    'Edinburgh castle, toun, and tower,     God grant ye sink for sin;     And that even for the black-dinner,     Earl Douglas gat therin.'

"It is, however, highly improbable that either Livingston or Crichton would have been parties to the introduction of such a theatrical dénouement into this ghastly tragedy...."

Lesson learned. Next time you receive an invitation to a feast, grab a seat near the exit. Or better yet, stay at home in the safe company of HBO and Tumblr.

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Very little with regards to Charles II. I don't think he would have been able to make the time in his busy schedule, what with his wife, mistresses, prostitutes, etc ;)

There's quite a bit of evidence that James I was either gay or bisexual. He had a few, what you might call bromances that seemed to go a bit further than friendship, particularly with George Villers, 1st Earl of Buckingham. Here's an example of a letter that James sent to him. 

Some people have suggested that William III might have been gay, but there's very little evidence for that beyond the fact that he had a lot of male friends and just one mistress apart from his wife.

(edit) Forgot to mention that Mary II also seemed to have a bit of a crush on one of her childhood friends, Frances Apsley.

(edit) Oh yes, thanks congratuverylations, I also forgot the relationship between Queen Anne and Abigail Hill.

Thanks, and thanks for your submission!

As to the reason I chose the Stuarts;  

I'm mostly interested in the 'Early Modern English' period of history. I saw a lot of people were enthusing about the Tudors (no doubt due to that TV show, as well as the Philippa Gregory books) but not much on the Stuarts, which I think is a period equally as interesting, with so many fascinating characters. 

When I called my blog the Stuart Kings I never intended to just focus on the kings and queens themselves, but world in which they lived in 17th Century Europe, people and events that the Stuarts would have been aware of, so as to paint a picture of their life and times.

There's just so much to cover in that century that I feel almost like I could carry on this blog forever! There's the Jacobean period with Shakespeare etc, then you have the Caroline era and the execution of Charles I, the Civil war and the Interregnum, followed by the Restoration and then the Glorious Revolution...

Also I really like the clothes and hats they wore :)

It's really impossible the 'know' anything about his sexuality, but it's well known that he had a lot of close relationships with men throughout his life. 

Of course a close relationship doesn't mean a sexual relationship, but they do seem to have gone beyond mere friendship.

On one hand he clearly had no trouble in the marital bed, with his wife's eight babies (only three survived to adulthood) and he is known to have had at least one mistress during his marriage.