Scottish Nobility. Marquess of Huntly.

Marquess of Huntly is a title in the Peerage of Scotland that was created on 17 April 1599 for George Gordon, 6th Earl of Huntly. It is the oldest existing marquessate in Scotland, and the second-oldest in the British Isles; only the English marquessate of Winchester is older. The Marquess holds the following subsidiary titles: Lord Gordon of Strathaven and Glenlivet and Earl of Aboyne (1660; Peerage of Scotland), and Baron Meldrum, of Morven in the County of Aberdeen (1815; Peerage of the United Kingdom).

Early family history.

The Gordon family descends from Sir Adam Gordon of Huntly, killed at the Battle of Humbleton Hill in 1402 and succeeded in his estates by his daughter Elizabeth Gordon, wife of Alexander Seton, who assumed the surname of Gordon for himself and “all his heirs male.” He was created Earl of Huntly in the Peerage of Scotland in 1445 and was succeeded by his son, the second Earl, who served as Lord Chancellor of Scotland from 1498 to 1501. His younger son, the Hon. Adam Gordon, married Elizabeth, suo jure Countess of Sutherland. Their grandson, John Gordon, succeeded his grandmother in the earldom in 1535 (see Earl of Sutherland for further history about this branch of the family).

Lord Huntly’s elder son, the third Earl, was a member of the Council of Regency in 1517. He was succeeded by his grandson, the fourth Earl, Lord Chancellor of Scotland from 1546 to 1562, who was killed in the latter year, and in 1563 an Act of Attainder was passed through Parliament with all his titles forfeited. His eldest surviving son, George Gordon, was condemned to death for treason in 1563 but later pardoned. He obtained a reversal of his father’s attainder in 1567 and served as Lord Chancellor of Scotland.

George Gordon, became the 1st Marquess, he was the son of the 5th earl; born in 1562, educated in France as a Roman Catholic. He was part of a plot to conspire against King James VI. He worked as captain of the guard of Holyrood before the discovery of treason. He went about clan feuds and started a private war, this inspired the ballad The Bonnie Earl O’ Moray. He was succeeded by his son. Earl of Enzie and Marquess of Huntly in the Peerage of Scotland. His son was raised protestant in England; in the civil war he became a royalist and in 1647 was given a pardon for his actions, yet later beheaded. He was succeeded by his elder son, the second Marquess.