Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hepburn, Patrick (d.1508)
HEPBURN, PATRICK, third Lord Hailes and first Earl of Bothwell (d. 1508), was the eldest son of Adam, second lord Hailes, and Helen, eldest daughter of Alexander, first lord Home [q. v.] On 1 Feb. 1480–1481 he received a grant to him and his wife of the lands of the barony of Dunsyre (Reg. Mag. Sig. 1424–1513, entry 1459). He was also appointed governor of the castle of Berwick, and defended it for a time in 1482 when the town was invested by the English army, but consented to its final surrender through a secret understanding between the Duke of Albany and the English. He was one of the conservators of the truce with England, 21 Sept. 1484 (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, vol. iv. entry 1505). On account of the annexation by James III of the temporalities of the rich abbey of Coldingham to the chapel royal of Stirling, Lord Home [see Home, Alexander, first Lord Home], who regarded them as belonging of right to him, procured the assistance of Hailes to enable him to assert his right. Hailes was a party to the hollow pacification at Blackness in May 1488, and along with James Stewart, earl of Buchan, and Andrew Stewart, bishop of Moray, he made a vain attempt to gain assistance against the Scottish king from Henry VII. At the battle of Sauchieburn on 11 June 1488 he led the van with Lord Home. James III lost his life during flight from the battle, and the consequent distractions enabled Hailes to lay the foundation of the remarkable influence and prosperity of the family. On the surrender of Edinburgh Castle, fifteen days after Sauchieburn, he was (26 June) made keeper of the castle and sheriff of the county of Edinburgh (Reg. Mag. Sig. 1424–1513, entry 1741). On 6 Sept. following he was constituted master of the household and lord high admiral of Scotland. Crichton Castle and the lordship of Bothwell, forfeited by John Ramsay, were on 13 Oct. bestowed on Hailes, and four days afterwards the lordship was erected into the earldom of Bothwell, and conferred on him in full parliament by giving him the sword. The same day it was also declared by parliament that he should have the rule and governance of the Duke of Ross, the king's brother. In connection with an arrangement of the kingdom into districts to be governed by earls and barons, he was appointed guardian of the west and middle marches. On 5 Nov. he was made steward of Kirkcudbright, and obtained the custody of Shrieve Castle (ib. 1799). On 29 May of the following year he and his brother John [q. v.], prior of St. Andrews, received also letters of a lease of the lordship of Orkney and Shetland, and of the keeping of the castle of Kirkwall, the earl on the same date receiving the office of justiciary and bailiary of the lordship. He thus became the equal of the greatest nobles of the kingdom. The grants bestowed on him during the king's minority were specially excepted from revocation when the king came of age. On the resignation, 6 March 1491–2, of George Douglas, son of the Earl of Angus [see Douglas, George, fourth Earl of Angus], the lands and lordship of Liddesdale with the camp and fortalice of the Hermitage were bestowed on Bothwell, who at the same time resigned the lordship of Bothwell and other lands, and those on 14 July were given to Angus in exchange for Kilmarnock. At a parliament held on 18 May 1491 Bothwell with the Bishop and Dean of Glasgow were sent to negotiate an alliance with France, and to discover a fitting bride for the young king in Spain or elsewhere. They returned, however, in November following (Accounts of Lord High Treasurer, i. 183) without having initiated any marriage treaty. He took part in several other embassies, and was present at the creation of Prince Henry (afterwards Henry VIII) as Duke of York in 1494 (Letters and State Papers, reign of Henry VII, i. 403). On 8 Oct. 1500–1 he was appointed one of the commissioners to contract a marriage between the king and the Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII of England, and also to negotiate a perpetual peace (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, vol. iv., entry 1675–6). The treaty was signed on 24 Jan. 1501–2. He was present at the marriage of the king and the princess by proxy at Richmond on 27 Jan. of the following year, and at the entrance of the princess into Edinburgh in August he bore the sword. He died at Edinburgh on 17 Oct. 1508 (Lesley, Hist. of Scotland, p. 79; Balfour, Annals, i. 231). By his wife, Lady Janet Douglas, only daughter of James, first earl of Morton, he had three sons and three daughters. The sons were Adam, second earl of Bothwell, John, bishop of Brechin, and Patrick Hepburn of Bolton, died 1576. The last is wrongly confounded in Douglas's and other peerages with Patrick Hepburn, bishop of Moray [q. v.] The daughters were: Janet, married to George, fourth lord Seton; Mary, to Archibald, earl of Angus [see Douglas, Archibald, sixth Earl of Angus]; and Margaret, to Henry, lord Sinclair.
[Bannatyne Club Miscellany, vol. iii.; Reg. Mag. Sig. Scotland, vol. i.; Cal. of Documents relating to Scotland, vols. iii. and iv.; Letters and State Papers, reign of Henry VII; Bishop Lesley's Hist. Scotl.; Rymer's Fœdera; Lindsay of Pitscottie's Chronicle; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 225.]