land. On 7 June Randolph reported that Bothwell had gone north to ‘search’ a passage (ib. 1560–1, entry 172). He made good his escape, but probably before leaving he had learned of the death of the queen-dowager, which took place on 10 June. His mission thus became less urgent, and he went on a visit to Denmark. Writing to Cecil on 23 Sept. Randolph mentions a rumour that Bothwell had there married a wife with whom he obtained forty thousand yoendallers (ib. 1560–1, entry 550). The lady was doubtless Anne, daughter of a Norwegian nobleman, Christopher Thorssen, who with her father was at this time resident in Copenhagen. She subsequently complained that Bothwell had taken her from her father and relations, and would not hold her as his lawful wife, despite promises to them and her (document quoted in Schiern's Life of Bothwell, Engl. transl., p. 54). Having been abandoned by Bothwell in the Netherlands, she was reduced to such straits that she had to dispose of her jewels. She visited Scotland, probably to obtain redress, in 1563; but all that is known of her visit is that in this year she received a passport from Queen Mary to permit her to return to Norway.
Bothwell was well received by the king of Denmark, who at his request conducted him through Jutland and the Duchy of Holstein. He arrived in Paris in the following September and received from the French king the appointment of gentleman of the chamber and a fee of six hundred crowns (Hardwicke, State Papers, p. 143). Mary, who was still in France, chose Bothwell one of her commissioners for holding the estates, and he set out for Scotland on 17 Nov. In announcing his departure to Elizabeth, Throckmorton, who describes him as ‘a glorious, rash, and hazardous young man,’ advises that his ‘adversaries should have an eye to him’ (State Papers, For. Ser. 1560–1, entry 737). Bothwell did not arrive in Edinburgh till February 1561 (ib. Scott. Ser. i. 169). It is often asserted that he soon returned again to France, but this is improbable if we accept Knox's statement that he had entered into a conspiracy to seize Edinburgh before the meeting of the parliament in May. Bothwell was one of the members of the privy council chosen on 6 Sept. after Mary's return to Scotland (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 157); but, having been forbidden to come to court on account of his differences with the Earl of Arran, he did not attend a meeting of the council till 13 Oct. On 11 Nov. he and Arran came under a mutual obligation to keep the peace till 1 Feb. 1562, and a similar arrangement was also made in regard to Bothwell's attitude towards Lord James Stuart and Cockburn of Ormiston. But Bothwell, with the French ambassador and Lord John Stuart of Coldingham, soon afterwards took part in an unseemly riot in Edinburgh, when they endeavoured to enter a merchant's house in search of a young woman, who was reputed to be the mistress of Arran. The riot induced the assembly of the kirk to present a supplication for the interference of the queen, who gave a ‘gentle answer until such time as the convention was dissolved’ (Knox, ii. 318). The attempted outrage was followed by a causeway fight between the Hamiltons and the Hepburns, but when matters looked serious, Huntly and Lord James Stuart interfered in the name of the queen, and Bothwell was commanded to leave the city. Thereupon Bothwell sought the aid of Knox—whose ancestors were dependents of the earls of Bothwell—in making peace with the Earl of Arran. Reconciliation, he stated, would spare him expense, since he was obliged for his own safety to keep ‘a number of wicked and unprofitable men, to the utter destruction of my living that is left’ (ib. ii. 323). Knox had almost succeeded in effecting a reconciliation, when Bothwell, in an ambuscade with eight horsemen, seized Cockburn, and brought him to Crichton Castle. This outrage interrupted Knox's negotiations with Arran. But Bothwell soon sent back Cockburn, and Knox, having renewed negotiations with Arran, finally brought about a meeting between them in the lodging at Kirk-o'-Field. Here they had some friendly intercourse. On the morrow Bothwell went with Arran to hear Knox preach. Three days later Arran told Knox that Bothwell had proposed to him to carry off the queen to Dumbarton. Arran's manner, as Knox observed, bore evident signs of insanity. He was confined by his father in Kinnaird House, but escaped to Stirling, and was brought thence to the queen at Falkland, where he was placed in ward. Bothwell, having unwittingly come to the court at Falkland, was also imprisoned. From Falkland the two were brought to St. Andrews, where, after six weeks' confinement in the castle, they were on 4 May removed to Edinburgh. During the night of 28 Aug. Bothwell succeeded in breaking one of the iron bars of his prison window, and either escaped down the castle rock, or, according to another account, ‘got easy passage by the gates’ (ib. ii. 347). In any case he must have had the assistance of accomplices. Knox states that the queen was little offended at his escape.
Bothwell went to his own house at the Hermitage, and acted on Knox's advice to keep ‘good quietness,’ so that his crime of
