Alexander (Gordon) Gordon Twelfth Earl of Sutherland (abt. 1552 - 1594)

Born about 1552 in Darnaway Castle, Sutherland, Scotland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 6 Dec 1594 at about age 42 in Dunrobin Castle, Scotland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Callum Simms [send private message]

Biography

Alexander Gordon, 12th Earl of Sutherland was born circa 1552, the son of John Gordon, 11th Earl of Sutherland and Lady Elizabeth Stuart.

He gained the title of 12th Earl of Sutherland when he was 15 years old.^[1]

He narrowly avoided his parents' fate in 1567, they had been poisoned, being under age when he succeeded to the earldom, the ward of this young nobleman was granted to his eldest sister, Lady Margaret Gordon, who committed it to the care of John, Earl of Atholl, but his wardship was bought by George, Earl of Caithness, who had probably been behind his parents' murder. Having by treachery got possession of the castle of Skibo, in which the young Earl resided, he seized his person and carried him off to Caithness, where he forced him to marry his daughter, Lady Barbara Sinclair, a profligate woman of double his own age. When he attained his majority he divorced her on 30 June 1572 on the grounds of her adultery, she died in 1573, she was 1st daughter of Alexanders guardian George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness, by his wife Lady Elizabeth Graham, 2nd daughter of William Graham, 2nd Earl of Montrose.^[2]

He escaped from the Earl of Caithness in 1569, he had signed the Hamilton bond in 1568 but submitted to the Regent, the Earl of Moray, in 1569. He was present at the Parliament held at Stirling in 1571, when he and other nobles were seized by the Earl of Huntly in his raid on the town and the new Regent, the Duke of Lennox, slain.

He resigned the Earldom of Sutherland to his son and heir apparent, with reservation of the life rent to himself in 1581, after this he took little part in public life, being generally at feud with the Earl of Caithness; Hereditary Sheriff of Inverness with Sutherland.

He married his third cousin Lady Jean Gordon, former wife of James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell later 1st Duke of Orkney, on 13 December 1573 at Strathbogie, Scotland. She was the daughter of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly and Elizabeth Keith.^[3] They had issue:

1. Lady Jane, b. ^[3] Nov 1574
2. John,, 13th Earl of Sutherland+ b. 20 Jul 1576, d. 11 Sep 1615
3. Alexander, died as infant.
4. Adam, died as infant.
5. Sir Robert,, 1st Bt.+ b. 14 May 1580, d. Mar 1654
6. Mary, b. 14 Aug 1582, d. 1605
7. Sir Alexander, b. 5 Mar 1585

Alexander died on 6 December 1594.

Research Notes

• Electric Scotland

• Cracrofts Peerage

• Burkes Peerage and Landed Gentry

Sources

1. ↑ The Scots Peerage, founded on Wood's edition, Sir James Balfour Paul, Volume 8, p. 343
2. ↑ The Scots Peerage, founded on Wood's edition, Sir James Balfour Paul, Volume 8, p. 344
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 239.