John (Maxwell) Fifth Earl of Morton (1553 - 1593)

Born 24 Apr 1553 in Kirkudbright, Sutherland, Scotland

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Douglas) Douglas Countess of Nithsdale — married about 17 Feb 1571 in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland

Descendants

Died 7 Dec 1593 at age 40 in Dryfesdale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland

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Biography

John Maxwell was a member of the aristocracy in Scotland.

John (Maxwell) Fifth Earl of Morton is Notable.

John (Maxwell) Fifth Earl of Morton is a member of Clan Maxwell.

John Maxwell was a posthumous son of Robert Maxwell by his wife Beatrix Douglas^[1] born 24 Apr 1553. 3 days after the execution of his uncle James Douglas 4th Earl of Morton, Maxwell was created 29 Oct 1581 Earl of Morton and Lord Carlyle and Eskdaill, ratified by parliament 29 Nov 1581. When the attainder of the 4th Earl of Morton was formally reversed on 29 Jan 1585, his territorial grant was revoked 9 Apr 1585 and the title reverted to his cousin Archibald Douglas, 8th Earl of Angus and 5th Earl of Morton.^[2]

However, John Maxwell continued to use the title Earl of Morton until his death. His successor John and his 2nd son Robert also used the title. The latter was confirmed via grants in 1620 as his brother's successor as 10th Lord Maxwell. A 2nd patent clarified that since it was not customary for two Earls to bear the same title, John was retroactively created Earl of Nithsdale 29 Oct 1581 but only Robert was styled the 1st Earl of Nithsdale.

He m. at Dalkeith, 17 Feb (contract 13 Jan) 1571/2, Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of David, 7th Earl of Angus. She later married Alexander Stewart of Garlies and John Wallace, elder of Craigie (contract 31 Oct 1597). ^[3]

He d. on the Dryfesands near Lockerbie 7 Dec 1593, on a punitive expedition against the Johnstones.

Children of John Maxwell and Elizabeth Douglas:

1. John Maxwell, 9th Lord Maxwell
2. Robert Maxwell, 1st Earl of Nithsdale
3. James Maxwell
4. Elizabeth Maxwell, m. John Maxwell 6th Lord Herries
5. Margaret John Wallace, younger of Craigie
6. Jean, d. unm
7. Agnes Maxwell m. 3 Apr 1603 William Douglas of Greenlaw, Lincluden and Penzerie.

He also had a natrual son John Maxwell of whom Maxwell of Middlebie is descended.

John Maxwell [1] Suffix 8th Lord of Calaverock, Earl of Morton Born 24 Apr 1553 Gender Male Name John Maxwell [2] Died 7 Dec 1593 Dryfe Sands Find all individuals with events at this location Cause: killed fighting the Johnstones. Person ID I2571 Clan current Last Modified 24 Feb 2018

Father Robert Maxwell, 6th Lord of Carlavarock, d. 13 Sep 1552 Mother Beatrix Douglas, b. Abt 1528, d. Abt 31 Oct 1583 (Age ~ 55 years) Family ID F3379 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Family Elizabeth Douglas, b. Abt 1553, Angus (Now Forfar), Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location, d. Feb 1637 (Age ~ 84 years) Children 1. John Maxwell, 9th Lord of Calaverock, b. Abt 1585, d. 21 May 1613, Mercat Cross, Edinburgh, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 28 years) + 2. Robert Maxwell, 10th Lord of Carlaverock, 1st Earl of Nithsdale, d. May 1646 + 3. Elizabeth Maxwell, d. Aft Dec 1639 + 4. Margaret Maxwell, 3rd daughter, b. Abt 1578, Nithsdale, Dumfries, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location, d. Yes, date unknown Last Modified 24 Aug 2015 14:03:00 Family ID F1706 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Research Notes

1 - The earldom was obtained following the execution of James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, Regent of Scotland. However, the title was later revoked when the earldom was restored to the Douglas family. 2 - A combination of nobles of the ultra-Protestant party—the Earl of Gowrie, the Earl of Mar, Lord Glammis, and others, laid a gentle compulsion on the young king while he was staying at Ruthven House near Perth (August 1582), and his councillors Lennox and Arran were debarred from his presence. After this event, known in our history as the Raid of Ruthven, the king remained under the control of his new councillors for a year, during which a pure Presbyterianism was again encouraged, and the English alliance was cultivated. Regaining his liberty by stratagem, James once more put himself under the guidance of the profligate but energetic Arran. A modified episcopate was established in the church, under a subordination to the state, and a restraint was imposed on the tongues of the clergy in the pulpit. The Earl of Gowrie was brought to the block. Several ministers, including Melville, had to take refuge in England. But the general tendency of things in Scotland was inconsistent with the rule of a man possessing the genius of Arran. Elizabeth, too, deemed it best for her interests that others should have the control of Scottish affairs. Accordingly, a new and more formidable combination was formed. Joined by Lord John Hamilton, the head of the long proscribed house of Hamilton, and by Lord Maxwell, whom Arran had offended, they advanced with an army of 5000 men to Stirling, then the seat of the court. Arran, unable to resist, fled, and was allowed to fall into obscurity. The king with great placidity put himself into the hands of his new councillors (November 1585). This coup d’etat was followed by the restoration of the Hamilton family to its titles and estates. - 1585, Apr 7 John Lord Maxwell was at this time the most powerful man in the south-west province of Scotland. He possessed Caerlaverock Castle and many fair estates. The next man in the district was the chief of the clan Johnston, usually called Johnston of that Ilk, or the Laird of Johnston. The jealousy in which these great lords of the land usually stood of each other chanced at this time to be inflamed into hostilities, and Maxwell took such an attitude towards the profligate government of the Earl of Arran, as to cause himself to be denounced as a rebel. According to the common practice, the court gave a commission to Johnston to proceed against Lord Maxwell, only helping him with two companies of hired troops under the command of Captains Cranstoun and Lammie. This proved an unfortunate movement for the house of Johnston. The two hired bands were cut to pieces on Crawford Moor by Robert Maxwell, natural brother to the earl. The same bold man proceeded to Johnston’s castle of Lochwood, and at the date noted set fire to it, jestingly remarking that he would give Lady Johnston light ‘to set her hood.’ Johnston himself sustained a defeat at the hands of the Maxwells, was made prisoner by them, and died of a broken heart. This was only the beginning of a protracted feud between the Maxwells and Johnston; which cost each family, as will be seen, the destruction of two of its chiefs. 3 - July 22 1593 The feud between the Lord Maxwell and the Laird of Johnston, which had been stayed by a reconciliation, broke out again afresh in consequence of a foray by William Johnston of Wamphray, usually called, from his reckless, dissipated character, the Galliard, in the lands of the Crichtons of Sanquhar and Douglases of Drumlanrig. The Galliard being taken in the fray and hanged, his friends, on being pursued for the recovery of the stolen cattle, stood at bay and fought so desperately that many of their enemies bit the dust. A remarkable scene was consequently presented in Edinburgh. ‘There came certain poor women out of the south country, with fifteen bloody shirts, to compleen to the king that their husbands, sons, and servants, were cruelly murdered by the Laird of Johnston, themselves spoiled, and nothing left them. The poor women, seeing they could get no satisfaction, caused the bloody shirts to be carried by pioneers through ‘the town of Edinburgh, upon Monday, the 23d of July. The people were much moved, and cried out for a vengeance upon the king and council. The king was nothing moved, but against the town of Edinburgh and the ministry. The court alleged they had procured that spectacle in contempt of the king.’---Cal. - 1593 The Crichtons and Douglases, whom the Johnstons had plundered in the summer of this year, having induced Lord Maxwell to take up their cause, and enter with them into bonds of manrent for mutual support, it behoved the Laird of Johnston to be stirring. To his aid came the reiving clans of Scott and Graham, and with them he fell upon and cut off a party of the Maxwells. This led to a decisive attempt of Lord Maxwell to bring the Johnstons to subjection; but, though undertaken under sanction of his office as warden of the west marches, it ended in a way very unfortunate for himself. Dec 6 ‘The Lord Maxwell, being on foot 1500 and horse together, coming to the Lochwood, having special commission of the king to have destroyed the said Lochwood, and banished and destroyed the hail Johnston; because he [the laird] was ane favourer of the Earl Bothwell in some of his turns—being come over the Water of Annan—the Laird of Johnston, with the Scotts, to the number of 800 or thereby, ombeset the said lord in his way; where, without few or na strakes, the said lord was slain with the Laird Johnston’s awn hand [or, as is alleged, by Mr Gideon Murray, being servitor till Scott of Buccleuch]; never ane of his awn folks remained with him (only twenty of his awn household), but all fled through the water; five of the said lord’s company slain; and his head and right arm were ta’en with them to the Lochwood, and affixed on the wall thereof. The bruit ran that the said Lord Maxwell was treacherously deserted by his awn company.’—Jo. Hist. Such was the famous clan-battle of Dryfe’s Sands, the last of any note fought in the southern part of Scotland.

4 - The escape of the King from the Ruthven lords, and the consequent return of Arran to power, produced an immediate change in Morton's relations to the Court. The nobles who had taken part in the Raid mustered their forces and took possession of Stirling Castle On the other hand James, with the assistance of Morton, assembled an army of twelve thousand men to vindicate his authority, and on his approach to Stirling the insurgents disbanded their forces and fled into England. But the friendly feeling between the royal favourite and the Earl of Morton was not of long continuance. Arran had obtained a grant of the barony of Kinneil through the forfeiture of the Hamiltons, and he endeavoured to prevail upon Morton to accept this estate in exchange for his barony of Mearns and the lands of Maxwellheugh. Morton naturally refused to barter the ancient inheritance of his family for lands which a revolution at Court would almost certainly restore to their rightful owners. The worthless favourite was greatly incensed at this refusal, and speedily made Morton feel the weight of his resentment. He set himself to revive the old feud between the Maxwells and the Johnstones. The Earl was denounced as a rebel by the Council, on the plea that he had failed to present before their lordships two persons of the name of Armstrong, whom it was alleged he had protected in their depredations. He was ordered to enter his person within six days in ward in the castle of Blackness, and to deliver up the castles of Carlaverock and Thrieve, and his other strongholds within twenty four hours, under the penalty of treason. It was also ordered that the Earl's friends on the West Borders should appear personally before the Laird of Johnstone, who was now again Warden of the West Marches, upon a certain day, to give security for their due obedience to the King, under the pain of rebellion. To crown all, a commission was given to the Warden to pursue and seize Morton; and two companies of hired soldiers were dispatched by Arran to assist Johnstone in executing these decrees. Morton, thus forced to the wall, adopted prompt and vigorous measures for his defence. The defeat of the mercenaries on Crawford Moor by Robert Maxwell-a natural brother of the Earl-the destruction of the house of Lochwood, and the capture of Johnstone himself, when he was lying in ambush to attack Robert Maxwell, speedily followed. On the other hand, the King, with advice of his Council, revoked and annulled the grant which he had made to Lord Maxwell of the lands and earldom of Morton. So formidable did the Earl appear to the Government, that £20,000 was granted by the Convention of the Estates to levy soldiers for the suppression of his rebellion, and all the men on the south of the Forth capable of bearing arms were commanded to be in readiness to attend the King in an expedition against the powerful and refractory baron, of whom it was justly said that 'few noblemen in Scotland could surpass him in military power and experience.' But the projected raid into Dumfries-shire was deferred for some months, and ultimately abandoned. Even Arran himself was so much impressed by the indomitable energy and power of resistance which Morton had displayed, that he made an unsuccessful attempt to be reconciled to him. The downfall of the profligate and unprincipled favourite was, however, at hand. The banished lords entered Scotland in October, 1585, at the head of a small body of troops, and were joined by Bothwell, Home , Yester, Cessford , Drumlanrig , and other powerful barons. Maxwell brought to their aid 1,300 foot and 700 horse, while the forces of all the other lords scarcely equalled that number. The insurgents marched to Stirling, where the King and his worthless favourite lay, and without difficulty obtained possession both of the town and the castle. Hume of Godscroft mentions, with great indignation, the conduct of the Annandale Borderers under Maxwell. True to their predatory character, they carried off the gentlemen's horses, which had been committed to the care of their valets, respecting neither friend nor foe; and what was worse, they robbed the sick in the pest-lodges that were in the fields about Stirling, and carried away the clothes of the infected. Arran fled for his life, accompanied only by a single attendant; the banished lords, along with Morton, were pardoned and received into favour, their estates were restored, and an indemnity was shortly after granted to them by Parliament for all their unlawful doings within the kingdom. Emboldened by his victory over Arran, Morton, who was a zealous Roman Catholic, assembled a number of his retainers and supporters of the old Church at Dumfries, and marched in procession at their head to the Collegiate Church of Lincluden, in which he caused mass to be openly celebrated. As stringent laws had been enacted by the Estates against the celebration of mass, this conduct excited general indignation. Morton was summoned to appear before the Privy Council, and was imprisoned by order of the King in the castle of Edinburgh . Shortly after, the forfeiture of Regent Morton was rescinded, and it was declared that Archibald, Earl of Angus, as his nearest heir of line, should succeed to the lands and dignities of the earldom. Lord Maxwell, however, was not deprived of the title of Earl of Morton, which was subsequently given to him in royal charters and commissions, and which he continued to use till his death. Maxwell's imprisonment was first of all relaxed on his giving security that he would not go beyond the city of Edinburgh and a certain prescribed limit in its vicinity, and he was set at liberty in the summer of 1586. In common with the other Popish lords, he made no secret of his sympathy with the projected invasion of England by Philip II. of Spain. In April, 1587, he received licence from the King to visit the Continent, on his giving a bond with cautioners that 'whilst he remained in foreign parts he should neither privately, directly nor indirectly, practise anything prejudicial to the true religion presently professed within this realm,' and that he should not return to Scotland without his Majesty's special licence.' It is scarcely necessary to say that the Earl deliberately violated his pledge, and during his residence in Spain he was in active communication with the Spanish Court, and not only witnessed the preparations that were making for the invasion of England, but promised his assistance in the enterprise. Contrary to the assurance which he had given, he returned to Scotland without the King's permission, and landed at Kirkcudbright, in April, 1588. A proclamation was therefore issued forbidding all his Majesty's subjects to hold intercourse with him. It soon appeared that this step was fully warranted by Morton's treasonable intentions and intrigues. He and the other Popish lords had earnestly recommended the Spanish king to invade England through Scotland, and that, for this purpose, a Spanish army should be landed on the west coast, promising that as soon as this was done they would join the invaders with a numerous body of their retainers. Morton at once set about organising an armed force in Dumfries, there to be in readiness for this expected result. Lord Herries, who had been appointed Warden in the room of his relative, finding himself unable to suppress this rising, which was every day gathering fresh strength, warned the King of the danger which threatened the peace and security of the country, and Morton was immediately summoned to appear before the Council. He not only disregarded the summons, but, in defiance of the royal authority, set about fortifying the Border fortresses of which he held possession. James, indignant at this contumacy, and now fully alive to the danger which threatened the kingdom, promptly collected a body of troops and marched to Dumfries, where Morton, unprepared for this sudden movement, narrowly escaped being made prisoner. He rode with the utmost expedition to Kirkcudbright, and there procured a ship, in which he put to sea. Next day the King summoned the castles of Lochmaben, Langholm, Thrieve, and Carlaverock, to surrender. They all obeyed except Lochmaben, which was commanded by David Maxwell, brother to the Laird of Cowhill, who imagined that he would be able to hold the castle against the royal forces in consequence of their want of artillery. The King himself accompanied his troops to Lochmaben, and having 'borrowed a sieging train from the English Warden at Carlisle,' battered the fortress so effectually that the garrison were constrained to capitulate. They surrendered to Sir William Stewart, brother of Arran, on the written assurance that their lives should be spared. This pledge, however, was shamefully violated by the King, who ordered the captain and four of the chief men of the garrison to be hanged before the castle gate, on the ground that they had refused to surrender when first summoned. It was of great importance that the person of the leader of the rebellion should be secured, and Sir William Stewart was promptly despatched in pursuit of Morton. Finding himself closely followed, the Earl quitted his ship, and taking to the boat, made for land. Stewart having discovered, on seizing the ship, that Maxwell had left it, followed him to land, and succeeded in apprehending him. He was at first conveyed to Dumfries, but was afterwards removed to the castle of Edinburgh. He contrived, even when in confinement, to take part in a new intrigue for a renewed attempt at invasion after the destruction of the Armada, and along with the Earl of Huntly and Lord Claude Hamilton he signed a letter to Philip, King of Spain, giving him counsel as to the mode in which another effort might be successfully made. Maxwell was released from prison, along with the other Popish nobles, on the 12th of September, 1589, to attend James's queen on her arrival from Denmark. On his liberation he became bound under a penalty of a hundred thousand pounds Scots to conduct himself as a loyal subject, and neither directly nor indirectly to do anything tending to the 'trouble and alteration of the state of religion presently professed, and by law established within the realm.' It appears that Lord Maxwell, about the beginning of the year 1592, had professed to have become a convert to the Protestant religion, and on January 26th he subscribed the Confession of Faith before the Presbytery of Edinburgh. The sincerity of this profession may be doubted, and it soon became evident that it had exercised no improvement in his turbulent character, for, on the 2nd of February following, he had a violent struggle for precedency in the Kirk of Edinburgh with Archibald, Earl of Angus, the new Earl of Morton. They were separated by the Provost before they had time to draw their swords, and were conveyed under a guard to their lodgings. Repeated efforts had been made to heal the long-continued and deadly feud between the Maxwells and the Johnstones, and early in the year 1592 it seemed as if a permanent reconciliation had been at length effected. On the 1st of April of that year the rival chiefs entered into a full and minute agreement by which they 'freely remitted and forgave all rancour of mind, grudge, malice, and feuds that had passed, or fallen forth, betwixt them or any of their forbears in any time bygone,' and became bound that 'they themselves, their kin, friends, &c., should in all time coming live together in sure peace and amity.' Any controversy or questions that might hereafter arise between them were to be referred to eight arbitrators, four chosen by each party, with the King as oversman or umpire. But in the following year the two families came again into collision, and the feud was revived more fiercely than ever. William Johnstone, of Wamphray, called the Galliard, [The name seems to have been derived from a dance called the galliard. The word is still employed in Scotland for an active, gay, dissipated character.] a noted freebooter, made a foray on the lands of the Crichtons of Sanquhar, the Douglases of Drumlanrig and some other Nithsdale barons. The Galliard was taken prisoner in the fray and hanged by the Crichtons. The Johnstones, under the leadership of the Galliard's nephew, and in greater force, made a second inroad into Nithsdale, killing a good many of the tenantry, and carrying off a great number of their cattle. The freebooters were pursued by the Crichtons, who overtook them at a pass called Well Path Head, by which they were retreating to their fastnesses in Annandale. The Johnstones stood at bay and fought with such desperate courage that their pursuers were defeated and most of them killed. [This skirmish forms the subject of the old Border ballad, entitled The Lads a' Wamphray.] The Biddesburn, where the encounter took place, is said to have run three days with blood. A remarkable scene which followed this sanguinary fray is thus described by a contemporary writer. 'There came certain poor women out of the south country, with fifteen bloody shirts, to compleane to the King that their husbands, sons, and servants were cruelly murdered by the Laird of Johnstone, themselves spoiled, and nothing left them. The poor women, seeing they could get no satisfaction, caused the bloody shirts to be carried by pioneers through the town of Edinburgh, upon Monday, the 23rd of July. The people were much moved, and cried out for vengeance upon the King and Council. The King was nothing moved, but against the town of Edinburgh and the ministers.' The Court alleged they had procured that spectacle in contempt of the King. The feeling thus excited, however, was so strong that the Government was in the end constrained to take proceedings against the depredators. The injured and despoiled Nithsdale barons complained of this sanguinary foray of the Johnstones to Lord Maxwell, who had been reinstated in his office of Warden of the Western Marches. But his recent pacification and alliance with Sir James Johnstone, of Dunskellie, the chief of the clan, made him unwilling to move in the affair. The King, however, issued orders to the Warden to apprehend Johnstone and to execute justice on the 'lads of Wamphray' for the depredations and slaughters which they had committed. At the same time Douglas of Drumlanrig and Kirkpatrick of Closeburn entered into a bond, in conjunction with the Warden's brother, binding themselves to stand firmly by Lord Maxwell in executing the royal commands, and to defend each other, and to support him in his quarrels with his hereditary foes. This secret alliance was speedily made known to the chief of the Johnstones, and he immediately applied for help in this hour of need to the friends on whom he could rely. The Scotts of Buccleuch, though their chief, a near relation of Johnstone, was then on the Continent, mustered five hundred strong, 'the most renowned freebooters,' says an old historian, 'and the bravest warriors among the Border tribes.' With them came the Elliots, Armstrongs, and Grahams, valiant and hardy, actuated both by love of plunder, and by hostility to the Maxwells. On the other hand the Warden, armed with the royal authority, assembled his new allies, the barons of Nithsdale, and displaying his banner as the King's lieutenant, invaded Annandale at the head of fifteen hundred men, with the purpose of crushing the ancient rival and enemy of his house. It is said that some days previously, Maxwell caused it to be proclaimed among his followers that he would give 'a ten-pound land '-that is, land rated in the cess-books at that yearly amount-to any man who would bring him the head or hand of the Laird of Johnstone. When this was repeated to Johnstone, he said he had no ten-pound lands to offer, but he would bestow 'a five-merk land' upon the man who should bring him the head or the hand of Lord Maxwell. On the 6th of December, 1593, the Warden crossed the river Annan and advanced to attack the Johnstones, who had skilfully taken up their position on an elevated piece of ground at the Dryfe Sands, near Lockerbie, where Lord Maxwell could not bring his whole force into action against them at the same time. A detachment sent out by the Warden was suddenly surrounded by a stronger body of the enemy and driven back on the main force, which it threw into confusion. A desperate conflict then ensued, in which the Johnstones and their allies, though inferior in numbers, gained a complete victory. The Maxwells suffered considerable loss in the battle and the retreat, and many of them were slashed in the face by the pursuers in the streets of Lockerbie-a kind of blow which to this day is called in the district 'A Lockerbie lick.' Lord Maxwell himself, who, says Spottiswood, was 'a tall man and heavy in armour, was in the chase overtaken and stricken from his horse,' and slain under two large thorn-trees which were long called 'Maxwell's Thorns,' but were swept away about fifty years ago by an inundation of the Dryfe. According to tradition, it was William Johnstone of the Kirkhill, the nephew of the Galliard, who overtook Lord Maxwell in his flight, and obtained the reward offered by Sir James Johnstone, by striking down the chief of the Maxwells and cutting off his right hand. The lairds of Drumlanrig, Closeburn, and Lag escaped by the fleetness of their horses. 'Never ane of his awn folks,' says an ancient chronicler, 'remained with him [Maxwell] (only twenty of his awn household), but all fled through the water; five of the said lord's company slain; and his head and right hand were ta'en with them to the Lochwood and affixed on the wall thereof. The bruit ran that the said Lord Maxwell was treacherously deserted by his awn company.' [Johnstone's Histories, p. 182. Sir Walter Scott mentions a tradition of the district, that the wife of the Laird of Lockerbie sallied out from her tower, which she carefully locked, to see how the battle had gone, and saw Lord Maxwell lying beneath a thorn-tree, bareheaded and bleeding to death from the loss of his right hand, and that she dashed out his brains with the ponderous key which she carried. But the story is in itself exceedingly improbable. and is at variance with the contemporary histories.] 5 - Feb 16 1598 It was now five years since the tragic death of the late Lord Maxwell, killed in a conflict with the Johnstons, in December 1593, and yet his corpse lay unburied. Stigmatising this as an abuse that ‘of late has croppin in,’ and in order to prevent the example from being followed, the king and Council issued an order to the relatives of the nobleman, that they have the body buried in their ordinary place of sepulture within twenty days, under pain of rebellion [3, 4, 5]

Sources

1. ↑ Johnston, George Harvey, "The heraldry of the Douglases : with notes on all the males of the family, descriptions of the arms, plates and pedigrees", Edinburgh: W & A K Johnston, 1907, Archive.org, p. 65
2. ↑ Paul, James Balfour. "The Scots Peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom", Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1909, Vol. VI, Archive.org, p. 482
3. ↑ Rogers, Charles, "The Book of Wallace", Edinburgh: McFarlane & Erskine, 1889, Vol. I, Archive.org, p.56, p.57

See also:

• Wikipedia: John Maxwell,8thLordMaxwell

• Wikidata: Item Q6247267, en:Wikipedia

• The Peerage John Maxwell

• Chambers, Robert, "Domestic Annals of Scotland from te Reformation to the Revolution", Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers, 1874, Ed. 3 Vol. I, ch.6 & 8

• Sizer, J. R. M. "Maxwell, John, earl of Morton (1553–1593), magnate." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.