Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:22:33.743Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sir James Hamilton of Finnart: a Renaissance Courtier-Architect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

Charles McKean
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The palace at Stirling Castle, c 1538–40, the culmination of the architectural (?) career of Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, c. 1495–1540, was the most arresting achievement of the architectural patronage of King James V. Until James V had begotten an heir, the Earl of Arran, head of the Hamilton family, stood to inherit the Scottish crown and Finnart was Arran’s elder, but illegitimate, half-brother. During his brother’s minority, from 1529 to 1539, Finnart — ‘the bastard of Arran’ as he was known — was head of the house of Hamilton, one of the country’s elite, and familiar with the king. Curiously, he also displayed an unwonted interest in, and capability for, construction much remarked by his contemporaries. Of his buildings, the Palace at Stirling (Fig. 1) occupies a particular place, since this elaborate and expensive royal lodging may have been built at his own, rather than royal, expense, and gifted to his king in return for the formal grant of his enormous free barony of Avendale, and for legitimization (see below). It was a high price to pay for bastardy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 42 , 1999 , pp. 141 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1 The Earl of Arran’s mother had been daughter of James II. The nearest to the throne was the French-born Duke of Albany (hence his appointment as Regent) whom, after his departure in 1524 and his clear dislike of Scodand, Scots tended not to rate. After Albany’s death in 1536, the Hamiltons were next in line to the throne. There had been some dispute as to whether the Earl of Arran’s first wife had been properly divorced and whether, therefore, his son the second Earl was legitimate. Were that ever proved otherwise, the next in line was the family of Lennox.

2 Buchanan, George, The History of Scotland, ed. MrBond, (Glasgow, 1799), p. 133 Google Scholar and 147ff.

3 Finnart’s father died March 1529, and his half-brother did not accede to majority until 1539. Finnart became Tutor of Arran and Head of the House of Hamilton during that period.

4 It is either known or is highly likely that Finnart was involved in construction at Home Castle, Borders (October 1518-November 1519), Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire (1522-25, demolished), Cadzow, nr Hamilton (c. 1525, ruined), Craignethan, Clydesdale (from 1531), the Castle of Avendale, Strathaven (1533), Linlithgow Palace (1534-38), Boghouse of Crawfordjohn, Upper Clydesdale (1535), Blackness Casde, West Lothian (1535). Palace of Stirling (1538ff.) and the Mansionhouse, West Greenock (Finnart) (c. 1538). For reasons of ownership, occupation, or strategic use, a Finnart contribution might be expected in Tantallon Castle, East Lothian (1528), Kinneil, West Lothian (from 1529), Hamilton Palace, Clydesdale (from 1529, dem.), Town House, Linlithgow (1531, dem.), and Dean Castle, Kilmarnock (1535). For reasons of appointment, connexion or dynastic alliance, research into Finnart connexions with the following could prove fruitful: the Archiepiscopal Palace, Glasgow (c. 1518), the Archiepiscopal Palace, Cowgate, Edinburgh (c. 1519), Boghall, nr Biggar (c. 1524, dem.), Couthally, Lanarkshire (1524 and 1528, dem.), Dumbarton Castle (1526-30), Falkland Palace (1526), Houstoun, Linlithgowshire (1526), and Midhope, West Lothian (1537). In addition, Finnart at some point owned, occupied or had some influence over Drumcross, Manerston, Kincavil (now perhaps Champfleurie), all in Linlithgowshire; the Peel of Drumry and Bardowie in Dunbartonshire; the lands of Bothwell, Thornton Pele, Narstoun (query Mains Castle?), and the Castle of Lekprevik, all in Lower Lanarkshire; lands and town house in Lanark, Liberton in Carnwath, Jerviswood, and Catcasde, all in Clydesdale; Terregles in Dumfriesshire; and Barnwell, Ochiltree, Largs, Auchendrain and Knockdolian, in Ayrshire.

5 Lindsay, Robert of Pitscottie, A History of the Stuart Kings of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1778), p. 257 Google Scholar; Lesley, John, Bishop of Ross, History of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 158 Google Scholar; eleventh Somervill, Lord, Memorie of the Somervitts (Edinburgh, 1679 Google Scholar; reprinted by Bannatyne Club).

6 The traditional view of how Renaissance architecture came into Scotland on the coat tails of the king’s wedding visit can still be found in Shire, Helena, ‘The King’s House’ in Stewart Style, ed. Chase, Janet Hadley (East Linton, 1998)Google Scholar; Fawcett, Richard, Stirling Castle (London, 1995), p. 55 Google Scholar; Fawcett, Richard, Scottish Architecture 1371-1560 (Edinburgh, 1994), p. 320 Google Scholar; Cameron, Neil, SAHGB Newsletter, 66 (London, 1999)Google Scholar, amongst many others; and is implied in Glendinning, MacInnes, and MacKechnie, , A History of Scottish Architecture (Edinburgh, 1996), p. 17 Google Scholar. The change of direction to which they all refer is fundamentally that of façade composition rather than planning, and gives them difficulties in view of the sharp distinctions between the façades of Holyrood, Falkland and Stirling. These differences are generally attributed to the presence of different masons working semi-independently rather than as the expressive consequence of the function of the façades: Stirling as the cultural if not humanist heart of the country; Falkland as the château, the rural but sophisticated hunting seat; and Holyrood, with its two gigantic flanking towers (only one built), the seat of power.

7 Buchanan, History, p. 132; also Anderson, John, History and Genealogical Memories of the House of Hamilton (Edinburgh, 1825), p. 71 Google Scholar.

8 Letters of James V, ed. Hannay, R. K. & Hay, D. (Edinburgh, 1954), p. 50 Google Scholar; letter from Albany to the Cardinal of Ancona from Rouen, on the same day as he effected the Treaty of Rouen between Scotland and France.

9 Central France was, at that time, perhaps the most extensive Renaissance building site in Europe. Josselin was only twelve years finished; Meillant, Châteaudun, Chenonceau, Blois, Amboise, Azay, St Ouen, Oiron and Romorantin were all under construction or planning; and the Château de Gaillon, the magnificent 1511 palace of Cardinal Georges d’Amboise, Archbishop of Rouen, had been only recendy occupied.

10 According to personal correspondence from Prof. Robert Knecht, François 1er was in the habit of taking guests to visit his celebrated tame inventor living only a few hundred yards away from the château.

11 Not only was he the eldest son and heir apparent to the acting Regent, Earl of Arran, but he was summoned back from France on the murder of de la Bastie on 19 September 1517 ( Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland [hereafter TA], ed. Dickson, T. and SirPaul, J. Balfour (Edinburgh, 1877-1916), Vol. 5, p. 58 Google Scholar; Letters of James V, p. 6; Anderson, History and Genealogical Memories).

12 Mason, Roger, Kingship and the Commonweal (East Linton, 1998), p. 104 Google Scholar.

13 Mason, Kingship, p. 125.

14 Lesley, History, p. 154; Pitscottie, History, pp. 238 and 252; Buchanan History, Vol. 2, pp. 166-67.

15 Cameron, Neil, ‘Public façades’, SAHGB Newsletter, 66, January 1999 (London, 1999), p. 2 Google Scholar.

16 The royal lodging, where Mary of Guise gave birth to Prince James in 1540, is visible projecting from the south-east corner of St Andrews’ Cathedral cloister in John Geddy’s 1588 three-dimensional plan of the town in the National Library of Scodand.

17 Lesley, History, p. 55.

18 Linlithgow, Blackness, Boghouse and Stirling.

19 See Lesley, History, and Somervill, Memorie.

20 Based upon his being an adult of 21, and liable to forfeiture, at the battle of Kittycrosshill, 1516, for which he was respited 1.7.1526 ( Registrum Secreti Sigilii Regum Scotorum [hereafter RSS], ed. Burton, J. H et al. (Edinburgh, 1908), 1, 409 Google Scholar). He was aged 36 in 1529 when he became tutor. See Cameron, Jamie, James V — The Personal Rule (East Linton, 1998), p. 218 Google Scholar.

21 Registrum Magni Sigilii Regum Scotorum, ed. Thomson, J. M. et al. (Edinburgh, 1882-1914), 11, 3803 Google Scholar and 3804 [hereafter RGS]; Historic Manuscripts Commission, Eleventh Report, Appx pt vi, 53, No. 108.

22 Finnart was remitted for this in 1526 (RSS I, 3409).

23 Lesley, History, p. 105.

24 TA V, p. 158; Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, ed Stuart, J. et al. (Edinburgh, 1878-1908), XIV, 351 Google Scholar, Letters of JV, pp. 56-58.

25 Reproduced in Pedretti, Carlo, Leonardo, architect (London, 1986), p. 266 Google Scholar.

26 Letters and papers of Henry VIII Foreign & Domestic 1509–1547, ed. Brewer, J. S. et al. (London, 1864), Vol. 2, p. 647 Google Scholar.

27 Acts of the Lords of Council in Public Affairs 1501-1554, ed. Hannay, R. K. (Edinburgh, 1932), p. 214 Google Scholar — where Angus seeks the removal of Finnart and his friends as a bad influence.

28 In January 1525, the English ambassador Magnus reported to Cardinal Wolsey: ‘Of late with me was Sir James Hamilton, bastard son to the Earl of Arran — a proper gentleman, and one that hath the greatest rule and stroke about the said Earl; and demanded of me, if I supposed the King’s Highness could be content that there were, or should be a divorce between the Queen’s Grace and the Earl of Angus.’ Finnart, according to Magnus, then departed to conspire with the Earl of Lennox and others on the same matter. Magnus ends his letter: ‘There is no justice in this realm, but continual murders, theft and robbery … Surely there is in the said Earl of Arran neither high cruelty nor great malice … He is strong of men and good substance in goods, and liveth in order and policy, as is said, above all other here most like to the English manner. He is noted some deal variant [presumably changeable or inconstant] especially as he shall be moved by Sir James Hamilton his son, one of the best undertakers that I mark here.’ Letters and papers of Henry VIII, p. 440.

29 TA V, p. 299.

30 Kelley, M. G., ‘The Douglas Earls of Angus’ (doctoral thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1973), p. 754 Google Scholar.

31 James required a horse to escape from Falkland. Rob Gibb was the king’s stirrupman, assistant to the Master of Horse, Finnart, in the stables. Persistent family legend (and Pitscottie) associated Gibb with the escape, and both Finnart and Gibb were well rewarded immediately thereafter.

32 Because of Finnart’s complete absence from normal magnatial duties, such as witnessing royal charters, Jamie Cameron, The Personal Rule, p. 203, argues that his role was a very much more personal one to the king.

33 Henry VIII Letters, vol. VI, p. 332.

34 Pitscottie, History, p. 257. Heretofore, no evidence for Finnart’s heresy appointment has been found. However, it transpired after his death that he had received lands and rents from the Archbishops of St Andrews and Glasgow, and from other monastic houses — e.g. Manuel of which no prior record existed. Principal amongst those named in Finnart’s downfall are the notable reformers, Henry Balnevis, David Wood of Crag, and James Kircaldy of Grange.

35 Diurnal of Occurrents (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 23, 35.

36 TA VI, p. 179.

37 Henry VIII Letters, p. 728.

38 RGS, p. 983.

39 Henry VIII Letters, Vol. 16 (London, 1898): Sir William Ewer to HVIII. 4.10.1540, No. 12035.

40 See note 4. Finnart enjoyed the three free baronies of Crawfordjohn, Kilmarnock and Avendale, the lands of Symington, Barnwell, Finnart, lands in Ayrshire, lands in upper Clydesdale, lands in Lanarkshire, in Lanark and around Craignethan, lands around Linlithgow, and some near Edinburgh.

41 Pitscottie, History, p. 257; Cameron, James V, p. 350; also MacFarlane’s Genealogical Collections.

42 Somervill, Memorie, pp. 348-49.

43 Somervill, Memorie, p. 349.

44 Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, ed. Stuart, J. et al. (Edinburgh, 1878-1908), XIV, 460 Google Scholar.

45 No records of this building have been found, unless it was once called Fairholm. The frequent references to the Castle at Hamilton have been taken by Pringle, Denys, ‘The Castle of Hamilton and Cadzow Castle’, Château Gaillard XV (Caen, 1990)Google Scholar, to refer to the palace down by the burgh, but this seems improbable. The 1515 siege had shown that the latter was indefensible to artillery. It is now widely thought to be by Finnart: see R. Fawcett, Scottish Architecture, p. 294.

46 Unlike at Chinon, the outer ward is inland and on higher ground. The middle ward appears to date from at least three periods, one of which may have predated 1525. The huge, twin-towered inner ward, seems to have been a single and well-fortified building.

47 A mound in the middle of this rubble-strewn, crumbled moat could possibly be a caponier.

48 Maclvor, Iain ‘Artillery and Major Places of strength in the Lothians and the East Border 1451–1542’ in Scottish Weapons & Fortifications 1100-1800, ed. Caldwell, D. (Edinburgh, 1981), p. 123 Google Scholar; also Fawcett, Scottish Architecture, pp. 294-95.

49 Crawfordjohn had been part of Finnart’s inheritance in 1513. There was an old castle and, by the time the king took Crawfordjohn from him, there was clearly a substantial new building on a different site which, to judge from the feeing of Kedder in 1536, the fitting out in 1541, and the elevation by Timothy Pont, was an imposing property called Boghouse.

50 In personal correspondance, Iain Maclvor has drawn attention to the resemblance between the mounds in the moat and Craignethan’s caponier.

51 Finnart was at the siege of Tantallon, Henry VIII Letters, p. 4924.

52 Accounts of the Masters of Works Vol. 1 1529-1615, ed. Paton, Henry (Edinburgh, 1957), p. 115 Google Scholar [hereafter MWa/c].

53 Maclvor, Iain, ‘Sir James Hamilton of Finnart and the Palace at Stirling Castle’ (unpublished paper in author’s collection, 1992), p. 1 Google Scholar.

54 Late-eighteenth-century naive drawing by de la Motte, Philippe, reproduced in Macdonald, Angus, Linlithgow in Pictures (Edinburgh, 1932)Google Scholar.

55 RGS, 983.

56 RGS, 1411.

57 RGS, III, 1407-11; J. B. Greenshields, , Annals of the Parish of Lesmahagow (Glasgow, 1864)Google Scholar.

58 RGS, 1543.

59 Quoted in MacGibbon, David and Ross, Thomas, The Castellated and the Domestic Architecture of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1887-92), Vol. 11, p. 484 Google Scholar.

60 For more detailed information about Craignethan, and a different interpretation of the axial entrance to the received one, see McKean, Charles, ‘Craignethan: the casde of the Bastard of Arran’, PSAS CXXV (Edinburgh, 1995), pp. 1069-90Google Scholar.

61 RGS, 1885.

62 RGS, 1885.

63 TA VII, p. 383.

64 MW a/c, p. 115.

65 MW a/c, pp. 115-31.

66 RSS 11, 2147.

67 MW a/c, p. 131.

68 MW a/c, p. xvii.

69 Acts of the Lords of Council in Public Affairs 1501-1554, ed. Hannay, R. K. (Edinburgh, 1932), p. 453 Google Scholar.

70 TA VI, p. 91.

71 TA VI, p. 383.

72 It resembled the composition of Crown Square at the citadel of Edinburgh Castle closely — the latter with its chapel to the north, hall to the south, palace and royal lodgings to the east and, possibly, a gallery and armoury to the west. See McKean, Charles, ‘The Palace at Edinburgh Castle’, Book of the Old Edinburgh Club (Edinburgh, 1998)Google Scholar.

73 TA VI, p. 448.

74 MW a/c, pp. 103-11.

75 Fawcett, , Architectural History (Edinburgh, 1994)Google Scholar; Stirling Castle (London, 1995).

76 TA VII, p. 200 for Nicholson; otherwise Exchequer Rolls, MW a/c and RSS. The following posts were held by noblemen’. Master of the King’s Wine Cellar £40; Master Usher £60; Keeper of Linlithgow £20; Master of the King’s Stables £25; and Warden of the March only £100.

77 This section owes a great deal to the analysis and plans in the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Stirlingshire (Edinburgh, 1963), p. 198 [hereafter Stirlingshire]. However, it differs significantly in the interpretation of the building periods of the lower storey/basement, in analysis of orientation, in the sequence of design generation, and in certain critical aspects of statuary analysis.

78 There is a fragment of a chamfered plinth course in the westernmost bay, south façade.

79 The addition of the closet ‘wedge’ is clearly identifiable on plan.

80 The plans in Stirlingshire, p. 198. The basement plan reveals how the creation of a ground-floor service corridor or transe, and the new, central entrance from the Lower Square necessitated substantial shifting.

81 Stirlingshire, plan of principal floor, p. 200: also Historic Buildings and Monuments, drawing 81373/F/14.

82 MW a/c, p. 310.

83 Richardson, J. S., Stirling Castle guidebook (Edinburgh, 1972), p. 11 Google Scholar.

84 Shire, Helena, ‘The King in his House’ in Stewart Style 1513-1542, ed. Williams, Janet Hadley (East Linton, 1998), p. 92 Google Scholar.

85 Stirlingshire, p. 199.

86 MW a/c, p. 310. Italics supplied.

87 Drawing by Capt. Slezer, John, Theatrum Scotia (London, 1693)Google Scholar, reproduced, inter alia, in Fawcett, Stirling Castle.

88 Ibid., p. 38.

89 Stirlingshire, plate 55, bottom, shows a seventeenth-century view from the south, possibly by Slezer, demonstrating how the Forework would have blocked any simultaneous view of south and east façades; and also how the south tableau appears to carry round into the Forework. Slezer’s view from the north, plate 58, shows equally clearly how the eastern tableau facing the Lower Square carried round into the back of the Forework.

90 See also Neil Cameron, ‘Public Face’, p. 1.

91 This section owes a great deal to Helena M. Shire, ‘The King in his house’, with several differences: first, the treatment of each façade as a self-contained tableau; second, the suggestion of the queen’s column in the south-east corner; third, the identification of the lion and imperial Crown with J V above the king; finally the complete interpretation of the parapet figures on the south façade.

92 D. Bendey-Cranch & Rosalind K. Marshall, ‘Iconography and literature in the service of diplomacy’, Stewart Style, p. 288.

93 Stirlingshire, Fawcett, Stirling Castle, Shire, ‘King in his house’.

94 Shire, ‘King…’, pp. 76-78.

95 Most commentators have followed Stirlingshire, p. 220.

96 Shire, ‘King…’, p. 79.

97 See note 6.

98 MW a/c, pp. 227-28.

99 RGS, 2021.

100 This section owes a great deal to Iain Maclvor, ‘Sir James Hamilton of Finnart and the Palace at Stirling Castle’ (unpublished mss, 1992, author’s collection).

101 Cameron, James, ‘Sir James Hamilton of Finnart in Crown Magnate Relations in the personal rule of James V’ (doctoral thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1994), p. 351 Google Scholar.

102 TA VII, p. 256.

103 RSS 11, 3196.

104 RSS 11, 3199.

105 Maclvor, ‘Sir James Hamilton’, p. 9.

106 RGS, 2021, TA VII, p. 256, RSS 11, 3199.

107 TA VII, p. 482.

108 TA VII, p. 393.

109 TA VII, p. 456.

110 TA VII, p. 471.

111 TA VII.

112 RSS 11, 3144.

113 John Hamilton of Cragy was made ‘Master of Work of all our Sovereign Lady’s Palaces and places within the realm for all the days of his life.’ RSS 283, 13 May 1543 Google Scholar.

114 RSS 11, 3245.

115 MW a/c, p. xxxiii, 30 April 1535.

116 MW a/c, p. 228.

117 Fawcett, Stirling Castle, p. 63.

118 Eleventh Earl Somervill, Memorie, Cambusnethan, pp. 348-49.

119 Fawcett, Architecture, p. 295.

120 Cameron, James V, p. 202.

121 Lesley, History, p. 157.

122 Maclvor, ‘Sir James Hamilton’, p. 7.

123 Lesley, History, p. 158.