Alexander Ruthven, master of Ruthven (12 January 1580 – 5 August 1600) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

nobleman. He is most notable for his participation in the

Gowrie conspiracy The Gowrie conspiracy was a series of events unfolding in Scotland on 5 August 1600. Although the facts of the actual attack and deaths of the Ruthvens are known, the circumstances by which that sequence of events came about remain a mystery. Ruthv ...

of 1600.

Early life

Ruthven was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, the third son of

William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, 4th Lord of Ruthven (c. 1541May 1584) was a Scottish peer known for devising the Raid of Ruthven. Life and career William Ruthven was born in 1541 in Ruthven Castle, in Perthshire, Scotland, the son of Patr ...

, and his wife Dorothea Stewart. He was educated at Perth grammar school, and later at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

Gowrie conspiracy

Ruthven was, with his brother John Ruthven, responsible for an attempt to kidnap or murder King James in August 1600. He lured the king to Gowrie House, where he attempted to confine him in a corner turret while his brother distracted members of the king's retinue. According to Adrian Damman and Thomas Hamilton, Alexander Ruthven tried to tie the king's hands with his garter. However, the king was able to call for help, and both Alexander and John Ruthven were killed by members of the king's party. Alexander was killed by John Ramsay.John Duncan Mackie, ''Calendar State Papers Scotland'', 13:2 (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1969), pp. 679 no. 535, 668 no. 540. While opponents of the king were of the belief that James had fabricated the conspiracy to cover his eradication of the Ruthven family, most modern scholarship agrees that the brothers concocted a plot to kidnap the monarch.

Aftermath

Following his death, Alexander was condemned for treason, and hanged and quartered in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on 17 November 1600. His head remained exposed in that city, while his arms and legs were taken to Perth.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruthven, Alexander 1580 births 1600 deaths People from Perth, Scotland Nobility from Perth and Kinross 1600 in Scotland Posthumous executions Deaths by stabbing Younger sons of earls Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Executed Scottish people

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...