John Wemyss of Logie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Wemyss younger of Logie, (1569-1597), was a Scottish courtier, spy, and subject of the ballad "The Laird o Logie", beheaded for plotting to blow up a fortification at Veere in the Netherlands.
John Wemyss was a son of Andrew Wemyss of Myrecairnie and Logie (later Lord Myrecairnie, a law lord).[citation needed]
He was a cousin of David Wemyss, Laird of West Wemyss, in Fife, Scotland. He was usually known as "Logie" after the family estate at Logie in Fife. He was a valet or varlet in the bed chamber of James VI of Scotland and his sister Euphemia was a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Denmark. He is remembered for his relationship and marriage to Margaret Winster or Vinstarr, a Danish woman who helped him escape from prison.[1]
Quarrel with the Duke of Lennox
In 1590, James VI gave Logie £333 Scots from the subsidy money that Queen Elizabeth had given him. In 1591, "young Logy" received £300. These gifts are evidence of royal favour.[2]
On 7 January 1591, Logie came to the attention of Robert Bowes, the English diplomat in Edinburgh who described a fight on Edinburgh's Royal Mile.[3] Logie had upset or made Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox jealous in an incident in the king's bed chamber. Bowes said the offence was "his disobedience" shown to the Duke. Lennox confronted Logie on the street and hit him on the head with his sword. King James, who was walking behind Logie, was dragged into a shop for safety.[4] Lennox was commanded to leave the court for a while, for fighting near the king's person.[5] Some further details were recorded by David Calderwood. In his version Logie's offence was to refuse to leave the bedchamber at Lennox's command, (Lennox was Chamberlain), Alexander Lord Home helped Lennox attack Logie, and the king's refuge was a skinner's shop where he "fylled his breeches for feare".[6] The kirk minister Robert Bruce of Kinnaird spoke in his next sermon of the lack of reverence of the "men who troubled our causeway".[7] Soon after, Lennox was returned to court by the queen's intervention.[8]
Logie remained in favour, and was probably the valet who attended the king at the wedding of Lilias Murray, the Laird of Tullibardine's daughter, and John Grant of Freuchie on 21 June 1591.[9] The king and his valet changed into costumes with helmets and masks and performed a masque for the guests at Tullibardine.[10] An account for royal costume gives details of "ane stand of maskerye claythis to hym that wes his majesties vallett att thatt tyme".[11]
Escape from Dalkeith
Later in 1592 Logie helped Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell who was a rebel against the king.[12] Colonel William Stewart gave information to Sir James Sandilands that led to his arrest. A "Lady Patfaran" also revealed information. She was Isobel Hepburn, Lady Pitfarran, William Stewart's wife.[13]
On 8 August 1592 the Duke of Lennox arrested Logie with Michael Balfour of Burleigh. Logie confessed to planning four different attempts to capture the king. One involved Margaret Vinstarr, Danish maid of honour to the queen, and Logie's mistress and fiancé. She would steal the keys to the back gate of Dalkeith Palace and let in Bothwell's men. When James interrogated him, Logie was immediately cooperative and withheld nothing, saying that many other servants were allies of Bothwell, in part because they had not been paid. Logie said that Bothwell had received money from Spain, but the Laird of Burleigh said this was only a rumour intended to show that Bothwell had Spanish backing and so encourage his faction. Bowes thought that James would want to have Logie executed, but the queen and Margaret Winstar, who was from a well-connected family and thought to be related to the queen, would work to save his life.[14]
Logie was imprisoned in Dalkeith Palace. He escaped with the help of Margaret Winster or Vinstarr who slept in the queen's bedchamber. Vinstarr asked the guards to bring the prisoner to the queen, and then led him through the queen's bedchamber to a window where she had left a rope (or a pair sheets). An accomplice was waiting below with a horse.[15] The story of the escape is the basis of the ballad, "The Laird of Logie". The queen was asked to send Vinstarr back to Denmark but she refused, instead she stayed at Wemyss Castle for a while. On 9 November 1592 Anne of Denmark wrote to the Laird of Wemyss to thank him for looking after her.[16]
David Moysie wrote an account of the escape in Scots, here given with a modernised version;
the same nycht that he was examinat, he escapit out by the meanis of a gentlewoman quhom he loved, a Dence, quho convoyed him out of his keiperis handis throw the Queinis chalmer, quhaire his Majestie and the Queine wer lyand in thair beddis, till a wyndow in the backsyde of the plaice, quhair he gead doun upone a tow, and schot thrie pistoletis in takin of his onlouping, quhaire sum of his servants with the laird of Nithrie wer awaiting him.
the same night that he was examined, he escaped out by the means of a gentlewoman he loved, a Dane, who conveyed him out of his keeper's hands through the Queen's chamber, where his majesty and the queen were lying in their beds, to a window at the back of the place, where he climbed down on a rope, and shot three pistols as a sign of his getaway, where some of his servants with the Laird of Niddry were waiting for him.[17]
James VI sent a brief account of the incident to Anne of Denmark's brother Christian IV of Denmark in a Latin letter on 17 August 1592, saying that Logie had betrayed his and Anne's trust. Despite the circumstance he had decided to forgive the couple, but Logie was banished from court.[18] Logie was pardoned by James VI on 29 November 1592.[19] He was in Scotland in April 1594 and married in May, a charter of December 1594 names his wife as "Margaret Weiksterne". A chronicle states that Sir Peter Young, the king's almoner and ambassador to Denmark, paid her dowry.[20] Their marriage contract was dated November 1593 and March 1594, for Logie to inherit Myrecairnie, Wester Cruivie, Brighouse, and Logie. James VI also planned to make the lands of Logie a barony.[21]
The story of the escape is also told in the contemporary narrative The Historie and Life of King James the Sext. The author draws attention to Margaret's role in the rescue as an act of charity and a good example for posterity, concluding that by "hir gude cheritable help he happilie escapit be the subteltie of loove".[22] The author of the Historie may have been Mr John Colville, who was also an ally of Bothwell, and mentioned Logie in a letter to Henry Lock, a poet and agent of Sir Robert Cecil.[23]
In June 1593 Robert Bowes described Logie's role in another much less romantic incident. James Gray, a servant of king James and brother of the Master of Gray, had abducted and married Catherine Carnegie daughter of John, Laird of Carnegie. She protested and was given a refuge in house of Robert Jousie in Edinburgh, a cloth merchant and business partner of Thomas Foulis. Gray sent his friend Logie to quietly break into the house. When he discovered that she was still inside, he signalled to James Sandilands and other accomplices to break down the doors and carry her back to Gray, while Lord Home and his followers prevented rescuers. Catherine eventually married Sir John Hamilton of Lettrick.[24]
