Michael Durham

Michael Durham and his brother Henry Durham were Protestants who sided with England during the war now known as the Rough Wooing.^[8] In August 1546, Arran had Michael Durham imprisoned for a time in Edinburgh Castle.^[9] Durham then went to London. The Scottish diplomat Adam Otterburn was surprised he had been released and allowed to travel.^[10]

After the battle of Pinkie in September 1547, Michael Durham accompanied the English commander Andrew Dudley from Leith to Broughty Castle. They sailed in the Galley Suttill or Subtle with Richard Brooke and fired three shots at the castle. Henry Durham, who was a retainer of Lord Gray, and Captain of Broughty, surrendered the castle to Dudley.^[11] The galley was used because it could be rowed near the shore to fire its ordnance.^[12]

Henry and Michael Durham, as "assured Scots", were given an English pension of £50 and trading privileges.^[13]

Michael Durham returned to London. He received a pension from the English exchequer, granted by Edward VI of England.^[14] He became a friend of the French ambassador Antoine de Noailles, aiding him with intelligence and in diplomatic matters.^[15] Durham carried or forwarded some of Noailles's letters to Henri Cleutin in Scotland.^[16] Noailles tried to rehabilitate Durham with Mary of Guise, the widow of James V who ruled Scotland from 1554 to 1560.^[17]

An "assize" concerning Doctor Durham was held in Edinburgh in October 1555.^[18] In March 1557, the English diplomat Nicholas Wotton described Durham as a spy for France and Mary of Guise, receiving a pension from her of 300 crowns.^[19]

René-Aubert Vertot, an 18th-century editor of the letters of Antoine de Noailles, mentions that suspicion fell on Durham for poisoning James V.^[20] There were rumours that the king's demise was hastened by poison or the wrong medicine. Modern historians believe James died of natural causes.^[21] A rumour of poisoning was current days after the death, reaching English authorities.^[22] John Lesley wrote that James V was "vexit by some unkindly medicine".^[23] A translator of Lesley's Latin History wrote that the common people thought "the king sooner died through medicine, than otherwise he would have done".^[24] Raphael Holinshed and David Calderwood wrote of reports that James V was "disquieted by some unkindlie medicine".^[25][26]