Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Burned at the Stake as a Witch 1537 Janet Douglas Lyon Campbell Lady Glimas

 

Janet Douglas Lady Glimas (c 1504-1537)

Burned at the Stake as a Witch Edinburgh Castle, Scottland 1537

On 17th July 1537, Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis, a Scottish noblewoman was accused of witchcraft. She was burned to death on the castle hill at Edinburgh after being found guilty of two counts of treason. She had been charged with plotting to assassinate by poisoning King James V of Scotland. Lady Glamis was also charged of corresponding with her brothers, Sir George Douglas and Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus.



The Douglas family was far from favoured by King James V of Scotland: Janet's brother, Archibold Douglas , 6th Earl of Angus, was the King's stepfather, and Angus had imprisoned the young James. James' hatred for Angus extended to his whole family, including Janet. After James had broken free of the Douglas family, in December 1528, Janet was summoned for treason. She was accused with others for bringing supporters of the Earl of Angus to Edinburgh in June. However, James called her "our lovittis Dame Jonat Douglas" in a licence of 1529, allowing her and a co-accused Patrick Charteris of Cuthilgurdy to go on pilgrimage, and be exempt from legal proceedings. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Janet Douglans, Lady Glamis)

A recent historian, Jamie Cameron, thinks it unlikely that Janet went on pilgrimage, as she was the subject of a number of legal actions culminating in a charge of poisoning her husband John Lyon, 6th Lord Glamis who had died on 17 September 1528. This case was dropped, and Janet was free to marry her second husband, Archibald Campbell of Skipness by the summer of 1532. However, on 17 July 1537, Janet was convicted of planning to poison the King, and communicating with her brothers, the Earl of Angus and George Douglas. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Janet Douglans, Lady Glamis)

James [V] had Janet accused of witchcraft against him, although it was clear that the accusations were false. She was imprisoned with her husband (who escaped but was later killed) in a dungeon of Edinburgh Castle. It was easy for James to imprison Janet, but actually convicting her was more difficult. To gain "evidence", James had Janet's family members and servants subjected to torture. Janet was convicted and burned at the stake on 17 July 1537 by Edinburgh Castle, which her young son [John Lyon 7th Lord of Glamis] was forced to watch. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Janet Douglans, Lady Glamis)


[John Lyon 7th Lord of Glamis (c. 1521 – 1558)] Along with his mother [Janet Lady of Glamis], who had married as her second husband Archibald Campbell of Skipnish, Glamis and others were in July 1537 placed on trial on the charge of conspiring to cause the death of James V of Scotland by poison. His mother Janet was found guilty and burnt at the stake. Glamis, then only in his sixteenth year, confessed, and was placed in prison. Some time later he was released from prison, but on 3 December 1540 his estates were annexed to the crown by act of parliament. On 13 March 1543 the forfeiture was rescinded, and he was restored to his titles and estate. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: John Lyon, 7th Lord of Glamis)


Janet Douglas was the daughter of the Scottish nobleman, George Douglas, Master of Angus, and his wife, Elizabeth Drummond. Janet was born c. 1504 and her father died at the Battle of Flodden on 9th September 1513. Janet's siblings included Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, who married Margaret Tudor, widow of James IV, and Sir George Douglas of Pittendriech. Janet married John Lyon, 6th Lord Glamis, when she was about sixteen years of age, in 1520. The couple had four children before Lyon died in 1528. Janet married her second husband, Archibald Campbell of Skipness, younger son of Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll by July 1532. The marriage [may have been] was childless. (The Tutor Society, Janet Douglas Lady Glimas (c. 1504-1537) Author Claire Ridgway) 


James V became King of Scotland on 9th September 1513, following his father's death at the Battle of Flodden; he was just one year old. His mother, Margaret Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, married Archibald Douglas, Janet's brother, in August 1514, making Archibald the young king's stepfather. According to Janet Douglas's biographer, C. A. McGladdery, by 1528, the king had come to hate his stepfather, who had been acting as his guardian, and a proclamation was issued stating that Angus was not allowed to come within 7 miles of the king. This breakdown in the relationship between king and stepfather had a knock-on effect for the whole Douglas family and in late 1528 and early 1529, Janet was summoned before Parliament accused of treason for witchcraft and supporting her brothers. Janet was let off the hook at that time, being granted licence to go on a pilgrimage overseas. However, Janet was still in Scotland in the winter of 1529/1530 because she took legal action against John Lyon of Knockany, and by early 1532 she was being implicated in the death of her husband, Lord Glamis, who, some said, died of poisoning. (The Tutor Society, Janet Douglas Lady Glimas (c. 1504-1537) Author Claire Ridgway) 

The case against Janet was dropped but in June 1537, her son, John Lyon, 7th Lord Glamis, was taken to Edinburgh Castle as a ward and on 17th July 1537 Janet was convicted of plotting to poison King James V and assisting and corresponding with her brothers. She was condemned to death and executed on the same day. On 18th July 1537, Janet's husband, Campbell, died after breaking his neck in an escape attempt from imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle. Janet's son, the 7th Lord Glamis, was found guilty of concealing his mother's plot to kill the king but his death sentence was commuted to imprisonment. (The Tutor Society, Janet Douglas Lady Glimas (c. 1504-1537) Author Claire Ridgway) 


Janet Douglas Lyon, Lady Glamis was one of as many as two thousand Scots, mostly women, burned at the stake as a witch at Castlehill between 1479-1722, when Edinburgh was the witch-burning capital of Europe. In his Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland, Alexander Pitcairn contends that Lady Glamis was innocent; she had been falsely accused of conspiring to poison King James V. (OddScottland.com Lady Glimas (Janet Douglas) Burned as a Witch 1537, by Nancy Lyon)

Lady Glamis' accuser, William Lyon, was the king's confidante and a blood relative of her first husband, John Lyon, the Sixth Lord Glamis, who she was also wrongly accused of poisoning seven years after they were married. Pitcairn describes the accuser William Lyon as a spurned suitor who framed Lady Glamis out of spite, because she refused to marry him. (OddScottland.com Lady Glimas (Janet Douglas) Burned as a Witch 1537, by Nancy Lyon) 

This heartless Iago carried out his diabolical plot by playing upon King James V's paranoia about threats against his life, and the King's fear and hatred of her Douglas clan. Later, racked by guilt over all the deaths he had caused, and the ruined House of Glamis, William Lyon on his deathbed confessed to the King his heinous crime of jealousy. But it was too late. (OddScottland.com Lady Glimas (Janet Douglas) Burned as a Witch 1537, by Nancy Lyon)

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King James V enjoyed Glamis Castle's fabulous rooms and gardens until his death in 1542. In 1543 the Queen released Sir John Lyon and his brother George from prison. Sir John brought a formal legal process of Reduction of his Forfeiture, against the crown. (OddScottland.com Lady Glimas (Janet Douglas) Burned as a Witch 1537, by Nancy Lyon)

Names in BOLD PRINT are our grandparents 

Glamis Castle

By 1372 a castle had been built at Glamis, since in that year it was granted by Robert II King of Scotland to Sir John Lyon, Thane of Glamis (1340-1382) husband of the king's daughter Princess Joanna (Jean).Stewart. 

Glamis Castle has been the home of the Lyon since the 14th century, though the present building dates largely from the 17th century. Glamis Castle was the childhood home of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Her second daughter, Princess Margaret was born there in 1930.


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