cause of the
postponement of Elizabeth's meeting with Mary. The Queen therefore now
undertook a northern progress, which had been arranged for in January,
about the time when Lord James was made Earl of Moray. {220b}

He could not "brook" the Earldom of Moray before the Earl of Huntly was
put down, Huntly being a kind of petty king in the east and north. There
is every reason to suppose that Mary understood and utterly distrusted
Huntly, who, though the chief Catholic in the country, had been a traitor
whenever occasion served for many a year. One of his sons, John, in
July, wounded an Ogilvy in Edinburgh in a quarrel over property. This
affair was so managed as to drive Huntly into open rebellion, neither
Mary nor her brother being sorry to take the opportunity.

The business of the ruin of Huntly has seemed more of a mystery to
historians than it was, though an attack by a Catholic princess on her
most powerful Catholic subject does need explanation. But Randolph was
with Mary during the whole expedition, and his despatches are better
evidence than the fables of Buchanan and the surmises of Knox and Mr.
Froude. Huntly had been out of favour ever since Lord James obtained the
coveted Earldom of Moray in January, and he was thought to be opposed to
Mary's visit to Elizabeth. Since January, the Queen had been bent on a
northern progress. Probably the Archbishop of St. Andrews, as reported
by Knox, rightly guessed the motives. At table he said, "The Queen has
gone into the north, belike to seek disobedience; she may perhaps find
the thing that she seeks." {221a} She wanted a quarrel with Huntly, and
a quarrel she found. Her northward expedition, says Randolph, "is rather
devised by herself than greatly approved by her Council." She would not
visit Huntly at Strathbogie, contrary to the advice of her Council; his
son, who wounded Ogilvy, had broken prison, and refused to enter himself
at Stirling Castle. Huntly then supported his sons in rebellion, while
Bothwell broke prison and fortified himself in Hermitage Castle. Lord
James's Earldom of Moray was now publicly announced (September 18), and
Huntly was accused of a desire to murder him and Lethington, while his
son John was to seize the Queen. {221b} Mary was "utterly determined to
bring him to utter confusion." Huntly was put to the horn on October 18;
his sons took up arms. Huntly, old and corpulent, died during a defeat
at Corrichie without stroke of