Famous Scot James Graham, the Great Montrose, is buried in St. Giles Cathedral SCO 6083
Montrose gained his first military experience leading Covenanter troops in the First Bishops' War. He drove the Marquis of Huntly out of Aberdeen in March 1639 and campaigned against Huntly's clan the Gordons. In June, Huntly's younger son Viscount Aboyne sailed into Aberdeen harbour in one of the King's warships and occupied the town. Montrose returned with artillery and bombarded the Royalists at Brig of Dee, forcing Aboyne and the Gordons to flee. Montrose escaped into the mountains after Carbisdale. He fled to Ardvreck Castle on Loch Assynt where he was betrayed to the Covenanters by Neil MacLeod, laird of Assynt. Montrose was taken to Edinburgh and led through the streets in a cart driven by the hangman. Already under sentence of death for his campaign of 1644-5, Montrose was hanged at the Mercat Cross on 21 May 1650, protesting to the last that he was a true Covenanter as well as a loyal subject. He was betrayed by MacLeod of Assynt for the then huge sum of £25,000 and was delivered into the hands of the Scots government. He was taken to Edinburgh and, without trial, was sentenced to be hanged and dismembered as a traitor. Montrose's head was fixed on a spike at the Tolbooth in Edinburgh, his legs and arms were fixed to the gates of Stirling, Glasgow, Perth and Aberdeen. His dismembered body was buried in Edinburgh, but Lady Jean Napier had it secretly disinterred. The heart was removed, embalmed, placed in a casket, and sent to Montrose's exiled son as a symbol of loyalty and martyrdom. After the Restoration, Montrose's embalmed heart and bones were buried at the High Kirk of St Giles in Edinburgh in an elaborate ceremony with fourteen noblemen bearing the coffin (11 May 1661). Montrose's son James was confirmed in the inheritance of the Montrose titles. The marquisate became a dukedom in 1707.
Size: 5620px × 3733px
Location: St Giles Cathedral High Street Edinburgh Lothian Region Scotland.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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