BOTHWELL, JAMES HEPBURN, 4TH EARL OF (c. 1536-1578), duke of Orkney and Shetland, husband of Mary, queen of Scots, son of Patrick, 3rd earl of Bothwell, and of Agnes, daughter of Henry, Lord Sinclair, was born about James Hepburn succeeded in 1556 to his father's titles, lands and hereditary offices, including that of lord high admiral of Scotland. Though a Protestant, he supported the government of Mary of Guise, skewed himself violently anti-English, and led a raid into England, subsequently in 1559 meeting the English commissioners and signing articles for peace on the border. The same year he seized f I,000 secretly sent by Elizabeth to the lords of the congregation. In retaliation Arran occupied and stripped his castle at Crichton, whereupon Bothwell in November sent Arran a challenge, which the latter declined. In December he was sent by the queen-dowager to secure Stirling, and in 156o was despatched on a mission to France, visiting Denmark on the way, where he either married or seduced Anne, daughter of Christopher Thorssen, whom he afterwards deserted, and who came to Scotland in 1563 to obtain redress. He joined Mary at Paris in September, and in 1561 was sent by her as a commis sioner to summon the parliament ; in February he arrived in Edinburgh and was chosen a privy councillor on Sept. 6. He now entered into obligations to keep the peace with his various rivals, but was soon implicated in riots and partisan disorders, and was ordered in December to leave the city. In March 1562, having made up his quarrel with Arran, he was accused of having proposed to the latter a project for seizing the queen, and in May he was imprisoned in Edinburgh castle whence he succeeded in escaping on Aug. 28. On Sept. 23 he submitted to the queen. Moray's influence, however, being now supreme, he embarked in December for France, but was driven by storms on to Holy island, where he was detained, and was subsequently, on Jan. 18 1564, seized at Berwick and sent by Elizabeth to the Tower, whence he was soon liberated and proceeded to France. After these adventures he returned to Scotland in March 1565, but withdrew once more before the superior strength of his opponents to France. The same year, however, he was recalled by Mary to aid in the suppression of Moray's rebellion, successfully eluding the ships of Elizabeth sent to capture him. In Feb. 1566 Bothwell, in spite of his previous matrimonialengagements and he had also been united by "handfasting" to Janet Betoun of Cranstoun Riddell—married Jane, daughter of George Gordon, 4th earl of Huntly. Notwithstanding his insulting language con cerning Mary and the fact that he was the "stoutest" in refusing mass, he became one of her chief advisers, but his complete ascendancy over her mind and affections dates from the murder of Rizzio on March 9 1566. Mary took refuge with him at Dunbar, presented him, among other estates, with the castle there and the chief lands of the earldom of March, and made him the most powerful noble in the south of Scotland. In November she visited him at Dunbar, and in December took place the confer ence at Craigmillar at which both were present and at which the disposal of Darnley was arranged, Bothwell with some others subsequently signing the bond to accomplish his murder. He himself superintended all the preparations, visiting Darnley with Mary on the night of the crime, Sunday, Feb. 9 1567, attending the queen on her return to Holyrood for the ball, and riding back to Kirk o' Field to carry out the murder. After the explosion he hurried back to Holyrood and feigned surprise at the receipt of the news half an hour later.
According to Melville he had designs on the life of the young prince. On the demand of Lennox, Darnley's father, Bothwell was put upon his trial in April, but Lennox, having been forbid den to enter the city with more than six attendants, refused to attend, and Bothwell was declared not guilty. The queen's in tention to marry Bothwell, which had been kept a strict secret before the issue of the trial, was now made public. On April 19 he obtained the consent and support of the Protestant lords, who signed a bond in his favour. On May 3 his divorce from his wife was decreed by the civil court, on the ground of his adultery with a maidservant, and on the 7th by the Roman Catholic court on the ground of consanguinity. On the i 2th Bothwell was created duke of Orkney and Shetland and the marriage took place on the 15th according to the Protestant usage, the Roman Catholic rite being performed, according to some accounts, afterwards.
Bothwell's triumph, however, was short-lived. The nobles, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, now united to effect his destruction. In June Mary and Bothwell fled from Holyrood to Borthwick castle, whence Bothwell, on the place being surrounded by Morton and his followers, escaped to Dunbar, Mary sub sequently joining him. Thence they marched with a strong force towards Edinburgh, meeting the lords on June 15 at Car berry Hill. Bothwell invited any one of the nobles to single combat, but Mary forbade the acceptance of the challenge. Meanwhile, during the negotiations, the queen's troops had been deserting; a surrender became inevitable, and Bothwell returned to Dunbar, parting from Mary for ever. Subsequently Bothwell left Dunbar for the north, visited Orkney and Shetland, and in July placed himself at the head of a band of pirates, and after eluding all attempts to capture him, arrived at Karm sound in Norway. On his identity becoming known he was sent to Copen hagen, where he gained King Frederick II.'s goodwill by an offer to restore the Orkneys and Shetlands to Denmark. In conse quence the king refused all requests for his surrender. In Jan. 1568 he was removed to Malmo in Sweden. Mary demanded a divorce which was finally granted by the pope in Sept. 157o on the ground of her prenuptial ravishment by Bothwell. After the downfall of Mary, Bothwell was placed in close and solitary con finement in the castle of Dragsholm or Adelersborg in Zealand. Here he became insane, and died on April 14 1578.