13th Great Grandfather – FFFMFFFMFFFFFFF

Patrick Gordon, my 7th great grandfather, was from a cadet branch of Clan Gordon. He was descended from a younger son of Alexander Gordon, the 3rd Earl of Huntly.

Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly was a member of Parliament, a member of the Privy Council and a member of the Regency Council during the minority of James V of Scotland.

He was the son of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly and his second wife Princess Annabella of Scotland, the youngest daughter of King James I of Scotland. There is some dispute over whether Alexander was the son of Princess Annabella or of his third wife Elizabeth Hay.

In the author’s opinion, the fact that his father divorced the Princess Annabella in 1471 and married Elizabeth Hay on 12th May 1476, while Alexander is listed as a Member of Parliament in 1485¹, establishes that Annabella was most likely his mother, as he would need to have sat in Parliament at the age of 9 years old.

Furthermore, Alexander Gordon married by a contract dated 20th October 1474² to the Lady Jean Stewart, daughter of John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl, so while the contract was entered into after his father’s divorce from the Princess Annabella, it was 2 years before his father’s marriage to Elizabeth Hay.

Alexander was known to have at least 5 children, 3 sons and 2 daughters. Governor Patrick Gordon was descended from the 2nd child, also Alexander.

The eldest child John died before his father so the title passed to his eldest son George who became the 4th Earl on the death of his grandfather. Alexander, my ancestor married Janet Grant, while William the 3rd son became the Bishop of Aberdeen.

Alexander was a favourite of King James IV of Scotland, who gave him considerable grants of land during his life. In 1500 he was made hereditary sheriff of Inverness. He succeeded to the Earldom before 30 Jan 1502/3³.

In 1503 Alexander was a witness to the marriage contract of King James IV of Scotland and Princess Margaret, the eldest daughter of King Henry VII of England.

Alexander’s first wife, Jean, died on 27th October 1510, and sometime after 27th July 1511, he married Elizabeth Gray daughter of Andrew Gray, 2nd Lord Gray.

Alexander fought in the Battle of Flodden on 9 Sept 1513, where he commanded with Lord Home the Scots left wing⁴. He was one of only a few Scottish noblemen to escape with his life. King James IV was one of those who died, and Alexander was a member of the council of Regency during the minority of his son King James V, who was only 1 year old when his father died⁵.

Alexander was consituted Lieutenant over all Scotland, except Argyle on 26th Feb 1517/8⁶.

He died on 16th Jan 1524 at Perth⁷ and was buried in the choir of the church of the Blackfriars monastery.

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