John Ramsay, 1st Lord Bothwell

Who was John Ramsay, 1st Lord Bothwell?

John Ramsay, 1st Lord Bothwell, later Sir John Ramsay of Trarinzeane, was born about 1464 and died in 1513.

He was the son of John Ramsay of Corstoun in Fife and Janet Napier presumed to be of the Merchiston Napiers. Janet Napier later married John Wilson a Burgess of Edinburgh. John Ramsay was married to Isabel Cant in 1484. He then married Janet Kennedy, daughter of John Kennedy, 2nd Lord Kennedy, and Lady Elizabeth Seton, c. 6 Nov 1505. Janet Kennedy was a favourite mistress of King James IV of Scotland and this may have been a marriage of political convenience. He and Janet Kennedy were divorced. He then married Isobel Livingston, before February 1507/8.

He was attached to the court of King James III of Scotland and was resented by the traditional aristocrats. The principal charge against the King was his reliance on "low-born favourites", and Ramsay was clearly regarded as one of these. In parliament on 24 February 1484 the king bestowed the barony of Bothwell on him. In July 1482 he escaped execution by the King's opponents at Lauder Bridge by leaping on the King's horse, the only one of the King's favourites to survive.