ABSTRACT
In January 1570, Moray was assassinated by a junior member of the foremost Marian family, James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh. For six months the King's Party reeled and the Kirk lamented the loss of their protector. Moray was not replaced for six months. The new regent was the Earl of Lennox, the king's paternal grandfather, appointed on English advice on the back of a brief English invasion on behalf of the King's Party. This regency lasted only 14 months, Lennox being killed in a raid on Stirling by the Queen's Party in September 1571. He was quickly replaced by the Earl of Mar whose regency ended with his assassination in October 1572. Scotland's last regent, James Douglas, Earl of Morton, had signed the first bond of the Lords of the Congregation in 1557 and attended the first General Assembly after Mary's deposition. Much had changed since he had conspired to make Scotland Protestant and the Kirk would find this head of a godly state to be an uncomfortable bedfellow.
