Whilst Sir William Kirkcaldy was cruising in the North, important events were taking place in the Capital. The enforced abdication of Queen Mary had been followed by the appointment of her half-brother, the Lord James, Earl of Murray, to be Regent of the Realm. One of his first acts was to obtain the surrender of Edinburgh Castle from Sir James Balfour, who had been made Governor of it by the interest of Bothwell. That had not prevented him, however, from siding with the Lords when he saw the success of their arms. But, ‘though they loved the treachery, they had no great liking for the man.’ And they were anxious to prevent the possibility of his again turning against them, if circumstances should seem to favour the Queen’s party. On the 24th of August, he agreed to deliver the fortress into the Regent’s hands, subject to certain conditions, of which one was that the Laird of Grange should succeed him as Governor and should pledge his word for his safety. When Kirkcaldy returned to Edinburgh, he found himself appointed to the command of what was then one of the most important strongholds in Scotland.

For a few months after this, the country enjoyed a brief respite. But the Queen’s friends had not abandoned her. On the third of May 1568, Murray, who was at Glasgow on justiciary business, received the unexpected and startling information that Mary had escaped from Lochleven the day before. The news was soon confirmed by a message from the Queen herself, who, as soon as she reached Hamilton, ‘sent a gentleman to the Earl of Murray and the other Lords, to declare that she was delivered by God’s providence out of captivity, and albeit she had consented to a certain kind of approving their authority, she was thereunto, for defence of her life, compelled; seeing God had thus mercifully relieved her, she now desired them that they would restore her with quietness to her former dignity and estate, and she would in like manner, wholly remit all manner of actions committed against her honour and person.’

Murray’s unconditional refusal to resign the regency and restore Mary, was followed on both sides by active preparation for war. In answer to his proclamation some 4,000 men assembled in Glasgow, which he had made his headquarters. Amongst them was a body of arquebusiers and archers, who had come from Edinburgh with Sir William Kirkcaldy. The Queen’s partisans had gathered round her in even greater numbers; and contemporary accounts estimate the strength of her forces at fully 6,000.

The Regent having received information that it was Mary’s intention to proceed to Dumbarton, drew up his army outside the Gallowgate Port, but, at the same time, he sent Kirkcaldy to reconnoitre the ground lying between the Clyde and Langside. He was thus prepared to intercept the royal forces, whether the northern or the southern side of the river were chosen for their line of march.

Early in the morning of the 13th of May, the Queen with her army started on her march to Dumbarton. From the elevated position which he held at the Calton, Murray perceived the advancing columns of the enemy as they neared Rutherglen. As soon as it was ascertained that the vanguard was not taking a northerly direction, for the purpose of crossing the Clyde at the Dalmarnock ford, Grange, with an arquebusier mounted behind each of his two hundred horsemen, rode with all speed back to Glasgow, forded the river at the east of the old Bridge, and made for Langside, where the road to Dumbarton lay between a commanding eminence and the Clyde, and where he had already selected an advantageous position. On reaching Langside hill, he posted his footmen at the head of a narrow lane, where cottages and gardens afforded them shelter and made it impossible for the enemy’s cavalry to dislodge them.

With his infantry and his ordnance, which was carried in carts, Murray made all haste towards Langside, along the route already taken by Grange. Although he had further to march than had his opponents, the comparative slowness of their movements, due partly to their greater numbers, and partly to the confidence which they felt that no attempt would be made to hinder their progress, enabled him to reach the village and to take up his position before they came in view. As soon as Lord Claud Hamilton, who commanded the 2,000 men of the Queen’s vanguard, saw that the village was occupied, he made an attempt to carry the lane in which Grange had posted his infantry. A sharp fire checked the advance, and threw the assailants into confusion for a time. Rallying, however, they courageously and fiercely stormed the hill held by Murray. Grange, to whose experience and discretion it had been left to ‘encourage and make help where greatest need was,’ was at this point; and, as the foremost ranks came to close quarters, he gave his men an order which illustrates the peculiar mode of warfare of the time. He called out to them, says Melville, who was present, ‘to let their adversaries first lay down spears, to bear up theirs.’ A stubborn struggle ensued. According to Buchanan’s account, the two brigades held out a thick stand of pikes like a breast-work before them, and fought desperately for half-an-hour, without yielding ground on either side; insomuch that they whose long spears were broken, hurled pistols, daggers, stones, fragments of lances, and whatever was at hand, into the faces of the enemy.’

Another remarkable incident is mentioned by Melville. ‘So thick,’ he says, ‘were the spears fixed in others’ jacks, that some of the pistols and great staves that were thrown by them which were behind, might be seen lying upon the spears.’

In the meantime, Grange perceived that the right wing of the Regent’s vanguard, chiefly composed of men from the Barony of Renfrewshire, was beginning to waver. Hastening to them, he called out that the enemy was already giving way, and besought them to hold out till he returned with reinforcements. Then riding at full speed to the Regent’s left wing, which had been standing in reserve, he obtained a body of fresh troops, with which he dashed at the enemy’s flank. This movement decided the fate of the battle. The vanguard of the Queen’s army was forced to fall back upon the main body, which, instead of supporting it and enabling it to rally, broke into precipitate flight. Grange pursued with the cavalry; but he ‘was never cruel,’ and moreover, the Regent had issued orders to save and not to kill, so that there were but few taken, and fewer slain. No indiscriminate slaughter of his fleeing countrymen was needed to make the victory complete and decisive. His clever tactics and his courageous behaviour had secured that already.

On the 8th of May 1568, immediately before his departure to join the forces of the Regent in Glasgow, Sir William Kirkcaldy, being obliged to withdraw a considerable part of the garrison on which the safety, no less of the Capital than of the stronghold depended, took the precaution of securing the active co-operation of the citizens themselves, for the repression of any insurrectionary movement in the Queen’s favour, by means of a mutual bond signed by himself on behalf of the Castle, and by Sir Simon Preston of Craigmillar, Provost of Edinburgh, acting for himself, the bailies, Council, and community. With many protestations of loyalty to the ‘most undoubted sovereign’s Regent and Governor, James, Earl of Murray,’ and with strong expressions of indignation at the ‘unnatural and ungodly proceedings’ of those who were convened in arms against him, it bound each of the contracting parties to assist the other ‘at all times and in all places needful, against all and sundry.’

After his return from the brief but decisive expedition, to the success of which he had materially contributed, the Governor of the Castle was entrusted with the custody of some of the most important of the prisoners taken at Langside. A few months later, his steady adherence to the Regent brought him the double distinction of being raised to the dignity of Provost of Edinburgh, and of being not only denounced by the leaders of the faction which still looked upon the exiled Mary as the lawful sovereign, but actually ordered by them to constitute himself a prisoner, within twenty days, in the Castle of Dumbarton. When next he appeared as a prominent actor in the politics of the time, circumstances had worked startling changes in the respective positions of parties, and were already hurrying public men towards a momentous crisis, under the influence of which old ties were to be violently severed, and new sympathies and new aims were to bring former friends into bitter conflict with each other.

The policy which Elizabeth had adopted from the moment when the Scottish Queen was in her power, and the discovery of her scheme for assuming the virtual management of Scottish affairs, after obtaining possession of the infant prince, had produced a strong revulsion in the feelings of many who had hitherto looked trustingly and hopefully towards England; and Murray’s popularity, already shaken by his severity towards Mary’s adherents, after the battle of Langside, sank lower and lower as proof after proof of his subserviency to the English Government was produced by his opponents. Those who, realising the difficulty of his position, and believing that he was as much the victim as the accomplice of the unscrupulous policy of Elizabeth and her astute minister, Cecil, were still inclined to give him credit for sincerity and honesty of purpose, felt their confidence in him die away when, to propitiate Elizabeth, he consented to the impeachment of Maitland. Amongst them was Kirkcaldy. At first, indeed, he could not bring himself to believe in the Regent’s responsibility for the step. Writing to Bedford, he confessed that he was unable to give a better or certain ground for the committing of Lethington to ward but the malice and envy of some of his enemies, who by means of a faction, had craftily induced the Regent to do that which he was most unwilling to do. He was assured, he said, that Murray in his heart sorely repented that ever he had yielded to their passions; and he felt no doubt that the trial would result in a declaration of the innocence of Lethington and the confusion of his enemies.

The confidence which Kirkcaldy still endeavoured to feel in his old friend Murray, was roughly shaken by a letter which he received from Lord Doune, and from which he learnt that it was a part of the Regent’s plan to get possession of Edinburgh Castle, and to entrust it to the keeping of the Laird of Drumwhazel. So far as he was personally concerned, Grange was so heartily tired of public life, of the plotting and counter-plotting which seemed to have become the very essence of politics, that he would very willingly have surrendered his command, and have withdrawn altogether from the Court. For the sake of Lethington, however, whose danger he fully realised, and to whom he knew that he might be of service so long as he retained the power and influence which the possession of the Castle gave him, he determined to remain at his post. At the same time, he thought it his duty to remonstrate with Murray, and to point out to him the injustice of his conduct towards the Secretary, as well as towards Sir James Balfour who had also been arrested, and in whom Kirkcaldy was in so far interested, that, on taking over the command of the Castle, he had pledged his word for the safety of the former Governor. In his reply, Murray endeavoured to throw the whole responsibility upon the Council. The members, he alleged, were so banded together against Maitland and Balfour, and the charge of murder brought against both of them was so grave, that he could not take it on himself to release them from custody. He promised, however, that, at his next meeting with Kirkcaldy, he would explain his views and show them to be perfectly honourable. In the meantime, he besought him to suspend his judgment.

Sir William refused to be satisfied with the obvious evasion, and he met it with a bold and vigorous measure. Seeing that it was really intended to bring Maitland and Balfour to trial for their lives he demanded that Morton and Archibald Douglas should be dealt with in the same manner. He charged them with being ‘upon the council, and consequently art and part of the King’s murder.’ In support of the accusation he offered to meet them in single combat with Lord Herries as his fellow-champion. This stayed the proceedings against the two prisoners for a while. Still protesting that he was a helpless and unwilling agent in the matter of their impeachment Murray informed Kirkcaldy that he intended to send Balfour to St Andrews, and to bring Lethington to Edinburgh for the purpose of entrusting him to the safe-keeping of the Governor of the Castle. At the same time, however, Grange received information that this apparent concession hid a treacherous plot against himself. It was intended to make the Secretary an instrument to draw his friend, the Governor, from the Castle into the town, under pretence of handing the prisoner over to him; and then to retain him until the fortress had been given over to Drumwhazel. Kirkcaldy was subsequently to be sent home, and to be appeased with a gift of the Priory of Pittenweem.

According to Melville, Morton had devised a more unscrupulous plot, with a view to revenging himself upon Kirkcaldy. ‘He had appointed four men to slay Grange at the entry of the Regent’s lodging, without the Regent’s knowledge.’ But the Governor had a scheme of his own, which effectually thwarted those of his two adversaries. Arguing that if, as he declared, the Regent had really been coerced into sanctioning the arrest of Lethington, he would be glad of his escape; but that if, on the contrary, he were playing a double game, his disappointment at losing his prisoner would expose his treachery, the Laird of Grange resolved to rescue Maitland from the hands of his enemies.

On his arrival in Edinburgh the Secretary was committed to the custody of Alexander Hume of North Berwick. That same evening, about ten o’clock, Kirkcaldy went to Hume with an order bearing what purported to be the Regent’s signature. Hume knew that Murray and the Laird had but lately been on terms of the closest friendship; but he does not appear to have been aware of their more recent estrangement and antagonism. Suspecting no deception, and very possibly unacquainted with the Regent’s handwriting, he assumed the genuineness of the document presented to him, and allowed Maitland to be quietly conveyed to the Castle.

When Murray and his friends learnt that the Secretary was no longer in their power they were in great perplexity, ‘supposing all their counsels to be disclosed.’ It was thought best, however, that the Regent should cover his anger for the time, and that he should take the earliest opportunity of calling upon Grange at the Castle as though nothing had happened. This he did the very next day. But in his anxiety to deceive the Governor he protested too much, and gave him more fair words than he was wont to do, ‘which Grange took in evil part.’

The Castle was becoming the headquarters of Murray’s opponents. He had, prior to Maitland’s arrest, induced the Duke of Chastelherault and Lord Herries to come to Edinburgh with a view to discussing the position of affairs, and had then handed them as prisoners to the custody of the Governor. Grange had duly received them, but he treated them as friends and as guests, and protested against the treachery of which they had been the victims. John Wood, an ardent partisan of the Regent’s, was sent to the Castle for the purpose of appeasing and conciliating the Governor. The substance of their conversation, as reported by Melville, goes far to explain Kirkcaldy’s attitude towards the party of which he had once been a zealous supporter. ‘I marvel at you,’ said Wood, ‘that you will be offended at this; for how shall we, who are my Lord’s dependers, get rewards, but by the wreck of such men?’—‘Yea,’ replied Grange, ‘is that your holiness? I see nothing among you but envy, greediness, and ambition; whereby you will wreck a good Regent, and ruin the country.’

In spite of Murray’s assumed indifference, Lethington’s escape caused him the most grievous disappointment and annoyance; and it was evident that he and Grange were gradually being carried further apart. With a view to preventing an open rupture between them, Melville devised a plan, which he took it on himself to lay before the Regent. He suggested that Lethington should retire to France, and that after his friend’s departure, Kirkcaldy should, of his own accord, resign his command of Edinburgh Castle. The Regent, however, still protested that he bore Maitland no ill-will, and had no wish to drive him into exile. As to Grange, he said he had too many obligations to him, and too great proofs of his fidelity to mistrust him. It had never been his intention, he again declared, to take the Castle from him; and if it were not in his keeping already, he would entrust it to him rather than to any other. He even went further than that, and denied that he entertained any suspicion of either Grange or the Secretary. In proof of the sincerity of his words, he went up to the Castle and ‘conferred friendly with them of all his affairs, with a merry countenance, and casting in many purposes, minding them of many straits and dangers they had formerly been together engaged in.’ But both Kirkcaldy and Maitland were too well acquainted with him, and had too long ‘been his chief advisers under God,’ not to detect the violent effort which this show of friendship cost him. No good to either party resulted from the interview. Indeed, it is scarcely possible to doubt that an irremediable breach was only prevented by Murray’s tragic and untimely end. He was shot by Bothwellhaugh on the 23rd of January 1569. Political differences were forgotten in the presence of death; and Kirkcaldy’s grief at his former friend and comrade’s untimely fate was heartfelt and sincere. When Murray’s body was solemnly carried to its resting-place in the Cathedral of St Giles, he was amongst those who came to pay him the last tribute of respect. It was he who, bearing the banner of the murdered Earl, headed the mournful procession from Holyrood to the church.