Archibald Campbell


(5th Earl of Argyll)

c.1532 - 1573

Noble. Campbell became a supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542 - 87), who appointed him a Privy Councillor (1561). He was complicit in the murder of her second husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1545 - 67), most likely with Mary's support. He opposed the Protestant Lords (led by the James Stuart (1531-70), the 1st Earl of Moray) and led Mary's army at the Battle of Langside (1568). However he switched his support to King James VI (1566 - 1625), was a candidate for the Regency in 1571 after Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox, was murdered, but this went to John Erskine (c.1510 - 72), 1st Earl of Mar. However, Campbell became Lord Chancellor (1572). Despite two marriages, he fathered no children, and was succeeded by his brother.


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