DATE                               EVENT

 

1534

• James Hepburn was born in Edinburgh, Scotland , the son of Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell, and Agnes Sinclair

1542

• 14TH DECEMBER King James V of Scotland is dead and now his infant daughter Mary is Queen of Scots

1548

• Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell , James father renounced his loyalty to the Scottish crown, and became a pensioner of England, earning £3,000 annually.

1554

• Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell, James father returned to Scotland after his formal pardon by Mary of Guise.

1556

• SEPTEMBER Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell , James father died at Dumfries

• James succeeded his father as Earl of Bothwell and Lord Hailes 1556–1567

• James is created Lord High Admiral of Scotland 1556–1567

1558

• James has an affair with Janet Beaton He was twenty-four at the time and she was almost forty

1559

• James Hepburn was put in charge of protecting Scotland from border raids carried out by the Earl of Northumberland.

• James begin a passionate affair with Janet Beton

• James Bothwell visited Denmark on the way to France and met Anna Throndsen (Anne Thorssen

• James married Anna Throndsen by hand fasting .The marriage was considered legitimate under Dano-Norwegian law, but was, and is still, treated as dubious or invalid, by English and Scots

1560

• AUTUMN James first met Queen Mary Queen Scots when he visited the French Court

1562

• 4TH JANUARY James sister Jean was married to John Stewart, an illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland . The wedding was celebrated at Crichton Castle and the festivities afterwards were hosted James himself.Mary Queen Scots attended the wedding along with her other illegitimate half-brother and chief adviser James Stewart, Earl of Moray.

• Mary Queen Scots returns from France, and appoint people for her Privy council, James is among some of them chosen

1565

• MARCH James returned to Scotland

• 29TH JULYMary Queen Scots married Lord Henry Darnley at at Holyrood Palace

1566

• FEBRUARY James married Lady Jean Gordon, daughter of the 4th Earl of Huntly Mary Queen Scots attended the wedding.Queen Mary , who strongly approved of the match, supplied cloth of silver and white taffeta for Jean's wedding gown, although she had wanted the marriage to have taken place in the Chapel Royal during a mass. Bothwell, however refused to attend mass on Candlemas day.

• Mary , Queen of Scots, made a famous marathon journey on horseback from Jedburgh to visit the wounded James at Hermitage Castle

1567

• 10TH FEBRUARY The murder of Henry Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots at Kirk o'Field, Edinburgh

• Mary Queen Scots rode to the Estates of Parliament, with James carrying the Sceptre,

• APRIL James along with several others, had been accused of Lord Darnleys murder. James was acquitted of the charge

• 19TH APRIL Eight bishops, nine earls, and seven Lords of Parliament put their signatures to what became known as the Ainslie Tavern Bond, a manifesto declaring that Mary should marry a native-born subject, and handed it to James.

• 24TH APRIL James along with 800 men came to Mary was on the road from Linlithgow Palace to Edinburgh assuring her that danger awaited her in Edinburgh, and told her that he proposed to take her to his castle at Dunbar, out of harm's way .There, Mary was taken prisoner by Bothwell and allegedly raped by him to secure marriage to her and the crown

• James sister Jean served as one of the Mary Queen of Scots companions along with Janet Beaton, James former mistress

• 7 TH MAY James and his wife Jean Gordon, are divorced, on the grounds of his alleged adultery with her maid and seamstress, Bessie Crawford

• 12TH MAY Mary Queen Scots make James Duke of Orkney and Marquess of Fife

• 15TH MAY James and Mary Queen of Scots got married at in the Great Hall at Holyrood,

• 15TH JUNE The Battle of Carberry Hill .Location Carberry Hill, near Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland . Result Victory for opponents of Mary, Queen of Scots. James is a commander at the battle. However James fled after one last embrace with Mary Queen of Scots. Mary was to Loch Leven and given into the custody of Sir William Douglas of Lochleven, Twenty-six Scottish peers, had turned against Mary and James, raising an army against them

• 20-23RD JULY Mary Queen Scots miscarried twins James child.

• 24TH JULY Mary Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate the Scottish throne in favour of her infant son James. Now the infant James is King James VI of Scotland. Mary's illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, was made regent.

• James took ship from Aberdeen to Shetland. He was pursued by William Kirkcaldy of Grange and William Murray of Tullibardine who sailed into Bressay Sound near Lerwick

• James was caught off the coast of Norway (then ruled by Denmark) without proper papers, and was escorted to the port of Bergen. This was the native home of Anna Throndsen(first wife). Anna raised a complaint against Bothwell, which was enforced by her powerful family; her cousin Erik Rosenkrantz, a high-level official in Norway, remanded Bothwell to the Bergenhus Fortress while Anna sued him for abandonment and return of her dowry

• James was sent to Copenhagen, where the Danish monarch, King Frederik II, deliberated on his fate. The Earl was sent across Øresund to the fortress and prison Malmøhus Castle

• DECEMBER All James titles and estates, including Crichton, were forfeited. by an Act of Parliament for treason.

1568

• JANUARY James was removed to Malmoe in Sweden

1570

• SEPTEMBER James and Mary Queen Scots divorce was finally granted by the pope

1572

• James mother Agnes Sinclair died.

1573

• 16TH JUNE James was removed to the castle of Dragsholm or Adelersborg in Zealand

1578

• James sister Jean married for a third time to Archibald Douglas, Parson of Douglas

1578

• 14TH APRIL James died at Dragsholm Castle, Denmark aged 44years.

 

James Hepburn, was Buried at Fårevejle Church, Dragsholm