page_title: Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany
section_title: Trial and execution
hierarchical_section_title: Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany / Trial and execution
context_page_description: Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany was a leading Scottish nobleman, the son of Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany and the grandson of King Robert II of Scotland, who founded the Stewart dynasty. In 1389, he became Justiciar North of the Forth. In 1402, he was captured at the Battle of Homildon Hill and would spend 12 years in captivity in England.
  After his father died in 1420, and while the future King James I of Scotland was himself held captive in England, Stewart served as Governor of Scotland until 1424, when James was finally ransomed and returned to Scotland. However, in 1425, soon after James's coronation, Stewart was arrested, found guilty of treason, and executed, along with two of his sons. His only surviving heir was James the Fat, who escaped to Antrim, Ireland, where he died in 1429. Stewart's wife Isabella of Lennox survived the destruction of her family. She lived to see the assassination of James I and the restoration of her title and estates.
context_section_description: Duke Murdoch, his sons Walter and Alexander, and Duncan, Earl of Lennox were in Stirling Castle for their trial on 18 May 1425, at a prorogued parliament in the presence of the King.  An assize of seven earls and fourteen lesser nobles heard the evidence that linked the prisoners to the rebellion in the Lennox—in a trial lasting just one day the four men were found guilty of treason.
  The jury which condemned them was composed of 21 knights and Peers, including Albany's half uncle Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl, first cousin Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar, first cousins once removed Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas, and Alexander, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles.
  Walter was condemned on 24 May. Albany and his son Alexander were tried before the same jury the following day. All the prisoners were publicly beheaded on Heading Hill "in front of" Stirling Castle. Albany was attainted and all of his peerage titles were forfeited. He was buried at Blackfriars' Church, Stirling.
  In the destruction of his close family, the Albany Stewarts, James I gained the substantial rents from the family's three forfeited earldoms of Fife, Menteith and Lennox, a blow from which the Albany Stewarts never recovered. More importantly, he secured his reign from the threat which had been constantly posed to him by the Albany Stewarts since his older brother's death, probably at their hands, decades before.
caption: King James I, mortal enemy of the Albany Stewarts
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