page_title: Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll
section_title: In the Covenanter movement
hierarchical_section_title: Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll / In the Covenanter movement
caption_attribution_description: English: unknown artist; painting traditionally said to be of Archibald Campbell (1629-1685), 9th Earl of Argyll, but subsequently identified as his father the 8th Earl and 1st Marquis of Argyll (Scottish Notes and Queries, v 11, pp.5-6)
context_page_description: Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, 8th Earl of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell was a Scottish nobleman, politician, and peer. The de facto head of Scotland's government during most of the conflict of the 1640s and 50s known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, he was a major figure in the Covenanter movement that fought for the maintenance of the Presbyterian religion against the Stuart monarchy's attempts to impose episcopacy. He is often remembered as the principal opponent of the royalist general James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose.
context_section_description: On the outbreak of the religious dispute between the king and Scotland in 1637, Lord Lorne's support was eagerly sought by Charles I. He was made a privy councillor in 1628. In 1638, the king summoned him, together with the earls of Traquair and Roxburgh, to London, but he refused to be won over, warned Charles against his despotic ecclesiastical policy, and showed great hostility towards William Laud. In consequence, a secret commission was given to the Randal MacDonnell, Earl of Antrim to invade Argyll and stir up the MacDonalds against the Campbells. Argyll, who inherited the title at the death of his father in 1638, originally had no preference for Presbyterianism, but now definitely took the side of the Covenanters in defence of national religion and liberties.
  Argyll continued to attend the meetings of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland after its dissolution by the Marquess of Hamilton, when Episcopacy was abolished. In 1639, he sent a statement to Laud, and subsequently to the king, defending the General Assembly's action.
  Argyll raised a body of troops and seized Hamilton's castle of Brodick in Arran. After the pacification of Berwick-upon-Tweed, he carried a motion, in opposition to James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, by which the estates secured to themselves the election of the lords of the articles, who had formerly been nominated by the king. This was a fundamental change to the Scottish constitution, whereby the management of public affairs was entrusted to a representative body and withdrawn from the control of the crown.
  An attempt by the king to deprive Argyll of his office as justiciary of Argyll failed, and on the prorogation of the parliament by Charles, in May 1640, Argyll moved that it should continue its sittings and that the government and safety of the kingdom should be secured by a committee of the estates, of which he was the guiding spirit. In June, he was trusted with a Commission of fire and sword against the royalists in Atholl and Angus, which, after succeeding in entrapping John Murray, 1st Earl of Atholl, he carried out with completeness and cruelty.
  It was on this occasion that the Bonnie Hoose o' Airlie was burned. By this time, the personal dislike and difference in opinion between Montrose and Argyll led to an open breach. The former arranged that on the occasion of Charles's approaching visit to Scotland, Argyll would be accused of high treason in the parliament. The plot, however, was disclosed, and Montrose, among others, was imprisoned. Accordingly, when the king arrived, he found himself deprived of every remnant of influence and authority. It only remained for Charles to make a series of concessions. He transferred control over judicial and political appointments to the parliament, created Argyll a marquess in 1641, and returned home, having, in Clarendon's words, made a perfect deed of gift of that kingdom. Meanwhile, there was an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap Argyll, Hamilton, and Lanark, known as The Incident. Argyll was mainly instrumental in this crisis in keeping the national party faithful to what was to him evidently the common cause, and in accomplishing the alliance with the Long Parliament in 1643.
caption: Portrait traditionally identified as the 9th Earl, but subsequently confirmed as being of the 8th Earl in his youth (Scottish Notes and Queries, v11, pp.5–6). His biographer John Willcock believed that it dated from his 1626 marriage.
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