George (Seton) Seton Fifth Lord Seton (1531 - 1586)

George (Seton) Seton Fifth Lord Seton was a prominent member of a Scottish Clan. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland

Biography

George (Seton) Seton Fifth Lord Seton is a member of Clan Seton.

George (Seton) Seton Fifth Lord Seton is a member of the Seton.

George (Seton) Seton Fifth Lord Seton is Notable.

George Seton, 5th Lord Seton was born in 1531.^[1][2][3] He was the son of George Seton, 4th Lord Seton and Elizabeth Hay.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

A contract for the marriage of George Seton, 5th Lord Seton and Isabel Hamilton was signed on 2 August 1550.^[3][5][9]

He was educated in France.^[5]

He succeeded to the title of 5th Lord Seton on 17 July 1549.^[2] He participated in an ordinance between 1557 and 1559 and was Provost of Edinburgh 1557-59.^[5] On 17 December 1557 he was appointed by the Scottish Parliament to attend the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots with the Dauphin of France.^[5] He held the office of Master of the Household to Mary Queen of Scots in 1563.^[5]

He fought for Queen Mary I at the Battle of Carberry Hill 1567, which cost Mary her crown, and at the Battle of Langside 1568, this was a skirmish that can be regarded as the start of the Marian civil war. George was captured and imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, he fled to Low Countries and attempted to raise an army in support of Queen Mary I but later submitted to her son, King James VI, in 1573. ^[10][5]He was a waggoner between 1568 and 1570.^[5]

He was invested as a Privy Counsellor in Scotland in 1573.^[5]He held the office of Scottish Ambassador to France in 1583-85.^{[6] [5]}

He died on 8 January 1585/86.^[3]

A transcript from the wall of the Seton Collegiate Church in the Lothians region of Scotland, the original in Latin this is a translation.

“Near the south side of this chapel are deposited the bodies, once the habitation of the souls, of George Seton and Isabel Hamilton; souls truly noble, and worthy of everlasting remembrance. George, of this name the 5th, honourably possessed and enlarged the ample estates and fortune transmitted to him by his ancestors in times of great disturbance in the country. He was born in the reign of James the Fifth. Being deprived of his most worthy father, when he was a young man, living in France, he returned home, and in a short time afterwards, by a decree of the Estates of the Kingdom, he is sent back to France, and there, as one of the Ambassadors, he negotiated and ratified the marriage between Queen Mary and Francis, Dauphin of France, and the ancient treaties between the French and the Scots.

Upon his return home, he found his country involved in the flames, both of foreign and civil wars, upon the change of religion and the forms of worship: when within Scotland, the English and French, the Germans and Spaniards, were engaged in war, and the Scots also fighting among themselves, his house having been more than once burnt to the ground, and entirely demolished, and all of his estates ravished by the English, he restored the whole anew upon a scale more extensive, and in a style more magnificent.

In every change of fortune always independent and undaunted, when his King was murdered by the most abandoned of men, and the Queen being driven into exile by the faction of the nobles, he, like his brave ancestors, always stood unmoved. For this steady loyalty being often imprisoned and kept in close confinement, often banished his country, and stripped of all his fortune, he not only sustained with fortitude, but even despised and surmounted innumerable distresses of that kind, which bore witness of his faithful attachment to his country, and his loyalty to its rightful Sovereigns.

At length, upon the accession of James the Sixth, by whose auspicious government, prudence, and counsels, Scotland was delivered from all its tempests and distresses, and restored to its ancient splendour, he too was honourably received, and treated according to his merit, recovered his rank and dignity of his ancestors, and was sent by the King as his chief ambassador to Henry the Third King of France, with the most ample powers to confirm alliance between them. In this high office, when he was performing services to the satisfaction, and with the favour of both Princes, the labours of his past life bring upon him a fatal disease. He returned to his own country, and within a month after he went hence to a better state, on the 8th day of January, in the year of our Lord 1585, about the 55th year of his age.

“Dame Isabell Hamilton sprung from parents of noble birth; her father being Sir William Hamilton of Sanquhar, and her mother Catherine Kennedy, daughter of the Earls of Cassilis, was herself distinguished for her beauty, moral excellence, and all accomplishments both of mind and body; standing high in these respects among the ladies of her age. Having got this George Lord Seton for her husband, she was his support and comfort in all his adversities, and his ornament in prosperity.

“Surviving her dearest husband 18 years, she lived in a liberal and most affectionate manner with their common children.

“All the jointure she had received from her husband she cheerfully shared with them in common, and with her substance cherished and promoted all their honourable endeavors and studies; nor did she reap in her own life time scanty fruits of this pious attention and maternal love, being herself rendered more respectable and illustrious, by the high offices, dignities, and honours of her children, until worn out with age, and afflicted with the gout, and other diseases, she resigned her soul to God, on the 13th. of Nov. 1604, being about 75 years of age.

“Of these so illustrious parents this was the issue:-

“1st, Robert Seton, their eldest son, the first Earl of Winton, honoured with this title by James the Sixth for his own merits and those of his ancestors.

“2nd, Sir John, very high in favour with the same King; made a Privy Councillor, and raised to be Lord High Treasurer, and other great offices. “He was carried off in the flower of his age; yet leaving children behind him.

“3rd, Alexander, many years a judge of the Supreme Court, and a Privy Councillor; then chosen president of the Court of Session, by the Court itself, was at length made a Privy Councillor of both kingdoms, by that wise being who first connected Scotland and England by the tie of a common Sovereign, and was created Earl of Dunfermline and counsellor of the Kingdom of Scotland.

“4th, William, Sheriff of Lothian; and one of the Lords Wardens and administrators of the marches of Scotland and England.

“5th, a daughter, Margaret, married to Claud Hamilton, Lord of Paisley, mother of James, the first Earl of Abercorn, and the fruitful parent of all that flourishing family of brothers and sisters.

“Let posterity know these things, and honour the memory of so great a man, and so distinguished a woman; let them imitate their virtues, and wish sweet repose to their pious souls.

“The memory of great men is no less useful than their presence.”

Research Notes

• The Peerage website, entry for George Seton.

Sources

1. ↑ Paul, James Balfour. "The Scots Peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom", Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1911, Vol. VIII, Archive.org, p. 585
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume IV, p. 437.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Cokayne, George Edward, "The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom", London: William Pollard & Co, 1949, Ed. 2 Vol XI, FamilySearch, p. 635
4. ↑ Paul, James Balfour. "The Scots Peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom", Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1911, Vol. VIII, Archive.org, p. 583
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9} Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 1285.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22 about Lord George Seton
7. ↑ Maitland, Richard, "The History of the House of Seytoun to the Year MDLIX", Glasgow: Hutchison & Brookman, 1829, Archive.org, p. 56
8. ↑ Lee, Sidney, ed,"Dictionary of National Biography", New York: MacMaillan Co., 1897, Vol. LI, Archive.org, p. 268
9. ↑ Paul, James Balfour. "The Scots Peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom", Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1911, Vol. VIII, Archive.org, p. 588
10. ↑ Cracroft's Peerage Website

See also:

• Wikipedia: George Seton, 7th Lord Seton

• Wikidata: Item Q5544435, en:Wikipedia

• Transcript from a wall at the Seton Collegiate Church in the Lothians region of Scotland, which outlines some details of the life of George and his wife Isabel as well as some family details. ~PDF

• Encyclopædia Britannica Online Website ~ George Seton, 5th Lord Seton

• Dictionary of National Biography - The Dictionary of National Biography (or DNB) is a biographical reference for deceased persons notable in British history.
  Henderson, T.F. , "SETON, George, fifth Lord Seton", Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 51, pp. 68-70