Gillespie Roy Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll (c1507-1558)

Gillespie Roy Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll (c. 1507 – 1558) was a Scottish nobleman and politician.

Biography
He was the eldest son of Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll (died 1529) and Jean Gordon, daughter of Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly. Immediately after succeeding to the title and offices of his father in 1529-1530, he was put in command of an expedition to quell an insurrection in the southern Scottish Isles. The voluntary submission of the main chiefs resulted; and Alexander of Isla, a prime mover in the insurrection, was able to convince King James V that he was personally well disposed to the government. More than that, he argued the disturbances in the Isles were chiefly owing to the fact that the earls of Argyll had made use of the office of lieutenant over the Isles for their own personal aggrandisement. Campbell was therefore summoned before the king to give an account of the duties and rental of the Isles received by him; and, as the result of the inquiry, was committed for a time to prison. Shortly afterwards he was liberated, but was deprived of his offices, and they were not restored to him until after the death of James V.

In a charter of 28 April 1542, he is called ‘master of the king's wine cellar.’ Along with the Earls of Huntly and Moray he was named one of the council of the kingdom in the document which Cardinal Beaton produced as the will of James, and which appointed Beaton governor of the kingdom and guardian to the infant Mary, Queen of Scots. After the arrest of Beaton, 20 January 1543, Argyll retired to his own lands to muster a force to maintain the struggle against the Earl of Arran, who had been chosen governor. Shortly afterwards the Earls of Argyll, Bothwell, Huntly, and Moray, supported by many of the barons and landed gentry, as well as by bishops and abbots, assembled at Perth, vowing their determination to resist the measures of the governor. On being summoned by the governor to disperse they did not resist; but when it became known that Henry VIII of England had succeeded in arranging a treaty of marriage between the young queen Mary and Edward, Prince of Wales, the Earls of Argyll, Huntly, Lennox, and Bothwell marched from Stirling with a force of ten thousand men, and compelled the governor to surrender to their charge the infant queen, with whom they returned to Stirling.

In the summer of 1544 Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, who had gone over to the party of the English king, plundered the Isle of Arran, and made himself master of Bute and Rothesay Castle. As he sailed down the River Clyde he was fired on by the Earl of Argyll, who with four thousand men occupied Dunoon Castle. After a consultation with his English officers Lennox attacked Dunoon, landing and burning the village and church. Retreating then to his ships, he subsequently laid waste a large part of Kintyre; but, as he had not succeeded in obtaining possession of Dumbarton Castle it was a transient victory. On the forfeiture of the estates of Lennox, Argyll was rewarded with the largest share. Although Lennox continued to foment discontent in the Isles, the practical result of his actions was further to increase the power of Argyll.

At the battle of Pinkie, 10 September 1547, Argyll, with four thousand west highlanders, held command of the right wing of the Scottish army. In January 1548 he advanced to Dundee to capture Broughty Castle; but English negotiators deterred him, even if he denied the rumours that he favoured England, and had been bought off. At the siege of Haddington, he was made "knight of the cockle" by the king of France at the same time as the Earls of Angus and Huntly.

Argyll had come under the influence of John Knox and the Scottish Reformation. On his way to Geneva in 1556 Knox stayed with him at Castle Campbell. After the agreement of the barons, in December 1557, that the reformed preachers should teach in private houses till the government should allow them to preach in public, Argyll took on the protection of John Douglas, a Carmelite friar. To induce Argyll to renounce the reformed faith, John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, sent him a long letter, to which he wrote a detailed answer.

He died between 21 August 1558 and 2 December 1558 at Dulnynn, Scotland. He was buried at Kilmun, Cowal.

Family
He was married three times. He married, firstly, Lady Helen Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran and Janet Bethune and had as their child: He married, secondly, Lady Margaret Graham, daughter of William Graham, 3rd Earl of Menteith and Margaret Moubray, on 21 April 1541 at the Priory of Inchmahome. He married thirdly, Catherine Maclean, daughter of Hector Og Maclean, 13th Clan Chief, on 12 March 1545/1546.
 * Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll

He had an illegitimate daughter:
 * Agnes Campbell who was married to Turlough Luineach O'Neill

His sister, Lady Catherine Campbell, survived a murder attempt by her husband, Lachlan Maclean of Duart in 1527. Maclean rowed out to Lady's Rock in the Firth of Lorne one night at low tide and left his wife stranded.