John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie (c. 1577 - 5 August 1600), was a Scottish nobleman, the second son of William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie and his wife Dorothea Stewart. He died while attempting to kidnap King James VI in August of 1600, during an event later known as the Gowrie conspiracy.

He succeeded to the earldom while still a child, following he death of his older brother James Ruthven in 1586. He was educated at the grammar school of Perth and the University of Edinburgh. In 1592, he was elected as Provost of Perth.

A few months after his election, Ruthven joined with John Stuart, Earl of Atholl and John Graham, Earl of Montrose in offering to serve Queen Elizabeth; he also had close contacts with Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell. However, he delayed these activities in August 1594, when he went to Italy with his tutor, William Rhynd, to study at the University of Padua. On his way home in 1599 he remained for some months at Geneva with the reformer Theodore Beza; and at Paris he made acquaintance with the English ambassador, who reported him to Robert Cecil as devoted to Elizabeth's service. On his return to London he was received very favorably by Queen Elizabeth and her ministers.

Although the Gowrie conspiracy is shrouded in mystery, three solutions have been proposed. Firstly, that Gowrie and his brother lured King James (at that time king only of Scotland) to Gowrie House for the purpose of either murdering or kidnapping him, that James paid a surprise visit to Gowrie House with the intention of murdering the two Ruthvens, or that the events were the outcome of an unpremeditated brawl between the king and the earl, or his brother.

Although all three theories have had historical proponents, the most modern scholarship suggests that there was a genuine conspiracy by Gowrie and his brother to kidnap King James, and that the events unfolded as follows:

On 5 August, 1600 the king rose early to hunt in the neighborhood of Falkland Palace, about 14 miles from Perth. As he set out, accompanied by the Duke of Lennox, the Earl of Mar, Thomas Erskine and others, he was approached by Alexander Ruthven , a younger brother of John. Alexander advised the king that he and his brother had detained a foreigner carrying a large quantity of money at Gowrie House, and urged James to interrogate the man himself. Although the king hesitated initially, he ultimately agreed to ride to Perth after the hunt was over. Alexander Ruthven dispatched a servant, Henderson, to inform his brother that the king would be arriving at Gowrie House later in the day. Ruthven then urged the king to lose no time, demanding that he keep the matter secret from his courtiers, and that he bring to Gowrie House as small a retinue as possible.

James, in the company of about fifteen retainers, arrived at Gowrie House at about one o'clock. Despite having received word earlier that the king would be arriving, John Ruthven had made no preparations, thus giving the impression of having been taken by surprise. After waiting about an up to a corner turret. Ruthven evidently locked a number of doors behind them. James expected to hour for a meager repast, James, forbidding his retainers to follow him, went with Alexander Ruthven find the mysterious prisoner with the foreign gold, but he was instead confronted by an armed man - evidently the servant, Henderson.

Alexander Ruthven immediately threatened the king with bodily harm if he resisted or attempted to call for help. Then, leaving the king in the care of the servant, left the room to confer with his brother. He returned shortly after, discovering that Henderson had, at the request of the king, opened the windows of the room.

Whether or not Alexander had seen his brother is uncertain. Nonetheless, John Ruthven had spread a report below that the king had ridden away; the royal retinue were seeking their horses to follow him. Alexander, on re-entering the turret, attempted to bind James's hands; a struggle ensued, in the course of which the king was seen at the window by some of his followers below in the street, who also heard him cry "treason" and call for help to the Earl of Mar. Gowrie affected not to hear these cries, but kept asking what was the matter. Lennox, Mar and most of the other lords and gentlemen ran up the main staircase to the king's help, but were stopped by the locked door.

John Ramsay, noticing a small dark stairway leading directly to the inner chamber adjoining the turret, ran up it and found the king struggling with Ruthven. Drawing his dagger, Ramsay wounded Ruthven, who was then pushed down the stairway by the king. Thomas Erskine, summoned by Ramsay, now followed up the small stairs with Dr Hugh Herries, and these two killed Ruthven with their swords. John Ruthven, entering the courtyard with his stabler Thomas Cranstoun and seeing his brother's body, rushed up the staircase after Erskine and Herries, followed by Cranstoun; in the melée he was also killed.

In the immediate aftermath, there was considerable sentiment in Scotland that the king had invented the conspiracy in order to cover his own attempts to eradicate the Gowrie family whom he believed (correctly) to be disloyal. James fueled this belief with his pursuit of the two younger Gowrie brothers, who were unquestionably innocent of any involvement. It is also believed that James owed John Ruthven a considerable amount of money (perhaps as much as ₤80,000), and that this may have provided impetus for eliminating the Ruthven family.

Gowrie's two younger brothers, William and Patrick Ruthven, fled to England. After the accession of James to the English throne, William escaped abroad to Virginia, allegedly changing his name to Ruffin. Patrick was captured and imprisoned for nineteen years in the Tower of London.

*Andrew Lang, James VI and the Gowrie Mystery (London, 1902), and the authorities there cited *Robert Pitcairn, Criminal Trials in Scotland (2 vols, Edinburgh, 1833) *David Moysie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, 1577-1603 (Edinburgh, 1830) *Louis A Barb, The Tragedy of Gowrie House (London, 1887) *Andrew Bisset, Essays on Historical Truth (London, 1871) *David Calderwood, History of the Kirk of Scotland (8 vols, Edinburgh, 1842-1849) *PF Tytler, History of Scotland (9 vols, Edinburgh, 1828 1843) *John Hill Burton, History of Scotland (7 vols, Edinburgh, 1867-1870) *Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edition, accessed 20 Aug 2007 *

*The Gowrie Conspiracy, by Samuel Cowan, available through Google Books *John Ruthven at The Peerage.com

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