John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl (born c. 1440 – September 19, 1512), also known as Sir John Stewart of Balveny, was a Scottish nobleman and ambassador to England (in 1484).
He was the oldest child of Joan Beaufort, widowed Queen of James I of Scotland, and her second husband Sir James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn.
He was created Earl of Atholl in around 1457, the first Earl of the eighth creation of the title. He is believed to have had a hand in suppressing the rebellion of the Earl of Ross, the last of the Lords of the Isles. He was buried in Dunkeld Cathedral in Perthshire.
John Stewart married twice, and had several children. However, the exact number, names and the attribution of his issue to their mothers is unclear.
He married first, in 1459-1460, Margaret Douglas, daughter of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas. Margaret, also known as the 'Fair Maid of Galloway', had been twice married already to the 8th Earl and the 9th Earl of Douglas. She died between 1473 and 1475. They had two daughters:
1. Janet Stewart, married Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly
2. Elizabeth Stewart.
He married second, before April 1475, Eleanor (d. March 21, 1518), daughter of William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney. At least nine children were born:
1. John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Atholl
2. Andrew Stewart, Bishop of Caithness
3. Jean Stewart, married by contract dated August 31, 1507, James Arbuthnott of Arbuthnott, who had a Crown Charter of the feudal barony of Arbuthnott on January 29, 1507.
4. Catherine Stewart
5. Elspeth Stewart, married Sir Robert Innes of Innermarky
6. Marjory Stewart
7. Margaret Stewart
8. Isabel Stewart
9. Anne Stewart, married John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox
Wikapedia
He was granted the lands of Dreghorn, Ayr for his services to Robert the Bruce.1 He purchased the lands of Crookston in 1330.1 He fought in the Battle of Halidon Hill on 19 July 1333. Burk's Peerage.
His line continues throught Walter FitzAlan and Eochyna de Molle, Alan FitzFlaad and Aveline de Hesdin, Flaad FitzFlaad Seneschal of Brittania, and Alan Seneschal de Dol.
In 1406 he was taken prisoner by the English while sailing to France shortly before the death of his father. He was held for ransom, mainly in the Tower of London, until 5 April 1424. During his exile, Scotland has been governened by his uncle Robert, the Duke of Albany until his death (1420) and then by Robert's son, Murdoch. On the 25th May, 1425, James had his revenge when he executed Murdoch and two of his kinsmen outside Stirling Castle. He succeeded to the title of King James I of Scotland on 4 April 1406.1 He was crowned King of Scotland on 2 May 1424 at Scone Abbey, Scone, Perthshire, Scotland. On 21 February 1437, when a group of Scots led by Sir Robert Graham assassinated James at the Friars Preachers Monastery in Perth. He attempted to escape his assailants through a sewer. However, three days previously, he had had the other end of the drain blocked up because of its connection to the tennis court outside, balls habitually got lost in it. A wave of executions followed, of those who had participated in the plot, in March 1437. The authorities executed (among others) James's uncle, Walter Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl, and Atholl's grandson, Robert Stewart, Master of Atholl — both of them descended from Robert II's second marriage).
He was the eldest son of King Robert II by his mistress, Elizabeth Mure, became legitimised with the formal marriage of his parents about 1349. They had previously married in 1336, but some had criticised that ceremony as uncanonical.
In 1368 his granduncle King David II of Scotland created him Earl of Carrick, and he took some part in the government of the kingdom until about 1387, when a kick from a horse disabled him. Probably in consequence of this accident his brother Robert, Earl of Fife, and not the crown prince himself, became guardian of the kingdom in 1389; but the latter succeeded to the throne on his father's death in May 1390.
In 1399, owing to the king's "sickness of the body", his elder son, David, Duke of Rothesay, gained appointment as lieutenant of the kingdom; but there followed an English invasion of Scotland, serious differences between Rothesay and his uncle, Robert, now Duke of Albany, and finally in March 1402 Rothesay's mysterious death at Falkland Palace.
James became a prisoner of the King of England for 18 years. When Robert III heard of his son's capture, he became even more depressed and allegedly died from grief over the capture of James. Robert asked to be buried under a dunghill with the epitaph: Here lies the worst of Kings and the most miserable of men. He was interred at Paisley instead of Scone, the traditional burial ground of the Scottish kings, as he did not consider himself worthy of the honour.