The armed struggle in the turret room of Gowrie House was the central moment of the Gowrie Conspiracy. James VI reported that Alexander Ruthven had seized him by the collar and twisted his arms behind him while an armoured man stood in the corner. The king allegedly persuaded Ruthven to release his grip momentarily, then threw him across the room and cried murder through the window. John Ramsay, James's groom, hearing the cry, came up the back stairs and stabbed Alexander Ruthven — James VI reportedly encouraging him to strike low under the armour. The extreme smallness of the turret room and the physical struggle it contained made this the most intimate moment of violence in James VI's long reign.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
Research a location near this battlefield