Ainslie Tavern Bond

The Ainslie Tavern Bond (also known as the "Ainslie Band", or the "Ainslie Tavern Band") was a document signed on about 20 April 1567 by a number of Scottish bishops and nobles. The bond approved the Earl of Bothwell's acquittal on 12 April of implication in the murder of Lord Darnley, recommended him as an appropriate husband for Mary, Queen of Scots, and pledged to assist in defending such a marriage.

Lord Darnley had married Mary on 29 July 1565, but their marriage proved disastrous. On 9 March 1566, Mary's Italian private secretary, David Rizzio, was murdered in the Queen's presence at Holyrood. The murderers were led by Lord Ruthven, but it was widely believed that the murder arose from Darnley's jealousy. There followed a carefully choreographed series of events, aimed at substituting Bothwell for Darnley as Mary's husband. The extent of Mary's own complicity was and remains intensely controversial, but the preponderant view has been that she is likely to have been an accomplice in Bothwell's designs.

On 10 February 1567, the bodies of Darnley and his servant were discovered in Kirk o'Field in Edinburgh. Suspicion immediately fell on Bothwell. On 12 April 1567, he was formally acquitted of involvement in Darnley's murder, but suspicions about the nature of his trial were not allayed by the fact that he had attended the meeting of the Privy Council at which the trial had been arranged.

Following his acquittal, Bothwell invited the leading temporal and spiritual peers to a dinner in an Edinburgh tavern, kept by one Ainslie, as a result of which the event became known as "Ainslie's Supper" and the document associated with it "the Ainslie Tavern Bond". The bond was subscribed by eight bishops, nine earls and seven lords. It was subsequently alleged that Mary had previously on 19 April 1567 signed a warrant authorising the Lords to sign the Bond. Other sources suggest that the Bond was ratified by the Queen following its execution.

According to a note sent to William Cecil, the signatories were; the Earl of Moray; the Earl of Argyll; the Earl of Huntly; the Earl of Cassillis; the Earl of Morton; the Earl of Sutherland; the Earl of Rothes; the Earl of Glencairn; and the Earl of Caithness with the Lord Boyd; the Lord Seton; the Lord Sinclair; the Lord Sempill; the Lord Oliphant; the Lord Ogilvie of Airlie; the Rosse-Hacat (sic); Carleil of Torthorwald; the Lord Herries; the Lord Home; and the Lord Innermeath. The Bishop of Ross and the Lord Elphinstone slipped away without signing.

...
Wikipedia