Alexander Crichton of Brunstane

Alexander Crichton of Brunstane, (died before December 1558), was a Scottish Protestant laird who advocated the murder of Cardinal David Beaton and supported the plan for the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and Edward VI of England. In contemporary letters and documents Alexander is known by variant spellings of "Brunstane," his territorial designation. The original House of Brunstane was near Penicuik, and another Crichton estate at Gilberstoun near Portobello, Edinburgh became known as Brunstane.

Alexander Crichton went to France with royal letters in 1539 and as a servant of Cardinal Beaton. On his return he was forced by a storm to land in England in February 1540. Subsequently, the English ambassador Ralph Sadler intended to embarrass the Cardinal in front of James V of Scotland with some compromising letters captured from Brunstane. James V argued in favour of Beaton that he had separate spiritual authority in Scotland apart from the King's temporal powers. Later, while the Cardinal was present, James and Ralph compared the sent letters with copies Beaton had produced, and found a discrepancy. James V thanked Sadler and his uncle Henry VIII but would not find fault in the Cardinal's actions.

Alexander remained in the Cardinal's favour and sailed with him to France in 1540. He returned before his master in 1541 to meet James V. The King, Alexander, and the secretary, Thomas Erskine of Haltoun, played royal tennis at St Andrews on 3 April 1541. In November 1542 he sailed to France from Dumbarton on the business of rents owed to the Cardinal and Mary of Guise. He returned with money for James V from Francis I of France, and was later accused of keeping some of it. An English spy reported on Alexander's return in December 1542 that he had brought "little comfort." On 19 November 1542, he and his son John were rewarded for Alexander's services and expenses in France with a new charter for part of their Gilberstoun estate.

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