Alexander Cunningham, 5th Earl of Glencairn

Alexander Cunningham, 5th Earl of Glencairn (died 1574) was a Scottish nobleman and Protestant reformer, prominent in the Scottish Reformation.

The son of William Cunningham, 4th Earl of Glencairn by his second wife, the daughter of and heiress of John Campbell of West Loudon, he followed in his father's footsteps as a Protestant and was among the first of the Scots' nobility who concurred with the Scottish Reformation.

By 1540, Cunningham (then Lord Kilmaurs) was associated with the cause of reform, writing a satirical poem about the Grey Friars, which was later reprinted by Knox in his "History of the Reformation in Scotland."

In 1555 on the return of John Knox to Scotland, he resorted openly to hear him preach. When the Reformer, at the request of the Earl Marischal, addressed to the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise a letter in which he earnestly exhorted her to protect the reformed preachers, and to consent to a Reformation in the church, Glencairn had the boldness to deliver it to Her Majesty, who, after glancing carelessly over it, handed to James Bethune, Archbishop of Glasgow, and contemptuously said: "Please you, my lord, to read as pasquil!".

In 1556 he entertained Knox at his house of Finlaystone House, when the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, after the manner of the Reformed church, was administered to his whole family and some friends. In December 1557 he was one of the leaders of the Reform Party who subscribed to the memorable Covenant which had been drawn up for the support and defence of the Protestant religion, and who thenceforce assumed the name of the Lords of the Congregation.

In 1559, in consequence of the rigorous proceedings against Protestants by the Queen Regent, he and his relative, Sir Hugh Campbell of Loudon, the Sheriff of Ayr, requested an audience of Her Majesty, at which they reminded her of her promises of religious toleration. On the Queen's replying that "promises ought not to be urged upon princes, unless they can conveniently fulfill them"; "then", they said, "since you are resolved to keep no faith with your subjects we will renounce our allegiance", an answer which induced her to stop her proceedings.

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