George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly

George Gordon
An engraved portrait of George Gordon from a painting by Anthony van Dyck
Born	1592
Died	1649 Dundee
Title	2nd Marquess of Huntly
Tenure	1636–1649
Other titles	Viscount Aboyne
Nationality	Scottish
Successor	Lewis Gordon, 3rd Marquess of Huntly
Spouse(s)	Lady Jane Campbell
Parents	George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly Henrietta Stewart

George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly (1592 – March 1649), styled Earl of Enzie from 1599 to 1636, eldest son of George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly by Lady Henrietta Stewart, daughter of Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, was brought up in England as a Protestant, and later created Viscount Aboyne by Charles I.

Some of his earlier years, when he was still Lord Gordon, were spent in England at the court of James I, who took care to educate him in the Protestant faith and created him Earl of Enzie. In 1609 he received a commission of justiciary under the great seal against the members of a rebellious society in the north called the "Society of Boys". In 1613, he was employed by his father in connection with a dispute regarding his superiority over a portion of Lochaber, held by Lochiel and the Camerons. A treaty was at last signed between Lochiel and Enzie on 24 March 1618, by which Lochiel, on certain terms, agreed to renounce his rights to several estates under dispute, one of the stipulations being that he should obtain assistance against his old enemies the Mackintoshes.

Enzie had also a private ground of quarrel against Mackintosh on account of his failure to perform certain services for lands held of the earl and his father. Having on this account obtained a decree against him from the privy council, he besieged him in his castle of Culloden, and compelled him to flee southwards, first to Edinburgh and then to England. Enzie cited him to appear before the privy council, and on his failing to appear he was denounced as a rebel. Mackintosh, being at court, appealed to the king, but after Enzie went to London to give his version of the matter in dispute, Mackintosh was ordered to enter himself in ward in the castle of Edinburgh until he should give the earl satisfaction. In 1622 Enzie received a commission from the privy council to proceed against the Earl of Caithness, but before the commission was carried into effect it was superseded by another from the king to proceed on a mission to France. He remained in that country for some years in command of a company of gens d'armes. On 20 April 1632 he was created Viscount of Aboyne. On the death of his father in June 1636 he was still in France, but in October following returned to England along with his wife, his sister Lady Anne, and two sons, and on 23 June 1637 arrived in Strathbogie.

Notwithstanding his father's differences with the government, the second Marquess found himself in the enjoyment of the royal favour. He had been educated at court along with Prince Henry and Prince Charles; and as a Protestant episcopalian he was naturally relied on to render the utmost assistance to the government in their policy towards the covenanters. His supreme influence in the north served to balance that of Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll in the west. In 1638 he caused the royal proclamation to be read at the cross of New Aberdeen. At the beginning of the dispute with the king the covenanters sent to him Colonel Robert Munro as their ambassador, offering, if he would cast in his lot with them, not only to make him their leader, but to pay all his debts, which were said to amount to £100,000 sterling. But ‘to this proposition,’ says Gordon, ‘Huntly pave a short and resolute repartee, that his family had risen and stood by the kings of Scotland, and for his part, if the event proved the ruin of the king, he was resolved to lay his life, honours, and estate under the rubbish of the king his ruins'. He therefore not only refused to subscribe the covenant, but in September, alone of the other noblemen appointed in the north, accepted the commission of the king to cause the people to subscribe the king's covenant and band.