the lords gave him their "supplication" at Perth, then he was taken to Stirling Castle at the end of August. At Stirling the Ruthven party was swelled by Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, the Earl of Glencairn and Laurence, Master of Oliphant, and their retainers to the number of 400. In October 1582, James was at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. Ruthven Castle's name was officially changed to Huntingtower in 1600 after the Gowrie House conspiracy. The castle is maintained and opened to the public by Historic Environment Scotland. Sources Copies of relevant papers, such as the Lords's "supplication" of 23 August 1582 and Lennox's protest, "D'Obany's petition", were given by John Colville to Robert Bowes and sent to England, where they remain in the Public Record Office. Opponents of the Regime The earl of Gowrie remained at the head of the government assisted by figures like the Master of Glamis. The king's favourite Esmé Stewart, Duke of Lennox, the main politician targeted by the coup, was sent to Dumbarton Castle, then forced into exile in France, after lingering at Rothesay Castle on the Island of Bute, and died in Paris in May 1583. Another prominent politician, the recently ennobled James Stewart, Earl of Arran, was imprisoned at Dupplin, Stirling, Ruthven (Huntingtower), then confined at his own Kinneil House. Among the rest of the nobility, the Ruthven regime was opposed by the Earls of Huntly, Crawford, Morton (Maxwell) and Sutherland, and the Lords Livingston, Seton, Ogilvy, Ochiltree and Doune, all of whom were reported to support Arran and Lennox. Policy The resultant Gowrie regime favoured what has been described as an ultra-Protestant regime and was approved by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland as the 'late act of the Scottish reformation'. The Regime was approved by influential ministers of the Kirk of Scotland from the pulpit. These churchmen were called "Melvillians" after their spokesman Andrew Melville. The noble leaders of the regime also included those who were "discomfited" by the fall of James Douglas, Regent Morton in 1581, and the Douglas family, who had been exiled in England, were re-instated on 28 September 1582. The coup was also prompted by an urge to curb excessive spending at court. Because of its extravagance, the Earl of Gowrie as Lord High Treasurer of Scotland was owed £48,000 Pound Scots. This debt was never repaid. A number of cost-saving measures for the