the Lords of the Congregation, Regent Arran ordered an assault on Borthwick and Crichton. Crichton was besieged and captured by the Earl of Arran and Master of Maxwell on 3 November 1559. They ransacked Crichton and took away Bothwell's legal charters and evidences. The castle was the scene of the marriage and wedding festivities, on 4 January 1562, of Patrick's daughter Jean (d. before July 1599) and John Stewart, Prior of Coldingham and illegitimate son of King James V. John Stewart's half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, spent a few nights at the castle while attending this wedding. The Earl of Bothwell was implicated in February 1567 in the murder of Queen Mary's husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, and became Mary's third husband in May of that year. In December, all Bothwell's titles and estates, including Crichton, were forfeited. In 1568, Crichton, along with Bothwell's other estates, was granted to Francis Stewart, son of John Stewart and Jean Hepburn, and thus bastard grandson of James V. Francis was created Earl of Bothwell in 1577 and married Margaret Douglas. He travelled in Europe, and he designed the very modern Italianate north range in the 1580s. James VI was at Crichton on 17 March 1587, planning an embassy to Denmark with Peter Young. Bothwell lost the king's favour and was accused of witchcraft and forfeited his estates in 1592. He was eventually forced to flee to Naples where he died. His son Francis Stewart was reinstated, but laboured under his father's debts, and sold Crichton to the Hepburns of Humbie. James VI stayed at Crichton on 19 June 1598, his birthday, after a day's hawking. J. M. W. Turner painted the castle, and it features in Sir Walter Scott's Marmion. In 1956, the castle was given into state care by its owner, Major Henry Callander of Preston Hall. It is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland, and has been a scheduled monument since 1921. Crichton was used as a location in the 1995 film Rob Roy and the 2011 film The Wicker Tree. Architecture Crichton Castle comprises four contiguous buildings arranged around an inner courtyard. The 14th century tower lies at the east of the castle, and has a vaulted basement with timber entresol, and a vaulted hall above, although the south-west corner of the tower has collapsed. To the west of this tower was a barmkin. William Crichton extended the