Darnley, Lord Aubigny, Dalkeith, Torboltoun and Aberdour. The founder of the French branch of the Stewart family of Darnley in Renfrewshire, Scotland, was Sir John Stewart of Darnley (c. 1380 – 1429), 1st Seigneur de Concressault, 1st Seigneur d'Aubigny, 1st Comte d'Évreux, a famous warrior who commanded the Scottish army in France assisting the French King Charles VII to expel the invading English forces under King Henry V during the Hundred Years War. He was much appreciated by the French king who showered him with honours and landed estates and granted him the "glorious privilege of quartering the royal arms of France with his paternal arms". The residence of the Stewart family in France was the Château d'Aubigny, Aubigny-sur-Nère, in the ancient county of Berry. King James I regarded all Esmé's family with great affection, and instructed his son King Charles I to do well by them. Charles faithfully fulfilled this obligation, and as a result the Lennox family had considerable influence at the Scottish and English Courts over the next two generations. In 1603 as well as being granted the reversion of Cobham Hall, he was also granted the possession of Temple Newsam Hall in Yorkshire, the birthplace of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, father of King James I and first cousin of Ludovic's father. In 1613 Ludovic Stewart was created Baron of Settrington (of Yorkshire) and Earl of Richmond (of Yorkshire) and in 1623 Earl of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and Duke of Richmond. He married three times but died on 16 February 1623/4, aged 50, without legitimate issue, when all his titles, excepting those inherited from his father, became extinct. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, in the Richmond Vault in the Henry VII Chapel (that king formerly having been Earl of Richmond) above which survives his magnificent black marble monument by Hubert Le Sueur with gilt-bronze recumbent effigies of himself and his wife. Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox (1579–1624), younger brother and heir, who had succeeded his father as 7th Seigneur d'Aubigny (which French title was able to be passed directly to a younger son). He died on 30 July 1624 of spotted fever, just 5 months after his elder brother. He married Katherine Clifton, 2nd Baroness Clifton (c. 1592 – 1637) of Leighton Bromswold, Huntingdonshire, as a consequence of which in 1619 he was created Baron Stuart of Leighton Bromswold and Earl