Michael Durham
{{For|the wrestler Michael Lynn Durham|Johnny Grunge}}
Michael Durham was a Scottish courtier and physician to James V of Scotland. His family was from Grange at Monifieth near Dundee.
Death of a king
File:Falkland Palace, north wing from NW.jpg
Durham took his first degree at the University of St Andrews. He attended James V at Falkland Palace during his final illness in December 1542.Andrea Thomas, Princelie Majestie (John Donald, 2005), p. 40. He was a witness to the king's will, a legal document made at Falkland appointing tutors for Mary, Queen of Scots. The document was declared invalid.H. F. Morland Simpson, 'Cardinal Beaton and the Will of James V', The English Historical Review, 21:81 (January 1906), pp. 112–118: [https://archive.org/details/manuscriptsofduk00greauoft/page/220/mode/2up HMC 1th Report Part VI Hamilton (London, 1887), pp. 219–220 no. 158]
Regent Arran paid Durham's expenses of £200 Scots for his medical work, and gave him a gown furred with Scottish "martrick" or marten fur from the royal wardrobe.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, 8 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 148.John G. Harrison, [https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20180403094218/http://sparc.scran.ac.uk/publications/pdfs/L2%20wardrobe%20inventories%20of%20james%20v.pdf Wardrobe Inventories of James V: British Library MS Royal 18 C (Historic Scotland: Edinburgh, 2008), p. 49] At first, according to John Knox, the counsel of Durham and other Protestants was welcomed at the Regent's court. Soon, however, these courtiers were removed.Works of John Knox: History of the Reformation (Edinburgh, 1846), p. 106.
War
File:Broughty Castle (2).JPG in September 1547]]
Michael Durham and his brother Henry Durham were Protestants who sided with England during the war now known as the Rough Wooing.Marcus H. Merriman, 'The Assured Scots: Scottish Collaborators with England during the Rough Wooing', Scottish Historical Review, 47:143 (1) (April 1968), p. 22. In August 1546, Arran had Michael Durham imprisoned for a time in Edinburgh Castle.James Balfour Paul, [https://archive.org/details/accountslordhig00unkngoog/page/148/mode/2up Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 8 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 106, 148, 479] Durham then went to London. The Scottish diplomat Adam Otterburn was surprised he had been released and allowed to travel.Annie Cameron, Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine (Edinburgh: SHS, 1927), p. 184.
After the battle of Pinkie in September 1547, Michael Durham accompanied the English commander Andrew Dudley from Leith to Broughty Castle. They sailed in the Galley Suttill or Subtle with Richard Brooke and fired three shots at the castle. Henry Durham, who was a retainer of Lord Gray, and Captain of Broughty, surrendered the castle to Dudley.Francis Mudie, David Walker, Iain MacIvor, Broughty Castle and the Defence of the Tay (Abertay Historical Society, 2010), p. 18: Marcus Merriman, The Rough Wooings (East Linton, Tuckwell, 2000), p. 250. The galley was used because it could be rowed near the shore to fire its ordnance.David Caldwell, Vicky Oleksy, Bess Rhodes, The Battle of Pinkie, 1547 (Oxbow, 2023), pp. 51, 243.
Henry and Michael Durham, as "assured Scots", were given an English pension of £50 and trading privileges.John Roche Dasent, Acts of the Privy Council, vol. 2 (London, 1890), 157–159, 242: Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1809), p. 361: Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 21 no. 46, 102 no. 207: Walter G. Richardson, The Report of the Royal Commission of 1552 (West Virginia University Library, 1974), pp. 32, 89.
London
Michael Durham returned to London. He received a pension from the English exchequer, granted by Edward VI of England.W. C. Richardson, The Report of the royal commission of 1552 (Morgantown, 1974), p. 89. He became a friend of the French ambassador Antoine de Noailles, aiding him with intelligence and in diplomatic matters.E. Harris Harbison, Rival Ambassadors at the Court of Queen Mary (Princeton, 1940), pp. 119–124. Durham carried or forwarded some of Noailles's letters to Henri Cleutin in Scotland.Vertot, Ambassades des Noailles, 4, p. 22. Noailles tried to rehabilitate Durham with Mary of Guise, the widow of James V who ruled Scotland from 1554 to 1560.Vertot, Ambassades des Noailles, 3, pp. 269, 300 fn.
An "assize" concerning Doctor Durham was held in Edinburgh in October 1555.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 10 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 298. In March 1557, the English diplomat Nicholas Wotton described Durham as a spy for France and Mary of Guise, receiving a pension from her of 300 crowns.William B. Turnbull, Calendar State Papers Foreign Mary (London, 1861), p. 290 no. 579: Patrick Fraser Tytler, [https://archive.org/details/historyscotland08tytlgoog/page/442/mode/2up History of Scotland, 6 (Edinburgh, 1840), p. 443]
René-Aubert Vertot, an 18th-century editor of the letters of Antoine de Noailles, mentions that suspicion fell on Durham for poisoning James V.Vertot, [https://archive.org/details/ambassadesdemess03vert/page/300/mode/2up Ambassades des Noailles, 3, (Leyde, 1763), p. 300 fn] There were rumours that the king's demise was hastened by poison or the wrong medicine. Modern historians believe James died of natural causes.Jamie Cameron, James V: The Personal Rule (Tuckwell, 1998), p. 325. A rumour of poisoning was current days after the death, reaching English authorities.Joseph Bain, [https://archive.org/details/cu31924091786032/page/342/mode/2up Hamilton Papers, 1 (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 342 no. 261] John Lesley wrote that James V was "vexit by some unkindly medicine".Thomas Thomson, History of Scotland by John Leslie (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 166. A translator of Lesley's Latin History wrote that the common people thought "the king sooner died through medicine, than otherwise he would have done".E. Cody & W. Murison, [https://digital.nls.uk/publications-by-scottish-clubs/archive/107448179 Historie of Scotland, 2 (Edinburgh: STS, 1895), p. 259, modernised here] Raphael Holinshed and David Calderwood wrote of reports that James V was "disquieted by some unkindlie medicine".Andrew Lang, 3, Scottish Historical Review (Glasgow, 1906), pp. 380–82: Thomas Napier Thomson, [https://archive.org/details/historyofkirkofs01cald/page/152/mode/2up History of the Kirk, 1 (Edinburgh, 1842), p. 152][https://archive.org/details/chroniclesofengl05holiuoft/page/528/mode/2up Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, 5 (London, 1808), p. 528]