Editing Wemyss Castle (section)

== History ==
Accounts date the construction of the castle to 1421 when Sir John Wemyss decided to build a fortified castle to replace one destroyed by the [[Duke of Rothesay]] at [[Kilconquhar]] in 1402. The castle is thus the ancient seat of the [[Earls of Wemyss]] and their families. Historically, the castle is perhaps best known as the location where [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], met her future husband [[Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley|Lord Darnley]], on 17 February 1565.<ref>Clare Hunter, ''Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power'' (London: Sceptre, 2022), p. 138: Charles Wemyss, ''Noble House of Scotland'' (Prestel Verlag, 2014), p. 80: ''Calendar State Papers Scotland'', vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 125–6: ''Memoirs of his own Life by Sir James Melville'' (Edinburgh, 1827), p. 134.</ref>

The court of [[James VI of Scotland|James VI]] stayed at Wemyss Castle in July 1583.<ref>''Bowes Correspondence'' (London, 1842), p. 496.</ref> On 11 May 1590 a party of Danish commissioners led by [[Peder Munk]] and the Scottish lawyer [[John Skene, Lord Curriehill|John Skene]] stayed at Wemyss Castle. Their task was to view and take [[sasine]] of [[Falkland Palace]] and [[Dunfermline Palace]] and [[Linlithgow Palace]], the properties given to [[Anne of Denmark]] by James VI as a "[[dowry|morning gift]]".<ref>David Stevenson, ''Scotland's Last Royal Wedding''(Edinburgh, 1997), pp. 100–101, 103: William Fraser, ''Memorials of the family of Wemyss of Wemyss'', vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 28–9.</ref>

In April 1591 King James had Lilias (or Sophia) Ruthven, a daughter of [[William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie]], shut away in Wemyss Castle to prevent her marrying [[Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox]].<ref>David M. Bergeron, ''The Duke of Lennox, 1574-1624: A Jacobean Courtier's Life'' (Edinburgh, 2022), p. 29.</ref> Lennox managed to get his bride out of the castle and marry her at [[Dunkeld]], and after 10 days the king allowed the couple to come to court.<ref>Adrienne McLaughlin, 'Rise of a Courtier', Miles Kerr-Peterson & Steven Reid, eds, ''James VI and Noble Power in Scotland'' (Abingdon, 2017), pp. 147–8: ''Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1589–1593'', vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 502.</ref>

In 1592 [[Sir John Wemyss]] of Wemyss provided a refuge at the castle for the queen's Danish lady-in-waiting [[Margaret Vinstarr]] whose partner [[John Wemyss of Logie]] had plotted with [[Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell]] against the king.<ref>William Fraser, ''Memorials of the family of Wemyss of Wemyss'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 178–9.</ref> The incident is celebrated in a ballad, ''[[The Laird o Logie]]''.<ref>[[Francis James Child]], ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', (Part VIII), 4:2 (Boston, 1892), pp. 515–6 no. 182.</ref>[[File:Wemyss Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1044224.jpg|thumb|250x250px|Wemyss Castle Seen from the front]]John Wemyss was obliged to keep prisoners for the king at Wemyss, including in 1597 Archie Armstrong of Whitehaugh from the [[Scottish borders]]. Wemyss and other [[Laird|Lairds]] complained about this duty, and in April James VI wrote to him and asked him to bring Armstrong as a prisoner to be kept at [[Falkland Palace]] instead.<ref>''HMC 3rd Report, Wemyss'' (London, 1872), p. 422.</ref>

In the 1890s the nearby [[Coaltown of Wemyss]] was established as an [[estate village]] on land belonging to Wemyss Castle, in order to house mineworkers employed in several coal mines in the area.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gifford, John.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/475440850|title=Fife.|date=2003|page=127|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-09673-9|oclc=475440850}}</ref>