James Hamilton (1606 - 1649). James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton KG PC was a Scottish nobleman and influential political and military leader during the Thirty Years' War and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. James was born in 1606 at Hamilton Palace in Lanarkshire, the son of James, Marquis of Hamilton, and the Lady Ann Cunningham, daughter of James, Earl of Glencairn. Following the death of his insane great-uncle James, Earl of Arran in 1609, the infant was styled Earl of Arran. The young Earl of Arran's close ancestor was the Princess Mary, daughter to James II of Scotland and Mary of Gueldres. After the death in 1612 of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, James became third in line to the throne of Scotland, after Charles, Duke of Rothesay, and his sister Elizabeth. James VI's first visit to Scotland since the Union of the Crowns occurred in early 1617, whilst in Scotland, he was apparently charmed by the Marquis, and invited him to court in London. The Marquis duly arrived in London in August of that year, with his eleven-year-old son. Although like most Noblemen's sons of the time he had a private tutor, James Bale, Arran's time spent at court in the ensuing years did not consist of much formal education. To remedy this, Arran was sent to Exeter College, Oxford; he matriculated on 14 December 1621. The Duke was interested in art from a young age and collected Venetian paintings through his agent Viscount Basil Feilding. An inventory of his collection was made sometime after Charles I's retreat from London in November 1642 and before 12 April 1643, which included 600 entries, of which half were Venetian paintings from the collections of Bartolomeo della Nave and others. A good portion of this collection later came into the hands of the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels and forms the core of the Kunsthistorisches Museum today. The Marquis meanwhile had been intriguing with George, Duke of Buckingham. Like all ambitious upstarts at court, Buckingham was keen to consolidate his new-found fortunes by allying himself and his family with established and wealthy families. Buckingham proposed to wed Arran to his niece Mary, daughter to William, Viscount Feilding, an undistinguished Warwickshire Squire. Hamilton, despite his misgivings regarding Buckingham's lowly origins was impressed enough by his influence with the King, to accept his suggestion. On 16 June 1622 the fifteen-year-old Arran married 9-year old Mary Feilding in the presence of the King. Arran was not consulted and later came to bitterly resent it. In 1625 the 2nd Marquis died at Whitehall of a seizure. His death was blamed on fever, although the speed of his death and his age, thirty-six, made many suspect poison. King James died three weeks later. The new Marquis received all his father's titles, and also the same annuity his father had received from the court of E2500 sterling. At the coronation of King Charles I, Hamilton bore the Sword of State at Westminster Abbey. In 1628, Hamilton, was made a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, Knight of the Garter, a privy councillor in both England and Scotland, and in the same year was made Master of the Horse, a post he stayed in until 1644.: He represented the King of Bohemia at the baptism of the infant Prince Charles. In 1631 Hamilton took over an army to assist Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years' War in Germany. He raised these based on warrants to levy 6,000 men in England and a further 6,000 in Scotland. There has been much historical debate as to how many men landed initially, how many served in total and how effective these were. What is now known is that the initial contingent of 8,000 landed in Germany and other regiments, such as those of Sir Frederick Hamilton and Alexander Lord Forbes which were raised on warrants designed for the Marquis, actually arrived in Germany but served in the army group of Swedish commander Åke Tott. Having no military training, Hamilton was assigned Major General Alexander Leslie as his mentor and other Scottish officers after Leslie was wounded. The command structure of the Hamilton Army was largely Scottish and was drawn from a mix of existing Scottish commanders in Swedish service. Major General Alexander Leslie and 'Dear Sandy' Alexander Hamilton were to be supported by Lieutenant General Archibald Douglas, also of the artillery. Although collectively these men believed they served in the Scots Army, Marquis Hamilton actually took the title of General of British from the existing commander with that title, General James Spens who confusingly was compensated with the title General of Scots thereafter. Despite being under-resourced, Hamilton's forces did greater service than they are usually given credit for.