History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

CHAPTER XXVII.
Johnstons of Elphinstone — VVishart and Knox — Younger Sons — Salton —
Cousland—Johnstons of Newton—Edinburgh, etc.
THE
Johnstons of Elphinstone were early impoverished by a succession
of lawsuits. Sir Alexander Elphinstone was killed at the battle of
Piperdean in 1435, and his only child, Agnes, who married Gilbert of
Johnstoun, was opposed in her possession of his estates by the male heir who
generation after generation carried on a lawsuit up to 1 581. These Johnstouns
were among the first Reformers. John Knox was born in the neighbourhood
of Elphinstone Tower, and in 1544 was living at Ormiston, and tutor to Francis
and John, the sons of Hew Douglas of Longniddry near Tranent, and to the
son of the Laird of Ormiston. George Wishart, who had been ministering to
the plague-stricken town of Dundee, was forced to leave it by Cardinal Beaton,
the Archbishop of St. Andrews, and took refuge with Knox at Ormiston. The
Cardinal with the Regent Arran and an armed suite came to Elphinstone
Tower, and sent orders to Bothwell (the Sheriff) to arrest the Reformers (Jan.
1546). Wishart made no resistance, for Bothwell promised that he should
suffer no bodily hurt, but the Cardinal, hoping to secure Knox, kept Wishart
for a short time imprisoned in Elphinstone Tower, where a rent in the wall was
long shown by the country people as a sign of the Almighty's displeasure at the
martyr's fate.
It is probable that Andrew Johnstoun, the old Laird of Elphinstone,
enabled Knox to escape to England, for the Cardinal, disappointed at not
having more than one prisoner, took Wishart to St. Andrews, where he was
strangled and burnt at the stake in front of the Cardinal's palace. Bothwell
revenged it three months later by procuring the Cardinal's assassination ; and
Andrew Johnstoun supported Knox when he returned to Scotland. One of his
family, John Johnstoun, witnessed Knox's Will, May 13, 1572, and Andrew's
son, John, was present at the Reformer's death-bed.
On Sunday, Nov. 23, 1572, during the afternoon sermon, Knox, says his
biographer, became so ill that his secretary, Richard Bannatyne, "sent to the
Church for John Johnstoun of Elphinstone, who immediately came to his
bedside ; and many more arrived when the sermon was over. From that time
till Monday night, Nov. 24, Mrs Knox, Bannatyne, Campbell, Johnstoun, and