All characters are real unless specified otherwise. I have followed the convention of referring to earls by their title rather than family name and lesser nobles by their place of residence. This did not however solve the problem of several characters with identical Christian names, who had neither title nor place that could be used as an identifier, so where they are to be found together I have used their surnames to distinguish them.

The Munro Family
(All members of this family are fictional.)

  • Munro: serving under Patrick Montgomerie in France.
  • Kate: his wife, living at Braidstane under the assumed name of ‘Grant’.
  • Robbie, Maggie and Ellie: his surviving children.

The Cunninghame Faction

  • Earl of Glencairn: head of the Cunninghame clan. Ranked 11th in the order of precedence among the Scottish earls. Primary residence – Kilmaurs.
  • Lady Glencairn: his wife.
  • John Cunninghame: his brother.
  • William, his eldest son and heir: Master of Glencairn.
  • Patrick Maxwell of Newark: a Cunninghame cousin.
  • Margaret Maxwell: his wife.
  • Patrick, Margaret and Helen: their children.

The Montgomerie Faction

  • Earl of Eglintoun: head of the Montgomerie clan. Ranked 12th in order of precedence among the Scottish earls. Primary residence – Ardrossan.
  • Hugh Montgomerie: Laird of Braidstane.
  • Elizabeth: his wife.
  • Catherine and Mary: their children.
  • George: his eldest brother, a cleric at the English court.
  • Patrick: 2nd brother, an officer in the Scots Gardes in France.
  • John: 3rd brother, a physician in Italy.
  • Grizel: Hugh’s sister, now married to Sigurd Ivarsen (fictional).
  • Alexander: uncle to Hugh, James VI’s ‘Master Poet’.

Others

  • James VI: King of Scotland, heir to Elizabeth I of England.
  • Henri of Navarre: Henri IV, King of France.
  • James Hamilton: courtier and (probable) spy for James VI, currently running a school in Dublin.
  • James Fullerton: ditto.
  • John Cowper: a cleric with a standing commission to conduct witchcraft trials.
  • Mistress Aitken: known as the ‘Blawearie witch’, she escaped death following her conviction in return for exposing other supposed witches.