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The  Isle  of  Bute  in  the 
Olden  Time 

WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS,    MAPS,   AND  PLANS 


BY 


JAMES   KING   HEWISON,  M.A.,  F.S.A.  (SCOT.) 

MINISTER  OF  ROTHESAY 
EDITOR  OF  'CERTAIN  TRACTATES  BY  NINIAN  WINZET' 


VOL.    II. 


WILLIAM    BLACKWOOD    AND    SONS 

EDINBURGH     AND     LONDON 

MDCCCXCV 


All  Rights  reserved 


TO 


THE    MARCHIONESS    OF    BUTE 


PREFACE   TO   THE   SECOND  VOLUME. 


IN  this  volume  I  have  carried  out  my  intention  of 
providing  an  account  of  the  Stewards  of  Scotland, 
and  a  history  of  '  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time,'  from  the 
thirteenth  down  to  the  eighteenth  century,  to  which 
I  have  added  a  few  of  the  more  important  facts  which 
link  the  last  two  centuries  to  the  present  time. 

Having  no  special  brief  to  furnish,  in  fullest  detail, 
the  romantic  history  of  the  Royal  Stewards,  I  have 
been  hampered  in  the  effort  to  condense,  within  the 
straitened  framework  of  language  attractive  to  the 
reader,  many  important  unpublished  results  of  re- 
searches which  should  add  a  new  interest  to  the 
mystery  of  the  origin  of  the  Stewarts  who  occupied 
the  throne  of  Scotland. 

To  find  "  the  root  of  many  kings  "  among  the  Celts 
of  Scotland,  I  have  ransacked  every  likely  place  for 
facts,  with  such  success,  chronicled  herein,  as  may 


viii  Preface  to  the  Second  Volume. 

possibly  provoke  some  other  zealous  investigator  to 
follow  up  the  clues  through  those  unpublished  MSS., 
which  are  the  treasures  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy 
in  Dublin,  and  which  my  examination  did  not  ex- 
haust. By  their  means  the  ghost  of  Banquo  may 
yet  become  more  vocal  than  he  was  to  King 
Macbeth. 

To  ensure  reliable  investigation  into  the  connection 
of  Alan — the  progenitor  of  the  Stewards — with  Brit- 
tany, I  visited  that  ancient  province,  and  in  the 
Public  Library  at  Rennes,  as  well  as  in  the  British 
Museum,  verified  the  supposition  that  the  Fitz  Alans 
were  also  Bretons.  On  my  return,  I  had  the  honour 
and  good  fortune  to  receive  from  the  Right  Honour- 
able the  Earl  of  Crawford  and  Balcarres  the  use  of 
a  large  collection  of  MSS.  referring  to  the  Fitz 
Alans  and  their  Breton  contemporaries,  which  were 
gathered  during  a  lifetime  by  the  late  learned  peer, 
his  father,  who  had  given  much  attention  to  the 
early  history  of  his  ancestry.  Many  of  these  docu- 
ments are  extracts  from  the  chartularies  of  French 
monasteries  and  records  of  Brittany,  made  by  dis- 
tinguished French  scholars,  notably  Monsieur  Fran- 
cisque  Michel. 

I    have  to  thank  the   Earl   of  Crawford  and  Bal- 


Preface  to  the  Second  Volume*  ix 

carres  for  his  kindness  in  intrusting  this  valuable 
collection  to  me. 

I  have  also  to  thank  the  Most  Noble  the  Mar- 
quess of  Bute,  K.T.,  for  his  courtesy  in  permitting 
me  to  study  in  Mountstuart  Library,  to  have  access 
to  his  charters,  and  to  publish  the  Report  on  Rothesay 
Castle,  drawn  up  by  Mr  Burges,  architect. 

To  the  many  friends  who  have  assisted  me  in 
the  production  of  this  work,  including  those  artistic 
helpers  whose  names  are  associated  with  the  beauti- 
ful plates  throughout  this  volume,  and  are  mentioned 
in  the  descriptive  Index,  I  tender  my  thanks. 

For  ten  years  I  have,  in  imagination,  listened  to 
the  voices  of  the  saintly  and  patriotic  makers  of  our 
Fatherland,  and  have  followed  throughout  these 
western  regions  our  immortal  heroes, — Aidan  from 
Erin  to  lona — Wallace  from  Lanark  to  London — 
Bruce  from  Carrick  to  Cardross — the  Brandanes  from 
Bute  to  Bannockburn  and  many  another  field ;  but 
now  the  accomplishment  of  this  work  brings  the 
regret  that  I  must  forbear  their  "  pastyme  and  gud 
companie,"  and  let  the  sword  of  freedom  descend, 
darkling,  into  its  rusty  scabbard, — the  sweet  chant  of 
St  Blaan  turn  into  the  wind-gusts  whistling  through 
his  still  roofless  fane — the  countenance  of  Walter, 


x  Preface  to  the  Second  Vohime. 

gallant  companion  of  the  Bruce,  "seemly  to  sycht," 
find  base  presentment  in  the  mutilated  effigy  that 
memorialises  his  fame  in  the  Lady  Kirk — and  com- 
munion in  the  brave  days  of  old  become  ex- 
changed for  association  in  the  diurnal  conflicts  of  a 
more  flexible,  and  therefore  a  meaner  age,  wherein 
too  many  consider  patriotism  to  be  a  restrictive 

prejudice. 

J.   KING   HEWISON. 

THE  MANSE,  ROTHESAY,  March  1895. 


CONTENTS   OF  THE   SECOND  VOLUME. 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I.   THE  ORIGIN   OF   THE   ROYAL  STEWARTS,           ....  I 

II.   THE  STEWARDS  OF  SCOTLAND,                .               .   ,            .               .  38 

III.  THE  BRANDANES,              ......  85 

IV.  THE   HOME  OF  THE  STEWARTS,               .               .               ...             .  105 

V.   THE   BARONS   OF  BUTE,.               .               .               ."             .    -.           .'  133 

VI.   THE   ROYAL  BURGH,         .               .               .                              .               .  l88 

VII.    THE   ROMAN   CHURCH,    .                .                .            <    .  212 

VIII.   THE  REFORMED  CHURCH,           .               .                              .               .  251 

IX.   THREE  CENTURIES  OF  CIVIL  LIFE  IN   BUTE,                .               .  304 

APPENDICES. 

I.  GENEALOGY  OF  MAORMOR   OF   LEVEN,  .  .  -347 

II.   GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  STEWARDS   OF  SCOTLAND,   .  349 

III.  PR^ECEPTUM   DE  ECCLESIA   B.   MARLE  DE  COMBORNIO,           .  353 

IV.  INQUISITION   MADE  IN   NORFOLK   IN    1275,       .               .               -354 
V.   DONATIO   DE  SPARLAIO,                .....  354 

VI.   AUCTORAMENTUM   DE  GUGUEN,              .               .               •               •  355 


xii  Contents  of  the  Second  Volume. 

VII.   FONDATION   DU   PRIEURE  DE  S.   FLORENT-SOUS-DOL,  .        356 

VIII.   CHARTER  OF   FITZ  JORDAN  TO  MARMOUTIERS,          .  .        357 

IX.   CARTA  DE  MOLENDINO  DE  BORTONE,  .  .  -358 

X.   CARTA    HENRICI    REGIS    ANGLORUM    DE    CELLA    S.    TRINI- 

TATIS   EBORACENSIS,  .  .  .  .  358 

XI.   CHARTER  OF   ST   FLORENT  ATTESTED   BY  ALAN,        .  -359 

XII.   DONATION  X  MARMOUTIERS  PAR  JOURDAIN,  .  .        359 

XIII.  GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  FITZ  ALANS  AND  STEWARTS,        361 

XIV.  GENEALOGICAL    TABLE    SHOWING    THE    DESCENT    OF    THE 

STEWARDS,      .               .               .               .               .               .  -365 

XV.   MR  J.   R.   THOMSON'S   REPORT  ON   ROTHESAY   CASTLE,  .        369 

XVI.   LIST  OF  STEWART  CHARTERS,                .                              .  .        372 

XVII.   THE  BANNATYNES   OF   KAMES,                 .                .                .  -383 


INDEX,     ........        387 


ILLUSTRATIONS  TO   THE   SECOND  VOLUME. 


a. 


ROTHESAY  CASTLE   IN   THE   SIXTEENTH   CENTURY,    .  .      Frontispiece 

ROYAL  ARMS  OF  STUARTS,      .  .  .  Vignette  on  title-page 

ON    SEPARATE    PAGES. 

PAGE 

SEALS   OF   THE   STEWARDS,        ......  38 

TOMB   OF   WALTER,   STEWARD   OF   SCOTLAND   (WHO   DIED   IN   1326), 

IN  ST  MARY'S  CHAPEL,  ROTHESAY,     .  -    .     .     .85 
ROTHESAY  CASTLE,  GENERAL  PLAN,  .....   IO5 

CHARTER  OF  ROBERT  III.  APPOINTING  JOHN,  STEWARD  OF  BUTE, 

SHERIFF  OF  BUTE  AND  ARRAN,  .....  142 

CHARTER  OF  JAMES  IV.  APPOINTING  SHERIFF  NINIAN  STEWART 

HEREDITARY  KEEPER  OF  ROTHESAY  CASTLE,  .  153 

WESTER   KAMES   CASTLE   IN    1894,         .  .  _-  .     .  ,         178 

THE  TOLBOOTH,   CROSS,   TOWN,    AND   CASTLE  OF  ROTHESAY,  ABOUT 

1680,.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  188 

From  an  old  Engraving  in  the  possession  of  the  Marquess 
of  Bute  j  Photo  by  Messrs  J.  A  dams  on  &>  Son,  Rothesay. 

ST    MARY'S    CHAPEL.     From  Drawings  by  Mr  James   Walker, 
Architect — 

SKETCH    VIEW    FROM     NORTH-EAST,     PLAN,    AND    SKETCH    OF 

INTERIOR,  .  .  .  .  .-.         212 


xiv  Illustrations  to  the  Second  Volume. 

ST  MARY'S  CHAPEL — 

ELEVATION,   SECTION,   AND   PLAN   OF   TOMBS   AND   PISCINA,         .         238 
TOMB    OF   A   LADY   IN   ST    MARY'S   CHAPEL,    ROTHESAY,  .  .         242 

MOUNTSTUART    HOUSE   IN   THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY,          .  .         304 

From  a  Painting  in  the  possession  of  the  Marquess  of  Bute  j 
Photo  by  Messrs  J,  A  damson  &*  Son,  Ro  the  say. 

KAMES   CASTLE    IN    1894,  .  .  .  .  .  -329 


IN    THE    TEXT. 

CHATEAU   DE   COMBOURG,   BRITTANY,  .  .  .  .  .21 

MAISON   DES   PLAIDS,   DOL,   BRITTANY,  .  .  .27 

SEALS   OF— 

1.  JAMES,  STEWARD   OF   SCOTLAND,       \ 

2.  JOHN   STEWART   OF   BONKYL,  V  .  .  .  58 

3.  ROBERT,   STEWARD   OF   SCOTLAND,  j 

ROTHESAY  CASTLE.     From  Drawings  by  the  late  Mr  William 
Surges,  Architect — 

CURTAIN   WALL,      .  .  .  .  .  .  IIO 

ST  MICHAEL'S  CHAPEL,  SECTION  LOOKING  SOUTH,   .     .   in 

TOP   OF   CURTAIN   WALL,    .  .  .  .  .  .112 

ST  MICHAEL'S  CHAPEL,  PLAN  OF  CRYPT,  .  .  -113 

ii  ii        PLAN,     .  .  .  .  .114 

M                          ii            SECTION    LOOKING   NORTH,  .  .         11$ 

ILLUSTRATIONS   OF    MASONRY,        .                 .                 .  .  Il6 

GROUND-PLAN  OF  JAMES   IV.   WORK,          .                .  .  Il8 

FLOOR   PLAN                     n                        n                 .                 .  .  I2O 

LONGITUDINAL   SECTION   THROUGH   JAMES    IV.    WORK,  .  .         128 

TRANSVERSE    SECTION                  M                      „                     n  130 

MACNIELL'S  TOMBSTONE,        \  (      164 

I  From  Photos  by  Miss  C.  Macrae, 

THE  CROWNER'S  CASTLE  AT  > 

I       Kames  Castle, 

MEIKLE   KILMORIE,  J  \         165 


Illustrations  to  the  Second  Volume.  xv 

MANSION-HOUSE  OF  ASCOG,      From  Photo  by  Mr  James  MiCrone,  167 

WESTER  KAMES  CASTLE,  GROUND-  f  By  Mr  Jas.  Walker,  ArchiA 

178 

PLAN   AND   SECTION,  I        tect, 

OLD   SEAL  OF   ROTHESAY   BURGH — 

OBVERSE,    .                 .                .                 .                 .                 .                 .                .  196 

REVERSE,    .                 .                                  .                 .                 .                 .                .  197 

ST  BRIDE'S  HILL  AND  CHAPEL,  ROTHESAY,  IN  1830,           .           .  233 

EFFIGY  OF  WILLIAM  CUMMIN,                   \                                       (  239 
SEPULCHRE    UNDER    SIR   WALTER    THE       From  Drawings  by    \ 

STEWARD'S  MONUMENT,                                Mr  J.C.Roger,  241 

EFFIGY   OF   SIR   WALTER   THE    STEWARD,    J                                                        V  244 

EFFIGY   OF   A   SOLDIER,    FROM    ST    MARY'S    CHAPEL,    .                 .                 .  246 

COAT   OF   ARMS,    ST   MARY'S   CHAPEL,                   .                .                .                .  248 

COAT   OF   ARMS   OVER  DOOR  OF   ROTHESAY   CASTLE,                 .                .  250 

ROTHESAY  PARISH  CHURCH,  1692-1795,         .      From  an  old  Map,  300 

ROTHESAY   PARISH   CHURCH   AND   ST   MARY'S   CHAPEL   IN    1895,          .  303 


THE   ISLE   OF   BUTE   IN   THE 
OLDEN   TIME. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  ORIGIN   OF   THE   ROYAL   STEWARTS. 

lt Banqtto.  O,  treachery!     Fly,  good  Fleance,  fly,  fly,  fly!" 

— SHAKESPEARE'S  Macbeth. 

"  We  found  a  great  number  of  bones.  .  .  .  The  Stuarts  of  Bute  buried  on  this 
side  of  the  Choir." 

— Account  of  Stuart  Monuments  in  Rothesay. 

"  Son  of  man,  can  these  bones  live  ?  " 

— EZEKIEL. 

HE  origin  of  the  royal  house  of  Stewart  has  long 
remained  a  mystery,  perplexing  historical  stu- 
dents, who  feel  tantalised  at  knowing  so  little 
concerning  the  hapless  victim  of  the  jealousy 
of  King  Macbeth — Banquo,  round  whom  Shakespeare  has 
cast  the  glamour  of  undying  romance,  and  to  whom  the  old 
chroniclers  of  Scotland  traced  back  the  family  of  Stewart. 
The  very  fascinating  excellence  of  the  poet's  conceptions  of 

VOL.  II.  A 


2  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

the  men  and  times  he  selected  to  depict  creates  the  impres- 
sion that  only  in  imagination,  not  in  real  life,  these  heroes 
existed ;  and  when  the  gratified  reader  of  the  thoughts  of 
the  dramatist,  on  turning  to  history,  discovers  that  this  saucy 
muse  has  scarcely  given  a  "  local  habitation  and  a  name  "  to 
Banquo,  he  more  than  ever  is  pleased  to  believe  that  Banquo 
is  only  a  mythical  personage,  suitable  to  become  a  ghost, 
because 

"  Thy  bones  are  marrowless,  thy  blood  is  cold  ; 
Thou  hast  no  speculation  in  those  eyes 
Which  thou  dost  glare  with  ! " 

But  there  are  some  aspects  of  this  romantic  apparition  which 
require  investigation  before  we,  assured  of  his  non-existence, 
can  pledge  a  Banquo  evanished  from  the  page  of  history,  and, 
like  Macbeth,  drink  "  to  our  dear  friend  Banquo,  whom  we 
miss,"  saying  "  Unreal  mockery,  hence  !  " 

It  is  a  sad  loss  to  literature  that,  meantime,  the  companion 
volume  to  '  The  Brus,'  which  Barbour  left  "  in  metyre  fayre," 
delineating  the  heroic  exploits  of  the  first  Stewarts,  has  com- 
pletely dropped  out  of  sight  since  the  time  when  Wyntoun 

wrote — 

"  The  Stewards  Orygenalle 
The  Archedekyne  has  tretyd  hale, 
In  metyre  fayre  mare  wertwsly, 
Than  I  can  thynk  be  my  study, 
Be  gud  contynuatyown 
In  successyve  generatyown."1 

A  passage  in  Father  Hay's  '  Memoirs,'  wherein  he  states 
that  John  Barber  wrongly  traces  the  Stuart  dynasty  to  "  a 
certain  Le  Fleank  of  Warren  of  Wales,"  seems  to  bear  that 

1  Bk.  viii.  ch.  vii.  11.  1445-1450. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  3 

down  to  1700  the  manuscript  still  existed  or  was  an 
authority.1  What  a  charming  narrative  concerning  the 
chivalry  of  men  equally  brave  and  redoubtable  with  Wallace 
and  Bruce  would  the  poet  of  Freedom  have  afforded  us  in 
this  epic !  Probably  to  Barbour,  and  this  hidden  work, 
Hector  Boece  was  indebted  for  the  romantic  story  of 
Banquo  and  Fleance,  which  too  critical  minds  would  resolve 
into  a  fable — because  it  is  passing  strange.  Yet  it  is  not 
nearly  so  improbable  a  history  as  that  which  undoubted  facts 
enable  us  to  present  regarding  the  Fitz  Alans,  who  were  also 
progenitors  of  the  Kings  of  Scots,  and  according  to  my  con- 
tention and  showing  veritably  the  offspring  of  this  mythical 
Banquo. 

The  question  which  Sir  Walter  Scott  makes  Maitre  Pierre 
direct  to  Quentin  Durward,  and  the  reply  of  the  latter,  form 
a  suggestive  parallel  to  this  inquiry :  "  *  Durward,'  said  the 
querist,  'is  it  a  gentleman's  name ?  '  '  By  fifteen  descents  in 
our  family,'  said  the  youth,  '  and  that  makes  me  reluctant  to 
follow  any  other  trade  than  arms.' "  And  it  is  evident  that 
the  novelist,  in  tracing  Quentin  to  "Allan  Durward  who  was 
High  Steward  of  Scotland,"  was  utilising  the  old  national 
traditions  regarding  the  Stewart  family,  and  throwing  the 
halo  of  romance  around  the  hero  whose  adventures  fall  now 
to  be  followed.2 

It  was  to  a  paraphrase,  by  Holinshed,  of  a  portion  of  the 
Scots  Translation  of  the  History  of  the  Scots  by  Boece, 
made  by  the  courtly  Archdean  of  Moray,  John  Bellenden, 

1  Tom.   iii.  pp.   293,  437,  MS.  Adv.  Lib.:  "  Hujus  stemma  sive  genealogia 
male  texitur  a  Johanne  Barberii  qui  asserit  originem  habuisse  a  quodam  Le  Fleank 
de  Warren  de  Wallia." 

2  '  Quentin  Durwavd,'  chapter  xxxvii. 


4  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

more  than  to  any  other  source,  that  Shakespeare  was  indebted 
for  the  hapless  memory  which,  under  the  name  of  Banquo, 
he  has  reclothed  with  flesh  and  blood  and  personified  in 
the  immortal  tragedy  of  Macbeth.1  Bellenden  and  William 
Stewart,  the  Court  poet,  had  been  employed  to  convert  into 
the  modern  tongue  the  Latin  work  by  Hector  Boece,  which 
probably  had  been  composed,  like  the  translations,  to  gratify 
the  youthful  king,  James  the  Fifth,  to  whom  it  was  dedicated. 
Hector  Boethius  was  a  man  of  many  parts,  formerly  teacher 
of  philosophy  in  Paris,  and  in  1527,  when  he  issued  his  His- 
tory, Principal  of  King's  College,  Aberdeen.2  The  fusion  of 
facts  and  dates  with  the  elements  of  romance  in  the  author's 
work  has  taken  place  after  careful  investigation  of  whatever 
solid  historical  materials  then  extant,  but  now  partly  lost, 
were  available.  Boece  was  no  deliberate  romancer,  but 
rather  the  exponent  of  a  historical  method  which  had  not 
yet  authorised  students  to  obliterate  the  traditions  and  im- 
probable narratives  of  the  ancients.  That  method  was 
still  conservative,  and  happily  it  was  so,  since,  after  the 
early  scattering  of  the  literary  remains  of  Scotland,  it  would 
have  been  now  impossible,  without  the  aid  of  those  old 
histories,  to  have  pieced  in  and  fitted  together  those  remin- 
iscential  fragments,  which  are  reappearing  from  our  charter- 
chests  to  alter  the  retrospect. 

The  origin  of  the  Royal  House  was  a  theme  whose  orna- 
mentation Boece  might  consider  pardonable.  But  indepen- 
dently of  a  substratum  of  fact,  he  could  scarcely  be  so  bold 
as  invent  the  tale  of  Banquo,  unless  he  designed  to  expose 

1  Ralph  Holinshed,  'The  First  Volume  of  the  Chronicles  of  England,  Scot- 
lande,  and  Ireland, 'p.  243.     London,  1577. 

2  '  Scotorum  Historic  a  prima  gentis  origine,'  &c. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  5 

the  frailty  of  Fleance  and  cast  a  shade  upon  the  royal  scut- 
cheon, which  is  not  consistent  with  his  dedication.  We  may 
safely  assert  that  the  tragic  tale  told  by  Boece  was  no  new 
romance  in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  a  history  as  possible  as 
it  is  acceptable,  which  philology  and  keener  research  may 
restore  to  a  shape  harmonious  with  truth.  In  brief,  his 
narrative  is  to  this  effect,  that  in  the  reign  of  Duncan,  King 
of  Scots  (1034-1040),  Banquho  was  a  royal  thane  in  the 
district  of  Lochaber,  who,  in  the  exercise  of  his  official  func- 
tion as  collector  of  the  Crown  revenues,  was  set  upon  and 
left  for  dead  by  some  ruffians  called  Magdoualds,  who  in- 
habited those  parts.1  Banquho,  however,  recovered,  and 
complained  to  the  king,  who  empowered  him  and  Macbeth, 
the  Maormor  of  Ross,  another  of  his  generals,  to  march 
against  and  chastise  the  western  rebels,  who  had  gathered 
together  a  mixed  host  of  islesmen  and  Irish  freebooters. 
Banquho  is  next  associated  with  King  Duncan  and  Macbeth 
at  the  battle  of  Culros,  where  he  commanded  the  second 
division  of  the  army,  which  was  vanquished  by  Sueno  the 
Norwegian.  In  a  succeeding  struggle  the  enemy,  having 
partaken  of  provisions  rendered  soporific  by  the  Scots;  who 
placed  them  in  their  way,  were  defeated  by  the  Scots  at 
Perth,  who  followed  up  this  victory  by  dispersing  Canute's 
fleet  in  the  Forth.  In  these  and  other  brilliant  campaigns, 
Banquho,  as  a  courtier  of  rank  and  importance,  shared  the 
honours  of  the  victorious  generals. 

As  he  and  Macbeth,  one  day,  were  enjoying  sport  in  the 
vicinity  of  Forres,  they  were  suddenly  hailed  by  three  ap- 

1  Boece,  '  Historic,'  &c.,  lib.  xii.  fol.  cclv.  :  "Banquho  regius  in  Loquhabria 
Thanus  origo  familioe  Stuart  clarissimse,  quse  longa  serie  regem  hodiernum  pro- 
duxit,"  &c.  The  q  in  Banquho  is  simply  the  cursive  ch. 


6  B^Ue  in  the  Olden  Time. 

paritions  of  feminine  aspect,  who  addressed  them  in  prophe- 
tic accents,  as  Shakespeare  has  paraphrased  our  historian  :— 

"  \st  Witch,  Lesser  than  Macbeth,  and  greater. 
id  Witch.  Not  so  happy,  yet  much  happier. 

3^  Witch.  Thou  shalt  get  kings,  though  thou  be  none.     So  all  hail, 
Macbeth  and  Banquo  !  " 

Incited  by  these  suggestions,  Macbeth,  having  Banquho  in 
his  counsels,  cut  off  the  king  and  usurped  his  throne.  Still, 
the  words  of  the  weird  sisters  haunted  the  mind  of  the  child- 
less monarch,  who  conceived  a  dread  for  his  fellow  regicide, 
who  was  to  be  the  parent  of  kings.  Accordingly  he  invited 
Banquho  and  his  son  Fleanchus  to  a  banquet,  which  was  a 
trap,  hedged  round  with  assassins  ready  to  despatch  them 
both  on  their  departure.  But,  duly  warned  by  friends  at  Court, 
both  of  them  escaped  the  un  assayed  snare  (insidias  intentatas), 
and  Fleanchus  fled  an  exile  into  Wales.  The  talent  of  Flean- 
chus soon  won  the  notice  of  the  Prince  there,  who  treated 
"the  beautiful  and  noble  youth"  well,  only  to  be  requited 
by  the  exile  dishonouring  his  host's  daughter,  who  gave  birth 
to  a  son,  Walter  by  name — 

"  In  Albione  wes  nocht  ane  fairar  child." 

The  Welsh  prince  slew  Fleance,  made  his  daughter  a  serf, 
and  rusticated  the  babe.  In  his  twentieth  year  Walter  re- 
turned to,  and  ingratiated  himself  at,  his  maternal  grand- 
father's Court,  until,  embroiled  in  some  bibulous  fracas,  he 
slew  a  taunting  Welshman  and  made  for  Scotland,  where 
his  grandfather  seemed  still  to  be  living,  in  order  to  seek 
refuge  under  Queen  Margaret1  (who,  strange  to  say,  was  a 

1  "  Occiso  convinciatore  clam  avo  in  Scotiam  contendit,"  fol.  cclx. 


77*6'  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  7 

Saxon  princess  of  England  born  while  her  parents  were 
exiled  in  Hungary).  Under  King  Malcolm  III.  he  rose 
to  become  the  victorious  general  who  subdued  the  rebels 
of  Galloway  and  the  Isles,  and  finally  was  appointed  the 
Steward  of  the  realm,  and  lord  of  the  Stuart-lands  in 
Ayrshire.  According  to  Boece  (but  erroneously),  his  son 
was  Alan  the  Crusader :  Alan  was  father  of  Alexander, 
founder  of  Paisley  Priory, — Alexander,  of  Walter  of  Dun- 
donald,  who,  with  Alexander,  the  same  Walter's  son,  were 
heroes  of  the  battle  of  Largs.  Robert  of  Tourbouton  was 
brother  of  Alexander  of  Dundonald. 

So  far  the  plain  narrative  of  Boece,  credible  in  all  but 
minor  particulars, — which,  with  trifling  embellishment,  re- 
peated by  the  Scots  writers,  Bellenden,  Stewart,  Buchanan, 
Bishop  Leslie,  and  accepted  by  Holinshed,  is  agreeably 
plausible. 

So  far  gone  as  1566,  Queen  Mary's  favourite  bishop,  the 
Scots  historian  Leslie,  avers  that  the  romantic  story  of  the 
origin  of  the  Stewarts  in  Bute  was  "  ane  aide  traditione  "  : — 

"  Bute  mairatouer  is  ane  elegant  and  trimme  He,  x  myles  lang, 
eivin  and  plane,  induct  with  gret  fertilitie,  decored  with  ane 
ancient  and  magnifik  castel,  quhairfra  first  sprang,  as  we  have 
of  ane  aide  traditione,  the  clann  of  the  Kingis  hous,  to  wit, 
the  Stuardes,  and  familie." 1 

When  further  treating  of  Malcolm  Canmore's  reign,  the 
bishop  writes : — 

"The  sam  tyme  was  Waltir  Fleanthie,  his  son,  decoret  with 
the  honour  of  cheife  Merchal  (Senescallus),  because  in  Galloway 
and  in  the  hilandes  he  dantounet  had  the  rebellis ;  of  quhome 

1  'The  Hist,  of  Scot.,'  transl.  by  Father  James  Dalrymple,  pt.  i.  p.  55  (Scot. 
Text  Soc.  edit.) 


8  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

cam   the  familie  of  the  Stuartis,  quhais   offspring  we  sie  this  day 
illustre,  and  schine  sa  bricht  in  the  kings  scepter."  1 

He  further  elaborates  the  romance  of  "  Bancho  the  Kingis 
liuetenant  in  Loquhaber,"  and  makes  his  son  "  Fleanch  "  father 
of  Walter  the  first  Steward.2 

From  Leslie's  words  it  is  not  plain  whether  or  not  he 
means  that  the  progenitors  of  the  first  Steward — that  is,  the 
family  of  Banquo  as  well — had  a  connection  with  Bute.  If 
they  were  descendants  of  the  successors  of  King  Aidan 
(see  vol.  i.  p.  163),  then  it  is  certain  they  were  connected 
with  Dalriada,  and  that  may  explain  the  tenacity  with  which 
the  Stewarts  held  to  Bute. 

Subsequent  writers  have  embellished  "  the  aide  traditione," 
truthfully  or  otherwise,  and  adorned  the  outcast  Fleance 
with  the  virtues  of  a  military  Moses.  In  its  elaborated  form 
the  narrative,  eked  out  by  researches  in  Welsh  history, 
circumstantially  declares  that  Fleance  found  protection  under 
Griffyth  ap  Lewellyn,  Prince  of  North  Wales,3  in  1039, 
probably  at  his  palace  of  Rhuddlan,  where  he  and  his  wife 
Alditha,  daughter  of  Algar,  Earl  of  Mercia,  brought  up  their 
daughter,4  named  Guenta  5  or  Nesta6  or  Marjoretta,7  whom 


1  'The  Hist,  of  Scot.,'  pt.  ii.  p.  310.  2  Ibid.,  pt.  iii.  p.  22. 

3  '  Chron.  of  Princes  of  Wales,'  var.  loc. 

4  Dr  James  Anderson's   'Royal  Genealogies'   (London,   1733,   p.    746)  make 
Griffyth  have  two  daughters — one,  unnamed,  who  married  Fleance,  and  Nesta  or 
Mary,  who  married  Trahaern,  Prince  of  North  Wales.  • 

5  Yeatman,  'The  Early  Gen.   Hist,  of  the  House  of  Arundel,'  p.  326.     Lon- 
don, 1882.     Agatha,  mother  of  Gwenta,  married   King  Harold  after  Griffyth's 
death. 

6  O'Flaherty's  '  Ogygia,'  p.  500. 

7  Sir  J.  Dalrymple's  MS.  Collections,  Adv.  Lib.,  34,  3,  15,  pp.  80,  81. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  9 

Fleance  beguiled.  Their  son  Walter  inevitably  met  one 
Owen  —  a  purist  regarding  genealogy  —  for  whose  ill-timed 
opinions  Walter  incontinently  slew  him,  and  became  a 
fugitive  in  his  eighteenth  year.  Some  direct  him  to  Edward 
the  Confessor's  Court,  whence  the  expert  use  of  his  dirk  again 
made  him  fly  to  the  Court  of  Alan  of  Brittany ;  while  others 
take  him  direct  to  Alan,  a  kinsman  of  his  mother,  whose 
daughter  he  married,  to  return  with  him  and  the  Breton  allies 
of  William  to  participate  in  the  Conquest,  and  become  a 
courtier  at  the  Conqueror's  Court.1  After  another  disgrace — 
matter  of  honour,  no  doubt,  the  fiery  Scot  thought — his  wan- 
dering foot  brought  him  to  the  Court  of  Malcolm  of  Scotland, 
where  he  was  well  received,  for  political  considerations ;  and 
by  that  time  both  the  ghosts  of  Banquo  and  Macbeth  were 
laid  to  rest. 

To  gather  up  the  ravelled  threads  of  the  romantic  story 
and  thereby  to  make  a  consistent  history,  demands  inquiry 


1  There  were  several  contemporaneous  counts  in  Brittany  named  Alan.  Alain 
Fergant,  Count  of  Bretagne,  married  a  daughter  of  the  Conqueror  in  1086  ;  Alan 
the  Red,  Count  in  Bretagne,  came  with  the  Conqueror  in  1066,  and  was  settled 
at  Richmond.  He  married  Emma,  a  daughter  of  Si  ward,  Prince  of  North  - 
umbria,  and  their  daughter,  according  to  Scots  writers,  married  Walter  the 
Steward  : — 

Siward,  Earl  of  Northumberland. 
I 


Emma=Alan,  Earl  of  Brittany.  Daughter^  Duncan  I. 

Christina = Waiter  the  Steward.  Malcolm  III. 


Siward.  Emma  (sister  of  Si  ward) = Duncan. 

Emma^Alan.  Malcolm  III. 

Christina = Walter. 


io  Biite  in  the  Olden  Time. 

in  the  primary  sources  where  the  narrative  took  its  inception, 
and  these  must  necessarily  be  Ire-Scottish  and  Welsh  Annals, 
supplemented  by  later  ecclesiastical  charters,  on  which  we 
presume  the  Scots  writers  founded.  At  the  outset,  however, 
the  reader  must  remember  that  great  weight  attaches  to  the 
fabulous-looking  genealogies  which  the  Seanachies  or  family- 
recorders  kept  of  old,  for  a  reason  given  by  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis,  in  the  twelfth  century,  when  referring  to  the  pride  of 
family  exhibited  by  the  Welsh  nation  :  "  Even  the  common 
people  retain  their  genealogy,  and  can  not  only  readily  re- 
count the  names  of  their  grandfathers  and  great-grandfathers, 
but  even  refer  back  to  the  sixth  or  seventh  generation."  x  Ac- 
cording to  the  early  Welsh  laws,  a  man's  pedigree  was  his 
title  to  his  paternal  acres,  and  descent  through  nine  gen- 
erations was  required  before  a  native  was  considered  free- 
born.  This  explains  the  point  of  the  taunt  of  the  hapless 
Owen. 

Among  tfre  first  Irish  settlers  in  Caledonia  was  Maine 
Leavna,  of  the  race  of  Eogan  More,  who  (with  his  brother 
Cairbre,  afterwards  of  Mar)  left  the  rushy  lands  of  Leven  in 
Kerry,  and  came  to  the  banks  of  Loch  Lomond,  where  his 
family  and  sept  resided,  except  when  they  joined  the  tribu- 
tary expeditions  into  Ireland  which  were  common.  From 
Maine,  after  a  succession  of  chiefs  of  Lennox,  duly  sprang 
Banchu,  according  to  the  Irish  genealogists.  I  shall 
exhibit  side  by  side  two  genealogies,  the  first  in  Irish  by 
Mac  Firbis  (1650),  and  the  other  in  Gaelic,  preserved  in  a  MS. 
of  date  1450,  before  the  time  of  the  fabulist  Boece,  which 
will  illustrate  this  relationship  with  Core  : — 

1  'Description  of  Wales,'  chap.  xvii.     Bohn,  p.  505. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts. 


Genealach  Mor  Mhaoir  Lcinhna,  in 
Alban'.i— 

Donnchad  mac 
Baltair  me 

Amloib  me  * 


Me  Cuirc2 


Ion  me 
Baltair  ic 

.  .  .  llanus  ic 

*  1014?     Murecliach  me 
Amlain  og  me 
Amlain  moir  me 
Marius  atair 
Mailduin  me 


John,  son  of 

Walter        „ 
I  [A]llan 
(    Flanus  ? 

Murdoch     \\ 

Ailinog 

Ailin  mor 

Marius,  father  of 

Mailduin,  son  of 


Maine  ic 
Cuirc  ic 

An.  350.  Luit  me 
Oillila  ic 
Fiach  me 
Enadritor  me 
Modha  Nuadhat. 


Maine  n 

Cuirc  M 

Luit  it 

Oillia 

Fiach 

Enadritor  ,, 

Mogh-Nuadhad. 


Donnchaid  me 
Amlaoib  oig  me 
Amlaoib  moir  me 
Ailin  oig  me 
Ailin  mhoir  me 
Muiredaig  me 
Maeldomnaig  me 
Maine  me 
Cuirc  me 
An.  350.  Luigdech  [me 

[Oilill-Flannbeg  me 
Fiacha  Muillethan  me 
Eoghan  mor  me 
Oillill  Olum  me 
Mogh-Nuadhad  me 
Mogh  Neit] 

In  1685  the  learned  but  luckless  historian  Roderick 
O'Flaherty,  the  pupil  of  the  still  more  learned  and  still 
more  unfortunate  Irish  scholar  Duald  Mac  Firbis  (+1670), 
in  his  '  Chronology  of  Irish  Affairs,'  traces  the  Stewart 
family  back  through  a  Dalriadic  stock  to  the  early  Kings 
of  Murister,  referring  to  Banchu,  Fleann,  and  Fleann's  wife, 
whom  he  styles  "  Nesta."  A  sidenote,  as  follows,  reveals  his 
authority  to  be  Duald  Mac  Firbis  : 3 — 

Bancu  tanaiste  Loch  Aber,  Fleadan. 

1  Abridged  Pedigree  MS.,  in  hands  of  W.  M.  Hennessy  in  1875.     Dr  Skene 
prints  this  genealogy,  'Celtic  Scotland,'  vol.  iii.  p.  476,  app.  viii.     He  identifies 
Ailin  Mor  with  the  first  Earl  of  Lennox,  who  lived  in  the  twelfth  century,  and 
Duncan  with  the  eighth  Earl ;  but  gives  no  conclusive  reasons  for  his  supposition. 

2  MS.  Adv.  Lib.  :  'Collect,  de  reb.  Alban,'  p.  358. 

8  '  Ogygia  seu  Rerum  Hibernicarum  Chronologia  ex  pervetustis  monumentis. 
.  .  .  Authore  Roderico  O'Flaherty,  Armigero  :  Londini,  1685,'  p.  499  : — "Stuart- 


1 2  Biite  in  the  Olden  Time. 

For  in  Mac  Firbis's  '  Book  of  Pedigrees ' *  we  find  a  Gene- 
alogy, including  these  very  words,  and  giving  this  descent  of 
the  Scots  Kings  : — 

Genelach  Riogh  Alban,  Saxon,  &c.   (Genealogy  of  the 
Kings  of  Alb  an,  &°<r.) 

Roiberd  2  R.  Alb.  (Robert  II.,  King  of  Alban). 

Me  Altair  baltair. 

Me  Eojn. 

Me  Alasdair. 

Me  Alain  (who  is  styled  a  crusader). 

Me  Baltair,  Stovaird  to  Edgar^:  Maormor  of  Alban  in 

reign  of  Malcolm  the  Maiden,  1050. 
Me  Fleadan  (n  leat  146)  tan. 
Me  Banchon  loca  abair. 

This  genealogy  ends  here,  but  is  followed  by  a  long  account 
of  the  Stewarts,  evidently  compiled  from  Scots  histories.  It 
has  immense  value  in  affording  us  a  link  by  which  we  can 
connect  Banchu  with  the  Maormors  of  Leven,  who  were 
descended,  along  with  the  Maormors  of  Mar,  from  Core,  son 
of  Lugaid,  the  King  of  Munster,  whose  wife  was  Mongfmn, 
daughter  of  Feradach,  a  Pictish  King  of  Alban.  The  gene- 
alogies of  Duald  Mac  Firbis  have  been  collected  with  great 
care  out  of  the  original  MSS.  of  the  tribe  historians,  and  in 


orum  familise  prseluxit  Banchuo  Dynasta  Loquabrise  e  regione  Dalriedinorum 
stemmate  originem  trahens  quern  Macbethus  rex  suo  titulo  cavens.  Anno  circiter 
1050  e  medio  sustulit.  Banchuonis  filius  Fleannus  paterno  casu  edoctus  aufugit 
in  Walliam  :  ubi  cum  Nesta  Wallise  principis  Griffini  Lewellini  filia  matrimonium 
contrahens  ex  ea  Walterum  genuit  cui  domum  reduci  et  sub  Malcolmo  florenti 
Stuarti  cognomen  in  posteros  derivatum  adhsesit." 

1  *  The  Branches  of  Relationship  and  the  Genealogical  Ramifications  of  every 
colony  that  took  possession  of  Erinn,'  &c.,  compiled  by  Dubhaltach  Mac  Firbhisigh 
of  Lecan,  1650,  pp.  408,  423.  Copy  MS.  Royal  Irish  Academy. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  1 3 

the  main  are  reliable  and  unprejudiced  compilations  worthy 
of  notice. 

Mac  Firbis,  in  the  same  MS.  volume,  includes  an  anony- 
mous poem  of  fifty-two  verses,  undated,  which  refers  to  the 
inauguration  of  Allan  Mac  Muireadhaigh,  a  chief  of  Lennox 
(Maormor  Leamhna),  who,  it  relates,  was  descended  from 
Core.  This  is  evidently  the  Allan  of  the  Gaelic  MS. ;  while 
the  Murdoch  was  probably  the  chief  who,  along  with  Donald, 
his  kinsman,  the  Maormor  of  Mar,  brought  their  Dalriadic 
allies  to  help  Brian  Boru  at  the  battle  of  Clontarf  in  IOI4.1 
Is  then  Banchu,  the  fair  hero,  to  be  identified  with  Murdoch 
of  Leven  ?  According  to  Matthew  Kennedy,  who  had  an 
opportunity  of  examining  the  older  work  of  the  Mac  Firbises 
— 'The  Book  of  Lecan/ written  before  1416 — the  account  of 
Duald  is  substantially  correct,  "  the  Irish  books  bring  (Bancho) 
in  a  direct  male  line  from  Maine  Leavna,  son  to  Core,  king  of 
Munster."  2  The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  passage  in 
the  '  Book  of  Lecan '  founded  upon  by  Matthew  Kennedy  : — 

"  Ireland  was  divided  in  two  between  Heber  and  Heremon. 
Heremon  takes  the  north,  and  of  his  children  [are  the  Kinelcon- 
nell]  and  the  O'Neills  of  the  north,  and  the  O'Neills  of  the  south 
and  .  .  .  and  the  Decies,  and  Leinster,  and  Ossory,  and  .  .  .  and 
the  Fotharta,  and  the  Dalriata,  and  Dalfiata,  and  Uladh,  .  .  .  and 
the  Royal  Line  of  Scotland  (Alban),  and  all  these  are  the  seed  of 
Conaire.  [And  the  race]  of  Angus  M'Erc,  of  Fergus  M'Erc,  and  of 
Loarn  M'  .  .  .  (Ere  ?).  These  are  the  seed  of  Conaire  in  Scotland 
(Alban),  and  of  the  seed  of  ...  (Con  ?)aire,  the  .  .  .  ,  the  Corca 
Duibne,  and  the  Corca  Baiscinn.  These  then  (so  far)  are  Here- 

1  'Ogygia,'P.  384. 

2  'A  Chronol.,  Geneal.,  and  Hist.  Dissertation  of  the  Royal  Family  of  the 
Stewarts.'    Paris,  1705,  p.  204.     'The  Book  of  Ballymote,'  p.  149,  gives  a  Fland, 
a  descendant  of  Maine. 


14  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

men's  seed,  except  the  ...  And  Heber  [took]  the  southern  half; 
of  whose  children  are  the  Dalcassians  the  Del  Cein  and  the  Delbhna, 
the  Eoganachts  of  Cashel,  of  Lochhein,  of  .  .  .  ,  and  of  Glenamh- 
nach,  the  Eoganachts  of  Ara  .  .  .  ,  and  the  Lennoxes  of  Scotland 
(Lemnaigh  Aldan).  All  these  are  the  seed  of  Heber,  Lugaid  son 
of  Ith,  [of  his  children  are]  the  Corca  Laighde,  and  all  the  Calrys 
are  from  Lugaid."  1 

Kennedy  also  maintains  that  Walter,  the  first  Steward, 
was  the  son  of  Fleannus — a  statement  which  Pere  de  la 
Haye,  in  a  reply  to  Kennedy,  as  flatly  contradicts.2  The 
difficulty  of  reading  the  faint  caligraphy  of  the  portion  of  the 
magnificent  (  Book  of  Lecan ' — one  of  the  treasures  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy — referred  to  by  Kennedy 3  as  his  auth- 
ority for  Bancho's  direct  descent,  prevents  me,  at  present, 
saying  more  than  that  this  book,  and  several  other  equally 
ancient  Irish  MSS.,  clearly  trace  the  Leven  Maormors  to 
Core,  who  lived  in  the  fourth  century  A.D.4 

1  'Book  of  Lecan,'  folio  xiii.  col.  2,  1.  16.     This  interesting  old  Irish  MS.  is  in 
the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  Dublin.     It  is  the  compilation  of  Gilla  Isa  Mor  Mac 
Firbis,  one  of  the  race  of  historians,  genealogists,  and  poets  to  the  chief  septs  of 
Connaught,  and  was  written  before  1416.     The  last  of  these  hereditary  historians, 
Dubhaltach  Mac  Firbisigh  of  Lecan,  the  tutor  of  O'Flaherty  and  Dr  Lynch,  was 
murdered  in  1670,  at  Dauflin,  Sligo.      Of  him  O'Flaherty  said  :   "Dualdus  Fir- 
bissius  patrise  antiquitatum  professor  hereditarius."     In  his  genealogies  he  traced 
the  Stewarts  to  the  Lennox  family.     The  above  translation  of  a  passage  which,  by 
indistinctness,  baffled  O'Curry,  and  also  prevented  my  own  transcription  of  it,  has 
been  done  by  Mr  J.  J.  Macsweeny,  the  librarian  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy. 

2  "  Lettre  ecrite  au  Due  de  Perth,  &c.,  par  Pere  de  la  Haye."    Paris,  1714,  p.  95: 
"II  ne  monte  pas  plus  haut  que  Gualtier  Stuart  qui  etoit  certainement  fils  d' Alain 
et  non  pas  de  Fleannus  puisque  dans  les  chartres  il  se  dit  Waltems  films  Alani, 
Dapifer  Regis  Scotiae." 

3  Fol.  HQa,  col.  3  ;  fol.  I3a,  col.  2. 

4  MS.   by  Dermot  O'Conor  :  Trin.   Coll.,   Dublin,   H.  2,  5.     MS.,   H.   2,  7, 
Trin.  Coll.,  Dublin,   col.   69.     Geneal.   of  Scots  Families  of  Irish  Origin.     (See 
O'Donovan  Catal.  to  MSS.)     'Book  of  Ballymote,'  fol.  84,  Gen.  Hist,  of  Dalria- 
dic  Kings  in  Scotland. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  1 5 

By  comparison  of  these  tables  it  may  be  concluded  that 
Walter,  the  son  of  Fleadan,  son  of  Banchu,  is  identical  with 
Walter,  son  of  [A]llan  (or  Flan),  son  of  Murechach  of  the 
Lennox  family,  if  not  also  with  Walter,  son  of  Amloib,  son 
of  Duncan  of  the  other  genealogy.  Chronology  easily  per- 
mits of  the  equation  of  Murdoch,  the  Maormor  of  Leven,  who 
was  at  Clontarf  in  1014,  with  Banchu  the  general  of  Duncan  I. 
in  1034,  who  might  have  survived  even  his  son  Fleance — we, 
meantime  only,  assuming  that  Fleance  was  slain  in  Wales. 
Ban-chu,  the  pale  warrior,  would  be  his  complimentary  title ; 
the  old  surname  of  his  family,  Cu,  pronounced  by  his  semi- 
Cymric  followers  Chu,  also  descended  to  his  son  Flan-chu, 
the  red  or  ruddy  warrior,  known  to  his  Irish  kinsmen  as 
Fleadan. 

This  Irish  form  of  the  name  Fleadan  tan  (i.e.t  either  Flea- 
dan  the  Tanist,  or  Fleadan  the  younger)  imports  a  significant 
idea — namely,  flead  (pronounced  fla,  fld-an\  a  feast,  which 
corresponds  in  signification  with  Flaald,  Senescal  of  Dol,  the 
name  in  Brittany  of  the  father  of  Alan,  afterwards  Lord  of 
Oswestry,  who  in  turn  was  the  father  of  Walter,  the  Steward 
of  Scotland.  Is  it  impossible  that  in  those  days  of  felicitous 
surnames  this  designation  of  Fleadan  was  applied  to  the  youth 
who  so  happily  escaped  the  Feast  of  murderous  Macbeth  ?  It 
is,  however,  plain  that  for  some  inexplicable  reason  the  Scots 
and  Irish  writers  either  omit  this  Alan,  or,  at  least,  identify 
him  with  Walter,  the  son  of  Fleance  or  Flann,  or  maybe  of 
Aulay.  Ailin  or  Allan  may  have  become  the  family  name, 
as  we  see  it  before  as  a  cognomen  worn  by  King  Aeda  Alain  ; 
or  the  personal  name  Baltair  may  have  been  conjoined  with 
the  designation  of  Aluin,  the  fair  one,  and  thus  have  given 
rise  to  confusion. 


1 6  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

So  far,  I  have  not  been  able  to  trace  Murdoch  of  Leven  off 
the  warlike  stage  ;  but  it  is  one  of  the  most  incredible  mistakes 
made  by  Scots  historians  that  they  have  assumed,  what  Boece 
does  not  aver,  that  Macbeth  succeeded  in  destroying  Banquo, 
whereas  Boece  apparently  keeps  him  alive  till  Walter  was 
twenty  years  of  age — say  1065.  If  this  be  so,  and  Banquo 
himself  was  a  claimant  for  the  Crown  as  a  descendant  of 
Kenneth  I.,  where,  then,  did  he  find  refuge  during  the  eigh- 
teen years  of  Macbeth's  reign,  is  a  competent  question. 

The  Celts  were  great  travellers  and  pilgrims,  and  were  as 
well  known  in  foreign  lands  in  the  tenth  century  as  the  Scots 
are  in  the  nineteenth.1  Did  he  retire  to  Brittany  ? 

Chalmers,  who  first  in  the  '  Caledonia '  elucidated  the 
origin  of  the  Stewarts  in  the  Shropshire  FitzAlans,  treats 
the  romance  of  Banquo  as  a  fabrication  undeserving  of  con- 
sideration. His  confident  conclusions  are,  however,  neither 
in  harmony  with  historical  facts,  nor  with  the  legitimate 
inferences  which  philology  enables  us  to  draw  from  the  tradi- 
tion he  ignores.  He  says  : — 

"  History  knows  nothing  of  Banquo  the  Thane  of  Lochaber,  nor 
of  Fleance,  his  son.  (Even  the  very  name  of  Banquo  and  Fleance 
seem  to  be  fictitious,  as  they  are  not  Gaelic.  We  know  from  the 
evidence  of  record  that  Banquo  was  not  an  ancestor  of  the  family  of 
Stewart.)  None  of  the  ancient  chronicles- nor  Irish  Annals,  nor  even 
Fordun,  recognise  the  fictitious  name  of  Banquo  and  Fleance, 
though  the  latter  be  made  by  genealogists  the  '  root  and  father  of 
many  kings.'  .  .  .  Neither  is  a  Thane  of  Lochaber  known  in 


1  'Ann.  Tigh.' :  "975,  Kl.  :  Domnall  macEoain  Ri  Bretain  in  ailitri" — Don- 
ald, son  of  Eoain,  King  of  Britain,  goes  into  pilgrimage. 

Chron.  Mariani  :  "  1050,  Rex  Scottise  Macbethad  Romre  argentum  pauperibus 
seminando  distribuit." 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  1 7 

Scottish  history,  because  the  Scottish  kings  had  never  any  demesnes 
within  that  impervious  district."1 

The  sobriquet  Banquho  (genitive  Banquhonis,  Boece,  1526) 
is  a  pure  Goidelic  compound  word — namely,  Ban-chu  ('  Og- 
ygia'  1685  bancu) —  signifying  The  White  Dog  (ban,  pale, 
white,  cu,  Cymric,  chu,  a  dog,  gen.  coin,  Irish,  chon  ;  Bancho-n, 
Mac  Firbis's  Pedigrees,  1650,  p.  423),  i.e.,  The  Fair  Hero. 

Fleanchus  (Boece :  '  Oxygia '  Fleannus)  is  the  Latinised 
form  of  Flann-chu,  The  Red  or  Ruddy  Dog  (Goidelic  flann, 
blood,  adj.,  ruddy,  red  :  cf.  fionn,  fair),  and  is  also  a 
sobriquet — The  Bloodhound,  i.e.,  The  Red  Hero. 

This  nomenclature  is  evidently  a  reminiscence  of  the  dog- 
totem  or  dog-divinity,  which  was  anciently  held  in  reverence 
in  Ireland  and  among  the  Celts  of  Western  Alban.  The 
term  Cu  became  through  time  synonymous  with  a  fierce 
warrior,  or  heroic  personage,  who  as  a  watchdog  guarded  the 
district  associated  with  him  ;  hence  Cu  Connaught,  now  Con- 
stantine,  The  Dog  of  Connaught ;  Cu  Mumhain,  Cu  Midhe, 
Cu  Caisil,  Cu  Ulas?  One  of  the  kings  of  Strathclyde  (which 
formerly  included  part  of  Banquo's  thanage)  was  Cu.  The 
great  Ultonian  hero  was  Cu-chulain.  Saint  Kentigern 
(Munghu)  was  called  In  Glas  Chu,  or,  The  Grey  Dog,  and 
being  patron  saint  of  Glasgow  gave  to  his  seat  his  name.3 
One  of  the  heroes  who  fell  in  the  Bann,  when  the  Dalriadic 
fleet  from  Kintyre  assisted  their  kinsmen  in  Ireland  in  773, 
was  Bran-chu  Me  Brain,  The  Black  Dog,  son  of  Bran,  a  hero 
named  either  after  his  father  or  Fingal's  famous  dog,  Bran.4 

1  '  Caledonia,'  p.  411.    For  an  exposition  of  Chalmers's  views,  cf.  '  Stewartiana,' 
pp.  55-69,  by  John  Riddell. 

2  Irish^MSS.,  H.  3.  17,  Trin.  Coll.,  Dublin. 

3  Pinkerton's  '  Vitae  Sanct.  Scot.,'  pp.  195-297.  4  'Ann.  Tigh.' 

VOL.  II.  B 


1 8  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

An  abbot  of  lona,  who  died  in  724,  was  Faol-chu,  The  Wolf 
Dog.1  It  is  still  more  interesting  to  find  that  the  son  of 
Harold,  King  of  Man,  was  styled  in  Latin  Maccus  Mac  Arailt, 
—Mac-cu,  The  Son  of  the  Dog,  the  son  of  Harold  :  and  this 
Mac-cu  is  designated  "  the  king  of  many  isles "  when  he 
attended  to  pay  homage  to  King  Edgar  in  973  at  Chester, 
where  he  was  accompanied  by  his  allies,  the  Lagmanns,  who 
were  the  inhabitants  of  that  part  of  Argyle,  then  as  now 
called  the  Lamont  country,  terminating  at  Ardlamont,  and 
part  of  Dalriada.2 

Further,  one  of  the  Orkney  Sagas  refers  to  a  personage 
named  Karl  Hundason,  or  Hound's  son,  whom  Professor 
Rhys  prefers  to  identify  with  King  Macbeth  (in  Goidelic, 
Mac-con,  Hound's-son)  rather  than  with  King  Duncan,  his 
victim,  a  descendant  of  King  Mael-con,  slave  of  the  dog.3 
Some  genealogists  held  that  Mac  Ailin,  from  whom  Bancho 
descended,  was  a  descendant  of  Mac-con  (anno  200). 

One  of  the  witnesses  to  the  Inquisition  of  Prince,  after- 
wards King,  David  I.,  giving  a  list  of  properties  in  connection 
with  the  Church  of  Glasgow  in  1118,  is  "Maccus  filius  Und- 
neyn"  which  I  take  to  be  Mac-Cu,  son  of  Hundchen  (German, 
hundchen,  a  little  hound),  or,  The  Son  of  the  Dog,  Son  of  the 
Little  Dog.4  He  appears  with  Walter  the  First  Steward  as 
a  witness  to  David's  grants  to  Melrose  in  1142 — "Maccus 
films  Undwain  " — "  Maccus  filius  Unwain."  5 

Maccus   had    two    sons,    Liulf    and    Robert,   who    are    in 


1  'Ann.  Tigh.'  2  'Annals  of  Four  Masters.' 

3  Cf.  Bede,  bk.  iii.  chap,  iv.,  for  Meilochon — i.e.,  King  Brude  Mac  Maelchon. 

4  Phikerton,    'Enquiry,'   p.   515.     This   is   the   origin   of  name   Maxwell — de 
Maccu&vell. 

5  'Lib.  Mel., 'pp.  5,  666. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Ste^varts.  1 9 

Walter's   retinue  when  he   dispones   Mauchline   to   Melrose.1 
They  were  probably  Celtic  relatives. 

The  dog  was  thus  a  venerated  animal  among  the  rude  peo- 
ple who  inhabited  the  district  now  called  Lochaber,  where  last 
the  wolf-dog  was  seen  in  Scotland,  and  it  is  not  surprising 
to  find  its  name  associated  with  a  branch  of  the  family  who 
sprang  from  the  Munster  house  of  Core  and  from  Brude  Mac 
Meilochon,  King  of  the  Picts,  whose  palace  was  by  Loch 
Ness.  In  Kenneth  M'Alpin  the  line  of  Pictish  and  Scottish 
kings  were  united,  and  his  sovereignty  acknowledged  from 
east  to  west.  In  Duncan,  the  king  (-f  1040),  and  in  the  wife 
of  Macbeth,  the  same  blood  ran,  and,  according  to  others,  in 
Macbeth  and  Banquo. 

The  relationship  of  Banquo  to  the  king  is  not  so  easily 
made  out.  Although  there  is  no  record  that  a  Thane  of 
Lochaber  existed  at  this  epoch,  there  must  have  been  a 
Crown  official  over  that  district  who  was  responsible  to 
the  Crown,  or  to  the  High  Steward,  for  the  royal  dues, 
and  also  for  the  mustering  of  the  troops,  and  who  corre- 
sponded with  the  hereditary  chief  of  the  clan.  His  official 
designation  was  Maor,  which  in  the  Teutonic  tongue  was 
Thane^  a  word  probably  Celtic  in  origin,  signifying  a  chief, 
Ti'ern.  A  still  higher  official  governing  a  larger  district  was 
the  Maormor  (styled  Jarl  by  the  Norwegians 2),  or  great  Maor 
— the  Lord  High  Steward — of  whom  several  appear  in  his- 
tory, assisting  the  Irish  kings,  their  kinsmen  allies,  in  battle.3 

1  'Lib.  Mel.,' pp.  56,  57.     "  Liulfo  filio  Macchus."     'Lib.  Mel.,'  p.   141  :  the 
Gaelic  pronunciation  is  here  retained  in  Macchus. 

2  '  Jarla  Saga  :'  Rhys,  'Celtic  Britain,'  p.  190. 

3  Robertson,  '  Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,'  p.  102.     Todd's  '  Cogad  Gaill 
re  Gallaibh,'  p.   211  ;  see  Introduction  and  Notes,  pp.  clxxviii,  clxxix.     'Ann. 
Ulster,'  anno  1014. 


2O  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Donald  (in  1014)  was  Steward  of  Mar,  Macbeth  Steward  of 
Moray,  Macduff  of  Fife,  and  Murdoch  of  Leven.  Lochaber, 
I  infer,  was  the  northern  portion  of  the  Stewardship  of 
Leven,  and  included  Appin,  long  an  appanage  of  the  Crown 
held  by  Stuarts — 

"  The  land  of  Green  Appin,  the  ward  of  the  flood  ; 
Where  every  grey  cairn  that  broods  over  the  shore 
Marks  grave  of  the  royal, ^the  valiant,  or  good." 

The  Irish  colonists  from  Kerry,  who  gave  the  name  they 
brought  from  their  native  district  (Leamhna)  to  the  river 
Leven,  which  watered  their  acquired  territory,  in  conse- 
quence called  the  Lennox  (Leamhain-uisce,  Leven  Water : 
Levenach,  Leven  men),  probably  impressed  the  same  name 
of  Leven  upon  the  loch  and  river  in  Lochaber  on  the  nor- 
thern confines  of  Dalriada.  Their  territory  was  extensive, 
apparently  stretching  from  the  Clyde  to  Glen  More,  and 
from  sea  to  sea  over  middle-Scotland,  Dumbarton  being 
their  stronghold  in  the  south,  and  Tor  Castle 1  on  the 
Lochy  their  defence  in  the  north,  which  tradition  avers 
was  the  seat  of  Bariquo.2  We  must  now  change  the  scene. 

Contemporaneously  with  the  alleged  flight  of  the  son  of 
Fleance  into  Brittany,  there  appears  in  the  feudal  court  of 
Combourg,  in  Brittany,  in  the  capacity  of  a  seneschal  or 
steward,  a  stranger  named  Fredald  or  Flaald,  of  whose  ante- 


1  '  Stat.  Ace.,'  vol.  viii.  p.  436  :  "  And  a  little  below  the  site  of  Torecastle  there  is 
a  most  beautiful  walk,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long,  that  still  retains  the  name  of 
Banquo  " — "  Banquo's  Walk."      The   late  Rev.    Dr  Clerk,    Kilmallie,   the   dis- 
tinguished Ossianic  scholar,  embodied  the  local  traditions  regarding  Banquo  in  a 
MS.  brochure  which  he  presented  to  her  Majesty  the  Queen  in  1873.     In  it  he 
maintained  the  antiquity  of  the  traditions.     I  have  not  seen  the  brochure. 

2  Inchmyrryne  in  Loch  Lomond  was  the  stronghold  of  the  Earls  of  Lennox  in 
later  times. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts. 


21 


?  • 


cedents  nothing  as  yet  can  be  specified.1     The  picturesque 
castle  of  Combourg,  which  in  the  end  of  last  century  was  the 
peaceful  retreat  of  Chateaubriand,  its  noble  owner,  still  bears 
on  tower  and  battlement  the  characteristics  of  the  warring 
age  which  saw  it  rise 
to  menace  or  protect 
the  fertile   fields  and 
orchards  lying  around 
the   lake   beneath  its 
basement.       Its     im- 
pregnable      situation 
on    a    secure    mound 
might  create  the  im- 
pression that  military 
arrogance  placed  the 
stronghold   there,  did 
not  the  pleasing  sur- 
roundings of  rich  pas- 
ture, anon  variegated 
with  the  flying  blos- 
som of  the  fruit-trees  and  their  ruddy  clusters,  suggest  the 
cunning  design  of  a  happier  spirit. 

So  it  was  that  Junkeneus,  the  son  of  Hamo,  the  Count  of 
Dinan,  when  he  ascended  the  archiepiscopal  throne  of  Dol 
(1008-1032),  founded  the  pinnacled  towers  of  Combourg,  and 
set  up  there  the  secular  court  of  Rivallon,  his  brother,  first 
Lord  of  Combourg  and  Dol.  The  frowning  fortress,  eight 


The  Castle  of  Combonrg. 


1  Lobineau,  'Hist,  de  Bret./  vol.  ii.  p.  310,  138;  '  Mon.  Anglic.,'  vol.  i.  p.  553; 
Morice,  'Preuves  a  1'Hist.  de  Bret.,'  vol.  i.  p.  492;  'Notes  and  Queries,' 
Series  V.,  vol.  x.  pp.  402,  472  :  also  see  Indices, 


22  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

miles  S.E.  of  the  ancient  Armorican  capital,  Dol,  added 
security  on  the  Norman  frontiers  to  the  rich  possessions  of 
the  Church. 

In  Dol  the  successive  bishops,  well  warded  within  the  strong 
walls  which  encircled  the  brow  of  the  eminence  on  which  the 
ancient  cathedral,  the  chateau,  and  the  town  then  stood,  main- 
tained by  their  affluence  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of 
powerful  secular  lords.1  A  sword  more  oft  than  a  crucifix 
was  in  the  bishop's  hand  ;  the  hauberk  glistered  on  him  as 
oft  as  the  rochet.  His  palace  was  thronged  with  every  kind 
of  official,  from  the  steward,  who  was  overseer  of  all  his 
secular  interests,  down  to  the  marshal,  the  constable,  and 
others  who  doled  out  the  fragments  of  the  savoury  kitchen, 
and  to  the  more  menial  Scottish  slaves. 

The  grey-granite  town  of  Dol  was  thus  an  important  eccle- 
siastical and  military  centre,  and  on  its  "  Grande  Rue,"  off 
which  ran  the  shaded  alleys  up  to  the  Cathedral,  lived  the 
thriving  vassals  of  the  Archbishop,  who  never  shrank  to 
quarrel  with  their  Norman  enemies.  Its  very  position  made 
it  a  rendezvous  for  stirring  spirits  eager  for  any  crusade,  and 
an  asylum  for  exiles  seeking  service  in  perilous  times.  Its 
hallowed  associations  gave  it  an  especial  attractiveness  for 
English  and  Welsh  refugees.  Sampson  of  Wales  and  of 
York,  of  happy  memory,  founded  his  oratory  there,  over- 
looking the  salt  marshes,  in  the  sixth  century  ;  and  to  him 
came,  among  others— like  Teliane  of  Landaff,  his  successor — 
the  famous  Welsh  saint  Iltud,  to  lay  his  weary  bones  in  the 


1  'Gallia  Christiana,'  torn.  xiv.  pp.  1045-1048;  '  Histoire  Eccles.  et  Civile  de 
Bretagne,'  torn.  ii.  p.  liii  — '  Hist,  des  Evesques,'  par  Dom.  P.  H.  Morice : 
Paris,  1750. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  23 

church  beside  his  great  friend  and  pupil.  So  Dol  was  dear 
to  Welshmen,  who  were  also  naturally  allied  to  their  Celtic 
kinsmen  over  the  sea,  in  Lesser  Britain ;  and  what  with  the 
reputation  of  the  schools,  what  with  marriage  alliances,  war, 
and  commerce  with  the  Saxons,  no  more  likely  retreat  for 
the  exiled  son  of  Fleance  could  be  imagined. 

It  was  not  an  improbable  occurrence  for  a  Highland  exile 
to  find  shelter  in  the  Welsh  Court,  and  also  for  himself  and 
his  family  to  receive  equal  sanctuary  in  the  monasteries  of 
Brittany.  The  old  link  between  the  Celtic  Churches  was  not 
broken,  and  pilgrims  were  still  leaving  Welsh,  Irish,  and 
Scottish  homes  to  carry  the  light  and  culture  of  the  Celtic 
schools  into  foreign  monasteries.  At  this  very  time  the 
Celtic  monks  were  favourites  in  France  and  Germany,  as 
they  had  been  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne.  They  were 
founders  of  monasteries  like  Marianus,  of  Ratisbon,  not  needy 
bakers,  like  Fleance  and  Alan.  The  shipmen  of  Kintyre 
traded  with  the  French,  and  the  Normans  sometimes  raided 
in  Ireland.  Who  then  can  tell  what  brother  Celt  was  there 
to  receive  the  royal  wanderer  to  Dol  ? 

The  lords  of  Combourg  and  Dol  were  generous  to  religion 
and  liberal  to  the  Church.  Rivallon  and  his  family  gave  to 
the  monastery  of  St  Martin  at  Marmoutier  their  rights  in  the 
church  of  the  Blessed  Mary  at  Combourg  some  time  before 
1064,  and  among  his  retinue  witnessing  the  charter  appears 
the  name  of  his  Seneschal,  Fredaldus  ("  s.  Fredaldi,  senescalci  " 
— see  Appendix  III.)  This  name  is  almost  unique  in  Breton 
charters  and  history — being  held  by  this  individual  and  by 
Fledald  the  brother  of  Alan,  who  succeeded  Fredald  in  the 
seneschalship  of  Dol,  and  by  no  others.  Who  was  he,  and 
whence  did  he  come  ? 


24  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

The  late  Earl  of  Crawford  and  Balcarres,  after  many  years 
of  laborious  inquiry  into  the  mysterious  origin  of  the 
Stewarts,  although  he  inclined  to  believe  that  "  Fredaldus, 
the  Seneschal,  was  son  of  Frotmundus,  surnamed  Vetulus,  or 
the  old,  a  landed  proprietor  in  the  district  -now  called 
Chateaubriant  during  the  eleventh  century,  and  that  the 
family  were  of  Prankish  extraction,"  descended  from  Phara- 
mond,  was  forced  to  come  to  this  conclusion  :  "  I  have  found 
no  notice  of  the  family  of  Fredaldus  Senescalcus  in  the 
district  of  Dol  or  its  neighbourhood,  before  the  appearance 
of  that  individual  in  the  character  of  Seneschal  as  witnessing 
the  document  already  before  the  reader,  which  must  bear 
date  previously  to  1066.  Moreover,  I  have  not  as  yet  met 
with  any  positive  or  direct  evidence  by  which  Fredaldus  or 
his  son  Alan  can  be  affiliated  as  the  son  or  descendant  of 
any  house  in  Brittany."  J 

This  well-considered  judgment  opens  the  way  for  reason- 
able speculation,  which  is  in  harmony  with  the  probable  truth 
of  the  traditions  preserved  by  Scottish  writers  in  reference  to 
our  Royal  House. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  the  original  authorities  for 
the  various  branches  of  the  genealogical  tree  by  which  Fleance 
is  traced  by  descent  to  King  Kenneth  I.  The  older  geneal- 
ogists and  heraldic  writers  quoted  from  old  family  histories 
in  MS.,  many  of  which  have  been  lost.  I  append  a  pedigree 
compiled  from  these  family  trees  (Appendix  II.),  without  any 
acknowledgment  of  its  accuracy.  It  is  not  in  harmony  with 
the  Irish  pedigrees,  which  were  more  likely  to  be  correct. 


1  '  Memoir  on  the  subject  of  the  Origines  of  the  FitzAlans  and  Stuarts.'     MS., 
chap.  iii. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  2  5 

My  hypothesis  is  that  Fredald  or  Flaald,  which  is  simply 
an  official  title,  was  Fleance,  the  father  of  Alan,  and  of  the 
succeeding  Stewards  of  Dol,  together  with  the  Fitz  Alans  of 
England  and  the  succeeding  Stewards  of  Scotland.  I  further 
contend  that  the  much-abused  Boece  had  good  grounds  for 
believing  the  accounts  of  his  predecessors,  which  traced  the 
Stewarts  through  Banquo  to  the  ancient  dynasties  of  our 
native  land. 

Fledald,  whom  we  must  equate  with  Flaald,  the  father  of 
Alan,  the  English  settler  under  Henry  I.,  held  the  seneschal- 
ship  during  the  unhappy  tenure  of  the  See  of  Dol  by  the 
amorous  Juhellus  (1040-1078),  who  equally  defied  the  Pope 
in  his  lascivious  and  in  his  military  career.  This  Juhell  was 
a  dear  bishop  to  the  Bretons,  being  mixed  up  in  those  un- 
fortunate intrigues  which  ended  in  wars  with  the  Normans, 
who  appeared  several  times  before  the  walls  of  Dol  to  humili- 
ate the  Knight  of  Combourg  in  what  William  the  Conqueror 
styled  "  une  orgueilleuse  bicoque  "  —  a  proud  little  shanty. 
The  shanty  appears  on  the  Bayeux  Tapestry  in  defiant  great- 
ness. An  adventurer  could  not  have  found  a  home  easier 
than  under  Juhell  or  Rivallon,  the  chief  of  the  rebels  in  Brit- 
tany. If  he  had  pretensions  to  royal  lineage,  it  would  be 
easier  for  him  also  to  attain  to  so  high  an  honour  as  that  of 
Seneschal  of  the  district,  should  an  opportunity  have  oc- 
curred. As  Juhell  was  a  Simonist  and  a  despoiler  of  the 
Church  lands,  which  he  gave  to  his  family  and  his  supporters, 
he  might  have  reason  for  appointing  a  stranger  to  the  im- 
portant office  of  Seneschal,  wherein  he  had  to  administer  the 
secular  affairs  of  the  province,  to  collect  the  ecclesiastical 
rents  and  dues,  and  to  regulate  the  official  life  of  his  lordly 
master  and  his  subordinates. 


26  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

On  the  street  called  "  La  Grand  Rue  "  of  Dol  still  remains 
an  imposing  edifice  built  of  granite,  in  the  purest  Norman 
style  of  architecture  of  the  twelfth  century,  which  tradition 
names  "  La  Maison  des  Plaids,"  and  avers  was  the  revenue 
office  and  court-house  of  the  archbishops.  This  name,  "  The 
House  of  the  Plaids,"  is  touchingly  significant  of  Fleance 
with  the  royal  wearers  of  the  tartan,  who  lifted  the  tithes 
and  the  taxes,  and  "  dantoned  "  the  enemies  of  his  master,  as 
his  fathers  had  done  ! * 

The  office  of  Seneschal  had  a  lowly  origin,  probably  in  the 
responsible  work  of  the  upper  servant  (Gothic,  skalks,  a 
servant),  senior  (Gothic,  sins,  old)  or  otherwise,  who  was 
trusted  with  the  oversight  of  his  lord's  household,  or,  as 
Vossius  held,  his  flock  of  sheep  (son,  seneste,  or  sente).  The 
oversight  of  his  cattle  led  to  his  being  known  among  the 
Teutonic  nations  as  the  Stiward,  or  warden  of  the  stye  (A.S. 
stigo,  weard}. 

From  seniority  as  a  servant  this  official  rose  to  be  superin- 
tendent of  the  other  domestic  servitors,  taster  of  his  master's 
food,  master  of  the  house,  and  treasurer  of  the  revenues. 
The  mastership  of  the  palace  was  a  position  of  honour  and 
trust,  sometimes  held  by  the  heir-apparent,  and  always  by 
one  of  royal  or  noble  blood,  who  was  privileged  to  carry  the 
royal  banner  into  battle.  In  Scotland  the  Steward  of  the 
king  was  at  first  simply  the  "  Seneschallus  Domus  Domini 


1  'Dol-de-Bretagne,'  par  Charles  Robert,  1892,  p.  5  :  "On  lui  donne  le  nom 
de  Maison  des  Plaids.  C'est  la  que,  au  moins  avant  le  xvie  si6cle,  se  serait  rendue 
la  justice  et  exercee  la  juridiction  temporelle  de  1'eveque  de  Dol.  Les  sentences 
auraient  ete  proclamees  au  peuple  par  les  deux  bales  superieures."  For  lands  of 
Dol  see  "Enqueste  de  Dol  faite  en  1181  par  ordre  de  Henri  II.,  Roy  d'Angle- 
terre,"  Lobineau,  torn.  ii.  fol.  132. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts. 


27 


Regis,"  or  "  Dapifer,"  but  was  advanced  through  time  to 
the  higher  dignity  of  Steward  of  the  kingdom,  "  Seneschallus 
Scotiae,"  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

That  the  Breton  equivalent  for  the  Seneschal  was  Fredald, 
Fledald,  or  Flaald  will  presently  appear.     This  we  infer  was 


La  Maison  des  Plaids. 

the  name  of  Alan's  father,  from  this  circumstance,  that  when 
William,  a  monk  of  St  Florent-pres-Saumur,  and  elder 
brother  of  John,  Lord  of  Combourg,  along  with  his  brothers, 
gave  the  township  of  Mezuoit  beside  the  Castle  of  Dol  to  the 
monastery  of  St  Florent-sous-Dol,  of  which  William  became 


28  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Abbot,  some  time  between  1079  and  1081,  not  only  is  "Alanus 
Senescallus  "  a  witness  to  the  gift,  but  the  deed  declares  that 
Alan  was  himself  a  donor  of  the  village  oven  and  his  right  of 
the  sale  of  bread  therewith,  which  gifts  were  homologated  by 
his  brother  Fledald  on  condition  that  a  younger  brother, 
Rivallon,  was  admitted  to  the  novitiate  (see  Appendices 
VII.,  XL)  The  monopoly  of  bread-making  must  have  been 
a  fee  of  the  Seneschal,  and  consequently  hereditary  in  that 
office,  descending  from  Fredald  to  Alan  and  his  brothers  or 
next  of  kin. 

Underneath  the  different  forms  in  which  the  name  Flaald, 
and  its  cognates,  appear  —  Fleald,  Flaald,  Flaad,  Floaud, 
Flahald,  Fladald,  Fledald,  Flodwald,  Flodoald,  Fredald— lies 
a  root  common  to  all,  namely,  flad.  This  is  evidently  the 
Goidelic  word  fleadh  (pronounced  flay),  which  in  Old  Irish  is 
fled,  signifying  a  meal.  The  Old  High  German  word  to  rule  is 
^valtan :  wald,  a  ward.  So  in  the  compound  Flad-wald,  the 
ruler  of  the  meal,  we  have  a  similar  instance  of  word-coining 
observed  in  the  term  lord,  A.S.  hl&f-ward,  ruler  of  the  loaf. 
Nor  is  this  all  the  coincidence:  the  Gothic  fretun,  in  German 
fressen,  corresponds  with  our  word  to  eat,  so  that  Fret-wold  is 
a  form  synonymous  with  Fledwald.  In  the  Romance  tongue 
of  France,  flan,  flanc,  flans  is  defined  to  be  "a  sorte  of  cake, 
or  piece  of  pastry  which  is  made  of  flour,  butter,  milk,  and 
eggs  ;  in  Low  Latin,  flado,  flanto" 1  In  Flemish  the  same 
word  appears  as  vlade :  German,  fladen. 

If,  then,  we  identify  the  fugitive  Fleanchus  with  the  Flaald 
of  Dol,  although  Boece  declares  that  the  Prince  of  Wales 
slew  him,  we  might  harmonise  many  apparent  discrepancies 

1  '  Glossaire  de  la  Langue  romaine,'  par.  J.  B.  B.  Roquefort,  p.  606.    Paris,  1808. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  29 

in   the  tangled   story.     Nor  is  this   too  bold  a  demand  on 
credence. 

The  native  name  of  Banquo's  son  would  be  the  common 
Goidelic  one,  Flann^  which  signifies  rosy  or  fair,  and  has  an 
equivalent  in  Aluinn,  beautiful,  fair,  to  which  the  word  Alan, 
both  in  Brittany  and  Ireland,  may  be  traced.  The  Flann  of 
Lochaber  would  thus  very  readily  become  the  Breton  name, 
Alan,  more  especially  when  in  the  vulgar  tongue  of  Dol 
the  former,  denoting  a  pancake,  would  sound  like  a  nickname. 
Change  of  name  was  not  an  uncommon  circumstance  :  Alan, 
Earl  of  Brittany,  was  also  called  Geoffroi ;  John,  the  son  of 
Robert  II.,  ascended  the  throne  of  Scotland  as  Robert  III. 
And  just  as  the  royal  Stewards  dropped  the  Latin  name  of 
Seneschal,  which  they  long  bore,  for  the  Teutonic  designation 
of  Stewart,  Flann  may  have  obtained  for  surname,  in  keeping 
with  his  office,  Flawald  or  Fretwald.  His  eldest  son  Alan 
bore  the  name  that  ran  in  the  race  of  Eogan  ;  his  second  took 
the  father's  official  name  ;  his  third  was  named  Rivallon,  after 
his  knightly  master  of  Dol. 

That  this  Flaald,  Seneschal  of  Dol,  was  no  other  than 
Flancus  who  joined  the  bands  of  Norman  warriors  who 
conquered  England  under  William  the  Vigorous,  is  amply 
proved  by  a  remarkable  reference  to  a  property  in  England 
for  centuries  afterwards  held  by  the  Fitz Alans. 

In  an  inquest  made  in  the  hundred  of  Laundiz,  in  Norfolk, 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  in  1275,  the  jurors  note  :  "  They  say 
also  that  the  manor  of  Melam  with  its  pertinents  was  in  the 
hands  of  King  William  the  Bastard  at  the  Conquest,  and  the 
said  king  gave  the  said  manor  to  a  certain  soldier,  who  was 
called  Flancus,  who  came  with  the  said  king  into  England, 
with  its  parts  and  all  its  pertinents,  and  afterwards  the  said 


30  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

manor  descended  from  heir  to  heir  to  John  the  son  of  Alan, 
who  is  now  in  the  custody  of  the  king/'  &C.1 — (see  Appendix 
IV.)  In  another  inquest  held  in  1305,  this  hundred  is  men- 
tioned as  "hundreda  de  Flando  (or  Flaudo),  filio2  Alani, 
quondam  Domino  de  Milham,"  &c.3  Fitz  Alyne  is  among 
the  list  of  the  conquerors  of  England  in  the  Battle  Abbey 
charter;4  Fitz  Alayne  appears  in  Leland's  list;5  Fitz  Aleyn 
in  Grafton's  Chronicle.6 

That  Alan  the  son  of  Flaald  possessed  property  in  Norfolk 
and  at  Mileham  is  shown  by  a  charter  preserved  in  the  White 
Book  of  St  Florent,  by  which  Alan  gives  to  the  monks  of  St 
Florent-pres-Saumur,  for  the  safety  of  his  soul,  the  church  of 
Sporle  and  its  tithes,  and  besides  other  rich  gifts  of  fuel  and 
pasturage,  a  hundred  acres  of  land  in  Melehan  (Milaham). 
(See  Appendix  V.) 

These  lands  formerly  were  possessed  by  Stigand,  the 
patriotic  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  whom  William  the 
Conqueror  drove  into  exile  in  1071,  and  probably  became 
part  of  the  spoil  of  that  "  audacious  athlete,"  Raoul  de  Gael, 
whom  William  made  Earl  of  Norfolk  for  assisting  him  in 
the  campaign  of  1070.  According  to  the  Saxon  Chronicle,7 
Raoul  was  a  Welshman  on  his  mother's  side,  and  his  father 
was  an  Englishman  named  Ralph  and  born  in  Norfolk,  so 
that  Flancus  had  in  him  a  congenial  comrade  among  the 
Breton  auxiliaries  who,  from  Dinan,  Dol,  and  Combourg,  for 
the  second  time  threw  in  their  swords  with  the  Norman 


1  '  Hundred  Rolls,'  vol.  i.  p.  434. 

2  Probably  clerical  mistake  for /#/;-£,  or  an  addition. 

3  'Cal.  Gen.  Henry  III.  and  Edward  I.,'  ed.  Charles  Roberts,  vol.  ii.  p.  687. 

4  'Script,  rer.  Normann.,'  p.  1023.  5  'Collectanea,'  eel.  Hearne,  p.  208. 
6  '  Chronicle  of  Bfiteyn,' p.  4,  1568  ed.  7  Under  ann.  1075. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  3 1 

invader.  Flaald  could  then  be  in  the  prime  of  manhood, 
too.  But  his  Scottish  name  does  not  appear  in  the  Domes- 
day Book,  unless  he  is  to  be  identified  with  one  of  the  many 
Alans  found  therein,  which  is  quite  probable.  That  Flaald 
joined  destinies  with  the  rebellious  Raoul,  whom  William 
deprived  of  his  lands  and  chased  back  to  Dol,  can  only  be 
hypothetical,  although  it  readily  explains  why  Alan,  who 
accompanied  Raoul  in  the  Crusade  of  1096,  was  not  in  a 
position  in  England  to  evince  his  customary  liberality  to  the 
Church  until  the  reign  of  his  patron,  Henry  I.,  when  Breton 
influence  was  a  desirable  buttress  to  an  unstable  throne. 

Flaald  disappears  from  the  historic  page  as  mysteriously  as 
he  came,  somewhere  about  the  year  1079,  when  Alan  assumed 
the  Seneschalship. 

In  treating  of  Alan  FitzFlaald  we  are  fortunate  in  possess- 
ing many  charters  which  bear  his  name,  as  witness  to  the 
generosity  of  his  feudal  superiors,  and  as  donor  of  many 
benefactions  to  churches,  both  in  England  and  Brittany,  con- 
nected with  the  Great  Monastery  of  the  Benedictine  Order  at 
Marmoutier. 

If  our  assumption  be  warranted  that  Alan  was  the  son  of 
Fleance,  he  might  have  been  sufficiently  old  to  have  borne 
arms  with  those  adventurous  Bretons  who,  under  the  two 
sons  of  the  Earl  of  Brittany,  Briant  and  Alan,  Raoul  de  Gael, 
and  other  warriors,  distinguished  themselves  at  Hastings,  hav- 
ing in  1066  probably  attained  to  his  majority. 

Where  he  won  his  spurs  can  only  be  conjectured.  But  it 
is  not  likely  that  he  stayed  to  watch  the  pancakes  turning  in 
Dol  when  the  air  was  full  of  the  romance  of  the  Conquest,  or 
local  free-lances  recited  how  the  hand  of  Hereward  himself 
laid  low  Raoul  of  Dol. 


32  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Alan,  as  the  eldest  son  of  his  father,  inherited,  with  the 
occupancy  of  the  seneschalship,  some  lands  which  lay  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  Dol.  In  the  disposition  of  these  by 
himself  and  his  descendants  we  are  able  to  trace  a  little  of 
his  personal  history. 

Somewhere  between  1063  and  1084,  when  Abbot  Bartholo- 
mew ruled  the  great  Monastery  of  Marmoutier,  Maino,  the 
lord  of  Erce,  came  to  him  and  craved  him  to  descend  to  the 
little  village  of  Guguen,  some  eight  miles  south  of  Dol,  and 
heal  his  two  sons,  Hamo  and  Gauter,  who  were  stricken  with 
leprosy  there.  By  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  a  kiss  of  love 
from  the  venerable  abbot,  the  youths  arose  miraculously 
cured.  The  father  and  grandfather,  with  their  whole  house 
and  their  retinue,  made  gifts  of  gratitude  to  the  monastery — 
among  which  "  Alan,  the  son  of  Floaud,  conceded  to  the 
abbot  and  monks  of  Combourg  whatsoever  right  he  had  in 
the  church  of  Guguen  "  (see  Appendix  VI.) 

From  this  the  Earl  of  Crawford  and  Balcarres  concluded 
that  Alan  held  this  property  from  the  house  of  Loheac  in 
right  of  his  wife,  who  was  a  daughter  of  Maino,  and  not 
hereditarily. 

The  Lords  of  Dol  were  conspicuous  for  their  benefactions 
to  their  favourite  house  in  Marmoutier ;  and  when  John  and 
his  brother  Gilduin  dedicated  the  township  of  Mezuoit  and 
its  privileges  to  the  Benedictines,  and  John  founded  and 
erected  the  priory  of  St  Martin  and  St  Florent  there,  Alan 
the  Seneschal,  on  his  part,  gave  the  bakery  and  the  bread 
monopoly  to  the  monks,  and  Eventius,  the  Archbishop  of 
Dol,  between  1076  and  1081,  completed  the  donation  with 
his  benediction  (see  Appendix  VII.) 

Alan  next  appears  as  a  Crusader,  among  that  daring  com- 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  33 

pany,  led  by  Robert  Duke  of  Normandy,  in  1096,  to  rescue 
Jerusalem  from  the  Mussulmans.1  It  is  interesting  to  notice 
the  names  of  the  Breton  warriors — none  of  whom  were  from 
Dinan — which  are  preserved  for  us  by  Baldric,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Dol  (1107-1130),  who  wrote  a  contemporary  ac- 
count of  the  expedition  and  the  '  History  of  Jerusalem.' 
Alain  Fergent,  Count  of  Brittany,  the  old  rebel  Raoul  de 
Gael,  formerly  of  Norfolk,  Alan  his  son,  and  lords  from  the 
houses  of  Lamballe,  Loheac,  and  Penthievre,  brought  their 
thirsty  swords.  And  the  venerable  Archbishop  of  Dol,  Rol- 
land  (1093-1107),  along  with  his  steward  Alan,  graced  the 
company  ("  et  Alanus  dapifer  sacrae  ecclesiae  Dolensis,  Archi- 
episcopi,  et  alii  plures  erant  in  uno  agmine  ").  Doubtless  Alan 
had  his  share  in  the  fearful  battles  and  sieges  by  the  way 
which  preceded  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  in  1099.  From 
these  associations  we  may  safely  infer  that  Alan  was  a 
partisan  of  Robert  of  Normandy,  rather  than  of  Rufus,  at 
this  juncture. 

The  Bretons  returned  in  the  autumn  of  noi.2  And  it  is 
after  this  date  I  would  place  the  birth  of  Alan's  eldest  son. 
whom  he  named  Jordan,  in  memory  of  his  expedition  to  the 
Holy  Land. 

Meantime  Henry  I.  had  in  Robert's  absence  seized  the 
throne  of  England,  as  in  his  penniless  days  he  had  tried  to 
seize  Mont  St  Michel,  and  was  gathering  round  him  a  new 
aristocracy  who  would  secure  his  throne  against  his  Norman 
opponents,  and  render  him  a  welcome  ruler  to  the  oppressed 


1  Baldricus,    '  Historia  Hierosolymge,'  lib.   ii. ;    Migne's    '  Patrol.,'   vol.    clxvi. 
p.  1084. 

2  '  Actes  de  Bret.,'  vol.  i.  col.  507. 

VOL.   II.  C 


34  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Saxons  and  Welsh,  whom  he  promised  to  defend  and  be- 
friend. Alan  may  have  taken  advantage  of  this  new  policy 
to  regain  his  forfeited  estates  in  England, — for,  by  the 
autumn  of  noi,  King  Henry  has  either  invested  him  in 
or  permitted  him  to  reassume  property  in  Norfolk,  and  he 
comes  into  prominence  among  the  "  illustrious  of  England, 
ecclesiastical  and  secular,"  who,  with  the  king  and  queen, 
subscribe  to  a  charter  granted  by  Henry  to  the  Bishop  of 
Norwich,  at  a  great  court  held  at  Windsor.1  The  same  day, 
September  3,  noi,  "Alan  Fitz  Flaald  "  is  a  witness  to  the 
charter,  attested  also  by  Henry  and  Queen  Matilda,  by 
which  the  Bishop  of  Norwich  founded  the  Cathedral  priory 
of  his  see,  and  the  Charter  confirms  a  grant  of  the  "  Church 
of  Langham,  which  had  been  Alan's  and  his  tithes,"  by 
which  Alan  had  endowed  Norwich  priory.2  This  Langham 
was  a  part  of  the  Mileham  lands  held  by  the  Fitz  Alans. 
From  this  time  onward  Alan  Fitz  Flaald,  doubtless  a 
trusted  favourite  at  Court,  is  in  constant  attendance  on 
the  king,  and  in  various  parts  of  his  realm  is  a  witness  to 
charters  3  (see  Appendix  X.) 

The  native  qualities  in  him,  which  Breton  life  in  camp, 
court,  and  church  made  valuable  acquisitions  for  a  prince 
in  dire  need  of  a  trusty  body-guard,  were  to  King  Henry 
enhanced  by  the  circumstance  that  Alan  was  not  merely  a 
scion  of  the  royal  houses  of  North  Wales  and  Mercia,  but  was 


1  '  Monasticon,'  iv.  17,  v.  2  Ibid.,  iv.  17,  Num.  iii. 

3  See  '  Monasticon,'  var.  loc.  ;  '  The  Houses  of  Fitz-Alan  and  Stuart,'  by  R.  W. 
Eyton,  1856;  'Antiq.  of  Shropshire,'  by  R.  W.  Eyton,  vol.  ii.  pp.  193,  194;  vol. 
vii.  pp.  211-262,  Lond.  1858;  'Coll.  for  Hist,  of  Staffordshire,' by  R.  W.  Eyton, 
vol.  i.  pp.  213-225  :  Birmingham,  1880. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  35 

also  a  Scottish  kinsman  to  his  queen.  These  factors  led  to 
easy  and  certain  advancement  at  the  English  Court.  His 
influence  had  been  further  increased  by  alliance  with  the 
powerful  family  of  Hesdin  in  Artois,  when  he  wedded 
Adeliza  (Adelina  or  Avelina),  the  coheiress  of  Ernulf  de 
Hesdin,  son  of  the  Count  of  Hesdin  and  Avoue,  probably 
after  his  return  from  the  crusade. 

So  chivalrous  a  knight  was  just  such  a  buttress  to  the 
throne  as  the  king  would  secure  in  the  debatable  frontiers 
of  his  realm,  where  family  associations  might  make  up  for  a 
weak  military  position  among  unsettled  lieges.  So  where  he 
had  spent  his  boyhood,  probably  at  Old  Oswestry — Oswald's 
tree,  where  Oswald  and  Penda  fought  in  the  perilous  stretch 
of  land  between  OfTa  and  Wat's  dyke,  whose  meads  were 
fattened  by  Cambrian  and  Saxon  flood — Alan  was  given  his 
fortified  home.1  At  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century 
records  show  him  invested  in  the  whole  Honour  of  Shrop- 
shire, carrying  with  it  lands  in  Warwickshire,  Staffordshire, 
and  Sussex,  formerly  held  by  Warin,  then  deceased  :.  "Alarms 
films  Fladaldi  honorem  Vicecomitis  Warin  post  filium  ejus 
[Hugo]  suscepit." 2  This  fresh  favour  may  have  been  one  of 
the  consequences  of  the  struggle  between  Henry  and  Robert, 
his  brother,  which  gave  rise  to  the  revolt  of  Earl  Robert  de 
Belesme,  suzerain  of  the  Honour,  who  forfeited  his  lands  and 
was  exiled  in  I IO2.3  As  yet,  however,  we  can  throw  no  light 
on  the  reference  in  Blind  Harry's  '  Wallace '  to  the  episode 


1  Leland,  'Collect.,'  vol.  i.  p.  231,  quoting  '  Ryme  of  the  Gestes  of  Guarine,' 
has:  " Alane  P'leilsone  had  gyven  to  him  Oswaldestre." 

2  '  Monasticon,'  vol.  iii.,  519,  col.  A.  3  '  Ordericus  Vitalis,'  pp.  806,  807. 


36  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

when  "  the  gud  Wallas,"  grandfather  of  William,  a  retainer  of 
Alan's,  performed  some  worthy  deed — 

"  Quhen  Waltyr  hyr  of  Waillis  fra  Warayn  socht"1 

— an  episode,  probably,  of  later  date  than  this  epoch. 

It  was  long  erroneously  settled  that  Alan  had  obtained  the 
shrievalty  by  marriage  with  the  supposed  daughter  of  Warin. 
Rather  it  was  a  political  reward. 

The  Salop  Chartulary,  The  White  Book  of  St  Florent, 
and  other  authorities  display  Alan  munificently  enriching  the 
churches  in  which  he  was  interested,  especially  those  which 
had  sprung  from  St  Florent-pres-Saumur,  a  daughter  of  the 
great  Monastery — benefactions  which  his  descendants  homolo- 
gated (see  Appendices  VIII.,  IX.)  "  Alanus  films  Flaaldi,"  as 
he  is  styled,  with  Adelina  his  wife,  gave  lands  at  Komeston 
and  Sporle  in  Norfolk  to  the  priory  of  Castle  Acre,  a  depend- 
ency of  Lewes,  the  chief  Cluniac  abbey  in  England.2  But  he 
seems  to  have  died  about  1114,  leaving  Adeliza  and  a  young 
family,  Jordan,  William,  Walter,  Simon,  and  Sibil,  enfeoffed  in 
various  properties  in  England  and  Brittany. 

From  a  charter  in  which  Alan  the  son  of  Jordan  confirms 
his  grandfather's  gift  of  the  tithe  of  the  lordship  of  Burton  to 
the  monks  of  St  Magloire  de  Lehon  (1161)  it  is  to  be  inferred 
that  Jordan  was  the  eldest  of  the  family — "  Ego  siquidem 
Alanus  Jordani  films  primogenitus  supradictorum  descen- 
dens,"  &c.,— and  that  Alan  junior  was  Jordan's  eldest  son 
(see  Appendices  VIIL,  IX.,  XII.)  The  peculiarity  of  this  lan- 
guage might  create  the  impression  that  Alan  senior  had  been 
twice  married,  and  that  Jordan  was  of  the  first  marriage,  and 

1  '  Wallace,'  bk.  i.  1.  32.  2  '  Monasticon, '  v.  p.  31,  ed.  Bandinel  and  Ellis. 


The  Origin  of  the  Royal  Stewarts.  37 

heir  of  Burton, — a  supposition  which  would  harmonise  with 
the  Scottish  tradition  that  Walter  (Alan)  married  Christina, 
a  daughter  of  Alan  the  Red  of  Brittany,1  in  whose  fee  Burton 
was  in  1086. 

Jordan  succeeded  to  the  Seneschalship  of  Dol  and  the 
paternal  property  in  Brittany,  which  he  handed  down  to  his 
heirs  till  the  office  passed  out  of  their  hands  about  the  end  of 
the  twelfth  century ;  but  it  does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of 
this  work  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  Breton  branch  of  the 
family,  nor  to  do  more  than  allude  to  William,  who  settled  in 
Shropshire  ;  to  Simon,  the  ancestor  of  the  Boyds  ;  and  to  Sibil, 
who  married  Roger  de  Freville.  William  Fitz  Alan  suc- 
ceeded to  his  father's  Honour  and  farms  in  England,  and 
by  marrying  Isabel  de  Say,  Lady  of  Clune,  strengthened 
his  position  as  a  great  feudal  baron.2  The  liberality  of  the 
Lady  of 'Clune  to  Wenlock  Priory  was  imitated  by  her  hus- 
band, who  enriched  the  Canons  of  Haughmond  Abbey,  his 
brother  Walter  being  a  witness  to  this  beneficence,  and,  in 
turn,  sharing  in  his  generosity.3  Jordan  Fitz  Alan,  however, 
was  in  1130  in  possession  of  lands  in  Lincolnshire,  which  were 
part  of  the  fee  -of  Alan,  Count  of  Brittany,  registered  in 
Domesday  Book  ;  and  also  in  Nottinghamshire  or  Derby- 
shire, the  assessment  on  which  he  was  freed  from  at  this 
time.4  Our  concern  is  with  Walter. 


1  Hailes,  'Ann.,'  vol.  i.,  App.    There  is  much  confusion  among  the  many  Alans, 
red  and  black,  from  Brittany,  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest. 

2  'Caledonia,'  p.  573.  3  '  Archoeol.  Journal, '  vol.  xiii.  p.  145. 
4  'Mag.  Rot.  Scacc.  vel.  Pipa  de  Anno  xxxi.  regni  Hen.  I.,'  p.  113,  ed.  1833. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  STEWARDS   OF   SCOTLAND. 

"But  now  appeared  the  Seneschal, 
Commissioned  by  his  lord  to  call 
The  strangers  to  the  Baron's  hall, 

Where  feasted  fair  and  free 
That  Island  Prince  in  nuptial  tide, 
With  Edith  there  his  lovely  bride, 
And  her  bold  brother  by  her  side, 
And  many  a  chief,  the  flower  and  pride 

Of  Western  land  and  sea." 

—  The  Lord  of  the  Isles. 

|HE  politic  marriage  in  noo  of  King  Henry  I.  of 
England  to  Edith,  the  daughter  of  Malcolm,  King 
of  Scots,  and  the  Pearl  of  Scotland,  sister  of  Edgar 
Atheling,  at  the  same  time  happily  united  the 
royal  Anglo-Saxon  and  Norman  lines,  and  pleased  alike 
vanquished  and  victors  in  England.  The  sound  and  prudent 
aim  of  Henry  was  to  establish  a  native  national  party,  who 
would  secure  him  and  his  successors  in  undisturbed  posses- 
sion of  the  throne  which  was  guarded  by  barons  having  a 
truly  English  interest  in  the  monarchy. 

Among  the  visitors  to  his  chivalrous  Court  was  a  young 
brother  of  the  Queen,  David,  the  future  King  of  Scotland, 
who,  so  early  as  1 105,  began  a  friendship  with  the  family  of 


>  - 


i.  Seal  of  Walter  Fitz  Alan  ;  ia,  Counterseal  not  deciphered,  1177. 
2  and  3.  Seal  of  Alan  Fitz  Walter,  1204. 

4.  Seal  of  Walter  Fitz  Alan  II.,  1246. 

5.  Privy  Seal  of  same  person. 

—Lib.  de  Melros,  vol.  ii.  PI.  VII. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  39 

Alan,  which  was  fraught  with  the  most  important  destinies 
in  both  kingdoms,  to  be  wrought  out  two  centuries  after- 
wards. It  was  a  school  of  policy,  in  which  the  prince  learned 
much  that  was  profitable  to  his  own  realm — the  most  bene- 
ficial lesson  being  that  of  surrounding  his  own  throne  with 
chivalrous  warriors  efer  ready  to  lift  the  gage  for  their  royal 
master. 

Among  his  retinue  were  many  possessed  of  thirsty  swords 
— both  the  discontented  scions  of  old  Saxon  nobility,  alien- 
ated by  Henry,  and  the  restless  young  cavaliers  of  Norman 
lineage — who  were  eager  to  take  and  hold  any  unsettled  part 
of  Scotland  by  the  prowess  of  their  blades. 

After  the  quarrel  arose  between  David's  niece,  the  Em- 
press-Queen Matilda,  and  Stephen  as  to  the  throne  of  England 
in  1135,  David  embraced  the  cause  of  the  former,  and  those 
loyal  to  Matilda  rallied  around  The  Dragon  of  Wessex,  which 
was  the  standard  in  battle  of  the  Scots  king. 

In  the  miserable  epoch  which  succeeded  the  death  of 
Henry,  when  England  was  embroiled  in  internecine  war,  the 
Fitz  Alans  and  King  David  were  true  to  their  vow  of  fealty 
to  the  Empress  Maud,  and  became  her  conspicuous  defenders 
against  King  Stephen,  for  which  devotion  they  had  to  suffer 
forfeiture  of  their  lands  in  England.  The  brother-in  law  of 
Alan,  Ernulph,  the  brave  defender  of  Shrewsbury  in  Maud's 
interest,  met  a  shameful  death  at  the  hands  of  Stephen.  After 
the  serious  reverses  to  Maud's  cause  in  the  south  in  the 
summer  of  1141,  William  and  Walter  Fitz  Alan,  along  with 
King  David,  appear  at  her  Court  in  Oxford.  And  when  that 
cause  totally  collapsed,  and  the  Empress  had  to  seek  refuge 
abroad,  Walter  had  no  other  seat  save  his  saddle,  on  which, 
like  many  another  free-lance,  he  crossed  the  Scottish  border 


40  Biite  in  the  Olden  Time. 

to  enter  the  service  of  the  Scots  king,  with  whom  he  appears 
at  Melrose  in  II42.1  Then  began  the  influx  of  Norman  war- 
riors, whom  David  gathered  round  him  to  carry  out  the 
feudalisation  of  his  realm,  and  whom  he  secured  in  their 
moated  holds  guarding  the  rich  lands  he  granted  to  them. 

Another  friend  of  David's  was  Thomas  de  Lundin,  the 
Doorward,  whose  daughter,  Eschina,2  married  Walter  Fitz 
Alan,  and  brought  him  the  lands  of  Molla  and  Huntland  in 
Roxburghshire,  parts  of  which  she  gave  to  Paisley  Priory. 

When  early  in  his  reign  David  granted  to  Robert  the  Brus 
his  lands  in  the  valley  of  Annan  (1124-1140),  Walter  Fitz 
Alan,  so  designed,  was  present  to  witness  the  charter  at 
Stapelgortune,  and  he  survived  till,  as  "  Dapifer  Regis  Scotise," 
or  Steward,  he  was  called  in  as  witness  to  the  Charter  of  Con- 
firmation by  William  the  Lion,  in  1 1 66,  in  the  Castle  of  Loch- 
maben.3  Little  indeed  could  these  two  barons  imagine  that 
their  families  would  unite,  long  afterwards,  to  place  a  king  of 
their  own  blood  upon  the  throne  of  David,  and  to  save  the 
independence  of  a  nation,  which  they  as  aliens  then  had 
adopted. 

David  settled  Walter  in  the  fat  lands  watered  by  the  Cart 
and  bounded  by  the  Clyde,  where  Paisley  presently  thrives, 
no  doubt  for  military  reasons  as  well, — as  the  Charter  of  Mal- 
colm IV.  declares,  "  on  account  of  the  service  which  he  himself 
rendered  to  King  David."  He  further  complimented  him 
with  portions  of  his  own  private  lands  in  Partick,  as  well  as 
with  lands  in  various  parts  of  the  realm,  to  sustain  him  in  the 


1  *  Lib.  Sanct.  Mar.  de  Melros  '  (Bann.  Club),  p.  4. 

2  Eschina   first   married  Robert  de   Croc :    their  daughter   Isabel    married    a 
Lyndsay. 

3  Bain,  f  Calendar, '  vol.  i.  No.  29;  ibid.,  No.  105. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  4 1 

high  dignity  of  Steward  of  the  King,  to  which  he  was 
advanced.1 

When  attesting  any  charters  of  King  David  and  Prince 
Henry  I  have  examined,  Walter  is  designated  <(  Walter,  son 
of  Alan,"  but  in  Malcolm  IV.'s  reign  he  is  designated 
"  dapifer  Regis  Scocie,"  Steward  of  the  King  of  Scotland. 
The  same  title,  or  Seneschal,  is  borne  during  the  reign  of 
William.  During  the  reign  of  Alexander  II.,  in  1236,  Walter 
son  of  Alan  is  designated  Seneschal  of  Scotland.2 

The  particulars  of  this  honour  and  office  we  learn  from  a 
Confirmatory  Charter  granted,  on  June  24,  1 157,  at  Roxburgh 
to  Walter  by  Malcolm  IV.,  by  which  he  not  only  confirms  the 
appointment  and  grants  of  his  royal  grandfather,  but  makes 
the  Seneschalship  a  hereditary  function  in  the  family  of 
Walter — an  additional  importance  which  the  office  does  not 
appear  to  have  previously  possessed.  The  charter  runs  as 
follows : — 

"Malcolm,  King  of  the  Scots,  to  the  Bishops,  Abbots,  Earls,  Barons, 
Justiciaries,  Vicecomites,  Provosts,  and  to  all  other  proprietary 
[men],  clerics  and  laics,  French  and  English,  Scots  and  Gallovidians, 
of  his  whole  land,  as  well  present  as  to  come,  greeting,  be  it  known 
to  you  all  that  before  I  have  taken  up  arms,  I  have  granted  and  by 
this  my  charter  have  confirmed  to  Walter,  son  of  Alan,  my  Steward, 
and  his  heirs,  in  fee  and  possession,  the  gift  which  King  David  my 
grandfather  gave  to  him,  namely,  Renfrew  and  Passelet  [Paisley], 
and  Polloc  [Pollok],  and  Talahec  [place  unknown],  and  Kerkert 
[Cathcart],  and  Le  Drep  [the  Drip],  and  the  Mutrene  [place  un- 
known], and  Eglisham  [Eaglesham],  and  Lauchinauche  [Lochwin- 
noch],  and  Innerwick  [in  East  Lothian],  and  all  their  pertinents,  and 
similarly  to  him  have  I  given,  and  by  this  my  charter  confirm,  my 


1  One  of  the  estates  in  Partick  is  called  Jordanhill. 

2  'Lib.  de  Mel.,'  p.  170. 


42  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Seneschalship,  to  be  held  by  himself  and  his  heirs  of  me  and  my  heirs, 
freely  in  fee  and  heritage,  as  well  and  as  fully  as  King  David  better  and 
more  fully  gave  and  granted  to  him  his  Seneschalship,  and  as  himself 
holds  it  from  him  better  and  more  fully  ;  farther,  I  myself  give,  and  by 
this  same  charter  confirm,  to  the  same  Walter  in  fee  and  heritage, 
on  account  of  the  service  which  he  himself  rendered  Jto  King  David 
and  myself,  Prethe  [Partick],  as  much  as  King  David  held  in  his 
own  hand,  and  Inchenan  [Inchinnan],  Stemtum  [Stenton],  and 
Halestinesdene  [Hassendean  in  Teviotdale],  and  Leguardsuade 
[Legertwood  in  Lauderdale],  and  Birchinsyde  [Birkhillside  in 
Lauderdale]  ;  and  besides,  in  every  one  of  my  Burghs,  and  in  every 
one  of  my  demesne  dwellings  \dominica  Gista\  throughout  my  whole 
land,  an  entire  Toft  to  make  him  a  residence  there,  and  with  each 
Toft  twenty  acres  of  land  :  wherefore  I  will  and  direct  that  the  same 
Walter  and  his  heir  in  fee  and  heritage  hold  off  me  and  my  heirs,  in 
chief,  all  the  foresaid,  as  well  those  which  he  himself  possesses  by  gift 
of  King  David  as  these  which  he  has  from  my  gift,  with  all  their 
pertinents,  and  rights,  and  through  right  divisions  of  all  the  foresaid 
lands,  freely  and  quietly,  honourably  and  in  peace,  with  sac  [i.e.,  right 
to  try  causes]  and  soc  [exemption  from  customary  burdens,  and  right 
to  impose  others],  with  tol  [right  to  hold  markets],  and  them  [right 
of  holding  bondmen],  and  infangtheeffe  [jurisdiction  over  thieves], 
in  manors,  in  shealings,  in  plains,  in  meadows,  in  pasture-lands,  in 
moors,  in  waters,  in  mills,  in  fisheries,  in  forests,  in  wood  and  open, 
in  ways  and  by-ways,  as  any  one  of  my  barons  more  freely  and 
quietly  holds  of  me  his  fief, — by  rendering  to  me  and  my  heirs  for 
that  fief  the  service  of  five  soldiers." 

The  names  of  the  attesting  witnesses  are  interesting,  as 
showing  the  dignitaries  and  landholders  of  the  day : — 

"  Ernest  Bishop  of  Saint  Andrews,  Herbert  Bishop  of  Glasgow, 
John  Abbot  of  Kelso,  William  Abbot  of  Melrose,  Walter  the 
Chancellor,  William  and  David,  brothers  of  the  king,  Earl  Gos- 
patrick,  Earl  Duncan,  Richard  de  Morweill,  Gilbert  de  Wmphraweill, 
Robert  de  Bruis,  Radolph  de  Soulis,  Philip  de  Colveille,  William  de 
Sumervilla,  Hugo  Riddell,  David  Olifard,  Valden  son  of  Earl  Cos- 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  43 

patrick,  William  de  Morweill,  Baldwin  de  la  Mar,  Liolf  son  of 
Maccus.  At  the  castle  of  Roxburgh,  on  the  Festival  of  John  the 
Baptist,  in  the  fifth  year  of  our  reign."  1 

This  ward-holding  charter,  as  it  was  called,  granted  to  the 
king's  house-steward  for  military  service,  does  not  take  the 
Fitz  Alans  further  back  than  to  King  David's  reign,  and,  as 
will  be  noticed,  contains  no  reference  to  tenure  of  land  in 
Bute,  which  originally  may  have  been  a  demesne  of  the 
Dalriadic  kings.  Rothesay  may  have  been  an  early  burgh, 
and  around  its  royal  castle  the  Steward  may  have  possessed 
his  twenty-acre  toft  ;  but  it  is  not  till  nearly  fifty  years  after 
this  date  that  we  find  Alan  the  son  of  Walter,  in  1204,  able 
to  dispone  land  in  Bute  to  Paisley  Priory. 

We  must  now  turn  aside  for  a  moment  to  investigate  a 
most  remarkable  claim  made  in  1336  by  Richard  Fitz  Alan, 
Earl  of  Arundel,  to  be  considered  the  Steward  of  Scotland 
by  hereditary  right,  "de  Senescalcia  Scotiae  (quse  ad  eum 
Jure  Hsereditatem  spectat"),  and  which  suggests  the  idea 
that,  after  all,  Walter  had  been  chosen  to  be  Steward  because 
it  was  an  office  held  by  Banquo  his  grandfather  and  his 
family.  The  Earl  of  Arundel,  when  with  Edward  III.  in 
Scotland,  sold  his  alleged  right  to  the  king  for  a  thousand 
merks  ;  and  this  sale  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  Edward 
Baliol,  so  that  there  might  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  property  of 
the  subject.  The  instrument  of  the  king  ordaining  the  price 
to  be  paid  was  signed  at  Bothvill  on  the  28th  November 
I336.2  Arundel's  claim  must  have  been  based  upon  the  fact 


1  Original  printed  in  George  Crawford's  '  Gen.  Hist,  of  Stewarts,'  p.  2. 

2  Rymer's  '  Acta  Anglise,'  torn.  iv.  p.  719,  No.  1218  ;  '  Caledonia,'  vol.  i.  p.  574  ; 
'Clause  Roll,'   13  Ed.   III.;  '  Stewartiana,'  p.   58;  'Scotland  under  her  Early 
Kings,'  vol.  i.  p.  184. 


44  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

that  he  was  lineal  descendant,  as  he  was,  of  William  Fitz 
Alan,  elder  brother  of  Walter,  the  holder  of  the  Stewardship 
in  David's  reign,  and  further,  that  Walter  only  held  the  office 
because  of  his  descent  from  Alan,  William  not  being  in  a 
position  as  a  Scottish  vassal  to  act  on  his  father's  decease. 
The  assumption  by  the  Edwards  of  what  they  deemed  their 
proper  regality  in  Scotland  altered  the  circumstances,  and 
made  Arundel  the  rightful  Steward,  according  to  this  conten- 
tion, or  because  the  cadet  branch  by  rebellion  had  forfeited 
their  right,  which  returned  to  the  representative  of  the  family 
in  its  elder  branch.  Unless,  then,  Arundel  was  acting  under 
some  impression  caused  by  the  traditions  of  his  family,  that 
the  office  was  hereditary  before  the  time  of  Walter  Fitz  Alan, 
his  claim  was  as  barefaced  as  that  of  his  liege  lord  to  be  con- 
sidered Suzerain  of  Scotland.  The  claim,  however,  is  in  line 
with  the  romance  of  Banquo,  and  cannot  well  be  dismissed 
until  that  mystery  is  solved.  If  it  could  be  shown  that  the 
Thanes  of  Lochaber  had  been  the  hereditary  High-Stewards 
at  the  Court  of  Kenneth  and  his  descendants,  which  as  yet  is 
impossible  to  prove,  there  might  have  been  a  basis  for  this 
novel  and  unavailing  claim.  But  the  first  Steward,  who  was 
not  even  an  earl  or  knight,  held  no  patrimonial  possessions  in 
Scotland,  unless  Bute  was  an  exception ;  and  we  can  only 
surmise  this  from  the  fact  that  there  is  no  charter  granting 
it  to  Walter  (the  Steward  from  1204  to  1246),  whom  we  find 
in  possession  of  Kingarth. 

Walter  inherited  the  devout  and  generous  spirit  of  his 
ancestry,  and  followed  the  example  of  King  David  in  extend- 
ing and  munificently  enriching  the  Church,  and  comforting 
the  lepers  and  the  poor.  In  1163  he  founded  the  beautiful 
Priory  of  Paisley,  for  the  Glory  of  God  and  the  Virgin  Mary, 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  45 

in  memory  also  of  King  David,  King  Henry,  and  Prince 
Henry,  for  the  safety  of  King  Malcolm,  and  on  behalf  of  the 
souls  of  himself  and  his  family.1  He  filled  the  house  with 
Cluniac  monks  from  the  Priory  of  Wenlock  in  Shropshire, 
and  settled  in  the  adjoining  lands  the  vassals  and  military 
tenantry,  bearing  the  foreign  names  of  Crok  (hence  Crook- 
stone  Castle),  Montgomerie,  Costentin,  Caldwell,  Fitzfulbert, 
Wallace  (of  Elderslie),  who  accompanied  him  from  his 
paternal  acres  in  England  and  Brittany.2  A  record  of  their 
benefactions  to  this  and  other  churches  will  be  found  in  the 
Registers  of  Paisley,  Melrose,  and  other  monasteries.  His 
devotion  had  a  tender  aspect,  which  evinced  itself  in  dedica- 
ting lands  to  keep  alive  in  the  country  the  memories  of  King 
Malcolm  and  his  own  parents. 

But  the  Steward  was  soon  called  from  prayers  to  arms, 
when  it  was  announced  that  Somerled  and  his  gay  galleys, 
filled  with  truculent  warriors,  had  sailed  up  the  Clyde,  and 
were  roystering  on  the  meads  of  Renfrew.  The  Steward  and 
his  vassals  threw  themselves  upon  the  invaders,  and  com- 
pletely vanquished  them  in  n64.3 

I  imagine  that  at  this  juncture  King  Malcolm,  who,  accord- 
ing to  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  was  "  the  best  Christian  that  was 
to  the  Gael  on  the  east  side  of  the  sea,  for  almsgiving  and 
fasting  and  devotion,"  granted  the  Castle  of  Rothesay  and 
the  lands  of  Bute,  now  forfeited  to  the  Crown  by  the  family 
of  Somerled,  to  the  Steward  as  a  reward  of  his  prowess. 

For  Celt  or  Norsemen  the  irregular  islet  was  a  convenient 
retreat  for  land  and  sea  forces,  and  came  to  be  considered  a 
stronghold  of  importance  in  the  west.  It  guarded  a  goodly 

1  '  Reg  de  Passelet.'  2  See  vol.  i.  p.  269.  3  Ibid.,  p.  248. 


46  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

heritage,  covered  with  rich  crops  and  fat  cattle,  never  to 
speak  of  deer,  for  which  the  forest  of  Cumbrae  especially  was 
famous.  No  better  "guerdon  could  a  conqueror  have  offered 
to  a  free-lance  than  this  critically  situated  royalty,  which  no 
"  laggard  in  love  or  dastard  in  war  "  could  retain  mastery  of. 

Time,  however,  had  at  length  dismounted  this  chivalrous 
warrior,  and  made  his  lance  too  heavy  for  his  hand,  so  that 
he  would  fain  lean  on  the  Church  for  his  support.1 

As  it  was  customary  then  for  warriors  tired  of  the  tented 
field  to  retire  to  the  cloisters  to  engage  in  the  heavenly 
warfare,  Walter  exchanged  the  barred  helm  for  the  cowl  of 
Melrose  Abbey,  which  already  he  had  enriched  with  gifts, 
among  others,  of  land  in  Mauchline.  And  truthfully  the 
Abbey  Chronicle  might  record  : — 

"Anno  MCLXXVIJ  Walterus  films  Alani,  dapifer  Regis  Scotorum, 
familiaris  noster,  diem  obiit  cujus  beata  anima  vivat  in  gloria." — In 
the  year  1177  Walter,  son  of  Alan,  Steward  of  the  King  of  Scots, 
our  friend,  died  to-day  :  may  his  blessed  soul  live  in  glory.2 


Thus  passed  away  from  the  stormy  scenes  of  medieval 
life  a  brilliant  warrior,  of  whom  unfortunately  we  know  all 
too  little,  and  who  is  justly  entitled  to  rank  as  one  of  the 
makers  of  Scotland  along  with  others  now  but  faintly  re- 
membered. The  date  of  his  wife  Eschina's  decease  I  have 
not  discovered. 


1  The  seal  of  Walter,  used  in  disponing  lands  in  Mauchline  to  Melrose  about 
1170,  presents  the  figure  of  "an  armed  knight  on  horseback,  at  full  speed,  a 
lance  with  pennon  couched  in  his  right  hand,  and  a  shield  on  his  left  arm,"  the 
legend  bearing  "Sigillum  Walteri  filii  Alani  Dapiferi  Reg."     The  counter-seal 
presents  "a  warrior  with  a  spear  in  his  right  hand,  leaning  against  a  pillar,  and 
with  his  left  hand  holding  a  horse."     Laing's  '  Scottish  Seals,'  p.  126,  Nos.  769, 
770,  Plate  iii.  fig.  I ;   '  Lib.  Mel.,'  vol.  ii.,  Plate  vii.,  which  is  here  reproduced. 

2  'Chronica  de  Mailros,'  Edin.,  1835  (Bann.  Club,  p.  88). 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  47 

Walter  left  three  children— Alan,  William1  (David2),  and 
Margaret;  according  to  others,  four — Emma,  who  married 
Griffin  of  South  Wales,  and  Helen,  who  married  Alexander 
of  Abernethy,  Margaret,  and  Alan.  Alan  appears  in  at- 
tendance upon  the  Steward's  Court,  and  in  the  signing  of 
the  royal  and  paternal  charters  is  designated  "  Alarms  meus 
films,"  "Alanus  films  Walter!  Dapifer  meus,"  "Alanus  filius 
Walteri  Dapifer  Regis  Scotorum." 

In  1177,  Alan  succeeded  his  father  in  the  royal  Steward- 
ship, and  lived  through  the  eventful  reign  of  William  the 
Lion,  when  Scotland  lay  under  the  papal  interdict,  and  the 
two  kingdoms  were  embroiled  in  war. 

He  was  one  of  the  five  hundred  "  men  of  weir  "  who  ac- 
companied Prince  David  of  Huntingdon  to  join  Richard  Coeur 
de  Lion  in  the  third  Crusade  of  1189-1192,  and  witnessed 
the  glories  of  that  romantic  campaign  against  Saladin.  He 
was  present  at  the  fall  of  Acre  in  July  1191.  Probably,  too, 
he  shared  in  the  captivity  of  his  prince,  who  with  his  fellow- 
shipmates  was  sold  into  slavery  in  the  East.3  But  unfor- 
tunately we  have  no  details  of  Alan's  adventurous  career. 

In  1197,  Alan  was  sent  to  quell  the  rebellion  of  Roderick 
and  Torphin  the  son  of  Harald,  Earl  of  Caithness,  which  he 
effected  in  a  battle  fought  near  Inverness — a  success  which 
was  followed  soon  after  by  the  capture  of  Harald.4 

Alan  married  Eva,  daughter  of  Swan,  son  of  Thor,  a 
Border  proprietor,  who  was  a  benefactor  of  the  abbey  of 


1  "Willielmo  filio  Walter!  nepote  (Alani)  dapiferi."— '  Lib.  de  Melrose,'  p.  57- 

2  Dalrymple,  *  Annals,'  p.  147.     "David  Senescallus"  is  guarantee  in  1219  for 
King  Alexander.     He  may  have  been  a  brother  of  King  William.     'Lib.  Mel.,' 
PP-  32>  33-  3  Boece,  xiii.  fol.  276.     See  '  The  Talisman.' 

4  'Chron.  Mel.,'  anno  1197;  Fordun,  vol.  i.  p.  512. 


48  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Scone.     Symson  says  he  married  Alesta,  daughter  of  Mor- 
gund,  Earl  of  Mar. 

Alan,  in  disponing  Kilblain  to  Paisley  before  his  death  in 
1204,  does  not  mention  his  wife  Eva  nor  son  Walter.  (See 
vol.  i.  pp.  272,  284.) 

The  '  Chronicle  of  Melrose '  records  his  decease  in  I2O4.1 

Walter  Fitz  Alan  the  Second  succeeded  his  father  as  Dapi- 
fer\\\  1204,  in  the  reign  of  William  the  Lion.  Shortly  after 
this  the  official  name  appropriated  by  him,  and  accepted  by 
his  family,  was  Senescallus  or  Senescaldus.  His  seignorial 
title  was  Walter  of  Dundonald — a  grim  strength  in  Ayrshire, 
which  he  made  his  principal  residence. 

Walter  was  one  of  the  notable  Scots  barons  whom  King 
Alexander  II.  took  with  him  to  York  in  June  1221  when 
he  wedded  Princess  Joan,  and  the  Steward  attested  the 
marriage-settlement.2 

Walter  was  also  one  of  the  representatives  of  Scotland 
who,  at  York  in  1237,  swore  to  maintain  an  agreement  made 
between  the  King  of  Scots  and  the  King  of  England, 
whereby  for  an  -equivalent  King  Alexander  swore  fealty  to 
Henry  III.3 

Andrew  of  Wyntoun  informs  us  that  when  King  Alex- 
ander held  his  Yule  at  Elgin  in  1331,  he  purposely  came 
to  St  Andrews,  and 

"Thare  efftyr  dedys  syndry  dwne, 
Come  till  hym  Waltyr  Alanswne 
The  Stewart  off  Scotland,  in  plesand  wis  : 
Thare  made  the  King  him  his  Justis."4 


1  P.  105.     "  Anno  mcciiii.  Obiit  Alanus  filius  Waited." 

2  Rymer's  '  Fcedera,'  vol.  i.  p.  165. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  234.  4  Bk.  vii.  ch.  ix.,  vol.  ii.  p.  242. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  49 

Symson  gives  the  exact  date — August  24,  I23O.1 

He  now  appears  in  witnessing  charters  as  "  Walterus,  filius 
Alani,  Senescallus,  Justiciarius,  Scotiae,"2  and  as  Seneschal 
of  Scotland.3 

The  Chief  Justiciary — Capitalis  Justiciarius — usually  a 
trained  lawyer,  executed  the  judicial  portion  of  the  Grand 
Seneschal's  official  duties,  and  presided  over  every  court  in 
the  realm.  The  two  offices  of  High  Steward  and  Chief 
Justice  were  often  conjoined,  as  in  the  cases  of  Walter  the 
Steward  and  Ranulph  de  Glanville,  in  England. 

The  churches  of  Kingarth  and  the  church  lands,  as  pre- 
viously stated  (vol.  i.  pp.  269,  272,  284),  were  given  by  Alan 
to  Paisley  Priory,  and  he  probably  built  the  Norman  addition 
to  Blaan's  Church.  Nor  is  it  unlikely  that  he  also  erected 
the  circular  wall  and  four  towers  of  Rothesay  Castle,  which 
consist  of  masonry  of  a  character  similar  to  that  of  St  Blaan's 
Church,  even  to  the  size  of  the  stones,  which  have  been 
supplied  from  one  quarry  to  both  works. 

They  may  have  been  begun  by  Alan  to  secure  his  pos- 
sessions ;  but  the  fact  that  when  Uspak  besieged  Rothesay 
Castle,  in  1230  (see  vol.  i.  p.  250),  he  "hewed  down  the  walls, 
for  the  stone  was  soft,"  seems  to  imply  that  the  mortar  had 
npt  set  and  bound  the  masonry  together.  The  Norwegian 
account  of  the  siege  states  that  the  "  Master  of  Lights,  called 
Skagi  Skitradi,  shot  the  Steward  dead  while  he  was  leaping 
upon  the  ramparts."  What  Steward  this  could  be  is  diffi- 
cult to  discover,  unless  it  was  the  David  or  William,  Sen- 


1  'Gen.  Hist.  Stuarts,'  p.  39. 

2  Charter  of  Alexander  II.,  8th  Feb.  1237,  to  Church  of  Glasgow. 

3  'Lib.  Mel.,'  p.  170. 

VOL.   II.  D 


50  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

eschal,  mentioned  above.  Walter's  own  son  Walter  was  also 
called  Seneschal,  while  Alexander  his  brother  was  called 
"Seneschal  of  Scotland."  In  1296,  Sir  John  Stewart  of 
Bonkyl  is  styled  in  a  charter  "John  Senescal,  brother  to 
James  Senescal  of  Scotland." l  The  Norwegian  reference  is 
the  first  mention  of  the  Seneschal  under  the  Anglo-Saxon 
designation  of  the  StivarS,  or  Steward,  which  became  the 
proud  name  of  the  Scottish  dynasty.  It  has  less  pretty 
associations  than  the  term  Seneschal,  and  refers  to  the 
humble  office  of  the  keeper  of  the  Sty  (A.S.  stigo,  a  sty ; 
zveard,  keeper,  warden),  who  tended  his  master's  cattle  to 
provide  food  for  his  table  ;  and  in  a  more  luxurious  time  this 
official  rose  to  be  master  of  the  household  of  prelate,  earl,  or 
baron.  Before  the  Fitz  Alans  were  called  Stewarts  they  had 
acquired  this  family  name  of  "  Senescal,"  which  always  ap- 
pears in  designating  the  various  members  of  the  different 
branches  of  the  family,  in  documents  in  Latin. 

On  the  death  of  Alan,  Lord  of  Galloway,  in  1233-34,  the 
Gallovidians  rose  in  revolt  against  the  government  for  not 
acceding  to  their  selection  of  an  overlord,  and  the  king,  with 
a  well-appointed  army,  accompanied  by  Walter  the  Steward, 
entered  Galloway  to  quell  the  revolt.  After  a  severe  casti- 
gation,  the  rebels,  assisted  by  a  host  of  Irish,  revolted  in  the 
succeeding  year,  and  Walter  the  Steward  and  the  Earl  of 
Dunbar  were  sent  again  to  restore  the  peace.2 

On  the  4th  March  1239,  Johanna,  Queen  of  Scots,  died. 
The  desire,  or  the  Council,  of  the  king  did  not  give  him  long 
time  to  mourn.  Walter  the  Steward  was  despatched  with 


1  And.  Stuart,  'Gen.  Hist.,'  p.  45. 

2  '  Chron.  Mel.,'  pp.  144,  145  ;  Holinshed,  p.  395;  Fordun,  ix. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  5 1 

a  billet-doux  to  Mary,  daughter  of  Ingelram  the  Great, 
Lord  of  Couci,  in  France,  to  solicit  her  love.  And  the  Scot 
was  so  successful  that  he  brought  the  fair  maid  with  him,  and, 
on  the  1 5th  of  May,  king  and  bride  were  standing  before 
the  high  altar  in  Kelso  Abbey.1 

In  1246,  Alexander  II.  was  king,  when  to  his  Court  came 
ambassadors  from  Louis  IX.  of  France,  who  was  possessed  of 
a  zeal  to  recover  the  Holy  Land,  to  plead  for  a  subsidy,  and 
to  gather  under  the  Oriflamme  and  cross  a  Scots  band  of 
Crusaders.  Without  delay  three  choice  cohorts,  under  Pat- 
rick Earl  of  March,  David  Lindesay  of  Glenesk,  and  Walter 
Stewart  of  Dundonald,  wise  in  policy  and  war,  marched 
away,  to  perish  with  few  exceptions  on  the  sands  of  Egypt,2 
by  sword  or  pestilence.  This,  I  think,  refers  to  Walter 
Stewart,  a  younger  son  of  the  Steward,  rather  than  to  the 
Steward  himself,  although  there  is  doubt  as  to  the  precise 
date  of  his  death.3  But  the  genealogists  of  the  Stewarts 
assert  that  among  this  hapless  band  was  a  younger  brother 
of  Walter,  John,  who  perished  at  the  siege  of  Damietta,  in 
1249.  If  Boece  is  accurate,  this  statement  is  not  acceptable. 
After  the  bitter  reverses  in,  and  retirement  of  Saint  Louis 
from,  the  East,  he  inaugurated  a  new  crusade,  and  applied  for 
help  to  Alexander  III.,  King  of  Scots.  And  among  the 
leaders  of  the  thousand  crusaders  sent  from  Scotland  was 
"  John  Stuart,  brother  of  Alexander,"  who  was  High  Steward 
at  this  time,  1270.*  These  mostly,  says  the  historian, 


1  '  Chron.  Mel.,'  p.  149  ;  Wyntoun,  bk.  vii.  ch.  ix. 

2  Boece,  lib.  xiii.  fol.  ccxciii. 

3  "Walterus  Senescallus  films  Walter!  Senescalli  Scotie  ;"    "  Walterus  Senes- 
callus-Comes  de  Monteith." 

4  Boece,  lib.  xiii.  fol.  ccc. 


52  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

succumbed  to  the  heat  and  the  pestilence  ;  among  them,  no 
doubt,  a  choice  band  of  Brandanes  from  Bute. 

According  to  the  *  Chronicle  of  Melrose,'  Walter,  junior,  died 
in  H4I,1  but  this  is  a  mistake,  as  the  Register  of  Paisley 
preserves  a  charter  granted  by  him  in  1246,  conveying  to 
the  monastery  the  goods  of  the  monks  of  Simpringham  at 
Dalmellington. 

Walter  left  four  sons,  Alexander,  John,  Walter  (Earl  of 
Menteith,  1220-1296),  and  William;  and  two  daughters, 
Christian  and  Margaret. 

Alexander  the  Steward  shares  the  glory  of  driving  the 
brilliant  King  Haco  and  his  daring  host  off  Scottish  soil  into 
the  sea,  and  of  securing  the  peace  of  his  country  from  Norse 
invasions,  by  the  famous  land  and  sea  fight  of  Largs,  on  2d 
October  1263.  The  youthful  Alexander  III.  was  king,  and 
two  great  antagonistic  parties  of  northern  and  of  southern 
nobles  kept  up  strained  relations  in  the  country.  The 
Steward,  Alexander,  was  not  of  the  national  party,  but  bent 
to  English  influences ;  and  during  the  minority  of  Alexander 
III.  was  appointed  one  of  the  fifteen  guardians  of  the  king 
and  queen,  at  Roxburgh,  2Oth  September  1255.  Through 
quarrelsome  factions  interfering,  another  regency,  of  which 
Alexander  was  one,  had  to  be  appointed  three  years  later. 

The  national  party  under  Comyn,  Baliol,  and  Menteith 
soon  threw  the  land  into  anarchy,  seized  the  king,  and 
scattered  their  opponents  for  a  time.  But  the  balance  turned, 
and  after  the  Earl  of  Menteith's  death  in  1258,  his  property 
was  divided  between  Walter  Senescal  and  William  Comyn, 
the  former  becoming  Earl  of  Menteith. 

1  "  1141 :  Obiit  Walterus  filius  Alani  Junioris." — '  Chron.  Mel.,'  p.  151. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  5  3 

The  grim  hill  and  strength  of  Dundonald,  near  Ayr,  was 
the  chief  seat  of  the  Steward  at  the  time  when  the  beacon  on 
the  heads  of  Ayr  announced  the  approach  of  Haco's  fleet, 
and  gave  the  signal  to  the  knights  and  vassals  of  the  king  to 
gather  at  their  rendezvous  at  Garnock  Castle.  Thence  they 
marched  to  the  hills  above  Largs  under  Alexander,  and 
waited  for  the  enemy.  Fifteen  hundred  were  iron  -  clad 
cavaliers,  and  the  unnumbered  infantry,  the  men  of  Strath- 
clyde  and  the  Brandanes,  with  their  long  Scots  spears,  bows, 
and  other  rude  weapons.  Their  own  stormy  rush,  added  to 
the  resistless  tempest,  gave  Alexander  the  victory.  The 
grateful  monarch  immediately  afterwards  (3Oth  November) 
conferred  on  Alexander  the  barony  of  Garlics,  which  was 
afterwards  held  by  Sir  John  Stewart  of  Bonkyl — so  called  by 
writers — the  second  son  of  the  Steward.  His  name  appears 
in  many  charters,  both  as  grantor  and  witness,  as  well  as  in 
the  instruments  of  national  importance  signed  by  the  Privy 
Council. 

In  1267,  Alexander  the  Steward  and  John  Cummin  led  an 
expedition  into  the  Isle  of  Man,  and,  vanquishing  its  Nor- 
wegian possessors,  added  the  isle  to  the  realm  of  Scotland.1 
Shortly  afterwards  the  Steward  accompanied  another  host 
into  the  Western  Highlands  to  compel  allegiance  to  the 
Crown. 

The  king,  in  1263,  sent  his  Steward  on  a  polite  errand  to 
King  Henry,  requesting  him  to  pay  up  the  arrears  of  the 
queen's  portion — a  delicate  mission  which  he  performed  with 
success.  Meanwhile  the  brother  of  Alexander,  Walter  Bail- 
loch,  or  the  Freckled,  had  raised  a  terrible  feud  by  marrying 

1  Boece,  lib.  xiii.  fol.  ccxcix. 


54  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

a  sister  of  the  Countess  of  Menteith,  through  whom  he  ob- 
tained the  title  of  Earl  of  Menteith,  and  which  required  the 
intervention  of  Parliament.  Their  son  John  obtained  un- 
enviable notoriety  for  seizing  the  patriot  Wallace. 

He  was  one  of  the  Court  officials  who  signed  the  marriage- 
contract  between  the  Princess  Margaret  and  the  young  Eric 
Magnusson  of  Norway,  ratified  at  Roxburgh,  25th  July  1281. 
He  did  not  live  to  realise  the  unfortunate  time  of  1285,  de- 
scribed by  Wyntoun  : — 

"  Quhen  Alysander  oure  Kyng  wes  dede, 
That  Scotland  led  in  Lwve  and  Le, 
Away  wes  sons  of  Ale  and  Brede, 
Of  Wyne  and  Wax,  of  Gamyn  and  Gle. 
Oure  Gold  wes  changyd  in-to  Lede, 
Chryst  borne  in-to  Virgynyte, 
Succour  Scotland,  and  remede, 
That  stad  is  in  perplexyte." 

Alexander  had  secured  himself  in  possession  of  Bute  by 
marrying  Jean,  the  supposed  heiress  of  the  line  of  Somerled, 
as  previously  mentioned  (vol.  i.  p.  249).  Alexander's  sons, 
James  the  Steward  and  John  (of  Bonkyl,  by  marriage),  were 
makers  of  Scots  history  in  a  most  critical  time,  and  were 
patriots  of  the  highest  order,  loath  to  submit  to  the  tyranny 
of  Edward  I.  Their  history  is  the  history  of  the  day,  for  they 
constantly  appear  on  the  scene. 

In  1283,  James,  Senescal  of  Scotland,  took  the  oath  of 
Alexander  III.  to  receive  Margaret,  the  Maiden  of  Norway, 
as  Queen  of  Scotland.1 

In  1286,  James  the  Steward  was  appointed  one  of  the  six 
Regents  appointed  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  Scotland 
during  the  reign  of  Margaret ;  but  he  seems  to  have  quarrelled 

1  Westminster  Chapter-House,  Robertson's  Index,  Appendix,  p.  3. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  5  5 

with  his  colleagues,  and  entered  into  alliance  with  other 
nobles,  including  his  brother-in-law,  Richard  de  Burgh,  after- 
wards taking  up  a  position  which  necessitated  him  calling  out 
his  retainers  in  Kyle  for  personal  protection.1  There  was 
peril  of  anarchy  ensuing  when  the  Kings  of  Norway  and 
England  interfered  in  Scottish  affairs,  and  mutually  agreed 
to  the  treaty  of  Brigham  in  1290,  which  was  based  on  the 
proposed  marriage  of  Margaret  and  Edward.  But  the  death 
of  Margaret  blasted  the  hopes  of  peace,  and  "  the  kingdom 
was  troubled,  and  its  inhabitants  sunk  into  despair." 

In  1288,  James  the  Steward  acted  as  Sheriff  of  Ayr  and 
Bute,  and  his  brother  John  became  security  for  his  actings, 
and  those  of  his  attorney. 

On  2oth  September  1286,  the  two  Senescals  were  the  guests 
of  the  Bruce  at  Turnbury  Castle,  where,  with  him  and  other 
Scots  and  English  nobles,  they  sign  a  bond — "  The  Turnbury 
Bond  " — for  mutual  defence,  alone  reserving  their  allegiance 
to  him  "  who  has  a  right  to  reign," — a  sufficiently  comprehen- 
sive designation  of  the  future  King  of  Scots.  That  was  soon 
to  be  a  problem  of  vast  importance.  As  one  of  the  six 
guardians  of  little  Queen  Margaret's  interests — "  custodes 
regni  Scotiae" — James  appears  resenting  the  harsh  treatment 
of  the  King  of  England  on  the  one  hand,  and  meting  out 
stern  reprisals  upon  the  English  lieges  on  the  other,  and 
otherwise  performing  the  duties  of  his  office. 

When  in  1290  the  Queen  died,  the  bloody  struggle  for  the 
Crown  began,  and  "  a  devil's  dozen  "  of  competitors  appeared 
to  claim,  and  determined  to  win,  it,  with  their  murder-tools,  if 
need  be.  Every  one  of  them,  as  much  as  Bruce  the  younger, 

1  'Lib.  Mel.,'  p.  359. 


56  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

had  a  henchman  to  "  mak  siccar  "  his  ambitious  work.  Over 
all  appeared  the  spectre  of  Edward  I.,  "  Lord  Paramount  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Scotland,"  who  soon  came  in  the  flesh,  to 
take  his  realm,  in  the  name  of  Saint  Edward.  The  Steward 
was  one  of  the  brilliant  crowd  of  Scots  chivalry — the  most 
magnificent  that  ever  met  "  the  auld  enemy  "  in  Scotland  in 
times  of  peace — who  assembled  on  the  verdant  mead  of  Nor- 
ham  in  May  1291,  to  hand  over  the  Independence  of  Scotland 
to  the  English  king.  It  beets  one's  blood  to  recount  such  a 
miserable  instance  of  national  imbecility  and  pusillanimity — 
wherein  proud  Wallace  had  no  share — as  this  by  which  the 
Crown  of  Scotland  was  so  meekly  laid  at  the  feet  of  Edward. 
Mark,  of  Sodor,  was  the  only  bishop  who  swore  fealty  at  this 
time.  The  only  excuse  one  can  frame  for  the  Steward  is  that 
his  motto  was  not  that  of  Edward,  "  Serva  pactum,"  and  that 
when  he  demitted  his  Regency  and  accepted  it  again  (nth 
June  1291),  under  the  shadow  of  the  temporised  throne  beneath 
the  yellow  battlements  of  Norham,  he  was  only  playing  the 
political  patriotic  game  in  which  he  afterwards  was  so  suc- 
cessful. 

The  Steward's  predilections  were  in  favour  of  Bruce,  and 
in  1292  (June  14),  James  entered  into  an  Indenture  of  Mutual 
Defence  between  Florence,  Count  of  Holland,  and  Robert 
Bruce  of  Annandale,  with  covenants  respecting  the  division  of 
the  realm  of  Scotland  between  them, — the  terms  being  that 
he*  who  succeeded  to  the  throne  was  to  assign  one-third  of  the 
realm  to  the  other.  Perhaps  the  blood  of  Banquo  was 
beginning  to  show  its  royalty  in  his  descendant,  after  he  felt 
the  iron  heel  of  Edward  on  his  fatherland  in  1291.  Every 
castle,  save  Rothesay,  had  its  proud  English  warden  within 
it.  John  Baliol  was  the  vassal-king  of  Scots,  and  all  the 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  5  7 

nobles  had  fallen  into  a  trap  and  become  vassals  of  England. 
In  1292  John  Baliol  included  Bute  in  the  Sheriffdom  of  Ken- 
tyr  (Kintyre). 

The  interference  of  Edward  in  Scots  affairs  became  intol- 
erable, and  caused  a  rupture  with  Baliol  and  a  wanton  war 
with  the  Scots  in  1295.  The  ruthless  Southron  king  marched 
North  with  sword  and  brand,  and  soon  left  no  sanctuary  for 
youth  nor  eld,  for  women  or  clergy,  in  the  hapless  land.  In 
the  town  of  Berwick,  3Oth  March  1296,  all  were  put  to  the 
sword,  for  the  Hammer  of  the  Scots  had  sworn  he  would  ex- 
tinguish the  rebel  breed.  It  was  said  that  the  stream  of 
Scottish  blood  drove  the  mill-wheel  of  Berwick  that  day. 
And,  according  to  Wyntoun,  the  life  of  Scotland  would  have 
been  swept  out  on  that  tide  of  "  rede  blood,"  had  not  the 
sight  of  a  woman,  assisted  to  give  birth  to  her  child  by  the 
sword  of  a  ruffian,  touched  the  last  spark  of  pity  in  Edward, 
drawn  his  hindmost  tear,  and  slacked  his  fury.  The  men 
of  Scotland  had  their  travail  too  at  the  point  of  the  sword, 
and  waited  the  birth  of  freedom.  The  patriot's  blade  was 
resting,  not  rusting,  in  its  scabbard.  Menaced  by  armies  of 
Welsh  vagabonds  and  pardoned  homicides  from  Ireland, 
whom  Edward  had  drafted  into  his  conquering  hordes,  the 
Scots  barons  and  chiefs  were  forced  to  offer  their  fealty  to  the 
English  king — no  doubt  against  their  better  nature. 

On  the  5th  May  1296,  among  nearly  two  thousand  names 
of  those  who  swore  fealty  to  Edward,  first  appears  James, 
Seneschal  of  Scotland,  followed  by  John  his  brother,1  both  of 

1  Ragman  Roll,  pp.  61,  62.  "5  May  (24  Ed.)  at  Rokesburgh:  A  touz  ceaus 
qui  cestes  lettres  uerront  on  orront  James  Seneschal  Descoce  Saluz  ;  "  also  "... 
Johan  Seneschal  frere  mon  sire  James  Senescal  Descoce  Saluz;"  "Johannes 
quondam  Senescalli  predict!  domini  Jacobi  Gerinanus  miles." 


58  Btite  in  the  Olden  Time. 

whom  append  their  seals,  of  which  the  accompanying  engrav- 
ings (copied  from  And.  Stuart's  '  Hist.')  are  a  representation. 


Nfi 


No.  i.  Seal  of  James,  Steward  of  Scotland.  No.  2.  Seal  of  John  Stewart  of  Bonkyl. 

No.  3.  Seal  of  Robert,  Steward  of  Scotland. 


In  July  1296,  the  Steward  and  Bruce,  among  other  nobles, 
were  commanded  by  their  assumed  liege-lord  Edward  to  ac- 
company Antony  Bek,  Bishop  of  Durham,  to  the  churchyard 
of  Stracathro  in  Forfarshire,  and  witness  the  servile  Bishop, 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  59 

— a  fierce  warrior,  fleshed  with  the  spoils  of  the  dead  Scottish 
King  Alexander,  —  stripping  Baliol  of  robes,  sceptre,  and 
crown,  and  treating  the  King  of  Scots  as  a  mere  corpse  of 
royalty.  A  month  later,  James,  who  had  married  Egidia, 
sister  of  the  Earl  of  Ulster,  the  leader  of  the  Irish  ruffians  now 
garrisoning  Scotland,  swore  fealty  to  Edward,  becoming  "  his 
liege  man,  of  life  and  of  members  and  of  earthly  honour,  against 
all  persons  who  can  live  and  die  "  ;  and  soon  afterwards  with 
his  wife  he  is  confirmed  in  possession  of  the  Castle  of  Roo — 
a  gift  from  the  Earl.  As  a  test  of  sincerity,  the  English  king 
commanded  the  Steward's  men  in  "  Both,  Cowal,  and  Rothe- 
say "  to  assist  with  their  galleys  and  other  vessels  the 
Steward's  cousin,  Alexander,  Earl  of  Menteith,  who  was  ap- 
pointed warden  of  the  castles  of  these  Crown  lands. 

But  the  blood  of  the  new  Banquo  of  Kyle  and  the  Macbeth 
of  Carrick  was  reaching  boiling-point,  and  however  much  they 
vacillated,  both  awaited  their  time.  The  land  rung  with  the 
exploits  of  the  Westland  youth,  the  bold  bowman,  William 
Wallace,  whose  family  (of  Wales)  were  allies  and  retainers  of 
the  Stewards  in  Kyle-Stewart  and  Renfrew — men  of  British 
race  and  Celtic  spirit.  Wallace  supported  the  claim  of  Baliol ; 
the  Steward  that  of  Bruce :  both,  the  grand  principle  of 
national  independence.  This  hero,  according  to  Blind  Harry, 
had  a  Shropshire  connection  with  the  Fitz- Alans  : — 

"  The  secund  O  [i.e.,  grandson]  he  was  of  gud  Wallace  : 
The  quhilk  Wallas  full  worthely  at  wrocht, 
Quhen  Waltyr  hyr  of  Waillis  fra  Warayn  socht." l 

His  daring  forest-band  emboldened  a  few  patriots,  including 
the  two  Stewards,  James  and  John,  Bruce  of  Carrick,  Sir 

1  Henry  the  Minstrel's  '  Wallace,'  bk.  i.  11.  30-32  (S.T.S.  ed.) 


60  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

William  Douglas,  the  Bishop  of  Glasgow,  and  others,  to  throw 
in  their  swords  with  the  national  party  in  the  summer  of  1297. 
The  receipt  of  the  news  of  this  rebellion  had  incited  Alexander 
de  Yle  to  take  possession  of  "  a  certain  castle  with  a  barony 
named  Glasrog  [  =  Glascog=  Glass  of  Ascog]  which  the  said 
Senescal  held  by  seisin  of  King  Edward."  x  For  this  piece 
of  Somerledian  spite  King  Robert  Bruce  afterwards  made 
Alexander  long  count  his  beads  in  the  dark  dungeon  of  the 
Steward's  castle  at  Dundonald.  This  outbreak  soon  collapsed, 
and  these  notables  capitulated  in  Irvine — Douglas,  who  had 
married  Elizabeth,  a  sister  of  the  Steward,  being  led  off  in  irons 
to  an  English  prison.  James  and  John  sent  in  their  sub- 
mission soon  after.2 

Then  Bute  became  a  rendezvous  for  the  friends  of  Scottish 
nationality,  who  lurked  under  protection  of  the  Castle  of 
Rothesay,  as  Sinclair,  Bishop  of  Dunkeld,  and  staunch  friend 
of  Wallace,  did  :— 

"To  saiff  his  lyff,  thre  $er  he  duelt  in  But; 
Leifyde  as  he  mycht,  and  kepyt  ay  gud  part, 
Wndir  saifte  off  Jamys  than  Lord  Stewart."  3 

Many  of  the  Scots  clergy  were  patriotic  in  the  War  of 
Independence.  John  Blair,  for  example,  attached  himself  to 
the  heroic  outlaws,  and  appears  at  one  time  saying  Mass,  anon 
clad  in  burnished  mail  with  steel  truncheon  in  his  hand,  and 
again  stealing  away  in  his  priestly  dress  to  warn  the  men  of 
Bute  to  come  to  the  assistance  of  Wallace.  The  short  shrift 
which  the  English  gave  to  the  conference  of  noble  Scots  who 
unsuspectingly  came  to  the  Barns  of  Ayr,  wherein  Mont- 

1  '  Hist.  Documents,'  vol.  ii.  p.  191. 

2  (25  Edward  I.)  Palgrave's  'Doc.  and  Records,'  pp.  152,  197. 

3  Henry  the  Minstrel's  'Wallace,'  bk.  vii.  11.  936-938. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  6 1 

gomeries,  Crawfurds,  Kennedys,  "  and  kynd  Cambellis,  that 
neuir  had  beyne  fals,"  "  Berklais,  Boidis,  and  Stuartis  off  gud 
kyn  "  were  hanged,  maddened  their  relatives,  and  made  them 
rally  round  William  —  "the  Kyng  of  Kyll  "  —  at  Stirling 
Bridge.  A  wily  ruse  of  the  Steward  assured  the  Scots  a  vic- 
tory there.1  According  to  the  '  Chronicle  of  Lanercost,'  James 
the  Steward  craftily  told  the  English  general  that  there  was 
no  need  to  vex  his  whole  army  on  account  of  the  "single 
ribald  fellow,"  Wallace,  and  if  he  were  intrusted  with  a  few 
choice  men,  he  would  soon'  bring  in  the  rebel,  dead  or  alive. 
And  he  thus  led  the  English  into  a  trap  at  Stirling  Bridge, 
i  ith  September  1296.  Thereafter  he  openly  joined  the  rebel- 
lion, and  hastened  with  his  12,000  vassals,  in  "armes  bricht," 
to  join  Comyn,  and  then  Wallace  at  Falkirk  : — 

"  The  gud  Stewart  of  But  com  to  the  land, 
With  him  he  ledys  weill  ma  than  xij  thowsand, 
Till  Cumyn  past,  was  than  in  Cummyrnauld."2 

Jealousy  and  pride  undermined  the  power  of  Wallace,  chosen 
Guardian  of  the  realm. 

"  Lord  Cumyn  had  inwy  at  gud  Wallace,"  and  instigated 
"  Lord  Stewart "  to  demand  the  leadership  of  the  vanguard  in 
the  imminent  battle  of  Falkirk,  on  22d  July  1298.  Wallace 
resented  the  claim,  bitterly  retorting  to  Stewart,  who  had 
likened  his  leader  to  an  owl  which  had  borrowed  its 
feathers  : — 

"  '  Thou  leicl,'  he  said  ;  '  the  suth  full  oft  has  ben 
Thar  I  baid,  quhar  thow  durst  nocht  be  seyn 
Contrar  enemys,  na  mar,  for  Scotlandis  rycht, 
Than  dar  the  howlat  quhen  that  the  day  is  brycht.' "  3 


1  'Chronicle of  Lanercost,'  p.  190;  Haiieian  MSS.,  "  Wallace  Papers,"  pp.  35,  50. 

2  ^Wallace,'  bk.  x.  11.  65-67.  3  Ibid.,  bk.  x.  11.  145-148. 


62  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

This  heated  conversation,  however,  did  not  prevent  the 
Steward  doing  his  duty  on  the  bloody  field,  whereon  his 
brother  Sir  John  fell  surrounded  by  the  brave  Brandanes,  the 
Westland  men,  and  the  "  Flowers  of  the  Forest,"  as  will  be 
afterwards  narrated  (Chapter  III.) 

The  Scots,  defeated,  sought  safety  in  flight.  Wallace 
retired  for  a  short  time  to  France,  and  the  national  party 
lost  coherence.  During  the  absence  of  Wallace  the  Steward 
acted  as  temporary  governor  : — 

"  In  till  his  sted  he  chesyt  a  gouernour 
To  kep  the  land  a  man  of  gret  walour, 
Jamys  gud  lord,  the  Stewart  off  Scotland." 1 

The  unforgiving  Edward  made  rebellion  the  dearest  game, 
by  forfeiting  the  lands  of  his  opponents.  On  3ist  Aug.  1298 
the  lands  of  the  Steward  were  granted  to  Alexander  de  Lind- 
say.2 Scotland's  miseries  increased,  as  English  and  foreign 
soldiery  swarmed  everywhere  like  locusts.  During  the  ten 
years  preceding  the  capture  of  Wallace,  over  half  a  million 
men-at-arms,  enlisted  in  various  lands,  crossed  the  Tweed  and 
Solway  to  subdue  the  unsubduable.  No  instrument  the 
Southron  ever  forged  could  annihilate  that  spirit.  It  was  to 
Bute  and  Arran  Wallace  ever  looked  for  succour,  which  never 
failed  him  when  "Gud  Byschope  Synclar"  showed  his  fiery 
cross  in  the  isles.  His  call  to  battle  was  to  raise  his  cloak  or 
rochet,  and  show  the  glistering  plate  upon  his  soldier's  breast. 
Said  Wallace : 

"Gud  Westland  men  off  Aran  and  Rauchle 
Fra  thai  be  warnd,  thai  will  all  cum  to  me." 

Wallace  and   Stewart   were   only  typical  of  the  Steward's 

1  Wallace,  bk.  viii.  11.  1699-1701.  2  'Hist.  Doc.,'  vol.  ii.  p.  306. 


T/ie  Stewards  of  Scotland.  63 

men,    whom   Southrons  had  cause  to    rue,  as  Blind    Harry 
sang  :— 

"  Quhat  be  Stuart  and  syn  be  wicht  Wallace 
For  all  his  pryss,  King  Eduuard  rewyt  that  race."1 

Iii  October  1301,  an  English  fleet  under  Hugh  Bisset,  and 
swelled  by  the  galleys  of  Angus  of  Isla,  filled  with  the  wild 
insulani,  or  marines  of  the  isles,  swept  into  Rothesay  Bay,  in 
order,  if  need  be,  to  annihilate  (ad  nicJiilum  redigere)  the 
rebellious  Brandanes.2 

The  Steward  appears  in  France  as  an  ambassador  to  King 
Philip  the  Fair,  craving  succour  for  his  unhappy  fatherland, 
in  1303.  The  English  king,  dreading  the  influence  of  the 
Steward,  angled,  with  fair  promises,  for  his  return  and  for  his 
allegiance,  which  he  could  not  effect,  at  this  juncture. 

His  old  friend  Wisheart,  Bishop  of  Glasgow,  who,  it  was 
said,  concocted  the  ruse  at  Stirling,  did  not  lie  in  English 
irons  without  the  Pope  knowing  of  it,  and  the  latter  asserted 
his  suzerainty  over  Scotland.  At  the  same  time  he  demanded 
the  retreat  of  Edward,  "  my  dearly  beloved  son  in  Christ," 
from  his  patrimony  there.  And  between  Pope  and  foreign 
potentates  a  little  pressure  was  put  on  the  invader. 

Notwithstanding,  the  coils  tightened  round  Wallace,  until 
his  fighting-ring  of  heroes  grew  smaller.  In  an  evil  hour, 
early  in  1305,  John  of  Menteith,  whilom  Lord  of  Arran,  a 
Stewart  too,  once  a  covenanter  for  his  country's  freedom, 
also  prisoner  in  Nottingham  for  his  patriotism,  but  now  a 
constable  for  Edward,  captured  and  betrayed  to  his  doom 
his  own  former  crony — "  gossop,"  in  the  language  of  Henry — 
the  noble  Wallace.  The  terror  caused  by  his  execution 

1  '  Wallace,'  bk.  x.  1.  437.  2  '  Hist.  Doc.,'  vol.  ii.  p.  436. 


64  Bitte  in  the  Olden  Time. 

drove  his  associates  into  submission  again.  The  Steward 
had  now  to  succumb.  The  deed  expressing  the  Steward's 
submission  is  interesting,  in  showing  how  great  servility  the 
"  Hammer  of  Scotland  "  demanded  of  the  hapless  Scots.  It 
is  in  French,  and  was  sealed  before  the  Lord  Chancellor  at 
Westminster : — 

"  To  all  those  persons  who  shall  see  or  hear  these  letters,  James, 
formerly  Steward  of  Scotland,  wishes  greeting  in  God. 

"  Know  ye  that  whereas  I  (being  in  the  homage,  faith,  and  alleg- 
iance of  my  Lord  Edward,  King  of  England,  Lord  of  Ireland,  and 
Duke  of  Aquitaine),  led  by  bad  advice,  have  raised,  and  caused  to 
raise  war  against  my  said  lord,  and  thereto  was  assenting  and  pro- 
curing and  aiding  his  enemies,  overtly  and  covertly  to  my  power, 
against  my  said  homage,  fealty,  and  allegiance,  whereof  I  perceive, 
know,  and  acknowledge  myself  culpable,  I,  of  my  good  and  free 
will,  have  surrendered  and  do  surrender  myself  entirely,  absolutely, 
and  completely  to  the  will  of  my  said  lord.  And  albeit  that,  moved 
by  pity  towards  me,  he  has  granted  me  a  special  grace,  and  beyond 
what  I  have  deserved  in  this  matter,  as  to  my  pardon  of  life  and 
limb,  and  of  release  from  imprisonment,  nevertheless,  I  have  sub- 
mitted and  do  submit  myself  entirely  to  the  will  of  my  said  lord, 
and  will  and  grant  that  he  should  do  to  my  body,  and  whatever  I 
have  or  can  have,  and  all  the  lands  and  tenements  which  were 
mine  at  any  time,  or  which  may  fall  to  me  henceforth  in  any  man- 
ner whatever,  in  the  land  of  Scotland  or  elsewhere,  and  that  he 
should  ordain,  establish,  and  do  fully  at  his  will,  and  according  to 
what  he  pleases.  And  thereto  I  bind  myself  as  strongly  and  as 
fully  as  I  know  and  can  by  this  writing.  In  witness  whereof,  I  have 
thereto  set  my  seal. 

"Dated  at  Westminster,  3d  November  1305,  33  Edw.  I."1 

Of  the  hapless  Wallace,  in  his  death,  it  may  be  fitly  said — 

"  To  weep  would  do  thy  glory  wrong, 
Thou  shalt  not  be  deplored." 

1  '  Hist.  Doc.  Scot.,'  vol.  ii.  p.  495. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  65 

Like  the  Douglas  of  Chevy  Chase,  dead  he  was  more 
powerful  than  when  alive.  More  perhaps  than  the  removal 
of  the  mainstay  of  the  Baliol  faction,  yonder  gruesome  head 
of  the  patriotic  defender  of  Scotland,  looking  down  from  the 
spike  on  London  Bridge  in  grinning  hatred  upon  every 
passer-by,  was  the  galling  incentive  of  a  higher  duty  to 
Robert  Bruce  than  to  be  dallying  longer  at  his  conqueror's 
Court.  If  to  hear  of  the  capture  of  Wallace,  Bruce  had  gone 
"  near  out  of  wit,"  what  must  have  been  his  feelings  to  see 
that  noble  countenance  so  dishonoured  by  the  "  auld  enemy  " 
of  his  country  ?  Both  pride  and  policy  lent  him  spurs  to 
action,  and  soon  he  was  a  rebel  in  Dumfries,  where 

"  Comyn  fell  beneath  the  knife 
Of  that  fell  homicide  the  Bruce." 

New  Year's  Day  (25th  March)  1306  ushered  in  a  happier 
era  for  Scotland.  Then  at  Scone  Bruce  assumed  his  sover- 
eignty, on  27th  March  1306,  the  gallant  Countess  of  Buchan, 
in  the  absence  of  Macduff,  placing  the  golden  ring  around  his 
brow — gold  for  crowns  had  the  Scots  none  in  Edward's  day. 
The  resolute  women  of  Bruce's  day  were  also  famed  for  their 
gallantry.  Edward  might  shut  them  up  in  cages  (en  un 
kage\  like  this  brave  Countess,  for  popular  show  ;  but  he 
could  never  cage  their  Scottish  spirit,  which  yearned  after 
the  success  of  the  Bruce  and  the  restoration  of  national 
independence. 

The  die  was  cast  for  Bruce,  who  soon  found  himself  an 
outlawed  king,  seeking  safety  where  he  might.  The  Steward 
and  his  vassals  did  not  share  his  cruel  perils  at  first.  There 
may  have  been  a  helpful  policy  in  this  delay,  approved  of  by 
Bruce  himself,  although  the  conduct  of  James  savours  of 

VOL.  II.  E 


66  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

pusillanimity  and  vacillation  at  first  sight.  On  the  23d  day 
of  October  1306,  James  the  Steward  appeared  in  the  Priory 
of  Lanercost,  near  Carlisle,  before  the  Bishop  of  Coventry 
and  other  English  officials,  and  gave  token  of  his  fealty  under 
his  seal  to  Edward  of  England,  having  "sworn  upon  the 
Body  of  God,  and  upon  the  Holy  Gospels,  and  upon  the  Cross 
Neytz,  and  upon  the  Blakerode  of  Scotland,  and  upon  several 
other  Reliques,  .  .  .  which  things  being  thus  done,  the  said 
Lord  James,  on  the  same  day,  came  into  the  presence  of  his 
Lord  the  said  King  for  his  the  said  James's  lands  in  Scotland, 
in  the  due  and  usual  form."  1  After  some  early  reverses, 
Bruce  escaped  to  the  Clyde,  where  Sir  Neil  Campbell  of 
Lochaw  met  him  with  a  few  galleys,  which  soon  .bore  the 
fugitives  past  Bute  into  Kintyre.  The  Butemen  watched 
them  with  their  strong  square  fists  upon  the  oars  making 
the  galleys  cut  through  the  water — as  Barbour,  the  biog- 
rapher of  Bruce,  narrates  : — 

"  Then  schippyt  thai,  for-owtyn  mar ; 
Sum  went  till  ster,  and  sum  till  ar, 
And  rowyt  be  the  He  of  But. 
Men  mycht  se  mony  frely  fute 
About  the  costis  thar  lukand, 
As  thai  on  ayris  raiss  rowand  : 
And  newys  that  stalwart  war  and  squar, 
That  wont  to  spayn  gret  speris  war 
Swa  spaynyt  aris,  that  men  mycht  se 
Full  oft  the  hyde  leve  on  the  tre."  '2 

To  the  quiet  cloisters  of  the  Cistercian  monks  of  Saddell, 
which  Bruce's  grandfather  had  enriched,  they  were  first 
probably  bound.  In  the  stronger  peel  of  Saddell  lived 


1  Madox,  '  Baronia  Anglica,'  bk.  iii.  chap.  vi.  pp.  267,  268. 

2  « The  Bruce,'  bk.  iii.  11.  575-584. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  67 

a    new-made   ally   of    the   king — Angus,   of   the   blood    of 

Somerled  : — 

"  Anguss  off  He  that  tynne  wes  syr, 
And  lord  and  ledar  off  Kyntyr. 
The  king  rycht  weill  resawyt  he ; 
And  wndertuk  his  man  to  be." x 

According  to  a  Seanachy  of  the  Macdonalds,  Bruce  and  his 
band  loitered  here  for  six  months,  his  pioneers  trying  to 
recruit  troops  for  him  in  Ireland,2  till  his  host  gave  him  for 
a  three-days'  refuge  the  sea-lashed  fort  of  Dunaverty  in  South 

Kintyre  : — 

"  For  mar  sekyrness,  gaiff  him  syne 
Hys  castell  off  Donavardyne, 
To  duell  tharin,  at  his  liking."  3 

But  Rathlin  Isle  became  his  securer  base  of  operations  and 
outlook. 

It  was  a  wise  policy  for  the  Steward  to  keep  in  the  back- 
ground when  the  king  was  so  near  in  desperate  straits.  The 
sternest  patriot  then  required  the  stoutest  heart  to  embark 
on  such  forlorn-hopes,  when  relatives  and  friends  were  arrayed 
against  each  other  in  a  strife  from  which  there  was  no  escape, 
except  by  sacrificing  the  dearest  hostages — their  children — 
whom  the  barons  had  given  to  an  unrelenting  tyrant.  The 
Steward  was  growing  old  :  many  of  his  boon-companions 
lay  in  bloody  graves,  or  had  their  limbs  and  heads  be- 
stowed on  popular  towns  for  spectacles ;  others  languished 
in  English  service,  or  wept  in  southern  dungeons.  His  three 
sons  were  still  boys.  But  as  soon  as  they  could  gird  a  sword 
we  find  them — Walter,  John,  and  James — standing  by  their 
king  and  country  and  freedom. 

1  <  The  Bruce,'  bk.  iii.  11.  659-662. 
2  '  Collect.  Reb.  Alban.,'  p.  289.  3  '  The  Bruce,'  bk.  iii.  11.  665-667. 


68  Biite  in  the  Olden  Time. 

"  The  flower  of  Christendom,"  as  courtiers  called  Edward, 
was  now  afoot,  pushing  north  for  the  eighth  time,  to  blossom 
red  with  slaughter  on  Scottish  soil,  under  the  July  sun  of 
1307.  But  a  stronger  king  than  he  was  in  the  camp  to  roll 
his  crown  in  the  dust ;  and  when  death  drew  near,  no  more 
news  of  hostings,  hangings,  and  quarterings  could  give  to 
his  moody  spirit  the  brutal  joy  he  often  had  in  hearing  of 
disasters  to  the  Scots.  He  had  to  lay  down  his  Hammer 
(Malleus  Scotonun),  and  the  anvil  rested  a  while  and  re- 
sounded not  with  the  din  of  war. 

The  Bruce  and  his  henchman  the  Steward  were  not  afraid 
of  the  more  chicken-hearted  Edward  II.,  who  soon  retreated 
beyond  the  Borders.  The  national  cause  grew  stronger.  In 
the  spring  of  1309,  James  the  Steward  with  other  nobles 
formed  an  embassy  to  the  Court  of  France  to  announce  their 
acknowledgment  of  Robert  Bruce  as  the  rightful  sovereign 
of  Scotland.  The  duties  of  courtiership,  however,  had  been 
too  much  for  the  ambassador. 

On  the  1 6th  July  1309,  James  died,  and  was  interred  in 
Paisley  Abbey.  Nor  was  death  long  in  disrobing  Antony  Bek 
as  completely  of  his  earthly  adornments  as  that  bishop  had 
stripped  John  Baliol.  Over  all  marched  the  irresistible 
conqueror,  breathing  the  invincible  spirit  of  Freedom,  which 
was  to  bring  peace,  as  Barbour  sang : — 

"  Fredome  mayss  man  to  haiff  liking ; 
Fredome  all  solace  to  man  giffis  : 
He  levys  at  ess  that  frely  levys." 

If  ever  a  Scotsman  realised  that  noble  sentiment  it  was  James 
the  Steward,  who  did  more  than  any  other  to  build  up  the 
prestige  of  his  country. 

James  the  Steward  married,  first,  Egidia,  sister  of  Richard 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  69 

cle  Burgh,  Earl  of  Ulster,  and,  secondly,  Cecilia,  daughter  of 
Patrick,  Earl  of  Dunbar  and  March.  His  children  were 
Andrew,  the  eldest,  who  died  in  his  father's  lifetime ; * 
Walter,  the  Steward  ;  John,  killed  at  Dundalk  ;  James  of 
Rossyth  and  Durrisdeer ;  Egidia,  wife  of  Sir  Alexander 
Menzies  of  Enoch  (Durrisdeer). 

It  is  not  my  happy  duty  to  follow  King  Robert  in  his 
adventures,  and  with  the  sleuth-hound  of  history  to  track 
him  by  road  and  river,  by  bale-fire  and  gipsy  refuge,  by  kyle 
and  castle,  till  he  meets  his  braves  in  dark  Torwood  in  1314. 
Among  the  rest  appeared  James  Douglas,  the  forwardest 
warrior  of  any  age.  He  came  to  cry  "  Onward,  brave  heart !  " 
that  day.  Son  of  a  Stewart,  too,  was  he,  Elizabeth  having 
married  Lord  William  Douglas,  the  Hardy,  now  dead  in 
English  chains.  This  Scottish  Hector  was  come  of  "  war- 
proof,"  although  his  soft  lisp  and  the  blythe  smile  on  his  grey 
visage  belied  the  manhood  slumbering  within  his  "  banys  gret 
and  schuldrys  braid."  Into  the  review  at  Torwood,  too,  steps 
forth  a  beardless  youth  with  a  tail  of  veterans,  purpose-like 
in  manner,  and  handsome  in  appearance.  Douglas  greets 
his  cousin,  young  Walter  of  Bute,  and  the  fail-me-never 
heroes  of  Wallace,  still  as  fearless  as  their  patron  saint, 
Brendan.  Thus  Barbour  describes  this  sight : — 

"  Valtir,  Steward  of  Scotland,  syne, 
That  than  wes  hot  ane  berdlass  hyne, 
Com  vith  a  rout  of  nobill  men, 
That  all  be  contynans  mycht  ken."  2 

King  Robert  "  welcummyt  thame  with  gladsum  fair."  The 
ambitious  youth  had  not  long  to  wait  in  that  leafy  June  till 

1  "Andreu  1'esnez  fils  et  heir  du  dit  Seneschal." — Palgrave's  'Doc.  and  Rec./ 
p.  336.  2  '  The  Bruce,'  bk.  xi.  11.  216-219. 


70  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

he  won  his  knightly  spurs.  The  opposing  hosts  lay  before 
each  other  at  Bannockburn.  Of  the  four  divisions  of  the 
Scots  army,  the  third,  the  left  wing,  was  intrusted  to  Douglas 
and  Walter  Stewart : — 

"  And  syne  the  thrid  battale  he  gaf 
'  To  Valtir  Stewart  for  to  leid, 

And  till  Dowglass  douchty  of  deid. 

Thai  war  cosyngis  in  neir  degre, 

Tharfor  till  hyin  betaucht  wes  he, 

For  he  wes  young  ;  and,  nocht-for-thi, 

I  trow  he  sail  sa  manfully 

Do  his  dewour,  and  virk  so  weill, 

Than  hym  sail  neyd  no  mair  themseill." * 

To  a  youth  of  twenty-two  this  was  a  most  responsible  charge. 
However,  his  conduct  on  the  field  of  battle  became  his  mighty 
instructor,  the  Douglas.  The  king  had  the  Carrick  men  and 
the  redshanks  of  "  Anguss  of  Ylis  and  But,"  in  the  rear  of  the 
van.  Among  these  "  brave  sons  of  Innisgail,"  who 

"  Beneath  their  chieftains  rank'd  their  files 
In  many  a  plaided  band," 

may  have  mustered  those  Butemen  who  were  vassals  of 
Angus.  They,  too,  share  the  praise  King  Robert,  according 
to  tradition,  gave  to  Angus  for  his  family  motto,  "  My  trust 
is  constant  in  thee." 

The  Scots  answered  an  early  tattoo  on  Monday  morning, 
the  24th  June  1314.  They  had  their  "mess"  to  say  and 
their  oaten  "  sop  "  to  take  before  they  assembled  in  their  gay 
masses,  with  variegated  banners,  lit  up  with  glittering  arms,  as 
if  they  were  a  host  of  angels.  Before  the  king  dressed  their 
ranks,  he  called  out  to  kneel  upon  the  sward,  among  others, 

1  '  The  Bruce,'  bk.  xi.  11.  321-329. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  7 1 

the  Steward  and  Douglas,  and  struck  the  first  blows  of  chivalry 
that  morn  upon  their  shoulders — the  kindliest  that  day — to 
make  them  knights  : — 

"  The  kyng  maid  Valter  Stewart  knycht, 
And  James  of  Douglass,  that  ves  vicht."  1 

It  rouses  the  blood  to  read  Barbour's  account  of  the  bloody 
fight, — how  the  long  Scots  spears,  as  thick  as  spines  on  a 
hedgehog's  back  (hyrchoune),  met  the  iron-clad  horse,  prick- 
ing them  to  death  or  madness ;  how  glittering  helms  rang 
with  the  dinning  (dynnyng)  of  hatchets  ;  how  breastplates 
sang  after  the  "  hideous  shower "  of  arrows  darkened  the 
air  ;  how  sword  met  sword  in  fatal  fray  over  dying  men, 
"  girning  and  granying "  in  their  blood-red  shrouds  of  iron, 
as  the  wild  fury  of  war  swept  from  rank  to  rank,  and  bore 
away  unseen  thousands  after  thousands  of  their  spirits — the 
while  "  the  pibroch  lent  its  maddening  tone."  Conspicuous 
were  Douglas  and  the  beardless  Stewart  in  "  rushing  "  the  foe 
to  gory  earth  : — 

"  A  !  mychty  god  !  quha  than  mycht  se 
The  Steward  Walter  and  his  rout, 
And  the  gud  Dowglas  that  wes  stout, 
Fechtand  in-to  the  stalward  stour, 
He  suld  say  that  till  all  honour 
Thai  war  worthy,  that  in  that  ficht 
Sa  fast  presit  thair  fais  mycht, 
That  thai  thame  ruschit  quhar  thai  geid."  2 

Then  the  English  broke  and  fled.  Douglas  chased  them  over 
the  Borders  with  will  as  good  as  that  of  Gideon  of  old  smit- 
ing the  Midianites — "faint  yet  pursuing." 

Walter's  guerdon  was  the  fair  Marjory,  sole  daughter  of 

1  'The  Bruce,'  bk.  xiii.  11.  415,  416.  2  Ibid.,  bk.  xiii.  11.  186-193. 


72  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

The  Bruce,  whom  he  married  in  the  summer  of  1315.     The 
royal  deed  granting  a  marriage  portion  ran  thus  :  — 

"  Robert,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  King  of  Scots  :  Know  that  I 
have  given  to  our  dear  and  faithful  Walter,  Seneschal  of  Scotland, 
in  free  marriage  with  Marjory,  our  daughter,  the  barony  of  Bathkat, 
the  lands  of  Ricardtoun,  the  barony  of  Rathew,  the  lands  of  Barns 
beside  Linlithgow,  the  land  called  The  Brome  near  the  land  of 
Lithgow  ;  an  annual  out  of  the  Kers  of  Striveling,  an  annual  rent 
of  100  shillings  out  of  the  lands  of  Kinpunt,  and  the  lands  of  Edin- 
hame  in  the  Earldom  of  Roxburgh."  * 

It  was  a  well-earned  largess. 

Their  connubial  bliss  was  short-lived,  the  princess  suc- 
cumbing at  the  birth  of  Robert  on  the  2d  March  1316,  leav- 
ing Walter  for  the  second  time  widowed,  although  he  was 
still  a  youth  of  twenty-three.  Marjory  was  buried  in  a  chapel 
of  Paisley  Priory,  but  in  1770  her  monument  and  remains 
were  transferred  to  another  chapel  in  the  edifice.2 

The  subsequent  exploits  of  this  dauntless  patriot  are  so 
bound  up  with  his  brave  followers  The  Brandanes,  that  in 
order  to  do  justice  to  these  heroes  I  include  them  more  fully 
in  their  story  in  Chapter  III. 

The  Settlement  of  Ayr,  on  2Oth  April  1315,  by  which  it 
was  agreed  that  Edward  Bruce  should  succeed  his  brother, 
Robert,  and  failing  him,  the  Princess  Marjory  (then  unmar- 
ried, and  after  her,  should  she  marry,  the  heirs  of  her  body), 
was  now  rendered  void  by  the  fall  of  Edward  Bruce  at  Dun- 
dalk  ;  and  it  became  necessary  for  Parliament  to  enact  at 
Scone,  on  the  3d  December  1318,  that  Prince  Robert,  the 
son  of  Marjory  and  Walter,  should  be  heir-presumptive  to 


1  Robertson's  'Index,'  p.  9,  No.  11  ;  Crawford's  'Hist.,'  p.  14. 

2  Chalmers's  'Caledonia,'  vol.  vi.  p.  781,  note  (new  edition). 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  73 

the  Crown  in  the  event  of  the  king  having  no  son  and  heir. 
Walter  was  a  signatory  to  the  deed.  But  after  all  an  heir, 
David,  was  born,  and  in  1326,  at  Cambuskenneth,  another 
settlement  was  agreed  upon,  declaring  the  son  of  Marjory  to 
be  heir-presumptive  after  David. 

Meantime  the  Borders  raged  with  war,  and  Berwick  be- 
came the  scene  of  blood  which  Walter  was  set  to  take  and 
hold,  while  the  Scots  armies  overran  the  northern  parts  of 
England. 

Yet,  though  engrossed  with  warfare,  this  pious  patriot 
was  not  unmindful  of  the  peaceful  monks  who  sang  dolorous 
masses  for  his  brave  comrades  who  fell  by  his  side,  and  the 
Chartularies  of  the  abbeys  testify  to  his  grateful  remem- 
brances and  thanksgiving  for  his  safe  keeping  by  the  God 
of  Battle. 

At  length  the  ring-mail  coat  could  no  longer  confine  his 
spirit ;  the  fevered  hand  dropt  the  well-notched  blade ;  the 
voice  of  victory  ceased  to  ring  from  the  empty  helm  ;  and 
the  monks  of  Newbattle  conveyed  the  dead  hero  to  their 
church  of  Bathgate,  to  chant  over  him  the  requiem,  "  Pro 
Fidelibus  Defunctis."  "  And  many  a  knight  and  fair  lady," 
says  the  poet,  also  wept  a  sad  Trental  for  the  young  warrior 
who  fell  asleep  in  his  thirty-sixth  year,  on  the  Qth  April  1326 
The  panegyric  of  Barbour  needs  no  magnifying  here  : — 

"In  this  tym  that  the  trewis  war 
Lestand  on  Marchis,  as  I  said  ar, 
Walter  Steward  that  worthy  was 
At  Bathket  ane  gret  seknes  tais. 
His  evill  it  wox  ay  mar  and  mar, 
Quhill  men  persavit  be  his  far 
That  him  worthit  ned  pay  the  det 
That  na  man  for  to  pay  may  let. 


74  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Schrevin  and  als  repentand  wele, 
Quhen  all  was  done  till  him  ilkdele 
That  nedit  Cristin  man  till  haf, 
As  gud  Cristin  the  gast  he  gaf. 
Than  micht  men  her  folk  gret  and  cry, 
And  mony  ane  knicht  and  ek  lady 
Mak  in  apert  richt  evill  cher, 
Sa  did  tha  all  that  evir  thar  wer ; 
All  men  him  menit  comonly, 
For  of  his  eld  he  was  worthy. 
Quhen  tha  lang  tym  thai  dule  had  mad, 
The  Cors  to  Paslay  haf  tha  had, 
And  thar  with  gret  solemnite 
And  with  gret  dule  erdit  was  he. 
God  for  his  micht  his  saul  he  bring 
Quhar  joy  ay  lestis  but  ending."1 

While  Barbour  may  be  accurate  in  declaring  that  Walter  was 
"  erdit "  in  Paisley  Priory,  there  are  good  grounds  for  conclud- 
ing that  a  monument  was  erected  in  St  Mary's  Chapel, 
Rothesay,  by  King  Robert  II.,  his  son,  in  memory  of  this 
gallant  knight,  as  will  be  afterwards  shown. 

Walter's  family  consisted  of  Jane, — daughter  of  Alice, 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Erskine, — who  married  Hugh,  Earl  of 
Ross,  killed  at  Halidon  Hill ;  Robert,  afterwards  king,  son 
of  Marjory  Bruce ;  by  Isobel,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Graham 
of  Abercorn,  Sir  John  Stewart  of  Ralston  and  Egidia,  who 
married,  (i)  Sir  James  de  Lyndsay,  (2)  Sir  Hugh  de  Eglinton, 
(3)  Sir  James  de  Douglas  (ancestor  of  the  Earls  of  Morton). 

Robert  Stewart,  the  first  of  the  Fitz  Alan  and  Senescal 
family  who  sat  on  the  Scots  throne,  was  the  son  of  Walter 
the  Lord  Steward  and  Marjory  Bruce,  and  was  born  near 
Paisley  on  the  2d  March  1316,  being  brought  into  the  world 

1  'The  Bruce,'  ch.  cxl.  p.  445  (C.  Innes's  ed.) 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  75 

by  the  Caesarean  operation.     George  Crawfurd  thus  relates 
the  doubtful  story  : — 

"At  this  place,  on  the  lands  of  Knox,  there  is  a  high  cross 
standing  called  Queen  Blearie's  Cross.  Tradition  hath  handed 
down  that  it  was  erected  on  this  occasion.  Marjory  Bruce,  .  .  . 
being  hunting  at  this  place,  was  thrown  from  her  horse,  and,  by 
the  fall,  suffered  a  dislocation  of  the  vertebra  of  her  neck,  and 
died  on  the  spot.  She  being  pregnant  fell  in  labour  of  King 
Robert  II.:  the  child  or  foetus  was  a  Caesar.  The  operation  being 
by  an  unskilful  hand,  his  eye,  being  touched  by  the  instrument, 
could  not  be  cured ;  from  which  he  was  called  King  Blearie. 
This,  according  to  our  historians,  fell  out  in  the  year  131 7. '3l 

Lord  Hailes  could  not  discover  these  authorities  referred 
to,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  "  Queen  Blearie "  is  a 
corruption  of  Cuine  Blair  (Gaelic,  cuimneachan  blair\  a 
memorial  of  battle.  Might  it  not  be  the  spot  where  Somer- 
led  suffered  his  defeat  ? 

Froissart,  who  visited  King  Robert's  Court,  says  :  "  Robert 
King  of  Scotland  had  one  of  his  red  eyes  turned  back.  It 
resembled  sandal- wood  " — i.e.,  a  very  red  cock-eye.2  Symson 
declares  that  "  Erntully's  tomb  in  the  cathedral  church  of 
Dunkell"  gives  this  Robert  the  ag-name  of  "Blear  Eye."3 

During  the  unfortunate  minority  of  that  weak  king,  David 
II.,  when  the  patriots  of  Scotland  had  to  fight  the  battle 
of  national  independence  over  again,  the  Steward  of  Scot- 
land was  also  a  minor.  But  he  was  a  youth  of  different 
mettle,  and  early  associated  himself  with  the  Brucian  party, 


1  '  History  of  Renfrewshire,'  p.  41. 

2  Froissart,  vol.  ii.  p.  169  :  "Le  roy  Robert  d'Escosce,  avec  uns  yeux  rouges 
rebrasses.     II  sembloit  de  sendal." 

3  'Gen.  Account  of  Stewarts,'  p.  115. 


76  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

who  resented  the  plots  of  Edward  Baliol  and  the  pretensions 
of  the  English  king.  Where  he  spent  his  boyhood  in  those 
less  perilous  days,  when  bold  Randolph  was  a  terror  to 
evildoers  from  Lochar  Moss  to  Loch  Awe,  I  can  only  pre- 
sume to  have  been  among  the  rounded  hills  of  Durrisdeer, 
where  his  uncle  and  tutor  Sir  James  Stewart  had  his  forti- 
fied home,  and  where  his  aunt  Egidia  and  her  husband  Sir 
Alexander  de  Menyers  or  Menzies  dwelt  in  the  castle  of 
Enoch.  This  romantic  home,  now  a  verdant  mound,  over- 
looks the  lovely  vale  and  linns  of  the  Carron,  still  full  of 
as  dainty  trout  as  ever  fascinated  a  youthful  eye.  But  this 
was  no  time  for  idle  sport,  when  the  chaplet  itself  had  fallen 
from  Randolph's  helm,  and  he  lay  dead  with  honour,  as  his 
successor  Mar,  with  dishonour,  lay  on  Dupplin  Moor  in  1332. 
Scotland  cried  aloud  for  a  Joshua,  and  all  she  could  obtain 
was  Sir  Andrew  Moray  of  Bothwell,  the  Regent,  who  was 
the  Steward's  granduncle,  till  Douglas,  the  bastard  knight 
of  Liddesdale,  assumed  the  regency.  Edward  Baliol  ac- 
cepted the  crown  as  a  vassal  of  England.  An  insurrection 
was  brewing. 

Robert,  the  Steward,  had  all  the  martial  ardour  of  his 
ancestry,  and  joined  Archibald  Douglas,  nicknamed  "  Tine- 
man,"  and  a  body  of  cavalry  at  Moffat,  and  swooped  down 
on  Baliol  at  Annan  so  suddenly  that  the  kinglet  was  glad 
to  escape  in  his  shirt  into  England — i6th  December  1332. 
Raids  over  the  Borders  followed,  until  the  ire,,  of  King 
Edward  was  roused,  and  reprisals  ensued.  "  Tineman,"  how- 
ever, soon  bore  down  upon  the  English  king,  then  sorely 
pressing  Berwick,  and  ventured  to  give  his  host  battle  on 
the  green  hills  of  Halidon  on  ipth  July  1333.  Of  the  four 
divisions  of  the  Scots  army,  the  Steward  of  Scotland,  with 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  7  7 

his  uncle  Sir  James,  led  the  second.  By  bad  generalship 
the  Scots  met  a  terrible  discomfiture,  in  which  the  Regent 
Douglas  was  mortally  wounded,  and  the  flower  of  his  army 
was  either  killed  or  made  prisoners.  Sir  James  Stewart  was 
mortally  wounded  and  taken  prisoner,  arid  his  kinsmen  John 
and  Alan  killed  outright.  The  Steward  himself  escaped,  and 
fled  for  safety  among  the  Brandanes  in  Bute.  (See  Chapter 
III.)  With  their  aid  he  soon  recaptured  the  castles  of 
Rothesay  and  Dunoon,  invaded  Renfrew  and  Galloway  (July 
22,  1334,  'Chron.  Lanercost'),  and,  with  the  assistance  of  the 
men  of  Annandale  and  Kyle,  made  the  governor  of  Ayrshire 
submit. 

The  Earl  of  Athole  was  now  seized  by  Baliol  in  the  lands 
of  the  Steward,  and  King  Baliol  celebrated  a  merry  Christ- 
mas in  Renfrew  in  1334,  distributing  his  honours  at  the 
expense  of  the  Steward.  After  the  country  was  once  more 
ravaged,  the  barons,  with  the  Steward,  were  glad  to  treat 
of  peace  with  their  Lord  Paramount ;  and  in  September  1335, 
"  Edwarde  the  3d  cam  from  S.  John's  tounne  to  Edingburgh, 
whether  cam  Robert  the  Seneschal  of  Scotland  unto  hys 
peace.  This  Robert  was  sunne  to  the  doughter  of  Robert 
Bruse,  King  of  Scotland."1  Fordun  thus  describes  the 
Steward  :  "  He  was  a  comely  youth,  tall  and  robust,  modest, 
liberal,  gay,  and  courteous  ;  and  for  innate  sweetness  of  his 
disposition,  generally  beloved  by  true-hearted  Scotsmen." 

Meantime  Regent  Moray  and  the  Knight  of  Liddesdale 
conducted  an  irritating  and  successful  guerilla  warfare,  in 
which  they  were  encouraged  by  the  King  of  France  and  his 
guest  the  exiled  King  David.  Moray  died  in  1338,  and  the 

1  Leland,  vol.  i.  p.  555,  quoting  '  Scala  Chron.' 


78  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Steward  was  appointed  Regent.  His  policy  was  warlike, 
masterly,  and  prompt.  While  his  ally  Douglas  was  hasting 
to  France  to  secure  subsidies,  Robert  boldly  prepared  to 
attack  Baliol  at  Perth,  the  seat  of  his  government,  and  at 
the  very  nick  of  time  Douglas  reappeared  with  five  French 
men-of-war  and  many  steel-clad  warriors.  Perth  soon  fell, 
after  it  Stirling,  and  in  a  brief  space  there  was  not  an 
English  soldier  north  of  the  Forth. 

The  Regent,  imitating  Randolph,  soon  restored  the  land  to 
order,  and  by  politic  methods  prepared  for  the  return  of  his 
sovereign  in  1341.  David  was  a  weak  ruler,  and  soon  per- 
mitted himself  to  be  embroiled  in  a  fresh  war,  which  ended  in 
his  defeat  and  capture  at  Neville's  Cross,  Durham,  it  is  said 
by  the  Queen  of  England  herself,  I7th  October  1346.  It  was 
a  well-fought  fight,  in  which  the  king,  though  wounded,  dis- 
played a  courage  worthy  of  his  blood.  The  Steward  and  the 
Earl  of  March,  who  commanded  the  left  wing,  after  desperate 
fighting,  had  to  retreat,  leaving  dead  on  the  field  two  John 
Stewarts,  Alan  Stewart,  and,  as  prisoners,  John  (of  Dalswin- 
ton),  Alexander,  and  John  Stewart,  beside  many  other  kins- 
men and  vassals. 

David  was  taken  to  the  Tower,  and  John  Earl  of  Menteith 
to  the  traitor's  gallows.  Southern  Scotland  once  more  was  in 
English  hands.  The  Steward,  however,  assumed  the  Regency 
or  locum  tenens  of  King  David  with  promptitude,  until  the 
release  of  his  sovereign  in  1357,  when  his  son  John  was  given 
as  a  hostage  for  the  observance  of  the  treaty  of  release.  The 
king's  lieutenant  had  no  easy  task  in  the  irritable  state  of  the 
plague-struck,  impoverished  country,  where  several  strong 
garrisons  were  maintained  by  the  Southron,  such  as  Dalswin- 
ton  and  Carlaverock,  while  fear  made  the  Borderers  lean  to 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  79 

English  fealty.      In  1356,  John  Stewart,  the  Regent's  eldest 
son,  reduced  Annandale  to  Scottish  allegiance. 

At  length  David  returned,  a  discontented  vassal  and  courtier 
of  King  Edward.  He  seems  either  to  have  taken  an  umbrage 
against  his  intrepid  and  faithful  lieutenant,  or  to  have  for- 
gotten the  parliamentary  treaties  concerning  the  succession 
to  the  Crown,  when,  in  1363,  he  proposed  to  the  Estates  that, 
should  he  die  without  issue,  they  should  elect  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  to  be  King  of  Scotland.  The  Estates  scorned  his 
proposition,  and  declared,  "  That  they  would  never  permit  an 
Englishman  to  reign  over  them,"  and,  remembering  the 
national  debt  of  honour  to  their  Steward,  further  said  : 
"That  by  Acts  of  Settlement,  and  solemn  oaths  of  the 
three  Estates,  in  the  days  of  Robert  Bruce,  the  Steward 
had  been  acknowledged  presumptive  heir  of  the  Crown; 
and  that  he  and  his  sons  were  brave  men,  and  fit  to 
reign." 

The  Steward,  perceiving  that  his  position  was  being  under- 
mined through  the  indiscreet  proposal  of  the  king,  and  the 
machinations  of  England,  entered  into  a  defensive  confeder- 
acy with  the  Earls  of  March  and  Douglas,  and  with  his  own 
sons,  to  maintain  his  rights,  and  fell  into  open  rebellion.  This 
the  king  quickly  crushed,  and  in  1368  the  Steward  forfeited 
his  title  to  the  Crown  and  his  patrimony,  becoming  a  suspect 
to  the  jealous  sovereign.  The  Steward  and  his  sons,  John, 
Robert,  and  Alexander,  were  arrested  and  kept  in  custody, 
until  after  the  divorce  of  Margaret  Logic,  the  Queen,  who 
had  suggested  their  arrest.1  The  Steward  and  his  son  Alex- 
ander were  incarcerated  in  Loch  Leven  Castle  after  June 

1  Fordun,  bk.  xiv.  c.  27. 


8o  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

1368,  and  we  learn  from  the  Exchequer  Accounts  that  Alex- 
ander was  still  in  custody  in  1 369.1 

By  the  death  of  David  II.  on  22d  February  1371,  the 
Steward  was  advanced  to  the  throne,  and  the  prophecy  re- 
garding the  offspring  of  Banquo  was  fulfilled  on  the  26th 
March  following.  At  the  Coronation  at  Scone  appeared 
Lord  John,  Senescal  of  the  king,  first-born,  Earl  of  Carrick 
and  Senescal  of  Scotland  ;  Lord  David  Senescal,  son  of  the 
king,  junior,  Earl  of  Stratherne ;  Lord  Robert  Senescal,  son 
of  the  king,  Earl  of  Menteith  ;  Lord  Alexander  Senescal,  son 
of  the  king ;  Alan  Senescal,  Robert  Senescal,  Alexander 
Senescal,  knights.2 

On  2/th  March  1372,  and  again  on  4th  April  1373,  Parlia- 
ment drew  up  a  deed  of  settlement  of  the  Crown  upon  Lord 
John,  who,  on  his  accession,  for  luck's  sake,  changed  his  name 
to  Robert  III.,  although  during  his  Seneschalship  he  was 
designated  John,  Seneschal  of  Scotland. 

The  eighteen  years  during  which  Robert  II.  reigned  were 
not  characterised  by  any  brilliant  events,  with  the  exception 
of  the  battle  of  Otterburn  in  August  1388,  which  by  the 
romantic  ballad  of  "  Chevy  Chase  "  is  known  to  every  reader. 
Warfare  now  was  only  a  serious  pastime,  however,  of  the 
Scots  nobility,  who,  inured  to  war,  fell  upon  fighting  as  a  good 
sport,  which,  if  not  entailing  death,  always  demanded  of  the 
chivalrous  "that  at  their  departynge  curtoysly  they  will  say, 
'  God  thank  you.'  " 

The  king  was  a  frequent  visitor  to  Bute  from  1379  onwards, 
as  will  be  shown  in  the  account  of  the  Castle  of  Rothesay. 

1  'Excheq.  Rolls,'  vol.  ii.  p.  309. 

2  Robertson's  '  Index,'  Append.,  p.  3.     Here  I  have  retained  the  Latin  form  of 
the  word,  "  Senescal,"  instead  of  translating  it  by  Steward. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  8 1 

According  to  Riddell,  who  has  satisfactorily  cleared  up  the 
difficulties  connected  with  Robert's  marriages  with  Elizabeth 
Mure  and  Euphemia  Ross,  the  Steward  was  "  a  gay  deceiver," 
and  was  living  in  open  and  incestuous  concubinage  with 
Elizabeth,  a  daughter  of  Sir  Adam  Mure  of  Rowallan,  the 
issue  of  which  being  ten  sons  and  daughters,  including  the 
heir  -  apparent.1  Their  marriage  was  previously  legally 
barred  by  their  double  relationship  in  the  third  and  fourth 
degrees  of  affinity  and  fourth  of  consanguinity,  and  their  off- 
spring had  to  be  legitimated  by  a  dispensation  granted  by 
Pope  Clement  VI.  in  1347,  under  the  condition  that  the 
Steward  should  erect  and  endow  a  chapel  in  expiation  of  his 
sin.2  This  he  did  in  1364. 

In  May  1355,  Robert  obtained  another  dispensation  from 
Pope  Innocent  for  his  marriage  with  Euphemia  Ross,  widow 
of  John,  Earl  of  Moray.3 

Robert  II.  died  in  Dundonald  Castle,  I9th  August  1390, 
and  was  interred  in  Scone. 

From  the  various  charters  printed  in  the  Appendix  will  be 
seen  the  extent  of  the  "  Stewartlands,"  as  they  were  called, 
before  the  accession  of  the  Steward's  family  -to  the  throne. 
At  first  they  were  the  proper  inheritance  of  the  family.  The 
value  of  the  Steward's  lands  in  Bute,  the  Cumbraes,  Cowal, 
and  Kintyre  was  ;£iooo  Scots  in  I366.4  Then  the  eldest  son 
of  the  king,  without  the  title  of  a  charter,  or  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment, was  considered  entitled  to  the  usufruct  of  these  lands. 
The  king,  however,  only  made  a  liferent  grant  of  them  to  his 
eldest  son,  on  whose  decease  they  reverted  to  the  Crown.5 

1  '  Stewartiana,'  Edin.,  1843. 

2  A.  Stuart's  '  Hist.,'  p.  418  ;  '  Stewartiana,'  p.  135. 

3  A.  Stuart's  '  Hist.,'  p.  420.       4  Act  Par].,  vol.  i.  p.  500.       5  Rob.  III.,  Dec.  1404. 

VOL.   II.  F 


82  Biite  in  the  Olden  Time. 

But  from  later  Acts  of  Parliament  it  can  be  inferred  that 
some  time  between  1467  and  1477  the  Stewartry  and  other 
lands  held  by  the  king  were  regularly  erected  into  a  princi- 
pality, to  afford  out  of  the  rents  a  perpetual  provision  for  the 
king's  eldest  son  and  heir  -  apparent.  From  1469  down- 
ward the  charters  granted  to  the  vassals  were  sealed  by 
his  eldest  son,  each  in  his  capacity  as  "  Prince  and  Steward  of 
Scotland." 1  We  see  from  an  Act  in  1489  that,  in  default  of 
the  prince,  Parliament  called  the  vassals  to  account.  On 
22d  November  1469,  an  Act  was  passed,  declaring  that  the 
following  lands  belonged  to  the  first-born  princes  of  the  royal 
house : — 

"  Lordship  of  Bute  with  Rothesay  Castle ;  Lordships  of  Arran 
and  Cowal  with  Dunoon  Castle ;  Earldom  of  Carrick ;  Land  and 
Castle  of  Dundonald ;  Barony  of  Renfrew  and  its  holdings ;  Lord- 
ships of  Stewarton,  Kilmarnock  with  its  Castle,  and  Dairy ;  Lands 
of  Neddesdale,  Kilbride,  Nairstoun,  Cavertoun,  and  their  rights ; 
also  the  lands  of  Drongan,  Drumcoll,  and  Trabach  with  their  Castle ; 
also  the  lands  of  Teling  and  rents  of  Brechin  forfeited  by  Thomas 
Boyd." 

In  1489,  the  Earldom  of  Ross  and  Lordship  of  Ardmannoch 
also  belonged  to  the  Prince  of  Scotland,  being  forfeited  on 
account  of  the  Earl's  treason  in  besieging  the  Castle  of 
Rothesay  in  I475.2 

In  February  1489,  Lord  Darnley  collected  the  dues  in 
Bute  for  the  sustentation  of  the  king's  household.3 

The  following  is  the  Act  of  Parliament  passed  in  1593, 
enumerating  the  Crown  lands,  with  Bute  among  the  rest,  at 
that  date  :— 

1  Act  Parl.,  vol.  ii.  p.  iSya.  2  Ibid.,  p.  219.  3  Ibid,  p.  22oa. 


The  Stewards  of  Scotland.  83 

"  Our  Soveraine  Lorde,  And  Estaites  of  this  present  Parliament : 
Considdering  the  dailie  in-crease  of  his  Hienes  charges  and  ex- 
penses, and  diminution  of  his  Hienesse  rentes  of  his  propertie  and 
commoditie,  throw  unprofitable  dispositiones  maid  thereof  in  time 
bygane  :  Therefore  thinkis  expedient,  that  the  landes  and  Lord- 
shippes  under-written,  be  annexed  to  the  Crown ;  and  presentlie 
annexis  the  same  thereto,  followand  the  example  of  his  Predecess- 
oures,  for  the  honorable  support  of  his  Estaite :  and  the  same 
Lands,  Lord-ships,  and  utheris  hereafter  specified,  to  remaine  per- 
petuallie  with  the  Crown  :  Quhilkis  may  nather  be  given  awaie  in 
free  frank-tenement,  pension,  or  uther  disposition  to  ony  person,  of 
quhat  estaite  or  degree  that  ever  he  be  of,  without  advise,  decreete, 
and  deliverance  of  the  haill  Parliament :  And  for  great  reasonable 
causes,  concerning  the  weill-fare  of  the  Realme  :  First  to  be  ad- 
vised, and  digestlie  considdered  be  the  haill  Estaites.  And  albeit, 
it  sail  happen  our  Soveraine  Lord  that  now  is,  or  ony  of  his  Suc- 
cessoures,  Kinges  of  Scotland,  to  annalie  and  dispone  the  saidis 
Landes,  Lord-schippes,  Castelles,  Tounes,  donation  and  advocation 
of  the  Kirkes  and  Hospitalles,  with  the  pertinentes,  annexed  to  the 
Croun,  as  said  is,  utherwise  :  That  the  same  alienationes  and  dis- 
positiones, sail  be  of  nane  availe ;  bot  that  it  sail  be  lesum  to  his 
Hienesse,  and  his  Successoures,  to  receive  the  same  landes  and 
rentes  to  their  awin  use;  quhen  ever  it  likis  them,  without  ony 
proces  of  Law  :  And  the  takers  to  refound  and  pay,  all  profites  that 
they  have  taken  up  thereof,  againe  to  his  Hienesse,  and  his  suc- 
cessoures  uses,  for  all  the  time  that  they  have  had  them,  with  sik 
uther  restrictiones,  as  ar  conteined  in  the  actes  of  Parliament, 
maid  be  his  maist  Noble  Progenitours,  Kingis  of  Scotland,  in  their 
annexationes  to  the  Croun.  They  ar  to  say,  the  landes  of  Beau- 
fort :  The  landes  of  Pettindreicht :  The  landes  of  Cowll :  The 
landes  of  Oneill :  The  landes  of  Fettircarne  :  The  landes  of  Teiling 
and  Polgavie  :  The  landes  of  Colbrandis-peth  :  The  Erledome  of 
Marche  :  The  landes  of  Trabeache  and  Teringzeane  :  The  landes 
of  Carrict,  Lesualt  and  Mennybrig :  The  landes  of  Cowell :  The 
landes  and  Lord-ship  of  Galloway,  abone  and  beneath  Cree  :  The 
landes  of  Duncow  :  The  Castle  and  landes  of  Lochmabene :  The 
landes  of  Glencharny  and  Glenmoreistoun  :  The  landes  of  Discher 


84  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

and  Toyer :  The  landes  of  Kinclewin  :  The  Lord-schip  of  Men- 
teith  :  The  landes  of  Rosneith  :  The  landes  of  Bute :  The  landes 
of  Ruthvens  in  Cromar  :  The  assise  herring  in  the  East  and  West 
Seas :  The  Lord-ship  of  Dumbar :  The  landes  of  Normangill, 
Quhitegill  &  South-wood  :  The  landes  of  Dunedonald  :  The  Kingis 
wark  in  Leith :  The  Kingis  stable :  The  Kingis  Meedow :  The 
Pallace,  zardes,  and  Parke  of  Haly-rude-house  :  The  Lord-shippe  of 
Linlithcow;  without  prejudice  of  the  former  annexation  of  the 
landes  and  Lord-shippes  abone  written,  or  ony  of  them,  gif  ony  be 
maid  of  before,  with  tennentes,  tennendries,  service  of  free-ten- 
nentes." * 

How  these  lands  are  held  by  the  present  vassals  of  the 
Crown  does  not  further  concern  us  here. 

1  Act  Parl.,  vol.  iv.  p.  28. 


TOMB  OF  WALTER,   STEWARD  OF    SCOTLAND  (WHO  DIED   IN    1326), 
IN   ST   MARY'S   CHAPEL,    ROTHESAY. 


CHAPTER     III. 

THE    BRANDANES. 

' '  Warriors — for  other  title  none 
For  some  brief  space  we  list  to  own, 
Bound  by  a  vow — warriors  are  we ; 
In  strife  by  land,  and  storm  by  sea, 
We  have  been  known  to  fame." 

— Lord  of  the  Isles. 

HE  Scots  historian  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
John  Major,  informs  the  reader  that  there 
were  two  kinds  of  his  countrymen,  "the  wild 
Scots"  and  "the  house-holding  Scots,"  the 
latter  of  whom  he  defined  to  be  "  all  who  lead  a  decent  and 
reasonable  life."  Quite  as  naively  he  declares,  "  The  island- 
ers we  reckon  to  belong  to  the  wild  Scots."  They  were  all 
combative.  The  rich  were  law-abiding,  lest  they  lost  their 
property  :  the  needy  "  follow  their  own  worthless  and  savage 
chief  in  all  evil  courses  sooner  than  they  will  pursue  an  honest 
industry."  He  pictures  the  islander  in  peace-time  clad  in 
yellow  shirt  and  plaid,  with  bow,  sword,  or  halbert  in  his 
hand  ;  in  war-time  either  clad  in  ring-mail,  or  in  a  patchwork 
shirt,  daubed  with  wax  or  pitch,  covered  with  a  deerskin. 
Each  cateran  also  carried  a  cow-horn,  to  make  an  inspiriting 


86  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

clangour  when  the  ranks  closed  on  each  other.1  And  this  is 
not  unlike  the  illustrations  of  them  preserved  in  manuscripts 
of  two  centuries  earlier,  when  the  "  Brandanes  of  Bute"  were 
the  matchless  soldiers  of  the  "  War  of  Independence." 

In  England  the  northern  fighters  had  a  terrible  reputation 
for  temper,  pride,  and  invincibleness,  so  much  so  that  Bar- 
tholomew de  Glanville  (1360)  stated  "that  among  the  Scots 
'tis  held  to  be  a  base  man's  part  to  die  in  his  bed,  but  death 
in  battle  they  think  a  noble  thing."  That  was  the  spirit  of 
Douglas  at  Otterburn.  This  is  exactly  the  character,  too, 
which  the  Wizard  of  the  North  gave  the  brave  swordsmen  of 
the  Debatable  Land  of  two  centuries  afterwards  : — 

"  Burghers  to  guard  their  townships  bleed 

But  war's  the  Borderer's  game  ; 
Their  gain,  their  glory,  their  delight 
To  sleep  the  day,  maraud  the  night." 

The  few  pictures  we  have  of  "  The  Brandanes  "  lead  us  to 
infer  that  while  they  were  as  irresistible  as  "  the  wild  Scots," 
they  were  always  actuated  by  high  patriotic  principles  when 
they  took  the  field.  They  were,  as  Ennius  says,  not 
"hucksters  for  war,"  but  fighters  for  glory  and  freedom. 

John  of  Fordun  is  the  first  writer  who  mentions  the 
followers  of  the  Steward  under  the  name  of  Brendans,  when 
describing  the  result  of  the  battle  of  Falkirk :  he  narrates 
how,  "among  whom,  of  the  number  of  the  nobles,  John 
Senescal  with  the  Brandanis  and  Macduff  of  Fife  and  its  in- 
habitants were  wellnigh  extinguished." 2  The  next  mention 
of  the  Bute  men  under  the  clan  name  of  Brandanes  is  found 


'Hist.,'  p.  48,  Scot.  Hist.  Soc.  edit. 
2  '  Chron.  Gent.  Scot. : '  Gesta  Ann.,  c.  i.     Skene's  edit.,  vol.  i.  p.  330, 


The  Brandanes.  87 

in  'The  Orygynal  Cronykil  of  Scotland,'  by  Andrew  of 
Wyntoun,  who  was  prior  of  St  Serfs  monastery  in  Loch  Leven, 
about  the  year  1420.  Therein  describing  the  fierce  fight  of 
Falkirk,  where  Sir  John  Stewart  fell  encircled  by  his  followers, 
he  says : — 

"  Thare  Jhon  Stwart  upon  fute, 
Wyth  hym  the  Brandanys  thare  off  Bute, 
And  the  gentill  men  off  Fyff 
Wyth  Makduff,  thare  tynt  the  lyff." l 

In  the  same  book  the  Brandanes  are  again  referred  to  when 
they  went  to  the  help  of  the  Steward  at  Dunoon  Castle  in 
I335.2  In  connection  with  this  same  exploit,  Walter  Bower, 
Abbot  of  Inchcolm,  in  the  '  Scotichronicon '  of  Fordun,  in 
1441,  designates  the  "native  men"  of  Robert  Stewart  the 
"Brandanes,  as  it  were,  from  Bute."3 

They  were  thus  the  "  native  men  "  of  the  Steward — a  legal 
term  of  common  occurrence  and  of  easy  explanation.  These 
"  native  men,"  or  " neyfs"  otherwise  termed  serfs,  carls,  bonds, 
villeins,  husbandi,  were  sons  of  the  soil,  bound  to  the  spot 
where  they  resided,  either  because  they  were  born  in  servitude 
to  the  lord  of  the  soil,  or  had  by  a  bond  contracted  to  serve 
him  under  certain  conditions.  They  were  originally  the  en- 
slaved populations.  With  them  were  associated  tenants,  who 
bound  themselves  to  give  rent  for  the  lands  they  tilled,  and 
also  personal  military  service.  They  existed  under  the  Celtic, 
Saxon,  and  Norman  polities.  The  "  neyfs  "  distinction  was 
permanent  residence  on  his  native  or  rented  soil,  which  he 


1  Vol.  ii.  p.  347.     Laing's  edit.,  Edin.,  1872. 

z  Ibid.,  p.  414.  3  Vol.  ii.  p.  315.     Goodall's  edit. 


88  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

could  nowise  alienate  from  his  lord,  who  possessed  the  rights 
of  his  toil  and  his  fruits — all,  if  he  was  a  serf;  part,  if  he  was 
a  villein.  Over  him  the  lord  had  the  right  of  "  pit  and 
gallows,"  or  imprisonment  and  death.  His  family,  if  he  was 
permitted  to  have  offspring,  was  entered  in  the  baronial  stud- 
book.  Should  he  fly  away,  he  could  be  recovered  by  proving 
his  nativity.  But  if  his  overlord  did  not  claim  him,  he  was 
accounted  a  freeman,  after  he  had  lived  a  year  and  a  day  in  a 
free  burgh/ — a  position  the  Brandanes  only  acquired  when 
they  became  the  kindly  tenants  of  the  Crown.  The  freemen 
in  the  old  burghs  had  much  more  freedom.  Landlords  and 
churchmen  leased  their  lands  to  relatives  and  friends,  who 
became  their  vassals  or  "goodmen"  (Duine  Uasait),  and 
were  equally  bound  during  their  tenure  to  perform  services 
agreed  upon.  In  1190,  for  example,  Alan,  son  of  Walter  the 
Steward,  consented  to  a  lease  of  Church  lands  by  the  Abbot 
of  Kelso  to  his  men  at  Innerwick,  for  thirty-three  years. 

Whether  the  Brandanes  were  only  the  vassals  of  the  Steward 
in  his  twenty-acre  toft  around  Rothesay  Castle,  or  the  more 
numerous  body  of  serfs  and  villeins  who  were  bound  to  follow 
his  slogan,  I  cannot  determine.  The  nature  of  the  Fitz- 
Alans'  tenantry  of  Bute  is  unknown,  for  before  King  Robert's 
time  the  barons  had  lost  their  title-deeds.  And  when  that 
king  in  Parliament  commanded  them  to  .produce  their  titles, 
says  Buchanan,  every  one  drew  his  sword  and  cried  out,  "  We 
carry  our  titles  in  our  right  hands."  If  that  was  the  kind  of 
title  the  Steward  had  at  first,  then  the  servitude  of  the  "  sons 
of  the  soil,"  and  of  his  military  tenants,  may  have  been  an 
abject  one.  Otherwise  the  Brandane  may  have  been  a  bold 

1  '  Leg.  Burg.,'  15  ;  '  Reg.  Mag.,'  vol.  ii.  p.  9. 


The  Brandanes.  89 

yeoman,  only  forced  to  don  his  iron-quilted  jacket  at  the 
sound  of  war  or  the  summons  of  his  chief— 

"  Loth  to  leave  his  cottage  dear, 
And  march  to  foreign  strand." 

Historians  do  not  explain  how  they  took  their  name  of 
Brandanes,  further  than  that  they  came  from  Bute,  which 
formerly  possessed  the  booth  of  the  saintly  voyager  of  that 
name.  Bran-an,  little  Bran,  was  a  common  Celtic  name. 
King  Aidan  had  a  son  of  this  name,  and  a  nephew  who 
fought  in  the  Isle  of  Man,  styled  Brendinus.  Since,  however, 
the  festival  and  cult  of  St  Brendan  were  remembered  in  Bute 
with  special  regard  and  magnificence  in  the  ornate  days  of 
the  old  religion,  and  the  Butemen  gathered  to  the  Hallow- 
fair  on  that  saint's  day,  they  accepted  him  as  their  patron 
saint.  Most  of  the  clans  had  a  saintly  guardian — Columba, 
Duthac,  Mary,  Brigit. 

The  men  of  Lennox  swore  by  Saint  Kessog ;  the  men  of 
Douglasdale  by  St  Bride  ;  the  Scots  generally  by  St  Andrew- 
From  earliest  times  fighting  bands  have  had  rallying  cries 
and  slogans,  since  Gideon  cried,  "  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and 
of  Gideon  !  "  On  many  a  field,  "  A  Douglas  !  A  Douglas  !  " 
was  a  sound  terrible  to  the  English.  On  the  Borders  the 
yell  of  "  Jeddart's  here !  "  was  fuel  to  the  failing  fight.  In 
the  isles  the  peasants  quailed  to  hear  the  shout  of  the 
Campbells,  "  It's  a  far  cry  to  Lochaw !  "  In  the  bloody 
battle  of  The  Standard,  in  1138,  the  Scots  rushed  into  the 
fray  calling  aloud,  "  Albanaich  !  "—Men  of  Alban  !  At  Byland 
the  challenge  was  "  Saint  George  and  Edward  of  Carnarvon  ! " 
answered  by  "  Saint  Andrew  and  Robert  Bruce,  father  of 
victories ! " 


9O  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

It  is  almost  certain  that  these  Brandanes  joined  the 
national  muster  which  followed  King  David  into  England, 
as  we  find  among  his  other  troops  at  Northallerton  the 
Lavernani  (Campsie  men,  probably  under  Nes,  a  Norman 
settler  and  vassal  of  the  Steward),  and  the  Insulani,  or  men 
of  the  Isles. 

The  Brandanes  were  both  marines  and  common  infantry. 
One  of  their  gifts  to  Wallace  was  a  war-ship — a. "  ballingar  " 
— no  doubt  secretly  made  for  their  hero  in  some  recess  of 
the  Kyles. 

If  the  Brandanes  were  the  husbandmen,  or,  later,  the 
vassals  of  the  Church,  as  has  been  pointed  out  (vol.  i.  p. 
153),  their  first  leader  may  have  been  the  secular  lord  who 
was  recognised  as  possessing  the  Church  lands,  and  who  was 
latterly  "  The  Steward." 

History  gives  us  a  few  glimpses  of  them,  mostly  in  times 
of  war.  In  peace,  they  doubtless  shared  the  common  pros- 
perity of  the  age,  which  was  not  altogether  devoid  of  culture 
and  civilisation,  especially  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies. We  see  their  homes  wasted  and  broken  up  by  Norse 
marauders.  Their  fertile  land  soon  restored  prosperity. 
Merchant  vessels  brought  them  even  the  fashions  from 
France,  with  which  the  ship-men  of  Kintyre  then  traded.1 
Their  own  brawny  smiths  could  as  cunningly  weave  their 
webs  of  mail  as  the  maids  could  twill  the  plaids  of  tartan. 
In  a  fray  they  had  only  one  need,  and  that  was  a  worthy 
leader.  Said  Blind  Harry,  in  other  words — 

"  O  for  an  hour  of  Wallace  wight !  " 
"  Had  thai  Wallace,  off  no  thing  ellis  thai  roucht  [recked] !" 

1  Bk.  ix.  1.  1249. 


The  Brandanes.  gi 

To  call,  said  Wallace,  was  enough  for  those  men,  who— 

"  Scorning  danger's  name, 
In  eager  mood  to  battle  came." 

They  are  frequently  mentioned  as  men  of  handsome  appear- 
ance, martial  bearing,  patriotic  dutifulness,  and  indomitable 
bravery.  When  they  appeared  at  the  siege  of  Perth  with 
Bishop  Sinclair,  they  looked  "  seemly  men  "  : — 

"  Byschop  Synclair  in  till  all  haist  him  dycht, 
Com  out  off  But  with  symely  men  to  sycht."  1 

Their  fine  countenances  and  warlike  form  impressed  Bruce 
when  they  appeared  in  the  Torwood.  Some  of  them  were 
those  veterans  of  Wallace,  of  whom  it  is  related  : — 

"  For  in  thar  way  thar  durst  na  enemys  be, 
Bot  fled  away  be  land  and  als  be  se."  2 

They  were  verily  "  the  wild  Scots,"  accustomed  to  sleep  in 
the  heather  or  the  snow,  afraid  of  nothing. 

The  French  chronicler  Froissart  gives  a  description  of  the 
Scots  troops  of  Bruce  on  the  march,  which,  in  detail,  re- 
sembles that  of  the  islanders  given  in  later  centuries  by 
Monro,  Leslie,  and  Buchanan.  He  writes : — 

"  They  bring  no  carriages  with  them,  on  account  of  the  moun- 
tains they  have  to  pass  in  Northumberland ;  neither  do  they  carry 
with  them  any  provisions  of  bread  and  wine  :  for  their  habits  of 
sobriety  are  such,  in  time  of  war,  that  they  will  live  for  a  long  time 
on  flesh  half-sodden,  without  bread,  and  drink  the  river-water  with- 
out wine.  They  have,  therefore,  no  occasion  for  pots  or  pans,  for 
they  dress  the  flesh  of  their  cattle  in  the  skins,  after  they  have  taken 


1  Bk.  xi.  11.  757,  758.  2  '  Henry,'  bk.  xi.  11.  765,  766. 


92  B^lte  in  the  Olden  Time. 

them  off;  and  being  sure  to  find  plenty  of  them  in  the  country 
which  they  invade,  they  carry  none  with  them.  Under  the  flaps  of 
his  saddle  each  man  carries  a  broad  plate  of  metal  [girdle] ;  behind 
the  saddle  a  little  bag  of  oatmeal.  When  they  have  eaten  too  much 
of  the  sodden  flesh,  and  their  stomach  appears  weak  and  empty, 
they  place  this  plate  over  the  fire,  mix  their  water  with  oatmeal,  and 
when  the  plate  is  heated,  they  put  a  little  of  the  paste  [Gael. 
brochan\  upon  it  and  make  a  thin  cake,  like  a  cracknel  or  biscuit, 
which  they  eat  to  warm  their  stomachs.  It  is  therefore  no  wonder 
that  they  perform  a  longer  day's  march  than  other  soldiers."  1 

Such  were  the  hardy  carls  who  stood  unflinchingly  around 
Sir  John  Stewart  at  Falkirk  in  1298,  as  Blind  Harry  so 
graphically  relates.  The  meeting  of  English  and  Scots  there 
"  was  awfull  for  to  se."  After  the  long  spears  broke,  out 
flashed  their  swords,  and  soon  the  "  dredfull  wapynnys  "  were 
death's  artists,  painting  red  the  iron  coats,  skull-caps  (basnets), 
and  blazonry  of  20,000  dead  men.  Cumin  fled,  leaving  the 
brunt  of  the  battle  to  the  "  hardy  Stewart,"  who  was  soon 
surrounded  by  his  antagonists  —  among  others  the  Bruce, 
according  to  the  Minstrel: — 

"  The  men  off  But  before  thair  lord  thai  stud 
Defendand  him,  quhen  fell  stremyss  off  blud." 

Sir  John  had  arranged  his  men  in  a  "  schiltrom  "  or  circular 
formation,  with  the  archers,  or  "  Flowers  of  the  Forest,"  from 
Selkirk  in  the  centre.  But  he  himself  fell  from  his  horse  in 
their  midst,  and  was  instantly  surrounded  by  his  men,  who 
were  noted  in  Southron  eyes  for  their  elegant  form  and  dis- 
tinguished carriage.2  They  stood  unmoved  by  the  showers 
of  arrows  and  stones  poured  in  by  their  antagonists,  until 
they  were  totally  extinguished  by  the  horsemen.  The  scene 

1  'Chron.,' vol.  i.  p.  18. 

2  Walter  of  Hemingford  in  'Wallace  Papers,'  pp.  62,  112. 


The  Brandanes.  93 

reminds  the  reader  of  the  similar  incident  which  occurred  at 
Flodden,  as  Aytoun  so  graphically  writes  : — 

"  No  one  failed  him  !     He  is  keeping 

Royal  state  and  semblance  still ; 
Knight  and  noble  lie  around  him, 
Cold  on  Flodden's  fatal  hill. 

And  the  English  spearmen  gathered 

Round  a  grim  and  ghastly  wall ! 
As  the  wolves  in  winter  circle 

Round  the  leaguer  on  the  heath, 
So  the  greedy  foe  glared  upward, 

Panting  still  for  blood  and  death. 
But  a  rampart  rose  before  them, 

Which  the  boldest  dare  not  scale  ; 
Every  stone  a  Scottish  body, 

Every  step  a  corpse  in  mail ! " 

That  stance  was  soon  a  flood  of  gore,  wherein,  himself  the 
bravest  of  10,000  dead  by  his  side,  dropped  the  noble  lord, 
"  for  he  wald  nocht  be  tayn."  1  His  ancestor  Siward  would 
have  exclaimed  on  hearing  of  such  a  glorious  ending,  "  Had 
I  as  many  sons  as  I  have  hairs,  I  would  not  wish  them  to  a 
fairer  death."  As  bravely  fell  Sir  John  Graeme  and  Mac- 
duff  of  Fife,  to  the  grief  of  their  leader,  who  sorely  wept  for 
them,  and  fled  the  field,  defeated.  A  plain  slab  was  for  cen- 
turies the  mark  of  the  resting-place  of  this  hero  in  Falkirk 
churchyard.2  Beside  it  the  Marquess  of  Bute  has  reared  a 

1  "Waulter  le  freir  de  Seneschal  Descoce  qu  defenduz  estoit  a  pee  entre  lez 
comunz,  fust  mort  od  plus    de   x.   mille    dez  comuns."  —  Sir  Thomas   Grey's 
'Scala  Chronica,'  p.  125  (Mait.  Club). 

2  The  stone  is  the  segment  of  an  octagon,  and  was  probably  intended  for  an 
effigy.     A  plan  of  the  former  old  church  and  churchyard,  dated  1789,  still  pre- 
served, shows  grave  of  "Stewart  of  Bute";  but  it  was  only  about  eighty  years 
ago  that  the  following  inscription  was  cut  on  the  stone  :  * '  Here  lies  a  Scottish 
Hero,  Sir  John  Stewart,  who  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Falkirk,  22d  July  1298." 
— Notes  by  J.  R.  MacLuckie,  F.S.A.,  1894. 


94  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

memorial  cross  with  this  inscription  :  "  In  memory  of  the 
men  of  Bute  who,  under  Sir  John  Stuart,  on  the  22<d  July 
1298,  in  the  battle  near  the  Fawekirk,  fought  bravely  and 
fell  gloriously,  this  cross  is  reverently  raised  by  John  Stuart, 
Marquess  of  Bute.  A.D.  1877." 

King  Robert  the  Bruce,  like  Wallace,  found  that  Bute  was 
a  safe  military  centre,  both  on  account  of  the  recuperative 
quality  of  the  land  and  the  staunch  adherence  of  the  islanders. 
In  his  will  he  appealed  to  his  successors  to  retain  the  isles,  and 
prevent  them  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  nobles  :  "  Inasmuch 
as  they  could  thence  have  cattle  in  plenty,  and  stout  warriors, 
while  in  the  hands  of  others  they  would  not  readily  yield 
allegiance  to  the  king,  whereas  with  the  slender  title  of  the 
Isles  the  king  can  hold  them  to  the  great  advantage  of  the 
realm,  and  most  of  all  if  he  should  make  recompence  to  others 
of  a  peaceful  territory."1  In  1313,  according  to  some,  Robert 
Bruce  took  and  levelled  Rothesay  Castle.2 

During  the  early  struggles  of  Bruce  the  broken  bands  from 
Falkirk  found  shelter  in  the  isle,  and  received  priestly  comfort 
from  Bishop  Sinclair,  as  well  as  daring  incentive  from  Camp- 
bell of  Lochaw,  who  lurked  about  the  Kyles.  When  the 
young  Steward  joined  Bruce  immediately  before  Bannockburn, 
as  has  been  related  (p.  69),  "  a  rout  of  nobill  men  "  from  his 
various  lands  accompanied  him.  They  excelled  their  fame 
upon  the  battle-field  that  day.  Whether  they  were  actually 


1  Major's  '  Hist,  of  Greater  Britain,'  bk.  i.  chap.  vi.  p.  38  (Scot.  Hist.  Soc. 
edit.) 

2  In  1313,  Bruce  subdues  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  "takes  from  the  English  by  force 
the  castells  of  Bute  [more  probably  Buittle\^  Dumfries,  and  Dals[w]ynton,  all 
which  he  levels  to  the  ground." — Balfour,  *  Annals,'  vol.  i.  p.  93  ;  Fordun's  'An- 
nals,' cxxix,  read  Buth.     Fordun,  xii.  18. 


The  Brandanes.  95 

under  Walter  or  under  Angus  does  not  appear ;  but  they 
were  certainly  in  the  thick  of  the  battle,  led  by  Douglas. 
According  to  John  Major,  where  the  battle-axe  of  these 
wild  Scots  laid  on,  "its  course  is  lined  by  many  a  corpse, 
and  death's  pale  face  is  constant  there."  His  account  of 
their  manners  is  warm  and  lively : — 

"  The  wild  Scots  rushed  upon  them  [the  English]  in  their  fury  as 
wild  boars  will  do ;  hardly  would  any  weapons  make  stand  against 
their  [two-edged]  axes,  handled  as  they  knew  to  handle  them : 
all  around  them  was  a  very  shambles  of  dead  men,  and  when  stung 
by  wounds,  they  were  yet  unable  by  reason  of  the  long  staves  of  the 
enemy  to  come  to  close  quarters,  they  threw  off  their  plaids,  and,  as 
their  custom  was,  did  not  hesitate  to  offer  their  naked  bellies  to  the 
point  of  the  spear.  Now  in  close  contact  with  the  foe,  no  thought 
of  theirs  but  of  the  glorious  death  that  awaited  them  if  only  they 
might  at  the  same  time  compass  his  death  too.  Once  entered  in  the 
heat  of  conflict, — even  as  one  sheep  will  follow  another,  so  they, 
and  hold  cheap  their  lives.  ...  In  blood  the  heroes  fought,  yea, 
knee-deep."1 

Sad  to  say,  every  blow  was  needed  before  they  had 
redeemed  their  morning  vow,  "  The  day  is  ours,  or  every  one 
of  us  shall  die  in  battle."  At  sunset — gory  enough  that  eve 
— the  day  was  theirs  !  Yet  of  that  heroic  band  we  have  only 
one  name  preserved — Walter  the  Steward. 

The  Steward  and  his  body-guard  were  sent  to  the  English 
Borders  after  Bannockburn,  to  exchange  the  prisoners  of  war, 
and  to  escort  the  liberated  Queen  of  Scotland  to  her  victori- 
ous husband.  But  when  the  wearied  war-worn  heroes  of 
Bannockburn  got  their  furlough  in  Bute,  it  was  not  to  hang 
their  well -notched  blades  upon  the  peaty  rafters  of  their 

1  Major's  '  Hist,  of  Greater  Britain,'  bk.  i.  chap.  iii.  p.  240. 


96  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

quiet  homes,  like  the  trusty  weapon  of  Deuchar  in  Fife,  which 
bore  the  graphic -inscription — 

"At  Bannockburn  I  served  the  Bruce, 
Of  whilk  the  Inglis  had  na  russ  [boast]." 

The  Scottish  galleys  conveying  Edward  Bruce's  host  to 
Ireland  to  pay  off  old  scores  had  just  sailed,  when  King 
Robert,  in  1315,  quietly  appeared  in  Bute  waters,  and  taking 
with  him  the  Steward  and  his  Brandanes,  made  for  Tarbert, 
to  chastise  the  wild  West  Highlanders.  By  an  ingenious  de- 
vice like  that  of  Haco — laying  down  trees  and  planks  to 
form  a  keel-way — they  sailed  their  full-rigged  galleys  over 
the  narrow  neck  of  land  into  the  western  ocean,  and  soon 
quelled  the  men  of  Lorn.  This  was  the  first  ship-railway. 
The  Bruce  next  proceeded  to  Ireland  to  assist  his  brother, 
who  was  accompanied  by  members  of  the  Steward's  family, 
including  Sir  John  Steward,  his  brother,  who  fell  at  Dundalk 
on  the  I4th  October  1318,  and  Sir  Alan  Steward,  his  cousin. 

The  Steward  and  Douglas  were  left  as  joint-wardens  of 
the  realm.  The  city  of  Berwick,  still  in  English  hands,  was 
soon  invested  and  taken  by  the  Steward,  who  had  "such 
yearning "  to  be  on  the  bloody  Borders  with  his  deadly 
archers  from  the  Forest.  He  called  out  five  hundred  of  "his 
friends  and  his  men,"  says  Barbour — no  doubt  the  jakmen 
and  the  cross-bowmen  of  the  burghs  and  of  Bute — with  others 
bearing  the  "  arms  of  ancestry  "  as  well  as  the  tools  of  death, 
to  defend  the  castle  of  which  he  was  appointed  the  keeper  in 
1318.  Every  kind  of  engine  was  prepared,  every  defensive 
device  planned,  "and  great  fire  purveyed."  In  the  strong 
apparel  of  battle,  the  city  and  its  five  hundred  well-led  men 
waited  the  beleaguerment  of  their  foes — led  by  Edward  him- 


The  Brandanes.  97 

self — not  long,  however.  From  land  and  sea,  on  St  Mary's 
Eve,  7th  September  1319,  the  wild  carols  of  chivalry  rung 
round  the  walls,  and  were  answered  by  showers  of  stones, 
fire,  and  arrows.  The  Steward  rode  around,  inciting  the 
defenders  incessantly.  The  blazing  galleys  gave  them  light 
by  night.  But  nothing  "  skunnirrit "  (disheartened)  the  besieg- 
ers in  their  fierce  assaults,  and  nothing  the  untiring  garrison. 
They  fell  where  they  were  posted,  to  a  man.  There  ensued 
a  terrible  fight  at  the  Mary  Gate,  which  the  foe  had  fired, 
and  nearly  burst,  when  the  Steward  appeared  in  the  hand-to- 
hand  encounter.  But  what  with  "  stabing,  stoking,  and  strik- 
ing"— what  with  the  arrows  gathered  by  the  women  and 
children  and  shot  again,  the  fell  foe  were  driven  away,  and 
a  blithe  shout  rose  from  the  sturdy  band.  And  when  the 
English  army,  baffled,  retreated,  there  was  "gamyn  and 
gle"  within  the  walls.  The  Steward  and  his  men  were 
praised  for  their  "  manhed  and  subtilite,"  while  of  the 
Steward  his  compeers  thought — 

"  He  was  worthy  ane  prins  to  be." 

By  this  time  the  English  had  seen  enough  of  Douglas  and 
his  furred  hat,  of  Walter  and  his  men  of  pith  (peth),  and  a 
truce  was  struck  from  Christmas  Day.  The  Brandanes  got 
two  years  to  draw  their  breath  in  their  native  air,  till  the  wild 
alarms  of  war  rallied  them  again,  and  they  found  themselves 
with  other  islemen  on  the  Braes  of  Byland  chasing  their  an- 
tagonists. Following  up  this  success  of  the  king,  the  Steward, 
again  with  a  gallant  five  hundred,  harassed  the  English  to 
the  very  gates  of  York,  sitting  down  before  them  till  nightfall, 
and  challenging  the  garrison  to  come  and  try  their  mettle. 

But  the  Brandanes  were  fighting  against  another  author- 
VOL.  II.  G 


98  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

ity,  which  for  a  time  almost  threatened  the  extinction  of  their 
liberty.  King  Robert  and  his  following  had  been  for  years 
under  the  ban  of  the  Pope,  on  account  of  their  alleged  bar- 
barity and  paganism.  English  counsels  prevailed,  and  ob- 
tained the  most  terrible  anathemas  against  them.  The  Bruce 
was  incorrigible,  and  maintained  the  justice  of  his  cause 
against  all  the  powers  temporal  and  spiritual.  On  the  6th 
April  1320,  the  lords  and  barons,  free  tenants,  and  the  whole 
community,  had  a  representative  meeting  at  Aberbrothock, 
and  drew  up  a  manifesto,  declaring  their  nationality  and 
other  independent  rights,  which  was  sent  to  the  Pope.  Its 
most  striking  clause  was  :  "  So  long  as  a  hundred  remain 
alive,  we  will  never  in  any  degree  be  subject  to  the  dominion 
of  the  English.  Since  not  for  glory,  riches,  or  honour  we 
fight,  but  for  liberty  alone,  which  no  good  man  loses  but  with 
his  life."  Among  those  who  in  "  filial  reverence  "  sent  kisses 
to  the  "  blessed  feet "  of  the  Supreme  Pontiff,  was  Walter, 
Steward  of  Scotland.  The  Papal  Court  negotiated  a  long 
truce  between  the  two  nations. 

During  this  peaceful  lull  the  Steward  died  in  the  spring 
of  1326,  leaving  a  son,  Robert,  the  young  Steward,  ten 
years  of  age.  Three  years  afterwards  the  Bruce  died,  while 
the  young  Earl  David  was  in  his  seventh  year. 

Sir  James  Stewart  of  Rossyth  and  Durrisdeer,  brother  of 
Walter,  became  the  commander  of  the  Steward's  men,  and 
led  them  under  Douglas  in  the  raid  on  England  in  1327. 
The  young  Steward  was  now  heir-apparent  of  the  throne. 
Baliol  and  the  English  soon  embroiled  Scotland  in  a  fresh 
conflict,  which  came  to  a  decisive  issue  on  Halidon  Hill 
above  Berwick,  on  the  2Oth  July  1333.  The  young  Steward, 
then  sixteen  years  old,  led  one  of  the  four  Scots  divisions, 


The  Brandanes.  99 

under  the  supervision  of  Durrisdeer,  his  uncle.  A  fierce 
carnage  ensued,  in  which  the  Scots  were  nearly  annihilated. 
Many  of  Stewart  blood  that  day  embraced  the  rounded 
breasts  of  green  Halidon,  including  three  cousins  of  the 
Stewart  of  the  Bonkyl  house,  and  also  his  sister  Jean's 
husband,  Earl  of  Ross.  Some  writers  state  that  the  battle 
took  place  on  the  Magdalen's  Day  (22d  July),  probably 
because  it  was  a  day  of  repentance  and  of  tears  to  Scotland. 
Every  shield  was  in  mourning  after  that  fateful  fray.  Its 
issue  was — save  himself  who  could. 

The  Steward  found  refuge  in  Bute.  The  strong  places, 
with  few  exceptions,  soon  fell  into  the  hands  of  Baliol  and 
the  English,  and  the  country  was  humiliated  under  southern 

soldiery : — 

"  The  Ballyoll  Schyre  Edward  then 
Gaue  landis  till  his  sworne  men  ; 
To  the  Erie  of  Athole,  Schyr  Dawy 
The  Stvvartis  landis  he  gaue  halyly. 

The  keys  thai  browcht  hym  thare, 
That  in  Dw(n)hwne  and  Rosay  ware. 
Schyr  Alane  the  Lyle  made  he  hale 
Scbyrrawe  off  Bwte  and  Cowale  : 
Thome  off  Wollar,  I  wndrstand 
Thare-in  he  made  his  Iwtenand."1 

The  keys  of  the  castles  of  Dunoon  and  Rothesay  were 
handed  over  to  Edward  Baliol  at  Renfrew.2  But  a  loyal 

1  Wyntoun,  bk.  viii.  c.  xxviii.  1.  4099. 

2  '  Extracta  e  variis  Cronicis  Scocie,'  p.    164,   ed.   Turnbull :    "  Rothsay  et 
Dunhun  castrorum  claves  presentantur  Eduardo  de  Baliolo  apud  Renfrew  anno 
predicto  (?).     .     .     .     Robertas  Senescallus  Scocie,  regni  heres  extitit  in  castro 
Rothsay  etatis  sue  anno  xvi.  :  per  Johannem  Gilberti  et  Willelmum  Ileriot  in 
baronia  hinc  memorantem,  cum  certis  de  Stewartlande  usque  Dounbertane  fideliter 
et-sapienter  deduxerunt,  et  ibidem  per  Malcolmum  Flemyng  honorifice  est  sus- 
ceptus  ibidemque  absque  metu  permansit." 


ioo  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

garrison  held  Dumbarton,  into  which,  accompanied  by  two 
henchmen,  John  Gilbert  and  William  Heriot,  the  Steward 
escaped.  At  this  juncture  Baliol  may  have  repaired  the 
Castle  of  Rothesay,  which  twenty  years  before  the  Bruce 
had  rendered  defenceless ;  or  his  lieutenant,  David  Earl  of 
Athole,  to  whom  he  gave  "  grants  of  part  of  the  Steward's 
lands,"  may  have  done  it  to  secure  his  possession.  "  All  the 
lands  of  the  Stuart  and  of  the  Cummings  of  Bute  the  Earl 
of  Athole  now  fastened  upon  for  himself." 1  Alan  Lisle  was 
appointed  Sheriff  or  Senescal  of  Bute.  John  Gybbownsone 
was  Castellan  of  Rothesay. 

Revenge  was  only  slumbering  in  the  cunningly  quiet  land. 
Summoning  to  his  aid  his  kinsman  Campbell  of  Lochow, 
the  Steward  issued  from  Dumbarton  and  took  the  Castle  of 
Dunoon,  an  exploit  which  incited  the  Butemen  to  rise  and 
join  their  chief.  The  Sheriff  and  his  men  tried  to  intercept 
the  Brandanes,  who,  being  disarmed  or  only  sparsely  armed, 
had  to  take  up  a  position  on  a  stony  hillock,  probably  the 
face  of  Barone.  The  natives  met  their  antagonists  with  volley 
after  volley  of  round  stones,  the  larger  being  precipitated  by 
rolling  from  the  height,  the  smaller  being  shot  from  their 
hands  with  such  effect  as  to  discomfit  the  Sheriff's  company. 
Lisle  himself  was  among  the  slain.  The  garrison,  too,  soon 
capitulated.  The  fight  was  called  the  "  Batail-nan-dornaig  " 
— as  we  thus  learn  from  Wyntoun  : — 

"  Thus  wes  the  Kynryk  off  Scotland 
Sa  hale  in  Inglis  mennys  hand, 
That  nane  durst  thaim  than  wythsay. 


1  Major,  bk.  v.  chap.  xiii. 


Tke  Brandanes.  101 

The  Stvvart  wes  in  Dwnbertane 
That  hevyly  in  hart  has  tane 
That  off  Athole  the  Erie  Dawy 
Swa  occupyid  his  senyhowry. 
So  in  Argyle  wes  a  barown,1 
That  had  a  gret  affectyoun 
To  this  Stwart  the  yhyng  Roberd. 

Qwhen  t^e  Brandanys  off  Bute  herd  say, 
That  thare  lord  in  swylk  aray 
Had  tane  Dwnhowyn  in  till  Cowale, 
In  hy  wyth  hym  thai  ras  all  hale  : 
And  he  thame  thankyd  off  thare  rysyng, 
And  heycht  to  mak  thame  rewardyng. 
Thai  assemblyd  that  ilke  day 
Welle  nere  by,  qwhare  the  Schyrrawe  lay  : 
The  Schyrrawe  thare-at  had  dyspyte, 
And  gert  his  men  aray  thaim  tyte, 
And  eschyd,  and  can  to  thaim  ga 
Qwhare  thai  ware  standand  in  a  bra, 
Qwhare  plente  ware  off  stanys  rownde  : 
Thare  mete  thai  in  a  lytill  stownd. 
Wyth  stanys  thare  thai  made  swylk  pay, 
For  thare  off  thanne  enew  had  thay, 
That  the  Schyrraue  thare  wes  slayne. 
Jhon  Gybbownsone  in  hand  wes  tayne, 
That  heycht  to  gyue  wpe  the  castelle  : 
He  held  command  thare  off  rycht  welle. 
And  for  thai  thare  with  stanys  faucht, 
And  wan  thare  fays  wyth  mekill  mawcht ; 
That  amang  the  Brandanys  all 
The  Batayle  Dornang2  thai  it  call. 
The  Stwart,  qwhen  he  herd  this  deyde, 
To  thame  in  hy  he  can  hym  speyd 
Till  his  Castelle,  and  thare-in  made 
Keparis,  that  in  yhemsale  hade  ; 

1  His  name  was  "  Dowgall  Cammell  of  Lochow."     Stuart  sent  for  Cammell, 
and  with  400  men  and  galleys  took  and  garrisoned  "  Dwnhovyn  "  Castle. 

2  Batail-nan-dornaig — Gael,  dbrn,  a  fist,  a  fistful,  a  stone. 


1O2  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

And  bade  the  Brandanys  ask  thare  mede, 
That  thai  suld  haue  for  thare  gude  dede. 
Thai  askyd  to  be  multyre  free  : 
Than  that  wyth  gud  will  thame  gave  he. 
Than  had  he  wonnyn  till  his  land 
Nyne  hundyr  markis  worth  off  land." 1 

The  news  of  victory  soon  brought  the  Steward  from 
Dunoon,  and  being  delighted  with  the  bravery  of  his  followers, 
he  gave  them  as  a  reward  perpetual  exemption  from  the 
payment  of  multures.  This  spirited  deed  fanned  the  fire  of 
patriotic  rebellion,  till  the  Steward  found  a  large  following 
of  Westland  men  round  him. 

The  Bute  family  of  Glass  hand  down  an  interesting  tradi- 
tion, apparently  in  reference  to  this  very  affair,  to  this  effect : 

"When  King  Robert  Bruce  was  scrambling  for  the  kingdom, 
and  righting  his  way  in  the  west,  he  was  opposed  by  Argyle  and 
other  Highland  chiefs.  At  the  time  alluded  to  he  had  come  from 
Ayrshire,  and  had  accomplished  a  landing  in  the  island  of  Bute. 
His  followers  were  few,  and  fewer  still  appeared  to  join  his  standard 
in  the  island,  till  Glass  of  Ascog  with  sixteen  retainers,  and  another 
small  laird  with  a  few  more  retainers,  joined  him.  By  their  example, 
many  others  turned  out  and  gained  a  battle — or  skirmish  it  might 
perhaps  be  called — and,  in  the  evening,  when  Bruce  returned  to 
Rothsay  Castle,  which  he  took  possession  of,  he  was  so  pleased 
with  the  conduct  of  Glass  and  his  neighbours,  that  he  caused  his 
*  learned  clerk '  to  make  out  Free  or  Crown  Charters  in  their  favour 
of  the  lands  they  held — i.e.,  he  granted  them  the  lands  Free  for  which 
they  formerly  paid  Rent  or  Mail.  These  Charters  are  in  existence 
to  this  day,  bearing  date  from  Rothsay  Castle.  Glass's  family,  by 
this  Grant  and  Royal  Favour,  became  highly  respectable,  the  Laird 
being  now  a  small  Baron." 2 

1  Wyntoun,  bk.  viii.  c.  xxix.  11.  4327-4360. 

3  Note  to  Geneal.  Tree  of  the  Glassfords,  by  Wm.  Glassford,  1834,  in  possession 
of  Mr  J.  G.  Jamieson,  Rothesay. 


The  Brandanes.  101 

\j 

This  incident  might  have  referred  to  the  capture  of  Rothe- 
say  Castle  in  1312  by  Robert  I.;  but,  meantime,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  charters,  I  think  the  event  has  been  antedated. 

The  first  thing  we  would  expect  the  Brandanes  to  have 
done  now  would  be  to  put  their  castle  in  order, — an  import- 
ant work,  of  which  the  memorial  appears  to  be  left  in  the 
rubble-work  built  upon  the  Norman  masonry  of  the  circular 
court. 

Robert  the  Steward  was  made  Regent  of  Scotland  in  1338, 
and  set  himself  to  reduce  Perth  and  the  other  castles  still  in 
foreign  custody.  King  David  returned  from  France  in  1341, 
and  invaded  England,  where  at  Neville's  Cross  he  was 
defeated  and  made  prisoner.  The  Steward  and  the  Earl 
of  March  led  the  left  wing  of  the  Scots  ;  but  when  they 
perceived  the  day  going  against  them  they  retreated,  an  act 
which  David  never  forgave  his  nephew.  During  the  king's 
imprisonment  the  Steward  was  appointed  Regent  by  the 
nobles,  and  prudently  conducted  the  business  of  his  office  in 
a  very  critical  time.  During  the  treacherous  proceedings  of 
his  uncle,  who,  after  his  release,  endeavoured  to  settle  the 
Crown  of  Scotland  on  the  Duke  of  Clarence — a  proposal 
indignantly  rejected  by  the  Scots  Parliament  and  the  sup- 
porters of  Robert — the  Steward  acted  a  becoming  and  manly 
part.  The  ungrateful  king,  out  of  jealousy,  threw  into  prison 
his  faithful  servant.  In  all  his  trials  there  can  be  no  doubt 
the  faithful  Brandanes  and  Westland  men  stood  close  to  their 
chief,  until  in  1371  they  saw  the  crown  upon  his  head.  Long 
before  this,  John  Lord  of  Kyle,  afterwards  Robert  III.,  had 
taken  up  his  father's  sword  to  lead  the  Brandanes,  which  we 
find  him  doing  so  early  as  1355  in  Teviotdale.  As  John  was 
unfit  for  warfare,  being  lame,  the  Steward's  men  were  after- 


IO4  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

wards   led    by   his   brothers,    Robert   and    David,   over    the 
Borders. 

Thus  the  terrible  Brandanes  had  no  small  share  of  the 
glory  of  gaining  and  maintaining  the  national  liberty,  with 
the  dauntless 

"  Scots  vvha  hae  vvi'  Wallace  bled— 
Scots  wham  Bruce  has  aften  led." 


SCALE      OF       FEET 


DRAWING    No.  5. 


105 


CHAPTER    IV. 


THE   HOME   OF   THE   STEWARTS. 


"  There's  a  castle  biggit  with  lime  and  stane, 

O  gin  it  stands  not  pleasantlie  ! 

In  the  fore  front  o'  that  castle  fair, 

Twa  unicorns  are  bra  to  see." 

— Old  Ballad,  "  The  Outlaw  Murray." 

|  EVER  A  L  hundred  years  have  now  flitted  away 
since  the  weather-beaten  coat  of  arms  which 
surmounts  the  doorway  of  Rothesay  Castle — or, 
more  properly  speaking,  Palace — reminded  the 
mariner  whose  galley  touched  the  shingly  beach  beneath  the 
shadow  of  the  castle  walls  that  he  was  under  the  guard  of 
the  king's  own  men.  Otherwise  the  golden  Lion  Rampant 
fluttering  over  a  turreted  tower,  or  the  abrupt  call  of  the 
sentinel  shouting  his  challenge  "A  Brandane,"  soon  informed 
the  visitor  that  the  Steward  of  Scotland  still  held  the  fortress 
as  a  gage  in  war,  or  as  his  own  hereditary  home. 

When  those  bright-coloured  walls,  which  in  sunshine  belie 
for  beauty  their  warlike  purpose,  were  first  reared  to  dominate 
the  strath  of  Bute  and  the  Bay  of  Rothesay,  is  no  less  a 
mystery  than  that  which  surrounds  the  origin  of  the  first 
settler  on  this  "coign  of  vantage." 


io6  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

If  the  site  was  artificial,  it  may  be  surmised  the  first  fortalice 
got  its  name  Rothers-ay  from  the  whole  island  ;  if  the  site  was 
an  islet,  stranded  at  the  mouth  of  the  local  stream,  it  may 
have  given  its  name  to  the  island.  I  prefer  the  former  as- 
sumption. [In  a  previous  chapter1  I  endeavoured  to  trace 
the  name  to  a  Norse  origin,  a  surmise  now  strengthened  by 
subsequent  study  of  the  researches  of  Professor  Thomsen  of 
Copenhagen,  who  finds  that  anciently  some  parts  of  Sweden 
— Upland  and  East  Gothland — were  called  Rother,  Rothin,  a 
word  he  connects  with  Roths-menu,  Roths-karlar,  signifying 
rowing-men,  rudder-men,  vikings.2  Out  of  this  people  prob- 
ably sprang  King  Rother,  the  mythical  hero  of  the  Icelandic 
Saga,  "  The  Romance  of  King  Rother,"  which  narrates  how 
"  On  the  Western  Sea  there  dwelt  a  king  whose  name  was 
Rother  ;  in  the  town  of  Bari,  there  he  dwelt  with  great  renown. 
Other  lords  did  him  service ;  two-and-seventy  kings,  men  of 
both  valour  and  piety,  were  under  him.  He  was  the  greatest 
king  who  was  ever  crowned  in  Rome."  3 

Rothesay  was  Rother's-Isle,  in  any  case,  whether  we  accept 
the  assumption  that  it  was  overrun  by  a  colony  from  Swedish 
Rother,  or  by  the  rothers  —  the  row-men  —  of  the  Norse 
peninsula. 

Their  central  place  of  meeting  in  the  fortified  islet  in  the 
ancient  burgh  for  judicial  purposes  might  also  have  the  alter- 
native name  of  the  isle  of  management  (Rothis-ay)]. 

Rothesay  Castle,  in  its  present  ruined  condition,  consists  of 
an  immense  edifice,  built  on  an  islet,  with  water  ornamentally 
disposed  around  it  to  give  the  appearance  of  the  original 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  14. 

2  '  Scottish  Review,'  vol.  xxii.  No.  xliv.  p.  329. 

3  Ibid.,  No.  xliii.  p.  37. 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts.  107 

fosse.  The  fortification  itself,  as  the  illustration  shows,  was 
originally  a  circular  fort,  somewhat  irregular  in  outline,  formed 
of  a  wall  8  feet  in  thickness  and  over  20  feet  in  height.  At 
each  of  the  four  cardinal  points  of  the  compass  appear  the 
remains  of  a  round  tower  28  feet  in  internal  diameter.  Abut- 
ting on  the  wall  between  the  north  and  east  towers  rises  a  huge 
rectangular  structure,  whose  front  wall  is  pierced  for  the  mod- 
ern doorway,  which  opens  into  a  long  vaulted  passage  leading 
to  the  original  entrance  to  the  fort.  This  latter  structure 
was  the  domiciliary  residence  of  some  of  the  Stuart  kings.  A 
drawbridge  gives  access  to  the  palace.  Such  a  castle  in  its 
glory  Sir  Walter  Scott  describes  in  "  The  Bridal  of  Triermain  "  : 

"  But,  midmost  of  the  vale,  a  mound 
Arose  with  airy  turrets  crown'd, 
Buttress,  and  rampire's  circling  bound, 

And  mighty  keep  and  tower  ; 
Seem'd  some  primeval  giant's  hand 
The  castle's  massive  walls  had  plann'd, 

Above  the  moated  entrance  slung, 

The  balanced  drawbridge  trembling  hung, 

As  jealous  of  a  foe  ; 
Wicket  of  oak,  as  iron  hard, 
With  iron  studded,  clench'd,  and  bariM, 
And  prong'd  portcullis,  join'd  to  guard 

The  gloomy  pass  below." 

I  am  fortunate  in  being  permitted  by  the  Marquess  of  Bute 
to  print  here  the  report  on  the  castle,  drawn  up  in  1872  by 
the  late  Mr  William  Burges,  Architect,  London  : — 

To  the  MOST  NOBLE  the  MARQUESS  OF  BUTE. 

MY  LORD, — About  the  middle  of  last  year  you  did  me  the 
honour  of  requesting  a  report  upon  the  past  and  present  condition 
of  your  castle  at  Rothesay.  Accordingly  I  proceeded  to  the  Isle  of 


io8  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Bute,  and  there  spent  the  week  ending  August  12  [1872]  examining 
the  building  in  company  with  Mr  Thomson  [Rothesay].  With 
his  assistance  I  measured  sundry  portions  of  the  buildings,  and  I 
have  since  received  several  supplementary  drawings  from  him, 
copies  of  which  will  be  found  in  this  report  marked  T. 

i.   The  Present  Condition  of  the  Building. 

From  drawings  Nos.  4  and  5  it  will  be  seen  that  Rothesay 
Castle  consists  of  an  irregular  circular  space  some  135  feet  in 
diameter,  surrounded  by  a  wall  8  feet  thick.  This  wall  is  con- 
structed of  a  hearting  of  rough  rubble,  enclosed  by  outer  and  inner 
facings  of  cut  sandstone.  At  the  four  angles  of  the  compass  are 
four  exterior  circular  towers,  portions  of  three  of  which  still  remain. 
But  the  walls  and  towers  have  evidently  been  added  to,  from  the 
original  height,  for  the  sandstone  facing,  which  in  the  lower  portion 
is  red  and  yellow,  after  attaining  a  height  of  about  2  o  feet,  suddenly 
becomes  white ;  however,  on  the  inside  face  of  this  additional  work 
there  is  no  sandstone — whinstone  is  substituted  for  it.  Apart  from 
the  entrances  to  the  towers,  which  are  square-headed,  there  are  two 
doorways  in  the  wall — viz.,  the  entrance  doorway,  and  the  postern. 
The  arch  of  the  great  entrance  is  three-centred,  or  rather  elliptical, 
a  form  often  seen  in  Norman  work.  The  postern  doorway,  now 
blocked  up,  has  a  semicircular  head,  but  has  lost  its  ring  of 
voussoirs. 

In  front  of  the  entrance  doorway  a  projection  has  been  added 
at  some  later  period ;  but  in  this  case  the  archway  is  pointed,  and 
has  been  pierced  for  a  portcullis.  There  is  also  a  plain  chamfered 
impost-string.  The  whole  style  of  this  archway  evidently  points  to 
the  early  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  at  which  period  it  is  prob- 
ably that  the  original  elliptical  archway  was  considerably  narrowed 
by  building  another  archway  within  it. 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  nature  of  the  squared  sandstone 
walling  renders  it  very  difficult  to  detect  alterations  and  repairs 
whenever  the  old  stones  have  been  used  again :  thus  the  place 
where  the  south-west  tower  (now  destroyed)  impinged  on  the  wall 
has  been  repaired  with  the  old  stones,  and  many  persons  might 
pass  the  place  without  suspecting  that  any  tower  had  ever  been 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts.  \  09 

there ;  and  it  would  require  very  sharp  eyes  indeed  to  detect 
where  the  postern  has  been  blocked  up,  and  yet  this  doorway 
was  reopened  as  late  as  1816,  when  the  first  excavations  were  made 
by  the  orders  of  the  late  Marquis. 

The  inside  of  the  area  enclosed  by  the  wall  was  doubtless,  as 
the  excavations  have  proved,  filled  by  a  variety  of  buildings — 
probably  having  the  lower  storeys  constructed  of  stone  and  the 
upper  of  wood.  All  these  have  now  disappeared  with  the  exception 
of  the  chapel,  which  presents  architectural  features  which  in  England 
would  be  attributed  to  the  time  of  Edward  I.  The  excavations 
of  1816  and  those  made  last  year  by  Mr  Thomson  show  that  the 
rest  of  the  area  was  full  of  buildings,  though  we  have  little  or  no 
evidence  as  to  their  destination.  They  evidently  surrounded  an 
irregular  court  in  the  centre  of  the  area.  This  area  at  all  periods 
must  have  been  excessively  crowded,  and  its  inconvenience  prob- 
ably necessitated  the  erection  of  the  great  barbican,  which  was 
added  to  the  entrance  doorway  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century. 

The  dilapidated  condition  of  the  structure  and  the  large  quantity 
of  ivy  which  grows  over  almost  every  part  present  great  hindrances 
to  an  exhaustive  inspection ;  but  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  it 
appears  to  me  that  the  system  of  defence  adopted  is  that  in  practice 
during  the  thirteenth  century,  when  keeps  were  abandoned,  and 
the  defence  intrusted  to  the  walls  and  towers,  with  the  engines  placed 
behind  the  curtains.  The  great  object  was  to  prevent  the  acquisi- 
tion of  one  part  of  the  wall  by  the  besiegers,  entailing  the  loss  of 
the  whole  castle.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  each  of  the  four  curtain 
walls  possessed  its  own  flight  of  steps.  The  towers  also  have 
their  separate  entrances,  and  had  no  communication  with  the  top 
of  the  wall,  except  perhaps  a  temporary  one  on  the  inside  face, 
which  could  be  removed  in  time  of  war.  The  enemy,  therefore, 
when  he  had  acquired  a  tower  or  a  curtain  wall,  could  get  no 
further. 

Traces  of  the  stairs  to  the  N.E.  curtain  are  very  visible  (see 
drawing  5,  No.  22),  while  the  steps  behind  the  chapel  are  nearly 
perfect  at  the  present  time. 

When  it  was  decided  to  raise  the  height  of  the  walls,  the  arrow- 


I  IO 


Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 


slits  in  the  lower  storey  of  the  towers  were  blocked  up ;  and  it  is 
possible  that  the  postern  may  have  undergone  the  same  process 
at  the  same  time.  But  the  most  notable  change  is  to  be  found 
in  the  curtains  on  either  side  of  the  barbican,  where  the  old 
battlements  (which,  by  the  way,  have  a  very  thirteenth-century 
appearance)  have  been  retained  and  made  part  of  the  new  wall, 
the  top  of  the  old  wall  being  converted  into  a  gallery.  This  is 
shown  on  drawing  12. 


,^*Sg5. 


5»s^L^"  ^s^swia 


~r~.  r-  . 


Section. 


Elevation. 


Sc  AC  •      ow    PBET 

Rothesay  Castle,  curtain  wall  (No.  12). 

The  new  work  in  this  part  of  the  building  shows  evident  signs  of 
haste,  the  wall  being  composed  of  small  irregular  pieces  of  whin- 
stone,  and  unlike  the  walling  of  the  chapel  (see  drawing  13,  fig.  4). 
The  old  waterspouts  have  doubtless  been  taken  out  and  used  up 
above,  where  we  now  see  them. 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts. 


1 1 1 


The  upper  wall  in  other  parts  of  the  building  has  been  executed 
in  a  more  leisurely  manner,  the  old  battlements  have  been  taken 
down  below  the  level  of  the  waterspouts,  and  a  well-executed  wall 
ofwhinstone,  faced  on  the  exterior  with  white  sandstone,  superposed. 
There  are  traces  of  a  gallery  similar  to  that  above  described  in 
the  southern  curtain,  but  it  is  now  quite  overgrown  with  ivy,  so  that 
the  examination  presented  great  difficulty. 

We  have  every  reason  to  congratulate  ourselves  on  the  necessity 
which  compelled  the  builders  of  the  upper  part  of  N.W.  curtain  wall 
to  leave  the  battlements,  inasmuch  as  we  are 
enabled    to    ascertain    the    modes    of   defence 
adopted    before    the  wall  was    raised.      There 


St  Michael's  Chapel,  longitudinal  section^  looking  south  (No.  na). 

were  two  modes — (i)  the  battlements,  which  protected  the  de- 
fenders, and  enabled  them  to  annoy  the  besiegers  from  a  distance ; 
(2)  the  movable  wooden  framework,  which  projected  from  the 
battlements,  and  afforded  the  besieged  the  means  of  pouring  down 
stones,  hot  water,  and  other  things  on  any  one  attempting  to  sap 
the  bottom  of  the  wall.  In  drawing  12,  elevation,  the  holes  for  in- 
serting the  timber  frames  for  this  purpose  are  distinctly  to  be  traced. 
Below  are  another  series  of  holes,  which  formerly  contained  stone 
waterspouts  to  drain  the  top  of  the  wall ;  for  the  timber  framing, 
which  extended  over  the  top  of  the  wall,  was  only  put  into  position 
in  times  of  war.  Very  often  the  merlons  are  pierced  with  arrow- 
slits,  but  the  traces  of  them  in  the  present  instance  are  very 
doubtful. 


ROTHESAY   CASTLE  (No.  14). 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts. 


Sketches  of  the  present  condition  of  the  tops  of  the  various  walls 
will  be  found  in  drawing  14,  and  in  the  conjectural  restoration  I 
have  endeavoured  to  show  the  application  of  the  timber  framing  or 
hourds  in  connection  with  the  battlements  (see  drawing  2). 

I  must  now  return  to  the  chapel,  plans  of  which  are  given  in 
drawing  i  o,  and  sections  in  drawing  1 1 .  It  consisted  of  two  storeys, 
an  under  and  upper.  The  lower  may  have  been  used  by  the 
garrison  and  the  upper  part  by  the  governor,  or  the  king  when  he 
was  in  residence.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Sainte  Chapelle 
at  Paris  has  a  similar  arrangement,  which  was  a  very  common  one 
in  the  middle  ages. 

It  is  of  course  just  possible  that  the  lower  storey  in  this  case  may 
have  been  simply  a  cellar,  more  especially  as  the  excavations  of  1816 
brought  to  light  no  traces  of  interment.  The 
windows  have  had  iron  bars  but  no  glass. 

The  upper  storey  was  approached  by  a  flight 


V 


IT  Y\ 


Plan  of  crypt.  St  Michael's  Chapel  (No.  loa). 

of  steps  on  the  south  side.  There  was  no  eastern  light,  as  the 
bloody  stairs  are  placed  between  the  chapel  and  the  castle  wall. 
In  the  N.  and  S.  walls  we  find  double  windows  of  two  lights  near 
the  altar.  These  are  remarkable  as  having  their  mullions  prepared 
for  internal  shutters. 

To  the  westward  of  these  windows  on  either  side  are  single 
lancets,  which  have  been  provided  with  shutters  but  were  destitute 
of  glass.  In  enlinological  nomenclature  these  lancets  would  be 
called  "  vulne  "  windows,  from  a  fancied  resemblance  to  the  wound 

VOL.  II.  H 


1 1 4  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

on  our  Lord's  side.  I  am  not  aware  that  there  is  any  ancient 
authority  for  this  theory,  but  it  is  certain  that  in  several  edifices 
of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  small  windows  different 
from  the  other  windows  are  found  in  the  north  and  south-western 
ends  of  chancels  and  chapels.  Prior  Crawden's  Chapel  at  Ely  is 
one  instance  in  which  precisely  the  same  arrangement  occurs  as  in 
Rothesay.  These  windows  are  more  generally  called  lynchnoscopes. 


A 

.r\r\ 

J 

1 

- 

3 

13 

jj=C3a    \/ 

j  —  i'  —  f,     N-v  '/ 

Plan  of  St  Michael's  Chapel  (No.  io£). 

Their  supposed  use  was  to  allow  the  sacring  bell  to  be  heard. 
Hence  they  are  never  found  glazed,  but  simply  provided  with  a 
shutter. 

The  chapel  was  provided  with  a  piscina  in  the  east  end  of  south 
wall,  the  usual  place.  There  are  no  traces  of  sedilia,  but  there  are 
traces  of  an  aumbry  in  the  eastern  wall  to  the  north  of  the  altar. 

As  before  observed,  the  walls  of  the  chapel  are  built  of  small 
whinstone  rubble,  and  very  much  alike  to  the  upper  part  of  the 
N.W.  curtain.  In  all  probability  it  was  once  covered  with  thin 
plaster  and  roughcast,  like  many  of  the  churches  in  England. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  immense 
barbican  was  built  in  front  of  the  main  entrance  to  afford  more 
accommodation.  Its  interior  dimensions,  which  measure  roughly 
25x60,  and  its  three  storeys,  enabled  it  to  perform  the  functions 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts. 


of  a  small  palace.  Here  the  king  and  his  family  would  be  lodged, 
while  the  crowded  and  inconvenient  court  would  be  given  up  to 
the  nobles  and  soldiers.  The  material  of  the  walls  is  whinstone. 
On  the  north  (entrance)  face  it  is  carefully  worked  in  large  square 
blocks,  with  occasional  slates  in  the  joints.  In  the  side-walls  the 
stones,  which  are  not  squared,  are  not  so  large,  and  alternate  with 
those  of  much  smaller  dimensions.  (See  drawing  13,  fig.  3.) 

The  lowest  storey  is  very  nearly  perfect :  some  necessary  repairs 
have  been  made  to  the  roof  a  few  years  ago.  Drawing  6  shows  the 
plan,  which  may  be  described  as  two  walls  n 
feet  thick  enclosing  a  passage  of  similar  width 
between  them,  the  west  wall  containing  two 
loop-holes.  These  are  simply  to  give  light,  as 


j«         T 


SCALC     OF.    Keer- 

St  Michael's  Chapel,  longitudinal  section,  looking  north  (No.  !!/>)• 


there  is  no  space  between  the  jambs  for  an  archer  or  crossbowman 
to  handle  his  weapon ;  they  are  also  very  low  down,  and,  from  the 
section  of  the  jamb,  have  probably  been  provided  with  shutters. 
The  other  or  south  end  of  the  wall  contains  a  postern-gate,  giving 
access  to  the  piece  of  ground  lying  between  the  outside  of  the  walls 
and  the  palisades  which  garnished  the  inner  edge  of  the  ditch. 
This  strip  of  ground  was  called  les  lices — perhaps  from  the  word 
lista,  a  border,  a  strip.  It  was  used  as  the  parade-ground  for  the 
soldiers.  Tournaments  took  place  there,  and  the  palisades  which 
defended  it  were  always  the  first  parts  of  the  castle  attacked. 


i ;  €-oi> :  OB  ; 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF   MASONRY   IN    ROTHESAY   CASTLE  (No.  13) 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts.  1 1 7 

Froissart  gives  several  instances  of  combats  at  the  barriers,  as  the 
palisades  were  called. 

The  eastern  wall  contains  a  recess  or  small  room  for  the  porter, 
provided  with  a  guard-robe  in  the  window-seat.  At  the  southern 
extremity  is  a  passage  similar  to  that  leading  to  the  postern  gate  in 
the  opposite  wall,  but  which  in  this  instance  gives  access  first  to 
a  flight  of  steps  leading  to  the  first  floor ;  and,  second,  to  a  small 
side-chamber,  which  it  is  just  possible  may  have  been  used  as  a 
guard-room,  more  especially  as  it  has  one  inside  and  two  outside 
windows.  The  part  of  the  building  over  the  guard-room  evidently 
continued  all  the  way  up,  as  may  be  seen  by  a  small  portion  of 
ribbed  vaulting  yet  remaining  on  the  second  storey  attached  to  the 
curtain  wall.  It  is  not  improbable  that  it  may  have  contained 
a  staircase  communicating  between  the  first  and  second  floors. 
The  vaulting  at  the  top  is  generally  pointed  out  as  part  of  the 
room'  where  Robert  II.  (?)  died,  but  it  is  evidently  of  the  same  date 
as  the  rest  of  the  barbican.  The  passage  between  the  walls  was 
defended  at  either  end  by  doorways ;  that  to  the  south  has  already 
been  described,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  small  arch  in  front, 
belongs  to  the  earlier  period  of  the  castle. 

The  entrance  at  the  north  is  very  narrow,  measuring  7  feet  6  by 
5  feet  wide.  It  was  defended  by  two  doors,  one  opening  inwards 
and  the  other  outwards ;  over  the  latter  the  drawbridge  could  be 
drawn,  and  in  the  corners  of  the  arch  are  the  holes  for  the  chains. 
It  will  be  noted  how  very  careful  the  designer  of  the  barbican  was 
in  the  construction  of  the  doorways ;  he  made  them  small  and 
multiplied  them.  In  fact,  the  entrance  passage  could  be  equally 
well  defended  against  enemies  from  the  castle  court  from  those 
without. 

The  passage  itself  is  vaulted,  and  in  its  floor  is  a  stone  which, 
lifted  up,  gives  access  to  a  vaulted  dungeon,  lighted  by  a  very  small 
window,  with  a  guard-robe  in  the  seat.  This  is  generally  said  to 
have  been  the  prison  of  Sir  Patrick  Lindsay,  but  I  am  afraid  it  is 
of  a  later  date  than  that  event.  Certainly  it  answers  to  James  IV. 's 
description  of  the  dungeon  into  which  he  condemned  Sir  Patrick — 
viz.,  a  place  where  he  should  not  see  his  feet  for  a  year ;  but  doubt- 
less there  were  other  dungeons  in  the  castle, — for  instance,  the  little 


OP 
IV 


Scnue      o^     Fee-r 

ROTHESAY  CASTLE  (No.  6). 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts.  1 1 9 

apartment  near  the  south-east  tower,  which  is  tolerably  dark,  and 
which  also  possesses  a  guard-robe.  [Size  of  dungeon,  1 7  feet  6  by 
1 1  feet  6  by  8  feet.— H.] 

The  first  floor  of  the  barbican  is  far  from  being  in  the  same  state 
of  preservation  as  the  ground-floor.  The  east  wall  is  entirely  de- 
stroyed, and  we  also  meet  with  traces  of  modern  alterations,  made 
when  this  was  doubtless  the  most  habitable  portion  of  the  castle. 
It  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  space  was  divided  into  two  or  three 
rooms.  In  the  first  place,  we  must  allow  one  division  at  the  southern 
end  for  the  working  of  the  portcullis;  northward  of  this,  in  the  west- 
ern wall,  seems  the  jamb  of  a  fireplace,  and  close  to  it  must  have 
been  the  entrance  to  the  passage  leading  to  the  great  guard-robe, 
afterwards  made  into  a  room ;  then  we  come  to  a  large  chimney-piece 
and  a  portion  of  a  transverse  wall.  Unfortunately  this  piece  of  wall 
ends  opposite  the  chimney-piece,  with  a  rebated  jamb  as  if  for  a 
door;  now  there  could  not  have  been  an  opposite  jamb,  for  the 
chimney-piece  is  in  the  way,  which  is  apt  to  make  us  view  this 
transverse  wall  with  some  suspicion.  After  the  chimney-piece  we 
come  upon  a  window,  and  then  we  meet  the  northern  wall.  As  to 
the  eastern  wall,  I  strongly  suspect  it  was  double  for  some  portion 
on  account  of  the  staircase;  at  all  events,  it  is  very  thin  at  its  north- 
ern end.  Access  to  the  first  floor  was  obtained  from  the  inside  area 
of  the  castle  by  means  of  a  flight  of  stairs  which  are  still  in  use, 
although  in  an  exceedingly  bad  condition.  They  were  anciently 
carried  on  an  arch,  which,  having  given  way,  is  now  blocked  up  with 
pieces  of  rough  stone.  On  the  top  of  these  stairs  was  a  doorway, 
now  utterly  destroyed,  the  only  part  remaining  being  the  hole  for 
the  bar.  Right  and  left  of  the  doorway  are  the  covered  passages 
formed  on  the  top  of  the  oldest  wall,  which  conducted  to  open 
landings,  and  by  them  to  steps  leading  down  to  the  castle  court. 
It  is  by  no  means  improbable  but  that  these  landings  also  had 
communications  with  the  first  floor  of  towers. 

The  second  floor  presents  us  with  sundry  windows,  and  a  fireplace 
at  the  northern  end.  The  holes  for  the  joists  are  visible  from  the 
northern  end  to  about  the  entrance  to  the  guard-robe  passage; 
beyond  this  point  southward  the  wall  both  of  the  first  and  second 
floor  has  a  very  disturbed  appearance,  which  causes  me  to  suspect 


FDOQff 
OF 

:    IV    : 


nuK      OP      Fe« 


ROTHESAY  CASTLE  (No.  7). 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts.  121 

that  the  division  wall  was  somewhere  at  this  place.  The  whole 
edifice  was  probably  surmounted  by  a  high-pitched  roof,  which  would 
afford  space  for  bedrooms.  Part  of  the  gable-wall  can  be  traced  at 
the  northern  end,  and  the  arrangement  of  parapet  is  shown  in 
drawing  14,  fig.  3. 

The  designer  of  the  barbican  did  not  forget  the  sanitary  part  of 
his  work;  on  the  contrary,  he  constructed  very  large  and  commodious 
guard-robes.  In  fact,  the  great  projection  on  the  eastern  side  is 
dedicated  solely  to  this  purpose.  From  the  section,  drawing  9,  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  lower  guard-robe  has  been  enlarged  at  a  sub- 
sequent period  in  order  to  convert  it  into  a  room.  That  on  the 
upper  floor  has  undergone  the  same  process,  as  we  see  by  the 
remains  of  a  fireplace. 

The  third  storey  equally  possesses  a  fireplace,  besides  sundry  holes 
for  musketry.  The  gable  is  stepped  in  the  usual  Scotch  style,  and 
affords  us  a  hint  as  to  the  probable  shape  of  the  gable  of  the  main 
building.  The  only  other  remains  of  the  second  floor  is  the  small 
piece  of  vaulting  in  the  S.E.  angle,  and  which  has  been  noticed 
before.  One  thing  is  to  be  observed  about  the  architecture  of  this 
barbican — viz.,  that  with  the  exception  of  the  above  groining  there 
is  no  trace  of  Gothic  work  in  it ;  all  the  windows  are  square,  and 
the  arches,  where  they  occur,  are  round  and  segmental. 

The  coat  of  arms  over  the  entrance  door  is  unfortunately  defaced 
by  the  smoke  of  a  smithy  forge  immediately  under*  The  only  thing 
we  can  positively  make  out  is  the  fact  that  two  unicorns  support  the 
shield  :  this  would  give  us  a  range  from  James  IV.  to  James  VI. 
The  crest  is  utterly  defaced.  (See  p.  250.) 

2.    The  History  of  the  Castle  as  far  as  it  relates  to  the  Architecture. 

Before  entering  on  this  part  of  the  subject,  it  may  be  as  well  to 
say  a  few  words  about  the  various  accounts  published  up  to  the 
present  time. 

There  are  four  published  accounts  of  the  castle  : — 

1.  An  Account  of  Rothesay  Castle.     Third  edit.,  Glasg.,  1831. 
No  author's  name  appears,  but  it  is  known  that  it  is  the  work  of 
John  Mackinlay,  a  collector  of  Customs. 

2.  The  History  of  the  Isle  of  Bute.     By  J.  E.  Reid.      1864. 


122  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

3.  A  Guide  to  Rothesay  Castle,  Descriptive  and  Historical.     By 
John  Thorns.     Rothesay,  1870. 

4.  Tourist's   Guide  to  Rothesay  and   the  Island  of  Bute.     By 
John  Wilson.     Fourth  edit,  1871. 

As  I  have  before  observed,  all  these  writers  more  or  less  copy  one 
another,  and  it  is  extremely  rare  that  any  original  or  contemporary 
authority  is  quoted.  Mr  Bullen  [of  the  British  Museum]  has  done 
his  best  in  his  account  to  remedy  this  state  of  things,  but  I  am  still 
painfully  aware  that  very  much  more  remains  to  be  done.  To  do 
such  a  work  perfectly  would  demand  the  labour  of  an  antiquary  of 
the  old  school,  who  would  make  it  the  labour  of  his  life,  and  to 
whom  time  would  be  no  consideration.  I  now  propose  to  consider 
the  salient  points  in  Mr  Bullen's  account,  as  far  as  they  relate  to  the 
architecture  of  the  castle. 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  the  castle  was  built  either  by  Magnus 
Barefoot  to  secure  his  conquests  or  by  the  Scotch  to  defend  the 
place  against  the  Norwegians.  There  is  positively  no  evidence  at 
all  on  the  subject, — neither  Rothesay  nor  Bute  being  mentioned  in 
the  accounts  of  the  expedition.  Mackinlay's  theory  is  very  probably 
correct — viz.,  that  it  is  built  on  the  lines  of  some  ancient  British 
fort.  These  were  generally  round,  and  thus  we  may  account  for  the 
irregular  setting  out  of  the  circle.  The  same  author  tells  us  that 
the  word  Rothesay  is  composed  of  the  Gaelic  roth,  a  circle,  and  said, 
a  seat  or  place  of  residence.  He  adds  that  Macbeth's  castle  at 
Dunsinane  Hill  only  presents  the  remains  of  dry-stone  walls.1  The 
object  of  the  fortification  at  Rothesay  was  evidently  to  protect  the 
harbour,  the  shore  of  which  was,  until  even  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  very  much  nearer  the  castle  than  at  the  present  day  (see 
drawing,  which  gives  a  copy  of  a  portion  of  a  survey  of  the  year 
1759,  where  the  shore  is  shown  as  being  260  feet  from  the  castle 
doorway).  The  first  authentic  fact  concerning  the  castle  is  the  siege 
by  the  Norwegians,  1228,  as  described  in  the  'Anecdotes  of  Olave 
the  Black,'  published  and  translated  by  the  Rev.  P.  Johnstone. 
Here  we  find  that  the  Norwegians  "  went  to  Bute,  and  the  Scots  lay 
there  in  a  castle."  "  They  set  down  before  the  fortress  and  gave  a 

1  M.  quotes  as  his  authority  Williams's  'Account  of  Vitrified  Forts,'  £c. 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts.  123 

hard  assault " — i.e.,  they  tried  to  take  it  by  escalade — but  "  the 
Scotch  fought  well,  and  threw  down  upon  them  burning  pitch  and 
lead."  The  Norwegians  "prepared  over  themselves  a  covering  of 
boards,  and  then  hewed  down  the  walls,  for  the  stone  was  soft,  and 
the  ramparts  fell  with  them,  and  they  cut  it  up  from  the  foundation." 
This  could  not  have  been  difficult  with  walls  of  soft  sandstone,  more 
especially  if  uncemented.  And  here  the  question  arises  (and  one 
very  difficult  to  answer) — viz.,  Are  the  present  walls  the  same  as 
those  attacked  by  the  Norwegians  ?  At  my  request  Mr  Thomson 
has  made  a  very  careful  examination  of  them,  and  the  following  is 
his  report : — 

"  I  have  this  morning  [August  7,  1872]  made  a  particular  examin- 
ation of  the  hearting  or  core  of  the  original  or  lowest  wall  of  red 
and  yellow  sandstone-facing  in  Rothesay  Castle.  I  was  able  to  do 
so  at  several  points  without  being  under  the  necessity  of  taking  down 
any  part  of  it,  and  it  appears  to  be  much  the  same  all  round.  The 
best  section  of  the  wall  is  to  be  seen  at  the  entrance  to  the  '  A '  or 
pigeon  tower  from  the  courtyard.  Here  it  is  exposed  fully  to  view, 
with  the  sandstone  on  each  side  and  the  hearting  made  up  of  (i) 
roundish  stones  of  greyish  rock  water-worn,  such  as  might  be 
gathered  from  the  sea-shore,  various  sizes;  (2)  sharp  irregular 
blocks  of  whinstone ;  (3)  pieces  of  white  quartz  rock  ;  (4)  pieces 
of  sandstone  similar  in  colour  to  the  facing,  which  probably  not 
being  large  enough  for  outside  work  were  thrown  into  the  hearting ; 
(5)  a  few  pieces  of  limestone  rock ;  (6)  pieces  of  slaty  rock,  not  so 
compact  or  solid  as  (i).  All  these  are  bound  firmly  together  and 
set  in  lime,  a  peculiarity  of  which  is  the  coarseness  of  the  gravel 
which  had  been  mixed  with  the  lime.  It  would  take  a  ^-inch 
riddle  to  let  much  of  it  through.  The  various  kinds  of  stones  are 
all  local,  and  could  be  readily  found  in  Bute  at  the  present  day." 

In  a  subsequent  communication  (August  21,  1872)  Mr  Thomson 
says  :  "I  have  been  so  fully  occupied  that  I  had  no  time  to  make 
a  careful  re-examination  of  the  castle  walls,  but  to-day  I  have  done 
so  again.  At  several  places,  both  inside  and  out,  where  the  square 
facings  have  been  removed  and  exposed  the  interior  of  the  wall — I 
mean  the  curtain  wall- — between  the  towers  and  the  lower  part 
thereof,  the  hearting  appears  to  be  the  same  as  I  described  in  my 


1 24  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

last  letter.  It  certainly  is  not  sandstone  throughout,  but  a  mixture 
of  a  variety  of  stones,  such  as  could  be  gathered  off  the  beach. 
Many  of  them  are  round  and  water-worn,  and  the  mortar  does  not 
adhere  to  these  so  well  as  to  rough  sandstone  or  squared  rough 
blocks,  and  it  would  not  surprise  me  to  read  that  the  Norwegians 
in  their  attack  upon  the  castle  found  it  to  be  of  soft  stone.  What 
sandstone  there  is  in  the  wall  is  certainly  very  soft.  Their  first  im- 
pression in  the  attack  upon  the  walls  would  be  that  it  consisted  of 
soft  stones,  and  I  do  not  think  they  would  have  much  difficulty 
with  heavy  tools,  however  rude  they  may  have  been,  in  getting 
through  the  wall ;  the  smoothness  of  many  of  the  stones  would 
render  the  task  less  difficult." 

From  this  examination  it  would  appear  to  be  a  doubtful  point 
whether  the  present  walls  are  those  besieged  by  the  Norwegians. 
All  we  can  with  any  certainty  attribute  to  that  time  is  the  elliptical- 
headed  entrance  gateway,  and  perhaps  the  postern  gateway.  The 
pointed-arched  addition  to  the  entrance  gateway  (see  drawing  8) 
might  also  be  contemporaneous  with  the  Norwegian  capture  of  the 
fortress. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  castle  itself  was  not  finally  won  until 
three  days  after  the  breach  had  been  effected :  this  would  point  to 
the  interior  being  crowded  with  houses,  each  of  which  could  be 
burned  and  defended.  I  must  confess  that  the  present  castle  gives 
me  very  much  the  idea  of  an  Edwardian  castle  erected  on  the  lines 
of  an  older  building,  the  towers  being  additions. 

In  the  '  Norwegian  Account  of  Haco's  Expedition,'  1263,  published 
and  translated  by  Rev.  J.  Johnson,  we  read  that  Haco  and  Andrew 
Pott  go  before  him  south  to  Bute  with  some  small  vessels  to  join 
those  he  had  already  sent  thither.  News  was  soon  received  that 
they  had  won  a  fortress,  the  garrison  of  which  had  capitulated  and 
accepted  terms  of  the  Norwegians.  "The  Norwegians,  who  had 
been  in  Bute,  where  they  burnt  many  houses  and  several  towns." 

Of  course  it  is  a  question  whether,  as  in  the  former  instance,  they 
thought  fit  to  keep  the  fortress.  It  is  just  probable  that  their 
object  was  the  plunder,  and  that  they  would  not  attempt  to  occupy 
a  place  so  far  distant  from  Norway.  It  is  also  by  no  means  certain 
that  the  castle  in  question  was  the  one  in  Rothesay. 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts.  125 

A  treaty  was  made  (after  the  battle  of  Largs),  1266,  by  which  all 
the  islands  except  the  Orkneys  and  Shetland  belonged  to  Scotland. 

The  name  of  Rothesay  or  Bute  does  not  occur  among  the  castles 
given  up  to  Edward  I.  on  various  occasions ;  but  that  it  was  in  his 
possession  we  may  be  certain,  for  we  learn  from  the  '  Rotuli  Scotiae ' 
that  he  enjoined  Alexander,  Earl  of  Menteith,  to  take  possession  of 
the  lands  of  Alexander  of  Argyle,  and  John  his  son.  At  the  same 
time  he  ordered  all  the  men  of  James  the  Steward  of  Scotland  in 
Bute,  Cowell,  and  Roresy  to  aid  the  said  earl  with  their  galleys  and 
other  naval  forces  in  maintaining  his  guardianship  of  the  castle  and 
fortresses  here  named. 

Thinking  that  some  information  may  be  obtained  from  the  Record 
Office  in  London,  I  applied  to  my  friend  Mr  Joseph  Burt,  who  very 
kindly  gave  me  the  results  of  his  investigations,  in  the  following 
words  : — 

" Dec.  21,  1871.  —  I  have  just  been  able  to  finish  looking 
through  what  I  promised  about  Bute  and  Rothesay.  I  have  now 
gone  through  all  the  Record  publications  that  could  have  any 
bearing  on  the  subject,  and  I  have  carefully  examined  a  mass  of 
MSS.  relating  to  the  Scotch  wars  of  Edward  I.  and  II.  In  none 
of  them  do  I  find  any  entry  whatever  of  either  Bute  or  Rothesay,  so 
that  the  notice  of  the  castle  being  in  the  hands  of  the  English  king 
when  the  strong  places  of  the  country  were  given  up  to  him  would 
appear  to  rest  upon  the  authority  of  the  chronicles  alone.  I  have  no 
means  of  testing  that  authority.  Perhaps  if  Bullen  knows  what 
ought  to  be  done,  he  might  be  able  to  do  it ;  but  I  fear  you  must 
go  to  Edinburgh  to  get  the  matter  worked  out. 

"  So  great  is  the  amount  of  material  here  relating  to  the  Scotch 
wars  of  Edward  I.  that  I  do  not  think  the  place  could  have  figured 
as  it  is  said  to  have  done  in  these  events  without  the  name  occurring 
here.  There  are  lots  of  references  to  the  provisioning,  the  arming, 
and  the  repair  of  (perhaps  more  than)  a  dozen  castles  in  Scotland, 
and  of  the  pay  of  armed  troops  there  or  going  there,  but  no  entry 
of  the  place  you  are  now  interested  in." 

The  next  notice  we  have  is  from  Fordun  under  the  year  1312, 
and  as  Fordun  wrote  at  the  end  of  the  century,  he  must  have  got 
his  information  from  some  early  author.  "  In  the  same  year  the 


126  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Castles  of  Bute,  of  Dumfries,  and  of  Dalwyntoone,  with  many  other 
fortresses,  were  taken  by  force  and  levelled  to  the  ground."  Now, 
we  often  hear  of  castles  being  levelled  to  the  ground,  but  which 
on  examination  present  very  large  portions  of  the  original  structure. 
What  we  are  probably  to  understand  in  the  present  instance  is  that 
the  Scottish  king  was  not  satisfied  simply  with  the  destruction 
of  the  battlements,  but  that  he  caused  sundry  breaches  to  be  made 
in  the  walls,  so  as  to  render  the  castle  untenable :  that  he  did  not 
level  the  castle  to  the  ground,  the  elliptical  and  pointed  arches  at 
the  entrance  gateway  sufficiently  testify. 

We  next  read  that  the  keys  of  Rothesay  Castle  were  presented 
to  Edward  Baliol  at  Renfrew,  1334.  The  young  Stuart  escaped 
to  Dumbarton,  and  Sir  Alan  de  Lyle  was  made  Sheriff  of  Bute, 
&c.  The  nearest  authority  for  this  is  Wyntoun,  who  flourished 
circa  1400. 

The  printed  histories  say  that  Baliol  fortified  the  castle,  but  Mr 
Bullen  has  not  been  able  to  ascertain  any  authority  for  this  state- 
ment. Here  we  have  one  fact  quite  in  opposition  to  the  (even 
partial)  destruction  of  the  castle — viz.,  that  its  keys  were  presented 
to  Baliol.  We  can  only  suppose  the  castle  to  have  been  rebuilt, 
with  the  exception  of  the  entrance  doorways,  some  time  between  its 
partial  demolition  by  the  Bruce  and  its  surrender  to  Edward  Baliol. 
In  this  case  the  old  foundations  would  be  preserved, — the  towers 
probably  being  additions, — the  old  materials — viz.,  the  red  and 
yellow  sandstone — being  used  for  the  facing  of  the  new  walls ;  but 
this,  of  course,  always  supposing  the  old  walls  were  entirely  con- 
structed of  sandstone.  Another  argument  in  favour  of  this  rebuild- 
ing is  derived  from  the  arrangement  of  the  towers,  which  divide  the 
circumference  of  the  walls  into  a  number  of  small  garrisons,  all 
without  communication  with  one  another  in  time  of  war.  This  was 
a  very  favourite  arrangement  during  the  time  in  question  (1312- 
1334)  and  anterior.  The  architecture  of  the  chapel  also  agrees 
with  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  considering  the  art 
was  somewhat  later  in  Scotland  than  in  England.  The  walled-up 
battlements  in  curtain  have  also  a  general  likeness  and  proportion 
to  those  we  find  in  the  Welsh  castles  built  by  Edward. 

If  Baliol  did  fortify  the  castle,  he  probably  heightened  the  curtains 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts.  127 

on  either  side  of  the  entrance.  Here  the  old  battlements  have  been 
built  up  so  as  to  form  a  passage,  and  the  whole  wall  very  consider- 
ably raised.  It  will  be  observed  that  this  part  of  the  building  is 
done  with  very  rough  shaley  whinstone,  not  unlike  the  walls  of  the 
chapel,  and  betraying  great  carelessness  and  roughness. 

When  the  Stuart  recovered  the  castle,  he  probably  heightened 
the  rest  of  the  walls  and  towers,  but  he  proceeded  in  a  regular 
manner.  The  battlements  were  taken  down,  not  built  up,  and 
the  new  work  made  of  worked  whinstone  and  faced  with  white 
sandstone,  thus  distinguishing  it  from  the  red  and  white  material 
of  the  whole  wall  below  (see  drawing  12). 

It  should  be  observed  that  there  are  no  traces  of  any  keep,  this 
feature  having  gone  out  of  fashion  ;  on  the  contrary,  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  extensive  area  was  covered  with  a  quantity 
of  tenements,  which  were  probably  of  two  or  more  storeys,  for  the 
space  was  small,  and  not  only  the  garrison  and  governor  but  the 
king  and  his  suite  had  to  be  accommodated.  Thus  there  are 
several  notices  of  the  residence  of  Robert  II.  and  Robert  III.  at 
Rothesay.  In  fact,  the  latter  is  said  to  have  died  there,  and  part 
of  a  chamber,  now  destroyed,  is  pointed  out  by  the  guides  as  con- 
nected with  that  event ;  but  unfortunately  the  destroyed  chamber 
clearly  belonged  to  the  additions  made  to  the  castle  at  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  fact  of  Robert's  death  at  Bute  rests 
on  the  authority  of  Bower,  Fordun's  Continuator,  but  Wyntoun  says 
the  occurrence  took  place  at  Dundonald.  In  1475,  Jonn)  Earl  of 
Ross,  was  accused  among  other  things  of  seizing  the  castle  of 
Rothesay. 

Some  time  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  century  the  barbican  was 
added  to  the  entrance  gateway.  Over  its  entrance  we  find  a  coat 
of  arms ;  this  is  much  defaced  from  the  smoke  of  a  blacksmith's 
forge,  but  sufficient  remains  to  show  the  arms  of  Scotland  supported 
by  two  unicorns.  Unfortunately  the  crest,  supported  on  a  helmet, 
which  is  placed  above  the  crown,  is  too  much  obliterated  to  be 
made  out;  the  whole  achievement  is  surrounded  by  a  border  of 
thistles.  The  first  sovereign  of  Scotland  who  employed  two  unicorns 
as  supporters  was  James  IV.,  whose  arms  with  these  additions  are 
to  be  found  on  the  westermost  buttress  of  Melrose  Abbey.  James 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts.  129 

IV.  ascended  the  throne  in  1488  and  was  killed  at  Flodden  in 
1513.  From  an  English  point  of  view  the  architecture  of  this 
barbican  has  somewhat  a  later  aspect  than  these  dates,  and  we 
must  remember  that  his  successors  equally  used  the  twin  unicorns 
as  supporters.  On  the  other  hand,  popular  tradition  connects  the 
dungeon  with  the  place  of  imprisonment  of  Sir  Patrick  Lindsay, 
who,  having  provoked  the  anger  of  the  king,  was  told  that  "he 
schould  sitt  quhair  he  should  not  sie  his  feet  for  ane  yeir,  and  im- 
mediately caused  tak  him  to  the  Rosa  (Rosay  ?)  of  Bute  and  pat  him 
in  prisone."  This  took  place  in  1489,  in  the  second  year  of  the 
king's  reign,  so  that  if  the  prison  in  question  is  really  that  in  which 
Sir  Patrick  Lindsay  was  confined,  the  building  must  have  been 
begun  at  the  very  commencement  of  the  reign. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  this  part  of  the  building  there  is 
no  attempt  at  tracing  or  moulding.  All  the  windows  are  small  and 
square,  and  the  entrance  arch  is  round,  as  also  is  the  vaulting  on 
the  ground-floor. 

In  1536  James  V.,  after  the  failure  of  his  attempted  journey  to 
France,  remained  some  time  in  the  castle.  In  1540  he  again 
visited  Rothesay,  and  with  a  view  of  making  a  royal  residence 
he  gave  money  to  Sir  J.  Hamilton  to  make  repairs.  Lindsay  of 
Pitscottie  gives  full  particulars  of  this  event.  It  appears  Hamilton 
was  a  courtier,  not  an  architect,  and  his  embezzlement  of  the  funds 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  one  of  the  charges  at  his  trial. 
According  to  Pitscottie,  the  king  "had  directed  him  in  1541  [go 
to]  Rose  to  repair  his  castle  thair,  that  he  might  remain  thair  at 
his  pleasure  the  space  of  ane  year  together  with  his  queine  and 
court,  and  to  this  effect  gave  the  said  Sir  James  thrie  thousand 
crownes  to  fie  maissons  to  complete  his  work  in  the  Rose  of  Bute." 

When  we  connect  these  facts  with  the  two  visits  of  James  V. 
to  the  castle  in  1536  and  1540,  in  which  latter  year  he  had  been 
setting  in  order  public  affairs  in  those  parts,  it  is  extremely  probable 
that  we  may  consider  him  to  be  the  builder  of  the  barbican,  and 
not  James  IV.1  Of  course  this  disposes  of  the  legend  of  the  prison 

1  From  the  local  accounts  of  Ninian  Stewart  in  the  '  Exchequer  Rolls,'  we  now 
learn  the  exact  date  and  expense  of  building  of  the  great  tower  or  dungeon  (i.e., 

VOL.  II.  I 


ROTHESAY  CASTLE  (No.  9). 


The  Home  of  the  Stewarts.  131 

of  Sir  Patrick  Lindsay ;  but,  as  I  have  before  observed,  there  were 
probably  many  other  prisons  contained  within  the  area  of  the  old 
castle.  It  is  probable  that  James  gave  orders  to  Sir  J.  Hamilton 
to  see  after  the  addition,  that  the  latter  was  accused  of  embezzling 
the  money,  and  that  he  either  disproved  the  accusation  or  returned 
the  amount,  which  would  account  for  the  absence  of  this  charge  in 
his  act  of  accusation. 

The  Earl  of  Lennox  and  his  English  auxiliaries  obtained  posses- 
sion of  the  castle  in  1544;  an  English  garrison  was  left;  but  it  is 
not  known  how  and  when  it  was  given  up. 

Mackinlay  states,  upon  the  authority  of  the  Blain  papers,  that 
under  Cromwell  the  castle  in  1650  was  garrisoned  by  a  detachment 
of  his  troops  "  under  the  command  of  Ralph  Frewin,  and  that  when 
they  left  Rothesay  they  razed  part  of  the  castle."  The  destruction 
of  the  tower  is  generally  attributed  to  that  event.  Upon  the  restor- 
ation of  the  castle  to  its  legitimate  owners  the  breach  was  made 
good  with  the  old  materials,  and,  as  I  have  before  observed,  so 
well  does  the  old  masonry  lend  itself  to  the  purpose,  that  it  is 
difficult  to  discover  where  the  breach  begins  and  where  it  ends. 
The  castle  appears  to  have  been  inhabited  until  1685,  when  the 
Duke  of  Argyle  plundered  the  town  and  demolished  the  doors  and 
windows  of  the  castle,  which  was  soon  after  burnt  by  his  brother. 
Other  accounts,  however,  say  the  earl  burnt  it  himself. 

The  Marquis  of  Bute,  during  a  very  hard  winter,  1 8 1 6,  employed 
seventy  men  to  excavate  the  area,  which  had  been  filled  up  by 
rubbish.  Mackinlay  gives  an  account  of  the  affair. 

The  vaults  over  the  entrance  passage,  which  had  partly  fallen  in, 
and  the  pointed  arch  of  the  ancient  doorway,  were  repaired.  (See 
the  1831  edition  of  Mackinlay.) 

In  August  1871  part  of  the  ivy,  which  had  greatly  overgrown  the 
building,  was  cut  away  for  the  purposes  of  the  present  report,  and  a 

donjon)  of  Rothesay  Castle,  which  had  been  ordered  by  King  James  IV.,  and 
probably  delayed  in  execution  by  his  death.  The  account  extends  from  7th 
August  1518  to  6th  November  1520:  "  Et  eidem  pro  constructione  magni  turns 
dicti  le  dungeon  in  caustro  de  Rothissay  de  mandate  domini  regis  quondam  Jacobi 
quarti  cujus  anima  propicietur  Deus  extendente  .  .  .  £19*  >  7  sn-" — 'Rot. 
Scacc.,'  vol.  xiv.  p.  362. — J.  K.  H. 


132  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

few  months  afterwards  the  area  was  again  excavated  by  Mr  J.  Thom- 
son, whose  report  follows.     (See  Appendix  XV.) 

To  resume  in  a  few  words  the  history  of  the  architecture  of  the 
castle  : — 

1.  The  site  and  contour  of  the  circular  walls  are  probably  those 
of  an  early  British  camp. 

2.  The  inner  doorway,  and  perhaps  the  postern,  may  be,  and 
probably  are,  anterior  to  the  siege  by  the  Norwegians. 

3.  The  pointed  archway,  which  forms  an  evident  addition  to  the 
inner  entrance,  may  be  anterior  or  a  little  posterior  to  that  event. 

4.  I  suspect  the  present  castle  with  its  towers  dates  between  1312 
and  1334. 

5.  The  barbican  was  built  by  James  V. 

— I  have  the  honour  to  remain,  your  Lordship's  faithful  servant, 

WILLIAM  BURGES. 

August  26,  1872,  15  BUCKINGHAM  STREET, 
STRAND,  LONDON. 

In  keeping  with  practical  suggestions  added  to  this  report, 
the  Marquess  of  Bute  caused  this  noble  pile  to  be  effectively 
repaired,  the  disordered  courtyard  cleared  out,  the  various 
excrescences  around  its  basement  removed,  a  deep  fosse  cut 
and  filled  with  water,  and  other  restorations  made,  which 
combined  afford  a  clearer  conception  of  what  this  seat  of 
kings  appeared  in  its  day  of  might  and  beauty,  as  delineated 
by  Mr  Burges  in  the  Frontispiece.  Seven  years,  1872-79, 
were  occupied  in  these  operations,  during  which  the  original 
pitching  of  the  edges  of  the  fosse  was  discovered,  and  part  of 
it  is  now  visible.  The  supports  of  the  present  drawbridge 
were  inserted  into  the  oak  frame  of  the  original  structure, 
which  was  found  to  have  been  burned  down  to  the  water's 
edge. 


133 


CHAPTER     V. 

THE    BARONS    OF    BUTE. 

"  A  manly  race 

Of  unsubmitting  spirit,  wise  and  brave, 
Trained  up  to  hardy  deeds." 

— THOMSON. 

HE  only  trace  I  can  discover  of  a  chieftain  looking 
upon  Butemen  as  a  distinct  clan,  and  making 
claim  by  hereditary  right  to  their  fealty,  is  in 
the  case  of  Rudri,  a  scion  of  the  Somerledian 
House,  who,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  "considered  Bute  as 
his  birthright,"  as  has  been  previously  narrated.1  One 
chronicle  alone  indicates  that  Bute  had  been  governed  by 
a  Thane — a  Government  official,  who  corresponded  to  the 
Celtic  chief  or  "  Toshaeh,"  and  as  such  exacted  the  dues 
payable  to  the  Crown,  lifted  the  rents  of  the  Crown-lands, 
and  presided  over  the  court  of  justice.  This  headman  was, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  farmer  of  the  privileges  of 
the  Crown,  and  had  his  hereditary  office  confirmed  by  a 
written  charter,  and  paid  whatever  tax  stood  against  him 
in  the  King's  Rental.  He  sublet  the  lands  he  thus  rented. 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  253. 


1 34  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

The  office,  too,  went  with  the  fortunes  of  war,  so  that  by 
the  distribution  of  forfeited  lands  favourite  soldiers,  like  the 
Fitz  Alans  and  Bruces,  ousted  the  old  proprietors  and  their 
acknowledged  leaders. 

Other  lands  reserved  by  the  Crown  were  occupied  by 
farmers,  and  their  kinsmen  the  cottars,  each  on  his  own 
steading  from  generation  to  generation,  without  any  title 
or  charter,  so  long  as  they  paid  their  "maills"  or  rents, 
gave  the  military  service  required  of  them,  and  lived  in  amity 
with  their  chief — if  they  had  one.  The  Crown  took  the 
place  of  the  early  chief,  and  the  husbandmen  were  simply 
the  descendants  of  the  original  population,  working  on  the 
patch  that  gave  them  birth  and  bread.  They  thus  acquired 
the  name  of  "  Kyndlie  Tenants  " — i.e.,  tenants  of  the  same 
blood  or  kind,  and  natural  to  the  soil.  The  family  were 
liferenters  in  perpetuity.  Their  family  differences  they 
usually  settled  among  themselves,  and  the  thirsty  sword 
prevented  over-population  and  over-crowding. 

Of  the  original  land  belonging  to  the  tribe  the  last  remnant 
may  now  exist  in  the  Burgh  Lands  or  Common  Good,  now 
attenuated  to  442  acres,  although  we  have  a  trace  of  it,  under 
a  Norse  name,  in  Meadowcap — the  caup  or  common  lands  of 
the  meadow  —  which  was  in  close  proximity  to  the  old 
Kirktoun  round  the  parish  church,  and  also  in  the  lands 
scheduled  in  the  maill-book  of  the  burgh  under  the  names 
"Clan  Patrick"  and  "Clan  Neil,"  also  the  "Common  of 
Ardnahoe,"  and  the  "Common  Lands"  of  the  burgh. 

Under  the  feudal  system  lands  were  held  under  four  kinds 
of  tenure  off  the  Crown — namely,  holdings  in  Ward,  Blanch, 
Feu,  and  Burgage ;  and  these  are  illustrated  by  our  local 
history. 


The  Barons  of  Biite.  \  3  5 

In  what  manner  the  first  Stewards  held  Bute  is  not  known, 
although  it  may  be  safely  surmised  it  was  similar  to  that 
by  which  they  held  their  other  possessions — Ward-holding, 
granted  for  military  service.1  Between  1314  and  1325  they 
were  granted  to  Walter's  son,  Robert,  afterwards  king ;  and 
after  Walter's  death  we  find  "John,  son  of  Gilbert  Baillie  de 
Boyet,"  in  1329  paying  the  dues  in  money,  meal,  and  marts 
to  the  Exchequer.  These  lands  in  Bute,  Cowal,  Knapdale, 
Arran,  and  the  Cumbraes  were  in  1366  valued  at  £1000 
old  extent.2  In  1649  the  valued  rent  was  £22,000,  but  meal 
was  being  sold  then  at  903.  a  boll.  The  Cummings  and  the 
Glasses  also  held  lands  in  Bute  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
The  fact  that  in  1459  and  1460  the  lands  of  Ascog  paid  a 
rent  of  £2  as  ward-holding,  adds  weight  to  the  tradition  of 
the  Glasses  that  they  held  their  possessions  for  military 
service.3  This  Ascog  family  do  not  appear  in  the  later 
charter  given  in  1506  to  the  so-called  "Barons  of  Bute." 
In  the  minutes  of  the  kirk-session  in  the  seventeenth  century 
the  heritors  are  called  "  barons." 

"A  Baron,  in  the  large  sense  of  that  word,"  according  to 
Erskine,  "  is  one  who  holds  his  lands  immediately  of  the 
Crown,  and  such  had,  by  our  ancient  constitution,  right  to 
a  seat  in  Parliament,  however  small  his  freehold  might  have 
been.  .  .  .  To  constitute  a  baron  in  the  strict  law  sense,  his 
lands  must  have  been  erected,  or  at  least  confirmed  by  the 
king  in  liberam  baroniam,  and  such  baron  had  a  certain  juris- 
diction, both  civil  and  criminal."  The  so-called  "  Barons  of 
Bute"  of  1506  had  no  such  jurisdiction. 

1  '  Excheq.  Rolls,'  vol.  vi.  Preface,  pp.  xcvi-civ. 

2  'Act.  Parl.,'  vol.  i.  p.  500,  "  Terre  diii  Senescall.  Scocie;"  Act.  ParL,  vol. 
vi.,  ii.  5020.  'Excheq.  Rolls,'  vol.  vi.  pp.  532,  629. 


136  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

The  oldest  charter  extant  granting  lands  (with  feu-duties) 
in  Bute  is  that  given  by  King  Robert  III.,  on  nth  November 
1400,  to  Sheriff  John  Stewart,  establishing  him  in  the  lands 
of  Ardumlese  (Armoleish)  and  Grenane  in  "our  isle  of  Bute," 
and  Coregelle  in  "our  isle  of  Arane"  fgr  the  rendering  of 
military  service  only — "servitia  debita  et  consueta."1 

From  this  centre  the  Bute  family  have  radiated  into 
territorial  power,  having  been  barons  for  wellnigh  500  years. 

A  second  form  of  holding  was  Blanch,  or  a  mere  acknow- 
ledgment of  superiority — such  as  a  rose,  peppercorn,  pair  of 
spurs — whereby  the  vassal  paid  a  merely  nominal  rent.  The 
Leiches  held  Kildavannan  by  this  tenure,  which,  on  5th 
June  1429,  was  renewed  to  John  Leich,  son  of  the  late 
Gilzequhome,  who  had  yearly  to  pay  at  "  the  parish  Church 
of  Bute  "  a  reddendo  of  two  pennies  or  of  a  pair  of  gloves. 

A  third  form  was  Feu-holding,  whereby  the  tenant  paid 
his  superior  money,  labour,  or  the  fruits  of  labour.  This  is 
also  well  illustrated  in  Bute,  where  we  have  the  various 
rents  accounted  for  as  paid  to  the  Crown  bailie  by  the 
tenants  in  Bute  in  1440,  1449,  and  1450.  The  farmers  of 
Bute  were  simply  squatters,  till,  in  1506,  they  became  feuars. 

From  the  'Exchequer  Accounts'  we  learn  that  "from  1445 
to  1450  the  whole  amount  of  ferme  [rent]  paid  to  the  Crown 
by  its  tenants  in  Bute,  as  stated  by  the  chamberlain,  Nigel, 
the  son  of  James  [Niel  Jamieson],  was  yearly  £141,  i8s.  6d., 
for  every  55.  of  which  sum  every  5  marklands,  except  the 
burgh  of  Rothesay,  paid  yearly  one  mart  [a  fat  ox  killed  at 
Martinmas].  For  the  same  period  the  grassum  bear  of  the 
Crown-lands  was  yearly  1 1  chalders,  2  bolls,  at  £4  per  chal- 

1  Marquess  of  Bute's  Charters. 


The  Barons  of  Bute. 


137 


der,  and  the  '  Mailmartis  '  yearly  40^."  1  Favourite  nobles 
farmed  these  rents  from  the  Crown,  receiving  a  commission 
for  the  uplifting  of  them.  The  rents  payable  by  these  ren- 
tallers  or  kindly  tenants,  called  "  husbandi,"  from  the  Crown- 
lands  in  Bute,  are  detailed  in  the  '  Exchequer  Rolls '  for  the 
year  1450 2  thus  : — 


Name  of  Lands. 

Name  of  Rentaller  in  1506. 

Rent  paid 
in  Money. 

Barley 
Rent  in 
Bolls. 

£  s.  d. 

B.     F. 

Garoch—  (i)  North 

i.  Gilnew  Makkaw 

50 

4 

ii          (2)  South 

(  i.  Gilpatrick  Makkaw     ) 
I  2.  John  Makkaw              J  ' 

50 

4 

Dunguile        .... 

(  i.  Donald  Makconochy  \ 
\  2.  Patrick  Makkoll          )  ' 

26  8 

2 

Loubas-beg    .... 

Alexander  Banachtyne,  jr.  . 

16  8 

2 

Loubas-more  .... 

Do. 

53  4 

4 

Kellis  Loupe  .... 

(Kelspokis,  John  Stewart)  . 

5 

Bransare         .... 

Gilchrist  Makwrerdy  . 

4  X3  4 

7 

Langil-Culcathla    . 

Donald  Makwrerdy     . 

40 

3 

ii      Culcreith     . 

/  1.  Alexander  Glas      \ 
\2.  Finlay  M'Wrerdy  / 

40 

3 

„      Wenach      . 

/  1.  Donald  Makalester    1 
^2.  John  Makyntail3our  /  ' 

40 

3 

„       (4)       .... 

... 

40 

3 

Killecatan-beg 

James  Stewart     .... 

368 

5 

n           more 

Do.              .... 

40 

3 

(2)          ... 

40 

3 

Bruchag          .... 

/i.  Walter  Banachtyne  ) 
\2.  Gilchrist  Makwrerdy  /  ' 

40 

3 

Skologmore    .... 

368 

5 

Kervycroye    .... 

John  Stewart       .... 

368 

5 

Stramanane    .... 

John  Makwrerdy 

40 

3 

(2)        ... 

Finlay  Makallan 

25  8 

2 

Dalachane  (Gallachan)  . 

(  i.  Robert  Kymmingburgh  ) 
\  2.  John  Douglas                  j 

40 

3 

Ardnahowa 

John  Glas,  jr  

40 

Ambrismore 

oheriff  Ninian  Stewart 

40 

3 

Ambrisbeg 

Eugene  Makconochy  . 

33  4 

2      2 

Byrsradill-kno  < 

John  Glas    

5o 

4 

„            (2)                 ... 

Nigel  Jamesoun  .... 

So 

4 

(3)                 ... 

George  Kelso      .         .        .         . 

Bernaul  

(  i.  Donald  Makwrerdy  ) 
\  2.  Alexander  Glas         j 

46  8 

3     2 

Kervecresach          ... 

John  Glas    

46  8 

3     2 

(  i.  Gilchrist  Makwerich  ^ 

Berone  

J  2.                          DO. 

)  3.  Archibald  Stewart       | 

368 

5 

V.  4.  Gilchrist  Makconoch  J 

Carry  forward 

67     9 

92      2 

1  Vols.  v.,  vi. 


2  Vol.  v.  pp.  79,  360,  406. 


138 


Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 


Name  of  Lands. 

Name  of  Rentaller  in  1506. 

Rent  paid 
n  Money. 

Barley 
Rent  in 
Bolls. 

£   *  d. 

B.     F. 

Brought  forward 

67    9 

92     2 

Bermore          .... 

John  Glas,  jr.       .... 

40 

3 

Quyene  

(  i.  Donald  Makcany      ) 
\  2.  Gilnew  Makilwedy  j 

33  4 

4 

Scalpsay         .... 

{i.  Robert  Stewart  of  Kilmory  ) 
2.  John  Makilkerane                 j 

46  8 

4 

Ardscalpsay  .... 

i.  John  Makilkerane  ) 
2.  John  Makkay         j 

46  8 

4 

Kilmory  (inferior)  . 

Robert  Stewart    .... 

4  13  4 

8 

M      (superior),  Chapeltoun, 
Kereferne,  Over  Kilmore 

>  Robert  Jamesoun 

384 

2       2 

Kilconlyg       .... 

Alexander  Stewart 

40 

3 

Blaredyve       .... 

33  4 

Ascaschragane 

Donald  Spens      .... 

26  8 

... 

Achkynghervy 
Dunawlunt-over     . 

f  i.  Archibald  Makgillespy           ) 
\  2.  James  Stewart  of  Kilchattan  J 
Alexander  Banachtyne 

40 
40 

3 
3 

it          nether  . 

John  Makwerich 

40 

3 

ti          makgillemichel     . 

Muldony  Makgillemichell   . 

40 

3 

(4)        -.. 

{i.  Finlay  Makgillemichell  ^ 
2.  Finlay  Makcaill               V 
3.  Gildow  Makintare 

40 

3 

Largabrachtane 

William  Stewart  .... 

53  4 

4 

Knersay  (Knaslagwerardy)    . 
Drumcly         .... 

John  Stewart       .... 
(  i.  Alexander  Banachtyne    ) 
\  2.  John  Stewart                   J 

40 
4 

3 
6 

(i.  Ferquhard  MakneilH 

Lapennycahil  (Lepinquhillin) 

2.  Eugene  Makkymme  >-   . 

20 

I      2 

Scarale  (Starrael)   . 
Glaknabethy  .... 

3.  John  Makkymme      J 
Richard  Banachtyne   . 
(  i.  Ferchard  Makneill      ) 
\  2.  William  Banachtyne  (  ' 

40 
46  8 

3 
3    2 

Aldtone  

4° 

3 

Kyllemechale 

Ferchard  Makneill 

3    6  8 

5 

Schowlunt      .... 

Donald  Banachtyne     . 

53  4 

4 

Cloy  nscham  ray 

Robert  Stewart    .... 

26  8 

2 

Stuk       

j  i.  John  Spens             ) 
\  2.  John  Banachtyne    ) 

53  4 

4 

Achywylk       .... 

David  Stewart     .... 

40 

3 

Cawnach  —  (i    (Tawnich) 

(2               ... 

John  Makgylquhynnych 

26^ 
25    I 

"           (3           ... 
H          (4          ... 

25    1 
25   J 

7     2 

Kylmore  (inf.) 

34  4 

2      2 

«        (3)  • 

40 

The  Burgh     .... 

6 

• 

[Original]  Summa 

141  18  6 

40  chald. 

1  5  bolls. 

The  following  lands  do  not  seem  to  have  paid  their  rents 
in  1450 : — 


Kerelawmond 
Kerytonla 


(Rentaller  in  1506.) 
Alexander  Banachtyne. 
Malcolm  Makfersoun. 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  1 39 


(Rentaller  in  1506.) 
Finlay  Makwrerdy. 
Finlay  Makilmon. 


Kerymanach     .          .          .   -! 

U.   Pi 

f  i.    John  Makconochy. 
Cowlemg  .          .          .  ] 

(2.  Alexander  Makwrerdy. 

Kyngawane.     .          .          .  Malcolm  Makconochy. 

Kerymanch       .          .          .  Duncan  Makconochy. 

Row         ....  Donald  Makkane. 

Bronoch  .  .          .  Morice  Maknachtane. 

Bolochreg          .          .          .  Donald  Makewin. 

M'Kenach  (Mecknoch)      .  John  Jameson. 

fi.  Archibald  Banachtyne. 
Cogach    .          .          .          .  ] 

[2.  John  do. 

In  1 507  "  the  forest  of  Bute,"  in  North  Bute,  yielded  £5  rent. 

The  Burgh  of  Rothesay,  which  never  had,  properly  speak- 
ing, any  lands  of  its  own,  paid  for  the  rentallers  of  the  Crown- 
lands  within  its  bounds  £4.0  annually,  and,  by  the  charter  of 
novodamus  of  1584,  obtained  liberty  to  "rent,  grant,  and 
feu  "  all  the  lands  within  the  bounds  of  the  burgh  to  the  in- 
habitants of  the  burgh  only  ;  a  portion  of  the  rents,  £6,  being 
transferred  to  the  Crown  exchequer. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  Crown-lands  were  looked  after 
by  special  commissioners,  who  let  them  on  lease  to  the  farmers. 

On  1 2th  January  1468,  Wil  of  Cunigburgh  (Mountstuart) 
and  Fynlaw  Spens  were  appointed  to  make  the  "inquisitions" 
— z>.,  value  Bute — and  next  year  this  lordship  and  its  castle 
were  annexed  to  the  Principality.1 

There  was  also  a  class  of  "  maisterful  men,"  who  sat  down 
on  lands  paying  nothing,  who  were  recommended  to  the 
attention  of  the  sheriffs.  On  the  west  coast,  washed  by  the 
sea,  lords  and  barons  had  also  to  provide  war-galleys  according 

1  'Act  Parl.,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  910,  1870;  vol.  iv.  p.  28. 


140  Bute  in  the  Olden 

to  their  land-extent,  and  every  able-bodied  husbandman  had 
to  provide  the  arms  appointed  for  his  station  in  life. 

On  the  1 5th  February  1489,  in  the  reign  of  James  IV.,  an 
Act  "Anent  the  free  tennentes,  that  haldis  of  the  Duke  of 
Rothesay  and  Steward  of  Scotland,"  was  passed,  ordaining 
them,  their  "  suites  and  presentes,  as  effeiris,"  to  appear  and 
answer  in  the  Parliament  and  law  courts,  until  an  heir  to  the 
Crown  be  born  to  answer  for  them.  In  the  same  Parliament, 
a  woeful  complaint  was  made  that  these  "puir  tennents, 
maillers,  and  inhabitants  of  the  king's  proper  lands"  were 
greatly  hurt  and  oppressed  by  lords  and  gentlemen,  and 
compelled  to  do  "  service,  avarage  [ploughing],  cariage,  scheir- 
ing,  leading,  labouring,  ryding,  and  travelling."  The  Parlia- 
ment made  this  tyranny  a  punishable  offence.  This  happened 
on  the  birth  of  a  prince,  James,  in  1506.  But  their  chief  only 
survived  a  year,  during  which  the  king  granted  them  and 
their  heirs  a  feu-charter  at  Linlithgow,  on  the  i6th  August 
1506.  It  is  to  this  effect  :— 

GRANT  BY  KING  JAMES  IV.  TO  THE  STEWARD'S  VASSALS  IN 
BUTE,  dated  at  Linlithgow,  i6th  August  1506. 

James,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  Scots,  to  all  propertied 
men  of  his  whole  land,  cleric  and  laic,  Greeting, — Know  ye  that 
because  we  finding  that  those  holding  and  inhabiting  our  lands  of 
Bute  have  been  infeft  in  them  in  the  way  of  feu-farm,  from  of  old, 
by4  our  progenitors,  we  therefore,  with  advice  of  the  Lords  of  our 
Council,  have  given,  conceded,  and  given  up  to  feu-farm  heredi- 
tarily to  those  holding  our  lands  of  the  Isle  of  Bute  aforesaid,  and 
to  their  heirs-male,  the  said  lands  particularly,  as  is  specified  below : 

Then  follow  the  names  of  tenants  and  lands,  printed  at  pp. 
137, 138,  and  the  usual  conditions  ;  among  which  were,  freedom 
from  "  multures  except  suckin  to  the  mill  of  Rothesay,"  pay- 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  141 

ment  of  the  rents  in  money  and  marts  in  use  to  be  paid,  with 
duplication  to  a  new  entrant,  to  the  Stewards  of  Scotland.1 

The  origin  of  the  Stewarts  of  Bute  is  nearly  as  much 
involved  in  obscurity  as  that  of  the  royal  house  from  which 
they  descended.  Several  charters  constructively  prove  that 
John  Stewart,  the  Sheriff  of  Bute  in  1400,  was  a  son  of  the 
deceased  king,  by  stating  that  he  was  a  brother  of  Robert 
III. ;  but  others  qualify  this  statement  by  designating  him 
the  natural  brother  of  Robert  the  king,  and  of  Robert  of 
Albany.2  Consequently  it  has  been  assumed,  and  in  my 
opinion  unwarrantably,  that  John  Stewart  of  Bute  was  illegit- 
imate, in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term,  and,  in  consequence, 
bound  to  wear  the  baton  sinister  upon  his  arms. 

In  tracing  the  scions  of  so  fertile  a  stem  as  Robert  II. 
was — the  Pope  himself  noted  this  virtue  in  the  king  and 
Elizabeth  More :  "  diu  cohabitantes,  prolis  utriusque  sexus 
multitudinem  procrearunt" — it  is  well  to  be  vigilant,  lest 
among  the  crowd  of  branches  a  shoot  remain  unobserved. 

It  is  supposed  that,  when  in  1385  Bute  and  Arran  were 
formed  into  a  sheriffdom,  John  Stewart  was  appointed  Sheriff. 
His  name  appears  in  the  'Exchequer  Rolls'  for  1388,  where 
he  is  credited  with  receiving  £6,  135.  4d.  of  salary,  and  also, 
till  1449,  when  he  receives  £40  of  annual  salary  for  the 
Keepership  of  Rothesay  Castle.  These  appointments,  the 
gift  of  his  father,  he  held  sixty-one,  if  not  sixty-four,  years. 
His  brother  confirmed  him  in  the  office  by  a  charter,  still 
preserved  by  the  Marquess  of  Bute. 


1  This  charter  is  given  in  full  in  Reid's  'History  of  Bute, '  Appendix,  p.  266, 
as  extracted  from  the  Register  of  the  Great  Seal. 

2  'Excheq.   Rolls,'  vol.    iii.   pp.  458,  686;  vol.   iv.   Pref.  ;  vol.  v.  var.  he.; 
vol.  vi.  Pref. 


142  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  charter  by  Robert 
III.,  given  under  the  Great  Seal  —  a  reduced  fac-simile  of 
which  is  here  given — appointing  John,  Steward  of  Bute,  to 
the  office  of  sheriff  in  1400: — 

"  Robert,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  Scots,  to  all  the  propertied 
men,  of  his  own  land,  cleric  and  laic,  Greeting, — Know  ye  that  we 
have  given,  conceded,  and,  by  this  present  charter,  confirmed  to  our 
dear  brother  John,  Steward  of  Bute,  the  office  of  Sheriff  of  the  Isles 
of  Bute  and  of  Arran  with  pertinents,  with  which  office  indeed  by 
the  gift  of  the  most  excellent  prince  and  lord,  lord  Robert,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  King  of  Scots,  our  illustrious  father,  thus  far  is  the 
proviso,  that  it  be  held  and  possessed  by  our  said  brother  and  his 
heirs-male  legitimately  procreated  or  to  be  procreated  of  his  body — 
all,  by  chance  failing,  reverting  to  us  and  to  our  heirs — of  us  and 
our  heirs  in  feu  and  heirship,  for  ever,  with  rights,  feus,  and  customs, 
and  with  their  own  just  pertinents  whatsoever  belonging  to,  or  in 
future  justly  effeiring  to  belong  to  the  said  office,  freely,  quietly,  and 
in  peace.  In  witness  whereof  we  have  ordered  our  seal  to  be 
appended  to  our  present  charter, — witnesses  being  the  venerable 
fathers  in  Christ,  Walter,  Bishop  of  St  Andrews,  Gilbert,  Bishop  of 
Aberdeen,  our  Chancellor;  our  dearest  first-born,  David,  Duke  of 
Rothesay,  Earl  of  Carrick  and  Athole,  and  Steward  of  Scotland; 
Robert,  Duke  of  Albany,  Earl  of  Fife  and  of  Meneteth,  brother; 
Archibald,  Earl  of  Douglas,  Lord  of  Galloway,  our  dear  son ; 
James  of  Douglas,  Lord  of  Dalkeith,  Thomas  of  Erskine,  our  dear 
cousins  and  officers.  At  Irvine,  the  eleventh  day  of  the  month  of 
November,  in  the  year  of  grace  one  thousand  four  hundred,  and  of 
the  eleventh  of  our  reign." 

If  John  was  a  son  of  Elizabeth  More,  who  died  between 
1347  and  1355,  he  was  a  centenarian,  or  wellnigh  one,  at  his 
decease.  But  probably  he  would  not  have  been  designated 
a  natural,  if  he  was  a  germane,  brother  of  the  king.  Yet  it  is 
possible.  On  the  other  hand,  if  John  was  a  son  of  Euphemia 
Ross,  the  second  wife  of  the  king,  and  born  even  about  1360, 


of  o> 

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PQ  « 


a  d 

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.5  S 

o  <u 


M  c? 

H  -u 

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o  PQ 


o>     o 

1.S 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  143 

he  was  old  enough  for  official  duty  in  1385,  and  a  nono- 
genarian  in  1449.  In  tni"s  case  he  might  be  properly  styled 
a  natural  brother  of  the  king,  being  his  father's  son  by  a 
different  mother. 

Crawford  says  (p.  19),  enumerating  the  natural  issue  of 
King  Robert  II.1:— 

"  Sir  John  Stewart,  Sheriff  of  Bute,  commonly  called  the  Black 
Stewart.2  For  this  I  have  seen  a  charter 3  under  the  Great  Seal,  by 
King  Robert  III.,  of  an  annuity  of  16  merks  sterling  to  Sir  Adam 
Forrester  out  of  the  Customs  of  Edinburgh,  in  which  grant  Johanne 
Senescallo  Vicecomite  de  Bute  fratre  nostro  naturali  is  a  witness,  and 
is  dated  i5th  February  in  the  year  1404.  Moreover,  there  is  a 
charter  in  the  Public  Records  by  Robert,  Duke  of  Albany,  when 
Governor  of  Scotland,  dated  at  Rothesay  the  24th  August  1408,  to 
John  Campbell  of  Loudon  of  the  lands  of  Chalucbreks  in  Carrick, 
to  which  Johanne  Senescalco  fratre  suo  naturali  Vicecomite  de  Bute 
is  a  witness." 

In  the  charter  dated  nth  November  1400,  at  Irvine,  wherein 
King  Robert  III.  grants  the  office  of  sheriff  to  John  Senescal, 


1  According  to  W.  A.  Lindsay,  Robert  II.  was  father  of  John  (Robert  III.), 
Walter,  Alexander,  Robert,  Margery,  Jean,  Margaret,  Elizabeth,  Margaret  (2), 
Alan,  Catherine,   Egida,  David,  Walter  (2)  :   Brown,  in  1792,  enumerates  the 
above  excepting  Jean,  Elizabeth,  a  Margaret.  Alan,  but  adds  a  daughter  unnamed, 
John  of  Bute,  Thomas,  Bishop  of  St  Andrews,  John  of  Dundonald,  and  John  of 
Cardney.     Burnett  (' Excheq.  Rolls,'  Preface,  vol.  iv.)  enumerates  the  family  of 
Robert  II.  thus  :  by  Elizabeth  Mure,  John,  Walter  of  Fife,  Alexander  of  Bade- 

nach,  Margaret  (of  the  Isles),  Elizabeth  (Hay),  (Keith),  Marjory  (Dunbar), 

Isabel  (Douglas),  Jean  (Lyon) ;  by  Euphemia  Ross,  David  of  Strathern,  Walter 

of  Athole,  Egidia  (Douglas), (Jean,  Catherine,  or  Elizabeth,  Lindsay), 

(Catherine,   Logan)  ;    illegitimate,  John   of  Bute,    Thomas,    Archdeacon  of  St 
Andrews,  Alexander,  Canon  of  Glasgow,  John  of  Dundonald,  Alexander,  James, 
John,  Walter,  four  sons  of  Mariot  Cardney. 

2  Sir  John  of  Dundonald  was  the  Red  Stewart. 

3  In  the  hands  of  James  Robertson,  Advocate. 


144  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

he  is  styled  "dilecto  fratri  nostro  Johanni  Senescalli  de 
Bute  " — "  our  dear  brother  John  Steward  of  Bute  "  ;  but  on 
the  same  day,  at  the  same  place,  another  charter  is  granted 
him,  of  the  lands  of  Ardumlese  (Ardmoleish)  and  Grenane 
in  Bute  with  Coregelle  in  Arran,  and  in  it  he  is  styled 

"dilecto  fratri  nostro  T  Johanni  Senescalli  Vicecomiti 

nostro  de  Bute."  The  word  amissing  is  presumably  naturali, 
but  may  have  been  germane.  Naturalis,  natural,  is  used  by 
Latin  writers  to  designate  children  of  the  same  blood,  as  op- 
posed to  a  child  adopted,  adoptatus,  and  did  not  necessarily 
imply  illegitimacy.  Bede  styles  Ethelberga,  Abbess  of  Brie, 
"  the  natural  daughter  of  the  same  king  "  of  the  East  Angles 
and  Anna  his  wife.2  Germanus  signified  born  of  the  same 
father  and  mother. 

In  Albany's  charter  of  4th  July  1419,  granting  Barone  to 
Sheriff  John,  he  is  styled  "dilecto  fratri  nostro  Johanni 
Steuart,"  and  one  of  the  witnesses  is  "Johanne  Steuart  de 
Dondonnald  fratre  nostro." 

John,  the  first-born  of  King  Robert  II.,  is  always  called 
"  primogenitus  "  until  he  changed  his  name  to  Robert,  as  if 
to  distinguish  him  from  other  Johns  (see  Appendix  XIV.), 
John  being  a  favourite  name  with  Robert  II.  It  was  not 
uncommon  to  have  more  than  one  son  with  the  same  bap- 
tismal name.  King  James  III.  had  two  lawful  sons  of 
the  name  of  James. 

^Besides  this  John,  Robert  II.  had  a  son  John  by  Marion 
de  Cardney  to  whom  he  gave  lands  in  Kinclaven  ; 3  and  also 


1  There  is  a  hole  in  the  parchment  cutting  out  the  word. 

2  Bede,  bk.  iii.  ch.  viii. ;  Bohn,  p.  121. 

3  Robertson's  'Index,'  124,  13. 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  145 

a  John  gotten  betwixt  the  king  and  "dilectam  nostram 
Moram,"  who  got  lands  in  the  same  thanedom.1 

The  so-called  tradition,  not  mentioned  by  Crawford  or 
Blain,  that  the  Sheriff,  John  Stewart,  was  the  offspring  of  an 
amour  of  King  Robert  II.  with  a  daughter  of  Lech  of  Ard- 
maleish,  cannot  TDC  traced  further  than  to  the  crack-brained 
laird  of  Kilwhinleck,  the  Rev.  James  Stewart,  formerly 
minister  of  Kingarth.  Reid,  quoting  M'Kinlay's  MS.,  says  : 
"There  is  a  tradition  imported  into  the  Bute  family  history 
upon  the  authority  of  the  late  Lord  Bannatyne  (1742-1833), 
who  is  merely  said  to  have  heard  it  from  Stewart  of  Kilwhin- 
leck, that  the  mother  of  the  first  of  the  family  of  Bute  was 
named  Leitch,  and  was  the  daughter  of  the  laird  of  Ard- 
malish,  in  Bute,  whose  attractions  had  fascinated  the  High 
Steward  one  day  while  hunting." 2  The  source  of  informa- 
tion is  most  suspicious,  and  unreliable. 

There  is  a  curious  circumstance,  which,  after  research,  I  am 
unable  to  clear  up,  in  connection  with  one  of  these  numerous 
John  Stewarts.  In  one  charter  granting  lands  in  Kinclaven 
to  a  John  Stewart,  he  is  described  as  the  son  of  King  Robert 
II.  and  Marion  Cardney.  In  another  the  John  Stewart  is 
thus  referred  to  : — 

"Robert,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of  Scots,  &c. — Let  it  be 
known  that  we  have  given,  conceded,  and  by  this  present  charter 
confirmed  to  our  dear  son  John  Stewart,  born  between  us  and  our 
dear  More,  all  and  singular  our  lands  of  Ballachys,  Invernate,  and 
Mukersy,  with  a  part  in  the  thanedom  of  Kynclevyn,  within  the 
sheriffdom  of  Perth,"  &c.3 


1  Robertson's  'Index,'  125,  29. 

2  Reid's  '  Hist.,'  p.  195  ;  'Third  Report  of  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.,'  App.,  402. 

3  '  Reg.  JVTag.  Sig.,'  vol.  i.  p.  166. 

VOL.  IT.  K 


146  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

This  charter  was  granted  at  Perth  on  the  I5th  January  1383. 
It,  of  course,  might  refer  to  John,  the  first-born  son  of  the 
king ;  but  he  is  usually  designated  in  full,  with  all  his 
titles. 

In  1502,  we  find  that  Ninian  Stewart,  Sheriff  of  Bute,  was 
able  to  dispone  a  property,  Ballochshchechan  (Ballechin  ?),  in 
the  barony  of  Abernethy,  in  the  county  of  Perth,  to  John 
Stewart  of  Ardgowan.1  Are  Ballachys  and  Ballochshchechan 
to  be  considered  identical  with  each  other,  and  with  the 
subject  of  the  charter  referred  to  in  Robertson's  '  Index'? — 
see  Appendix  XVI.  If  they  are,  then  Ninian,  Sheriff  of 
Bute,  may  have  possessed  these  lands  on  account  of  his 
descent  from  John,  the  son  of  "dear  More" — and  therefore 
a  full  brother  of  the  king.  If  not,  we  are  no  nearer  the 
discovery  of  the  mother  of  John,  the  founder  of  the  House 
of  Bute. 

The  charter  of  James  IV. — here  presented  in  reduced  fac- 
simile (p.  153) — appointing  Ninian  Stewart,  then  Sheriff  of 
Bute,  to  the  keepership  of  Rothesay  Castle,  and  his  heirs- 
male  to  the  same  office  hereditarily,  provides  for  his  salary  of 
forty  marks  a-year,  together  with  the  regular  dues  customarily 
given  to  such  officers.  It  was  given  under  the  Great  Seal  at 
the  New  Castle  of  Kintyre  (i.e.,  Tarbert)  on  the  5th  August 
1498.  These  customary  dues  are  specified  in  actions  subse- 
quently raised  by  the  captains  of  the  castle  against  debtors, 
and  are  also  more  fully  detailed  in  the  Investiture  of  Sir 
George  Mackenzie  (pp.  149-151). 

In  1579,  Sheriff  John  Stewart  sued  Ninian  Bannatyne  of 
Kames  for  "2  wedders,  5  creills  of  peat,  and  5  sleds  of 

1  '  Reg.  Mag.  Sig.,'  vol.  ii.  p.  573. 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  147 

stray,"  as  dues  from  his  lands  of  Cowbasbeg  and  Cowbas- 
more  (i.e.  Lubas).1 

On  1 5th  May  1687,  Sir  James  Stewart  raised  an  action  in 
the  Burgh  Court  against  several  feuars  for  his  dues  as  keeper 
of  the  castle,  sheriff,  and  keeper  of  the  fairs,  in  which  he 
condescends  that  his  predecessors  and  authors  were  "  heralds, 
captanes,  and  keepers  of  the  Castle  of  Rothesay  in  possession 
of  ane  casualty  of  ane  creill  of  peitts,  and  ane  hen  yeirly 
furth  of  ilk  reeking  house,  payable  to  the  said  castle  within 
the  Burgh  of  Rothesay,  .  .  .  also  ane  gallone  of  ale  .  .  .  furth 
of  ilk  brewing-house."  The  action,  doubtless,  was  sustained.2 

King  Robert  III.,  on  nth  November  1400,  granted  to  John 
the  lands  of  Ardmaleish,  Greenan,  Corriegills  in  Arran,  and 
;£io  yearly  out  of  the  feu-duties  of  Bute,  with  10  merks  out 
of  the  feu-duties  of  Arran. 

Robert,  Duke  of  Albany,  granted  charter  to  his  brother 
John,  Sheriff  of  Bute,  of  half  the  lands  of  Finnoch,  within  the 
barony  of  Renfrew,  on  1st  June  1418. 

Albany  granted  by  charter  to  John,  Sheriff  of  Bute,  and 
Jonet  his  wife  (daughter  of  John  Semple  of  Elliotstone), 
on  4th  July  1419  at  Renfrew,  Barone,  which  the  deed  states 
belonged  hereditarily  to  Agnes,  daughter  of  Walter. 

In  1440,  Gilbert  Kennedy  and  Robert  Chisholme  were  the 
bailies  of  Bute  and  Arran. 

Neil  Jamieson  was  chamberlain  of  Bute  from  1436  to  1454. 

On  28th  May  1490,  Ninian  Stewart  was  seized  in  Ard- 
maleish, &c.,  and  sheriffship. 

A  commission  was  given  serving  James  heir  to  Ninian 
Stewart  on  I5th  January  1538. 

1  Marquess  of  Bute's  Charters.  2  Council  Records. 


148  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

On  8th  September  1549,  a  charter  was  given  under  the 
Great  Seal  in  favour  of  James  Stewart  and  his  heirs-male,  of 
the  office  of  Chamberlain  of  his  Majesty's  property  in  Bute, 
mill,  and  forest  thereof,  paying  for  each  boll  of  bear  yearlie 
eight  shillings  and  four  pennies,  for  each  boll  of  meal  four 
shillings,  and  for  each  mart  twenty-four  shillings,  with  three 
merks  yearly  of  augmentation. 

On  1 8th  January  1590,  a  charter  of  novodamus  was  granted 
to  Sheriff  John  Stewart,  confirming  the  offices  and  ward-lands, 
erecting  Ardmaleish  into  a  barony,  and  granting  the  patron- 
age of  Rothesay  Church. 

Sir  James  Stewart  was  on  27th  April  1659  invested  in  the 
following  lands  and  privileges  : 1 — 

Ardmaleish*  (with  slate  craig),  3-merkland ;  Kneslagvouraty, 
3-merkland;  Drumachloy* ;  Dunalunt*;  Ballicaul,*  2-merk- 
land  ;  Auchintirrie*  ;  Greenan,*  3-merkland,  and  mill ;  Coag- 
ach,*  2-merkland ;  Mickle  Barrone,*  5-merkland  ;  Ballilone,* 
i6s.  8d.;  Auchamore,*  i6s.  8d.;  Glenchromag,*  i6s.  8d.;  Bar- 
mor,*  3-merkland  ;  2  Kelspokes,*  J^-merkland  ;  Mill  of  Kil- 
chattan*;  Kerrycroy,  5-merkland  ;  Mid  Ascog,*  3-merkland  ; 
Kerrycrusach,*  3-merkland  ;  Patronage  of  Kirks  of  Rothesay, 
Mill  of  Rothesay,  and  multures ;  Kneslagloan,*  3-merkland  ; 
Ardnahoe,*  3-merkland;  Stravanan,*  3-merkland;  Kerry- 
menoch*;  Inchmernock  (with  slate  craig)  ;  Fifty-shilling-land 
of  Garrachty ;  Corriegills*  in  Arran  ;  3  Kirktowns ;  Pen- 
machry,  2-merkland  ;  Breckoch,  with  mill  and  multures,  in 
Cumbrae ;  and  lands  of  Fuird  with  mill,  in  Edinburgh,  to  be 
holden  blench  of  Sir  James  himself.  The  Sheriffship  and  the 
keepership  of  the  castle  were  also  included. 

1  The  values  attached  are  those  found  in  the  charter  granted  to  Sir  George 
Mackenzie  in  1681. 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  \  49 

When  the  whole  Bute  estate  passed  into  the  hands  of  Sir 
George  Mackenzie  of  Rosehaugh,  the  following  additional 
lands,  &c.;  had  been  purchased,  and  are  mentioned  in  the 
charter  granted  to  Sir  George  Mackenzie,  4th  March 
1681:— 

Woodend  Butt*  ;  Ballycurrie,*  and  Cottar  Butts  ;  one-half 
of  Balnakelly*  ;  one-half  of  Teydow  ;  Ballianlay*  ;  Chappel- 
town,*  i6s.  8d.  ;  Culevin,*  3-merkland  ;  dues  of  the  Crownery 
of  Bute  and  Cumbrae;  Dungyll*  (Torrygill)  ;  Eschechrag- 
gan  and  Glenbuy ;  Gallachan*;  Kilwhinleck,*  5-merkland  ; 
Kechag,  Kilchattan* — Meikle,*  5-merkland,  and  Little,*  3- 
merkland;  Kildavannan,  3-merkland ;  Kerrytonley*;  Kilmory- 
Meikle*  ;  Kilmory  -  Chappel*  ;  Kerryfuirin*  ;  Kerryneven,* 
4-merkland  ;  Kerrymoran,*  4-merkland  (  =  Scoulag)  ;  Langal 
(-kechag*  ;  -corad,*  3-merkland  ;  -cuthilachlan  ;  -bunnach,* 
3-merkland) ;  Penmachray  (Cumbrae)  Row,  253. ;  Scalpsca 
mill ;  Scoulag — Middle,  4-merkland,  and  Nether,  4-merkland. 

Beside  these  lands  were  the  teinds — "  the  five-horse  gang 
of  .  .  .  ,  tiends  of  parsonage  and  bishops'  tiends  out  of 
the  twenty-pound-lands  of  Rothesay,  whereof  the  deceased 
Sir  Dugal  Stewart  was  in  use  to  draw  the  tiend  sheaves,"  and 
"the  tiends  parsonage  and  other  tiends"  out  of  the  lands 
following,  and  those  before  marked  with  an  asterisk  : — 

Wester  Kames,  Easter  Kames,  Edinmore,  Edinbeg,  Kil- 
machalmaig,  Nether  Ettrick,  Over  Ettrick,  Kilbride,  Nether 
Glenmore,  Over  Glenmore,  Lenihuline,  Tawnie,  Bualoch- 
reg,  Shalunt,  Stuck,  Mecknock,  Ardroscadale — Nether  and 
Over  —  Largivrechtan,  Acholter,  Auchawillig,  Balnakelly, 
Ambrismore,  Glechnabae,  Kilmichel,  Ballicreg,  Ascog— Over 
and  Nether — Kerrylamont,  Leninteskin,  2  butts  of  Lochend, 
Bransar,  Kerrygavin,  Merkland  of  Kingarth,  Birgidale  Crief, 


150  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Birgidale  Knock,  Barnauld,  J^-merkland  of  Sheriff,  Lubas — 
Little  and  Meikle — Largizean,  Kneslag  -vourathy  and  -mory, 
Quien,  Row,  Scalpsay  (with  other  lands  in  Cowal). 

There  were  also  the  patronage  of  Kingarth,  Rothesay,  and 
Inverchaolain  churches. 

"The  office  of  the  Hereditary  Keeper  of  His  Majesty's  Castle 
of  Rothesay  is  granted  with  houses,  biggings,  yeards,  office  houses, 
parts,  pendicles,  and  pertinents  thereof  whatsomever,  and  particularly 
the  houses  and  yeards  opposite  to  the  said  Castle  pertaining  thereto 
and  then  possest  by  Ninian  Allan,  officer,  and  John  Kerr,  sometime 
bailie  of  Rothesay,  and  other  houses  and  yards  likeways  belonging 
thereto  over  against  the  houses  on  the  south  side  or  the  High  Street 
of  Rothesay,  with  all  services  and  casualties  payable  to  the  Hereditary 
Keepers  of  the  said  Castle,  and  which  were  paid  to  Sir  James  and  Sir 
Dugald  Stuarts,  then  deceast,  for  their  service  as  heretable  keepers 
thereof;  out  of  the  feu-lands,  called  Dumbarton  Lands,  within  the 
Island  of  Bute,  and  particularly  out  of  the  lands  of  Kerrycroy  two 
kain  wedders,  two  creel  of  peats,  two  cartsfull  of  straw,  six  reek  hens 
with  two  nights'  meat  for  two  horses  and  one  man  yearlie ;  out  of 
the  lands  of  Kerrylamont  i  kain  wedder,  and  2  reek  hens  and 
siklike  the  casualties  of  wedders,  peats,  straw,  reek  hens,  and  nights' 
meat  for  horses,  and  their  keepers,  with  service  to  the  Castle  for 
necessaries,  and  when  required  out  of  all  and  haill  the  feu-lands 
possest  by  the  tenants  within  the  Island  of  Bute,  called  Dumbarton 
Lands,  whereof  the  possessors  of  the  said  feu-lands  and  liferents  had 
been  in  use  of  payment  conform  to  their  particular  proportions  and 
rental  thereof  past  memory  of  man,  and  also  a  creel  of  peats  and  a 
hen  yearlie  out  of  every  reek  house  within  the  Burgh  of  Rothesay, 
also. an  annual  rent  of  three  score  merks  payable  out  of  the  feu- 
duties  of  the  Mill  of  Rothesay." 

The  following  charter  shows  how  very  near  the  serene 
village  of  Kerrycroy  came  to  being  transformed  from  "  The 
Ferry,"  as  it  is  sometimes,  as  of  old,  called,  into  a  large 


The  Barons  of  B^lte.  1 5 1 

seaport  and  emporium.1  The  charter  of  2/th  August  1703, 
under  the  Great  Seal,  embodies  the  General  Investiture  of 
the  Bute  estate  in  favour  of  Sir  James  Stewart,  and  erects 
Bute,  Great  Cumbray,  and  Inchmernock  into  Barony  and 
Regality,  with  free  chapel  and  chancery,  to  be  called  the 
Baronry  and  Regality  of  Bute.  It  also  erects  the  town  or 
village  of  (blank)  in  a  free  Burgh  of  Regality  and  head  Burgh 
of  the  said  Regality,  to  be  called  the  Burgh  and  Regality  of 
Mountstuart,  at  whose  market-cross  all  publications  within 
the  jurisdiction  should  be  made,  and  with  power  to  the 
inhabitants  to  deal  in  merchandise  and  to  carry  on  handi- 
craft trades,  and  to  have  a  weekly  market  and  three  fairs  in 
a  year,  each  to  continue  for  three  days,  Sir  James  being 
entitled  to  lift  the  customs  of  the  said  fairs  and  markets  ; 
and  power  is  given  to  erect  and  build  free  ports  and 
harbours,  within  any  part  of  Bute,  Inchmernock,  and  Meikle 
Cumbray,  belonging  to  him  in  property  or  superiority,  and 
of  exacting  the  tolls,  dues,  anchorages,  shore  -  dues,  and 
other  customs  and  duties  of  the  said  ports,  with  all  other 
liberties  and  privileges  that  any  other  ports  or  harbours 
within  any  barony  and  regality  in  Scotland  have  or  do 
enjoy.  The  charter  further  contains  a  novodamus  and  a 
grant  of  the  patronage  of  the  parish  kirk  of  Kingarth  and 
teinds  thereof. 

In  1689,  Sir  James  Stewart  disposed  in  trust  to  David 
Boyle  of  Kelburn  the  office  of  Sheriff,  and  the  latter  re- 
conveyed  it  to  Sir  James  on  23d  September  1692. 

King  James  VI.  granted  the  feu-duties  of  Bute  to  the 
Duke  of  Lennox,  governor  of  Dumbarton,  and  his  suc- 

1  "  Inventory  of  the  Title-Deeds  of  the  Estate  of  Bute,  &c.,"  MS.,  p.  67. 


152  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

cessors.1  Parliament  ratified  their  attachment  to  Dum- 
barton in  1606;  they  were  dissolved  from  Dumbarton  in 
1764,  after  which  James,  second  Earl  of  Bute,  bought  them 
from  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  representative  of  Lennox. 

The  following  is  a  detailed  pedigree  of  the  Stewarts  of 
Bute  :— 

I.  JOHN  (I.),  son  of  King  Robert  II.,  born  1360  (?),  died 
1449,  Sheriff  of  Bute,  Keeper  of  Rothesay  Castle,  Baron  of 
Ardmaleish  and  Grenan. 

By  Jonet  Semple,  the  Sheriff,  John  Stewart,  had  issue — 

1.  James,  his  successor  in  office. 

2.  William,   who   succeeded    to    Finnock,   and   became 

keeper  of  Brodick  Castle,  1445-1451,  for  which  he 
was  paid  £20  of  annual  salary. 

3.  Robert,  supposed  to  have  held  Kilwhinleck,  which  was 

granted  in  heritage  in  1506  to  his  son  Alexander. 

4.  John,  tenant  of  Kerrycroy,  Kelspoke,  and  Drumach- 

loy,  also  of  Southbar  in  Renfrew. 

5.  Andrew,  tenant  of  Rosland  in  Rothesay,  and  laird  of 

Balshagry  in  Lanarkshire.  From  him  descended 
the  lairds  of  Scarrel  and  Patrick  Stewart,  minister  of 
Kingarth.  The  tradition  that  he  married  the  heiress 
of  Grant  and  became  progenitor  of  the  Earls  of  Sea- 
field  is  disproved  by  Sir  William  Fraser.2 

II.  JAMES  (I.),  keeper  of  Rothesay  Castle  till  Martinmas 
1465,  when  the  ofHce  was  given  to  Lord  Darnley,  who  gave 
the  office  to  his  own  son   Ninian.     But  James  received  his 
salary  till  1477.     His  children  were — 

1  '  Act  Parl.  Scot.,'  8  James  VI.  Parl.  9.  2  '  Book  of  the  Grants,'  vol.  i.  p.  29. 


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The  Barons  of  Bute.  153 

1.  Ninian,  his  successor. 

2.  James  of  Kilchattan.     His  son  James  sold  Kilchattan 

to  Ninian  (II.)     The  first  charter  of  Kilchattan  is  in 
favour  of  John  Stewart,  Sheriff,  &c.,  in  1474. 

3.  David  of  Auchawillig. 

4.  John  of  Upper  Kirkton,  Cumbrae,  who  had  two  sons, 

Patrick  and  John. 

III.  NINIAN  (I.),  served  heir  to  his  father  James  in  1490. 
He  was  made  hereditary  Castellan  of  Rothesay  by  James 
IV.  in  1498.  He  married — 

i.  Campbell,  had  issue — 

1.  James,  who  succeeded. 

2.  Robert  of  Nether  Kilmory,  1506,  and  Ambris- 

more,  1529,  ancestor  of  the  Stewarts  of 
Ambrismore ;  married  a  daughter  of  John 
Lamond. 

3.  William   of  Largivrechtan,  1506,  and  the  south 

half  of  Cugach,  1535. 

4.  Janet,  who  married  Ninian  Bannatyne  of  Kames, 

but  was  divorced  on  account  of  consanguinity, 
ii.  Janet  Dunlop — 

5.  Archibald  of  Largizean,  ancestor  of  Stewarts  of 

Largizean. 
iii.  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Blair  of  that  Ilk — 

6.  Alexander  of  Kildavanan,  who  married  Elizabeth 

Tait. 

7.  Ninian  of  Nether  Kilmory,  1532,  and  Largivrech- 

tan, 1548.  He  obtained  Kildavanan  from  his 
father,  and  purchased  Kilchattan  from  his  cousin 
James.  From  him  sprang  the  Kilchattan, 


154  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Ascog,  Ballinstraid,  Ballintoy  Stewarts,  of  whom 
is  the  Londonderry  family. 

He  was  granted  Ambrismore  in  heritage  in  1506.     He  ex- 
changed his  lands  in  Perthshire  for  Kildonan,  &c.,  in  Arran. 

Reid,  utilising   M'Kinlay's    MS.,  accepts  this   account  of 
Ninian's  family. 

IV.  JAMES  (II.)  was  served  heir  to  his  father,  I5th  January 
1538.     He  married — 

i.  Mary  Campbell,  daughter  of  Archibald,  Earl  of  Argyle, 

but  had  no  issue. 

ii.  Marion,  daughter  of  John  Fairlie  of  that  Ilk,  and  widow 
of  Thomas  Boyd  of  Linn,  and  had  issue — 

1.  John,  his  successor. 

2.  Robert  of  Kelspokes,  acquired  from  Southbar. 

3.  ,  married  to  Alexander  Stewart  of  Kelspokes 

and  Ballochmartin. 

V.  JOHN  (II.)  added  considerably  to  the  estate,  by  purchase 
of  lands  and  superiorities  at  Ballicaul,  Langalquochag,  Kerry  - 
menoch  Stewart,  Mill  of  Ambrismore,  Drumachloy,  Auchin- 
tirrie,  Arnahoe,  Coaghag,  Inchmarnock,  Mid  Ascog,  &c.     He 
sat  in  Parliament,  2Oth  October  1579,  and  attended  Court  as 
a  gentleman  of  the  bedchamber,  i6o2(?).     He  died  before 
1612.     He  married — 

i.  Mary,  daughter  of  John   Campbell  of  Skipnish,  and 
had  issue — 

1.  John,  his  successor. 

ii.  Fynwald,  daughter  of  Sir  John  M'Donald  of  Dunivaig. 
iii.  Jean,  daughter  of  John  Blair  of  that  Ilk. 

2.  James  of  Ardnahoe. 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  1 5  5 

3.  Grizel,  who  married  Ninian  Stewart  of  Kilchattan 
in  1615. 

VI.  JOHN  (III.),  usually  styled  of  Kirktown  or  Ardmolis, 
received  the   honour  of  knighthood   from   King  James  VI. 
Sir  John   added    to   his    property    Kerrycrusoch,   Dunalunt, 
Kneslagvouraty,  &c.     He  married   Elizabeth,  daughter  and 
heiress  of  Robert   Hepburn   of  Foord   in   Haddington,   and 
had  issue — 

1.  James,  his  successor. 

2.  Robert. 

3.  Thomas,  Colonel,  who  died  in  France. 

4.  ,  married  Archibald  Stewart  of  Kilwhinleck. 

The  Sheriff  died  in    1618;   and    his  widow  married   Sir 

Alexander  Foulis  of  Colinton. 

VII.  SIR  JAMES  (III.)  was  created  a   Baronet  of  Nova 
Scotia  by  Charles  I.,  28th  March  1627.     He  was  a  Royalist, 
was  fined  5000  merks  by  Parliament  in   1646,  and  was  at- 
tainted.    He  sat  in  the  Scots  Parliament  in  1644,  1661,  and 
1662.     He  died  in  London  in  1662,  and  was  buried  in  West- 
minster Abbey.    There  is  no  monument  to  him  now  traceable. 

He  married   Grizel,  daughter  of  Sir  Dugal   Campbell  of 
Auchinbreck,  and  had  the  following  children — 

1.  Dugal,  his  successor. 

2.  Robert,  Senator  of  the  College  of  Justice,  and  one  of 

the   Lords  of  Justiciary — Lord  Tiilicultrie — was  a 
Commissioner  from  Scotland  in  the  Union  nego- 
tiations, and  was  made  a  Baronet  in  1707. 
3    Isobel    (Elizabeth),    married    Ninian    Bannatyne    of 
Kames. 


156  Bitte  in  the  Olden  Time. 

4.  Anne,  married  (i)  Alexander  M'Donald  of  Sana ;  (2) 

Walter  Campbell  of  Skipness. 

5.  Jean,  married  (i)  Angus  Campbell  of  Skipness;  (2) 

James  Graham. 

VIII.  SIR    DUGAL    came    into    an    impoverished   estate, 
over   which    John    Boyle    of    Kelburne    held    bonds.      He 
married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Ruthven  of  Dun- 
glass,  and  had  five  children — 

1.  James,  his  successor. 

2.  Dugald,who  became  a  Lord  of  Session — Lord  Blairhall. 

3.  Barbara,  married  Alexander  Campbell  of  Barbreck. 

4.  Margaret,  married  Dugal  Lamont  of  that  Ilk. 

5.  ,  married  Stewart  of  Auchinskeoch. 

IX.  SIR  JAMES  (IV.),  succeeded  his  father  in   1672  ;  sided 
with  the  Revolution  party  in  1688,  and  in   1702  negotiated 
for  the  Union  of  the  Parliaments ;  became  a  Privy  Council- 
lor to  Queen  Anne,  who  raised  him  to  the  Peerage  on  I4th 
April  1703,  with  the  title  of  Earl  of  Bute,  Viscount  Kingarf, 
Lord  Mountstuart,  Cumra,  and  Inchmarnock.      His  estate 
was  heavily  burdened  to  John  Boyle  of  Kelburn  (£76,169), 
and  to  John  Stewart  of  Ascog  (£9385).     He  married — 

i.  Agnes,  daughter  of  Sir  George  Mackenzie  of  Rose- 
haugh,  Lord  Advocate  of  Scotland,  who  took 
over  the  estate  in  1681,  and  by  her  had — 

1.  James,  his  successor. 

2.  Margaret,  who  married  John  Crawford,  Viscount 

Garnock,  fifteenth  Earl  of  Crawford, 
ii.  Christian,  daughter  of  William  Dundas  of  Kincavil, 
by  whom  he  had — • 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  \  5  7 

3.  John,  who  died  at  Rome  in  1738,  and  is  buried  in 

the  Scots  College  there. 

The  Earl  died  at  Bath,  4th  June  1710,  and  is  buried  in  the 
mausoleum  in  Rothesay.     See  Crawfurd's  '  Peerage,'  p.  57. 

X.  JAMES  (V.),  second  Earl,  was  born  in  1690.     He  suc- 
ceeded  to   the   Rosehaugh    estates    in    1707.      He    married 
Lady  Ann  Campbell,  sister  of  John,  Duke  of  Argyle,  and  by 
her  had — 

1.  John,  his  successor,  Lord  Mountstuart. 

2.  James  of  Rosehaugh,  who  married  his  cousin  Eliza- 

beth of  Argyle ;    member  of  Parliament ;   Keeper 
of  Privy  Seal  of  Scotland,   1763,  &c.,  &c. 

3.  Mary,  who  married  Sir  Robert  Menzies  of  Weem. 

4.  Anne,  who  married  James,  third  Lord  Ruthven. 

5.  Jean,  who  married  William  Courtenay,  Esquire. 

6.  Grace,  married  John  Campbell,  yr.  of  Stonefield. 
The  Earl  died  on  the  28th  January   1723,  aged  thirty- 
three,  and  was  buried  in  Rothesay.     His  town-house,  built 
by   George  Cunningham,  W.S.,  in    1 680-81,   still  stands  in 
the  High  Street.     Mountstuart  House  was  begun  in  1719. 

XI.  JOHN  (IV.),  third  Earl,  was  born  at  Edinburgh,  25th 
May  1713,  died  loth  March  1792,  and  was  buried  at  Rothesay. 
This  Earl  was  courtier,  politician,  patron  of  literature  and 
science,  a  generous  friend  to  literary  men,  a  benefactor  to 
universities,  and  one  of  the  most  esteemed  and  influential 
peers  of  the  eighteenth  century.     He  was  installed  K.G.  in 
1762.     He  married  Mary,  only  daughter  of  Edward  Wortley 
Montague,  Esq.,  afterwards  created  Baroness  Mountstuart  of 
Wortley,  with  the  title  of  Baron  Mountstuart  to  her  lawful 


158  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

issue    male    by  John,    Earl    of  Bute.     Of  thirteen    children 
eleven  survived — 

1.  John,  his  successor,  who  was  created  a  peer  of  the 

realm,  Baron  Cardiff  of  Cardiff. 

2.  James  Archibald  Stuart  Wortley  M'Kenzie  of  Rose- 

haugh,  Lieut-Colonel  of  the  Q2d,  which  he  raised. 

3.  Frederick,  M.P.  for  Rothesay  Burghs,  1775,  for  Bute, 

1796. 

4.  Charles,  Colonel  of  the  26th  Regiment,  created  Baron 

Stuart  de  Rothesay  in  1828. 

5.  William,  Bishop  of  St  David's,  Archbishop  of  Armagh, 

and  Primate  of  Ireland. 

6.  Mary,  married  the  Earl  of  Lonsdale. 

7.  Jane,  married  George,  Earl  Macartney. 

8.,  Ann,  married  the  Duke  of  Northumberland. 
9.  Augusta,  married  Captain  Andrew  Corbett. 

10.  Caroline,  married  the  Earl  of  Portarlington. 

11.  Louisa,  died  unmarried  in  1851,  aged  ninety-four. 

XII.  JOHN  (V.),  fourth  Earl,  first  Marquess.  For  his 
diplomatic  services  in  Sardinia  and  Spain  this  Earl  was, 
2  ist  March  1796,  created  a  Marquess  of  Great  Britain,  with 
the  title  of  Viscount  Mountjoy  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  Earl  of 
Windsor,  and  Marquess  of  Bute.  He  married — 

i.  Charlotte  Jane,  daughter  and  co  -  heiress  of  Lord 
Viscount  Windsor,  who  died  in  1800,  and 
had  by  her — 

i.  John,  his  heir,  married  Elizabeth,  heiress  of 
Patrick,  Earl  of  Dumfries,  and  had  two  chil- 
dren, John  and  Patrick ;  died  in  1794,  his 
son  John  succeeding  his  grandfather. 


The  Barons  of  Biite.  159 

2.  Herbert  Windsor. 

3.  Charles,  Lieutenant  R.N. 

4.  Evelyn,   Lieut. -Colonel  of  2ist  Regiment,  M.P. 

for  Cardiff. 

5.  Henry,   married  Gertrude,   daughter   of  Earl    of 

Grand  ison. 

6.  William,  Captain  R.N. 

7.  George,  Rear-Admiral  Lord,  R.N.,  married  Jane 

Stewart.  His  son  Henry  (1808-1880)  married 
Cecilia  Hammersley.  He  was  factor  in  Bute. 
His  family  are  Evelyn,  Emily  Catherine,  Dud- 
ley Charles,  John  Windsor  (present  factor), 
Gertrude  Mary,  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Clara 
Georgina,  Cecilia,  Frederica,  Octavia  Hen- 
rietta Mary. 

8.  Maria  Alicia    Charlotte,  born    1768,   married  C. 

Pinfold,  Esq.,  died  in   1841. 

9.  Charlotte,    married    Sir   William    Homan,    Bart, 

and  died  1847. 

ii.  Frances    Coutts,  daughter   of  Thomas   Coutts,  Esq., 
banker,  London,  and  had — 

10.  Dudley  Coutts,  M.P. 

11.  Frances,  who  married  the  Earl  of  Harrowby. 
Earl  John  was  Provost  of  Rothesay  from  1788  till    i6th 

November  1814,  when  he  died. 

XIII.  JOHN  (VI.),  second  Marquess.  John  Crichton 
Stuart  was  born  I3th  August  1793,  and  lost  his  father,  Lord 
Mountstuart,  in  1794.  He  succeeded  his  maternal  grand- 
father in  1803,  as  Earl  of  Dumfries,  his  paternal  grandfather 
in  1814.  He  was  Commissioner  to  the  General  Assembly 


160  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

in  1842;  Provost  of  Rothesay,  1814-15,  1829-1837.     In  1818 
he  married — 

i.  Maria,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Guildford,  who  died  in 

1841,  but  by  her  had  no  issue, 
ii.  In  January  1847,  Sophia,  daughter  of  the  first  Marquess 

of  Hastings,  by  whom  he  had  one  son — 
John  Patrick  Crichton-Stuart. 

The  Marquess  died,  i8th  March  1848,  and  the  Marchioness, 
28th  December  1859. 

XIV.  JOHN  (VII.)  Patrick  Crichton-Stuart,  third  Marquess, 
was  born  I2th  September  1847.  He  married  the  Hon.  Gwen- 
dolen Mary-Anne,  eldest  daughter  of  Edward-George,  first 
Lord  Howard  of  Glossop,  a  descendant  of  the  Arundel  family, 
being  younger  son  of  the  thirteenth  Duke  of  Norfolk.  Their 
children  are  on  both  sides  directly  descended  from  the  Fitz 
Alans,  Banquo,  and  the  early  kings  of  Alban,  Dalriada,  and 
Ireland. 

1.  Margaret,  born  24th  December  1875. 

2.  John  (called  Earl  of  Dumfries),  born  2Oth  June  1881. 

3.  Ninian  Edward,  born  I5th  May  1883. 

4.  Colum  Edmund,  born  3d  April  1886. 

One  of  the  officers  of  the  Crown  in  Bute  was  the  Crownare 
or  Coroner,  whose  duties  it  is  not  easy  to  particularise.  The 
office,  though  distinct  from  that  of  a  sheriff,  was  riot  infre- 
quently united  with  it,  and  held  hereditarily  in  some  families. 
It  seems  to  have  been  within  the  scope  of  his  duty  to  watch 
over  all  the  interests  of  the  Crown  within  his  bounds,  assisting 
at  the  courts  of  justice,  apprehending  and  protecting  criminals 
or  accused,  citing  suspects  and  witnesses,  investigating  suspi- 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  161 

cious  cases,  poinding  forfeited  goods  and  lands,  acting  as 
coastguardsman  in  seizing  castaway  vessels,  collecting  the 
Crown  rents  and  dues,  and  otherwise  representing  the  Crown 
as  a  bailie  or  factor  with  the  powers  of  a  constable.  His  fees 
for  each  person  convicted,  a  quey  or  thirty  pennies ;  for  each 
accused  who  was  discharged,  nothing.  If  a  man  was  sen- 
tenced to  death,  the  Crowner's  fee  consisted  of  "all  the 
dantoned  and  tamed  horse  not  shod,  al  the  scheipe  within 
twentie,  al  the  goats  and  swyne  within  ten,  al  the  grains  and 
corns  lyand  in  byngs  or  in  broken  mawes,  all  the  utensils  or 
domicil  of  the  house  within  the  cruke  hingand  upon  the 
fire."1  In  Bute  the  Crowner  was  annually  entitled  to  a  cow 
out  of  the  feu-duties  of  Bute,  and  a  firlot  of  corn  and  a  lamb 
from  every  portioner  of  a  ploughgate  of  the  feu-lands,  which 
numbered  sixty-one.  The  office  in  the  sheriffdom  of  Bute 
was  held  by  Nigel  or  Neill  of  Kilmorie  and  his  descendants, 
the  Jamiesouns  of  the  same  place.  The  family  were  probably 
sprung  from  the  Dalriadic  invaders.  Ferchard  of  Bute,  son 
of  Nigel  of  Bute,  and  Duncan  his  brother,  about  the  close  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  appear  attesting  charters  by  Angus, 
son  of  Dovenald,  to  Paisley  monastery.2  From  1436  to  1458 
Niel  Jamieson  (Nigellus  Jacobi)  is  the  Chamberlain  (camer- 
arius)  of  Bute,  and  hands  in  regularly  his  accounts  of  the 
rents  paid  by  the  Crown  tenants  in  the  isle.  When  the  king 
was  in  residence  in  Rothesay,  1458,  Niel  made  such  a  poor 
mouth  about  the  bad  weather  for  the  past  twenty-two  years 
and  the  loss  of  his  fees  from  Arran,  which  had  been  scoured 
by  raiders  in  1444,  that  the  compassionate  monarch  allowed 


1  "The  Crownare  in  Scotland,"  in  'Scotsman,'  i8th  September  1893. 

2  'Reg.  Pass.,'  pp.  127,  128. 

VOL.  II.  L 


1 62  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

him  an  extra  payment  of  8  chalders,  for  his  vexations  in 
gathering  and  despatching  the  royal  rents,  or  marts,  to  the 
moving  Court. 

He  seems  to  have  been  succeeded  by  his  son  James,  for  in 
1501  we  find  Fergus,  the  son  of  James,  Crowner  of  Bute, 
making  a  grant  of  two  shillings  to  the  Friars  Preachers  of 
Glasgow.1  In  1506,  Robert  Jamesoun  is  enumerated  among 
the  so-called  "Barons  of  Bute"  who  received  charters  from 
King  James  IV.;  and  in  1534,  apparently  the  same  individual, 
Robert  Neilsoun,  is  confirmed  by  James  V.  in  the  Crowner- 
ship  of  the  island  and  sheriffdom  of  Bute  with  the  feus, 
which  office  had,  according  to  the  deed  of  grant,  then  lost, 
been  held  hereditarily  by  the  family  above  two  hundred 
years.2  In  1618,  Francis  Jamesoun  was  served  heir  to  his 
great-great-grandfather,  Robert,  in  the  office,  and  to  his 
father  James  in  the  Kilmory  lands— viz.,  "  the  5-marklands  of 
Kilmorie-moir,  2^-marklands  of  Keirfarne,  and  2^-mark- 
lands  of  Kilmorie-Chappeltoun." 

In  1642,  "  Robert  Jamieson,  Crowner  off  Bute,  his  lands  and 
heritage,"  are  enrolled  in  the  Maill-book  of  the  burgh,  but  the 
extent  is  undecipherable. 

In  1660,  "  Robert  Jameson,  Crowner,"  the  last  of  his  family 
in  the  office,  was  an  elder  in  the  Church  of  Rothesay. 

After  1672  the  Crowner's  duties  were  transferred  to  other 
officers,  and  in  1748  the  heritable  jurisdiction  was  abolished 
by  Act  of  Parliament. 

The  progress  by  which  the  lands  of  the  Coroner  passed 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  Jamesons  was  as  follows :  Robert 
Jameson,  the  last  Crowner,  who  had  married  a  daughter 

1  'Lib.  Coll.  Nost.  Dom.,'  p.  205.  2  '  Reg.  Mag.  Sig.,'  vol.  vii.  p.  317. 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  163 

of  Robert  Kerr,  disponed  of  his  lands  of  Meikle  Kilmorie 
to  Robert  Kerr,  but  to  be  redeemable  on  the  payment  of 
4700  merks.  Kerr's  right  in  the  crownary  was  challenged, 
and  he  employed  John  Stewart  of  Ascog,  advocate,  to  defend 
his  rights,  and  also  conveyed  to  him  the  office  on  2d  Novem- 
ber 1666,  probably  in  lieu  of  his  fees. 

In  June  1675,  Robert  and  Mark  Kerr  disponed  to  John 
Boyle  of  Kelburn,  who  was  at  that  time  trustee  on  the 
Bute  estate,  their  interest  in  the  Crowner's  lands,  while  Robert 
Stewart  of  Kilchattan,  who  was  also  a  creditor  on  the 
estate,  disposed  of  his  interest  to  the  trustee.  James  Jame- 
son, the  nephew  of  Robert,  sold  his  rights  in  the  office 
of  Crowner  to  Boyle  on  1st  August  1674,  and  this  sale  gave 
rise  to  the  two  following  lawsuits  : — 

On  March  4,  1685,  "Sir  James  Stewart,  as  Sheriff  of  Bute, 
pursued  Mr  John  Stewart  of  Ascog,  advocate,  for  reducing 
the  right  to  the  crownry  of  Bute  and  for  declaring  his  lands 
free  from  the  custom  and  casualty  of  as  many  oats,  &c., 
payable  to  the  crowner's  office,  formerly  belonging  to  the 

sirname  of  .  The  reasons  were — imo.  He,  being  a 

member  of  the  session,  had  bought  this  right  while  depend- 
ing in  a  plea ;  2do.  He  acted  and  exercised  the  said  juris- 
diction before  he  had  taken  the  test :  Ascog  denied  both  ; 
but  objected  against  his  title  of  Sheriff,  seeing  both  the 
officium  Vicecomitis  et  coronatoris  are  consistent  in  one 
place,  and  the  one  needs  not  interfere  with  the  other."1 

In  1690,  Robert  Stewart  of  Ascog  sued  John  M'Kinley 
of  Meikle  Kilmorie  for  dues  payable  to  Robert  Jamieson, 
Crouner  of  Bute,  "one  firlot  of  corne  and  ane  lamb  yearly 

1  Fountainhall's 'Decisions,' vol.  i.  p.  348. 


164  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

from  each  persone  who  arc  worth  one,  two,  three,  four,  five 
or  six  horses,  plewed,  tilled,  laboured,  or  manured  [out  of] 
any  of  the  few-lands  within  the  Isle  of  Bute."1  It  was  found 
that  the  said  Robert  "had  good  and  undoubted  right  to 
ane  lamb  and  firlot,  good  and  sufficient  oats  to  be  paid 
out  of  the  haill  few-lands  of  Bute."  This  decision  of  the 
Privy  Council  (nth  November)  was  afterwards  (1703)  con- 
sidered by  the  Duke  of  Argyle  as  an  interference  with  his 
privileges  as  Justiciary  General  of  the  Isles. 


MacNulfs  Tombstone. 


Ultimately,  on  I3th  December  1698,  John  Stewart  sold 
his  rights  to  the  Sheriff,  who  thus  by  purchase  became  the 
hereditary  Coroner  of  Bute. 

1  Marquess  of  Bute's  Charters. 


The  Barons  of  Bute. 


165 


The  MacNiells  were  buried  in  Rothesay  churchyard,  where 
a  monument  bearing  their  coat  of  arms  still  remains  in 
perfect  preservation. 

The  following  inscription  is  visible  on  the  back  of  the 
stone  :  "  This  is  the  Buryial  place  of  thee  M'Nilles  [super- 
inscribed  Nealls]  of  Kilmorie." 

Their  residence,  formerly  called  "The  Crowner's  Castle," 
is  now  a  mere  fragment  of  a  tower,  with  nothing  more 


The  Crowner*  s  Castle  at  Meikle  Kilmorie. 

than   a   round    shot  -  hole    to   indicate  that  on    this    mound 
stood  the  keep  of  the  terror  to  evil-doers  in  Bute. 

Ascog  formerly  belonged  to  the  Glasses  (see  p.  102),  but 
early  in  the  fifteenth  century  part  of  it  was  in  the'  hands  of 
the  Cochrans  of  Lee,  Edward  of  Chochran  becoming  infeft 
in  the  property  on  24th  August  1425^ 


1  'Mem.  of  Montgomeries,'  vol.  ii.  p.  27. 


1 66  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

In  1503,  Ninian  Cochrane  sold  the  north  half  of  Ascog  to 
Hugh,  Lord  Montgomery,  who,  as  Earl  of  Eglinton,  was  after- 
wards appointed  "  feare,  kepare,  suppleare,  and  correkare  of 
the  said  He  (of  Litill  Cumray),  dere,  and  cunyngis  thairof." 

In  1510,  John  Glas  of  Ascog  resigned  to  John  Glas  of 
Ardniho  his  portion  of  Ascog,  and  in  1564  William  Glass 
received  seisin  in  the  ^"i-land  of  Ascog  and  the  Mill  of 
Ambrismore.  At  this- time  Archibald  M'Lane  (Dovard)  held 
the  ^3-lands  of  Ascog,  which  Queen  Mary  granted  to  Archi- 
bald M'Lachlan,  son  of  M'Lachlan  of  that  Ilk,  in  1547. 

Robert  Glass  disponed  the  2O-shilling  land  of  Mid-Ascog 
to  Sheriff  Sir  John  Stewart  in  1595  (confirmed  1601). 

Mid-Ascog  4O-shilling  lands  were  disponed  by  James  Glass 
to  John  Stuart  in  1606. 

On  3  ist  March  1618,  Sir  John  Stewart  granted  to  James, 
his  son,  the  lands  of  Mid-Ascog. 

In  1629,  James  Stewart  of  Ardnahoe  disponed  the  20- 
shilling  land  of  Mid-Ascog  to  Sir  John  Stewart. 

In  1 60 1,  John  Glass  succeeded  his  uncle  Robert  in  Ascog. 

In  1637,  Ninian  Stewart  of  Ascog  was  served  heir  to  his 
father  John  in  the  4O-shilling  lands  of  Over  Ascog  and  the 
2oshilling  lands  of  Nether  Ascog,  with  the  mill  and  lake 
of  Ascog,  together  of  the  old  extent  of  £6  and  4  marks. 

In  1819,  Archibald  Glass  disponed  one-half  of  Mid-Ascog 
to  the  Marquess. 

Where  the  house  of  Ascog  stood  before  its  ruin  by  the 
Campbells  (Chapter  IX.)  is  unknown.  The  old  mansion- 
house,  still  inhabited,  was  built  by  John  Stewart  in  1678, 
as  the  inscriptions  and  dates  upon  it  prove  (see  p.  185). 

M 

J  S 

M  C 


The  Barons  of  Bute. 


The  coat  of  arms  on  a  shield,  bearing  date  1678,  is  effaced.1 
Culevin    in    1506    was    granted   to   John    Makconochy    and 


Mansion-house  of  Ascog. 

Alexander  Makwrerdy.      Both  families  held  the  lands  a  con- 
siderable time. 


THE  LAIRDS  OF  ASCOG  (Stuck). 


i.  JOHN  STEWART, 


Advocate  (1673)  =  M- 


Cunningham. 


2.  JOHN  STEWART,  =  Elizabeth 
died  1725.          |  Robertson. 


Colonel  ROBERT 
STEWART. 


I 
3.  JOHN  STEW  ART,  =  Margaret    4. 

died  1771 ;  Murray, 

changed  his  name  to 
Murray  of  Blackbarony. 


MARY.        Daughter = 

Sir  M.  S.  Pleydell. 

HARRIET=  William, 

Earl  of  Radnor ; 

died  1776. 

JACOB,  Earl  of  Radnor. 


Isabel=  Others. 

(i)  John  M' Arthur 
of  Milton. 

I 
JOHN 

M 'ARTHUR. 
I 

5.  ARCHIBALD 
M 'ARTHUR  STEWART. 


1 68  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

In  1680,  Culevin,  disponed  by  Robert  Stewart  of  Kil- 
chattan  to  Charles  Stewart  of  Ballintoy,  was  acquired  by 
the  Sheriff  from  the  latter. 

The  lands  of  Scoulogmore  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century  were  in  the  hands  of  Cristin  Leche,  who  paid  rent  to 
the  Crown.  Gilbert  Cunningburgh  received  a  grant  of  the 
lands,  and  was  succeeded  in  1506  by  his  son  William.  They 
included  the  marklands  of  Kerenevin,  Keremorane,  Mydscow- 
lok,  and  Nether  Scowlok.  On  Keremorane  there  was  situ- 
ated a  cemetery,  relics  of  which  were  turned  up  by  the  plough 
during  this  generation. 

Kerryniven,  Kerrymoran,  Mid  and  Nether  Scoulag,  disponed 
to  Argyle  in  1643,  were  exchanged  by  the  sheriff  for  lands  in 
Cowal  in  1666,  on  payment  of  40  merks  feu-duty  and  a  twelve- 
oared  birline,  and  on  Argyle's  forfeiture  were  confirmed  to 
Sir  James  Stewart  in  1683. 

Kellisloupe,  which  paid  dues  to  the  Constable  of  Bute  at 
first,  and  afterwards  was  rented  from  the  Crown  by  a  family 
of  Stewart,  was  granted  in  1563  by  a  charter  to  Robert 
Stewart,  second  son  of  James,  the  Sheriff  at  that  time. 

The  7-merklands  of  Kelspokes,  held  by  Robert  Stewart  of 
Kerrycroy  in  1558,  which  Alexander  Stewart  disponed  to 
Ninian  Stewart  of  Kilchattan  in  1622,  were  resigned  to  Sir 
James  Stewart  in  1649. 

Ambrismore  mill  and  Ardnahoe  lands  were  possessions  of 
members  of  the  Glass  family  in  the  fifteenth  century ;  but,  in 
1546,  Robert  Glass  disponed  of  the  reversion  of  the  mill  to 
the  Sheriff  of  Bute. 

The  Crown  lands  of  Ambrismore,  which  in  1498  were  in 
the  hands  of  David  Lyndesay,  husband  of  Eufame  Stewart, 
were  in  1506  granted  in  heritage  by  James  IV.  to  Ninian 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  169 

Stewart,  Sheriff  of  Bute,  whose  descendants  in  the  cadet 
branch  continued  to  hold  them  till  William  Stewart  sold 
Ambrismore  to  Sheriff  Sir  J.  Stewart  in  1696. 

Ewin  Makconochy  was  granted  a  charter  of  Ambrisbeg  in 
1506,  and  his  descendants  held  these  lands  till  1865,  when 
Alexander  M'Conochy,  known  as  Baron  M'Conochy  of  Am- 
brisbeg, sold  them  to  the  Marquess  of  Bute.  He  married 
Beatrice,  daughter  of  Andrew  Haig,  farmer  of  Kilmory,  and 
had  one  son  and  four  daughters. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  lands  of  Kildavanan  were  held 
by  a  family  of  Lech  for  "  a  yearly  reddendo  of  two  pennies  or 
a  pair  of  gloves  within  the  parish  church  of  Bute."  John 
Lech  succeeded  his  father  Gilzequhome  in  1429,  and  was  in 
turn  succeeded  by  Gilchrist  and  David.  But  by  1530,  Alex- 
ander Stewart  was  in  possession,  and  from  him  it  passed  to 
Ninian  Stewart,  Sheriff  of  Bute,  who  had  also  acquired  the 
Kilchattans,  which  descended  to  his  family.  In  1664,  James 
Stewart  of  Ballinstraide  was  proprietor. 

In  1680,  Kildavanan  was  disponed  to  Charles  Stewart  of 
Ballintoy  by  Robert  Stewart  of  Kilchattan.  The  Earl  ac- 
quired the  superiority  in  1808. 

Nether  Kilmorie  was  in  1506  another  holding  of  the 
Stewarts,  Robert  then  being  in  occupation  of  it.  From 
him  it  passed  to  his  brother,  Ninian  of  Kilchattan,  who  in 
1541  exchanged  part  of  it  for  a  portion  of  Largabrachtan 
held  by  William  Stewart,  and  in  1557  sold  another  small 
part  to  M'Gillespik  M'Neill. 

Nether  and  Little  Kilmory  were  publicly  sold  by  James 
M'Neill  in  1778,  and  the  Earl  was  the  purchaser. 

Kilmory  Chappel  feus,  held  by  Josias  Martine  and  Catherine 
Hyndman,  were  resigned  to  the  Earl  in  1713. 


1 70  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Barrone  was  in  1419  the  property  of  John  Stewart  the 
Sheriff,  being  held  on  a  ward  tenure  from  the  Steward  of 
Scotland.  In  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  part  of  it 
was  held  by  the  king's  ranger,  John  Scott,  in  payment  of  his 
official  duties.  At  the  end  of  the  century  James  IV.  granted 
the  whole  lands  to  David  Lyndesay  and  his  wife  Eufame 
Stewart. 

In  the  redistribution  of  lands  in  1506,  Barrone  was  divided 
between  Gilcrist  Makwerich  of  Achamor,  Gilcrist  Mak- 
werich  (or  Macmorich  of  Beallelon),  Archibald  Stewart,  and 
Gilcrist  Makconochy.  Before  1554  the  larger  portion  of 
these  lands  had  been  disponed  to  Sheriff  James  Stewart. 

Garrach,  or  The  Garachtys,  comprising  North  Garochty  (now 
Plan)  and  South  Garochty,  has  been  tenanted  from  time  imme- 
morial by  the  family  of  Makkaw.  Three  tenants  of  the  name 
received  charters  in  1506 — Gilnew  in  North  Garochty,  and 
Gilpatrick  and  John  in  South  Garochty. 

Sheriff  Sir  James  Stewart  obtained  South  Garrachty  from 
John  M'Caw  by  disposition  dated  28th  December  1590.  In 
1699  Bannatyne  of  Lubas  sold  the  Sheriff  a  part  of  Garrachty 
and  Glencalum. 

Arch.  M'Caw  sold  his  half  of  North  Garrachty  to  the  Earl 
in  1737. 

Arch.  M'Caw  sold  Glencalum  to  the  Earl  in  1707. 

From  a  clare  constat  executed  by  the  Marquess  in  1796,  it 
appears  that  Daniel,  son  of  James,  son  of  Daniel,  son  of  Gil- 
new,  was  then  portioner  of  the  west  part  of  South  Gar- 
rachty, holding  in  feu-farm  off  the  Marquess  for  the  yearly 
payment  of— 

1.  25  shillings  Scots  at  Whitsunday  and  Martinmas  ; 

2.  I  boll  3  firlots  of  oats,  and 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  1 7 1 

3.  2  bolls  bear  between  Christmas  and  Candlemas. 

4.  One-fifth,   one-twentieth,  and  one-thirtieth  part  of  a 

lardner  mart  at  each  Martinmas  in  name  of  feu- 
duty,  deducting  three-ninths  on  account  of  marts 
and  oats  from  feu -duty;  heirs-male  doubling  feu- 
duty  on  entry. 

By  a  settlement  in  1845,  James  M'Kay  (the  last  of  the 
Mackays),  portioner,  disponed  the  lands  of  South  Garrachty  to 
John  M'Kechnie,  eldest  son  of  the  deceased  James  M'Kechanie, 
merchant  in  Rothesay,  and  Mary  M'Kay,  and  to  his  heirs  ; 
failing  whom,  to  the  heirs  of  James  M'Kechanie,  on  condition 
that  they  took  the  name  of  M'Kay.  On  i6th  April  1875  the 
Rev.  John  M'Kechnie  entered  into  possession,  and  on  his 
decease  in  1877,  his  widow,  Mrs  Mackay,  succeeded  to  the 
property. 

In  1828,  the  Marquess's  property  extended  to  103  acres  2 
roods  1 8  falls. 

In  1828,  James  M'Kay 's  property  extended  to  70  acres  2 
roods. 

On  3d  November  1474,  James  Stewart,  Sheriff  of  Bute, 
obtained  from  James  III.  a  grant  of  an  acre  of  land  in 
Kilchattan,  with  liberty  to  erect  a  mill,  for  the  yearly  payment 
of  one  mark.  The  remains  of  the  great  steading  are  still 
visible.  James  Stewart  was  succeeded  by  Ninian  in  1490, 
Ninian  by  James  in  1538,  James  by  John  in  1566. 

On  8th  April  1618,  Ninian  Stewart  renounced  the  mill  of 
Kilchattan  in  favour  of  Sir  John  Stewart. 

The  Crown-lands  of  Kilchattan  (Little  and  Mickle),  which 
in  1498  were  granted  to  David  Lyndesay,  were  granted  in 
1506  to  the  occupier,  James  Stewart,  by  whose  son  they 
were  disponed  to  Robert  of  the  Kildavanan  family.  In  1664, 


172  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

James,  son  of  John  Stewart  of  Ballinstraide,  was  served  heir 
to  his  cousin  Ninian  in  the  lands  of  Kilchattan  and  its 
mansion. 

In  1680,  Kilchattan  (Mickle  and  Little)  were  disponed  to 
Charles  Stewart  of  Ballintoy  by  Robert  Stewart  of  Kilchat- 
tan, but  in  1698  were  disponed  by  Charles  to  Sir  James 
Stewart. 

Stravanan,  in  1506,  was  held — one-half  by  John  Makwrerdy, 
the  other  by  Finlay  Makallan. 

Kerrylamont,  in  1491,  was  given  in  seisin  by  Ninian 
Stewart  to  Alexander  Bannatyne,  in  whose  family  it  remained 
till  it  was  bonded  by  Ninian  Bannatyne  through  the  Sheriff, 
into  whose  hands  it  passed  from  the  Duke  of  Montrose  in 
1714. 

Lubas  lands  were  held  first  by  a  family  of  Lech,  from 
whom  they  passed  in  1 506  to  the  Bannatynes,  and  from  them 
to  the  Earl  in  1707. 

Hector  Bannatyne  disponed  two  farms  of  Lubas  to  the 
Earl  of  Bute  in  1723. 

The  Crown -lands  of  Langill,  formerly  held  by  David 
Lyndesay,  were  in  1506  granted  in  heritage — Langilculcathla 
to  Donald  Makwrerdy ;  the  half  of  Langilculcreich  to  Alex- 
ander Glas,  and  the  other  half  to  Finlay  Makwrerdy;  and 
the  half  of  Langilwenach  to  Donald  Makalester,  and  the 
other  half  to  John  Makintailzour. 

Allan  Makallane  obtained  part  of  the  lands  of  Langil- 
wenach, which  descended  to  his  heirs. 

Robert  Stewart  of  Scarrel  sold  Langalbunach  to  Sir  Dugald 
Stewart  in  1664;  in  1672  it  passed  into  John  Boyle's  hands, 
and  back  to  Sir  James  Stewart  in  1683. 

Langilquochag  was  in  1551  held  by  John  Kelso  and  granted 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  1 7  3 

by  him  to  Alexander  Stuart,  and  at  the  same  time  John 
Frasell  was  in  possession  of  Layngill. 

The  2O-shilling  land  of  Langalquochag  was  disponed  to 
Sheriff  Sir  John  Stewart  by  John  Stewart  of  Kilwhinleck  on 
igth  September  1595. 

Before  1624,  Alexander  Stewart,  the  laird  of  Kelspoke, 
held  Langilmilgay,  which  he  passed  on  to  his  family — while 
the  Kilchattan  branch  of  the  Stewarts  possessed  Langil- 
chorad  and  Langilkechag.  Both  passed  into  the  Sheriff's 
hands  in  1680  by  disposition  of  Charles  Stewart  of  Ballintoy. 

One-half  Quochag  and  tenement  in  Rothesay,  through  loans 
to  Stuart  of  Kildonan,  fell  into  the  Earl's  hands  in  1731. 

Kerrytonlia,  in  1506,  was  granted  in  heritage  to  Malcolm 
Makfersoun. 

Langalcorad  was  disponed  by  Robert  Stewart  to  Charles 
of  Balintoy  in  1680,  and  from  him  to  the  Sheriff  in  1698. 

Alexander  MTherson  parted  with  his  portion  of  Kerry- 
tonlia in  1762  to  the  Earl. 

In  1698,  the  Sheriff  acquired  part  of  Kerrytonlia  from 
Charles  Stuart  of  Ballintoy. 

Ardnahoe  was  the  holding  of  Angus  Glass  before  1506, 
and  descended  in  his  family,  but  was  acquired  by  Stewart, 
at  whose  failure  in  1660  it  passed  into  the  Sheriff's  hands. 

Birgadill  or  Brigadill  consisted  of  two  parts — Brigadilknok 
and  Brigadillowin.  In  1506  the  former  was  apportioned 
between  three  proprietors — John  Glas,  George  Kelso,  and 
Donald  Makwrerdy.  Donald  soon  parted  with  his  share  to 
Stewart  of  Kilchattan  ;  John  Kelso  exchanged  his  for  the 
lands  of  Drumachloy  belonging  to  Robert  Stewart ;  and 
Alexander  Glass  sold  his  part  to  Robert  Stewart  of  Ambris- 
more  in  1547.  After  other  bargainings,  Ninian  Stewart  of 


1 74  B^^,te  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Kilchattan  in  1557  got  part  of  Brigadilknok,  which  then 
descended  to  the  Stewarts  of  Ascog,  Ninian  becoming  heir 
in  1637,  while  the  Stewarts  of  Ambrismore  held  to  Birgadil- 
crief.  Birgadil  -  knock  was  disponed  by  John  Stewart  of 
Ascog  to  the  Earl  in  1731. 

Galachane,  North  and  South,  in  1449  was  held  by  Robert 
Kynnungburgh  and  John  Douglas.  In  1533  Archibald 
Kunyburte  sold  the  holding  to  Duncan  Makwerarty,  and 
their  son  Finlay  by  1564  sold  all  or  part  of  his  share  to 
Ninian  Stewart  of  Kildavanane. 

Dunagoil  (Dunguild),  originally  held  by  Makconochys 
and  Makcees,  ultimately  fell  into  the  hands  of  Ninian 
Stewart  of  Kilchattan,  to  whom,  in  1664,  James,  son  of 
John  Stewart  of  Ballinstraide,  was  served  heir.  In  1680 
Charles  Stewart  of  Ballintoy  acquired  Dunagoil  from  Robert 
Stewart  of  Kilchattan,  and  disponed  it  to  the  Sheriff. 

Bransar,  held  in  1 506  by  Gilcrist  Makwrerdy,  who  sold  it 
to  John  M'Conquhy  in  1551.  It  came  into  the  Sheriff's 
hands  in  1699. 

Bruchog  in  1 506  was  divided  between  Walter  Banachtyne, 
from  whose  heirs  it  passed  to  Sir  James  Stewart  in  1698, 
and  Gilcrist  Makwrerdy.  The  M'Vurathys  clung  to  their 
half-portion  ;  but  Robert  and  Finlay  M'Vurathy  arid  Eliza- 
beth Beith  sold  it  to  the  Earl  in  1706. 

Kerrycroy  in  1506  was  held  by  John  Stewart,  whose 
descendants — Robert,  Archibald,  Robert — held  on  till  the 
seventeenth  century.  Kerrycroy  was  resigned  to  the  Sheriff 
in  1635  by  Robert  Stewart  of  Kilchattan  and  John  Stewart 
of  Ascog. 

Kerymanach  in  1506  was  granted  in  equal  portions  to 
Finlay  Makwrerdy  and  Finlay  Makilmon,  and  Kerymanch 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  175 

to  Duncan  Makconochy.  Duncan  sold  part  of  his  grant 
to  James  Stewart  of  Kilchattan.  The  other  two  families 
held  to  their  lands. 

Kerrymenoch  (Stewart)  became  the  property  of  the  Sheriff 
in  1579,  and  the  2-merkland  there  in  1596,  although  it  was 
not  till  1630  that  Sir  John  Stewart  was  infeft  in  the  latter. 

Kerrymenoch,  3-merkland,  was  sold  by  Finlay  and  Robert 
M'Vurathy  to  the  Earl  in  1710. 

Ardmoleish  and  Grenan,  along  with  £10  yearly  out  of 
the  feu-duties  of  Bute,  were  on  nth  November  1400  part 
of  the  remuneration  of  John,  the  Steward  of  Bute,  and  were, 
along  with  the  mill  and  multures  of  Grenan  and  Kilcattan, 
held  by  the  successive  Sheriffs  of  Bute,  being  in  turn 
resigned  and  anew  received  by  each  holder  of  that  office.1 

In  1590,  Sheriff  John  Stewart  obtained,  along  with  this 
grant,  the  patronage  of  Kingarth. 

Sir  Dugald  Stewart  granted  his  cousin  James  of  Kil- 
donan  the  mill  of  Greenan  in  1668. 

On  3  ist  March  1618,  Sir  John  Stewart  disponed  of  the 
Barony  of  Ardmaleish,  with  Mid-Ascog  and  Kneslagloan, 
to  his  son  James. 

Scarale  or  Skarellis,  another  Crown  holding,  was  in  1 500 
in  the  hands  of  Richard  Banachtyne,  in  whose  family  it 
remained  till  1696,  when  it  was  disponed  to  Sir  James 
Stewart  by  Hector  Bannatyne. 

The  Camys  or  Kames  lands,  also  called  Bannachtyne, 
were  held  long  before  the  fifteenth  century  by  Bannatynes, 
there  appearing  before  1491  Thomlyne  of  Bannachtyne,  in 
1495  Niniane  of  Kames,  son  of  Thomlyne,  and  Robert,  son 

1  Third  Report,  Hist.  MSS.  Commission,  App.,  p.  402. 


1 76  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

of  Ninian.  Their  whole  property  consisted  in  1475  of 
Achynhervy  (Auchantirie),  Ardroscadale,  Cuarfanenbeg,  Cuar- 
fanen,  Easter  Kames,  and  Kilmachalmaig.  In  1491  Ninian 
had  built  the  mill  at  Kames.  In  1506  Auchantirie  had 
passed  into  the  hands  of  James  Stewart  and  Archibald 
Makgillespy,  and  then  from  Stewart  to  Donald  Maknele. 

The  Bannatynes  of  Kames  traced  their  descent  from  Gilbert 
of  Bute,  who  lived  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  whose  son 
Gilbert  was  royal  bailie  of  the  isle,  collecting  the  dues  in  the 
time  of  Robert  I. 

John,  son  of  Gilbert,  held  the  Castle  of  Rothesay  in  Baliol's 
interest  in  1334,  and  seems  to  have  died  before  1372.  Kames 
Castle  was  probably  built  in  the  fourteenth  century.1 

The  family,  as  shown  in  Chapter  IX.,  came  into  great 
prominence  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Hector,  who  became 
laird  in  1623,  on  the  death  of  his  father  Ninian,  was  Commis- 
sioner from  Bute  to  the  Scots  Parliament  of  1641.  He 
married  a  daughter  of  Patrick  Stewart  of  Rossland,  and  his 
son  Ninian  married  Isabella,  daughter  of  the  sheriff,  Sir 
James  Stewart.  Ninian's  son  Hector  married  Marion  Fair- 
holm  and  had  a  son  James,  who  succeeded  to  the  estate,  and 
a  daughter  Isabella,  who  married  Roderick  M'Leod,  Writer 
to  the  Signet. 

Isabella's  son,  William  M'Leod,  succeeded  to  the  estate. 
He  became  Lord  Bannatyne,  and  died  3<Dth  November  1833, 
at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-one.  He  commenced  to  build 
Port-Bannatyne,  and  enlarged  the  old  keep  of  Kames.  His 
sister  Isabella  married  Dr  Maclea  of  Rothesay. 

In    June    1810,   Mr   James    Hamilton,   W.S.,   bought   the 

1  For  the  description  of  the  castle  see  Chapter  IX. 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  1 77 

estate.1  In  November  1854,  Mr  Duncan  Hoyle  bought  the 
property  from  the  Rev.  James  Alexander  Hamilton,  son  of 
James.  Mr  Hoyle  disponed  the  estate  to  the  Marquess  of 
Bute  on  the  nth  November  1863. 

It  includes  the  following  lands :  Kames,  Wester  Kames, 
Edinbeg,  Edinmore  (excepting  burying  -  ground),  Kneslag- 
morie,  Kneslagloan,  Acholter,  North  St  Colmac,  part  of  Kil- 
machalmaig,  St  Colmac ;  together  with  the  teinds  of  Acholter, 
Edinmore,  Easter  Kames,  including  the  East,  Upper,  Middle, 
and  Lower  Butts  of  Oughtas,  the  Point-house  Butt,  the  Butt 
of  Rullihaddan  and  the  Gartown's  Butt,  Wester  Kames, 
including  the  Butt  of  Tree  House,  the  Butt  with  the  mill  of 
Wester  Kames,  together  with  the  lands  of  Edinbeg,  the  lands 
of  Kneslagmorie,  North  St  Colmac,  with  the  said  part  of  the 
Muir  of  Kilmachalmaig,  as  also  the  superiority  of  the  Mill  of 
Attrick  and  mill-lands,  multures,  and  sequels  of  the  same ;  as 
also  all  and  whole  the  lands  of  Lennornolloch  and  others 
within  the  Burgh  of  Rothesay. 

The  lands  of  Wester  Kames  were  anciently  held  by  the 
Spens  family,  who,  like  the  Leches,  were  servitors  of  the 
Royal  House ;  and  in  1445  we  find  the  Royal  Chamberlain 
paying  us.  lod.  for  130,000  slates  quarried  in  the  slate- 
quarries  of  Bute  by  Robert  Spens,  and  sent  to  Dumbarton  to 
repair  the  king's  castle  there.2  In  1506,  Donald  was  laird  of 
Camys  and  Kerslak  (Crioslachmorie  ?).  The  family  held  the 
lands  into  the  seventeenth  century,  when  in  1670  Margaret 
Grahame  was  entered  as  heiress  of  her  mother  Margaret 
Carnegie  in  the  lands  of  Kneslag,  Edinmoir,  Auchiltir,  and 
Wester  Kames  with  its  mill. 

1  See  vol.  i.  p.  46  ;  Reid's  'Hist.,'  p.  250.  2  '  Excheq.  Rolls,'  vol.  v.  p.  210. 

VOL.  II.  M 


1 78 


Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 


Wester  Kames  Castle  is  a  modern  house,  probably  not  so 
old  as  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  in  exterior 
measurement  25  feet  long  and  21  feet  broad,  and  two  storeys 
in  height.  A  circular  tower  at  the  south-west  corner,  9  feet 
6  inches  in  diameter,  serves  for  the  staircase.  The  walls  are 
2  feet  6  inches  thick.  The  lower  floor  has  been  divided  for 
two  vaulted  chambers. 


Wester  Kames  Castle. 

What  its  proper  name  originally  was  I  cannot  determine, 
although  I  suggest  that  before  it  took  the  name  of  Wester 
Camys  (1616)  it  was  known  simply  as  the  house  of  Spens, 
since  we  find  in  1447  the  Constable  of  Bute  was  designated 
Finlay  de  Spens — Finlay  of  Spens  ;  and  from  the  thirteenth 
century  downward  several  of  the  name  Spensa,  Dispensa, 
are  mentioned  as  Government  officials. 

Kneslagloan  and  Moss  of  Lagmorie  were  sold  by  the  Earl 
of  Radnor  (descended  of  Stewart  of  Ascog)  to  the  Earl  of 
Bute  in  1801. 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  \  79 

Sir  John  Stewart,  on  the  resignation  of  Kneslagloan  by 
Hector  Bannatyne  of  Kames,  obtained  a  Crown  charter  for 
it  in  1615. 

Crioslachvourathy  in  1506  was  granted  to  John  Stewart, 
from  whom  it  descended  to  Sir  John  Stewart  of  Kirktoun, 
the  Sheriff  of  Bute,  in  1658. 

Shawlunt  before  1496  was  the  holding  of  William  Banna- 
tyne, in  whose  family  it  remained  till  16 — .  It  was  disponed 
by  John  Stewart  of  Ascog  to  the  Earl  in  1731. 

The  Crown-lands  of  Dunallunt  were  divided  into  four 
portions.  King  James  IV.  granted  part  of  them  to  David 
Lyndesay. 

In  1506,  John  Makwerich  held  half  of  Nether  Dunallirde ; 
Muldony  Makgillemichell,  half  of  Dunallirde  Makgillemichell; 
Finlay  Makcaill,  Gildon  Makintare,  Finlay  Makgillemichell, 
a  third  part  of  Dunallirde  ;  Alexander  Banachtyne,  the  lands 
of  Ovir  Dunallirde  ;  Sheriff  Ninian  Stewart  and  his  wife, 
Jonet  Dunlop,  the  other  half  of  Nether  Dunallirde,  the  other 
half  of  D.  Gillemichell,  and  all  the  lands  of  Largilyane; 
Malcom  Makconachy,  the  lands  of  Kyngawane. 

These  properties,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  were  held  by  Gilbert  Mactyre,  John  Bannatyne  of 
Kames,  Francis  Jamesoun,  the  Crowner,  and  the  Sheriff. 

The  3-merkland  of  Dunalunt  was  sold  by  John  Bannatyne 
to  Sheriff  Sir  John  in  1607,  was  conveyed  to  Sir  James  in  1623. 

In  1699,  Largizean  was  acquired  by  the  Sheriff  from  Ninian 
Stewart. 

In  1506,  Barmor,  part  of  Barnauld,  Kerrycrusach,  were 
holdings  belonging  to  members  of  the  Glas  family.  Half  of 
Barnauld  belonged  to  Niel  Jamesoun,  otherwise  called  Niel 
M'Came,  and  descended  in  the  M'Kame  family. 


180  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Barnauld  passed  from  hands  of  Robert  Kerr  to  the  Earl  of 
Bute  in  1705. 

Kerrycrusach  was  bought  by  the  Sheriff  from  John  Stewart 
in  1601. 

Quien,  in  1506,  was  granted  to  Donald  Makeany  and  Gil- 
new  Makilwedy,  the  latter  of  whom  seems  to  have  disponed 
of  his  portion  to  the  Sheriff  about  1529. 

In  1506,  John  Makilkeran  held  half  of  Scalpsay,  and  two- 
thirds  of  Ardscalpsay ;  while  Robert  Stewart  held  the  other 
half  of  Scalpsay,  and  John  Makkay  the  other  portion  of  Ard- 
scalpsay. In  1503,  the  south  half  of  Scalpsay  was  disponed 
to  William  Stewart  of  Ambrismore.  In  1699,  Stewart  of 
Kerrymenoch  disposed  of  part  of  Ardscalpsie  to  Sir  James 
Stewart. 

Kildavannan  was  held  blench  of  the  Crown  by  Gilze- 
quhome  Leich,  whose  son  John  succeeded  in  1429.  He 
seems  to  have  been  succeeded  by  Gilchrist,  who  also  held 
Scoulogmore  and  Kerrylamond,  and  in  1466  granted  a 
Charter  of  Kildavannan  to  his  son  David  Leich.1 

Largobrachtan,  in  1 506,  was  possessed  by  William  Stewart, 
who  in  1541  exchanged  it  for  Nether  Kilmorie  and  a  money 
payment  from  Ninian  Stewart. 

In  1731,  John  Stewart  of  Ascog  disposed  of  Largivrechtan 
to  the  Earl. 

Cogach  was  granted  to  Archibald  and  John  Bannatyne, 
but  it  soon  fell  into  the  hands  of  Ninian  Bannatyne  of 
Kames  and  Ninian  Stewart  of  Kildavanan,  the  latter  of  whom 
in  1547  also  obtained  from  Robert  Makkamy  the  lands  of 


Reg.  Mag.  Sig.,'  vol.  vi.,  Pref.,  p.  xcviii. 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  181 

Maknaught  (or  Manach— i.e.,  Mecknoch),  which  he  in  turn 
sold  to  James  Stewart  in  Little  Kilchattan. 

Stuk,  in  1500,  was  held  between  John  Spens  and  John 
Bannatyne.  In  1731  it  passed  from  John  Stewart  of  Ascog 
to  the  Earl. 

Lapennycale  was  the  heritage  of  the  Makneills,  Ferquhard 
holding  in  1506,  and  his  grandson  Ferquhard  in  1555. 

Row,  disponed  by  James  Lament  to  John  Stewart  of  Ascog 
in  1672,  was  sold  to  Sir  G.  Mackenzie  in  1681. 

Tawnich  was  acquired  from  John  Campbell  of  Auchawillig 
by  James,  Earl  of  Bute,  in  1709. 

Lenihall  and  Lenihulline  (David  Bannatyne's)  were  acquired 
by  the  Earl  in  1701  and  1710  respectively. 

Clonshamerag,  in  1506,  was  granted  to  Robert  Stewart 
of  Kerrycroy,  who  gave  it  to  his  brother  James.  In  1731,  it 
was  acquired  by  the  Earl  from  John  Stewart  of  Ascog. 

Drumachloy  was,  in  1 506,  held  three-fourths  by  Alexander 
Bannatyne  and  the  other  fourth  by  John  Stewart.  Robert 
Stewart  of  Ambrismore  bought  John's  portion  in  1541,  and 
exchanged  it  with  John  Kelso  for  Birgadillowin,  so  as  to 
extend  his  property  in  that  district. 

Part  of  Drumachloy  and  Auchintirrie,  belonging  to  Stewart 
of  Kelspoke,  were  added  to  the  Sheriff's  lands  in  1585. 

Kilwhinlick,  in  1506,  was  granted  to  Alexander  Stewart; 
Escachragane  to  Donald  Spens ;  Auchawolik  to  David 
Stewart ;  to  Ferquhard  Makneill  the  half  of  Glechnabae 
and  Kilmichael ;  to  William  Banachtyne  the  other  half  of 
Glechnabae  ;  to  John  Makgylquhinnych  the  lands  of  Cawn- 
ach  ;  to  Ewin  and  John  Makkymme,  the  lands  of  Lepin- 
quhillis ;  to  Donald  Makkane  the  lands  of  Row ;  to  Morice 
Maknachtane,  Bronoch ;  to  Donald  Makewin,  Boloquhreg. 


1 82  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Kilwhinleck  was  united  with  Kildonan  in  1745,  and  the 
lands  of  Kildonan  with  Plada,  Corrigills,  Kilwhinleck, 
Greenan,  and  Penmachrie  were  at  a  judicial  sale  in  1790 
bought  by  the  Earl. 

Eschachragane  remained  in  the  Spens  family  until  it 
was  acquired  by  the  Ascog  family,  from  whom  in  1731  it 
passed  to  the  Earl. 

Glechnabae  was  joined  to  Kames  in  time,  and  one-half 
passed  from  Janet  Stuart  to  Earl  James  in  1708. 

By  charter,  William,  Bishop  of  Argyle,  granted  the  is- 
land of  Inchmarnock  to  Hugh  Gumming,  his  brother-german, 
also  part  of  it  to  Donald  MacGilchrist  on  3<Dth  April  1540. 

In  1574,  James,  Bishop  of  Argyle,  confirmed  the  grant  by 
James,  son  of  Alexander  Bannatyne,  burgess  of  Edinburgh, 
in  favour  of  Catherine  his  wife  and  their  heirs,  of  Inchmarnock. 
James  Bannatyne  disponed  it  to  Sir  John  Stewart,  to  be 
holden  of  the  Bishop  in  1592,  ratified  in  1599,  and  con- 
firmed in  1630.  Sir  James  Stewart  feued  it  to  John  Stewart 
of  Ardnahoe,  on  whose  failure  in  1660  it  reverted  to  the 
Sheriff. 

The  lands  of  Inchmarnock  were  of  the  extent  of  £5,  and 
in  the  seventeenth  century  passed  from  the  hands  of  John 
Stewart  of  Ardnahoe  to  a  family  named  Carnegie,  from  whom 
they  passed  in  1670  to  Margaret  Grahame. 

Bulochreg  was  disponed  by  John  Stewart  of  Ascog  to  the 
Ear-1  in  1731. 

Mecknock  was  disponed  by  William  Stuart  to  the  Sheriff 
in  1688  and  1714. 

James  M'Neill  excambed  one-half  Ballycurry  for  Little 
Kilmory,  1761. 

Charles  Stewart  of  Ballintoy  and  other  relatives  of  Robert 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  1 83 

Stewart  of  Kilchattan  disponed  Ballianlay  to  Sir  James 
Stewart  in  169^. 

A  sasine  of  the  lands  of  Little  Barrone,  Gartnakelly, 
Knockanrioch,  were  granted  to  Marion  Fairlie,  widow  of 
Sheriff  John  Stewart,  in  1573. 

Parts  of  Ballycaul  were  disponed  to  the  Sheriff  in  1576, 
I577>  by  John  M'Call  and  Donald  M'llmichael ;  and  a  part 
from  Campbell  of  Dunoon  in  1707. 

Ballilone,  Auchamore,  and  Glenchromag  were  disponed  by 
Gilchrist  MacMorish  to  James,  son  of  John  Stuart  of  Kerry- 
croy,  1 6th  August  1513,  and  James  sold  the  two  former 
properties  to  Sir  James  Stewart  in  1553  and  1554,  and  the 
latter  in  1560. 

Robert  Allan  disponed  of  Eschechraggan  and  Glenbuy  to 
Sir  Dugald  Stewart  in  1669. 

The  Earl  acquired  the  superiority  of  Kilbride  in  1807. 

Butt  M'llmichael  was  sold  by  John  M'llmichael  to  the 
Earl  in  1707. 

Lands  in  Rothesay  were  sold  by  John  Campbell  of  Dunoon 
in  1707  to  the  Earl. 

John  M'Neil  passed  Auchintirrie  to  Stewart  of  Kilchattan 
in  1685  ;  John  Stewart  of  Ascog,  to  the  Earl  in  1731. 

John  Stewart  of  Balshagrie  confirmed  to  Sir  James  Stewart, 
1 9th  March  1658,  the  following  lands:  Chappeltown,  Over- 
Ascog,  Nether-Ascog,  Birgidale  Knock,  Largivrechtan,  Tey- 
dow,  Balnakelly,  Drumachloy,  Rossland. 

In  1637,  Ninian  Stewart  of  Ascog  was  served  heir  to  John 
Stewart  of  Ascog,  his  father,  in  the  half  of  the  £$ -lands  of 
Ballinkaillie  and  Blackhous,  of  old  called  the  ^5-lands  of  the 
Forest  in  Bute.  In  1664,  Master  James  Stewart  was  served 
heir  in  the  half  of  these  lands  to  Ninian  Stewart  of  Kil- 


184  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

cattan,  his  cousin.  The  Forest  passed  into  the  Bute  estate 
in  1781. 

Kneslag  was  held  by  Alex.  Stewart  in  1552. 

Ardroscadale  passed  from  Bannatyne  of  Kames  to  Sir 
James  Stewart  in  1696. 

Half  of  Bruchag  passed  from  Bannatyne  of  Lubas  to  Sir 
James  in  1699,  the  other  half  from  Finlay  and  Robert 
M'Vurathy  in  1706. 

Kilmachalmaig  and  Ettrick  Mill  were  bought  from  Kirk- 
man  Finlay  in  1834. 

Largizean  was  disponed  to  Sir  James  Stewart  by  Ninian 
Stewart  in  1696 ;  and  at  the  same  time  Branser,  Kenny gaven, 
and  Butts. 

Kilmichael  was  bought  from Campbell  in  1702. 

The  lands  of  Ascog,  Over  and  Nether,  are  held  blench 
of  the  Crown  ;  and  Bogany,  or  Murray  Park,  now  conjoined 
with  them,  is  a  burgage  holding.1 

Archibald  M'Lachlan  resigned  the  ^3-lands  of  Ascog  in 
favour  of  Lachlan  M'Lachlan,  and  his  wife  Catherine  Tait, 

in   1553- 

In  1568,  John  Stewart,  senior,  of  Kilchattan,  had  a  gift 
of  the  "  ward  and  marriage  of  Donald  M'Lachlan  of  his  lands 
of  Over-  and  Nether- Ascog." 

In  1584,  William  Glass  of  Ardenhead  (Ardnaho?)  dis- 
poned of  his  portion  of  Nether  Ascog  to  John  Stewart, 
and  Marion  Fairlie  his  wife,  of  Largibrachtan,  who  in  1595 
completed  their  title  to  the  part  held  by  M'Lachlan,  and  got 

a  charter  from  James  VI. 

• 

John,  their  son,  married  Geills  Kelso  in  1605,  and  suc- 
ceeded his  father  in  1613.  He  held  Bogany  in  1609. 

1  See  pp.  166,  167. 


The  Barons  of  Bute.  185 

In  1630,  John  granted  a  charter  in  favour  of  Ninian 
his  son. 

In  1671,  Margaret  Graham  obtained  a  precept  from  Chan- 
cery for  infefting  her  in  the  property  ;  a  similar  precept  being 
granted  to  John  Stewart,  advocate,  in  1676. 

The  daughter  of  John  Stewart,  advocate  (Margaret  or 
Isabel),  after  the  death  of  her  first  husband,  John  M'Arthur 
of  Milton,  married  Alexander  Campbell  of  Kirnan,  and 
became  the  grandmother  of  Thomas  Campbell  the  poet. 
They  had  three  children,  Robert,  Archibald,  and  Alexander. 
Archibald,  after  entering  the  ministry,  emigrated  to  Virginia, 
and  had,  at  "Kirnan,"  a  family.  His  grandson,  Frederick 
Campbell,  afterwards  Stewart,  became  heir  of  entail  of 
Archibald  M'Arthur  Stewart  of  Ascog,  who  died  in  1815. 
Frederick  died  in  1828,  and  was  succeeded  by  Ferdinand 
Stewart  Campbell  Stewart,  his  brother,  who  disposed  of  the 
estate  in  1831  to  Robert  Thorn,  cotton -spinner,  Rothesay, 
who  died  in  1847. 

By  the  will  of  Archibald  M'Arthur  Stewart,  the  poet 
Campbell  obtained  a  legacy  which  realised  £4498,  155.,  while 
the  estate  fetched  £^S)ooo.1 

The  trustees  of  Robert  Thorn  sold  Ascog  to  Mr  Daniel 
Macbeth  in  1876,  who,  in  1877,  sold  it  to  Thomas  Russell, 
Esq.,  the  present  proprietor. 

The  following  lands  now  pay  stipend  to  the  ministers  of 
Kingarth  and  Rothesay  : — 
The  Bute  estate. 

The  lands  of  Ardbeg,  extending  to  156  acres,  belong  to 
Mrs  Caroline  Mary  Hetley  Pleydell  Bouverie  Camp- 

1  '  Life  and  Letters  of  Thomas  Campbell,'  vol.  i.  p.  5.     London,  1849. 


1 86  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

bell  Wyndham,  wife  of  Lieut.-Col.  Philip  Arthur  Pley- 

dell  Bouverie  Campbell  Wyndham, — held  burgage. 
The  lands  of  Larkhall  and  Roodgown  extend  to  30  acres, 

and    are   held    by   the   trustees    of    the    late    Daniel 

Macbeth,  Esq., — burgage. 
The  lands  of  M'Kirdy's  Barone  extend  to  21  acres,  and 

are  now  held  by  Archibald  Mackirdy,  Esq., — burgage. 
The  lands  of  Ashfield  extend  to  25  acres,  and  are  now  held 

by  John  Mackirdy,  Esq., — burgage. 
The  lands  of  Meadowcap  extend  to  17  acres,  and  are  now 

held  by  Mrs  Ker  Hall  and  the  trustees  of  the  late 

Robert  Thorn,  Esq., — burgage. 
The   Burgh  lands — Westland,  Wilson's   Fields,   Crossbeg, 

Beith's  Field,  and  East  Burgh  lands — extend  to  442 

acres. 
In   the  burgh — Kelso's  land,  Fergus  Fauld,  &c.,  belong 

to  Andrew  Wilson,  Esq., — burgage. 

Broadcroft  belongs  to  Messrs  A.  &  J.  Mackirdy., — burgage. 
Buttkie  and  Gillies  Rood  are  held  by  J.  R.  Thomson,  Esq., 

and  trustees  of  A.  M.  Scott,  Esq., — burgage. 
The  lands  of  Ascog  belong  to  Thomas  Russell,  Esq. 
The  lands  of  Garrachty  are  now  held  by  Mrs  M'Kay. 

From  this  rent-roll  of  75  holdings  it  can  be  seen  that  as 
early  as  1506  the  Stewarts  had  13  lairdships,  the  Bellendens 
or  Bannatynes  n,  the  Maconochys  6,  the  Mackirdys  7,  the 
Jamesons  3,  the  Glasses  3,  the  Makkaws  3,  the  Makneills  3, 
the  Spenses  2,  in  the  island.  This  roll  does  not  include  those 
estates  which  were  ward-holdings •,  such  as  those  of  Ascog  and 
Kames — the  latter  being  held,  it  is  said,  off  Walter  the 
Steward  from  before  1318.  (See  p.  137.) 


The  Barons  of  B^Ue.  1 8  7 

The  fourth  kind  of  holding  is  designated  "  Burgage-hold- 
ing,"  and  is  that  by  which  Royal  Burghs  hold  those  lands 
enumerated  in  their  charters,  from  the  Crown.  The  burgh 
is  the  vassal,  with  this  distinction,  that  the  whole  commun- 
ity, not  the  individual,  must  give  the  service  agreed  upon. 
Burgage  tenure  is  thus  a  ward-holding, — and  the  magistrates 
are  therefore  bailies  of  the  sovereign.  The  terms  on  which 
the  burgh  of  Rothesay  received  its  freedom  are  treated  of  in 
Chapter  VI. 

None  of  the  ancient  mortifications  or  grants  of  land  to 
churches  and  hospitals  are  now  preserved,  save  what  is 
represented  by  the  teinds  or  tithes,  payable  out  of  all  lands 
to  the  two  parish  ministers  of  Kingarth  and  Rothesay  for 
performing  their  spiritual  functions,  and  also  by  the  glebe- 
lands,  which  are  held  without  any  charter  by  the  ministers. 


1 88 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   ROYAL   BURGH. 

"  He  saw  the  hardy  burghers  there 
March  armed,  on  foot,  with  faces  bare, 

For  visor  they  wore  none, 
Nor  waving  plume,  nor  crest  of  knight ; 
But  burnished  were  their  corslets  bright,  .  .   . 
Like  very  silver  shone. " 

— SCOTT. 

HE  development  of  the  burghal  system  out  of  the 
simple  arrangements  made  for  the  conduct  of 
village  communities  to  ensure  order,  peace,  and 
prosperity  forms  an  interesting  study.  The 
Celts  were  wont  to  meet  in  a  great  assembly  called  a  Dal 
(cf.  Dunburgidale),  at  which  all  questions  relating  to  money, 
war,  or  peace  in  the  district  were  discussed  by  the  represent- 
atives from  the  number  of  land-divisions  (tuaths)  forming  a 
eland  or  tribe.  Their  judgments  and  rules,  designated  brethay 
were  pronounced  by  the  bretheinan,  brehon,  or  judge.  (The 
name  of  Birgidale  in  1440  was  Brethadale,  or  the  judgment- 
assembly.) 

Over  every  village  was  set  a  Bruighfer,  or  man  of  the  brugh, 
who  acted  as  chief  magistrate.1     Round  his  house — the  brugh 

1  O'Curry's  'On  the  Manners,  &c.,  of  the  Ancient  Irish,'  vol.  i.  pp.  clx,  ccliv. 


The  Royal  Burgh.  189 

— the  village,  which  was  the  prototype  of  a  borough  town, 
was  built.  Similarly  in  later  times  the  Norman  baron's  castle, 
or  the  abbey  or  cathedral,  became  the  centre  of  security  round 
which  the  citizens  gathered  to  form  a  community,  with  privi- 
leges granted  by  their  lord,  and  afterwards  confirmed  by  the 
king  and  Parliament.  Burghs  were  combinations  for  protec- 
tion, freedom,  and  commercial  enterprise.  They  formed  a 
valuable  balance  to  the  great  feudal  lords,  with  their  immense 
retinues  of  grasping  vassals.  The  ancient  burghs,  which  had 
existed  from  time  immemorial  when  the  soil  was  all  folc-land, 
or  common,  in  many  instances,  in  the  reign  of  William  the 
Lion  (1165-1214)  obtained  written  charters  detailing  their 
privileges.  In  districts  where  the  king  was  compelled  to 
erect  a  castle  to  keep  his  subjects  in  check,  the  burgesses 
of  the  adjacent  burgh — the  king's  milites  or  soldiers — obtained 
lands  and  benefits  direct  from  the  Crown.  The  burgh,  like 
Rothesay,  paid  its  cess  direct  to  the  Royal  Exchequer.  One 
qualification  of  a  burgess  was  possession  of  a  "  toft "  or  rood 
of  land  within  the  burgh,  for  which  he  paid  rent  to  the 
king's  or  to  the  town's  bailie  (ballivus) — the  latter  being  also 
sworn  to  serve  the  Crown.  In  the  castle  the  king  always 
had  his  own  officer — Castellanus,  or  Constable,  as  in  the 
case  of  Rothesay.  The  burgh  sent  a  representative  to  the 
Scots  Parliament.  The  advantageous  situation  of  Rothesay, 
fronted  with  a  sea  full  of  fish,  and  affording  a  secure 
anchorage  for  craft,  watered  by  streams  sufficient  to  drive 
the  indispensable  corn-mill  and  waulk-mill,  surrounded  by 
fertile  food-producing  soil,  and  guarded  by  a  powerful  fort, 
made  it  suitable  for  a  free  burgh.  King  Robert  III.  in  1401 
advanced  it  to  the  honour  of  a  Royal  Burgh  by  the  following 
charter ; — 


190  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

TRANSLATION  OF  THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  BURGH  OF  ROTHESAY. 

"Robert,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  Scots,  to  all  the  pro- 
pertied men,  cleric  and  laic,  of  his  whole  land,  Greeting, — Know 
ye  that  we  have  given,  granted,  and,  on  behalf  of  ourselves  and 
our  successors,  for  ever  confirmed  to  our  beloved  and  faithful  men 
of  our  town  of  Rothesay,  that  they  and  their  successors  henceforward 
be  our  free  burgesses ;  and  that  they  and  their  successors  for  ever 
may  have,  hold,  and  possess  henceforward  the  said  town  as  a  free 
Royal  Burgh,  from  us  and  our  heirs,  for  ever,  by  all  the  just,  ancient, 
allotted  bounds  of  that  burgh,  with  all  the  privileges,  liberties,  ad- 
vantages, assedations,  and  just  pertinents  whatsoever  belonging, 
or  in  any  manner  whatever  in  future  effeiring  justly  to  belong  to  a 
free  Royal  Burgh,  as  freely,  quietly,  fully,  wholly,  honourably,  well, 
and  in  peace,  in  and  by  all  things,  as  any  burgh  within  our  realm, 
either  by  us  or  our  predecessors,  Kings  of  Scotland,  is  more  freely 
conceded  or  given  to  any  burgesses  on  account  of  Service  to  the 
King, — the  use  and  wont  of  a  Royal  Burgh  :  inhibiting  strictly 
that  no  merchant,  stranger,  or  such  person  whatsoever,  buy  or  sell, 
make  or  make  use  of,  anything  for  sale  contrary  to  the  liberties  and 
privileges  of  our  said  burgh,  within  its  ancient  estates  and  bound- 
aries, under  every  penalty  which,  according  to  the  laws  of  our 
kingdom,  is  bound  to  follow  thereupon.  In  testimony  whereof, 
we  order  our  seal  to  be  appended  to  the  present  charter, — the 
witnesses  being,  the  venerable  fathers  in  Christ,  Walter,  Bishop  of 
Saint  Andrews,  Gilbert,  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  our  Chancellor;  our 
most  dear  first-born,  David,  Duke  of  Rothesay,  Earl  of  Carrick 
and  Athole;  Robert,  Duke  of  Albany,  Earl  of  Fife  and  of 
Meneteth,  our  brother-german ;  Archibald,  Earl  of  Douglas,  Lord 
of  Galloway;  James  of  Douglas,  Lord  of  Dalkeith,  and  Thomas 
of  Erskine,  our  dear  cousins  and  officers, — at  our  Castle  of  Rothe- 
say, the  twelfth  day  of  the  month  of  January,  in  the  year  of  grace 
one  thousand  four  hundred  [/.£.,  1401]  and  in  the  eleventh  year 
of  our  reign."  1 


1  This  charter  in  Latin  is  printed  with  many  inaccuracies  in  Reid's  '  Hist,  of 
Bute,'  App.,  p.  257. 


The  Royal  Burgh.  191 

King  James  VI.  in  1584  confirmed  this  charter: — 

TRANSLATION  OF  THE  CHARTER  OF  CONFIRMATION  AND  Novo- 
DAMUS  OF  THE  BURGH  OF  ROTHESAY,  dated  Feb.  19,  1584. 

"  James,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  the  Scots,  to  all  good  men 
of  the  whole  earth,  and  to  our  clergy  and  laity,  Greeting, — Know 
ye,  whereas  we,  understanding  that  our  burgh  of  Rothesay,  situated 
in  the  island  of  Bute,  was  formerly,  by  our  most  noble  progenitor, 
Robert,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  the  Scots,  the  third  of  that 
name,  erected  into  a  free  Royal  Burgh,  and  endowed  with  liberties, 
privileges,  and  immunities,  like  as  pertains  to  any  other  free  burgh 
within  our  kingdom,  even  as  the  infeftment  given  to  the  said  burgh 
under  the  Great  Seal  of  the  said  King  Robert  the  Third,  at  the 
Castle  of  Rothesay,  the  twelfth  day  of  the  month  of  January,  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  four  hundred,  in  itself  more  fully 
bears.  And,  as  according  to  the  tenor  and  strength  of  the  said 
infeftment  of  the  said  burgh,  the  burgesses  and  inhabitants  in  all 
time  past  have  been  in  use,  and  wont  to  elect  and  have  Provosts 
and  Bailies  holding  burgh  Courts  for  the  administration  of  justice 
in  the  same,  creating  burgesses,  buying  and  selling  wine,  wax,  wool, 
bread,  fish,  flesh,  and  other  kinds  of  merchandise  and  victuals,  and 
having  trades  of  any  kind,  and  having  a  vote  by  their  commissioners 
appearing  in  our  Parliament,  and  in  those  of  our  predecessors. 
Rendering  the  established  proportion  of  the  burgh  and  other  duties 
into  the  Exchequer,  letting,  occupying,  and  using  their  lands  and 
customs  within  all  the  bounds  and  limits  underwritten,  with  liberty 
to  raise  the  same  off  all  their  lands  and  limits,  and  with  every 
privilege  of  a  free  burgh.  Therefore,  considering  their  respectable 
character  from  time  immemorial,  used  and  wont,  and  in  consideration 
of  their  good  faith,  and  the  gratuitous  service  rendered  to  us  and 
our  predecessors  by  our  said  lieges,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  said 
island  and  burgh,  who  were  always,  without  exception,  faithful 
in  voluntarily  bringing  aid  to  us.  For  which  causes  our  free 
will  is,  and  we  hereby  notify  to  them,  that  they  shall  have  the 
liberty  and  power  hereby  granted  of  a  weekly  market,  and  two 
free  fairs  annually,  to  be  held  in  our  foresaid  burgh  in  all  time 
coming,  to  the  great  and  evident  advantage  and  benefit  of  all 


1 92  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

the  inhabitants  of  the  said  burgh  and  islands  of  Bute,  and  others 
resorting  there,  and  in  order  that  the  buildings  and  government  of 
the  same  may  advance  and  increase.  Therefore  the  said  charter  of 
donation  and  concession  made  by  our  said  most  noble  progenitor 
Robert  the  Third,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  the  Scots,  to  our 
and  his  chosen  and  faithful  men  of  the  said  burgh  of  Rothesay,  and 
their  successors,  with  all  the  liberties  contained  in  their  said  charter, 
to  be  holden  of  himself  and  his  successors  as  a  free  Royal  Burgh  for 
ever,  by  our  order  having  been  seen,  read,  and  inspected,  and  care- 
fully examined,  found  whole  entire,  nothing  erazed,  not  cancelled, 
nor  in  any  part  suspected,  and  fully  understood  in  this  form. 
[Here  follows  the  charter  of  1401,  verbatim.]  WHICH  CHARTER, 
with  the  donations  and  concessions  contained  in  the  same,  in  all  its 
points  and  articles,  conditions,  clauses,  and  circumstances  whatever, 
in  all  things  and  by  every  form,  and  the  same  in  effect  as  said  is,  we 
approve,  ratify,  and  for  us  and  our  successors  perpetually  confirm,  and 
also  of  new  make,  constitute,  erect,  and  confirm  the  burgh  of  Rothe- 
say a  free  Royal  Burgh,  with  privilege  and  liberty  of  territory,  and 
liberties  within  all  their  limits  following,  of  which  the  foresaid 
burgesses  and  their  predecessors  were  possessors — namely,  over  the 
land  lying  between  the  lands  of  Ascog  and  Kerrycrusoch  on  the 
east  \^wesf  in  the  original  by  mistake],  the  burn  of  Barnauld  on 
the  south,  the  lake  called  Lang-loch,  the  lands  of  Chappletown, 
Ballyloan,  Meikle  Barone,  Eskachragan,  Acholter,  Cranslagmory,  and 
Easter  Kames  on  the  west  and  north-west  respectively,  and  its  sea 
on  the  north  from  the  one  boundary  to  the  other.  And  over  the 
sea,  beginning  from  the  island  of  Pladda  on  the  south,  verging  from 
thence  to  the  west  towards  the  Kyles,  and  the  straits  between  Arran 
and  Kintyre,  Argyle  and  Bute,  and  Loch  Ridden  to  the  Clochstane, 
comprehending  all  the  Kyles  of  Bute  and  Loch  Stryin  on  the  north, 
and  from  the  foresaid  Clochstane  to  the  foresaid  island  of  Pladda, 
comprehending  the  station  of  Cumbray,  the  station  of  Fairly,  the 
station  of  Holy  Island  in  Arran,  otherwise  called  Isle  Malathe. 
Giving,  granting,  and  committing  to  the  foresaid  Provost,  Bailies, 
Council,  and  community  of  the  said  burgh,  and  their  successors,  all 
the  privileges,  liberties,  and  immunities  of  any  free  royal  burghs 
within  our  kingdom,  and  giving  them  full  power  and  liberty,  in  all 


The  Royal  Burgh.  193 

time  coming,  to  elect,  and  have  annually,  within  the  said  burgh,  a 
Provost,  Bailies,  Councillors,  and  Officers,  holding,  having,  maintain- 
ing, and  continuing  burgh  courts,  for  regulating  and  governing  the 
burgh,  and  for  the  administration  of  justice  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
same,  and  others  whose  interest  it  is  to  be  admitted  free  burgesses ; 
and  for  service  of  the  same,  to  possess,  have,  and  sell,  within  the 
burgh,  wine,  wax,  leather,  hides,  wool,  bread,  fish,  flesh,  and  other 
kinds  of  merchandise  and  victuals  used  in  other  burghs  within  our 
kingdom,  and  to  sell  and  buy,  as  is  usual  with  fishmongers,  wool- 
dealers,  tailors,  shoemakers,  and  all  other  trades ;  to  have  a  market- 
cross  and  justice-seat  within  the  said  burgh,  a  weekly  market 
(keeping  and  observing  the  Sabbath-day),  with  common  and  public 
fairs  and  markets,  two  of  them  in  the  year,  the  one  on  the  twenty- 
second  day  of  July,  the  other  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  October 
annually,  and  both  the  fairs  continuing  for  the  space  of  eight  days 
immediately  following  the  first,  for  the  buying  and  selling  of  every 
kind  of  goods  and  merchandise,  with  every  liberty  and  privilege  of  a 
free  fair,  to  receive  and  raise  all  kinds  of  customs,  and  other  duties 
used  and  wont  in  the  same,  and  to  receive  whatever  is  usual  in  other 
free  burghs  within  the  kingdom.  And  also,  with  full  power  to 
receive  and  raise  off  whatever  is  destined  for  the  foresaid  weekly 
market,  as  said  is.  And  also,  in  the  said  other  annual  fairs,  all 
customs  of  goods  and  corn,  and  other  customs,  duties,  and  profits  in 
use  and  wont,  paying  the  magistrates,  officers,  and  customers  of  the 
said  burgh,  like  any  other  burgh  within  our  kingdom  in  times  past, 
with  proclamations,  statutes,  acts,  and  ordinations,  for  ruling  and 
governing  the  foresaid  market  days,  and  other  fairs,  causing  to  be 
set  forth  the  meaning  of  the  said  customs  and  other  duties  used  and 
wont.  Moreover,  for  us  and  our  successors,  according  to  the  tenor 
of  our  present  charter,  we  give  and  grant  to  the  magistrates  and 
inhabitants  of  the  said  burgh,  present  and  to  come,  a  free  port  and 
harbour  for  ships  in  the  bay  and  station  of  the  said  burgh  of 
Rothesay  and  Kyles  of  Bute,  the  stations  of  Cumbray,  Fairly,  and 
Holy  Isle,  and  all  others  within  the  foresaid  bounds,  with  free 
entrance  and  exit  for  ships  and  boats,  for  carrying  burdens  with 
all  kinds  of  goods  and  merchandise  not  prohibited  by  our  laws 
and  acts,  with  all  privileges  and  liberties  of  a  free  port,  and  recep- 
VOL.  II.  N 


194  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

tacle  for  ships,  with  power  for  the  support  of  the  foresaid  port,  to 
receive  and  raise  off  goods,  merchandise,  ships,  and  boats,  carrying 
and  transporting  into  the  market  of  the  same  all  kinds  of  lesser 
customs  and  other  duties  received  by  whatever  magistrates,  officers, 
and  customers  of  any  burgh  within  our  kingdom,  to  this  effect,  to 
elect  and  have  the  usual  customers  with  coquets,  and  their  clerk  of 
coquets,  in  the  usual  form,  rendering  annually  to  our  Exchequer  an 
account  of  all  and  every  thing  in  the  said  burgh  liable  to  pay  dues, 
and  returning  the  same  according  to  use  and  wont  of  the  same — viz., 
of  all  and  each  lesser  customs  and  other  duties  pertaining  to  a  free 
burgh  and  port  to  be  applied  to  the  use  and  advantage  of  the  said 
burgh  and  the  magistrates  of  the  same.  Yet  all  the  greater  customs 
you  shall  save  and  reserve  for  us,  and  deliver  an  account  of  the  same 
annually  into  our  Exchequer.  With  power  to  the  magistrates, 
councillors,  and  community  of  the  said  burgh,  present  and  to  come, 
to  rent,  grant,  and  feu  all  the  lands  within  the  foresaid  bounds  and 
liberties  of  the  same  to  the  inhabitants,  burgesses,  and  others  within 
the  said  burgh,  and  to  no  others,  it  being  for  the  use  and  advantage 
of  the  said  burgh  and  its  inhabitants.  And  as  it  appears  very 
expedient  and  convenient  to  give  and  set  to  them  the  commons, 
revenues,  and  customs  of  the  said  burgh,  proclaiming  the  same 
annually,  commonly  called  'to  roup '  and  set  the  revenues  and 
customs,  without  diminution  of  the  same,  to  be  set  or  otherwise  to 
be  collected  by  the  treasurer  of  the  said  burgh,  for  the  advantage 
and  use  of  the  said  burgh  and  its  inhabitants,  bringing  a  proportion 
thereof  to  be  paid  annually  into  our  Exchequer,  according  to  this 
manner  of  holding.  And  generally  all  and  every  privilege,  liberty, 
and  advantage  pertaining  to  a  free  burgh,  free  fairs,  market  days,  a 
port  and  receptacle  for  ships,  to  be  used  and  exercised  as  freely  as 
any  other  magistrates  or  officers  holding  the  same  privileges  use 
within  our  kingdom  in  times  past  or  to  come.  To  hold  and  have  all 
and  whole  the  said  burgh  of  Rothesay,  and  the  limits  and  liberties 
of  the  same  by  land  and  sea,  as  is  above  specified,  with  the  liberties, 
privileges,  advantages,  immunities,  and  others  specially  and  generally 
above  mentioned,  to  the  said  Provost,  bailies,  councillors,  and  com- 
munity, and  their  successors,  of  us  and  our  successors  in  feu  and 
heritage,  as  a  free  Royal  Burgh  for  ever  by  all  the  meiths  and  limits 


The  Royal  Burgh.  195 

of  the  same  as  it  lies  in  length  and  breadth,  houses,  biggings,  gardens, 
orchards,  cattle,  plains,  moors,  seas,  roads,  paths,  standing  waters, 
rivulets,  meadows,  grass,  and  pastures,  mills,  multures,  and  their 
sequels,  together  with  fowling,  hunting,  fishing,  peataries,  turberies, 
with  coals  and  colliers,  mines  and  miners,  smiths,  braziers,  brewers, 
also  forests,  groves,  underwood  and  twigs,  wood  timber,  quarries, 
stones,  and  limestone,  with  courts  and  their  issues,  heriots,  bloodwits, 
and  mercheat  of  women,  or  the  profits  and  escheats  of  the  same. 
With  common  pasture  and  free  entrance  and  exit  to  it,  and  with  all 
and  each  other  liberties,  accommodations,  profits,  and  assedations, 
and  their  just  pertinents  whatever,  as  well  not  named  as  named,  as 
well  under  the  earth  as  above  the  earth,  far  and  near  to  the  limits  of 
the  foresaid  burgh,  with  the  privileges,  offices,  and  immunities  per- 
taining or  justly  belonging  to  the  same,  to  be  in  force  in  this  manner 
in  future,  freely,  quietly,  fully,  wholly,  honourably,  rightly,  and  in 
peace,  without  any  revocation,  contradiction,  or  obstacle  whatever. 
The  said  Provost,  bailies,  councillors,  and  community  of  the  said 
burgh,  and  their  successors,  now  and  in  future,  giving  from  this  time 
annually  to  us  and  to  our  successors  the  annual  duty  of  the  burgh, 
amounting  to  six  pounds,  at  the  usual  terms,  with  the  service  of  the 
burgh  used  and  wont  in  the  usual  manner.  In  testimony  whereof, 
this  our  present  Charter  of  Confirmation,  to  which  we  order  our 
Great  Seal  to  be  set  before  these  witnesses : — Our  dear  cousin  and 
councillor,  James,  Earl  of  Arran,  Lord  of  Evandale,  and  Hamilton, 
our  Chancellor ;  the  most  reverend  and  venerable  fathers  in  Christ, 
Patrick,  Archbishop  of  Saint  Andrews ;  Walter,  Commendator  of  our 
Priory  of  Blantyre,  Keeper  of  our  Privy  Seal ;  our  dear  friends  and 
councillors  Lord  John  Maitland,  of  Thirlstane,  our  Secretary; 
Alexander  Hay,  of  Easter  Kennet,  our  Registrar  of  the  Rolls  and 
Council  Clerk;  Loudovic  Bellendin,  of  Auchnoule,  knight,  our  Justice 
Clerk  ;  and  Robert  Scott,  our  Director  of  Exchequer.  At  Holyrood 
House,  the  nineteenth  day  of  the  month  of  February,  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty-four,  and  of  our  reign 
the  eighteenth.1 

1  I  have  given  Mr  Reid's  translation  of  the  charter  otNovodamus,  as  its  sections 
make  it  clear  to  the  general  reader — '  Hist.,'  App.,  p.  262. 


196  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

The  following  illustrations  of  the  original  coat-of-arms  of 
Rothesay  are  photographed  from  impressions  out  of  the 
matrix  designed  by  Mr  John  Mackinlay  to  correspond  to 
the  impressions  of  the  old  seal. 


Old  Seal  of  Rothesay  Burgh  (obverse], 

At  present  Rothesay  has  not  matriculated  any  armorial 
bearings,  but  the  burgh  uses  party  per  pale,  the  dexter  side 
argent ;  a  castle  triple-towered  between  in  chief,  on  the  dexter 
a  crescent,  and  on  the  sinister  a  mullet,  and  in  base  a  lymphad, 
sail  furled,  the  sinister  side  being  the  Stewart  or,  a  fesse 
cheeky  azure  and  argent.  The  seal  represents  the  foregoing 
arms,  with  the  legend — 

"  LIBERTAS  •  DATUR  •  VILL^E  •  DE  •  ROTHISEA 
PER  •  ROBERTUM  •  STUART  •  REGEM  •  SCOTTORM," 


The  Royal  Burgk.  \  9  7 

This  latter  legend  is  incorrect,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
accompanying  illustrations,  which  read — 


PER  ROBERTUM  STUART  REGEM  SCOTORUM." 

The  translation  is,  "  Town  of  Rothesay,  it  is  given  more  freely 
by  Robert  Stuart,  King  of  Scots" — the  reference  being  to 
these  words  in  the  original  charter,  "  liberius  conceditur,  seu 
datur." 


Old  Seal  of  Rothesay  Burgh  (reverse}. 

According  to  the  Town  Council  Records,  in  1823  Mr  John 
Mackinlay  presented  a  new  reverse  for  the  ancient  seal,  which 
had  been  lost  about  a  century  before.  The  seal  was  afterwards 
found  in  a  field  near  Loch  Fad,  and  lost  again.1 

In  a  deed  dated  1490,  the  Cross  of  Rothesay,  called  M'Gib- 

1  Town  Council  Records;  Reid's  'Hist.,'  p.  121. 


Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

bon's  Cross,  was  stated  to  be  in  the  middle  of  the  street, 
— r"  Crucem  medie  vie,  vulgariter  nuncupata  Crux  M'Gibbon." 
In  an  old  engraving,  the  cross  appears  before  1681  as  a  Latin 
one,  standing  on  a  square  pedestal  approached  by  seven  steps.1 
It  was  removed  in  1768  by  the  Town  Council. 

"  Near  the  town-house  stood  till  lately  the  market-cross,  a  small 
octagonal  mound,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  a  stair,  and  ending  in 
a  single  stone  on  top,  wherein  a  stone  pillar,  six  feet  and  a  half 
high,  was  inserted,  having  on  the  transverse  a  figure  of  the  cruci- 
fixion. On  each  side,  instead  of  the  two  thieves  who  suffered  on 
the  momentous  occasion  along  with  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  were 
placed,  in  two  shields,  the  arms  of  the  burgh  of  Rothesay.  In  one 
a  castle  proper,  in  the  dexter  chief  a  crescent,  and  in  the  sinister  a 
mullet,  both  tenny ;  middle  base,  a  sloop  sable,  with  its  sails  furled 
up  and  colours  flying,  as  if  before  the  wind ;  and  in  the  other,  or, 
the  fess  cheeky,  azure  and  argent ;  these  are  impaled  together  on 
the  Corporation  seal,  with  the  following  inscription  around : 
'  Libertas  datur  villae  de  Rothesay  per  Robertum  Stewart,  Regem 
Scottorum.' "  2 

The  Registers  and  Records  of  the  burgh  only  go  back  to 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  previous  records  having  either 
been  removed  by  Cromwell's  soldiery  or  destroyed  in  unsettled 
times.  Vol.  i.  of  the  Council  Minute-book  begins  at  1st  Feb- 
ruary 1654  and  ends  at  9th  October  1673 — the  Record  of  the 
Burgh  Court  extending  over  the  same  period ;  vol.  ii.  begins 
at  pth  October  1673  and  extends  to  25th  November  1721. 
Vol.  i.  of  the  Old  Maill-book  begins  in  1642  ;  vol.  ii.,  in  1659 ; 


1  From  the  absence,  in  the  engraving,  of  the  town-house  of  the  Sheriff,  built  in 
1 68 1,  I  assume  this  date. 

2  Blain,  p.  306.     In  its  place  a  pillar  was  to  be  erected  at  the  southmost  corner 
of  the  Tolbooth,  but  this  was  never  done.     Probably  the  bridge  in  Montague 
Street,  built  at  this  time,  swallowed  up  the  displaced  stones  and  cross. 


The  Royal  Burgh.  199 

vol.  iii.  has  no  date;  vol.  iv.,  in  1689.  The  Sheriff  Court 
Records  date  from  1661. 

Some  of  the  laws  sanctioned  by  Parliament  and  obtaining 
in  the  early  burghs  are  very  strange  and  amusing.1 

Every  burgess,  for  each  rood  of  burgage  land,  shall  pay  the 
king  5d.  yearly. 

Every  new  burgess  had  to  swear  fealty  to  the  king,  his 
bailies,  and  the  burgh  community. 

All  imported  merchandise,  save  salt  and  herrings,  shall  not 
be  sold  from  ships. 

A  thrall  living  in  a  burgh  a  twelvemonth  and  a  day  un- 
challenged shall  remain  free. 

The  king's  burgess,  no  other,  might  have  an  oven  on  his 
own  land. 

The  king's  bailie  shall  neither  be  a  tavern-keeper  nor  a 
baker  (thirteenth  century). 

A  burgess  may  sell  his  land  in  the  burgh. 

A  jury  of  twelve  shall  ordain  when  an  old  man  cannot  pass 
to  fight. 

Every  spoused  man  to  answer  for  his  spoused  wife. 

The  burgess  will  sue  a  man  in  the  castle  at  the  castle  gates. 

Brewster-women  to  brew  all  the  year  through,  after  the 
custom  of  the  burgh. 

Fleshers  to  sell  good  meat,  at  the  sight  of  good  men,  show- 
ing it  in  the  window. 

Each  burgh  to  have  a  wakstaff  by  day,  a  watchman  by 
night. 

No  bondsman  can  be  captured  during  a  fair. 


1  'Ancient  Laws  and  Customs  of  the  Burghs  of  Scotland,'  Preface,  var.  loc. 
Edin.,  1868. 


2OO  Bute  in  the  Olden  7^ime. 

Bread,  ale,  and  flesh  to  be  assised. 

No  one  without  burgh  shall  have  a  brew-house  unless  he 
there  have  pit  and  gallows,  and  there  one  brew-house  only 
(thirteenth  century). 

No  shoemakers  to  buy  skins  on  which  ears  and  horns  are 
not  of  equal  length. 

None  to  cut  fish  for  sale  before  the  third  hour  in  winter 
and  before  the  first  hour  in  summer. 

Cattle  to  be  slaughtered  from  Martinmas  to  Yule. 

The  following  passages  are  culled  from  the  *  Records  of 
Rothesay  Burgh  ' : — 

"1660.  June  27. — Enacted,  that  the  ale  be  sold  for  twenty  pennies, 
and  the  beer  for  two  shillings  and  four  pennies  the  pint,  except  at 
Saint  Brux-day  Fair,  until  the  prices  should  be  altered,  and  that  the 
magistrates  in  rotation,  with  some  of  the  Council,  to  be  chosen  by 
them,  go  about  every  Saturday  as  consters  to  taste  the  drink  and  set 
the  price  thereof  according  to  its  worth. 

"November  16. — Appointed  Thursday  to  be  the  weekly  market- 
day,  and  that  none  go  into  the  country  to  buy  up  goods  beforehand 
under  the  pains  specified. 

"November  26. — Two  merks  Scots  was  the  allowance  per  day 
given  at  this  time  by  the  Council  to  their  representative  in  Parlia- 
ment. They  continued  to  pay  their  member  for  most  part  until  the 
Union. 

"1665.  June  30. — The  whole  inhabitants  obliged  to  contribute 
towards  repairing  the  harbour. 

"  October  17. — All  persons  admitted  burgesses  to  contribute  a 
certain  proportion  towards  paving  the  public  streets. 

"1669.  July  22. — The  Laird  of  Loup  having  been  prisoner  in 
the  Tolbooth  of  Rothesay,  a  great  body  of  armed  Highlanders 
arrived  privately  in  the  night-time,  attacked  the  magistrates,  broke 
open  the  prison,  and  rescued  the  prisoner.  The  magistrates  having, 
by  proclamation,  summoned  the  inhabitants  to  their  assistance,  and 
for  the  defence  of  the  prison,  an  Act  was  made,  of  this  date,  for 


The  Royal  Burgh.  201 

punishing  some  who  wilfully  absented  themselves,  and  for  banishing 
the  jailor,  who  appears  to  have  been  particularly  faulty. 

"  1670.  May  12. — In  consideration  of  the  prejudice  sustained  by 
many  in  the  burgh,  through  the  retailing  of  wine,  sack,  and  brandy, 
and  as  the  brewers  and  excise  were  much  hurt  thereby,  enacted  that 
there  should  not  be  any  wine,  sack,  or  brandy  imported  into  the 
town  during  one  year  from  that  time,  except  so  much  as  importers 
were  able  to  depone  they  had  previously  bargained  for ;  with  certifi- 
cation that  such  liquors  should  be  brought  to  the  Cross,  and  the 
heads  of  the  hogsheads  or  other  vessels  broken  up,  and  the  liquor 
distributed  gratis ;  besides  which,  the  importers  or  retailers  were  to 
be  otherwise  punished  at  the  discretion  of  the  magistrates. 

"  1678.  March  14. — Enacted,  for  the  promoting  agriculture  and 
improvement  of  land,  that  every  person  in  the  royalty  occupying  land 
sow  half  a  fourth  part  of  peas  in  proportion  to  every  boll  sowing  of 
oats  or  bear  he  has,  under  the  penalty  of  forty  shillings. 

"  Enacted  also,  that  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  person  to  keep 
bee-skapes  within  the  town,  except  those  who  are  worth  a  yearly  free 
rent  of  ^"10  besides  his  dwelling-house  and  yard,  or  such  as  pay 
;£io  of  rent  to  another  within  the  same.  Such  as  are  not  authorised 
to  keep  skapes,  ordained  to  remove  them  betwixt  and  May  following, 
under  penalty  of  six  pounds  Scots,  toties  quoties,  and  the  loss  of  the 
skape ;  which  was  appointed  to  be  uplifted  by  the  procurator-fiscal 
and  employed  for  the  town's  use.  The  clerk  and  doctor  are  ex- 
empted, and  licensed  to  keep  one  skape  each,  although  they  should 
not  happen  to  be  heritors  or  renters  of  land. 

"  Enacted  also,  that  the  public  drummer  have  for  his  trouble  four 
shillings  Scots  out  of  each  house  in  the  town. 

"September  20. — A  general  rendezvous  of  all  the  men  in  the 
burgh  between  sixty  and  sixteen,  under  arms,  to  be  made,  so  as  a 
levy  of  soldiers  might  be  drawn  from  them  for  the  King's  service. 

"  October  28. — That,  for  the  present  expedition,  the  town  be 
divided  into  nine  parts,  and  every  part  to  furnish  its  proportional 
quota  of  men,  as  they  shall  be  answerable. 

"November  i. — The  magistrates  and  Council  impose  a  month's 
cess  to  be  uplifted  from  the  inhabitants  for  defraying  a  part  of  the 
Laird  of  Kames's  expense  in  going  on  town  and  country's  desire  to 


2O2  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Inverary  to  solicit  the  Earl  of  Argyle  for  permission  to  dispense  with 
the  militia  company  of  Bute  going  to  Mull,  and  also  in  compensation 
to  Kames  for  the  expenses  of  other  journeys  made  by  him  in  the 
public  service. 

"  1679.  May  10. — Order  intimated  from  the  Earl  of  Argyle  to 
the  Laird  of  Kames,  requiring  and  commanding  him  to  have  the 
militia  company  of  Bute  in  readiness,  with  sufficient  cloaths,  forty 
days'  loane,  fixed  arms,  and  a  pair  of  spare  shoes  besides  the  shoes 
on  their  feet,  and  to  march  with  them  to  Achalader  against  the 
twentieth  of  that  month,  on  his  Majesty's  service,  against  the  Popish 
rebels  and  outlaws  in  the  Highlands,  the  town  thereupon  set  about 
raising  its  quota  of  men. 

"  1683.  October  2. — A  rendezvous  of  the  militia  company  of  Bute 
having  been  appointed,  the  Town  Council  ordered  arms  to  be 
delivered  to  their  quota  of  men.  The  arms  consisted  of  a  gun, 
bandalier,  and  pike. 

"  1685.  April  25. — A  letter  having  been  received  from  the  Lord- 
Chancellor,  ordering  six  score  of  men  to  be  sent  from  Bute  to  join 
Lieutenant-General  Drummond  at  Maybole,  the  town  immediately 
raises  its  proportion. 

"  1687.  October  4. — Letter  from  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  by  warrant 
of  the  Privy  Council,  produced,  prohibiting  and  discharging  this 
burgh,  as  they  would  answer  at  their  peril,  from  electing  any  new 
magistrate  or  Council  this  year,  and  the  then  magistrates  and  Council 
are,  by  the  King's  authority,  signified  through  him,  appointed  to 
continue  until  His  Majesty  should  signify  his  further  pleasure. 

"1688.  October  12. — Order  of  Council  for  dressing  and  fixing 
the  militia  arms  belonging  to  the  town,  that  the  people  might  be  in 
readiness  to  march  on  His  Majesty's  service. 

"November  14. — Sir  James  Stewart,  empowered  by  the  Privy 
Co.uncil  to  convene  and  keep  together  in  arms  for  His  Majesty's 
service,  and  defence  of  the  shire  of  Bute,  the  militia  force,  and  to 
name  officers,  and  to  do  every  thing  else  that  might  best  conduce  to 
His  Majesty's  service  and  the  peace  of  the  shire.  On  this  the 
magistrates  and  Council  imposed  a  month's  cess  on  the  burgh 
towards  defraying  their  quota  of  expenses,  and  made  choice  of  four 
of  their  number  to  meet  and  act  with  Sir  James,  and  with  power  to 


The  Royal  Burgh.  203 

lay  on  further  necessary  burdens  and  impositions  as  to  them  might 
seem  requisite  for  the  service,  and  to  model,  outreek,  raise,  and  keep 
in  arms  as  many  of  the  inhabitants  as  Sir  James  and  they  might 
think  fit. 

"  1689.  March  17. — The  election  of  member  for  the  burgh  was 
by  poll,  being  the  only  election  of  that  kind  which  appears  on  the 
record  here.  By  the  minutes,  it  appears  the  burgesses  compearing 
were  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  in  number.  Mr  Robert  Stewart, 
advocate,  uncle  to  Sir  James  Stuart  of  Bute,  was  chosen,  the  whole 
having  voted  for  him  except  three. 

"  1692.  January  13. — A  new  valuation  roll  appointed  to  be  drawn 
up  with  respect  to  all  the  houses  and  lands. 

"March  3. — The  faculty  roll,  being  that  which  ascertained  the 
tax  upon  trade,  also  to  be  rectified. 

^May  20. — A  levy  of  seamen  made  by  the  burgh  for  the  King's 
service. 

"July  30. — A  poll-tax  laid  upon  the  inhabitants  for  building  the 
third  part  of  the  parish  kirk,  there  not  being  any  share  of  it  laid 
upon  the  land. 

"1707.  October  3. — Another  ineffectual  attempt  made  by  the 
town,  in  conjunction  with  the  heritors  of  the  land,  to  establish  a 
market  here  every  Friday. 

"1761.  January  9. — Seats  in  new  loft  of  the  kirk  of  Rothesay  to 
be  set  or  sold  to  the  highest  bidder. 

"  1768.  August  27. — Market  Cross  to  be  removed  from  opposite 
Tolbooth.  [The  Tolbooth  itself  was  removed  in  1834.] 

"  August  30. — The  streets  in  Rothesay  having  no  names,  the 
following  are  given  :  Castle  Street,  High  Street,  Watergate,  Princes 
Street,  Montague  Street,  Gallowgate,  Cowgate,  New  Vennel,  Laed- 
side,  Store  Lane,  and  Old  Vennel. 

1769.  January  6. — Bridge  over  Water  of  Rothesay  built  at  a  cost 
of  ^41,  6s.  3d. 

"1772,  1773. — Extensive  improvements  made  on  the  quay, 
bridges,  and  roads. 

"1791.  November  3. — Memorial  sent  to  the  Postmaster-General 
anent  the  carriage  of  the  mails,  narrating  that  the  two  men  who  had 
hitherto  been  paid  £11,  6s.  each  annually  for  carrying  mails  in  a 


2O4  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

boat  from  Greenock  to  Rothesay  three  times  a  week  had  given  up 
the  employment,  and  suggesting  an  advanced  rate  of  payment. 

"  1795.  May  27. — It  was  minuted  that  the  magistrates  had  been 
unable  to  find  two  men  willing  to  serve  in  the  navy,  although  they 
had  offered  a  bounty  of  ^25  each,  the  above  being  the  number 
required  to  be  raised  in  Rothesay  by  Act  of  Parliament. 

"  I79^.  June  14. — New  school  to  be  built,  to  cost  ^346,  los. 
Marquis  of  Bute  gave  ^50  and  a  free  site.  Old  schoolhouse  was 
sold  on  6th  July  to  Archibald  M'Allister  for  ^£67. 

"July  13. — Chapel  of  Ease  erected,  cost  ^"1400. 

"April  12. — Sunday  schools  to  be  established."1 

The  Corporation  of  Rothesay  at  no  time  received  from 
the  Crown  of  Scotland  grants  of  lands,  as  some  have  sup- 
posed,— lands  not  being  referred  to  in  the  charter  of  Erec- 
tion. By  the  charter  of  Novodamus  the  burgh  has  become 
infeft  in  those  lands  which  now  form  the  Common  Good. 
Bute  was  especially  a  regal  property,  and  was  early,  and 
is,  attached  to  the  Stewartry  or  Principality,  from  which 
it  was  never  alienated.  The  wild  uplands,  and  outfield, — 
which,  as  a  Common,  and  the  last  part  of  the  old  tribe-land, 
all  the  inhabitants  had  right  to  graze  cattle  upon, — together 
with  those  nearer  pendicles  for  which  the  tenants  received 
no  charter  in  1506,  were  simply  looked  upon  as  subjects  for 
maill,  and  being  assessed  assumed  the  likeness  of  corpora- 
tion property.  The  arrangement  by  which  as  early  as 
1658  the  king's  bailies  were  permitted  to  discriminate,  as 
the  table  shows,  the  King's  from  the  Common  lands,  is  not 
extant. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  proprietors  in  the  burgh,  the 
extent  of  their  lands,  and  the  amount  of  assessment  paid  by 

1  Reid's  '  Hist.,'  pp.  109-118. 


The  Royal  Burgh. 


205 


them  in   1689,  extracted  from  the  Maill-book  of  the  burgh 
for  that  year  : x — 


Imprimis,  THE  SHIREFF  OF  BUTE, 
His  King's  Land. 

Item,  his  kilne  and  yarde  .         .         .        two  roodes 
Item,  his  two  crofts  called  the  Shereff  s  Crofts,  some- 
tyme  pertenning  to  George  M'Neall        two  aikers 
Item,  Todd's  house  and  Rood 

lib.    s.     d. 
Summa  King's  Land  payes  oo    2    09 

His  Comon  Land. 

Item,  litle  Barone    ....         seuen  aiker 
Item,  the  Land  called  Lappie's  fauld,  three  aiker, 

ane  rood,  and  ane  quarter  of  a  rood 
Item,  the  Breckoch  besyde  the  Lappie's  fald,  two  aiker 
Item,   the  Comon   Land  quhilk  pertened  to   Rory 

Gavin  (rough  Rory)      .         .         .  two  aikers 

Item,  the  Meadow  wnder  Barone  pertenning  of  old 

to  M'llnew  ......  five  roods 

Item,  the  half  meadow  quhilk  pertened  to  M'Caw 

and  M'Kesog  at  the  Lochend        .         .      six  rood 
Item,    the    meadow    under    Barone    called    Rorie's 

meadow        .         .         .  eight  rood  (five  rood) 

Item,  the  Comone  Land  of  Gartnakelly  (the  loning 

excepted)      ....  thretty-six  aiker 

Item,  the  Comon  Land  of  Knockenreoch 

fourteen  aiker 
Item,  the  Lands  Besyde  Knockenreoch  called  Bal- 

lachgoy         ......   two  aiker 

Item,  Todd's  two  faulds  ....  two  aikers 

Item,  the  ShirerFs  part  of  Lochend  .         .   two  aiker 
Item,  a  fald  in  Grenoch  called  Allester  raye's  fald 

three  aiker 

Item,  the  lands  now  pertaining  to  the  Shereff  former- 
ly pertenning  to  Allester  Glass      .         .    six  roods 
Item,  the  fald  called  Cumres  fald  besyde  faldrioch 

two  aiker 
Item,  Achenluib       .....   two  aiker 

Item,  M  'Kirdy  Mills  waird  nuik       .         .    ane  aiker 
Item,  the  Meidow  att  Lochend  quhilk  peretened  to 

Archibald  Stewart      Three  Roods,  third  part  rood 
Item,    for   James    M'Kirdyes    house    and    land    in 

Breckoch     .         .         .  Ane  aiker,  thrie  rood 

Summa  his  Common  Land  8     18    06 


Carry  forward 


KING'S, 


A.     R. 
2 


2      2 


2      2 


COMMON. 


3K 
3 


87 


87 


ASSESS- 
MENT. 


2    9 


8  18    6 


1  The  Maill-book  begins  in  1642,  but  the  first  part  is  much  destroyed  :  vol.  ii, 
includes  the  year  1659;  v°l-  "*•»  no  date;  vol.  iv.,  1689. 


2O6 


Bute  in  the  Olden  Time* 


KING'S. 

COMMON. 

ASSESS- 
MENT. 

A.     R. 

A.          R. 

£     s.    d. 

Brought  forward 

2      2 

87    OTV 

9     I     3 

The  Captain  of  Dunoon,  King's  lands  in  Ardbeg  and 

Bank    

52 

... 

3 

Mr  Patrick  Stewart  of  Rossland  (Croft  Loddan,  Col- 

lumshill,  fald  pullester,  the  comon  of  Ardnahow, 

Glendinom,  Gowfald    .         .         .        King's  lands 

2    2 

2      6 

Common 

20      I 

226 

Mr  Robert  Stewart  of  Skarrell,  Croft  Spagoch,  Bal- 

skyt,  Croft  Kechan,  Croft  Berry,  Gallowsfald 

6  i 

6    3 

Common 

4    3 

9    6 

Mr  John  Stewart  of  Ascog,  Bogany,  Grenoch,  Red 

Robertson's  land  .....         King's 

2 

i     6 

Common 

69     i 

649 

Robert  Stewart  of  Lochly,  fald  tarsin        .        King's 

3 

9 

Common 

3i 

3    3    6 

The  Baron  of  Grenoch  (Laird  of  Kames)  .    Common 

18    3 

i  17    6 

Baillie  Ninian  Stewart      ....         King's 

I    2 

I    10 

John  Ker,  Niniane  son,  Croftcross    .... 

4"*3? 

5 

John  Geally,  Cordiner      ....        King's 

I 

i 

house 

... 

6 

I 

i 

Common 

2 

9 

Patrick  Ker,  Buttnapeni  ....        King's 

2 

2 

Common 

4 

8 

William  Auld  ......         King's 

2 

6 

Robert  Wallace,  Ballachinduan         .         .        King's 

I    2 

i     6 

Common 

I       2 

3 

William  Frazer,  Weiver  ....    Common 

I 

i     6 

Alexander  Wood,  Rossyde's  fald       .         .        King's 

5  3 

... 

7    8 

William  Hunter,  Meadowcap   .         .         .    Common 

3     i 

6    8 

Heirs  of  Robert  Huggin,  Lagmony  .         .    Common 

3 

9 

John  M'Nuyer,   Lenigarone,  fald  feiras,   Buttcorse, 

"in  Clan  Neill  a  rood,"  fald  Croggan  .    Common 

5 

i     i     3 

John  M'Neill  King's 

I    2 

i     6 

Common 

3    2 

7 

John  Moore,  Buttnagaive          .         .         .        King's 

2    3 

2    9 

Common 

5     i 

10    6 

Patrick  Moore          ....    houses,  King's 

2 

7     6 

Common 

... 

2"oy2 

3    9 

Finlay  M'llmun        .....         King's 

2 

6 

David  Stewart          .         .         .         .         .    Common 

... 

itf 

7    6 

Colin  Stewart  King's 

I 

i 

Robert  Stewart,  Mecknock,       .         .         .         .       (?) 

3 

9 

Neall  Bannatyne      King's 

i  i 

... 

i     3 

Common 

3    4 

Donald  Fraser          .....        King's 

i 

i 

James  Niven,  Tayler         ....        King's 

2 

6 

Bailie  Adam  Stewart        ....        King's 

2 

i     6 

2    "\ 

c     i 

Common 

•*   J 

i'" 

J 

2 

Carry  forward 

96    I 

261     3& 

32  16    9 

The  Royal  Burgh. 


207 


KING'S. 

COMMON. 

ASSESS- 
MENT. 

A.         R. 

A.           R. 

£     s.   d. 

Brought  forward 

. 

96   I 

261     STT 

32  16    9 

John    Kelbume,    The    Standand   tree, 
Broad   Chappell,   The    golden    rood, 
Buttnakuill,  Rorie's  fald,  "  land  beside 

Croftgoune, 
Broadcroft, 
Claim  Pat- 

rick  in  Breckoch  "... 

King's 

4  i 

4    3 

Common 

4 

8  10 

Niniane  Kelburne,  Croft  Kairdoch   . 

King's 

3 

3 

Common 

2      2 

10    10 

Aires  of  John  Stewait,  Balskyte 

King's 

i 

3 

Archibald  Gray         .... 

King's 

2 

2 

Aires  of  John  M  'Roman  . 

King's 

2 

2 

William  M'llherran's  aires 

King's 

4 

... 

4 

Common 

2 

6 

King's 

T 

2 

Common 

2      2 

3  10 

John  M'Kinlay,  Cladoch,  Ralivoyle  . 

King's 

I    2 

i     6 

Common 

6X 

12      8 

John  M  'Tyre  
Robert  Beith   

King's 
King's 

2 

3 

i     6 
9 

Common 

I 

2 

Duncan  M'Nicoll     .... 

King's 

3 

9 

Aires  of  Patrick  M'Nicoll,  Brydeshill,  Croft  Kerdoch 

King's 

1  3 

i     9 

Common 

3/2 

i     9 

Donall  M'Cathen     .... 

King's 

5 

Total     . 

. 

118  3 

283      2^ 

36    6  10 

King's 

118.3 

... 

699 

Common 

283      2T\29    17       I 

Total  of  Money 

. 

... 

... 

36    6  10 

From  the  table  it  appears,  however,  that  the  Common  lands 
in  1689  were  less  extensive  than  they  are  to-day,  proving  how 
expert  the  bailies  have  been  in  swallowing  up  the  unclaimed 
lands  and  leanings  in  the  burgh.  In  this  procedure  the 
Sheriff  caught  them  sharply,  as  the  following  minute  of 
Council  shows : — 

"10  August  1771. —  .  .  .  The  Magistrates  and  Council  find 
that  these  two  faulds  [Fauldreoch  and  Loaning  fauld]  are  the  un- 
doubted property  of  the  family  of  Bute,  and  that  the  doubts  which 


2o8  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

have  been  started  with  respect  to  the  Earl's  property  in  them  have 
not  had  any  foundation." 

The  Council  were  in  the  habit  of  selling  pieces  of  their 
ground,  as  it  suited  the  requirements  of  their  finance.  On 
26th  August  1762,  several  patches  and  leanings,  amounting 
to  48  acres,  were  put  up  to  public  roup  at  the  upset  price 
of  193.  lod.  per  acre,  during  the  running  of  a  half-hour  sand- 
glass, and  the  only  bidder  was  John  Blain,  for  the  Marquess, 
at  the  price  of  £44,  I2s.  6d.  sterling. 

Other  feus  were  disposed  of  to  the  burgesses  during  the 
running  of  an  "  eight-minute  "  sand-glass,  and  if  the  feu-duty 
was  not  paid  nor  buildings  erected  on  the  stances  within  a 
reasonable  time,  the  ground  was  resumed  by  the  Council. 
The  king's  bailies  were  not  such  simpletons  as  to  permit 
the  burgh  to  be  robbed  or  impoverished  by  any  aggrandising 
neighbour,  as  some  have  imagined.  Thus  the  supposed 
spiriting  away  of  the  fat  burghal  possessions  is  a  local  fiction 
which  dissolves  on  the  production  of  the  Registers  of  Sasines 
and  Retours  still  extant. 

In  the  Maill-book  of  1642  we  find  "Robert  Jamieson, 
Crowner  off  Bute,  his  landis  and  heretage,"  but  the  extent 
and  assessment  are  obliterated.  In  the  Maill-book  previous 
to  1689  is  recorded  : — 

"  Item,  The  Minister's  Gleib. 
Item,  the  croft  of  land  with  the  yard  following  called  Bishop's  land, 

one  aiker. 

Item,  the  house  and  yarde  upon  the  toune,  two  roods. 
Item,  Buttinlyne,  with  the  yarde  at  the  back  of  John  Moore's  barne, 

two  roods  and  half  rood." 

The  manse  was  at  Townhead  or  Kirktoun.  In  1596  the 
manse  is  described  as  being  situated  thus :  "  having  the 


The  Royal  Burgh.  209 

common  gate  of  the  church  on  the  east  side,  the  kirkyeard 
on  the  south,  the  lands  of  Creagans  pertaining  to  Donald 
Ballentyne  on  the  west,  and  James  Campbell  land  on  the 
north  parts."  In  1660,  the  manse  was  erected  in  the  High 
Street,  where  part  of  it  still  remains. 

The  glebe  was  made  up  of  the  "  Parson's  Gleib,  Bishop's 
Yeard,  Bishop's  Croft,  Bishop's  Rood,  Lady  Rood,  Mickle 
Lady  Rood." 

The  Burgh  Magistrates,  by  a  charter  in  1578,  gave  part  of 
the  common  lands  in  Little  Barone  to  Sheriff  John,  and  on 
loth  August  1771,  in  an  Act  of  Council,  the  Earl  was 
declared  to  be  the  proprietor  of  Fauldrioch  and  Loaning 
Fauld  on  the  east  side  of  Drumachony,  and  the  Fauld  at 
the  back  of  John  M'Nab's  house. 

The  Bush  (including  Broomlands,  Ardacho,  Fauldcruin) 
passed  from  John  Muir  to  the  Earl  in  1692,  and  back  again 
to  Muir,  from  whom  it  came  to  Robert  Wallace  in  1702, 
and  back  to  the  Earl  in  1763. 

The  West  Calfward  was  sold  to  the  Sheriff  by  the  magis- 
trates on  23d  October  1691  ;  the  East,  on  5th  June  1712. 

Townhead  passed  from  John  MacNuir  to  the  Sheriff  in 
1693. 

Lochly  was  disponed  in  1730  by  James  Stewart  to  the 
Earl. 

John  Stewart,  advocate,  held  Grenach,  which  he  disponed 
to  the  Earl  in  1780. 

The  Bishop's  house,  an  extensive  edifice  (with  office- 
houses),  removed  in  1785  when  Bishop  Street  was  made, 
was  the  private  residence  of  Patrick  Stewart  of  Rosland, 
minister  of  Rothesay.  Over  the  outer  gateway,  says  Blain, 
were  two  stones,  one  of  which  bore  the  inscription  :  "  Pax 

VOL.  II.  O 


2io  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

intrantibus,  Salus  exeuntibus "  —  Peace  to  those  entering, 
safety  to  those  departing.  Blain  concluded  that  this  was 
the  ancient  episcopal  palace. 

John  Glas  of  Bogany  became  proprietor,  and  placed  his 
own  and  his  wife's  initials,  with  the  date  1662,  upon  one  of 
the  windows.  It  became  the  property  of  Archibald  Graham, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Sodor. 

The  Bishop's  house,  orchard,  and  park,  called  Stirling's 
braes,  with  a  malt-kiln,  and  one-third  of  Relivoyle,  which 
belonged  to  Bishop  Graham,  passed  to  his  daughters,  Eliza- 
beth, who  married  Walter  Grahame  of  Kilmardinny,  and  to 
Helen.  John,  heir  of  Walter,  disponed  the  property  to  the 
Earl,  and  it  was  feued  to  Charles  Gordon,  who  built 
two  houses  on  the  front,  which  were  bought  by  Bailie  Duncan 
Bruce.  It  was  used  as  the  parish  school  till  1780. 

Bogany  was  disponed  by  James  M'Neill,  successor  to 
Alexander  Glas  in  1762,  to  the  Earl  in  1780. 

By  a  decreet  of  apprizing,  Sir  James  Stewart  obtained 
from  John,  eldest  son  of  John  Stewart  of  Balshagrie,  79 
borough  lands  called  Rosland  in  1657,  and  the  Earl  got 
sasine  of  them  in  1780. 

The  mill  of  Rothesay  was  one  of  the  most  important 
Crown  holdings  within  the  burgh,  being  evidently  an  ap- 
panage of  the  castle,  and  under  the  control  of  the  represen- 
tative of  the  Steward  of  Scotland.  It  stood  on  the  Lade,  in 
John  Street.  It  was  called  "the  King's  Mill."  To  it  all  the 
lands  in  Bute  were  "thirled,"  or  attached  for  obtaining 
their  milling.  Before  1480  the  Sheriff  of  Bute  held  it, 
and  by  an  action  raised  by  the  king's  comptroller  against 
the  Bute  farmers  in  1511,  the  question  was  settled  that 
they  had  to  pay  multures  to  the  miller,  which  were  a  royal 


The  Royal  Burgh.  2 1 1 

perquisite  —  although  the  charter  of  1506  freed  them  of 
multures.  In  1522,  the  Lords  of  Session  decreed  against 
the  burgesses  and  farmers  of  the  king's  land  for  the  one- 
and-twentieth  peck  as  abstracted  multures.  In  1527,  James 
V.  granted  to  Patrick  Colquhone  and  Elizabeth  Colville, 
his  wife,  the  mill,  mill-lands,  and  astricted  multure  for  a 
yearly  payment  of  13  marks;  and  they  in  turn,  in  1535, 
gave  their  privilege  to  Colin  Campbell  and  Matilda  Mont- 
gomery at  the  same  terms.  The  latter  obtained  a  Crown 
charter. 

In  1549,  James  Stewart,  Sheriff  and  chamberlain,  had 
a  lease  of  the  mill,  which,  however,  in  1552  was  confirmed 
to  Colin  Campbell,  who  gave  it  to  his  son  Donald  in  1563. 
In  1565,  Archibald  Stewart  was  tenant,  paying  of  yearly 
rent  £10,  I2s.  4d.  Scots.  In  1587,  Sheriff  John  resigned 
the  mill  and  had  a  new  grant  of  it  from  James  VI.  By 
an  arrangement  in  1616  with  the  laird  of  Kames,  the 
farmers  in  North  Bute  were  permitted  to  mill  at  Atrick 
on  paying  the  legal  multures  to  Rothesay.  The  Sheriff's 
multures  in  1658  amounted  to  24  bolls  of  oatmeal,  with 
35.  4d.  in  augmentation. 

An  excellent  account  of  the  later  history  of  the  burgh  of 
Rothesay  and  of  the  Isle  of  Bute  will  be  found  in  Reid's 
'  History  of  the  County  of  Bute/  pp.  118-175.  It  contains 
a  list  of  the  members  of  Parliament,  sheriffs,  provosts,  and 
magistrates  down  to  1862. 


212 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    ROMAN    CHURCH. 

"  The  reverend  pile  lay  wild  and  waste, 
Profaned,  dishonour'd,  and  defaced. 

The  Civil  fury  of  the  time 
Made  sport  of  sacrilegious  crime  ; 
For  dark  Fanaticism  rent 
Altar,  and  screen,  and  ornament." 

—Rokeby. 

| HE  growth  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  under  the 
Roman  form,  was  due  to  the  inherent  strength 
of  a  well-graduated  organisation,  which  moved 
onward  with  the  unflinching  decision  of  a  well- 
trained  host  called  upon  to  meet  the  incoherent  forces  of  a 
weaker  body  interrupting  its  progress.  Beautiful  in  theory, 
the  Celtic  system  of  missionary  enterprise  and  monastic 
government  was  in  practice  quite  inadequate  to  move  and 
control  the  energies  necessary  to  subjugate  to  the  faith  tribes 
and  petty  nations  which  were  ever  throwing  themselves  at 
each  others'  throats.  The  soldiers  of  the  cross  required 
capable  officers  and  suitable  marching  orders  to  enable  them 
to  cope  with  the  difficulties  in  their  campaign.  And  these 
indispensable  requirements  were  provided  by  the  priesthood 


"  MARY»  CHAPEL  -  BUTE 


£fev£^  "-^r:\  '--^^l&i^-L"^^., 


Bliirsfc^je^S^^  $ 

llfe,..^^^  fromlteftEd^: 


Sketch    of  Interior 


Plan- 


r    r  -r  r 


Scale     foif    Plan 


James 


The  Roman  Chiirch.  213 

directed  from  Rome,  who  were  united  so  closely  that  they 
were  irresistible,  by  reason  of  the  accumulated  powers  of 
christianised  Europe  behind  them.  The  efforts  of  this 
Church  were  substantially  and  unmistakably  supported  by 
the  chivalrous  soldiery,  who  in  medieval  times  looked  upon 
the  Church  and  its  domains  as  a  sanctuary,  and  respected 
the  offices  of  the  priesthood.  The  same  military  exactitude 
which  ruled  in  the  affairs  of  the  feudal  chiefs  was  either  the 
cause  of  or  the  consequent  of  the  precise  methods  of  spiritual 
government  carried  out  by  the  Church.  The  alliance  between 
Church  and  State  was  of  the  closest  character.  There  was  a 
seemly  fitness  in  the  existence  of  huge  monasteries  filled  with 
unwarlike  devotees  of  religion,  and  of  beautiful  churches  ever 
resounding  with  worship,  side  by  side  with  frowning  fortresses 
bristling  with  armed  men  ready  for  the  fray.  No  one  need 
dispute  the  fact  that  the  Roman  Church  rose  to  the  full 
height  of  her  responsibility  at  the  epoch  when  the  restless 
nations  of  Europe  were  overflowing  their  natural  boundaries, 
and  intellectuality  was  being  stimulated  by  the  fresh  ac- 
cessions of  knowledge  in  every  department  of  inquiry.  The 
Church  was  far  before  the  age. 

The  spirit  and  usages  of  Rome  had  from  the  eighth  century 
spread  throughout  Scotland,  gradually  extinguishing  the 
characteristic  features  of  the  Celtic  Church,  and  leaving 
very  few  practices  in  the  latter  to  which  exception  might 
be  had.  The  Pope  was  in  reality  Father  of  the  Church 
now,  and  even  into  his  own  hands  the  kings  of  Scotland,  as 
pilgrims,  placed  their  offerings  and  alms. 

The  Saxon  Princess  Margaret,  an  exile  at  first,  then  queen 
of  Malcolm  Canmore,  a  most  devoted  ascetic  and  strict 
adherent  to  the  faith,  was  the  instrument  by  which  the 


2 1 4  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

transformation  of  the  Celtic  Church  was  completed,  and 
customs  and  rites  at  variance  with  the  authorised  canons 
were  abandoned.  She  gave  church  -  building  in  stone  a 
fresh  impetus  in  Scotland.  Her  lovely  life  and  holy  works, 
ended  in  1093,  obtained  for  the  zealous  queen  canonisation. 
A  few  of  the  more  secluded  Celts,  with  the  pertinacity 
characteristic  of  their  race,  adhered  still  to  the  "old  way." 
But  they  could  not  stem  the  tide  of  Anglo-Norman  forces 
at  work  colonising  and  modernising  the  people,  which  were 
at  full  flood  in  the  reign  of  King  David  L,  1124-1153.  The 
Celtic  Church  was  no  longer  the  missionary  power  it  was, 
and  its  clergy,  finding  that  their  variance  with  the  Church 
of  Rome  was  only  in  matters  of  ritual,  not  of  faith,  were 
soon  extinguished  by  their  more  aggressive  brethren.  With 
the  zeal  of  his  mother,  Queen  Margaret,  David  gave  the 
Celtic  system  the  coup -de -grace.  He  was  no  superficial 
innovator.  He  completely  feudalised  the  Church,  and  prac- 
tically made  the  Pope  its  superior,  and  the  various  orders  of 
the  clergy  his  vassals,  holding  rank  and  lands  for  proper 
service.  Where  the  Norman  noble  reared  his  moated  hold 
and  gathered  his  mailed  tenantry  into  a  village,  there  the 
abbots  or  bishops  erected  a  well-girded  abbey  or  neat  parish 
church,  whose  ecclesiastical  officers  were  as  easily  summoned 
to  their  spiritual  posts  by  the  church  bells  as  were  the  armed 
vassals  to  their  muster  at  the  blast  of  the  horn.  It  was  the 
fashion  to  build,  endow,  enrich,  and  beautify  the  houses  of 
prayer.  An  old  chronicler  says  that  David  covered  the  land 
with  churches,  as  thick  as  lichens.  It  swarmed  with  the 
motley  Orders  of  monks  and  priests,  as  lively  as  the  char- 
acters in  Chaucer's  '  Canterbury  Tales.'  The  people,  too, 
shared  in  their  joys.  Besides,  David  was  a  thorough  poli- 


The  Roman  Church.  215 

tician,  and  rested  the  property  and  privileges  of  his  people 
on  a  sure  legal  basis.  He  codified  the  fugitive  laws  of  the 
ancients.  He  subdivided  the  land  into  dioceses  and  parishes. 
Thus  religion  and  law  welded  the  nation  under  the  Crown. 
Where  the  heather  and  the  rush  grew  David  made  the  apple- 
tree  and  the  flowers  to  blossom.  Andro  of  Wyntoun  was 
not  romancing  when  he  wrote  of  this  king: — 

"He  wes  the  held1  off  all  hys  kyn. 

He  illumynd  in  his  dayis 

His  landys  with  kyrkys  and  wyth  abbayis." 

His  piety  and  liberality  stimulated  the  first  three  Stewards 
to  build  and  enrich  Paisley  Monastery,  which  was  one  of  the 
richest  in  Scotland  ;  and  one  cannot  doubt  that  it  was  his 
immediate  influence  which  led  to  the  erection  of  the  beauti- 
ful church  of  St  Blaan,  wherein  prayers  were  long  said  on 
behalf  of  his  memory. 

There  may  be  more  than  a  coincidence  in  the  facts  that 
the  Benedictine  monastery  which  Celestinus,  Abbot  of  St 
Columba,  of  the  island  of  Hy,  erected  in  lona,  and  the 
disponing  of  St  Blaan's  Church  to  Paisley,  took  place  in 
the  same  year,  1204.  A  very  small  clue  is  wanted  to  give 
a  reasonable  explanation  of  the  rebuilding  of  St  Blaan's  and 
its  affiliation  to  St  Mirrin's  at  this  very  date.  I  imagine  I 
found  that  clue  as  I  stood  with  admiration  examining  the 
regular  masonry  of  the  Abbey  Church  of  lona,  built  by 
Prior  Donald  O'Brolchan  in  1202  at  the  charge  of  Reginald, 
Lord  of  the  Isles,  who  at  this  time  was  Superior  of  Bute, 

1  Beld  =  model. 


2 1 6  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

at  least  in  opposition  to  the  Steward.1     Reginald,  following 
the  example  of  King  David,  became  a  patron  of  the  Church, 
and  undertook  the  rebuilding  of  lona,  and  the  settlement  of 
Benedictine  monks  there.     He  also  erected  the  monastery 
of  Saddel  for  the  Cistercian  Order.     But  by  this  time  the 
church-lands  of  lona  were  in  possession  of  the  Abbot  of 
Derry,  who  was  the  Coarb ;  or,  according  to  another  author- 
ity, wholly  or  in  part,  belonged  to  the  King.2     The  Abbot 
of  lona  in  1203  was  Cellach,  or  Celestinus,  who  is  also  be- 
lieved to  have  been  the  same  as  the  Bishop  Koli  or  Kolus  of 
Icelandic  writers,  and  the  Nicolaus  who  inscribed  his  name 
in  runes  in  the  cave-cell  of  St  Molaise  on  Holy  Isle,  Lamlash. 
To  this  Celestinus  Pope  Innocent  III.,  on  the  Qth  Decem- 
ber   1203,  gave   a   charter   confirming  the   erection   of  this 
Benedictine  monastery,  and  granting  various  churches  and 
church-lands  in  the  Western   Isles  to   the   brethren.3      But 
the  remnant  of  old  Celtic  monks,  perceiving  that  their  dis- 
placement meant  extinction,  took  advantage  of  the  old  treaty 
made  by  Columba,  and  called  to  their  assistance  their  blood- 
allies  of  Dalriada  in  Ireland — the  Eoghan  clan,  which  was 
the  stem  of  the  men  of  Lorn — who  appeared  in  a  "  hosting  " 
of  clergy  and  soldiery,  led  by  their  bishops  and  the  Abbot 
of  Derry  with  the  "  Derry  boys."  4     In  this  congenial  ruction 
they  demolished  the  new  Benedictine  monastery,  and,  in  1203, 
installed  Abbot  Awley  O'Freel,  a  scion  of  the  Niall  blood, 
as  the  last  occupant  of  Columba's  chair.     Whither  then  did 
Cellach  betake  himself  for  refuge  ?     Is  it  not  possible  that 


1  'Adamnan,'  Reeves,  p.  409. 

2  'Lib.  Cart.  S.  Crucis  de  Edwinesburg,'  p.  41. 

3  '  Regest.  Innoc.  III.,'  letter  given  in  Munch's  '  Chron.  Man.,'  pp.  152,  153. 

4  'Ann.  Ulst. ;'  '  Adamnan, '  Reeves,  pp.  410-412. 


The  Roman  Church.  2 1 7 

Reginald  would  direct  his  attention  to  Bute,  and  thither  the 
skilled  monks  came  to  rebuild  and  resuscitate  the  ruined 
abbey  of  St  Blaan  ?  The  son  of  the  founder  of  Paisley, 
Alan,  would  welcome  them.  According  to  Spottiswoode, 
these  exiled  monks  were  of  the  Order  of  Cluny,  a  fact  which 
would  harmonise  with  the  disposition  of  the  church  of  Kin- 
garth  to  Paisley  by  Alan  in  1204,  and  also  explain  why  the 
rents  were  never  exacted.  There  were  then  two  claimants 
for  the  proprietorship  of  the  Isle  of  Bute — the  representative 
of  Somerled,  and  Alan,  son  of  the  victor  of  Somerled.  It 
is  within  the  range  of  possibility,  and  even  of  likelihood,  that 
Alan — descendant  of  the  old  Eoghan  stock  and  of  Kenneth, 
who  had  territory  somewhere  before  he  became  king  of  the 
united  Scots — was  Coarb  of  Bute — z>.,  ecclesiastical  heir  of 
Blaan,  in  enjoyment  of  the  saint's  lands.  This  privilege  was 
often  a  grant  by  the  kings  to  their  favourites,  who  displaced 
the  Coarbs,  lineally  descended  from  the  heir  of  the  saintly 
founder  of  a  church  and  accumulator  of  church-lands.  Abbot 
Nicholas  could  thus  easily  obtain  a  double  permission  to 
settle  there.  He  was  an  Argyleshire  man  himself,  and  from 
the  fact  that  he  was  buried  in  Bangor  in  1217,  it  may  be 
assumed  that  he  was  a  pupil  of  Bangor,  mother  of  Kingarth. 
Reginald,  King  of  Man,  was  married  to  a  lady  from  Kintyre, 
and  when  he  was  in  Ireland  (1204-5)  he  may  have  met  the 
Abbot,  whom  he  promoted  about  this  time  to  the  bishopric 
of  Sodor  and  Man.  Possibly  Nicholas  during  his  lifetime 
may  have  been  permitted  to  draw  the  rents  of  Kingarth  to 
support  his  episcopal  office,  or  his  elevation  stopped  the 
settlement  of  the  monks,  and  on  account  of  the  exigency 
of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  (Papal  Brief,  February  1305), 
the  rents  would  have  to  be  accounted  for  to  the  Bishop  of 


218  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Sodor  and  the  Primate  of  Nidaros  in  Norway — not  to  Paisley. 
If  Alan,  to  show  his  loyalty  to  the  memory  of  King  David 
and  filial  regard  for  his  parents,  did  not  in  1204  rebuild  St 
Blaan's,  in  the  Norman  style,  to  gratify  his  own  tastes  or 
those  of  Nicholas  and  his  masons,  he  at  least  did  so  by 
consigning  this  lovely  abbey  church  and  lands  to  the  monks 
of  Paisley.  As  Alan  died  that  very  year,  it  may  have  been 
his  last,  his  dying,  gift. 

The  services  in  the  Roman  Church,  during  the  heyday 
of  her  glory  in  Scotland,  from  the  twelfth  to  the  sixteenth 
century,  after  the  total  disappearance  of  the  Celtic  Liturgy, 
were  almost  identical  with  those  which  obtain  now,  and 
therefore  demand  no  detailing. 

The  Missal,  or  book  of  public  worship,  contained  the 
service  of  the  Mass,  with  the  collects,  epistles,  gospels,  &c., 
proper  to  Sundays  and  festival  days.1  The  Breviary  con- 
tained the  entire  offices  for  a  year — prayers,  hymns,  lessons 
for  each  hour,  &c.,  of  every  day,  feasts,  &c.  The  '  Horae 
beatse  Virginis  Mariae'  was  a  manual  of  devotion  for  the 
laity,  containing  offices  in  honour  of  the  Virgin,  prayers  for 
saints  and  martyrs,  psalms,  &c.  Every  reader  of  Scottish 
history  remembers  the  touching  incident  regarding  William 
Wallace  on  the  scaffold  and  his  Psalter,  and  what  the  Marquess 
of  Bute  writes  in  reference  to  the  worship  of  the  Wallaces. 
Paisley  Abbey  "was  their  parish  church,  and  if  they  had 
no  chapel  nearer  home,  thither  they  repaired  at  least  once 
every  Sunday,  and  there  Malcolm  Wallace  and  Margaret, 
his  wife,  took  their  little  boys  on  the  great  festivals  to  listen 
for  hours  to  the  solemn  rise  and  fall  of  the  Gregorian  chant. 

1  'Aberdeen  Breviary,'  Preface  by  D.  Laing. 


The  Roman  Chiirck.  2 1 9 

At  least  three-fourths  of  the  public  worship  of  this  period 
consisted  of  singing  Psalms,  and  it  was  as  the  sublime  com- 
positions of  the  ancient  Hebrew  poets  alternately  thundered 
and  wailed  through  the  Abbey  Church  of  Paisley  that  Wil- 
liam Wallace  contracted  that  livelong  love  for  the  Psalms, 
which  lasted  until  he  died,  with  a  priest  holding  the  Psalter 
open,  at  his  request,  before  his  darkening  eyes."  1 

The  most  practical  way  of  understanding  to  what  extent 
the  Romish  Church  had  interest  and  influence  throughout 
Scotland  before  the  Reformation  is  to  take  the  total  number 
of  the  churches,  chapels,  monasteries,  and  nunneries  which 
were  in  a  flourishing  condition  then,  and  try  to  realise  what 
might  have  been  the  power  of  a  Church  manned  by  able- 
bodied  and  sound-minded  servants,  all  together  actuated 
by  similar  high  religious  motives,  and  controlled  by  one 
imperial  authority.  The  country  was  divided  into  13  dio- 
ceses, over  which  the  Archbishops  of  St  Andrews  and 
Glasgow  presided,  St  Andrews  being  the  primacy  —  St 
Andrews,  Glasgow,  Dunkeld,  Aberdeen,  Moray,  Brechin, 
Dunblane,  Ross,  Caithness,  Galloway,  Lismore  or  Argyle, 
Sodor  and  Man,  afterwards  The  Isles,  and  Orkney.  In 
these  dioceses  no  fewer  than  1042  churches,  with  546  chapels, 
existed.  Indeed  we  learn  that,  just  on  the  eve  of  the 
Reformation,  there  were  13  bishops,  50  provosts  of  collegiate 
churches,  500  parsons,  and  2000  vicars  in  Scotland.  Not 
only  then  had  every  one  of  over  900  parishes  of  Scotland 
a  fully  equipped  parish  church,  but  in  many  of  them  there 
were  planted  here  and  there  at  convenient  places,  clachans  or 
thickly  populated  districts,  little  baptismal  chapels,  at  which 

1  'The  Early  Days  of  Sir  William  Wallace,'  p.  43. 


22O  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

religious  services  were  conducted  by  the  parish  priest  or  his 
assisting  chaplains,  as  in  the  case  of  Rothesay,  with  St 
Michael's  and  St  Bride's  chapels. 

There  were  also  collegiate  churches,  which  were  ruled 
by  deans,  called  provosts,  who  had  under  them  several 
priests  and  teachers,  who  ministered  at  the  different  altars 
in  these  churches,  and  who  taught  the  schools  which  were 
commonly  found  attached  to  the  collegiate  churches.  For 
example,  St  Giles'  in  Edinburgh  was  a  collegiate  church, 
was  ruled  by  a  provost,  and  had  a  curate,  16  prebendaries, 
sacristan,  beadle,  minister  of  choir,  4  choristers — in  all  about 
100  clerics  and  36  altars. 

Besides  all  these,  there  were  the  great  monastic  institu- 
tions, which  had  been  for  generations  the  envy  of  the  laity 
on  account  of  their  rich  possessions,  which  had  increased 
enormously  since  the  time  the  pious  people  endowed  the 
Celtic  Church  with  the  broad  lands  they  had  everywhere 
reclaimed  and  made  fertile. 

Of  these  there  were  84  monasteries  (or  houses,  priories, 
and  abbeys),  in  which  resided  the  various  Orders  of  the 
monks,  who  were  presided  over  by  an  abbot,  or  a  prior, 
or  a  sub-prior.  And  every  religious  house,  monastery  or 
nunnery,  had  many  inmates  as  well  as  officials.  Each  had 
a  praecentor,  cellarer,  treasurer,  sacristan,  almoner,  cook, 
infirmarer,  porter,  refectioner,  chamberlain,  hospitaller,  and 
others  appointed  for  various  duties. 

Twenty-three  convents  were  similarly  officered. 

Still  further,  there  were  the  Friars  or  Mendicant  priests  of 
different  Orders — white,  black,  and  grey  friars — Observantists, 
of  St  Anthony,  Knights  of  St  John,  Knights  Templars, 
and  Lazarites,  who  had  together  74  houses. 


The  Roman  Church.  221 

And  last,  but  not  least,  there  were  scattered  throughout 
the  land  no  fewer  than  85  hospitals,  which  also  had  en- 
dowments in  lands,  in  which  the  infirm  were  cared  for, 
lepers  isolated,  and  travellers  found  shelter.  These  hospitals 
were  not  merely  dispensaries  of  medical  aid  and  nourishment 
for  the  body,  they  were  in  some  cases  as  much  churches  as 
the  ordinary  parish  churches,  having  a  master,  with  whom 
were  associated  several  chaplains,  in  order  to  maintain  the 
rites  of  religion  among  the  poor  and  the  needy. 

This  was  the  visible  fabric  of  the  powerful  institution. 
And  in  trying  to  realise  this  vast  establishment  in  a  country 
whose  inhabitants  were  not  nearly  so  numerous  as  we  are 
at  the  present  time,  we  must  not  forget  the  very  quality 
as  well  as  the  quantity  of  the  visible  symbols  of  that 
universal  power.  And  when  we  inspect  the  beautiful 
remains  of  those  sacred  edifices  —  once  the  glory  of  this 
land — which  for  gigantic  bulk,  magnificent  proportion,  and 
rich  detail  are  the  wonder  of  men,  we  cannot  but  feel  that 
the  organisation  which  so  impressed  its  thoughts  and  aims 
upon  the  landscape  and  upon  the  minds  of  our  forefathers 
must  have  been  one  as  rich  in  its  intellectual  and  spiritual 
resources  as  it  was  in  its  material  wealth. 

Edifices  so  grand  and  thought-inspiring  do  not  seem  to 
have  arisen  in  circumstances  wherein  those  who  were 
compelled  to  rear  them  had  become  degraded  and  bereft 
of  interest  in  their  own  worldly  welfare,  because  they  had 
to  sacrifice  so  much  of  their  freewill  for  the  good  of  the 
Church  commanding  them  to  work  out  its  behests  in  stone. 
At  least  I  cannot  suppose  that  a  Church  so  rich  in  cultured 
centres,  so  lavish  in  creating  the  beautiful,  and  so  careful 
for  its  poor  and  needy,  could,  at  least  when  it  was  moved 


222  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

to  execute  such  memorable  works,  have  made  it  an  aim 
to  prevent  its  votaries  enjoying  the  same  sentiments  and 
desires  it  had  pleasure  in  thus  expressing. 

The    very    extensiveness    of    the    Church,    its    numerous 
churches,  and  its  public  endeavours  to  meet  the  wants  of 
a  pious  people,  always  seem  to  indicate  the  very  opposite 
opinion  to  that  held  by  many,  that  all  these  great  works 
were  subtly  planned  to  degrade  the  masses  and  glorify  a  few 
in  the  Church  under  the  cover  of  glorifying  God.     For  it 
must  ever  be  remembered  that  however  powerful  the  Church 
in   Scotland  was,  there  always  existed  a  strong  lay  power, 
which  was  not  constantly  acting  side  by  side  with  the  priest- 
hood— and  it  was  often  the  case  that  the  priesthood  had  to 
throw  in  its  lot  with  one  or  other  of  the  contending  parties  in 
the  State — at  the  very  time  the  State  was  nominally  and 
really  a  Catholic  power.     For  example,  Edward  I.  of  Eng- 
land, William  Wallace,  and  Robert  Bruce  were  all  Romanists, 
yet  we  know  that  the  Scottish  clergy  were  patriotic  enough 
to  show  their  influence  for  our  own  countrymen,  and  to  main- 
tain the  rights  of  the  Scottish  Church  against  the  assumptions 
of  the  Church  south  of  the  Cheviots,  when  they  came  into 
conflict  regarding  the  claims  of  England.     And  the  influence 
of  the  Church  was  an  element  in  every  struggle  for  political 
power  which  had  to  be  estimated  by  kings  and  statesmen. 
The  wealth  of  the  Church  largely  lay  in  land,  and  conse- 
quently its  influence  was  territorial,  and  was  maintained  by 
the  tenantry  and  servants  who  owned  the  bishops  and  parish 
clergy  as  their  landlords.     Every  parish  had  church-lands  of 
greater  or  smaller  extent,  according  to  the  antiquity  and  good 
fortune  of  the  church  planted  in  any  particular  district,  and 
the  dwellers  upon  these  not  only  were  called  on  to  act  in 


The  Roman  Church.  223 

defence  of  their  superiors,  but  were  liable  to  be  mustered  for 
national  enterprises.  It  is  readily  seen  how  the  temporal 
power  of  the  clergy  increased.  Not  only  so  ;  their  culture  and 
learning  in  the  dark  ages,  and  their  knowledge  of  the  arts 
and  sciences,  rightly  gave  the  priesthood  a  superiority  over 
those  whose  delight  was  in  war  or  the  chase.  If  they  did  not 
suggest  and  compose  the  laws  of  the  land,  their  learning  at 
least  made  them  the  only  writers  of  them,  and  in  their  hands 
were  intrusted  the  preparation  and  preservation  of  valuable 
documents,  such  as  titles,  contracts,  &c.,  on  which  the  stability 
of  the  nation  depended.  This  led  the  priesthood  up  to  the 
position  of  being  the  advisers  of  both  rulers  and  ruled.  And 
in  consequence  of  this  we  find  that  the  superior  clergy — the 
bishops  and  thirty-two  mitred  abbots — sat  in  the  Scots  Par- 
liament, having  there  an  authority  equal  to  that  of  the  most 
powerful  nobles  or  barons. 

But  apart  from  this  connection  altogether  a  spirit  of  world- 
liness  had  crept  over  the  whole  Church,  and  it  assumed  its 
very  worst  form  in  the  fifteenth  century,  when  the  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  was  completely  nullified  by  the  action 
of  the  Papacy,  which  gave  liberty  to  sell  privileges  for  persons 
in  purgatory.  That,  among  other  abuses,  such  as  the  fleecing 
of  the  poor  by  death-duties,  created  throughout  all  Europe 
a  feeling  that  there  was  room  for  reform.  (Kingarth  affords 
one  instance  of  that  serious  abuse  which  brought  ridicule  upon 
the  clergy,  and  was  severely  satirised  by  Sir  David  Lindsay 
— namely,  the  appropriation  by  the  parish  priest  of  some 
valuable  article  or  money  which  belonged  to  a  departed 
parishioner  in  payment  of  religious  services  at  death  and 
burial — when  the  vicar,  Harbart  Maxwell,  in  1489,  sued  Robert 
Stewart  for  seizing,  probably  for  rent,  a  cow  and  a  cloak, 


224  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

which  the  vicar  had  got  as  death-dues.)  This  movement  took 
evangelical  shape  in  England  and  Bohemia.  There  had  been 
other  attempts  at  minor  reformation,  but  these  had  largely 
been  confined  to  scholars,  whose  little  schools  soon  broke  up. 
This  was  a  popular  movement.  It  approached  the  masses  of 
the  people,  and  struck  directly  at  the  teaching  of  the  Church,  by 
declaring  salvation  to  be  entirely  based  on  the  doctrine  of  justi- 
fication by  faith  in  Christ  and  on  submission  to  the  Scriptures. 

John  Wyclif  (1324-1384)  and  John  Hus  (1369-1415)  were 
the  great  leaders  of  the  movement.  The  adherents  of 
Wyclif,  called  the  Lollards,  were  particularly  active.  They 
went  everywhere,  preaching  advanced  evangelical  doctrines  ; 
they  opposed  priestly  celibacy  and  monastic  ideas ;  de- 
nounced the  doctrine  of  purgatory ;  ordained  their  own 
priests,  and  allowed  laymen  to  preach ;  objected  to  oaths, 
wars,  and  punishment  by  death  ;  opposed  transubstantiation  ; 
held  art  to  be  anti-Christian,  and  used  the  Lord's  Prayer 
alone  of  the  Liturgy. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  Lollard  and  Hussite  views  spread 
into  Scotland.  But  the  Church  was  on  the  alert,  and  caused 
the  Lollard  preachers,  Resby  and  Craw,  to  be  executed. 
Still,  their  peculiar  views  continued  to  exist  secretly,  and 
indeed  to  spread  quickly,  as  soon  as  the  art  of  printing  be- 
came common  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Translations  of  the 
Bible  began  to  circulate  among  the  more  intelligent ;  and  by 
the  time  the  German  Reformation,  under  the  leadership  of 
Luther,  early  in  the  sixteenth  century,  commenced  to  be  felt, 
Scotland  was  by  no  means  unprepared  to  accept  some  kind 
of  reform. 

"  During  the  reign  of  the  hapless  Stuart  dynasty  the  country  was 
sorely  tried.  The  author  of  'The  Complaynt,'  in  1549,  attributes 


The  Roman  Church.  225 

the  afflictions  which  his  countrymen  experienced,  at  that  time,  to 
three  main  causes — the  inroads  of  the  English,  pestilence,  and 
domestic  dissension.  Freebooters  kept  both  sides  of  the  Borders 
in  a  state  of  turmoil ;  Highland  clans  menaced  or  fought  each  other  ; 
the  Scottish  barons  kept  their  retainers  armed  to  ward  off  quarrel- 
some neighbours,  or  to  unite  at  the  royal  will  against  'the  auld 
enemy.'  Circumstances  like  these,  together  with  a  series  of  national 
misfortunes,  rendered  civil  government  a  difficult  task.  Several 
causes,  both  external  and  internal,  were  also  operating  so  as  to 
destroy  the  influence  and  utility  of  the  Church.  Its  territorial 
power  was  on  the  wane.  Feudal  lords  obtained  benefices  in  the 
Church,  which  they  held  in  commendam,  and,  by  having  the  spirit- 
ual duties  attaching  to  the  offices  performed  vicariously  for  them, 
brought  prejudicial  influences  to  bear  upon  the  Church. 

"  Winzet  traces  this  deformation  to  two  evils — the  low  tone  of  the 
clergy,  which  ecclesiastical  legislation  vainly  endeavoured  to  correct, 
and  the  failure  of  the  Church  to  ordain  suitable  pastors.  Synodal 
statutes  remain  to  corroborate  the  detractory  statements  of  worthy 
defenders  of  the  old  faith,  like  Kennedy  and  Winzet,  who  lamented 
the  appointment  of  incapable  clergy.  Winzet  writes  :  '  Give  ony 
of  gow  wyl  object  that  the  preistis,  bischopis,  and  the  clergie  in  our 
dais  hes  bene  blekkit  with  the  saidis  deformiteis,  and  [are]  sa 
ignorant,  or  vitious,  or  baith,  and  alsva  sclanderous,  that  they  are 
unworthy  the  name  of  pastores,  allace !  we  ar  rycht  sorie  that  this 
is  trew  for  the  maist  part,  and  mair.'  Kennedy  had,  in  1558,  stated 
the  case  against  '  the  gret  men  of  the  realme '  more  emphatically : 
'And  quhen  thai  have  gottin  the  benefice,  gyf  thay  haue  ane 
brother,  or  ane  sone,  ge  suppose  he  can  nolder  sing  nor  say, 
norischeit  in  vice  al  his  dayis  fra  hand  he  sal  be  montit  on 
ane  mule,  with  ane  syde  gown  and  ane  round  bonnett,  and  than 
it  is  questioun  whether  he  or  his  mule  knawis  best  to  do  his 
office.' 

"  The  ruthless  ravages  of  the  armies  of  Henry  VIII.,  which  re- 
duced Scotland  '  almost  to  a  desert,'  destroying  on  the  march  towns, 
monasteries,  and  churches,  contributed  much  to  the  development 
of  the  Reformation. 

"The  reformed  doctrines,  professed  by  a  few  adherents  in  the 
VOL.  II.  P 


226  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

fifteenth  century,  were  in  Winzet's  time  alarmingly  popular.  Scot- 
land seemed  so  predisposed  to  heresy  and  reform,  that  even  the 
national  miseries  and  'the  auld  enemy'  were  made  to  contribute 
to  this  liking. 

"  While  civil  and  ecclesiastical  power  was  thus  shattered,  the  potent 
ideas  of  Wyclif  developed  into  the  stern  principles  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. At  last  the  Church  came  to  feel  their  influence  through  the 
medium  of  the  civil  power.  Indeed,  from  the  first  quarter  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  when  King  James  I.  commissioned  ecclesiastical 
representatives  to  attend  the  reforming  Council  of  Basle,  and  sent 
the  vigorous  letter  of  exhortation  to  the  abbots  and  priors  of  the 
Benedictine  and  Augustinian  monasteries,  charging  them  to  reform 
and  thus  to  save  their  houses,  down  to  the  Reformation,  the  Scottish 
Parliament  had  frequently,  by  statute,  incited  the  clergy  to  a  more 
vigilant  exercise  of  their  duties.  And  Parliament  not  only  gave  '  the 
remeid  of  the  law '  for  the  outrooting  of  heresy,  the  superseding  of 
incapable  pastors,  the  better  regulation  of  spiritual  affairs,  and  the 
maintenance  of  the  estate  and  authority  of  the  Church,  but  Par- 
liament encroached  so  far  upon  ecclesiastical  prerogative  as  to 
create  strained  relations  between  the  civil  and  the  spiritual  powers. 
One  of  the  worst  blows  dealt  by  the  civil  magistrate  against  the 
authority  of  the  Church  was  the  legal  sanction  granted  to  the 
people  to  use  the  Scriptures  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  in  1543,  two 
years  after  the  publication  of  an  Act  for  reforming  c  Kirkis  and 
Kirkmen.' 

"Now  the  clergy  discerned  disaster  speedily  approaching,  and  made 
strenuous  efforts  in  Conventions  and  Provincial  Councils  to  avert 
the  ruin  impending.  The  Council  of  Trent,  then  sitting,  fostered  a 
defensive  spirit,  which  the  Church  wisely  attempted  to  illustrate  in 
self-reformation.  The  General  Convention  and  Provincial  Council 
which  assembled  in  Edinburgh  in  1549  honestly  confessed  that  the 
greatest  danger  to  the  Church  arose  from  internal  evils  —  im- 
morality, ignorance,  and  venality.  This  serious  judgment  took  the 
practical  shape  of  the  vigorous  canons  which  the  Council  directed 
against  prevalent  abuses,  and  shortly  afterwards,  in  1552,  of  a 
manual  of  popular  instruction,  known  as  Archbishop  Hamilton's 
Catechism. 


The  Roman  Church.  227 

"  These  well-intended  efforts  came  too  late.  A  few  writers,  roused 
from  lethargy,  tried  to  waken  a  genius  to  save  the  Church.  Their 
efforts  were  futile." l 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  attempt  of  Henry  VIII.  to 
impose  his  form  of  Protestantism  upon  Scotland  also  ac- 
celerated the  Reformation.  His  interference  weakened  the 
hands  of  those  who  would  have  endeavoured  to  stamp  out 
the  heresy  with  a  high  hand,  and  his  invasions  crippled  the 
power  of  the  Church. 

The  military  report  to  Henry  VIII.  bore,  that  besides  7 
monasteries  and  friars'  houses,  192  towns,  towers,  parish 
churches,  with  243  villages,  had  been  fired  and  destroyed, 
so  that  to  the  English  soldiery,  more  than  to  the  Scottish 
Reformers,  must  we  attribute  the  terrible  desolation  of  the 
sacred  edifices  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

There  was  another  element  in  the  Reform  struggle — viz., 
the  greed  of  the  needy  barons,  who  were  lying  in  wait  to 
despoil  the  Church  of  its  rich  heritage,  and  who  were  not 
particularly  troubled  with  any  love  of  the  Church  or  of  re- 
ligion. This  was  proved  as  soon  as  the  Reformation  was 
effected,  by  the  niggardly  manner  in  which  these  rich  appro- 
priators  doled  out  the  pittances  they  gave  to  the  clergy,  the 
schools,  and  the  poor. 

To  this  spoliation  the  dissolute  clergy  themselves  lent  aid, 
by  accepting  spiritual  offices  on  condition  that  their  patrons 
should  enjoy  the  emoluments  along  with  them.  And  yet, 
if  we  are  to  believe  such  a  special  reporter  on  Reformed 
Scotland  as  Nicolaus  of  Gouda,  the  Roman  clergy,  for  the 


1  Winzet's  'Tractates,'  Pref.,  pp.  xxi-xxv  (S.T.S.,  edited  by  J.  K.  Hewison  : 
Edin.,  1888). 


228  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

most  part,  had  been  faithful  to  their  vows  of  ordination,  and 
preferred  exile  to  enrolment  in  the  uninfluential  ranks  of  the 
new  clergy. 

From  the  scarcity  of  the  material  at  my  disposal  I  can  do 
nothing  more  than  indicate  the  names  of  the  chief  represen- 
tatives of  the  Church  in  Bute,  and  leave  the  reader  to  follow 
the  guidance  of  the  general  historian  through  the  centuries 
in  which  these  bishops  and  priests  existed,  in  discovering 
the  spirit  of  the  times. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  bishops  of  Sodor,  drawn  up 
by  the  Rev.  Dr  Gordon  : 1— 

1388.  John  III. 

1409.  Michael. 

1427.  Angus  I.,  son  of  Donald,  Lord  of  the  Isles,  died  1437. 

1476.  Angus  II. 

1492.  Robert. 

1498.  John  IV. 

1510.  George  Hepburn,  Provost  of  Linclnden,  Abbot  of  Arbroath, 
killed  at  Flodden. 

1524.  John  V. 

1545.  Roderike  Maccallister,  Dean  of  Morven. 

1547.  Farchard  or  Farquhar,  natural  son  of  Ferquhard  Maclauchlan. 

1547.  Roderick  M'Clane,  Archdeacon  of  the  Isles;  presented  to  the 
temporality  by  Queen  Mary.' 

1553.  Alexander  Gordon,  second  son  of  John  Master  of  Huntly ; 
titular  Archbishop  of  Athens,  Abbot  of  lona,  Inchaffray,  Glen- 
luce  ;  Bishop  of  Galloway  in  1558  ;  died  in  1576. 

1558.  John  Campbell.     "  He  alienated  the  benefice  to  his  relations." 

1566.  John  Carswell,  Vicar  of  Kingarth  and  Kilmartin  ;  Superinten- 
dent, and  latterly  Bishop,  of  the  Isles. 

This  list  does  not  correspond  with  Keith's  catalogue  in  every 
particular.  The  most  notable  of  these  bishops — Hepburn, 


'  lona,'  pp.  99-101.     Glasgow,  1885. 


The  Roman  Church.  229 

Gordon,  and  Carswell — made  a  considerable  figure  in  their 
day  as  ecclesiastics. 

Some  bishops  were  merely  titular,  and  others  only  elected 
to  enjoy  the  temporality  until  a  suitable  bishop  was  conse- 
crated. 

George  Hepburn  was  elected  to  the  abbacy  of  Aber- 
brothok  on  3d  February  1503.  He  was  of  the  family  of 
Bothwell,  and  at  this  time  was  Provost  of  Lincluden,  near 
Dumfries.  In  1510,  he  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  the  Isles, 
and  held  the  Abbeys  of  Aberbrothok  and  lona  in  commen- 
dam.  He  accompanied  James  IV.  to  Flodden,  and  fell  there 
in  1513. 

Alexander  Gordon  was  a  gay  Gordon  who,  like  many 
others  upon  whom  the  Reformation  came  as  a  surprise, 
thought  he  might  have  both  pleasure  and  profit  at  a  very 
critical  time,  in  running  with  the  hare  and  hunting  with  the 
hounds.  Though  of  royal  and  aristocratic  blood,  he  had  long 
waited  for  episcopal  promotion,  and  when  at  length  the 
Chapter  of  Glasgow  elected  him  to  their  see,  he  had,  by 
papal  injunction,  to  step  aside  in  favour  of  James  Betoun, 
although  for  compensation  he  was  "appointed  Archbishop  of 
Athens.  In  1553,  he  was  appointed  Bishop  of  the  Isles  and 
Abbot  of  Inchaffray,  holding  at  the  same  time  the  temporalities 
of  lona.  In  1558,  he  was  translated  to  the  see  of  Galloway. 

In  1560,  however,  he  appeared  in  Parliament  as  the  only 
prelate  who  sanctioned  the  disestablishment  of  the  faith,  a 
position  he  confirmed  by  signing  the  Book  of  Discipline,  and 
undertaking  the  oversight  of  the  Church  in  his  diocese, 
although  unsuccessful  in  being  appointed  superintendent  by 
his  Protestant  compeers.  This  slight  seemed  to  have  biassed 
his  policy.  He  became  careless  in  his  duties,  and  did  not 


230  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

appear  in  Assemblies,  so  that  the  brethren  held  him  in 
suspicion.  They  were  right.  By  frequenting  the  Court  he 
had  become  a  Privy  Councillor  and  a  judge,  showed  his 
disdain  of  the  paltry  ministry,  and  not  long  after  came  out 
in  his  true  colours  with  the  lords  who  rose  in  favour  of  their 
imprisoned  queen.  At  their  request  he  took  upon  himself 
to  lecture  the  clergy  on  chanty,  and  to  rate  them  for  not 
praying  for  the  queen.  His  argument  is  choice :  "  Sanct 
David  was  a  sinner,  and  so  is  she ;  Sanct  David  was  an 
adulterer,  and  so  is  she  ;  Sanct  David  committed  murther  in 
slaying  Uriah  for  his  wife,  and  so  did  she.  But  what  is  this 
to  the  mater?  The  more  wicked  she  be,  her  subjects  should 
pray  for  her,  to  bring  her  to  the  spirit  of  repentance;  for 
Judas  was  a  sinner,  and  if  he  had  been  prayed  for,  he  had 
not  died  in  despaire." 

But  the  General  Assembly  soon  brought  him  to  his  knees ; 
and,  although  at  first  he  despised  their  condemnation  and 
judgment  to  repent  publicly,  in  sackcloth,  in  the  three  most 
prominent  churches  in  Edinburgh, — after  they  had  excom- 
municated their  contumacious  brother, — the  haughty  judge 
was  glad  enough  to  supplicate  the  Church  for  peace  and 
make  his  public  confession  in  1576,  while  being  spared  the 
sackcloth.1  The  time-serving  prelate  survived  his  humiliation 
only  a  year,  but  he  took  care  before  departing  that  his  lawful 
son  John,  by  consent  of  the  queen,  should  succeed  to  the 
temporality  of  his  benefice.  He  is  very  typical  of  the  kind 
of  men  who  at  this  time  blessed  Scotland  with  one  breath 
and  cursed  her  with  another.  Of  him  Spotswood  said  only, 
"  he  embraced  the  truth  "  ! 

1  Calderwood's  '  History  of  the  Kirk,'  var.  loc. 


The  Roman  Church.  231 

John  Carsewell  was  much  after  the  same  model.  He  was 
a  cunning  Gael.  In  1540,  he  was  incorporated  in  St  Salvator's 
College,  St  Andrews,  of  which  he  took  the  degree  of  B.A.  in 
1541,  and  of  M.A.  in  1544.  He  became  chancellor  of  the 
Chapel  Royal,  Stirling,  rector  of  Kilmartin,  and  chaplain  to 
the  Earl  of  Argyle.  He  is  credited  with  building  the 
Castle  of  Carnasrie  in  Kilmartin,  where  he  lived, — others 
declaring  his  father  was  constable  of  it  for  Argyle.  He  died 
before  2Oth  September  1572,  and  is  buried  in  Ardchattan 
Priory.  See  Chapter  VIII. 

The  priests  who  officiated  in  the  parish  churches  and  their 
dependent  chapels  throughout  the  isle,  in  these  early  cen- 
turies, with  a  few  rare  exceptions  of  witnesses  to  charters, 
are  nameless. 

Gilbert  Templeton,  Rector  de  Rothyrsai,  who  attests  a 
charter  to  Paisley  between  1283  and  1303,  and  who  afterwards 
appears  on  the  Ragman  Roll,  having  sworn  fealty  to  Edward 
I.,  is  the  cleric  who  first  is  recorded  in  connection  with  the 
Roman  Church  in  Bute. 

Without  doubt  Bishops  Allan  and  Gilbert  performed  their 
priestly  and  episcopal  offices  in  the  Church  of  the  Blessed 
Mary  in  Rothesay,  where  their  bones  repose,  though  of  their 
local  work  we  have  no  reminiscence.  From  the  *  Exchequer 
Rolls'  we  learn  that  in  1375  Alan  of  Largs,  rector  of  Bute, 
acted  as  clerk  of  the  audit  of  the  Crown  accounts  down  to 
1388.  Among  those  who  flit  across  the  scene,  leaving  scarce 
a  memorial  save  their  names,  are  Thomas  of  Bute,  a  student 
at  Oxford  in  1379;  Malcolm  of  Bute,  chaplain  to  the  king, 
who  gets  an  allowance  out  of  the  customs  in  1402  ;  Lord 
Donald  of  Bute,  dean  of  Dunblane  in  1406  ;  and  Friar  John  of 
Bute,  a  Cistercian  monk,  who  received  a  pension  of  £6  from 


232  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

St  Leonard's  Hospital  out  of  the  old  royal  charity.1  Friar 
John  was  not  merely  a  preacher,  but  possessed  either  engin- 
eering skill  or  the  sculptor's  art,  since  in  1438  he  was  engaged 
to  fabricate  some  apparatus  for  the  tomb  of  King  James  I. 
in  the  Carthusian  monastery  in  Perth.  About  the  beginning 
of  the  fifteenth  century  James  Stewart  gave  the  right  of 
presentation  ^to  the  Church  to  the  Tyronensian  Abbey  of 
Kilwinning,  and  this  connection  with  Ayrshire  was  maintained 
until  1639,  when  the  General  Assembly  disjoined  Rothesay 
Parish  from  the  Presbytery  of  Irvine. 

The  Cathedral  church  was  not  the  only  place  of  worship  in 
the  parish,  there  being  a  chapel  dedicated  to  St  Bride,  on  St 
Bride's  hill,  now  called  Chapelhill ;  St  Columba's  Chapel, 
probably  on  Columshill ;  St  Michael's  Chapel  in  the  Palace  ; 
St  Mary's  Chapel  near  Kames  Castle  ;  Kilmachalmaig,  and 
probably  Kilmichael  in  North  Bute,  where  regular  services 
were  held  either  by  the  vicar  or  other  celebrants. 

In  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  1447-1463,  Lord 
Nigel  was  the  vicar  of  Bute,  who  was  paid  for  conducting 
worship  in  St  Bride's  and  for  business  done  for  the  king  at 
Stirling  and  Edinburgh.  The  name  of  the  chaplain  in  the 
castle  at  the  same  time  is  not  given  in  the  accounts  : — 

"  1440  till  1463.  For  payment  made  to  two  chaplains  celebrat- 
ing in  the  Castle  of  Bute,  and  in  the  chapel  of  the  blessed  Brigid, 
ad  extra,  infeft  of  old,  receiving  annually  from  the  fermes  of  the 
said  Isle  of  Bute,  ^"12,  55.  4d.  .  .  . 

"  And  to  Lord  Nigel,  chaplain,  celebrating  in  the  chapel  of  the 
blessed  Brigid  beside  the  Castle  of  Bute,  working  in  various  ways  in 
business  of  the  King,  from  Bute  to  Stirling  and  Edinburgh,  .  .  . 
i  boll  of  barley."  2 

1  'Excheq.  Rolls,'  vol.  v.  p.  34.  2  Ibid.,  pp.  88,  162,  208,  250. 


The  Roman  Chiirch.  233 

The  chapel  had  been  repaired  in  1440  : — 

"  And  for  the  repair  of  the  above-mentioned  chapel  of  the  blessed 
Brigid,  40  shillings."  : 

A  little  cemetery  girded  this  ancient  fane,  which  was 
totally  removed  by  the  utilitarian  Town  Council  in  i86o.2 
The  accompanying  illustration  represents  the  ruin  about 
sixty  years  ago.8 


St  Bride's  Hill  and  Chapel,  Rothesay,  in  1830. 

In  1501,  Sir  Andrew  Banachtin  was  vicar  of  St  Mary's,  and 
the  same  year  the  parish  church  was  made  one  of  the  pre- 
bends of  the  Chapel  Royal  at  Stirling.  In  May  1501,  Fer- 


1  '  Excheq.  Rolls,'  vol.  v.  p.  86. 

2  The  Town  Council  purchased  St  Bride's  Hill  and  its  sacred  remains  from 
William  York  in  1860  for  ^310.    On  razing  the  church  human  bones  were  cast  up. 

3  The  illustration  is  photographed  from  an  engraving  in  "  Sar-Obair  nam  Bard 
Gaeloch,"  1841.     The  original  painting  is  in  the  hands  of  Mr  Kirsop,  Glasgow. 


234  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

gus  Jameson,  Crowner  of  Bute,  gave  two  shillings  to  the 
Friars  preachers  of  Glasgow,  and  the  instrument  is  signed  by 
"  Master  Andrea  Banachtin,  vicar  of  the  Church  of  the  blessed 
Virgin  Mary  in  Rothesay,  John  MacOleif,  and  Malcolm  Mac- 
Quhyn."'  In  November  1502,  Master  Robert  Abernethy  was 
rector  of  St  Mary's,  as  well  as  official  of  the  Isles  of  Bute  and 
Arran,  in  which  capacity  he  sat  and  attested  charters  on  be- 
half of  the  Friars  preachers  in  the  Church.1 

On  loth  December  1490,  Ninian  Cocherane  of  Lee  and 
Ascog  granted  sasine,  by  the  giving  of  stone  and  earth  at 
the  Cross  at  two  in  the  afternoon,  to  Mr  Robert  Abernethy, 
rector  of  St  Mary's,  Rothesay,  of  "  a  croft  with  pertinents 
beside  the  Cross  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  commonly  called 
M'Gibbons  Cross,  ...  in  the  presence  of  Robert  Steward, 
chamberlain  of  Bute,  Mr  John  Schaw,  vicar,  Mr  Andrew 
Banachyn,  John  Spens,  John  Glais,  &c.,  &c."  In  the  rever- 
sion Abernethy  used  the  common  seal  of  the  burgh.2 

Abernethy,  on  his  decease,  was  succeeded  as  rector  in  1512 
by  Master  Thomas  Diksoun,  then  Dean  of  Restalrig.  He 
was  a  student  of  St  Andrews,  graduated  in  1492,  and  was 
a  Canon  of  Aberdeen.  He  became  provost  of  the  collegiate 
church  of  Guthrie,  in  Forfarshire  ;  in  1508-9,  prebendary  of 
TurrifT;  in  1510,  dean  of  Restalrig;  in  1511,  rector  of 
Dunbar;  and  on  i8th  October  1511  the  king  directed  the 
Bishop  of  the  Isles  to  collate  him  to  be  rector  of  Rothesay.3 

On  loth  October  1515,  James  V.  confirmed  the  grant 
of  his  father,  who  attached  eight  prebends  to  the  College 


1  '  Lib.  Coll.  Nost.  Dom.,'  pp.  205,  206,  207. 
3  '  Mem.  of  Montgomeries,'  vol.  ii.  p.  50. 
3  '  Rec.  Sec.  Sig.,'  vol.  iv.  fol.  184. 


The  Roman  Church.  235 

of  Restalrig,  six  of  which  were  called  "  Bute  Prebends," 
because  they  consisted  of  the  fruits  of  the  rectory  of 
Rothesay,  and  were  set  apart  to  sustain  those  learned  in 
"cantu  and  discantu  " — song  and  descant.1  The  prebendaries 
farmed  out  these  parsonage  teinds,  perhaps  not  without 
abuses,  till  1586,  when  James  VI.  granted  authority  to 
David  Gumming,  Master  of  the  Sang  Schule  in  Edinburgh, 
to  inquire  if  these  prebends  and  livings  were  enjoyed  by 
persons  qualified  in  music  according  to  the  old  foundation. 
In  1587  the  king  appointed  Gumming  to  be  preceptor 
and  master  of  the  kirk  of  Restalrig,  and  to  enjoy  the  pre- 
bend called  "Bute  Tertius."  The  other  teinds  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  Bishop  of  the  Isles,  so  that  practically  the  vicar 
lived  on  voluntary  offerings  from  his  flock  at  this  time. 

In  1527,  Sir2  Johne  Ftnlaysone  resigned  the  chaplaincy 
of  St  Bride's,  and  Sir  William  Bannachtyne  was  appointed 
in  his  room  by  James  V.  A  Master  Patrick  Lorane,  in 
1538,  attested*  a  sale  of  land  in  Kingarth,  being  styled 
"chaplain  of  the  royal  chapel  of  St  Bride."3 

Sir  Walter  Turnbull  appears  to  have  been  the  next  vicar 
and  chaplain,  since  Queen  Mary  in  1543  gave  Master 
Andrew  Hamiltoun  two  presentations,  the  one  appoint- 
ing him  successor  to  the  deceased  Sir  Walter  Turnbull, 
and  the  other,  successor  to  the  deceased  Sir  Alexander 
(Andrew  ?)  Bannauchtyne.4  On  Hamiltoun's  resignation 


1  '  Carta  Coll.  de  Restalrig,'  pp.  280-290,  No.  4. 

2  The  title  "Sir"  was  the  title  of  respect  commonly  used  in  referring  to  "  Sir 
King,"  "Sir  Knight,"  and  "Sir  Priest."     It  was  given  to  inferior  priests  who 
had    not    graduated  in  some  university.      See  note,    vol.   ii.   p.   109,  'Certain 
Tractates,'  by  Winzet,  J.  K.  Hewison's  ed. 

*  '  Reg.  Sec.  Sig.'  *  '  Reg.  Mag.  Sig.' 


236  Bitte  in  the  Olden  Time. 

in  1550,  Queen  Mary  presented  Sir  James  M'Morane  to  the 
office. 

In  1516,  the  chapel  of  St  Columba  was  ministered  to  by 
Sir  Patrick  Makbard,  presented  by  James  V.,  who  gave  him 
the  privilege  of  performing  the  services  either  personally 
or  by  substitute. 

In  1514,  David  Masone  received  £6  for  performing  the 
duties  of  chaplain  "  in  the  Church  of  Saint  Michael  the  Arch- 
angel, in  the  Castle  of  Rothesay." J 

In  1527,  James  V.  presented  Master  Finlay  Scott  or 
Levenax,  who  was  also  vicar  of  Kingarth,  to  the  chaplaincy 
of  the  chapel  of  Saint  Michael  in  the  Castle  of  Rothesay.2 

On  7th  February  1489,  Master  Harbart  Maxwell  was  parson 
of  Kingarth,  and  raised  an  action  against  Robert  Stewart, 
Provost  of  Glasgow,  and  his  son  Alan,  whom  he  accused  of 
stealing  "a  corspressand  cow  worth  twa  merkis,  and  a  mantill 
worth  20  schillingis  of  the  froitis  of  the  said  kirk  of  Kyngarth  " 
— presents  he  had  obtained  for  attending  some  dead  parish- 
ioner. How  the  suit  ended  is  not  known. 

In  1497,  Master  Adam  Colquhone  was  rector  of  Kingarth. 

In  1509,  James  IV.  conjoined  Kingarth  to  Southwick  to 
provide  a  prebend  in  the  Chapel  Royal,  reserving,  however, 
as  much  of  the  teind  as  would  provide  for  the  vicar. 

From  1517  to  1541  (?),  Master  Finlay  Lenax  or  Levinax, 
who  was  also  chaplain  in  Rothesay  Castle  in  1529,  was  vicar, 
and  Jie  seems  to  have  been  assisted  by  Sir  Patrick  M'Con- 
noquhy,  styled  "lady  prest  of  the  kirk  of  Kyngarth,"  who 
"slew  himself  wilfully"  about  1529,50  that  his  goods  were 
escheat  to  the  Crown. 

1  '  Rot.  Scacc.,'  vol.  xiv.  p.  62.  ~  '  Reg.  Sec.  Sig.' 


The  Roman  Church.  237 

Michael  Dysert  was  parson  in  1550,  and  leased  the  parson- 
age to  Ninian  Stewart  of  Largibrachton. 

In  1558,  Master  John  Carswell  became  rector  of  South  wick 
and  Kingarth,  and  ultimately  Bishop  of  the  Isles.  This 
interesting  personage  will  again  require  our  notice  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Protestant  Church,  into  whose  service  he  passed 
at  the  Reformation,  being  probably  the  last  Catholic  vicar  in 
the  parish,  and  not  beyond  the  suspicion  that,  amid  the  tur- 
moil of  the  times,  he  was  also  a  veritable  "  Vicar  of  Bray." 

In  1554  and  1556,  Sir  James  M'Wartye  was  the  vicar. 

M'Verrit,  as  he  was  also  called,  seems  to  have  been  a 
staunch  Catholic,  and  to  have  clung  to  the  old  religion,  since 
he  is  reported  by  his  superintendent  Carswell  to  the  General 
Assembly,  in  1562,  as  defiant  of  his  authority. 

The  present  ruined  Chapel  of  St  Mary  is  an  appendant 
vestige  of  the  Cathedral  of  Sodor,  the  nave  of  which  was 
removed  in  1692  to  make  way  for  the  parish  church,  which 
was  also  removed  in  1795  to  allow  the  present  barn-like 
edifice  to  be  built.  The  nave  measured  81  feet  long  and  22 
feet  broad.  The  present  ruined  chapel  was  supposed  to 
have  been  the  choir  or  chancel.  It  is  not  easy  to  infer  from 
this  interesting  fragment,  which  has  often  been  repaired, 
and  in  fact  transformed  from  a  lovely  lady-chapel  to  an 
unsightly  cemetery,  what  it  originally  was.  But  I  imagine 
it  was  neither  choir  nor  chancel,  but  a  separate  chapel  built 
on  the  site  of  an  earlier  Celtic  or  Saxon  edifice,  and  con- 
verted into  the  mortuary  chapel  of  the  Stewards  of  Scotland, 
Lords  of  Bute,  about  the  year  1315. 

It  is  a  small  rectangular  building,  oriented  duly,  in  exterior 
length  33  feet,  in  exterior  breadth  22  feet  6  inches  ;  in  interior 
length  27  feet,  in  interior  breadth  17  feet  6  inches;  the  walls 


238  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

being  2  feet  3  inches  thick  and  10  feet  high.  The  eastern 
gable  is  still  intact,  and  rises  to  the  height  of  25  feet.  It  is 
pierced  by  a  large  three-light  window,  of  the  late  first-pointed 
period  (1212-1272;  later  in  Scotland),  9  feet  6  inches  high 
and  4  feet  6  inches  broad. 

The  western  gable  or  wall  is  pierced  by  a  doorway  or 
arch,  5  feet  4  inches  broad,  and  6  feet  3  inches  high  to  the 
spring  of  the  arch  ;  but  this  portion  bears  traces  of  very 
modern  repair,  probably  in  1817. 

The  northern  wall  is  pierced  by  two  windows  and  a  door- 
way, one  of  the  former  being  square-headed,  3  feet  6  inches 
high  and  1 1  inches  broad  ;  the  other  window  and  the  door- 
way being  pointed — the  former  4  feet  10  inches  high  and  13 
inches  broad  ;  the  door  is  6  feet  high  and  2  feet  7  inches  broad. 

The  southern  wall  has  been  pierced  by  a  square-headed 
doorway,  now  built  up,  5  feet  6  inches  high  and  2  feet  3  inches 
broad,  and  by  a  window,  horizontal  with  the  altar,  also  pointed, 
4  feet  8  inches  high  and  i  foot  6  inches  broad. 

All  the  windows  are  splayed  inside :  the  rybats  are  cham- 
fered ;  there  is  a  check  in  each  window  for  a  shutter,  as  well 
as  the  remains  of  iron  stanchions. 

The  quoins,  rybats,  and  jambs  are  of  white  sandstone. 

A  sandstone  string-course,  forming  the  dripstone,  runs 
round  the  north  wall-head. 

The  floor  has  no  pavement.  The  coffer  and  the  piscina 
are  quite  intact. 

On  the  floor,  among  other  grave-slabs,  is  a  rude  effigy  of  a 
knight,  6  feet  6  inches  long,  of  which  an  illustration  is  given. 
The  conical  helmet,  the  pear-shaped  shield,  &c.,  indicate ,  an 
Anglo-Norman  warrior  of  the  time  of  William  the  Lion.  The 


of 


'.Sect/op 


for  Details 


MONUMENTS    IN    ST    MARY'S    CHAPEL,    ROTHESAY. 


The  Roman  Church. 


239 


following  inscription,  in  Gothic 
letters,  is  visible  on  the  stone  : 
EM  CUMM,  which  I  take  to 
be  a  part  of  Wilgem  Cummin's 
name.  Among  the  many 
Cummings  of  the  twelfth,  thir- 
teenth, and  fourteenth  cen- 
turies, which  one  was  this? 
There  was  William  Cumin, 
Chancellor  to  King  David, 
who  was  made  prisoner  in  the 
Battle  of  the  Standard  in 
II38.1  There  was  William 
Cumin  of  Kilbride,  Sheriff  of 
Ayr  and  Bute  in  1265.  The 
Cummings,  as  we  saw,  had 
lands  in  Bute,  and  were  asso- 
ciated with  the  Kings  of  Man 
and  Lords  of  the  Isles  against 
Bruce.2 

One  of  the  slabs,  unlettered, 
bears  a  gyronny  of  eight,  the 
well  -  known  emblem  of  the 
Campbells,  and  may  mark  the 
grave  of  Lady  Anne  Campbell. 

There  are  two  altar -tombs 


1  «  Ailred,'  Twisden,  Extr.  Var.  Cron., 
p.  326. 

2  '  Manx.  Soc.  Publications,'  vols.  x., 
xv.,  var.  loc. 


Effigy  of  William  Cummin, 


240  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

or  recesses  in  the  side  walls, — one  filled  with  the  effigy  of  a 
knight  in  armour,  and  one  with  a  lady  holding  a  child. 
Before  passing  from  the  structural  features  of  the  building 
to  the  historical  investigation  of  these  memorials,  it  may  be 
observed  that  in  the  case  of  the  lady's  effigy  the  recess  has 
the  appearance  of  being  constructed  with  the  wall ;  in  the 
other  case  the  outer  south  wall  is  visibly  bulged  out  and  off 
the  plumb,  indicating  that  the  monument  was  not  of  the  age 
of  the  building,  but  was  let  into  the  wall — "  slapped  out,"  as 
it  is  technically  called. 

The  former  is  composed  of  the  local  white  sandstone ; 
the  latter  and  its  canopy  is  a  hard  dark  red  sandstone, 
imported. 

No  information  bearing  upon  the  age  of  the  chapel  and  its 
effigies  was  obtained  by  Mr  John  Mackinlay  in  April  1817, 
when  the  chapel  was  repaired.  His  account  of  the  excava- 
tions bears  :  "  In  the  course  of  the  repair  we  dug  down  in 
front  of  the  monument,  in  which  the  coffins  had  been  placed. 
We  found  a  great  number  of  bones,  several  of  which  were 
pretty  fresh.  There  were  three  sculls,  one  of  them  was  broken, 
another  lay  on  its  face,  and  the  third  one,  which  was  lowest, 
lay  on  its  back,  and  probably  belonged  to  the  last  person 
buried  here.  The  Stuarts  of  Bute  buried  on  this  side  of  the 
choir." 1  Mackinlay  inclined  to  think  it  was  a  monument  to 
King  Robert  III. 

In  1857,  Mr  James  C.  Roger  tried  to  prove  that  the  effigy 
of  the  mailed  knight  "  presents  us  with  an  actual  represen- 

1  '  Archeeol.  Scot.,'  vol.  iii.  p.  I,  art.  I,  "Account  of  two  ancient  monuments 
in  the  Church  of  St  Mary,  Rothesay,"  by  John  Mackinlay,  Esq.,  Rothesay.  [In 
a  letter  addressed  to  the  Hon.  Lord  Bannatyne,  Edinburgh,  accompanied  with  2 
drawings,  read  January  24,  1825.]  Edin.,  1831. 


The  Roman  Church. 


241 


tation  of  King  Robert  II.,  executed  during  the  lifetime  of  that 
monarch." 1  Tradition  associates  it  with  Sir  John  Stewart  of 
Bonkil,  who  fell  at  Falkirk  in  1298.  Another  hypothesis 


Sepulchre  under  Sir  Walter  the  Steward's  monument. 

connects  it  with  John  Stewart,  son  of  King  Robert  II.,  Sheriff 
of  Bute,  and  ancestor  of  the  Bute  family. 


1  '  Proc.  Soc.  Antiq.,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  466-481. 


VOL.  II. 


242  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

In  default  of  documentary  evidence  settling  the  dispute  as 
to  the  age  of  the  effigies  and  to  the  persons  thereby  com- 
memorated, there  are  several  important  data  to  be  taken 
account  of,  which  may,  properly  appraised,  help  to  place  the 
subject  on  a  proper  basis  for  a  final  judgment  —  namely, 
the  style  of  architecture  of  the  chapel,  the  stones  whereof  the 
effigies  are  composed,  the  fashions  adorning  both  the  mailed 
and  vested  figures,  and  the  heraldry  displayed  upon  the 
knight's  tomb. 

Muir  writes  of  it :    "  Lady  Kirk,  close  upon  the  town  of 
Rothesay,  is  also  an  interesting  fragment  of  what  seems  to 
have  been  originally  a  structure  of  Norman  date.     The  nave 
is  quite  destroyed,  but  the  chancel  remains  not  much  dilapi- 
dated :  it  is  wholly  late  First-pointed,  and  contains  some  rather 
fine  monumental  recesses  with  recumbent  effigies." x    A  study 
of  the  accompanying  plans  and  plates  will  show  that  it  is  not 
improbable  that  the  building  was  erected  not  earlier  than  the 
year  1 300,  the  low  doorway  and  the  simple  head  of  the  pointed 
window,  formed  of  two  stones,  on  the  south  side,  indicating 
Saxon   influence   or   a   Celtic    basis  for  working  on.     It  is 
remarkable  that  so  small  an  edifice  should  have  three  door- 
ways.    The  recess  wherein  the  effigy  of  the  dame  lies  has 
all  the  appearance  of  having  been  part  of  the  design  and 
built  along  with  the  masonry  of  the  northern  wall.     There 
has  been  no  "  slapping  out,"  as  in  the  case  of  the  knight's 
monument.     The   stone,    too,  is    from    the   same   quarry  as 
that   of  the  rybats  and  jambs  of  the  building  —  the  white 
sandstone  of  Bute.     Nor  is  the  recess  so  pointed  in  design 
as  its  neighbour. 


1  '  The  Church  Architecture  of  Scotland,'  by  J.  Muir,  p.  124. 


TOMB  OF  A  LADY   IN   ST   MARY'S   CHAPEL.    ROTHESAY. 


The  Roman  Chiirch.  243 

The  female  figure  is  chastely  executed  in  low  relief  in  the 
same  white  stone.  A  gown  and  kirtle,  with  sleeves  tightly 
circling  the  wrist,  flows  down  with  simple  folds.  The  mantle, 
fastened  on  the  breast,  sweeps  down  and  appears  with  a 
running  pattern  of  ivy  upon  it.  Beyond  her  left  arm  reclines 
a  babe,  clothed  in  long  robes.  The  hands,  with  fingers 
touching  each  other,  lie  upon  her  breast.  The  feet  lie  upon  a 
rest,  in  shape  not  unlike  an  animal.  The  head  reposes  upon 
a  pillow.  The  head  is  covered  with  a  high  cap  or  chaplet, 
from  which  a  head-dress  droops  down  over  both  ears  to  the 
shoulders. 

The  head-dress  of  these  habited  figures  is  similar  to  that 
which  came  into  fashion  in  England  in  the  time  of  Edward  I., 
and  had  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II.  assumed  the  particular 
shape  seen  on  this  monument  and  repeated  on  the  supporting 
angels  of  the  other.  "  The  hair,  instead  of  being  plaited  as 
previously,  was  turned  up  behind,  and  entirely  enclosed  in  a 
caul  of  network  composed  of  gold,  silver,  or  silk  thread,  over 
which  was  worn  the  peplum  or  veil,  and  sometimes  in  addition 
a  round  hat  or  cap.  Garlands  or  chaplets  of  goldsmith's 
work  were  also  worn  by  the  nobility  over  or  without  the 
caul." 1  Knight  gives  an  illustration  of  this  head-tire  from  an 
old  MS.2 

The  base  of  the  monument  is  divided  into  eight  panels, 
within  each  of  which  is  carved  a  figure,  habited  as  a  female, 
and  engaged  on  some  office.  Two  of  the  figures  display  on 
their  breasts  Celtic  brooches — one  pentagonal,  the  other  of 
the  Gothic  letter  Q — fastening  their  mantles.  Some  of  the 


1  Knight's  'Pict.  Hist,  of  Eng.,'  vol.  i.  p.  867. 

-  Ibid.,  p.  868;  'Royal  MS.,'  14  E.  iii.  and  15  D.  ii. 


244 


Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 


'Effigy  of  Sir  Walter  the  Steward. 


figures  are  said  to  have  been  dis- 
placed at  the  time  of  the  repair. 
Their  symbolical  significance  I 
have  not  made  out.  Round  the 
outer  edge  of  the  ogee  are  placed 
ornaments  which  originally  have 
been  either  foliaceous  crocket- 
work  or  figures  of  animals. 

The  whole  monument  is  much 
disfigured,  and  is  just  in  that 
decadent  state  which,  if  not  ar- 
rested, soon  develops  into  quick 
destruction.  The  effigy  itself  is 
cut  out  of  white  sandstone,  and 
has  been  treated  with  some  pre- 
servative wash,  so  that,  consider- 
ing its  experience  of  five  cen- 
turies, it  is  in  a  good  state  of 
preservation.  The  recess  for  the 
monument  of  the  knight  is  of 
more  durable  material,  red  sand- 
stone. 

The  effigy  represents  a  knight 
clad  in  full  martial  accoutre- 
ments, lying  with  his  feet  to  the 
east.  His  head  rests  upon  his 
empty  jousting-helmet  (heaume\ 
which  terminates  in  a  dog's  or 
lion's  head  with  the  neck  col- 
lared. The  face  appears  through 


The  Roman  Chiirch.  245 

the  head  -  dress  (coif  de  mailles]  —  a  visored  bascinet,  from 
which  the  visor  is  absent.  A  ring-mail  coat  (hauberk)  covers 
the  trunk  as  far  as  the  middle  of  the  thigh.  The  arms, 
encased  in  plate-armour,  are  bent  until  the  gauntleted  hands 
and  outstretched  fingers,  protected  by  knobs  called  gads,  meet 
each  other  over  the  camail  or  the  gorget,  which  rests  beneath 
the  chin.  The  surcoat,  with  its  escalloped  border,  appears 
over  the  hauberk.  According  to  Mr  Roger  :  "  On  the  jupon 
is  a  heater -shaped  shield,  —  charged  with  the  arms  of  the 
knight, — presenting,  in  the  first  and  fourth  quarters,  a  fess 
cheeky,  surmounted  in  middle  chief  by  a  lion's  head  erased, 
and  in  the  second  and  third,  the  Scottish  lion  within  the 
double  tressure,  a  coat,  which,  ornamented  with  sepulchral 
figures  in  the  form  of  angels,  is  repeated  on  the  central 
division  of  the  front  of  the  tomb  underneath"  (Illustra- 
tion, p.  248).  By  no  amount  of  imagination  can  I,  and  others 
I  have  requested,  make  out  this  emblazoned  coat,  nor  yet  the 
lion's  head  erased  on  the  lower  coat.  There  are  some  rough 
portions  of  the  stone,  but  it  is  impossible  to  say  what  they 
defined.  The  legs  are  cased  in  greaves  (chausses  de  mailles} ; 
the  knees  are  protected  by  plates  (genouilleres) ;  the  ankles 
carry  the  rowelled  spurs.  The  feet  in  sollerets  rest  crossed 
on  a  lion  couchant,  whose  tail  is  curled  over  its  back.  The 
belt,  formed  with  square  ornaments,  girds  the  thigh,  and  from 
it,  on  the  right  side,  is  suspended  the  fragment  of  a  falchion, 
on  the  left  of  a  dagger  (estoc). 

The  front  of  the  monument  displays  a  coat  of  arms,  on 
each  side  of  which  run  quatrefoil  ornaments,  which  have  been 
defaced  in  order  to  make  room  for  eight  small  figures  of 
soldiers  to  correspond  with  the  females  of  the  other  monu- 


246 


Biite  in  the  Olden  Time. 


ment.  This  defacement  has  been  an  after-thought  to  make 
the  two  designs  similar.  One  of  these  effigies,  19  inches  high, 
was  given  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  by  Mackinlay,  is  still 
preserved  in  their  Museum,  and  is  here  illustrated. 

The  lower  coat  of  arms  consists  of  a  shield,  supported  by 
two  bending  winged  angels,  while  another 
winged  angel,  with  both  hands  touching  the 
shield,  appears  behind  it. 

The  quartering  of  this  shield  is  1st  and  4th 
a  fess  cheeky  of  three  tracts ;  2d  and  3d,  a 
lion  rampant  within  the  double  tressure. 
Quartering  was  introduced  into  England  in 
the  reign  of  King  Edward  III.,  about  1340. 
I  cannot,  however,  as  Mr  Roger  found,  dis- 
cover a  lion's  head,  either  issuant  or  naissant> 
on  this  shield. 

The  ogee  terminates  in  another  coat  of  arms, 
consisting  of  a  shield  bearing  the  lion  rampant 
within  the  double  tressure,  and  supported  by 
two  lions  sejant — the  sovereign  arms  of  Scot- 
land. To  right  and  left  of  this  two  recesses, 
prepared  for  similar  escutcheons,  are  visible. 

Mackinlay  submitted  a  drawing  of  the 
armour  to  Dr  Meyrick,  who  gave  as  his 
opinion  that  the  hausecol  or  gorget  worn  over  the  armour 
marked  it  as  the  fashion  which  prevailed  in  the  reign  of  King 
Henry  IV.  of  England,  1399- 141 2.1  But  is  the  gorget  a  separ- 
ate plate,  part  of  the  bascinet,  or  part  of  a  simpler  hausecol  ? 
The  armour  resembles  (with  the  exception  of  the  gorget) 


Effigy  of  a  soldier, 
from  St  Mary's 
Chapel. 


'  Arch.  Scot.,'  vol.  iii.  art.  I,  note. 


The  Roman  Church.  247 

the  armour  represented  on  the  brass  of  Sir  Robert  Attetye, 
in  Barsham  Church,  Suffolk,  which  dates  from  1380;  also 
in  other  particulars  that  on  the  effigy  of  the  Black  Prince, 
in  Canterbury  Cathedral,  who  died  in  1376,  and  also  the 
statue  in  Tewkesbury  Abbey  of  Edward,  Lord  Despencer, 
who  died  in  I375-1 

It  is  to  be  specially  noted  that  the  bascinet  is  a  visored  one. 
There  are  very  few  specimens  of  these  extant  in  Europe. 
They  came  into  vogue  in  the  reign  of  Richard  II.,  1377-1399, 
and  of  Robert  II.  of  Scotland,  1371-1390.  After  a  careful 
examination  of  the  effigy,  I  am  of  opinion  that  this  so-called 
plated  gorget  is  nothing  more  than  part  of  the  camail,  or  at 
least  a  simple  hausecol.  In  any  case,  the  armour  is  repre- 
sentative of  that  worn  at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century 
in  this  country. 

There  are  three  notable  Stewards  who  might  be  memor- 
ialised here — viz.,  Walter;  his  son,  King  Robert  II. ;  and  his 
grandson,  Robert  III.  But  all  three  are  said  to  have  been 
buried  elsewhere — Walter  and  Robert  III.  in  Paisley,  and 
Robert  II.  in  Scone.  Our  authority  for  Walter's  burial-place 
in  Paisley — namely,  Barbour — however,  was  not  his  contem- 
porary, which  leaves  room  for  doubting  his  statement.  Tra- 
dition homologates  history  in  placing  Marjory's  tomb  in 
Paisley,  but  ignores  Walter. 

Robert  II.  had  all  the  failings  of  the  Egyptians  for  tomb- 
making,  and  had  his  own  made  of  stone  from  England,  lying 
ready  in  St  John's  Church,  Perth,  as  we  learn  from  the 
accounts  in  1379: — 

"  Et  magistro  Nicholaeo  cementario,  facienti  opus  sculpture  tumbe 
1  Carter's  'Ancient  Painting,'  &c.,  p.  25. 


248 


Biite  in  the  Olden  Time. 


regis,  in  partem  salarii  sui,  videlicet  [£]  120  lib.  .  .  .  Et  Andre 
.  .  .  nostri  regis  et  eciam  pro  tumba  ipsius  domini  regis  pro  parte 
videlicet  in  Anglia,  et  eciam  a  portu  de  Leth  usque  ad  Edinburgh 
in  partem  scilicet  solucionis  sibi  debita  [£]  x  lib." 

In  the  accounts  for  1379  appear  the  following  entries  : — 

"  Et  Andre  pictori  pro  labore  et  sumptibus  suis  et  caragio  fact, 
pro  petris  ordinat.  ad  tumbas  Patris  et  Matris  Domini  nostri  regis  " 
(i.e.,  Walter  and  Marjory). 

"  Et  in  solucione  facta  An  dree  pictori  pro  una  petra  de  Alabaster 
pro  tumba  prime  sponse  Domini  nostri  regis  L£]  xii  lib."  (i.e., 
Elizabeth  More).1 

The  words,  "  tombs  of  the  father  and  mother  of  our  king," 
might  give  rise  to  the  supposition  there  were  to  be  two  monu- 
ments and  not  at  the  same  place.  No  place  is  mentioned. 
The  work,  thus,  was  begun  in  1379,  during  the  time  the 

P^^S^a^Bfmmgmmjgjij^^^^  visored  bascinet  was  the 
fashion,  so  there  is  nothing 
bold  in  suggesting  a  date 

-  JIT    JtliT         ^ri,*.,..!-!.  ,„        <ft 

from   1380  onward  for  this 
effigy. 

The  shield  of  the  lower 
coat  of  arms,  here  illus- 
trated, is  quartered  ist  and 
4th  a  fess  cheeky,  the  2d 


Coal  of  arms,  St  Mary's  Chapel. 


and  3d  the  lion  rampant,  or  Royal  Arms,  within  the  double 
treasure.  The  fess  cheeky  was  the  arms  of  blood  of  the 
Steward  as  a  family.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  assumed 
by  reason  of  their  connection  with  the  Royal  Exchequer,  the 


1  '  Excheq.  Rolls,'  vol.  ii.  p.  622. 


The  Roman  Church.  249 

accounts  of  which  were  calculated  on  a  checkboard.  How- 
ever, we  find  that  an  identical  coat  was  borne  in  Brittany 
contemporaneously  with  the  first  Alan. 

The  fess  cheeky  is  seen  on  all  the  seals  of  the  royal 
Stewards. 

"  The  Royal  Arms,  when  brought  into  any  family  by  an 
heiress,  are  usually  placed  in  the  second  quarter "  according 
to  Parker's  '  Glossary  of  Heraldry.' l  Walter  Stewart  had 
thus  the  right  to  carry  the  Royal  Arms,  on  account  of  his 
marriage  with  Princess  Marjory. 

The  three  angelic  figures  supporting  this  shield  might  be 
symbolical  of  the  three  wives  of  Walter,  two  of  whom  may 
have  been  buried  with  him  here,  there  being  three  skulls 
found  in  the  sepulchre  beneath  the  monument. 

The  coat  of  arms  surmounting  the  monument  is  the  Royal 
Arms  supported  by  two  lions  sejant,  in  all  probability  the 
arms  of  Robert  II.,  who  would  have  to  discard  the  fess  for 
the  lion  on  his  sovereign  coat. 

From  these  and  other  considerations  it  may  be  accepted 
that  the  effigy  of  the  dame  is  that  of  Alice,  daughter  of  Sir 
John  Erskine,  first  wife  of  Walter,  for  whom  the  mortuary 
chapel  was  reared  or  renovated,  and  the  effigy  placed  in  it 
by  her  husband,  after  the  first  decade  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury ;  and  that  the  effigy  of  the  knight  represents  Walter 
the  Steward,  and  was  erected  about  1380  by  Robert  II.,  his 
son,  who  frequently  resided  in  Rothesay  Castle  between  1379 
and  1390. 

It  is  a  melancholy  feature  of  our  forgetful  age  that  this 
tomb  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  Scottish  heroes,  the  peer  of 

1  '  Glossary  of  Terms  used  in  British  Heraldry,'  by  J.  H.  Parker. 


250 


Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 


Wallace  and  Bruce,  and  the  ancestor  of  kings,  princes,  nobles, 
and  the  flower  of  northern  chivalry,  should  be  left  unheeded 
to  the  mercy  of  the  elements.  Surely  the  Brandanes  might 
do  something  to  protect  this  hoary  memorial  of  their  worthi- 
est chief. 


Coat  of  arms  over  door  of  Itothesay  Castle. 


251 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    REFORMED    CHURCH. 

"  For  forms  of  government  let  fools  contest ; 
Whate'er  is  best  administer'd  is  best : 
For  modes  of  faith  let  graceless  zealots  fight, 
His  can't  be  wrong  whose  life  is  in  the  right ; 
In  faith  and  hope  the  world  will  disagree, 
But  all  mankind's  concern  is  charity. 
All  must  be  false,  that  thwarts  this  one  great  end  ; 
And  all  of  God,  that  bless  mankind,  or  mend." 

—POPE. 

N  what  manner,  and  by  what  agents,  the  deforma- 
tion of  the  Roman  Church  in  Bute  took  place, 
and  under  what  aspects  the  Reformed  Church 
took  its  first  shape,  there  is,  for  lack  of  material 
and  the  absence  of  local  records  of  the  time,  not  given  to  me 
to  delineate,  in  the  meantime. 

What  occurred  throughout  Scotland  probably  also  took 
place  in  Bute,  the  people  welcoming  the  Reformation  as  a 
novelty,  and  the  landed  proprietors  hailing  in  its  advent  the 
prospect  of  being  relieved  from  ecclesiastical  exactions  and 
of  receiving  what  spiritual  comfort  they  wanted  "without 
money  and  without  price."  The  isle  was  too  exposed  to 
governmental  influences  to  be  able,  like  the  remoter  parts  of 


252  B^lte  in  the  Olden  Time. 

the  Highlands,  to  resist  for  any  length  of  time  the  stern 
decrees  of  the  General  Assembly  and  the  Scots  Parliament, 
ordering  the  total  extermination  of  the  Roman  Church,  and 
establishing  the  new  ecclesiastical  polity  and  form  of  worship. 

The  Presbyterian  polity  and  form  of  worship  introduced 
by  John  Knox  and  his  associate  Reformers  were  a  com- 
plete revolution  of  those  which  obtained  for  centuries  in 
Scotland.  The  antidote  was  made  unmistakably  effective. 
The  Pope  was  banned  ;  and  the  General  Assembly  assumed 
the  function  of  an  infallible  Council,  whose  edicts  were  made 
legal  by  the  signature  of  its  Moderator ;  the  Provincial 
Synod  took  the  place  of  the  Provincial  Council ;  the  Pres- 
bytery stood  in  room  of  the  Diocesan  Synod ;  the  Kirk- 
session  was  a  kind  of  Chapter;  the  bishop  gave  place  to 
the  superintendent ;  the  priest  to  the  minister ;  the  choir 
to  reader  or  precentor  ;  the  elaborate  Liturgy  to  "con- 
ceived prayer," — and  so  on  to  the  smallest  detail.  The 
unchangeableness  of  the  Roman  Church  renders  it  easy 
for  any  one  to  find  what  the  spiritual  food  of  our  pre- 
Reformation  forefathers  was,  —  with  these  exceptions,  that 
the  Liturgy  had  no  parallel  translation,  nor  was  the  sermon, 
if  at  all  given,  prominent  in  the  vulgar  tongue.  The  service 
was  in  Latin,  consequently  the  adoration  of  the  people 
consisted  mostly  of  a  pious  silence  and  the  making  of 
signs  indicative  of  faith.  "Then,"  says  a  contemporary 
bishop,  "ceased  all  religious  and  godlie  minds  and  deeds, 
wherewith  the  seculars  and  temporall  men  being  slandered 
with  their  evil  example,  fell  from  all  devotion  and  godliness 
to  the  workis  of  wickednesse,  whereof  daily  mickle  evil  did 
increase." 

The  first  thing  of  a  constructive  character  effected  by  the 


The  Reformed  Church.  253 

Reformers  after  the  purging  of  "  idolatry  "  was  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Bible  in  the  English  tongue,  of  the  English  Metri- 
cal Psalter,  and  of  '  The  Book  of  Common  Order '  or  Liturgy. 
By  "  idolatry "  was  understood  "  the  masse,  invocation  of 
saints,  adoration  of  images,  and  the  keeping  and  retaining 
of  the  same ;  and  finally,  all  honouring  of  God  not  conteined 
in  His  Holy  Word." 

In  this  period  the  people  generally  could  not  read,  even 
some  priests  were  deficient  in  this  elementary  acquirement, 
and  the  Reformers  had  to  rouse  popular  interest  by  popular 
methods.  Week-day  services,  sometimes  daily,  were  ap- 
pointed, during  which  labour  ceased,  and  a  public  reader, 
in  the  absence  of  a  minister,  read  the  prayers  and  Scrip- 
ture ;  while  men,  women,  and  children  "  were  exhorted  to 
exercise  themselves  in  psalmes,  that  when  the  Kirk  doth 
convene  and  sing  they  may  be  the  more  able  together  with 
common  hearts  and  voices  to  praise  God." 

Every  parish  church,  and,  afterwards,  every  head  of  a 
house,  were  ordained  to  procure  an  English  Bible  and  Psalm- 
Book.  At  first  there  being  none  in  the  hands  of  the  con- 
gregation, the  reader  was  ordered  to  read  through  the  Bible, 
"  for  this  skipping  and  devagation  from  place  to  place "  was 
not  "  profitable  to  edifie  the  kirk,"  but  was  as  the  "  Papists 
did."  On  the  day  of  "  public  sermon  "  the  Prayer-Book  was 
discarded,  to  prevent  superstition  on  the  part  of  the  people, 
"  who  come  to  the  prayers  as  they  came  to  the  masse." 

The  service,  originally,  was  in  two  portions  in  those  churches 
— having  both  a  reader  and  a  minister. 

So  early  in  the  morning  as  nine  or  ten,  in  some  towns 
earlier,  the  second  bell  rang,  and  the  public  reader  ascended 
the  desk — now  the  precentor's  box — and  forthwith  read  the 


254  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

prayer  from  Knox's  Liturgy  or  the  '  Book  of  Common  Order/ 
during  which  the  people  bowed.  He  also  recited  the  Ten 
Commandments  and  the  Creed.  Then  a  psalm  was  sung. 
Thereafter  the  passages  from  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
were  read.  A  curious  custom  also  prevailed  of  children  public- 
ly catechising  each  other  in  the  presence  of  the  people.  After 
the  reader  was  done — an  hour  having  elapsed — a  third  bell 
began  to  sound  its  calling  note  to  people  and  pastor,  and 
the  latter,  with  his  hat  on  his  head,  marched  up  to  the  pulpit 
and  gave  out  the  95th  psalm,  or  "gathering  psalm."  The 
singing  of  it  was  termed  "  entertaining  the  time,"  while  the 
congregation  trooped  in  from  the  churchyard.  The  melody 
was  called  "  Old  Dukes,"  now  known  as  "  Winchester." 

Till  long  after  the  Reformation  the  churchyard  was  the 
market  -  place  wherein  on  Sabbaths  many  a  bargain  was 
driven,  the  trysting-place  of  friend  and  lover,  and  the  central 
news-agency  of  the  parish  and  time.  The  call  of  the  bell 
was  necessary,  because  the  old  churches  were  small,  incom- 
modious, and  not  furnished  with  seats,  save  those  at  the 
Communion-tables,  so  that  before  the  aged  and  delicate 
got  their  stools  placed, — and  these  they  lugged  along  with 
them,  like  Jenny  Geddes, — before  the  wearied  country-folks 
got  their  plaids  spread  on  the  clay  or  gravel  floors,  and  before 
the  youngsters  got  a  comfortable  stance,  it  required  a  little 
time  to  compose  the  audience.  If  there  was  no  reader,  the 
minister  began  the  service  in  the  desk,  and  thereafter  mounted 
the  pulpit  to  orate  his  discourse.  In  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, however,  when  the  two  offices  were  conjoined,  the  min- 
ister also  expounded  the  Scriptures  in  the  desk. 

The  psalmody  was  at  first  a  difficult  question,  the  people 
only  being  accustomed  to  the  chanting  and  instrumental 


The  Reformed  Chitrch.  255 

music  of  the  priests.  There  were  no  metrical  version,  no 
melodies,  and  no  music-masters,  for  the  old  school  songs  were 
taught  by  priests.  The  Reformers  made  their  sacred  hymns 
the  chariot-wheels  of  the  Reformation,  to  carry  the  enthus- 
iasm of  the  populace  from  place  to  place. 

The  Scots  were  lovers  of  minstrelsy,  and  had  many 
catching  melodies  wedded  to  vulgar  themes,  which  the 
Reformers  applied  to  their  "godly  psalms  and  ballads." 

For  example,  there  is  a  unique  song,  beginning  "The 
Joly  Day  now  dawis,"  the  melody  of  which .  is  supposed 
to  have  been  the  March  of  Bruce  at  Bannockburn.  The 
Reformers  set  these  lines  to  it : — 

"  Hay  now  the  day  dallis, 
Now  Christ  on  us  callis, 
Now  welth  on  our  wallis 

Appeiris  anone  : 
Now  the  word  of  God  rings, 
Whilk  is  King  of  all  kings  : 
Now  Christis  flock  sings 

The  night  is  neere  gone." 

To  this  air  Burns  set  "  Scots  wha  hae,"  and  Baroness  Nairne 
"  The  Land  of  the  Leal "  ;  and  it  used  to  be  sung  in  the 
Secession  churches  of  Renfrewshire  within  memory.  It 
should  be  in  our  Psalter,  being  extremely  suitable  for  a 
song  of  Christian  warfare.  The  history  of  the  Psalmody  is 
'interesting.  John  Wedderburne  of  Dundee,  1540,  who 
metrically  translated  the  psalms  and  hymns  of  Luther,  first 
supplied  the  Scots  Protestants  with  hymns.  Then  the 
Scots  exiles  in  Geneva  drew  up  an  incomplete  metrical 
psalter,  out  of  the  productions  of  Thomas  Sternhold  and 
John  Hopkins,  published  in  1549.  This  was  the  basis  of 
the  Scots  Psalter,  which  was  made  complete  in  1564, 


256  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

printed   by   Lekprevik,  and  ordained   for  public  use,  along 
with  the  Order  of  Prayers  attached  to  it. 

Some  of  these  original  psalms  with  their  melodies  are, 
to  our  satisfaction,  still  retained.  For  example,  The  Old 
Hundred,  composed  by  William  Kethe,  a  Scot,  exiled  for 
the  faith,  is  set  to  a  melody  of  the  French  Psalter  of  Marot 
and  Beza,  sung  to  the  I34th  psalm.  The  music  is  commonly 
attributed  to  Luther. 

At  first  these  melodies  were  sung  in  unison,  which  style 
was  termed  "plain  singing."  The  people  had  committed 
the  verses  to  memory,  but  the  whole  passage — not  a  line 
— was  read  out  by  the  reader,  as  is  customary  still,  to 
refresh  the  memory.  The  psalm  was  usually  raised  by 
a  paid  minstrel,  who  was  called  the  "  uptaker  of  the  psalm," 
and  in  degenerate  days,  "him  that  carryes  up  the  line," 
since  the  reader  had  not  always  the  gift  of  song.  Gradually, 
however,  part-singing  was  learnt,  especially  after  Parlia- 
ment in  1579  enacted  the  foundation  of  music  -  schools. 
An  episode  of  1582  illustrates  this.  When  John  Durie, 
the  reformer,  who  had  been  banished  for  his  criticisms  of 
King  James,  was  permitted  to  return  to  Edinburgh,  the 
masses  met  him.  "At  the  Netherbow  they  took  up  the 
124  psalme,  'Now  Israel  may  say,  &c./  and  sung  in  such  a 
pleasant  tune  in  four  parts,  known  to  the  most  of  the  people, 
with  such  a  great  song  and  majestic,  that  it  moved  both 
themselves  and  all  the  huge  multitude  of  the  beholders." 
The  second  version  of  the  psalm  was  composed  by  Calvin's 
son-in-law,  William  Whittingham,  minister  of  Geneva,  and 
the  old  French  tune  was  again  sung  by  the  citizens  of 
Geneva  when  in  1602  they  repulsed  the  Savoyards  from 
their  walls.  It  was  a  favourite,  too,  in  "  the  killing  times." 


The  Reformed  Ch^trch.  257 

One  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Early  Scots  Psalter  was 
the  varieties  of  the  metres  and  the  melodies,  and  of  the  latter 
a  few  are  extant.  Some  lines  had  five,  six,  eight,  or  ten 
syllables.  The  verses  combined  different  lengths  of  line,  as 
in  the  common  measure,  to  suit  which  twelve  tunes  were 
printed  in  the  Psalter  of  1621 — viz.,  Old  Common,  Kings, 
Dukes,  English,  French,  London,  The  Stilt  (now  York),  Dun- 
fermeling,  Dundie,  Abbay,  Glasgow,  Martyrs.  Up  till  1649 
the  doxology  in  metre  was  sung  after  every  psalm,  and  this 
was  discontinued  to  please  the  English  Puritans.  As  has  been 
indicated,  the  musical  notation  was  printed  in  the  combined 
Prayer  and  Psalm  Book,  so  that  the  education  of  the  people 
was  assured.  Consequently,  a  lighter  and  more  attractive 
style  of  music  came  into  vogue,  not  unlike  that  of  madrigals. 
These  tunes,  called  "  Reports,"  were  of  an  antiphonal  charac- 
ter, one  part  of  the  song  being  caught  up  by  another  voice  or 
set  of  voices.  This  idea  of  repetition  became  a  favourite,  and 
resulted  in  such  fine  old  tunes  as  Orlington,  Devizes,  East- 
gate,  Pembroke. 

Unfortunately,  the  grand  old  Psalm-Book  became  unpop- 
ular, probably  on  account  of  English  influences.  The  General 
Assembly  set  itself  to  amend  it  and  the  version  of  the  Bible, 
and  in  the  process  of  emendation  everything  Scottish  was 
deleted  from  the  Presbyterian  form  of  worship,  including 
Knox's  Liturgy. 

When  Jenny  Geddes  threw  her  stool  at  the  head  of  the 
Dean  reading  Laud's  Prayer-Book,  it  must  not  be  supposed 
hers  was  a  solitary  act,  for  that  day's  work  was  the  devised 
rebellion  of  the  spirited  patriots,  who  were  angry  to  see  their 
native  Liturgy  contumeliously  evicted  by  "  the  auld  enemy." 

Among  the  innovations  resulting  from  English  interference 
VOL.  II.  R 


258  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

was  the  abolition  of  the  priest's-grey  cloth,  and  the  assump- 
tion by  the  clergy  of  black  clothes,  which  had  always  been 
condemned  as  the  attire  of  the  evil  one. 

Another  was  the  removal  of  bonnets  from  the  head  in 
church  —  Mess  John  being  no  more  mannerly  than  the 
"  coarsest  cobbler  in  the  parish."  "  In  he  steps,  uncovers  not 
till  in  the  pulpit,  .  .  .  and  within  a  little  falls  to  work  as  the 
spirit  moves  him." 

It  was  not  till  after  the  Westminster  Assembly  (1645)  that  a 
stupid  fashion  crept  in,  that  of  reading  the  psalm  line  by  line 
before  singing  it.  The  recommendation  came  from  West- 
minster, but  the  Scots  Commissioners  justly  resented  this  inno- 
vation as  unusual  in  the  Reformed  Churches,  and  particularly 
discrediting  to  their  countrymen,  who  could  read.  The  read- 
ing of  the  line  became  fashionable,  and  may  still  be  heard  at 
Communion  services  in  rural  parishes  in  the  Highlands. 

After  the  Scots  Commissioners  returned  from  Westminster, 
the  cry  for  a  revised  metrical  Psalter  was  revived,  and  the 
General  Assembly  appointed  a  committee  to  subject  the  para- 
phrases of  Francis  Rous,  an  English  Independent  and  member 
of  Parliament,  and  of  other  poetasters,  to  the  criticism  of 
themselves  and  of  presbyteries,  and  to  report.  This  resulted 
in  the  authorisation  by  the  Church,  in  1650,  of  the  present 
Metrical  Psalter,  which  contains  the  amended  productions  of 
Rous  and  others,  with  a  few  of  the  original  metrical  psalms. 

It  was  a  poor  exchange.  The  metres  were  limited,  and  the 
people  deprived  of  the  variety  of  melodies.  Besides,  a  fine 
collection  of  hymns  which  had  accompanied  the  Psalter  for 
two  generations  was  omitted.  These  were  popular,  especially 
among  the  young,  being  metrical  versions  of  the  Command- 
ments, Lord's  Prayer,  Creed,  and  other  subjects.  The  loss  of 


The  Reformed  Church.  259 

them  gave  rise  to  the  movement  which  ended  in  the  publica- 
tion of  the  collection  of  Paraphrases  in  1742  and  1781. 

Another  regrettable  consequence  of  the  discussions  at  West- 
minster was  the  dismissal  of  the  reader,  the  minister  having 
to  take  his  place,  and  conceive  the  public  prayers  himself. 
This  accounts  for  the  reason  why  there  used  to  be  only  two 
psalms  in  the  public  worship,  the  "  gathering  psalm  "  and  the 
"  parting  psalm."  It  would  require  a  long  chapter  to  illustrate 
the  methods  of  preaching  and  the  dispensation  of  the  Com- 
munion. The  sermons  were  long  and,  in  a  double  sense,  ex- 
haustive. But  to  keep  the  preacher  right,  a  sand-glass,  which 
ran  by  half-hours,  was  affixed  to  the  desk  or  pulpit.  If  the 
quick-eyed  orator  did  not  watch,  the  reader  was  often  tempted 
to  turn  the  glass  too  soon,  and  the  familiar  beadle  would  step 
up  and  give  the  simple  horologe  an  ominous  tap,  to  discover 
if  the  sand  was  running  rightly. 

The  sermon  over,  prayer  was  publicly  conceived,  the  second 
psalm  was  sung,  the  benediction  was  given,  and  the  kirk 
"  scailed,"  every  one  on  foot  seeking  his  home  in  town,  dale, 
or  muirland.  During  the  week  all  heard  the  bell  again  call- 
ing them  to  wait  upon  the  reader.  These  were  the  forms  of 
worship  in  early  Presbyterian  Scotland. 

The  Communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  be  made  unlike 
the  Mass,  was  authorised  to  be  observed  four  times  a-year  by 
those  who  could  say  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  articles  of  belief, 
and  the  Decalogue,  and  who  understood  its  import.  The 
churches  being  small  caused  the  use  of  several  "  tables,"  for 
which  several  clergy  were  required  throughout  the  day's  ser- 
vices. In  consequence  of  these  clergy  being  removed  from 
their  own  parishes,  the  people  delighted  to  flock  to  the  sac- 
raments in  the  adjoining  parishes,  and  created  thereby  the 


260  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

"  Holy  Fairs."  To  prevent  promiscuous  gatherings  of  those 
worthy  and  unworthy  to  receive  the  sacrament,  tokens  were 
invented  for  distribution  to  the  former.  While  the  sacrament 
was  being  dispensed,  the  preachers  discoursed  to  the  crowds 
in  the  churchyard,  or  neighbouring  field,  and  after  their 
duties  ceased  retired  to  a  tent  erected  for  their  convenience 
there,  and  well  stocked  with  provisions. 

In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  the  kirk-session 
had  all  the  powers  of  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim  regarding  matters 
of  character,  conduct,  and  life,  and  used  these  with  all  the 
vigilance  of  the  Inquisition.  The  business  of  the  session 
went  on,  even  though  the  minister  was  absent  from  their 
meetings,  so  that  often  the  lay  mind  and  not  the  clerical  is 
mirrored  in  the  actions  of  the  Church.  The  session-house 
was  a  veritable  Star  Chamber,  wherein  the  actions  of  the 
parishioners  were  reviewed  with  unsparing  criticism.  The 
laws  of  the  Reformers  to  purge  away  Popery  and  evil  of 
every  kind  were  acted  upon  to  the  observance  of  the  letter, 
and  woe  betide  any  wretch  who  dare  overstep  the  vulgar 
decorum  of  the  day.  The  Church  had  in  every  parish  a 
hundred  eyes  to  watch  after  each  soul,  and  a  wakeful  Cer- 
berus to  lay  the  flesh  by  the  heels.  To  prefer  retirement, 
or  to  complain  of  indigestion,  was  to  induce  a  charge  of 
witchcraft ;  to  sport  and  daff  with  the  fair  was  a  sin  re- 
quiring caution  or  public  rebuke  ;  to  speak  to  your  "  guid- 
mother,"  as  men  sometimes  do,  endangered  the  position  of 
a  cleric ;  to  be  over-hilarious  at  a  bridal  led  to  a  prolonged 
seat  on  the  cutty-stool  of  repentance ;  and  other  offences 
ended  in  incarceration  in  the  branks,  stocks,  jougs,  and  other 
odd  instruments  of  humiliation  which  the  session,  abetted  by 
the  magistrates,  were  masters  of.  The  records  of  the  parishes 


The  Reformed  Church.  261 

and  burgh  in  Bute  illustrate  the  strange  life  and  customs  of 
two  centuries  ago,  and  afford  us  many  a  humorous  scene 
which  would  have  delighted  a  Wilkie  or  a  Cruikshank. 

The  Celtic  races  have  ever  been  prone  to  doat  on  the 
mysterious,  and  to  love  superstition  and  the  appearance  of 
the  supernatural.  A  latent  Pantheism  has  always  delighted 
the  Celtic  mind,  which  has  unconsciously  clung  to  ideas 
recognising  the  presence  of  spirits  in  this  world.  The  repres- 
sive laws  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  the  Reformed  State 
encouraged  a  greater  keenness  to  scent  out,  bait,  and  worry 
uncanny  beings,  commonly  called  witches ;  while  native  sup- 
erstitiousness  inclined  the  Butemen  to  find  comfort  in  the 
belief  in  gentler  patrons  of  their  homes,  called  Side,  fays,  or 
fairies. 

Horror  for  the  former  had  been  intensified  by  a  bull  of 
Pope  Innocent  VIII.,  which  rang  the  knell  of  witchcraft  in 
these  words : — 

"  It  is  come  to  our  ears,  that  the  number  of  both  sexes  do  not 
avoid  to  have  intercourse  with  the  infernal  fiends,  and  that  by  their 
sorceries  they  afflict  both  man  and  beast ;  that  they  blight  the 
marriage-bed,  destroy  the  births  of  women,  and  the  increase  of 
cattle  •  they  blast  the  corn  on  the  ground,  the  grapes  of  the  vine- 
yard, the  fruits  of  the  trees,  the  grass  and  herbs  of  the  field." 

There  are  several  places  in  Bute  associated  with  the 
meeting-place  of  the  witches — the  Witches'  Knowe  near  St 
Blane's,  the  Witch's  Craig  in  Glenvodian,  and  the  Fairies' 
Grotto  at  Ambrisbeg.  Those  suspected  were  usually  lone 
and  harmless  old  women  or  youthful  imbeciles,  who  had 
warped  and  wandering  intelligence,  the  exercise  of  which 
was  designated  scorcery. 

In  Kingarth,  in  1650,  during  the  pastorate  of  John  Stewart, 


262  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

who  translated  the  Psalms  into  Gaelic  metre, — a  man  likely 
to  have  possessed  an  enlightened  conscience, — we  find  two 
elders  apprehending  a  Finwell  Hyndman  who  was  bruited  for 
a  witch,  "  or  an  '  E,'  as  the  country-people  calls  it,"  because  she 
took  periodic  vagaries,  no  one  knew  whither,  and  was  sup- 
posed to  go  away  with  the  "  fayryes."  But  the  records  do  not 
inform  us  of  her  fate,  except  in  so  far  that  she  soon  brought 
home  a  little  fairy  of  her  own  to  nurse.  John  Stewart,  how- 
ever, had  better  luck  when  he  became  minister  of  Rothesay,  and 
had  a  detective  system  to  aid  him  in  bringing  Janet  M'Nicol 
ultimately  to  the  gallows,  where  others  had  gone  before  her 
in  1662.  By  some  black  art  the  guilty  Janet  had  escaped 
from  the  Tolbooth  then,  and  evaded  justice  for  twelve  years 
on  the  mainland,  only  to  be  brought  before  the  Dempster  on 
the  1 5th  October  1673.  From  the  extant  ditty  we  learn  that 
at  the  instance  of  the  procurator-fiscal  at  the  assize  she  was 
adjudged  "guilty  and  culpable  of  the  aforesaid  vile  and  abom- 
inable crime  of  witchcraft,  in  so  far  as  she  did,  about  Hallow- 
day  1 66 1  or  thereby,  meet  with  the  devil,  appearing  to  her 
in  the  likeness  of  ane  gross  leper-faced  man,  whom  she  knew 
to  be  an  evil  spirit,  and  made  a  compact  covenant  with  him 
to  serve  him,  upon  his  promising  to  her  that  she  should  not 
want  gear  enough,  whereupon  she  renounced  her  baptism, 
and  he  gave  her  a  new  name,  saying,  '  I  baptise  thee  Mary/ 
Like  as  the  said  panel  keeped  the  meeting  and  consultation 
with  the  devil,  the  time  foresaid,  at  the  place  called  Buttkee, 
upon  the  shore  of  Rothesay,  where  were  several  other  persons, 
witches,  of  whom  four  were  sentenced,  and  executed  to  the 
death,  Anno  Domini  1662,  or  thereby,  who  likewise  delated 
her  guilty  of  the  said  crime  of  witchcraft,  quhilk  she  herself 
confessed  and  could  not  deny.  Like  as  for  further  evidence  of 


The  Reformed  Church.  263 

the  said  panel,  her  guilt,  she  being  apprehended  A.D.  1662 
foresaid,  and  imprisoned  within  the  Tolbooth  of  Rothesay, 
and  fearing  to  be  put  to  death  with  the  rest  who  suffered  at 
that  time,  it  is  true  and  of  verity  that  she  brake  and  escaped 
out  of  the  said  tolbooth  and  fled  to  the  Lowlands,  where 
she  remained  in  Kilmarnock  and  thereabout  these  twelve 
years  byegone;  always  under  an  evil  fame  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  there  committed  several  malafees,  notour 
and  known  to  all  the  country,  as  at  more  length  is  contained 
in  her  ditty  ;  for  the  quhilk  cause  of  witchcraft  above  written 
the  said  panel  was  put  to  the  trial,"  &c.,  and  "  by  the  mouth 
of  Duncan  Clerk,  Dempster  of  court,  decerned  and  ordained 
the  said  Janet  M'Nicol  to  be  taken  and  strangled  to  the 
death,  upon  Friday,  24th  inst,  be  twa  hours  in  the  afternoon, 
and  her  goods  and  gear  to  be  escheat." 

The  Gallows  -  craig  thus  numbered  another  victim,  who 
for  lack  of  gold  had  leagued  herself  with  the  devil,  as 
many  more  fortunate  Covenanters  before  and  since  have 
done. 

Convictions  were  not  always  so  easy,  and  to  expedite 
the  process  a  class  of  professional  truth  -  seekers,  called 
"  the  common  prickers,"  were  employed  to  drive  long  awls 
or  pricks  into  the  suspected  flesh  to  probe  out  the  truth. 
If  the  buried  steel  provoked  no  pain  in  the  alleged  "  marks  of 
the  devil"  the  patient  was  a  child  of  Beelzebub,  and  was 
sent  to  the  fire  or  the  gallows. 

These  evil  reports  often  arose  out  of  well  -  meaning 
attempts  to  cure  diseases  by  the  use  of  herbs,  which  the 
Church  considered  tantamount  to  sorcery.  On  26th  January 
1643,  the  Presbytery  of  Dunoon  ordained  that  Marie  Mark- 
man  be  esteemed  a  witch  if  she  "gave  drinks  made  of  herbs," 


264  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

and  ordered  the  ministers  to  intimate  from  the  pulpit  this 
resolution,  "to  give  neither  lodging  nor  entertainment  to 
Marie  Markman,  and  that  for  suspitioune  of  charmes  and 
deluding  of  the  people."  In  1660,  a  Rothesay  woman, 
Jeane  Campbell,  who  was  a  martyr  to  indigestion,  had 
used  "a  salve  to  rub  on  her  breast,  which  was  good  for 
comforting  the  heart  against  scunners."  The  watchful 
elders  brought  her  case  before  Mr  Stewart,  whereupon 
"  the  session  finding  that  there  is  a  report  throw  the  countrie 
that  Jeane  Campbell,  wife  to  Robert  M'Conachie,  gangs 
with  the  faryes,  appoints  the  elders  to  tak  tryell  thereof, 
and  how  the  scandall  raise,  and  to  make  report  to  the  next 
session."  The  true  state  of  matters  was  discovered,  and  the 
minister  allayed  the  fears  of  his  faithful  flock  by  announcing 
from  the  pulpit  that  Mistress  Jeane  had  only  the  "scunners." 
But  it  appears  as  if  others  similarly  afflicted  had  craved 
her  skill  and  the  cure  she  was  proud  of,  for  in  1661  another 
minute  bears :  "  Considering  that  the  said  Janet  goes  under 
the  name  of  a  witch  or  a  deceiver,  by  undertaking  to  heal 
desperate  diseases  by  herbs  and  such  like,  the  session  did 
discharge  the  said  Janet  in  time  coming  to  use  the  giv- 
ing of  any  physick  or  herbs  to  anybody,  under  certification 
that  she  shall  be  esteemed  a  witch  if  she  do  so."  A  similar 
case  occurred  in  Kingarth  in  1661,  when  Janet  Morison  was 
indicted  for  telling  Mrs  Elspeth  Spence  that  her  invalid 
daughter  "would  not  be  whole  till  they  would  take  her 
out  and  lay  her  at  the  end  of  three  highways."  But  for 
Janet's  denial  it  would  probably  have  been  the  most  fitting 
prescription  for  a  patient  lying  in  a  stuffy  cot.  The  session 
"  discerned  her  a  slanderer  of  Elspeth  Spence,  and  appointed 
her  to  satisfy,  according  to  order,  and  to  pay  a  penalty  of 


The  Reformed  Church.  265 

forty  shillings.  As  also  the  said  Janet  goes  under  the  name 
of  a  witch  or  deceiver,  by  undertaking  to  heal  desperate 
diseases  by  herbs  and  such  like,  the  session  did  discharge 
the  said  Janet  Morison  in  time  coming  to  use  the  giving 
of  any  physick  or  herbs  to  anybody,  under  certification  that 
she  shall  be  esteemed  a  witch  if  she  do  so,  and  that  the 
people  may  not  hereafter  employ  her — intimation  hereof  to 
be  made  out  of  the  pulpit  next  Sabbath."  Such  were  the 
ecclesiastical  pains  for  gathering  a  dandelion  or  a  nettle 
without  the  advice  of  a  licensed  leech,  that  the  witch  of 
Endor  could  not  have  eluded  them. 

Nor  were  men  exempt  from  those  vile  accusations.  In 
1670,  in  Kingarth,  James  M'Phie  complained  to  the  session 
"against  Robert  Glass  for  scandalising  his  good  name  in 
saying  that  he  sould  frequent  the  company  of  a  lemman 
among  the  faries,  commonly  called  fairfolks,  whilk  was  a 
base  and  unchristian  scandal,"  for  which  he  demanded  repar- 
ation. The  case  was  called,  and  Glass  deponed  that  one 
Mackevin  said  "  it  was  no  wonder  James  his  wife  could  not 
be  well,  because  he  had  a  fary  lemman."  A  few  months 
afterwards  "  the  session  ordains  that  Robert  Glass  do 
publickly  acknowledge  his  fault  at  the  parish  kirk  of  Kin- 
garth,  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and  that  he  take  James  MThee 
be  the  hand,  craving  a  pardon  of  God  first,  and  then  of 
James  for  reproaching  him,  and  that  they  forgive  other ; 
whilk  was  done."  What  a  wholesome  scene  was  this  at  the 
door  of  St  Blaan's  ! 

The  fairies  or  kind  folks  were  credited  with  having  a  home 
in  a  cave  under  Cnoc  Alastair  Drummer  (the  hill  of  Alaster 
the  Drummer)  on  the  farm  of  Ambrisbeg,  whence  they  issued 
betimes  to  assist,  like  Aiken-drum,  an  anxious  proprietor  in 


266  BiUe  in  the  Olden  Time. 

harvest  -  time.1  At  night  the  farmer  placed  beside  their 
habitat  bannocks  and  milk,  and  when  morning  dawned  these 
had  disappeared,  and  in  proof  of  their  appreciation  the  stooks 
on  the  field  were  safely  secured  for  him  by  the  industrious 
fays.  But  the  session  never  knew  of  this  strange  practice. 

Belief  in  the  power  of  incantations  for  securing  help,  health, 
and  happiness  had  not  disappeared  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, as  some  interesting  cases  from  Kingarth  show.  One 
of  the  forms  of  divination  practised  in  the  East,  handed  down 
in  various  countries,  and  held  in  repute  in  Kingarth,  was 
"  Koskinomancy,"  or  divination  by  the  sieve  or  riddle.  It 
was  also  utilised  as  an  ordeal  for  the  discovery  of  criminals, 
as  well  as  by  love-sick  swains  for  the  revelation  of  their 
future  mates.  The  riddle  was  suspended  from  a  pair  of 
scissors  (usually  inherited),  one  leg  of  which  was  driven  into 
the  wood  rim,  the  divining  instrument  being  held  up  loosely 
on  a  finger.  Words  of  invocation  were  uttered,  and  the  riddle 
turned  and  silently  told  its  augury.2  'The  Universal  Fortune- 
Teller  '  thus  gives  directions  for  the  practice :  "  Stick  the 
points  of  the  shears  in  the  wood  of  the  sieve  ;  let  two  persons 
support  it,  balanced  upright  with  their  two  fingers  ;  then  read 
a  certain  chapter  in  the  Bible  and  ask  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul 
if  A  or  B  is  the  thief,  naming  all  the  persons  you  suspect. 
On  naming  the  real  thief,  the  sieve  will  suddenly  turn  about." 

The  following  references  to  this  sieve-chasing,  or  sieve- 
dance,  are  from  Kingarth  session  records : — 

"April  24,  1649:  whilk  day  Kat.  M'Caw,  Archibald  M'NeilPs 
wife,  was  delated  [i.e.,  informed  against]  for  being  suspected  that 

1  See  vol.  i.  p.  88.     Read  Ambrisbeg  for  Ambrismore. 

2  Grimm's  'Teutonic  Mythology,' Stallybrass's  trans.,  vol.  iii.  p.  1108;  Hender- 
son's 'Notes  on  the  Folk-Lore  of  the  Northern  Counties  of  England,'  pp.  53.  233. 


The  Reformed  Church.  267 

she  used  the  charm  of  the  ridle."     But  it  turned  out  to  be  Archi- 
bald himself  who  was  the  sorcerer. 

"May  27,  1649:  whilk  day  compeired  Marget  M'Kirdy,  who 
was  delated  for  charming  Robert  Hyndman,  and  confessed  that  she 
used  the  charm  for  ane  evill  ey,  and  being  asked  several  questions 
about  her  uses  of  the  same,  would  give  no  satisfactory  answer.  She 
repeated  the  charm  as  follows  : — 

' '  '  Cuirrith  mi  an  obi  er  hull 
A  hucht  Phedir  is  Phoile, 
An  obi  is  fear  fui  na  yren 
Obi  thia  o  neoth  gi  lar  .  .  .'  " 

The  translation  is — 

"  I  will  put  an  enchantment  on  [the]  eye, 
From  the  bosom  of  Peter  and  Paul, 
The  one  best  enchantment  under  the  sun, 
That  will  come  from  heaven  to  earth." 

"  The  session  ordaines  Kerelamount  and  John  Wallace  to  speir 
at  her  more  particular-lie  to  see  what  farther  they  can  learne  of  this 
or  other  poynts  of  witchcraft,  and  to  report  to  the  next  session. 
The  whole  elders  are  admonished  to  enquire  of  her  carrage." 

"  Compeared  Cat.  M'Call,  Ard.  M'NeiU's  wife,  and  denyed  that 
she  used  the  charme  of  the  ridle,  and  lykwise  that  she  knew  not  if 
it  was  turned  in  her  house." 

"  Compeired  Lachlane  M'Kirdy  and  confessed  that  he  and  Alester 
M'Call  did  use  the  charme  of  the  ridle  in  Suthgarachtie  for  getting 
of  silver  that  was  stone  fra  him,  and  that  he  and  Isobell  M'Call  did 
practise  the  said  charme  ane  only  tyme.  Compeired  Isobell  M'Call 
and  confessed  that  shee  and  Lachlane  M'Kirdie  did  practise  the 
charme  of  the  ridle  for  getting  some  silver  that  her  mother  wanted. 
Lachlane  M'Kirdie  and  Isobell  M'Call  having  confessed  that  they 
practised  the  charme  of  the  ridle,  the  session  did  referr  them  to  the 
Presbyterie." 

Two  girls  of  tender  years  were  apprehended  at  this  time 
for  this  superstitious  practice,  but  they  confessed  ignorance 
of  its  meaning,  and  were  referred  to  the  Presbytery. 


268  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

"  -L^jth  March  1650:  .  .  .  whilk  day  compeired  Archibald 
M'Neill  and  confessed  the  using  of  the  charme  following  in  Irish  : — 

"  '  Eolus  chuir  shiag  obi  er  chrissadh  er 
Chliskadh  er  shiachadh  er  att  er  ith  er 
Atnbhais  nach  deachie  fomo 
Dhume  no  mobheach  acht  fo 
Leadhas  dhia  nan  dule. '  " 
Translation  : — 

"  The  charm  which  seven  enchantments  put  on  shivering,  on  starting,  on  wither- 
ing, on  joint,  on  the  death  that  went  not  under  [affected  not]  my  man  nor  my 
beast,  but  went  under  [underwent]  the  healing  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts. " 1 

"The  said  Archibald  confessed  that  he  made  this  charme  in 
tallow  and  applyed  the  same  to  horses  with  a  wristed  legg,  and  that 
he  practised  the  samen  on  John  Wallace's  horse,  and  to  a  horse  of 
M'llcheyne's." 

Afterwards  Archibald  confessed  his  sin,  and  was  referred  to 
the  Presbytery. 

The  belief  that  a  witch  could  assume  the  form  of  a  hare 
was  so  tenaciously  held  by  one  wise  laird  of  Ambrisbeg,  that 

1  The  above  translations  are  by  a  Gaelic  scholar  ;  the  following  by  an  Irish 
scholar.  The  text  is  very  corrupt : — 

"  I  will  put  a  charm  on  the  eye 
In  the  name  [lit.,  for  the  sake]  of  Peter  and  Paul ; 
The  best  charm  under  the  sun, 
A  charm  that  is  [or  goes*]  from  heaven  to  earth." 

See  Mackenzie's  "Gaelic  Incantations,"  p.  161  of  vol.  xviii.  of  Transactions 
Gaelic  Society  of  Inverness. 

ii. 

"A  charm  which t  said  :  a  charm  against  obstruction,  against  being  startled,  against  attack, 

against  swelling,  against  eating,  against  a  neck,{  that  they  may  not  go  upon  my  friend  or  my 
beast  [animal],  but  [may  go]  under  the  cure  of  the  King  of  Creatures." 

For  difference  between  Eohis  and  obaidh  (obi  in  MS.,  word  now  obsolete  in 
modern  Irish)  see  Mackenzie  as  above. 

*  If  the  reading  is  tha=\?,,  £&«V/=goes. 

t  Shiag,  if  for  sidheog,  fairy  (the  sound  of  which  it  represents  well),  it  is  unusual,  as  a  saint 
is  usually  connected  with  those  charms. 

J  Neck  would  mean  diseased  neck  or  throat. 


The  Reformed  Church.  269 

he  would  on  no  account  molest  the  timid  rodents.  A  worthy 
Buteman  still  tells  that  his  father  used  to  recount  how,  when 
herding,  he  saw  a  hare  stand  up  and  suck  a  cow  ;  and  although 
he  hounded  the  collie  upon  the  thief,  the  dog  would  not  give 
chase  to  what  even  the  dog  realised  to  have  been  a  witch.  It 
is  also  said  that  one  of  the  doctors  of  Rothesay,  in  the  past 
generation,  was  called  upon  to  extract  a  crooked  silver  six- 
pence from  the  body  of  an  old  woman  who,  in  the  shape  of  a 
hare,  had  received  this  charmed  shot  by  a  dead  marksman. 

When,  in  1812,  the  simple  natives  of  Bute  saw  the  Corned 
approach  the  isle,  they  gathered  by  the  shore  ;  but  as  soon  as 
she  entered  the  bay,  they  sought  refuge  in  their  old  retreat  on 
Barone  Hill,  believing  that  this  pioneer  of  progress  was  the 
devil ! 

If  Bute  fishermen  on  their  way  to  their  boats  met  certain 
ill-favoured  women — notably  one  who  lived  at  the  Gatehouse 
— they,  being  assured  of  no  catch  that  day,  instantly  returned. 

The  last  genuine  case  of  belief  in  necromancy  I  have  heard 
of  occurred  in  Rothesay  in  1857. 

A  child  was  pining  away,  without  any  discoverable  cause, 
when  an  Irish  woman  informed  the  child's  mother  that  it  was 
a  case  of  the  "  evil  eye,"  or  bewitching.  She  was  permitted  to 
use  the  following  charm,  which  she  declared  to  be  unfailing  :  To 
place  some  water  in  a  basin  along  with  some  salt.  A  needle 
was  to  be  dropped  into  the  mixture.  If  the  needle  stood  up 
on  end  the  "  evil  eye  "  would  cease  its  baleful  influence,  and 
the  child  would  recover.  The  charm  wrought:  the  needle 
stood  erect ;  the  boy  immediately  recovered,  and  is  still 
alive. 

Among  other  "  freits  "  still  observed  in  Bute  are  the  burning 
of  a  light  in  the  dead-chamber  and  the  covering  of  the  mirror 


270  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

till  the  corpse  is  removed  ;  the  removal  of  the  dead  feet  fore- 
most from  the  house  ;  the  care  to  prevent  the  funeral  turning 
except  in  one  direction  or  going  by  a  side-road  ;  the  baptism 
of  a  boy  before  a  girl,  when  both  are  presented  for  what  is 
termed  the  "christening,"  lest  the  one  should  be  beardless  and 
the  other  bearded  ;  the  keeping  of  the  child  indoors  till  after 
baptism  lest  it  should  not  thrive  ;  the  proper  position  of  the 
child  in  the  father's  arms  during  this  rite,  and  other  minor 
customs  with  symbolical  meaning. 

The  Presbytery  of  Dunoon  took  cognisance  of  a  curious 
observance,  of  which  I  have  not  seen  another  instance  :  — 


Feb.  1656.  —  Compeared  Marie  M'llwee,  medwyfe,  and 
spouse  to  Dod  M'Lucas,  who  pat  ane  rope  upon  and  about  ane 
new-born  childe  and  did  cut  the  same  in  thrie  pieces  and  cast  the 
same  into  the  fyre,  for  which  she  was  cited  before  the  session  of 
Kilmadan  and  censured  therefor  as  superstitious." 

It  was  one  of  the  functions  of  the  session  to  see  that  pro- 
mises of  marriage  were  duly  fulfilled  or  lapses  from  purity 
condignly  punished.  During  the  period  intervening  between 
the  "  laying  in  of  the  cries  "  —  that  is  to  say,  the  registration 
of  the  proclamation  of  banns  —  and  the  marriage  ceremony, 
which  frequently  was  a  long  time,  the  parties  had  to  procure 
two  cautioners  and  consign  a  sum  of  money  into  the  hands  of 
the  session  lest  the  compact  were  broken,  or  a  venial  sin 
occurred.  In  either  case  of  a  breach  of  the  law,  this  "  con- 
signation money  "  was  forfeited. 

The  bridals  were  sometimes  amorous  riots,  where  un- 
hallowed sports  like  "  Bab  at  the  Bowster  "  were  indulged  in 
by  vinous  revellers,  who  were  summoned  "  for  scandalous 
carrage  at  bridels,"  and  piously  admonished  to  "  cary  chris- 
tianly  in  tyme  coming."  The  guests  paid  a  penny  for  admis- 


The  Reformed  Church.  2  7 1 

sion  to  these  popular  riots.  They  were  eschewed  on  "Yuill- 
day,"  lest  the  strain  on  frail  nature  became  too  great. 

A  Bute  marriage  was  a  function  of  groaning  boards  and 
grunting  pipers,  as  profane  as  the  wisdom  of  their  special 
proverb  made  them,  so  that  in  December  1658  the  Rothesay 
session,  "  for  the  better  regulating  of  the  disorders  that  fall  out 
at  Penny  Brydells,  appointed  that  there  be  no  more  than 
eight  Mense  {i.e.,  tables]  at  most,  that  there  be  no  pipeing  nor 
promiskuous  dancing  under  the  penaltie  of  the  parties  maryed 
losing  their  consignation  money,  and  that  there  be  no  sitting 
up  to  drink  after  ten  o'clock  at  night,  under  the  phine  of  forty 
shillings,  to  be  paid  by  the  Master  of  the  family  where  the 
Brydell  holds." 

An  old  song, "  The  Blythsome  Bridal,"  will  vividly  illustrate 
the  uproarious  conviviality  and  luxuriousness  of  a  country 
wedding  banquet,  with  which  in  comparison  a  puritanic 
sermon  had  no  chance  : — 

"  Fy,  let  us  a'  to  the  bridal, 

For  there  will  be  lilting  there  ; 
For  Jocky's  to  be  married  to  Maggie, 

The  lass  wi'  the  gowden  hair. 
And  there  will  be  lang  kail  and  pottage, 

And  bannocks  of  barley-meal ;    • 
And  there  will  be  good  sawt  herring, 

To  relish  a  cog  of  good  ale. 

And  there  will  be  fadges  and  bracken, 

With  fouth  of  good  gabbocks  of  skate, 
Powfowdy,  and  drammock,  and  crowdy, 

And  caller  nowt-feet  in  a  plate. 
And  there  will  be  partans  and  buckles, 

And  whitings  and  speldins  enew, 
With  singed  sheep-heads,  and  a  haggis, 

And  scadlips  to  suck  till  ye  grew. 


272  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

And  there  will  be  lapperd-milk  kebbucks, 

And  sowens,  and  farles,  and  baps, 
With  swats,  and  well-scraped  paunches, 

And  brandy  in  stoups  and  in  caps  : 
And  there  will  be  meal-kail  and  castocks, 

With  skink  to  sup  till  ye  rive, 
And  roasts  to  roast  on  a  brander, 

Of  flowks  that  were  taken  alive. 

Scrapt  haddocks,  wilks,  dulse,  and  tangle, 

And  a  mill  of  good  snishing  to  prie  ; 
When  weary  with  eating  and  drinking, 

We'll  rise  up  and  dance  till  we  die. 
Then  fy,  let  us  a'  to  the  bridal." 

The  two  pipers  in  Kingarth  in  1681  appear  to  have  been 
especially  profane  fellows,  and  to  prevent  the  "  close-bosom- 
whirling  "  or  hedonic  Highland  Fling  undoing  the  innocent, 
the  Session,  "considering  the  profane  cariage  at  weddings, 
especially  by  profane  pipers,  ordains  that  none  employ  or 
make  use  of  Patrick  Macpherson  or  James  Walkir  at  weddings 
as  pipers  within  the  parish  afterwards  or  give  them  money 
for  playing,  and  that  under  penalty  of  losing  their  dollors." 
Patrick  was  a  merry  muse,  and  the  session  soon  interviewed 
him  for  kissing  and  "  sporting  at "  Alice  M'Caw,  who  appeared 
along  with  him  piping  to  another  tune. 

Swearing  then  was  no  more  profitable  a  pastime  than 
kissing,  as  the  Presbytery  by  deposition  taught  Mr  Patrick 
Stewart,  Minister  of  Rothesay  in  1657,  who  had  no  better 
excuse  for  minced  oaths  and  cantankerousness  than  that  he 
was  simply  enjoying  a  "  crack  "  with  his  "  guid-mother." 

The  session  had  a  summary  method  of  dealing  with  the 
bacchanalianism  of  the  day,  first  by  fining,  and  afterwards  by 
exposing  habitual  drinkers  in  the  stocks.  The  session  were 


The  Reformed  Church.  273 

temperance  reformers  in  their  own  way,  which  is  illustrated 
thus  in  1707  : — 

"The  Session  taking  to  their  consideration  that  Elspeth  M'Intylor, 
spouse  to  James  Stewart,  wood-keeper,  is  a  person,  because  of  her 
Furiosity,  unfitt  to  be  dealt  with,  according  to  the  rules  of  Discipline  : 
And  that  she  is  very  subject  to  drink,  which  leaves,  besede  the 
scandal  of  it,  very  bad  and  lapsing  effects  both  on  her  body  and 
mind,  to  the  great  prejudice  of  her  husband,  squandring  his  sub- 
stance even  to  the  giving  away  his  and  her  own  body-cloaths  :  And 
that  the  said  Elspeth  M'Intylor  hath  too  many  accomplices  who 
encourage  or  assist  her  in  such  courses  :  Do  therefore  discharge  all 
Brewers  and  Retailers  of  ale  within  this  town  and  parish  to  furnish 
the  said  Elspeth  M'Intylor  with  any  Liquors  to  the  disordering  of 
herself  or  disturbing  others  by  that  means, — With  certification  that 
if  they  do  otherwise  they  shall  be  processed  themselves  as  scandalous 
persons  :  And  that  Intimation  hereof  be  made  from  the  Pulpit  next 
Lord's  day." 

For  scorning  wholesome  advice  Patrick  the  piper  was 
handed  over  to  Mr  Robert  Stewart,  the  local  magistrate  in 
Kingarth,  to  enjoy  a  season  of  ascetic  teetotal  treatment. 

The  session  were  naturally  very  punctilious  concerning  the 
sober  observance  of  the  fast-days  and  Sabbaths,  which  were 
not  to  be  profaned  by  indulging  in  worldly  thoughts,  works, 
or  recreations : — 

" Rothesay^  i6th  Dec.  1658:  whilk  day  it  is  appointed,  for  the 
better  observance  of  the  Sabath-day,  That  the  former  Acts  made 
anent  Sabath-breakers  be  put  in  execution,  with  this  addition,  that 
whosoever  of  the  Town-people  be  found  sitting  at  drink  less  or  more 
in  their  neighbour's  house  upon  the  Sabath-day  shall  be  delated  to 
the  Session,  and  shall  pay  a  merk  for  the  first  fault,  Twenty  shilling 
for  the  next,  and  forty  shilling  for  the  thrid  j  and  that  all  families 
keep  themselves  within  doors  upon  the  Sabath-day  before  and  after 
divine  service,  that  they  be  not  vaguing  through  the  streets  nor 
standing  or  sitting  in  flocks  together  speaking  vain  and  Idle  dis- 

VOL.  II.  S 


274  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

courses,  under  the  like  pain ;  and  masters  of  Families  to  be  answer- 
able for  their  children  and  servants ;  and  that  all  Landward  people 
that  shall  be  found  drinking  after  the  Toll  of  the  Tolbooth  bell, 
which  is  hereby  appointed  to  be  rung  half-an-hour  after  the  Sermon 
afternoon  skails,  be  delated  and  pay  the  like  penalties ;  and  thir 
penalties  are  by  and  attour  their  public  satisfaction.  Moreover,  for 
the  better  observance  of  this  act,  it  is  appointed  that  any  two  of  the 
Town  Elders  whom  the  Minister  shall  pitch  upon  shall  go  through  the 
Town  after  the  Bell-ringing  and  observe  the  Contraveeners ;  and  ap- 
points intimation  of  this  act  to  be  made  out  of  pulpit  the  next  Sabath." 

An  anxious  creditor  was  admonished  for  craving  his  debts 
on  the  fast-day.  Some  industrious  ploughmen  for  ploughing 
on  that  day  were  cited,  as  also  were  some  fishermen  who  had 
sailed  out  of  Kilchattan  in  search  of  a  catch  on  a  Sabbath. 
In  1710,  the  industrious  farmer  in  Greenan  and  his  whole 
family,  who  were  "  very  much  humbled  and  disquieted,"  being 
"  otherwise  of  a  very  blameless  reputation  and  honest  life," 
were  rebuked  for  "going  about  their  ordinary  work  on  the 
morning  of  that  day  [Sabbath],  never  remembering  or  con- 
sidering what  day  it  was  until  they  observed  the  neighbour- 
hood flocking  to  the  church."  It  went  harder  still  with  a 
needy  snuffer,  who  was  accused  of  turning  her  taddy-mill  in 
Kingarth  on  the  Sabbath  : — 

"  October  10,  1699  :  whilk  day  Katrin  M'Millan  being  sumoned 
and  called,  compeared  :  being  inquired  of,  if  she  was  grinding  snuff 
on  the  Sabath-day,  she  flatly  denyed  doing  so ;  there  were  no  wit- 
nesses to  prove  it :  she  was  dismissed  for  this,  but  in  respect  she 
was  a  stranger  come  out  of  Lorn,  she  was  desired  to  produce  a  testi- 
monial. She  told  she  had  none :  therefore  she  is  enjoyned  to  get 
one  ere  Candlemas,  otherwise  to  leaf  the  parish.  This  she  pro- 
mised." 

Unfortunately  Katrin  could  not  get  a  "  character,"  and  she 
was  dismissed  the  parish  !  It  would  have  required  an  inbred 


The  Reformed  Church.  275 

Pharisee,  of  the  purest  descent  from  the  time  of  Moses,  to  have 
kept  a  Kingarth  Sabbath  better  than  Elspa  Muir  did  : — 

"  Ap.  7,  1667:  whilk  day  compeired  Elspa  Muir,  being  sum- 
moned and  callt,  confessed  she  took  up  the  rock  [distaff]  on  the 
Sabbath  but  did  not  spin.  She  is  ordained  to  be  rebuked  publicly, 
and  to  be  admonisht  that  she  keep  holy  the  Sabbath." 

Keeping  holy  the  Sabbath  was  properly  defined  to  the 
people  there : — 

March  12,  1671. — Masters,  servants,  and  children  were 
ordained  to  attend  church,  and  return  home  without  "  vaiging 
and  drinking," — transgressors  to  stand  on  the  pillar  and  pay 
forty  shillings. 

"Jan.  15,  1670  :  whilk  day  it  is  ordained  that  intimation  be  made 
that  no  person  use  their  worldly  talk  or  business  on  the  Sabbath, 
otherwise  to  be  noticed  by  an  elder  and  delated  to  be  censured." 

This  meant  their  own  proper  parish  church ;  and  in  1678  parish- 
ioners of  Kingarth  going  to  Rothesay  church  were  fined  6d. 
Scots,  because  "the  poor  wants  their  charity  at  the  kirk." 
William  Blair,  the  ferrier  at  Kilmichael,  was  ordained,  under 
penalty,  in  1700  not  to  row  travellers  over  to  Kames  unless 
"  they  can  evidence  the  same  to  be  upon  urgent  necessitie." 

If  the  Church  seemed  a  hard  taskmaster  in  demanding  such 
constant  attendance  on  public  duty,  it  was  not  without  a  sense 
of  a  Samaritanism  which  cared  for  the  comforts  of  the  creature. 
The  Rothesay  session  record  bears : — 

"June  27,  1692. — It  is  enacted  and  ordained  that  no  hostler 
or  innkeepers  shall  sell  any  drink  in  tyme  of  sermon  except  to  kirk 
persons,  and  this  act  to  be  intimated  the  next  Lord's  day." 


276  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

But  those  slow  in  gathering  to  worship  were  first  admon- 
isht,  then  "  unlawt "  (fined). 

To  be  wilfully  absent  from  the  Communion  was  an  offence 
requiring  the  criminal  "  to  pay  46  shillings  and  to  stand  on 
the  pillar  ane  Sunday,  as  also  appoints  the  guiltinesse  of 
his  fault  to  be  referred  to  the  Kirk-session." 

The  elders  did  not  escape  ministerial  supervision,  being 
exhorted  to  be  faithful  and  exemplary: — 

"Rothesay,  March  8,  1687. — That  day  the  minister  requested  the 
elders  that  because  he  was  now  by  his  sermons  and  catechisings 
preparing  the  people  for  the  holy  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
therefore  they  should  take  care  by  their  example  and  authority  to 
persuade  and  lead  all  the  people,  to  all  occasion  that  might  dispose 
their  spirits  for  so  divine  an  action." 

Nor  were  elders'  duties  perfunctory,  and  permitting  them  to 
slumber  at  home  on  the  Sabbath-days  : — 

"Rothesay,  2 d  June  1700. — The  Session  appoints  the  Elders 
who  are  to  collect  the  poores  alms  should  still  in  their  rounde  be 
observant  that  there  be  no  misdemeanor  or  misbehavior  in  the  toun 
on  the  Lord's  day;  and  that  the  Countrey  elder  take  a  walk 
through  the  toun  in  the  time  of  the  English  sermon,  and  challenge 
all  miscariages  he  perceives,  and  call  such  people  to  account  whom 
he  suspects  to  stay  from  church  without  a  relevant  excuse :  and  the 
Toun  Elder  to  take  notice  in  the  time  of  the  Irish  sermon  and  do 
in  the  same  manner.  Moreover,  the  toun  elder  is  appointed  after 
sermon  to  goe  and  take  any  one  of  his  neighbour  elders  he  thinks 
fit  to  pitch  upon,  and  walk  once  or  twice  in  the  Sabbath  evening 
through  the  whole  toun,  and  observe  and  reprove  any  breach  of 
Sabbath  or  smaller  indecencies  they  can  find,  and  if  persons  con- 
tinue obstinate  and  will  not  forbeare  upon  their  reproofs,  they  are  to 
delate  them  to  the  session." 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that,  in  the  glorious  days  of 


The  Reformed  Chiirch.  277 

the  Covenant,  the  people  found  every  inducement  to  attend 
public  worship,  when  on  the  one  hand  they  were  in  terror 
of  the  judgment,  and  on  the  other  were  entertained  so 
variously  with  all  the  spiciest  morsels  from  human  experi- 
ence which  the  pulpit  took  cognisance  of — from  a  young 
wife's  "scunners"  to  an  old  wife's  snuff,  from  David  dancing 
before  the  ark  to  Patrick  condemned  to  pipe  no  more,  not 
to  mention  "  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law."  No  modern 
Society  journal  could  have  afforded  so  choice  a  weekly 
budget  of  Sabbath  entertainment  as  the  Covenanting  Kirk 
of  Scotland. 

Offenders  were  made  to  stand,  in  the  way  of  punishment, 
or  to  "satisfy,"  on  the  pillar,  the  stand,  or  in  the  branks, 
jougs,  or  stocks. 

The  "pillar"  was  an  erection  at  the  foot  of  the  pulpit, 
with  several  steps,  which  indicated  the  degree  of  the  offence. 
The  higher  the  ascent  was  the  farther  from  grace.  In  other 
parishes  it  was  simply  a  stool  or  a  form. 

The  "  stand  "  was  no  less  prominent  a  place,  being  outside 
the  door  and  covered  to  protect  the  delinquent  from  the 
elements.  In  Kingarth,  in  1694,  "the  kirk  stand"  was  so 
much  out  of  repair  that  Ninian  Stewart,  the  carpenter,  was 
employed  to  repair  it  with  "slait,  fogg,  or  lime." 

The  "  branks,"  or  iron-bonnet,  was  used  for  scolds ;  the 
"stocks"  for  beggars  and  inebriates;  the  "jougs"  for  the 
contumacious. 

The  sessions  were  much  exercised  in  trying  to  extirpate 
slandering,  which  is  a  failing  in  Bute  not  easily  eradicated. 
On  the  first  offence,  the  slanderers  were  enjoined  "to  for- 
give each  other  freely,"  and  for  the  second  offence  paid  20 
pounds  Scots. 


278  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

In  1670,  "Jane  Hunter,  goodwife  of  Kerelamont,  com- 
plaint to  the  session  that  Katrine  M'llmertin,  her  neighbour, 
had  most  maliciously,  vilely,  and  ignominiously  slandered 
her  in  saying  that  she  did  eat  lice,"  and  sought  justice.  "The 
session  ordains  Katrin  M'llmertin  to  stand  on  the  pillar 
the  next  Lord's  day,  since  she  publisht  such  a  vile  lying 
slander."  But  Katrine  proved  contumacious,  and  was  "  un- 
lawed  "  (fined)  in  2  pounds  Scots. 

Mary  M'Conochie  said  to  Agnes  Hyndman,  "  Witch,  witch, 
go  home  to  your  house  and  see  if  ye  have  the  devil  in  your 
kist  or  your  master  in  the  cove,"  and  for  this  pretty  speech 
Mary  stood  two  days  on  the  pillar  and  craved  pardon. 

One  of  the  evil  effects  of  the  siege  and  capture  of  Laird 
Lament  of  Toward  came  out  in  1659,  when  the  Laird  was 
cited  for  "slandering  Walter  Stewart,  baillie,  an  elder,  by 
accusing  him  of  wicked  counsels,  the  said  Walter  also  com- 
plaining that  Lady  Lament  said  to  her  brother,  the  Laird 
of  Ardkinglas,  that  Walter  called  him  and  other  friends 
'  Bloodthirstie  murdering  Traitors/ "  This  was  not  far  be- 
side the  mark,  but  Lament  was  reported  to  the  Presbytery. 

In  1666,  a  Rothesay  woman,  Elspeth  Spence,  was  "found 
guilty  of  slandering  Janet  Jameson,  .  .  .  and  because  the  said 
Elspeth  Spence  is  found  to  be  an  ordinar  scold,  the  Session 
appoints  that  whensoever  she  shall  be  found  to  flyte  or  scold 
again,  that  she  shall  be  led  by  the  Town  Officer  through  the 
•town,  and  that  a  paper  be  set  upon  her  forehead  containing 
her  faults,  and  thereafter  to  be  banished  the  town." 

In  1679,  the  minister,  Mr  John  Stewart,  cited  Patrick 
M'Caw,  the  tailor,  for  calling  him  a  "  common  lyar  and  tale- 
teller," and  although  Patrick  denied  the  offence,  the  minister 
proved  his  case,  and  had  the  sweet  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 


The  Reformed  Chiwch.  279 

tailor  compelled  "to  take  his  minister  be  the  hand"  and 
swear  better  conduct  for  the  future. 

The  session  had  some  mercy  for  frail  women,  as  a  case 
in  1701  shows,  when  a  Magdalene  whom  "for  the  second 
time  the  divel  got  advantage  of"  was  imprisoned  and  had 
her  head  shaved  "in  the  public  mercat-place";  but  the  session 
ordained  her  to  get  "a  peck  of  meales  piece  towards  her 
maintenance."  All  this  war  was  a  holy  crusade  against  the 
devil,  for  when  her  paramour  was  before  the  minister  he  was 
reminded  "how  loath  the  Divel  was  to  part  with  any  grip 
he  once  got."  The  argument  went  home,  and  he  gave  "  verie 
good  symptoms  of  remorse  and  contrition,"  and  "satisfied." 
The  session  had  so  reduced  spiritual  diagnosis  to  a  science, 
that  the  devil  could  not  escape  having  his  works  displayed 
in  high  places.  Some  of  his  worst  clients  "were  ordained 
to  stand  bareheaded  and  barelegged  in  sackcloth  at  the  kirk- 
dore  [St  Blaan's]  from  the  one  bell  to  the  third,  and  afterwards 
in  the  pillar  during  the  tyme  of  devyne  service,  and  that 
for  the  space  of  twell  Sabbaths,  and  also  to  pay  £20  of 
penaltie."  If  Romeo  was  complaisant  to  the  session,  and 
Juliet  still  clung  to  her  admirer,  the  scene  of  retribution 
was  rendered  more  acceptable  to  the  former  by  his  being 
permitted  to  appear  "  in  whyte  sheets  six  Sabbaths,"  before 
putting  in  the  "cries." 

Revolt  against  this  draconic  legislation  was  then  as  in- 
effective as  the  attempt  of  a  heretic  to  escape  Torquemada, 
and  was  a  greater  offence  than  the  crime  itself.  The  Presby- 
terian Church  inculcated  filial  obedience.  Its  will  was  law. 
An  Act  of  Assembly  was  as  infallible  as  a  decree  of  Papal 
Council. 

The  session  had  no  respect  of  persons  in  the  enforcing 


280  B^lte  in  the  Olden  Time. 

of  the  law,  gentle  and  simple  alike  being  dragged  before 
their  stern  tribunal.  The  Rothesay  session  had  occasion 
to  investigate  into  a  social  quarrel  which  took  place  between 
the  Lady  of  Ascog  and  the  Countess  of  Bute,  which  resulted 
in  a  terrible  fracas  among  their  servants  in  the  churchyard 
on  a  Sabbath  afternoon.  The  scene  among  the  green  mounds 
and  grey  stones  must  have  been  a  striking  one  indeed,  when 
the  fiery  "  cadies "  set  down  their  mistresses  in  their  sedan- 
chairs  to  draw  their  swords  and  call  on  each  other  as  "  cow- 
ardlie  dogs"  to  come  and  fight.  Nor  could  the  serving- 
women  brook  indifference  to  the  quarrel,  and  Grissal 
M'Lauchlan,  tiring-maid  to  Lady  Ascog,  expert  in  combing 
her  mistress's  locks,  took  hold  to  comb  those  of  David  Glass, 
who  interfered  for  peace,  "  by  the  hair  of  his  head  and  held 
the  same  fast  untill  some  who  beheld  her  relieved  him  "  from 
the  rude  carding,  and  thus  enabled  him  in  retaliation  to  give 
an  Ascog  "  cadie  "  "  a  shoak  on  the  head."  Meantime  Lady 
Ascog  is  hounding  on  the  sport.  As  the  genteel  combatants 
wound  their  way  homeward  over  the  hill,  by  the  Bush,  a 
running  commentary  of  Biblical  language,  quite  out  of  place 
in  the  mouths  of  the  laity,  was  hurled  at  each  other,  and 
staves  were  brandished  threateningly. 

The  incriminating  record  is  very  circumstantial  in  all  these 
comical  details : — 

"Likeways  Elizabeth  Robisone,  Lady  Ascog,  was  delated  for 
Sabbath-breaking,  and  particular-lie  that  upon  the  foresaid  2yth  of 
Aprile  last  [1707]  she  did  not  onlie  contribute  to  begin  the  forsaid 
Scandalous  and  Impious  tumult  in  the  Churchyard,  but  after  it  was 
thought  to  be  over,  did  more  than  once  with  a  loud  voice  Incite 
the  said  James  Allan  to  challenge  James  Stewart  and  David  Glasse 
to  come  up  the  brae  to  fight ;  and  that  when  the  Countesse  of  Bute 
Was  passing  by  her  at  a  distance,  and  in  her  chair,  she — viz.,  the 


The  Reformed  Chiirch.  281 

Lady  Ascog — gave   the   said   Countesse   sundrie  very  opprobrious 

names,  such  as and [these  epithets  would  not  be  pretty 

even  coming  from  the  lips  of  Queen  Bess],  and  that  she  was  heard 
horridlie  Imprecate  the  Earle  of  Bute  and  his  Familie,  and  saying 
that  she  hoped  ere  long  to  see  the  Earl  of  Bute's  heart-blood." 

Lady  Elizabeth  and  Allan  would  not  obey  the  citation  of 
the  session,  who  referred  the  case  to  the  Presbytery  for  advice 
— and  then  exhausted  every  means  to  place  them  under 
discipline.  But  in  vain !  At  length  it  was  announced  from 
the  pulpit  that,  for  "  weighty  and  prudent  considerations,  the 
Session  thinks  fitt  to  surcease  all  further  process  herein  for 
some  time,  until  it  please  the  Lord  to  bring  them  to  some 
sense  of  their  hazard  and  danger." 

When  fines  failed  to  create  moral  discipline,  the  magistrate 
was  called  in,  as  an  independent  woman  discovered  in  Rothe- 
say : — 

\$th  August  1 66 1. — Catherine  Wood,  summoned  for  dis- 
obedience, said  "  in  face  of  Session,  '  the  Devil  a  bit  she 
would  stand,  and  the  Devil  let  her  never  stand  more.'  The 
Session  appoints  her  to  be  put  in  the  Joggs  at  the  Kirk- 
door  upon  Sunday  next  betwixt  the  second  and  third  bell 
for  her  contempt,  and  to  satisfie  for  the  fault  as  was  enjoyned." 
The  officer  reported  he  could  not  get "  haud  "  of  Catherine,  and 
the  session  ordained  the  magistrates  to  "  grip  "  her.  If  every- 
thing failed  to  subdue,  the  offender  was  then  excommunicated, 
and  forbidden  to  live  in  the  parish.  The  Episcopal  bishop 
in  1685  restrained  this  inquisitorial  power.  A  fugitive  had 
no  resting-place,  since  in  every  parish  a  travelling  or  dis- 
joining certificate  was  required  on  arrival.  Irish  vagrants 
were  sent  back  to  their  own  country,  and  the  mendicant 
class  had  metal  tokens  or  badges  assuring  the  public  of 


282  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

their  genuine  poverty.  The  bulk  of  the  church  collections 
went  for  their  maintenance,  and  was  disbursed  by  the  elders 
or  deacons.  In  Rothesay,  in  1691,  twenty-eight  poor  persons 
were  relieved,  £20,  which  were  nearly  the  total  collections, 
being  distributed  amongst  them.  After  this  the  number  of 
the  poor  increased.  In  Kingarth,  in  1692,  the  poor's  col- 
lection of  £5,  45.  Scots  was  distributed  among  nine  poor 
persons.  The  session  forced  the  parishioners  to  do  their 
duty  to  their  poor  relatives  and  neighbours.  On  nth  August 
1659,  Rothesay  session  appoint  the  farmers  in  the  north  end 
to  lay  down  the  material  for,  and  instruct  two  masons  to 
build,  a  house  at  Atrick  for  Matthew  Bannatyne,  a  leper, 
and  ordain  his  sister  "to  wait  on  him."  In  1661  they  assisted 
a  leper  named  M'llduy. 

Another  important  element  in  public  life  which  came  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Church  was  education.  One  worthy 
result  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland  was  the  fresh  impulse 
given  to  education,  for  the  maintenance  of  which  the  Re- 
formed clergy  made  an  earnest  and  successful  effort  to  obtain 
part  of  the  "  patrimony  of  the  Church." 

The  first  parish  school  in  Kingarth  was  opened  in  1654. 

The  statement  that  the  people  of  Scotland  once  possessed 
"  the  ancient  privilege  of  free  education,"  though  frequently 
asserted  as  true,  is  an  unworthy  fabrication.  Fees  have 
been  exacted  in  Scottish  schools,  except  from  the  poorest 
children,  from  time  immemorial.  Evidence  regarding  the 
means  whereby  the  Romanist  clerks  and  schoolmasters  were 
paid  for  their  school  duties  to  those  preparing  for  offices  in 
the  Romish  Church,  and  to  the  children  permitted  to  attend 
school  with  them,  is  scanty.  But  ample  records  remain  to 
show  that  prior  to  the  Reformation  fees  for  education  were 


The  Reformed  Church.  283 

paid.  Pre-Reformation  schools,  though  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Church,  do  not  all  seem  to  have  been  part  of  the 
organisation  of  the  Church ;  and  since  monastic  schools 
were  few  and  far  distant  from  each  other,  through  exped- 
iency were  founded  private  "lecture  schools"  and  "dame 
schools,"  for  whose  maintenance,  without  fees  or  bequests, 
there  seemed  to  be  no  provision  made  either  out  of  "the 
scoloc  lands  "for  poor  scholars  or  the  ordinary  revenues  of 
the  Church.  In  the  fifteenth  century  there  must  have  been 
a  minimum  of  enthusiasm  for  education  among  the  laity, 
when  it  was  necessary  by  Act  of  Parliament,  1494,  cap.  54, 
to  compel  even  the  barons  and  freeholders,  under  a  penalty, 
to  send  their  eldest  sons  to  school  from  their  sixth  to  their 
twelfth  year.  In  towns  and  burghs  the  need  of  education 
was  more  felt,  so  that  in  the  sixteenth  century  magistrates 
founded  or  maintained  in  efficiency  "grammar  schules"  and 
"art  schules,"  whose  teachers  were  paid  salaries,  each  of 
forty  shillings  and  upwards,  which  without  the  supplement 
of  fees  can  be  easily  computed  to  be  inadequate  as  the  full 
payment  of  a  teacher.  This  was  a  voluntary  imposition  on 
the  part  of  the  citizens,  who  at  tuck  of  drum  met  to  fix  a 
teacher's  salary,  as,  in  1529,  the  townsmen  of  Aberdeen  met 
at  their  cross  for  this  purpose.  In  some  towns  unauthorised 
schools  were  extinguished. 

At  the  Reformation  the  Protestant  clergy  were  unsuccess- 
ful in  obtaining  from  the  greedy  barons  and  Crown  agents 
part  of  the  confiscated  patrimony  of  the  Church  to  form  a 
sustentation  fund  for  the  maintenance  of  parish  schools.  A 
meagre  moiety  remained  for  the  Reformed  Church,  and  it 
would  be  unreason  for  the  people  of  Scotland  to  further 
confiscate  the  small  portion  preserved  for  the  higher  educa- 


284  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

tion  of  the  adult  masses  by  the  Church,  while  a  national 
settlement  of  the  older  question  of  the  real  proprietorship 
of  the  larger  portion  is  possible.  It  perhaps  might  not  be 
comfortable  for  those  who  demand  a  second  spoliation  if  it 
could  be  shown  that  some  of  them  are  inheritors  of  those 
against  whom  the  statute  of  1633,  cap.  6,  was  directed  to 
prevent  them  further  diverting  the  gifts,  legacies,  and  pious 
donations  left  to  churches  and  schools  for  their  own  private 
uses,  and  if  they  were  asked  to  give  an  account  of  their 
stewardship.  History  would  then  reveal  strange  facts  re- 
garding bequests  long  since  amissing,  such  as  the  Dean- 
side  Brae  property,  given  to  Glasgow  Corporation  at  the 
Reformation. 

"  Honest  men  held  up  their  hands, 
And  wondered  who  could  do  it." 

However,  the  Acts  of  Privy  Council  and  of  Parliament  down 
to  1696  and  onwards  provided  that  schools  should  be  settled 
in  every  parish  "  upon  the  expense  of  the  parochiners,"  for 
which  the  heritors  were  "stented,"  with  relief  to  extent  of 
one-half  the  tax  from  their  tenants.  Thus,  any  way  looked 
at,  the  burden  of  education  has  always  fallen  to  some  extent 
directly  on  the  people  themselves.  The  execution  of  the 
provisions  of  these  Acts  was  intrusted  to  the  Presbytery, 
and  by  them  to  the  kirk-sessions  generally. 

"  Kingarth,  Oct.  16,  1670  :  Quhilk  day  the  Heretors  and  Elders 
present  ordain  that  there  be  a  schoolhouse  provided  for  at  the  moor 
butts  of  Quschaig,  as  being  the  most  centrical  place  of  the  parish 
for  a  school,  and  do  agree  with  Mr  John  Gragan,  recomended  to 
them  be  Mr  Archibald  Graham,  Minister  of  Rothesay,  to  be  their 
Schoolmaster,  and  for  his  encouragement  to  teach  the  bairn,  they 
ordain  him  5  sh.  out  of  every  merkland  in  the  parish  and  3  sh.  4d. 
from  each  cotter  that  hes  sowing,  and  2od.  from  these  that  have  not 


The  Reformed  Church.  285 

sowing,  with  20  merks  out  of  the  Session  bag  if  it  bees,  12  sh.  out 
of  every  baptism,  a  groat  is  for  the  beddel,  and  two  groats  to  the 
schoolmaster  and  6  sh.  to  the  beddel,  with  8  sh.  quarterly  from  every 
child  that  comes  to  school;  providing  always  that  the  said  John 
Gragan  find  bond  and  cation  to  give  an  whol  year  from  Mertinmes 
1670  till  Mertinmes  1671." 

But  a  winter  in  Kingarth  was  enough  for  Gragan,  and  he 
"  was  payd  off  and  dismist,  in  respect  they  can  not  get  him 
a  frequent  schole,  nor  sufficient  maintenance,  he  being  a 
stranger,  and  that  Lubas  give  out  of  the  Kirk-box  5  merk 
Scots,  and  that  the  officer  puind  such  as  refust  to  pay  for 
their  merklands." 

So  Kingarth  did  not  pine  for  education  then.  They  next 
employed  Jonat  Walker,  a  decent  woman  at  Langalchorad, 
at  20  sh.  a  month,  to  teach  the  youth.  But  Jonat  took  to 
drinking  and  flyting,  and  had  to  make  a  very  public  ap- 
pearance in  the  church  more  than  once.  Manus  O'Conochar 
was  appointed  to  the  office  of  teacher,  which  he  held  till 
1682,  when  he  was  advanced  to  be  beadle,  an  office  he  held 
for  seventeen  years,  till  his  death. 

"Kingarth)  Oct.  25,  1699  :  Whilk  day  the  Heretors  and  Elders 
,  .  .  make  choice  of  James  O'Conochar  to  be  their  Scholmaster, 
.  and  for  his  encouragment  he  is  to  have  the  dues  formerly 
possessed,  whilk  was  5  sh.  out  of  every  merkland  in  the  parish  and 
3  sh.  4d.  from  each  cottar  that  have  sowing ;  1 2  sh.  out  of  the 
mariage,  and  as  many  out  of  the  mariage  to  the  Bidel ;  4  sh.  out  of 
the  baptism  and  as  many  to  the  Bidel  with  sh.  for  every  child  of 
quarter  wages." 

"  Kingarth)  Jan.  8,  1700  :  Whilk  day  the  Session  finding  severals 
backward  and  unwilling  to  send  their  children  to  school  to  be 
taught  and  instructed,  therefor  it's  thought  fitt  that  the  former  act 
anent  the  school  be  renued  and  in  force,  that  whosoever  may  and  is 
able  to  send  their  children  to  school  be  obliged  to  send  them  one 


286  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

or  mor,  otherwise  that  they  be  compelled  to  pay  the  quarter  wages 
quarterly,  and  this  to  be  intimate  next  sabbath." 

This  is  not  a  solitary  instance  of  the  working  of  the  early 
Education  Acts.  The  teaching  of  the  poor  children  only 
was  provided  for  out  "  of  the  common  expenses  "  of  burghs 
and  out  of  parish  kirk-session  funds,  a  custom  long  prevalent 
in  many  places.  Permission  was  also  given  to  poor  children 
(as  in  Luther's  case  in  Germany)  to  forage  for  their  meat ; 
while  others  who  were  not  able  to  bring  sterling  money 
brought  their  wages  in  kind — farm  produce,  peats,  &c. 

The  re-establishment  of  Episcopacy  did  not  change  the 
"use  and  wont"  of  payment  of  fees,  and  teachers  were,  as 
formerly,  paid  their  "  sallarys,  casualtys,  perquisites,  and  em- 
oluments." In  the  Burgh  Records  of  Rothesay  the  minute 
of  the  appointment  of  Mr  James  Stewart,  teacher  in  1661, 
clearly  sets  forth  the  different  items  in  his  emoluments : — 

"  40  pounds  Scotis  of  the  readiest  common  gudes  of  the  said 
burgh :  together  with  the  accustomed  college  fees,  penalties,  and 
duties  payable,  be  the  country  conform  to  use  and  wont,  and  the 
proceeding  acts  and  ordinances  made  thereanent." 

Again,  in  December  1680,  on  making  another  appointment, 
the  magistrates,  heritors,  and  session  mutually  agreed  to 
cancel  this  settlement,  and  to  provide  for  the  teacher  a  better 
salary,  made  up  of  (i)  the  ordinary  stent,  (2)  precentors' 
fees,  (3)  fees  ;  "  and  for  the  schoolmaster's  encouragement 
they  agree  every  burges  bairn  within  the  toun  shall  pay 
quarterly  ten  shillings  Scots  for  every  one  that  learns  Scots, 
and  every  Latiner  [a  blank  here]  and  every  landward  bairn 
of  the  parish  quarterly  [blank]  for  Latine,  and  every  stranger 
therein  the  same  fiall,"  &c.  It  has  also  to  be  noticed 


The  Reformed  Church.  287 

that  in  fixing  the  fees  they  are  generally  mentioned  as  "  ac- 
cording to  use  and  wont."  It  has  been  said  that  the  Act 
43  Geo.  III.,  c.  54,  1803,  imposed  a  new  and  unjust  tax  upon 
the  Scottish  people.  That  is  not  the  case.  That  Act  of  1803 
recognised  the  existence  of  school-fees  as  "  the  ancient  privi- 
lege "  of  the  teacher,  as  formerly  fixed  by  kirk-sessions  and 
magistrates ;  and,  in  "  making  better  provision  for  the  par- 
ochial schoolmasters,"  transferred  the  power  of  fixing  these 
fees  to  heritors  possessed  of  land  valued  at  one  hundred 
pounds  Scots  only,  with  the  parish  minister,  a  fact  clearly 
borne  out  by  the  definite  wording  of  that  Act,  §  18, — "the 
heritors  qualified  as  is  hereby  required,  &c.,  shall  have  the 
power  of  fixing  the  school-fees  from  time  to  time."  And  so 
far  as  the  children  or  their  fees  are  concerned,  in  this  Act 
there  is  no  compulsory  clause,  thus  leaving  it  open  to  heritors 
to  give  teachers  the  maximum  salary,  without  fees  if  they 
chose.  Hence  from  these  and  other  facts  it  can  be  shown 
that  there  was  never  a  time  when  the  education  of  the  people 
of  Scotland  was  free  and  "an  ancient  privilege,"  except  to 
the  very  poorest  children,  who  until  1803  received  their  edu- 
cation as  a  gratuity,  often  from  the  teachers  themselves,  and 
thereafter  legally,  but  conditionally,  at  the  instance  of  the 
heritors  and  parish  minister. 

Both  young  and  old  were  under  their  supervision,  and  "  the 
compulsory  clause"  for  forcing  children  to  school  was  in 
unresisted  force.  Nor  was  all  this  system  founded  on  a 
narrow  view  of  life  which  failed  to  recognise  the  humanities. 
Far  from  it.  In  1650,  the  Presbytery  ordered  a  collection 
throughout  the  bounds  for  a  farmer  burned  out  of  his  stead- 
ing :  appeals  were  made  for  distressed  Scotsmen  in  England, 
slaves,  a  Presbyterian  church  in  England,  and  other  works  of 


288  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

mercy.  The  session  in  1702  collected  money  for  the  making 
of  a  bridge  at  Water  of  Leckan,  besides  assessing  for  the 
building  and  repairing  of  the  ecclesiastical  edifices  in  the 
parish. 

Laslt  scene  of  all,  —  the  session  controlled  the  burials  of  the 
parishioners.  Coffins  were  not  commonly  used  for  interments, 
and  each  parish  possessed  a  "  common  chist  "  ready  for  public 
use  to  convey  the  dead  to  the  churchyard.  The  coffin  of 
Kingarth  in  1693  cost  20  shillings. 

In  1701,  in  Rothesay  — 

"  The  session  desiderates  yet  the  want  of  ane  engyne  to  convey 
the  coffin  convenientlie  into  the  grave  with  the  corps.  Therefore 
they  have  appointed  John  M'Neill,  Thesaurer,  to  agree  with  a  smith 
to  make  and  join  to  the  said  chest  a  loose  iron  cleik  fit  for  receiv- 
ing a  man's  hand,  one  at  everie  end,  and  to  pay  the  workman  for  the 
same,  and  appoints  the  said  chist  when  finished  to  be  committed  to 
the  care  of  the  Kirk  Officer,  and  he  is  hereby  strictly  appointed  to 
take  particular  care  that  the  said  chest  when  used  be  no  way  damni- 
fied, or  if  it  be,  that  the  person  to  whom  it  was  delivered  should  be 
obliged  by  him  to  repair  the  damnage." 

Before  1660  the  corpse  was  brought  to  the  churchyard 
before  the  grave  was  dug  —  relatives  usually  performed  this 
office  —  and  left  on  the  ground  till  the  grave  was  "hocked." 
To  end  this  indecency,  the  session  ordained  that  "in  time 
coming,  the  grave  be  hocked  before  the  corps  comes  to  the 
kirk-yard,  under  the  pain  of  403.  to  be  paid  by  him  whose 
duty  the  session  shall  find  it  is  to  look  to  the  dead's  buriall." 

In  the  transit  from  the  house  to  the  grave,  the  corpse  and 
the  coffin  was  covered  by  a  black  mortcloth  which  belonged 
to  the  session,  and  was  let  out  for  a  small  fee. 


.  —  "And  the  method  according  to  which  the  session  agrees 
the  said  mort-cloath  should  be  let  out  —  /.*.,  For  Fourtie  Shilling 


The  Reformed  Church.  289 

Scots  per  night  to  any  within  the  twentie  pound  Land  of  Rothesay, 
and  For  Four  Shilling  sterling  per  night  to  any  in  the  country  of 
Bute,  and  if  at  any  time  it  was  Imployed  without  the  Isle,  it  was  to 
be  For  a  dollor  the  first  night  and  Fourtie  shilling  Scots  per  night 
thereafter." 

In  1708,  the  Rothesay  mortcloth  cost  £18  Scots.  All  that 
now  remained  for  the  minister  to  do  was  to  cut  the  green 
grass  of  the  churchyard  for  his  cattle — it  was  his  perquisite — 
and  for  the  session  to  see  that  the  mourners  believed  that 
the  departed  were  either  in  heaven  or  hell,  for  Presbytery 
permitted  no  belief  in  Purgatory. 

What  influence  the  establishment  of  Episcopacy  in  Scot- 
land had  locally  I  have  been  quite  unable  to  discover 
from  any  sources.  It  seems,  however,  from  lack  of  tradition, 
to  have  been  slight  and  transitory.  The  burgesses  and  the 
farmers  seem  to  have  clung  to  the  Presbyterian  polity,  while 
the  Sheriff's  family  sided  with  the  royalist  party  and  their 
southern  fashions  and  faith. 

The  parish  church  of  Rothesay  became  the  Cathedral  of 
the  Bishopric  of  Sodor,  a  see  over  which  the  following 
bishops  presided  : — 

Andrew  Knox,  A.M.  of  Glasgow,  minister  first  at  Lochwinnoch, 
then  at  Paisley,  was  appointed  to  the  Bishopric  of  the  Isles 
and  the  Abbacy  of  lona  on  26.  April  1606.  He  was  translated 
to  the  see  of  Raphoe,  in  Ireland,  26th  June  1611,  and  died 
at  Ramullen  Castle,  iyth  March  1633,  aged  seventy-three. 

Thomas  Knox,  his  son,  succeeded  to  the  office.  He  was  rector  of 
Clondevaddock  in  Ireland.  He  died  about  1626,  and,  accord- 
ing to  Blain,  in  Rothesay. 

John  Leslie,  rector  of  St  Martin-le-Vintry,  in  London,  was  nominated 
by  King  Charles  I.  to  the  Bishopric  on  August  17,  1628.  He 
was  eldest  son  of  George  Leslie  of  Crichie,  and  a  graduate 
VOL.  II.  T 


290  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

of  Aberdeen.  In  1633  he  became  Bishop  of  Raphoe,  in  1661 
Bishop  of  Clogher,  and  died  in  1671,  in  the  hundredth  year  of 
his  age,  at  Glasslough,  Monaghan. 

Neil  Campbell,  parson  of  Kilmichael-Glassary,  Argyle,  was  appointed 
bishop  in  1634,  and  died  about  1646. 

"  Mr  Robert  Wallace,  minister  of  Barn  well,  in  the  Shire  of  Air, 
famous  for  his  large  stomack,  got  the  Bishoprick  of  the  Isles, 
though  he  understood  not  one  word  of  the  language  of  the 
natives.  He  was  a  relative  of  the  Chancellor's,  and  that  was 
enough."1  He  was  consecrated  at  Holyrood  in  1662,  and 
died  in  Rothesay  in  1675,  leaving,  by  Margaret  Cunningham, 
his  wife,  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  The  following  is  the 
epitaph  on  his  tombstone  in  Rothesay  churchyard : — 

"  Hie  jacet  Reverendus  Robertus  Wallas,  Episcopus  Sodor- 
ensis  qui,  post  annos — providens  in  sacro  ministerio  piu  et 
fideliter  peractos,  huic  muneri  prsepositus  insulis  pcene  vacuis, 
verbi  prceconio  pastores  suffecit,  veritatis  propugnator  strenuus, 
regi  fidus,  de  ecclesia  semper  bene  meritus,  adolescentium 
patronus  munificus  summo  omnium  bonorum  desiderio,  fato 
cessit  Rothesaiae,  tertio  idus  Maias  MDCLXXV,  setatis  suae  Iv." 

Then  follows  the  Wallace  coat  of  arms — first  and  fourth,  the 
lion  rampant ;  second  and  third,  the  fess  cheeky — and  the 
initials  "R.  W."  The  rest  of  the  inscription  is  illegible. 

The  successor  of  Bishop  Wallace  was  Archibald  Graham,  who  was 
deprived  at  the  Revolution,  and  died  at  Edinburgh  on  23d 
June  1702,  aged  fifty-eight.  He  bequeathed  his  library  to  the 
poor  of  Rothesay,  and  part  of  it  is  still  in  possession  of  the 
kirk-session,  part  having  been  sold  for  the  poor,  as  the  follow- 
ing minute  of  session  bears  : — 

"Rothesay,  April  13,  1715 — The  minister  reports,  that 
about  the  beginning  of  February  last  he  received  nineteen 
pounds  eighteen  shillings  Scots,  which  was  resting  for  a  little 
parcell  that  was  sold  of  the  Books  mortified  to  this  session  by 
the  late  Bishop  of  the  Isles  for  the  use  of  the  poor." 

The  session  record  begins  5th  August  1658.     On  loth  Dec- 

1  Wo.drow,  '  Hist,  of  the  Sufferings,'  &c.,  vol.  i.  book  i.  p.  102. 


The  Reformed  Church.  291 

ember   1680   it  is   signed  by  Archibald   Graham,   Bishop   of 
Sodor — "Arch.  Sodoren."     (See  pp.  294,  298.) 

The  following  is  a  list  and  condensed  account  of  the  min- 
isters of  Kingarth  and  Rothesay  since  the  Reformation  : 1— 

1572.  King  James  VI.  presented  Archibald  Sinclair  to  the  parson- 
age and  vicarage  of  Kingarth  on  the  i8th  March  1572. 

1597.  Patrick  Stewart,  A.M.,  was  son  of  John,  usher  to  King  James 
VI.,  who  presented  him  to  the  vicarage  about  1608.  He 
was  translated  to  Rothesay  in  1623.  (See  p.  298.) 

1626.  Donald  Omey,  a  graduate  of  Glasgow,  1622,  had  the  church 
at  Keel,  Southend,  succeeded  or  was  colleague  to  Patrick 
Stewart,  and  was  translated  to  Lochhead,  Campbeltown, 
about  1639. 

1639.  James   Maxwell,   graduate  of  Glasgow,    1628;    son  of  the 

minister  of  Mearns ;  presented  to  Holywood  and  Keir  in 
1633;  assistant-minister  of  Kingarth  in  1640;  became 
minister  of  Kirkgunzeon,  2oth  September  1656. 

1640.  John  Campbell,  graduate  of  Glasgow  in  1637  \  admitted  8th 

November  1640;  died  in  1645. 

1645.  Archibald  M'Laine,  graduate  of  Edinburgh,  1639,  was  pre- 
sented by  Charles  I.,  i8th  June  1645,  an^  translated  to 
Row  in  1648. 

1649.  John  Stewart,  graduate  of  Glasgow,  chaplain  at  Kinloch  in 
Campbeltown  in  1648,  admitted  to  Kingarth  3ist  January 
1649,  was  appointed  by  the  Synod  to  translate  the  Shorter 
Catechism  and  part  of  the  Psalms  into  Irish — the  latter 
Irish  metre.  On  3oth  June  1658  Stewart  was  translated 
to  Rothesay. 

1660.  Alexander  M'Laine,  translated  from  Kilmaglass  i9th  March 
1660,  deprived  by  Act  of  Parliament  in  1662. 

1664.  From  March  to  July  1664  session  was  "keiped  by  Mr 
Robert  Aird." 

1  This  list  has  been  compiled  from  Scot's  *  Fasti  Eccl.  Scot.'  and  local  records, 
with  the  assistance  of  Rev.  J.  Saunders,  Kingarth. 


292  Brite  in  the  Olden  Time. 

1665.  John  Stewart,  graduate,  Glasgow,  1651;  presented  1665; 
appears  in  session  ist  August  1665. 

"  Oct.  26,  1673. — It  was  thought  fitt  to  be  recorded  here  that 
about  this  time  the  chamber  of  the  manse,  where  the  minister 
was  studying,  did  fall  down  on  a  sudden  at  once,  so  that  by  the 
admirable  providence  of  God  the  minister  was  preserved,  he  being 
at  the  time  not  in,  he  only  stept  in  to  a  little  study,  hearing  some 
creaking,  not  suspecting  the  house,  but  thinking  it  had  been 
some  drops  of  rain  dropping  on  his  books,  so  that  the  top  of  the 
study  saved  him  from  being  crushed  to  death,  for  which  he  and 
all  concerned  are  ever  obliged  to  be  faithful  to  God  and  bless  him." 

From  July  1674  onwards  for  several  years  the  minister  could 
not,  because  of  bodily  infirmity,  attend  the  session  meetings. 
There  are  two  curious  minutes  bearing  upon  this  period — one 
being  a  minute  by  the  Synod  of  Argyle  referring  to  what  Stewart 
had  done  under  Episcopacy,  without  the  approval  of  Presbytery ; 
the  other  the  minister's  correction  of  their  complaint  to  this 
effect,  that  in  September  1668  Mr  Robert  Wallace,  Bishop  of 
the  Isles,  and  the  Presbytery  had  visited  Kingarth,  when  "  the 
minister  preached  and  was  approven  in  doctrine,  discipline,  and 
conversation;  that  the  same  occurred  with  Mr  Andrew  Wood, 
Bishop  of  the  Isles,  and  that  the  third  visitation  was  "  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Cowal  in  January  1691,  at  whilk  time  those  present 
wold  have  the  minister  deprived,  and  the  place  clear  to  have 
Gospel  ordinances  planted  there,  for  no  other  reason  but  because 
he  being  under  the  afflicting  hand  of  God  by  atrocious  flux  for  five 
years  and  a  half,  he  was  not  able  for  the  present  to  serve  the 
cure  (for  there  was  no  other  cause  inquired  into),  but  it  pleased 
God  of  his  infinit  goodness — he  hath  compassion  on  the  afflicted 
— to  restore  the  minister  shortly  after  to  better  health,  so  that  by 
the  good  hand  of  God  upon  him  he  was  able  to  exercise  his 
function,  and  by  the  favour  of  the  government  continued  in  his 
charge  and  keept  possession." 

The  meetings  of  session  were  held  at  this  period  at  the  kirk 
of  Kingarth,  Langalchorad,  Kilchattan  Mill,  Clachanuisk,  and 
other  places.  In  December  1675  the  nave  of  St  Blaan's  Church 
fell  into  ruin. 


The  Reformed  Church.  293 

"1675. — This  year,  upon  the  19  day  of  December,  by  an 
horrible  and  great  storm  of  wind,  the  roof  [it  was  new  in  1670] 
of  the  kirk  was  blown  off  in  the  night-time.  It  was  a  remarkable 
and  singular  providence  of  God  that  it  fell  not  on  the  Sabbath 
when  people  were  assembled  for  divine  worship,  but  that  it  came 
to  pass  on  Saturday's  night." 

"April  9,  1676. — This  year,  in  respect  the  kirk  was  ruinous, 
and  no  certain  place  where  divine  worship  might  be  constantly 
performed,  but  being  in  a  flitting  condition  here  and  there,  as 
the  weather  would  permit,  sometimes  at  a  hillside,  on  a  good  day, 
sometimes  in  the  cove  at  Ardniho,  sometymes  in  a  barn  at  Langal- 
rorad,  and  at  Kilcattan  milne,  therefor  there  were  few  sessions 
keepit  and  many  of  the  minutes  lost." 

The  session  record  for  December  23  bears,  "Whilk  day  it's 
ordained  that  the  pulpit  be  taken  down  out  of  the  place  where 
it  stands,  and  got  into  the  Quire,  and  that  sermon  be  here  when 
the  weather  is  seasonable."  At  Langalchorad,  on  the  27th 
February  1677,  "the  heretors  and  gentlemen"  of  the  parish 
make  "  a  band  anent  the  biging  of  the  New  Kirk,"  which  was 
seated  for  250  persons.  It  was  finished  in  1680,  and  in  October 
of  that  year  the  heritors,  feuars,  and  other  parishioners  "after 
advertisement"  met  to  divide  the  kirk,  "when  the  Sheriff  of 
Bute  was  apportioned  the  whole  Isle  [aisles]  on  the  north  side 
of  the  kirk,  high  and  low,  allowing  him  if  he  please  to  loft  the 
said  Isle,  .  .  .  and  that  Manus  O'Conochar  presently  take  up 
the  School  in  the  kirk."  At  a  subsequent  meeting,  "The  session 
agreed  with  James  Rodger  to  secure  the  glass  windows  with 
wire — to  wit,  all  the  low  windows,  in  number  seven,  for  whilk 
he  is  to  have  sixteen  marks  out  of  the  readiest  of  the  stent  or 
kirk  fines."  It  was  also  appointed  that  the  space  betwixt  the 
north  door  and  the  aisle  be  for  a  pillar  of  public  repentance. 
This  Church  from  the  middle  of  last  century  was  called  the 
Mid  Kirk,  to  distinguish  it  from  St  Blaan's  and  Mountstuart 
churches. 

The  present  parish  church,  built  in    1826,  stands  on   the 
site  of  the  Mid  Kirk. 


294  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

1682.  Archibald  Graham,  A.M.,  was  presented  by  Charles  II., 
3oth  August  1682,  and  held  both  the  bishopric  and  the 
parishes  of  Rothesay  and  Kingarth.  (See  p.  290.) 
1691.  John  Stewart,  as  above  stated,  was  reinstated  in  Kingarth, 
keeping  session  in  July  1691.  He  died  October  1703, 
aged  72. 

On  27th  August  1703,  the  Earl  of  Bute  received  the  patronage 
of  Kingarth  from  Queen  Anne. 
1704.  Robert  Glen  was  admitted  2oth  September  1704,  and  was 

translated  to  Lochgoil  in  1724. 

It  appears  from  a  minute  of  Presbytery,  date  27th  December 
1715,  that  on  the  threatened  invasion  of  Argyle  and  Inveraray 
by  the  Highland  rebels,  the  records  of  Dunoon  Presbytery  were 
removed  for  safety  to  Ardgowan  Castle.  In  the  spring  of  the 
next  year  the  Presbytery  are  informed  that  the  said  papers  had 
been  returned,  although  the  Clerk  stated  he  had  not  received 
them.  When  returned,  they  do  not  seem  to  have  been  bound 
up  with  the  other  volumes  of  record,  for  in  1820  the  Clerk 
writes  to  Dr  Lee,  Clerk  of  General  Assembly,  a  letter  in  which 
he  declares  that  the  Presbytery  records  between  the  years  1716 
and  1736  were  amissing.  All  the  while  they  have  lain  among 
the  papers  returned  from  Ardgowan.  It  would  seem  from  these 
minutes  that  at  nine  o'clock  of  the  night  of  the  3d  March  1724, 
after  the  induction  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Glen,  of  Kingarth,  to  the 
five-years'-vacant  parish  of  Lochgoyll,  the  parish  of  Kingarth  was 
declared  vacant,  and  the  usual  steps  consequent  thereon  were 
taken.  The  vacant  "  steepends  "  are  lifted  to  pay  probationers 
ten  shillings  a  Sunday  for  supply  of  the  pulpit.  Two  years  pass, 
and  apparently  no  attempt  is  being  made  to  fill  up  the  vacancy. 
That  was  not  an  uncommon  result  of  the  exercise  of  the  Patron- 
age Act  of  Queen  Anne,  enacted  in  1711.  The  third  Earl  of 
Bute  was  then  a  minor,  and  his  affairs  were  being  managed  by 
his  mother  and  another  guardian.  In  December  1726,  the 
Presbytery  "appoynt  ane  letter  to  be  sent  to  the  Countess  of 
Bute,  and  that  she  be  instructed  to  fall  upon  speedy  measures  for 
planting  that  vacant  parish  with  a  minister."  In  1727  a  letter 
from  the  Countess  is  read,  to  the  effect  that  she  cannot  proceed 


The  Reformed  Church.  295 

to  the  choice  of  a  minister  until  she  has  "  all  the  difficulties  com- 
plained of  by  the  last  minister  removed."  These  seem  to  have 
been  connected  with  the  state  of  the  church  buildings.  In  July 
of  the  same  year,  the  elders  of  Kingarth  compeared  and  "be- 
wailed the  desolate  condition  of  the  parish  for  want  of  a  Gospel 
ministry,"  and  craving  supplies  for  their  pulpit.  This  goes  on 
seven  years,  when  in  April  1731,  Mr  Dugald  Stewart  reported 
"  that  he  fulfilled  the  recommendation  on  him  by  the  last  Presby- 
terie  to  speak  to  the  Countess  of  Bute  about  the  planting  of  Kin- 
garth  and  preaching  for  the  new  church,  and  that  her  answer  was 
that  she  hopped  ear  long  that  it  would  be  settled  to  the  Presby- 
terie's  satisfaction,  and  the  new  church  fitted  up  for  preaching 
therein."  In  1732  the  Presbytery  recommended,  as  a  fit  minister 
for  Kingarth,  Mr  Dugald  Allan.  The  Countess  did  not  appoint 
him.  In  1733  the  Presbytery  fixed  their  diet  at  "the  Kirk  of 
Mountstuart,"  citing  all  concerned  to  appear  at  that  place,  and 
were  determined  that  this  state  of  matters  should  cease.  Ac- 
cordingly, then,  the  Presbytery  met  on  the  i5th  May  1733,  at 
Mountstuart,  which  is  called  "  the  Kirk  of  Kingarth,"  and  admit  to 
be  heard  certain  parishioners  who  "  did  make  a  heavy  complaint 
of  their  long  desolation,  being  now  these  9  years  vacand."  The 
Presbytery  exonerated  themselves  from  blame.  A  conference 
was  also  held  with  Lord  Strichan  and  the  Countess  of  Bute 
about  the  long  vacancy,  and  they  were  told  there  would  be  a 
speedy  settlement,  since  "the  Earle  would  be  major  in  12 
months."  They  also  "returned  answer  they  had  not  as  yet 
pitched  upon  a  place  fitt  for  manse  and  gleib  to  a  minister,  but 
that  the  Presbytery  might  depend  upon  it,  that  it  would  be  a 
more  convenient  place  than  the  last  manse  was  in,  being  2 
large  miles  from  the  place  of  this  new  church,  which  the  Pres- 
bytery told  them  was  a  very  prettie  little  church,  and  re- 
commend it  very  much."  However,  it  is  not  until  July  1740 
that  Mr  James  Stewart,  of  Kilwhinleck,  was  appointed  minister. 
In  September  of  that  year  Mr  Dugald  Stewart  reports  that  he 
had  preached  at  "the  New  Kirk  of  Kingarth,  according  to  ap- 
pointment, and  served  Mr  James  Stewart's  edict,"  which  was  duly 
endorsed — "  there  being  no  objections  " — and  fixed  his  ordina- 


296  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

tion  at  the  New  Kirk  of  Kingarth.  Accordingly,  on  the  24th 
September  1740,  after  a  vacancy  extending  during  sixteen 
years  and  a  half,  the  parish  was  again  "  planted,"  and  "  at  the 
Kirk  of  Kingarth,  Mr  James  Stewart  was,  after  the  legal  formal- 
ities, ordained  and  accepted  by  all  the  parishioners  as  their  min- 
ister." However,  it  was  an  unlucky  choice,  and  Mr  Stewart, 
who  was  an  eccentric  gentleman,  was  at  last  practically  deposed 
from  his  office.  The  proceedings  against  him  were  of  an  extra- 
ordinary kind.  In  the  minutes  we  read  of  the  Countess  of  Bute 
seizing  the  keys  of  the  church  and  preventing  the  sermon  being 
preached — an  act  which  resulted  in  legal  proceedings,  through 
which  the  keys  of  the  church  were  handed  over  to  the  Pres- 
bytery. 

1740.  James  Stewart,  son  of  James  of  Kilwhinleck,  was  appointed 
next  minister,  as  stated  above.  He  was  an  eccentric 
and  extravagant  man,  with  so  pronounced  a  leaning  to 
the  exiled  Stewart  family  that  he  preferred  to  pray  for 
them  instead  of  the  king.  After  a  long  course  of  pro- 
cedure, he  resigned  the  charge,  3d  December  1754. 
He  retired  to  his  estate,  which  he  'further  burdened 
by  building,  in  1760,  the  present  mansion-house  of 
Stewarthall. 

1756.  Richard  Brown,  licensed  in  Forres  in  1754,  was  presented 
by  the  Earl  of  Bute  in  1755,  admitted  6th  May,  and 
translated  to  Lochmaben  in  1765.  He  did  not  speak 
Gaelic. 

1766.  James  Thorburn,  an  English  Presbyterian  minister  in  Dar- 
lington, was  admitted  24th  December  1766,  and  held  the 
charge  till  his  death  on  28th  March  1810,  aged  83.  He 
was  the  friend  of  Home  the  dramatist  and  Dr  John 
Jamieson.  He  wrote  the  first  "Statistical  Account  of 
Kingarth." 

1811.  Mark  Marshall,  from  Caithness,  was  ordained  igth  Septem- 
ber 1 8 1 1,  and  died  i4th  December  1820. 

1822.  James  Denoon,  minister  of  Dunrossness,  was  admitted  at 
Scoulag  25th  April  1822,  and  translated  to  Rothesay 
ist  December  1824.  Kingarth  church  was  then  ruinous. 


The  Reformed  Church.  297 

He  was  invested  with  the  keys  of  both  Scoulag  and  Kin- 
garth  churches. 

1825.  Joseph  Stuart,  son  of  the  minister  of  Luss,  was  ordained  at 
Scoulag  nth  May  1825,  and  died  8th  September  1826, 
aged  29. 

1827.  John  Buchanan,  student  of  Edinburgh,  licensed  at  Peebles 
1 5th  August  1821,  tutor  in  the  family  of  Gilbert  Laing 
Meason  of  Lindertis,  was  ordained  9th  May  1827,  and 
died  26th  May  1871. 

1872.  John  Greenshields  Secular  was  translated  from  New  Rothesay 
1 5th  February  1872,  and  died  ist  August  1879. 

1879.  John  Saunders,  B.D.,  was  ordained  assistant  and  successor 
to  Mr  Scoular  on  22d  July  1879. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  parish  ministers  of 
Rothesay : — 

1589.  Patrick  M'Queine,  son  of  Patrick  Oig  M'Queine,  had 
charge  of  Kingarth  and  Killumcogarmick  (St  Colmac, 
North  Bute),  which  was  added  in  1591.  He  was  trans- 
lated to  Monzie.  "In  a  record  still  extant,  and  under 
1 60 1,  he  is  described  as  'ane  beboysched  and  depryved 
minister'  who  had  accused  Sir  Duncan  Campbell  of 
Glenurchy  by  '  certain  false  lies  and  forged  invents.'  Yet 
M'Quiene  was  a  great  favourite  with  James  VI.  '  Moved 
with  pitie  for  him,  under  what  he  considered  as  the 
grievous  persecution  to  which  he  was  subjected,  his 
Majesty  assignit  for  the  better  sustenance  of  his  wyff, 
bairns,  and  familie  the  yearly  pension  of  the  third  of  the 
vicarage  of  Kingarth."  x 

1594.  Donald  M'Kilmorie,  or  M'llmorie,  A.M.,  minister  of  Barony, 

translated  from  Rothesay  to  Kilmalien  or  Glenaray. 

1595.  Robert  Stewart,  graduate  of  Glasgow  in  1591,  presented  by 

James  VI.  in  1595,  appointed  constant  moderator  of  the 
Presbytery  of  the  Isles  in  absence  of  the  Bishop,  present 
at  Glasgow  Assembly  1610,  survived  until  1614. 

1  '  Historic  Scenes  in  Perthshire,'  by  Dr  Marshall,  p.  302. 


298  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

1623.  Patrick  Stewart  of  Rossland,  translated  from  Kingarth  in 
1623,  was  progenitor  of  the  Maxwells  of  Springkell.  He 
demitted  office  from  old  age  on  ist  May  1650,  but 
enjoyed  the  fruits  of  the  benefice  till  25th  August  1657, 
when  the  Presbytery  deposed  him  for  swearing  at  his 
mother-in-law. 
1626.  John  Bogill,  graduate  of  Glasgow  in  1607,  was  minister  of 

Rothesay  till  i4th  December  1635. 

His  son,  Patrick,  was  murdered  at  Dunoon  by  the  Campbells 
in  1646,  when  they  raided  Ascog  and  Toward. 

In  Bishop  Knox's  Report  on  his  Diocese  in  1626,  it  states: 
"  Buite  peyis  the  haill  rent  to  the  Castle  of  Dunbertane,  the 
schirreff  of  Bute  and  uther  gentlemen.  Is  twelff  myles  in  lenth 
and  four  in  breid.  Pays  160  merkis  a  yeir  to  the  Bishope,  is 
servit  be  Mr  Patrick  Stewart,  Mr  Johne  Bogill,  and  Mr  Donald 
Omey."  * 
1642.  Robert  Stewart,  graduate  of  Glasgow  in  1638,  assists  his 

father  Patrick,  and  is  ordained  loth  October  1642. 
1658.  John  Stewart,   translated  from   Kingarth   30th  June    1658, 
died  after  i8th  June  1666,  aged  about  forty-nine.     He 
married  Anne  Gordon. 

In  1660  the  parish  church  was  in  a  ruinous  state.  The 
following  minute  of  session  shows  how  the  teinds  were  uplifted 
at  this  time  : — 

"i2th  May  1659. — Whilk  day  the  Elders  and  Heritors  present, 
considering  that  the  small  vicarage  tiends  of  the  parish  has  been 
confusedly  uplifted  at  one  rate  and  some  years  at  another  rate, 
appoints  (untill  there  be  some  settled  course  taken  thereanent)  : 
That  ilk  Tydie  Cow  shall  pay  of  tiend  six  shilling.     Ilk  foal  as 
meikle.     Ilk  boat  at  the  herring  fishing  an  merk,  and  the  rest 
to  be  taken  up  in  kind  according  to  use  and  wont." 
1667.  Archibald  Graham,  alias  M'llvernock,  was  a  student  of  Glas- 
gow.    He  was  a  descendant  of  Sir  John  Graham  of  Kil- 
bride.     He  became  subdean,  then  Bishop  of  the  Isles, 
but  continued  in  the  pastoral  office.     He  signs  a  minute 

1  'Coll.  deReb.  Alb.,' p.  123. 


The  Reformed  Church.  299 

in  the  Rothesay  Record  "Arch.  Sodoren.,"  on  icth  Dec- 
ember 1680.  The  valuable  theological  library,  which  he 
bequeathed  to  the  poor  of  Rothesay,  consisting  of  over 
169  volumes,  contained  a  few  Gaelic  volumes.  He  was 
deprived  at  the  Revolution.  He  married  (first)  Grisell, 
daughter  of  Sir  Dugald  Campbell  of  Auchinbreck,  widow 
of  Sir  James  Stewart  of  Bute,  and  had  a  daughter  Helen; 
(second)  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Cooper  of  Gogar. 
He  died  of  fever  at  Edinburgh,  23d  June  1702,  aged 
fifty-eight.  (See -pp.  290,  294.) 

1689.  Andrew  Fraser,  A.M.,  minister  of  Lochgoilhead,  was  deprived 
of  his  benefice  by  the  Privy  Council  for  not  praying  for 
William  and  Mary,  according  to  the  proclamation.  He 
was  present  in  session  February  7,  1688.  He  died  in 
Edinburgh,  25th  April  1711,  aged  fifty-five. 

1691.  John  Munro,  from  Lochgoilhead,  admitted  nth  March  1691, 
died  in  1696,  after  a  long  illness.  His  tombstone  lies 
immediately  below  that  of  Dr  MacLea  in  Rothesay  church- 
yard, and  being  much  weathered  is  illegible.  According 
to  Wodrow,  "  He  was  very  useful  in  the  Synod,  as  well  as 
in  the  whole  Church,  being  a  public-spirited  man,  and 
fitted  to  deal  with  persons  of  quality.  Though  educated 
and  licensed  under  Episcopacy,  yet  by  conversing  with 
Mr  Robert  Muir  and  other  good  men,  he  was  even  in  the 
height  of  persecution  brought  from  these  opinions,  and 
further  confirmed  by  intercourse  among  the  persecuted 
ministers  in  Ireland,  whither  he  had  fled."  During  his 
incumbency  the  parish  church  was  rebuilt. 

The  pre-Reformation  church  of  Rothesay,  which  in  1660 
was  tottering  to  its  fall,  was,  under  the  ministry  of  John 
Munro,  in  1692  removed  to  make  room  for  another.  The 
nave  was  81  feet  by  22  feet  within  walls.1  The  new  church, 
built  on  the  north  of  the  nave,  was  within  walls  "  sixty-two 


Orig.  Paroch.,'  vol.  ii.  part  i.  p.  223. 


3OO  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

feet  long,  by  twenty-two  and  one-half  feet  broad,  with  an 
aisle  projecting  nineteen  feet  within  walls,  and  twenty  feet 
in  width."1  It  had  a  gallery  at  the  east,  another  at  the 
wesi.  end,  and  the  Earl  of  Bute's  gallery — with  accommoda- 
tion for  about  500  sitters. 

There  is  no  reference  to  the  new  church  in  the  session 
records,  but  in  the  Town  Council  minutes,  under  date  July 
30,  1692,  we  read  of  "A  poll-tax  laid  upon  the  inhabitants 
for  building  the  third  part  of  the  parish  kirk,  there  not 
being  any  share  of  it  laid  upon  the  land." 


Rothesay  Parish  Church,  1692-1795. 

Under  Dr  MacLea's  regime  the  present  structure  was 
erected  in  1796,  it  being  reported  to  the  session  on  22d 
March  1795  that  "the  church  was  in  so  ruinous  a  situation" 
it  was  not  possible  to  dispense  in  it  the  Lord's  Supper  with 
decency  and  propriety  that  season. 

1700.  Dugald  Stewart,  student  of  Glasgow,  licensed  in  1698;  or- 
dained in  Rothesay  nth  April  1700 ;  after  a  long  period 
of  debility,  died  in  1753,  aged  ninety.  He  married  in 
1712,  Janet  Bannatyne,  who  died  in  1761,  leaving  two 


1  "Proceedings  with  respect  to  erecting  a  New  Church  at  Rothesay,"  Glasgow, 
1793,  p.  8. 


The  Reformed  Church.  301 

sons  and  two  daughters,  one  of  whom  was  Matthew, 
Professor  of  Mathematics  in  Edinburgh,  born  in  Rothesay 
in  1717,  and  father  of  the  famous  philosopher,  Dugald 
Stewart. 

1753.  Lord  Bute,  in  July  1753,  presented  Hugh  Campbell,  minister 
of  Craignish,  who  was  admitted  2oth  November  1754, 
and  died  in  1764.  He  married  Susanna,  daughter  of 
Angus  Campbell  of  Asknish.  His  tombstone  in  Rothesay 
churchyard  still  bears  the  following  epitaph  : — 

"Hie  positae  sunt  reliquiae  Hugonis  Campbell,  Rothe- 
sayensis  ecclesiae  quondam  pastoris,  generose  omnibus 
chari  sed  suis  charissimi,  qui,  pietate  erga  Deum  ac 
benevolentia  erga  mortales  quamdiu  vixit,  paucis  secundus 
fuit.  Obiit  xxiv.  Juni  An.  Dom.  MDCCLXIV  aetat  Ixiv. 
His  wife  Susanna  died  i3th  May  1781." 

1765.  Archibald  MacLea,  minister  of  Kilarrow  and  Kilchoman,  was 
presented  by  the  Earl  of  Bute,  and  admitted  on  3ist 
October  1765.  The  present  parish  church  was  built  in 
1796.  He  was  made  D.D.  of  Glasgow  in  1801 ;  wrote 
the  first  "  Statistical  Account  of  Rothesay " ;  lived  to  be 
father  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  1818.  He  married, 
on  29th  March  1787,  Isabella,  daughter  of  Roderick 
MacLeod,  W.S.,  Edinburgh.  He  was  an  exceedingly 
able  and  successful  parish  minister,  his  name  being  still 
a  household  word  in  Bute.  The  following  is  the  epitaph 
on  his  monument  behind  the  parish  church  : — 

"Sacred  to  the  memory  of  the  Reverend  Archibald 
Maclea,  Minister  of  Rothesay,  and  of  Isabella  Macleod 
his  wife,  daughter  of  Roderick  Macleod,  Esq.,  and  of 
Isabella  Bannatyne,  only  daughter  of  Hector  Bannatyne, 
Esq.  of  Kames  and  Bannatyne.  As  private  individuals, 
happy  in  their  warm  attachment  to  each  other,  and  equally 
possessing  the  esteem  of  all  who  knew  them.  In  that 
public  situation  as  minister  of  Rothesay,  which  he  held 
for  59  years,  the  exemplary  fidelity  with  which  Dr  Maclea 
discharged  its  duties  will  be  long  gratefully  remembered 
by  the  inhabitants  of  this  large  and  populous  parish,  while 


3O2  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

the  manly  zeal  he,  on  all  occasions,  manifested  for  the 
interest  and  honour  of  the  Church  of  which  he  was  a 
member  recommended  him  to  the  general  regard  and 
esteem  of  his  brethren,  to  which  it  gave  him  so  just  a 
claim.  Mrs  Maclea  died  on  the  nth  day  of  May  1812, 
aged  74;  and  Doctor  Maclea  on  the  nth  day  of  April 
1824,  aged  86  years  and  6  months." 

1824.  James  Denoon  was  translated  from  Kingarth,  ist  December 
1824,  and  died  on  iQth  August  1834. 

1835.  Robert  Craig,  A.M.,  minister  of  New  Cumnock,  was  admitted 
i  yth  September  1835  ;  joined  the  Free  Church,  and  was 
"  declared  no  longer  a  minister  "  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land, i4th  June  1843;  died  26th  May  1860,  aged  68. 
He  wrote  'Theocracy,'  1845;  <The  Man  Christ  Jesus,' 
1855  ;  'The  New  Statistical  Account,'  '  Memoirs  of  Rev. 
James  Stewart.' 

1843.  Alexander  Brown,  admitted  22d  September  1843,  died  loth 
October  1869. 

1870.  Robert  Thomson,  admitted  i6th  May  1870,  translated  to 
Rubislaw,  22d  May  1883. 

1884.  James  King  Hewison,  admitted  8th  January  1884. 

THE  CHAPEL  OF  EASE  IN  ROTHESAY. 

1799.  John   Robertson,  admitted   8th  August  1799,  presented  to 

Kingussie  3ist  July  1810. 
1811.  Alexander    Flyter,    graduate    of    Aberdeen,    admitted    26th 

January  1811,  presented  to  Alness  i2th  October  1820. 
1821.  David   Fraser,   ordained    i6th   October    1821,  translated  to 

Dores  25th  September  1823. 

1824.  Alexander  Stewart,  admitted  loth  September  1824,  translated 

to  Cromarty  23d  September  1824. 

1825.  Peter  M'Bride,  licensed  26th  January  1825,  admitted  nth 

June  1834;  joined  Free  Church  in  1843;  died  2d 
October  1846,  aged  49.  His  monument  is  in  Rothesay 
churchyard. 

1847.  James  Wilson. 

1850.  John  G.  Secular,  translated  to  Kingarth  i5th  February  1872. 


The  Reformed  Church.  303 

1872.  Thomas  Martin,  translated  to  Dundee  6th  February  1874. 
1874.   Adam   Bruce    Scoular   Watson,   translated   to    Lauder   2gth 

July   1875. 
1877.  John  F.   Macpherson,  translated  to  Greenock  27th  October 

1881. 

1882.  William  Macloy. 
1886.  James  Brady  Meek. 

NORTH  BUTE. 

1836.  Alexander  Macbride,  admitted  loth  March  1836. 

1844.  John  M'Arthur. 

1869.  John  M'Corkindale. 

1872.  Peter  Thomson. 

1 88 1,  Peter  Dewar,  M.A, 


Rothesay  Parish  Church  and  St  Mary's  Chapel  in  1895. 


304 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THREE  CENTURIES  OF  CIVIL   LIFE   IN   BUTE. 

"Past  services  of  friends,  good  deeds  of  foes, 

What  favourites  gain,  and  what  the  nation  owes, 
Fly  the  forgetful  world,  and  in  thy  arms  repose. 

The  parson's  cant,  the  lawyer's  sophistry, 
Lord's  quibble,  critic's  jest,  all  end  in  thee, 
All  rest  in  peace  at  last,  and  sleep  eternally." 

—POPE,  "On  Silence." 

|HE  close  of  the  fourteenth  century  witnessed 
Scotland,  by  the  persistent  efforts  of  King 
Robert  II.,  established  in  freedom,  although  the 
land  was  kept  wakeful  and  irritable  by  the 
raidings  of  Scots  and  the  retaliations  of  English  soldiery. 
Nothing  delighted  the  Scots  king  better  than  to  leave  the 
clangour  of  Court  and  the  machinations  of  his  Privy  Council 
in  Scone  or  Perth,  to  breathe  the  balmy  breeze  that  broke 
over  Loch  Ranza,  to  chase  the  roe-deer  in  the  forest  of 
Cumbrae,  or  to  drive  his  pleasure-galley  upon  the  shingly 
beach  that  lay  before  the  portals  of  Rothesay  Palace.  There 
peace  and  pleasure  awaited  the  now  ageing  monarch.  His 
son  Robert  and  his  grandson  David,  a  clever  but  hapless 
youth,  were  often  by  his  side ;  and  when  he  came  to  Bute, 


•J  £ 

S  I 

z  % 

a  ^ 

s  I 

g  ? 


C/2  « 

g  > 

X  1 

H  4 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         305 

his  own  son  John,  the  Sheriff  of  the  isle,  was  there  to 
mark  and  supply  his  wants.  During  the  last  fifteen  years 
of  the  king's  life  he  frequently  visited  the  scenes  of  his 
early  exploits  in  angrier  times,  seemingly  delighted  with 
his  maritime  residences.  From  the  '  Exchequer  Rolls/  1376 
and  onwards,  we  discover  how  the  transports  of  pipes  of 
wine,  fat  cattle,  and  other  delicacies  came  for  the  use  of 
the  king — almost  year  after  year.  There  arrived  lampreys 
from  the  Forth,  and  honey  from  Blackness,  and  from  Lin- 
lithgow  many  a  jar  of  red  Rhine  wine  to  swill  down  the 
huntsman's  venison.  The  old  castle  was  gay  with  trusted 
courtiers,  who  accompanied  the  king  in  his  expeditions  over 
the  bay  into  his  rented  and  preserved  game-lands  of  Ormidale. 
Nor  did  he  forget  to  see  how  the  grim  castle  stood  wind- 
and  water-tight  at  the  hands  of  Hugh  the  plumber,  and  also 
charged  with  soldiers,  armed  anew,  as  the  Accounts  in  1381 
show,  with  "breastplates,  helmets,  and  other  coats  of  mail 
and  engines  of  war."  Doubtless,  in  the  great  hall,  his  son 
John,  in  1385,  was  honoured  with  the  appointment  to  the 
sheriffdom  when  Bute  and  Arran  were  then  united.  The 
spring  of  1390  saw  his  last  visit  here,  and  the  March  winds 
had  few  days  to  wait  until  the  king,  who  had  retired  from 
Portincross  to  Dundonald  Castle,  owned  their  chilling  power 
in  death  on  the  I9th  April. 

If  King  Robert  II.  loved  retirement  in  Bute,  much  more 
did  his  son  Robert  III.,  who,  naturally  of  a  timid,  irresolute, 
and  indolent  disposition,  had  the  misfortune  to  be  crippled, 
and  also  afflicted  with  indifferent  health,  so  that  he  neither 
relished  courtly  stir  nor  brooked  political  anxiety.  He 
trusted  the  regal  management  to  his  robuster  brother 

VOL.  II.  U 


306  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Robert,  afterwards  of  Albany,  and  looked  forward  hope- 
fully to  the  development  of  his  eldest  son,  David,  who 
was  a  boy  of  over  eleven  years  of  age  when  his  grandfather 
died.  He  leaned  on  breaking  reeds,  however.  The  fullest 
and  best  account  of  the  miserable  affairs  which  preceded 
the  death  of  David,  Duke  of  Rothesay,  is  afforded  in  a 
recent  article  in  'The  Scottish  Review' — "David,  Duke  of 
Rothesay  " — by  the  Marquess  of  Bute.1  But  the  article  does 
not  consider  the  probability  of  the  document,  said  to  be 
published  by  King  Robert  to  exonerate  the  Duke  of  Albany 
from  blame  in  the  matter,  being  a  forgery.  The  following  is  a 
meagre  resume  of  the  carefully  sifted  facts  in  the  treatise  : 2 — 
Prince  David,  according  to  Bower,  was  born  upon  24th 
October  1378,  probably  at  Scone  or  Perth.  His  father,  not 
"  possessed  of  any  unusual  mental  force  whereby  to  counter- 
act the  results  of  his  physical  misfortunes,"  was  incapable 
of  business  social  and  public,  moved  restlessly  through  the 
country,  which  generally  was  in  a  deplorable  condition,  and 
had  to  rely  on  others,  notably  Albany,  to  manage  the  realm. 
The  shores  of  Clyde  were  his  favourite  retreat.  David  was 
with  the  king  and  his  consort,  on  August  14,  1390,  at  Scone 
during  the  coronation  services.  Soon  after  he  was  made 
Earl  of  Carrick,  with  an  allowance  quite  inadequate  to  the 
position.  His  tutors  are  unknown.  In  1391,  the  king  was 
in  the  west,  having  moved  from  his  northern  Courts,  as  he 
again  did  in  February  1392,  and  once  more,  at  Christmas  of 
the  same  year.  In  1393,  the  prince  was  sent  to  Lanark  to 
the  Assizes,  and  probably,  with  his  father,  spent  the  summer 


1  Vol.  xix.  No.  xxxviii.  Art.  iii.,  April  1892. 

2  For  a  romantic  treatment  of  the  subject  see  Sir  Walter  Scott's  '  Fair  Maid 
of  Perth.' 


Three  Cent^lries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         307 

on  the  Clyde,  returning  by  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh  to  Perth, 
and  then  to  Linlithgow,  whence  he  came  back  to  the  Clyde 
in  spring  1394.  In  1396,  1397,  the  prince  was  engaged  on 
royal  business  in  the  north,  and  probably  arranged  the 
famous  Battle  of  the  Clans  in  Perth  on  September  28,  1396. 
On  March  16,  1398,  the  prince,  with  Fife  and  others,  was 
present  at  Haddenstank  on  the  Borders  negotiating  a  truce. 
On  April  28,  1398,  David  was  created  Duke  of  Rothesay,  and 
his  uncle  created  Duke  of  Albany.  In  the  same  year 
Rothesay  engaged  in  a  grand  tournament  at  Edinburgh,  and 
appears  moving  about,  enjoying  a  virtuous  and  popular  life. 
On  January  27,  1399,  the  prince  was  appointed  Regent  for 
three  years,  with  a  capable  Council  to  assist  him.  The  same 
year  he  became  engaged  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Earl 
of  March,  whom  he  jilted  for  Mary,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 
Douglas,  whom  he  wedded  in  Bothwell  Church  in  April. 
"As  for  profligacy,  there  is  not  a  contemporary  word  to 
support  the  charge."  Scotland  and  England  still  squabbled, 
and  Henry  IV.  conducted  a  mild  war  as  far  as  Leith  in 
August — David  meantime  being  on  Edinburgh  Rock,  and  his 
father  on  the  Clyde.  After  Henry's  departure,  David  joined 
his  father  at  Rothesay  in  September  1400,  where  probably 
the  Court  remained  till  the  next  year;  for  on  the  I2th 
January  1401,  King  Robert,  in  the  midst  of  a  brilliant  Court 
assembled  at  Rothesay  Castle,  and  probably  at  David's 
desire,  erected  Rothesay  into  a  Royal  Burgh.1  The  Court 
moved  northward,  and  the  queen  died  in  harvest.  The  king 
probably  sought  consolation  in  Bute,  for  he  is  mentioned  as 
having  been  there  in  1402. 

1  See  p.  190. 


308  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Meanwhile  the  prince  had  become  straitened  for  money, 
and  fell  into  questionable  courses  to  obtain  it,  during  which 
period,  through  the  appearance  of  a  comet  in  February,  he 
had  some  presentiment  of  an  impending  personal  disaster. 
The  proposed  seizure  of  the  temporalities  of  St  Andrews  by 
the  prince  was  stopped  by  his  arrest  at  the  instance  of  the 
Duke  of  Albany  and  the  Earl  of  Douglas.  He  was  taken 
first  to  St  Andrews  Castle,  and  afterwards  incarcerated  in 
the  Tower  of  Falkland,  and  in  a  short  time  it  was  announced 
that  the  prince  had  died  of  dysentery — the  date  being  prob- 
ably the  26th  March  1402.  [It  was  whispered  that  the 
prince  had  been  starved  to  death,  despite  the  efforts  of  the 
loving  women  who  tried  to  prolong  his  life.] 

The  sad  affair  was  discussed  in  Parliament  on  i6th  May,  and 
on  the  2Oth  of  that  month  the  king  published  a  document, 
wherein  it  was  stated  that  the  two  lords,  Albany  and  Douglas, 
had  been  arraigned  before  the  General  Council,  and  had 
declared  that  their  action  had  been  taken  for  the  public  weal, 
a  defence  which  the  king  and  Council  had  accepted,  pronoun- 
cing that  no  blame  attached  to  them,  and  forbidding  under 
penalty  any  whisper  of  blame  against  them.  The  Marquess 
concludes  his  examination  of  the  facts  in  these  words : 
"My  own  impresssion  is,  that  the  truth  as  to  the  cause  of 
the  Duke  of  Rothesay's  death  is  and  must  remain  uncertain." 

The  death  of  Rothesay  plunged  the  king  into  an  immov- 
able sorrow,  which  darkened  his  few  remaining  years,  and 
kept  him  in  constant  apprehension  of  misfortune  attending 
his  house.  This  foreboding  was  near  fulfilment.  To  keep 
Prince  James  out  of  peril,  and  to  secure  a  chivalrous  educa- 
tion at  the  Court  of  France,  the  young  prince  was  despatched 
in  a  vessel,  which  was  captured  by  an  English  ship  off  Flam- 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         309 

borough  Head.  He  was  taken  prisoner  to  Windsor  in  April 
1405.  This  disaster  overwhelmed  the  king,  who  died  "of 
sturt  and  melancolie"  at  Dundonald  on  the  4th  April  1406, 
and  was  interred  without  pomp  in  Paisley.  The  tradition 
that  he  died  in  Rothesay  is  inaccurate.1 

The  young  King  of  Scots  was  detained  in  England  till 
April  1424,  when,  accompanied  by  Joan  Beaufort,  who  forms 
the  subject  of  his  poem  "  The  Kingis  Quair,"  he  regained  his 
native  land. 

During  the  king's  absence  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  were 
transacted  under  the  Regency  of  Robert,  Duke  of  Albany, 
and  afterwards  of  Murdoch  his  son ;  while  John,  Sheriff  of 
Bute,  in  1406  and  1408  audited  the  accounts  of  the  Exchequer. 
Albany  appeared  in  Bute  in  1408  with  his  viceregal  retinue. 

The  Sheriff  of  Bute  received  a  safe-conduct  from  the  King 
of  England  to  pass  into  England  and  escort  homeward  his 
monarch,  now  released,  in  I424.2 


1  "  Wyntoun  (1.  ix.  c.  26)  tells  us  that  he  died  at  Dundonald  on  Palm  Sunday, 
being  also  the  Festival  of  St  Ambrose  (i.e.,  4th  April)  1406.     Bower,  on  the 
other  hand,  and  the  'Extracta  de  variis  Cronicis  Scocie,'  make  Rothesay  the 
place  of  his  death,  and  the  date  Palm  Sunday,  i8th  March  (iv.  Kal.  Aprilis  1405) 
('Scoti,'  1.  xv.  c.  19;  'Extr.,'  p.  212).     As  to  both  year  and  day,  Wyntoun  is 
allowed  to  be  in  the  right  :  and  as  he  was  Prior  of  Lochleven  and  engaged  in 
noting  down  the  events  of  the  day  in  1406,  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that  he  was 
not  right  as  to  place  also.     Yet  in  this  particular  all  later  writers  have  followed 
Bower,  who  was  not  a  contemporary ;  and  tradition  points  out  the  apartment  in 
the  ruined  Castle  of  Rothesay  where  the  broken-hearted  king  expired.     He  was 
buried  without  pomp  in  Paisley.     In  Roll  cxxxiii.  of  volume  third,  audited  I5th 
to  27th  March  1405-6,  in  which  Robert  III.  is  still  king,  and  James  is  designed 
Steward  of  Scotland,  we  have  an  addition,  were  any  needed,  to  the  accumulated 
evidence  adduced  by  Ruddiman  (Notes  to  Buchanan's  'Hist,  of  Scot.,'  p.  436, 
Annotations,  lib.  x.,  note  on  pages  182-186,  edit.   1715)  that  Wyntoun  rightly 
dates  Robert's  death  on  Palm  Sunday  (4th  April)  1406,  and  Bower  wrongly  on 
Palm  Sunday  1405." — 'Excheq.  Rolls,'  vol.  iii.  p.  xcv;  vol.  iv.  p.  xlii. 

2  *  Rot.  Scot.,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  244,  245. 


3  io  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Albany  in  1418  and  1419  granted  charters  to  John,  Sheriff 
of  Bute,  his  brother,  of  lands  in  Renfrew  and  Bute.  Shortly 
afterwards  the  Regent  died. 

The  well-meant  attempts  of  James  to  reform  his  distracted 
country  and  harmonise  its  irritable  factions  led  to  mutual 
distrust,  which,  on  the  one  hand,  he  satisfied  by  arresting  and 
executing  among  others  his  own  cousins,  as  did  his  enemies, 
on  the  other  hand,  by  taking  mortal  revenge  upon  the  king 
in  Perth  on  the  2Oth  February  1437.  Friar  John  of  Bute 
had  the  honour  of  "  fabricating  an  apparatus  "  for  the  tomb 
of  the  murdered  king  in  the  Carthusian  Monastery  of  Perth.1 

James  II.  was  a  minor  when  he  ascended  the  throne. 
Scotland  was  still  as  disturbed  and  intractable  as  ever,  inter- 
minable feuds  and  jealousies  everywhere  rendering  govern- 
ment difficult  to  the  national  regents.  The  Black  Douglases 
cast  their  menacing  shade  over  the  land,  until  the  king  and 
his  counsellors  lightened  the  darkness  but  a  little  while  by 
transferring  its  deep  dye  to  their  own  characters,  after 
treacherously  murdering  their  proud  opponents  in  Edinburgh 
and  Stirling  Castles.  Still  there  was  "another  for  Hector" 
to  gall  the  king.  The  Earl  of  Douglas  publicly  disavowed 
his  allegiance,  and  entered  into  open  rebellion  with  the  York- 
ists and  with  the  Lord  of  the  Isles  to  subvert  the  monarchy. 
Donald  Balloch,  Lord  of  Isla,  was  placed  in  command  of  a 
powerful  fleet,  which  swept  up  the  Clyde  in  August  1455  to 
devastate  the  land.  Although  the  expedition  failed,  the 
sufferings  in  the  west,  according  to  a  contemporary  chron- 
icler, were  great : — 

"  There  were  slain  of  good  men  fifteen  ;  of  women  two  or  three ; 
1  '  Excheq.  Rolls,'  vol.  v.  p.  34. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  £>^lte.         3 1 1 

of  children  three  or  four.  The  plunder  included  five  or  six  hundred 
horse,  ten  thousand  oxen  or  kine,  and  more  than  a  thousand  sheep 
and  goats.  At  the  same  time  they  burned  down  several  mansions 
in  Innerkip  around  the  church,  harried  all  Arran,  stormed  and 
levelled  with  the  ground  the  Castle  of  Brodick,  and  wasted  with 
fire  and  sword  the  islands  of  the  Cumrays.  They  also  levied  tribute 
upon  Bute,  carrying  away  a  hundred  bolls  of  malt,  a  hundred  marts, 
and  a  hundred  marks  of  silver."  1 

In  1444,  the  king's  castles  on  the  west  were  put  into  repair, 
Dumbarton  being  slated  out  of  Ardmaleish  quarries,  and  the 
Castle  of  Rothesay  repaired  by  Symon  the  carpenter  at  the 
expense  of  forty  shillings. 

In  1449,  the  Sheriff  died. 

The  stout  doors  of  Symon  the  carpenter  and  the  loud- 
throated  culverins  of  Sheriff  James  Stewart  were  too  many 
for  Balloch,  the  freckled  Celt,  who  left  the  Castle  of  Rothesay 
unscathed. 

From  the  accounts  of  Niel  Jamieson,  Chamberlain  of  Bute, 
we  learn  what  expenditure  was  required  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  royal  household  in  Rothesay  during  the  year  1445  : — 

"To   two   chaplains    officiating    in    the    Castle    and    in    St 
Bride's  Chapel,  receiving  from  the  fermes  in  Bute 

yearly     ...  .    £12     5     4 

n     the  Constable,  yearly        .  .         .  .            .            .        368 

ti     the  porter,  yearly  .            .            .  .            .            ,200 

ii     two  watchmen,  yearly       .            .  .            .                    o  13     4 

H     the  Keeper  of  Litill  Cumbray       .  .            .             .100 

H     the  Chamberlane  of  Bute  and  Arran  .            .            .        700 
n     the  porter,  granitor,  two  watches,  and  Keeper  of  Cum- 
bray       .            .            .            .  .            .            .800 

ii     John  Stewart,  Sheriff  of  Bute,  as  his  yearly  fee,  fixed 

by  King  Robert  II.      .            .  .            .                   16  13    4 

t.     John  Scott,  the  King's  ranger      .  .            .            .134 

'  Auchinleck  Chron.,'  p.  55. 


3 1 2  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

To   John  Stewart,  Sheriff  of  Bute,    Keeper  of  Rothesay 

Castle     .......  ^40    o    o 

it     Ewen,  the  King's  ranger  .  .  .  .  .200 

H     Cristin  Leche,  a  royal  gift  .  .  .  .368 

M     Finlay  of  Spens,  the  Constable    .  .  .134 

ii     Alexander  of  Name,  Comptroller,  for  expenses  of  the 

King's  household  .  .  .  .7134 

M  do.  do.     .  .  .  .  .     20  13    4 

ii  Allowance  made  to  the  husbandmen  of  the  Isle  of 
Bute  for  32  '  mailmartis '  taken  from  them  in  1544 
and  delivered  to  Thomas  Bulle,  steward  of  the 
King's  household,  at  55.  each  .  .  .800 

ii  Sum  for  driving  these  marts  from  Arnele  [Portincross] 

to  Strivelyne  .  .  .  .  .  .100" 

Then  follow  other  accounts  in  reference  to  articles  bought 
in  Bute  and  sent  to  other  places  where  the  Court  assembled. 

In  1452,  King  James  II.  granted  to  the  canons  of  Glasgow 
the  Crown  rents  of  Bute,  the  customs  of  other  burghs,  and 
other  privileges,  in  repayment  of  the  sum  of  800  merks, 
which  they  had  lent  him  out  of  the  offerings  received  for  in- 
dulgences. 

In  July  1458,  the  king  came  to  Rothesay. 

The  death,  by  accident,  at  Roxburgh  Castle  in  1460  of 
James  II.,  involved  the  country  in  another  regency,  during 
which  the  Earl  of  Ross  and  Donald  Balloch  again  became 
prominent  disturbers  of  the  peace.  John,  Earl  of  Ross,  was 
tried  in  Edinburgh,  on  the  2Oth  November  1475,  for,  among 
other  offences,  "  the  tresonable  provocatione  of  our  soveraigne 
Lord's  lieges,  and  segeing  of  his  castel  of  Roithissay  in  Bute, 
and  birning,  slaing,  wasting,  and  destruuying  of  our  soverain 
Lord's  lieges  and  land  of  the  He  of  Bute."1  A  sentence  of 

11  Act.  Parl.,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  108-111. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         3 1 3 

forfeiture  was  passed  against  him,  and  his  lands  were  annexed 
to  the  Crown. 

In  the  turbulent  times  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  king 
and  Parliament  took  care  that  whatever  education  was  ne- 
glected, the  youth  were  well  trained  in  arms  of  every  sort. 
Each  youth  and  man  had  to  provide  the  tools  of  death  at 
his  own  charges,  according  to  his  rank  as  a  holder  of  land  or 
a  cottar.  In  1424,  it  was  enacted  "  that  all  men  busk  them 
to  be  archeres  fra  they  be  12  year  of  age,  and  that  in  ilk  ten 
pundis  worth  of  lande  ther  be  maid  bow-markesquharin  upon 
halie  daies  men  may  cum  .  .  .  and  have  usage  of  arch- 
erie."  The  penalty  of  disobedience  was  "a  wedder"  taken 
by  the  "  laird."  Later,  two  bow-butts  were  set  apart  at  every 
parish  church.  Weapon-schawings,  or  reviews,  were  held, 
sometimes  twice,  sometimes  four  times  a-year,  when  men 
and  weapons  were  duly  inspected  and  enrolled  by  the  Sheriff. 
Each  had  his  particular  suit  of  armour.  Yeomen  had  iron 
breastplates  and  iron  hats,  with  swords,  hooks,  &c. ;  spear- 
men had  ash  spears  from  5  to  6  ells  long.  In  1540,  every 
parish  was  ordained  to  meet  armed  and  elect  its  own  captain, 
who  had  to  exercise  his  men  in  military  movements  and  train 
them  to  obedience.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  militia. 

In  James  I.'s  reign  the  yeomen  of  £20  in  goods  met  four 
times  a-year  for  the  weapon-showing,  each  according  to  his 
station,  with  doublet  of  fence,  habergeon,  iron  hat,  bow,  sheaf 
and  arrows,  sword,  buckler,  and  knife  ;  or  if  he  was  no  bow- 
man, with  a  "  gude  axe,  or  else  a  brogged  staff."  Noblemen 
and  gentil-men  had  full  coats  of  steel-mail.  Bow-butts,  four 
or  five  in  number,  were  set  up  in  every  parish,  which  selected 
its  own  captain  of  the  parishioners.  The  landed  gentry  had 
armed  galleys.  The  variety  of  armour  changed  from  time 


314  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

to  time,  and  included  "  pikes,  stark  and  lang,  of  sex  elnes  of 
length  [18  feet  6  inches],  crossbows,  shot-guns,  &c.,"  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  each  being  "  weaponed  effeirand  to  his 
honour." 

James  III.  and  James  IV.  ordained  ships  and  bushes  of  not 
less  than  twenty  ton  to  be  built  in  every  burgh,  and  sheriffs 
and  other  officers  to  compel  idle  men  to  serve  in  them  at  the 
fishing  under  pain  of  banishment. 

In  1469,  Parliament  annexed  the  Crown  lands  of  Bute  to 
the  principality. 

It  must  not  be  imagined  that  the  methods  of  agriculture 
were  not  thoroughly  understood  by  the  farmers,  well  tutored 
by  the  monks,  and  also  by  those  Norman  settlers  who,  like 
King  David  I.  and  Alan  the  Steward,  took  a  great  interest  in 
the  culture  of  trees  and  flowers.  In  the  case  of  the  barony  of 
Rolden  each  husbandman  had  to  pay  annually  eighty  silver 
pennies  as  silver  rent.  His  household  contributed  four  days' 
shearing  and  one  day  peat-raising ;  a  man  and  a  horse  were 
requisitioned  for  a  journey  to  Berwick  ;  an  acre  and  a  half 
were  to  be  ploughed  ;  one  day's  harrowing,  one  day's  carting 
at  harvest,  one  day's  sheep-washing,  and  one  day's  sheep- 
shearing  of  a  man  were  also  exacted.  The  service  might 
be  in  road-making,  ditching,  fencing,  or  any  other  kind  of 
agricultural  work.  There  are  extant  many  ancient  Acts  of 
Parliament  regulating  every  kind  of  agricultural  concern — 
e.g.,  leases,  digging,  ploughing,  rotations,  weeds,  vermin,  deer, 
hares,  "  cunnings,"  birds,  doves,  wolves,  trees,  setting  of  broom, 
fences,  and  the  like.  The  vexations  of  the  farmers  have  never 
been  out  of  Parliament — and  if  there  is  any  force  in  heredity, 
farmers  must  be  by  this  time  constitutionally  aggrieved,  and 
unable  to  enjoy  fixed  laws. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         3 1 5 

In  1424,  King  James  I.  ordained  that  labourers  were  each 
to  have  half  an  ox  to  plough  with,  or  dig  7  feet  square  daily 
under  penalty  of  paying  an  ox. 

In  1426,  every  farmer  possessing  a  plough  of  eight  oxen 
was  ordained  to  sow  at  least  a  firlot  of  wheat,  half  a  firlot  of 
peas,  and  forty  beans  yearly,  under  a  penalty  to  the  baron 
of  10  shillings,  and  of  the  baron  to  the  Crown  of  40  shil- 
lings. 

In  James  II.'s  reign  tenants  were  ordered  to  plant  woods 
and  hedges  and  sow  broom,  while  destroyers  of  woods  were 
severely  punished. 

The  peaceful  occupations  of  the  husbandry  were  so  dis- 
turbed by  the  perpetual  internecine  wars  in  the  realm  through- 
out the  reigns  of  the  Stewart  dynasty,  that  although  the 
farmers  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes  owners  of  the  soil, 
they  gradually  sank  into  difficulties,  and  had  to  part  with 
their  properties.  The  history  of  the  progress  of  these  small 
estates  out  of  the  hands  of  their  original  owners  is  a  striking 
example  of  the  difficulty  of  families  hereditarily  retaining 
small  portions  of  land.  In  1506,  there  were  eighty-one  land- 
holders ;  in  1657,  thirty-six;  in  1894,  twelve,  including  these 
within  the  burgh  boundaries.  In  1704,  the  old  "  barons  "  were 
reduced  to  seventeen  in  number.  Their  lands  seem  to  have 
been  designated  "heritage"  lands.  The  lands  in  the  burgh 
were  designated  "  king's  "  and  "  common  "  lands,  which  indi- 
cate that  the  rents  in  the  one  case  were  paid  directly  into  the 
king's  Treasury  by  the  king's  bailie,  and  of  the  other,  being  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  feu-duties,  the  rents  were  paid  to  the 
burgh.  The  "  common "  lands  must  have  been  parcels  of 
ground  feued  off  "  the  common  good  "  to  their  own  burgesses 
at  the  annual  rate  of  two  shillings  Scots  per  acre  by  the 


316  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

magistrates.  The  infeftments  of  these  feuars  are  recorded 
in  the  Burgh  Register,  pursuant  to  an  Act  of  Parliament  in 
1681. 

There  were  no  cut  highways  on  the  isle  till  after  1768, 
transport  being  carried  on  pack-horses  over  the  "  drove- 
roads,"  which  ran  along  the  higher  ground,  to  avoid  the  un- 
drained  hollows  and  flats.  Drainage  was  done  by  cutting 
trenches,  into  which  branches  of  trees  were  laid,  these  being 
covered  with  turf  and  the  soil. 

In  1457,  Parliament  ordained  the  fashions,  forbidding  other 
than  dignatories  and  their  families  to  wear  silk,  scarlet,  or 
furred  gowns.  The  poorer  gentry's  wives  and  daughters  were 
to  wear  "  short  curches  with  little  hudes,"  and  unfurred  gowns 
save  on  holy  days.  The  day-labourer  might  change  his 
grey  or  white  stuff  of  daily  wear  into  a  blue,  green,  or  red  coat 
on  holy  days  ;  but  his  wife  had  to  wear  a  cheap  curch  of  her 
own  making,  and  not  to  mussal  (veil)  her  face  at  kirk  or 
market. 

During  the  troubled  reign  of  James  III.,  while  his  kinsmen 
the  Boyds  of  Kilmarnock  were  in  favour  at  the  Court,  the 
Crown  lands  in  Arran,  Bute,  and  Cumbrae  were  granted  to 
Thomas  Boyd,  who  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  Earl  of 
Arran,  and  became  husband  to  Mary,  eldest  sister  of  the 
king.  Fortune  ceased  to  smile  on  the  earl,  whose  wife,  after 
obtaining  a  divorce,  married  Lord  Hamilton  of  Cadzow,  and 
became  mother  of  James  Hamilton,  afterwards  Earl  of  Arran, 
and  holder  of  the  Crown  lands  in  Arran.  Several  chamber- 
lains successively  attempted  to  lift  the  Crown  rents  in  Arran 
and  Bute,  among  others  being  John,  Lord  Darnley,  who 
from  1473  to  1491  received  payment  of  £26,  133.  4d.  as 
keeper  of  Rothesay  Castle.  He  also  drew  a  salary  as  Sheriff 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         317 

of  Bute.  Robert  and  Ninian  Stewart  were  about  this  period 
chamberlains  in  Bute,  and  in  1473  William  Racket  of  Beilsice 
was  appointed  king's  Clerk  of  Justiciary. 

The  murder  of  James  III.  at  Sauchieburn  led  to  the  usual 
confiscations  of  land  and  redistributions  of  honours.  Among 
those  who  fell  under  the  displeasure  of  the  monarch  was  the 
stout  and  warlike  Lord  Lindsay  of  the  Byres,  who  was 
arraigned  for  treason  before  the  king  and  Council.  He  had 
the  assistance  of  his  eloquent  brother  Patrick,  who  was  able 
to  nullify  on  technical  points  the  indictment,  and  to  obtain 
a  delay  of  the  trial.  The  success  of  this  action  irritated 
the  king,  who  vowed  "  he  should  gar  him  [Patrick]  sit  where 
he  should  not  see  his  feet  for  a  year,"  a  threat  it  is  said  he 
carried  out  by  incarcerating  Patrick  in  the  dungeon  of  Rothe- 
say  for  a  whole  year  after  I48Q.1 

In  1489,  King  James  IV.  granted  the  Stewartry  in  Bute 
to  Hugh,  Lord  Montgumry,  with  power  to  lease  the  lands 
thereof,  for  the  annual  payment  of  .£141,  i8s.  6d.;  £5  as 
fogage ;  41^2  marts;  n  chalders  15  bolls  of  bear;  and 
i  chalder  8  bolls  of  meal ;  also  a  life  appointment  of  the 
bailieship  of  the  isle  and  the  justiciarship  of  Bute  and  Arran, 
with  power  to  appoint  deputes. 

The  king  made  several  visits  to  the  west  to  subjugate  the 
rebellious  Highlanders  in  Kintyre,  whence,  after  reducing 
Dunaverty,  he  seems  to  have  sailed  in  his  warship  the 
Christopher  round  to  the  Castle  of  Rothesay  in  July 
1494.  After  the  next  Yule  he  was  back  again  in  Bute  in  his 
royal  "  row-barge  " 2 — a  visit  which  probably  caused  Matthew 


1  Pitscottie,  vol.  i.  p.  238 ;  'Lives  of  the  Lindsays,'  vol.  i.  p.  179. 

2  'Ace.  Lord  H.  Treas.  of  Scot.,'  vol.  i.  var.  loc. 


3 1 8  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Stewart  to  have  the  castle  furbished  up  at  a  cost  of  £10  and 
4  chalders  of  barley. 

In  August  1498,  James  IV.  was  in  the  west,  and  on  the  5th 
of  that  month,  at  Tarbert,  he  made  Ninian  Stewart  hereditary 
keeper  of  Rothesay  Castle.  Next  year,  in  March  and  April, 
he  held  Court  under  the  Sheriff's  roof  in  Rothesay,  during 
which  visit  the  miller  was  busy  grinding  their  wheaten  flour. 

The  king's  anxiety  to  form  a  Scottish  fleet  may  have 
brought  him  so  often  to  the  west  to  draft  the  descendants 
of  the  hardy  Norsemen,  who  form  the  best  marines  possible, 
into  the  royal  service. 

The  county  Justice  Air  was  appointed  to  be  held  at  Ayr 
or  Rothesay  in  1503. 

The  birth  of  a  prince  in  1 506  led  to  the  consideration  of 
the  tenancy  of  the  Crown  lands,  and  a  demand  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  Crown  dues. 

The  king  empowered  commissioners  to  let  the  lands  of 
the  principality ;  but  on  their  reporting  that  the  tenants  in 
Bute  had  been  of  old  infefted  in  the  lands  by  his  progenitors, 
the  king,  with  the  consent  of  the  Lords  of  Council,  in  1 506 
granted  them  charters  of  their  lands,  to  be  held  on  payment 
of  the  fixed  fermes  and  the  giving  of  service.  (See  Chapter 
V.  on  "  The  Barons  of  Bute.")  In  this  way  the  landholders 
in  Bute,  with  a  few  exceptions,  got  their  feu-charters  from 
the  king. 

From  1445  to  1450  the  money-fermes  of  Bute,  payable 
to  the  Steward  or  Prince  of  Scotland,  amounted  to  .£141,  i8s. 
6d.,  including  £4.0  from  the  burgh  of  Rothesay ;  and  each 
tenant  was  bound  to  furnish  a  mart  to  the  royal  table  for 
every  five  marks  of  rent  payable  by  him,  for  which  mart  he 
received  the  sum  of  5  shillings  from  the  chamberlain.  These 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.          319 

marts  were  gathered  at  Portincross  and  transported  to  the 
various  castles  where  the  Court  assembled.  A  passenger- 
boat  plied  between  Bute  and  Cowal,  the  ferryman  of  which 
down  to  1445  received  a  boll  of  barley  annually  out  of  the 
rents.1  Kerrycroy  is  still  popularly  known  as  "  The  Ferry." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  men  of 
Kintyre  indulged  in  a  feud  with  the  Butemen,  during  which 
the  vassals  of  Argyle  about  1507  invaded  Bute  and  com- 
mitted incendiary  devastations,  which  in  turn  led  to  retalia- 
tions on  the  part  of  the  victims.  For  these  breaches  of  the 
law  the  invaders  had  to  make  amends,  and  in  1512  the 
islanders  of  Bute  and  Cumbrae  obtained  a  remission  of  all 
past  crimes  saving  the  four  pleas  of  the  Crown.  The  quarrel 
did  not  end  here,  and  the  Earl  of  Argyle,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed Lieutenant  of  the  Isles,  while  executing  his  warrant  to 
apprehend  certain  troublesome  islesmen  who  were  supposed 
to  have  found  refuge  in  Bute,  paid  off  the  old  score  at  the 
same  time.  Consequently,  in  1515,  Albany,  Regent  of  Scot- 
land, granted  the  Earl  of  Argyle  and  his  vassals,  including  the 
Lamonts  of  Cowal,  a  remission  for  their  ravages  committed 
on  the  lands,  castle,  and  inhabitants  of  Bute. 

The  absence  of  records  at  this  date  prevents  us  describing 
the  horror  which  spread  throughout  the  land  on  the  realisa- 
tion of  the  disaster  of  Flodden,  where  in  1513  James  IV.  and 
the  best  of  his  kingdom  perished.  I  am  not  able  to  determine 
under  what  flag  the  Brendanes  fought  that  day — whether  as 
the  body-guard  of  the  king  in  the  centre  of  the  van,  or,  along 
with  their  neighbours  from  the  west,  in  the  right  wing  under 
Lennox  and  Argyle. 

1  'Excheq.  Rolls,'  vol.  vi.,  Pref. 


320  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Probably  it  was  they  who  formed  that  sacred  circle  of 
humanity  devoted  to  die  around  their  ill-fated  king,  as  their 
ancestors  had  done  before  on  the  field  of  Falkirk.  The 
forester  of  Cumbrae,  Hunter  of  Hunterston,  was  among  the 
slain.  Ninian  Stewart,  the  Sheriff,  at  least  did  not  fall  on 
that  bloody  field  with  the  muster  of  "all  manner  of  men 
between  sixteen  and  sixty,  spiritual  and  temporal,  burgh  and 
land,  islesmen  and  others,"  who  assembled  at  the  Bore-Stone. 
In  his  account,  as  Chamberlain  of  Bute,  from  7th  August 
1518  to  6th  November  1520,  appears  a  charge  for  the  building 
of  the  great  tower  and  dungeon  in  the  Castle  of  Rothesay, 
which  had  been  commenced  at  the  order  of  King  James  IV., 
and  cost  £191,  7s.1 

The  Crown-fermes  of  the  isle  were  at  this  time  granted  to 
the  Earl  of  Lennox.  There  still  exists  a  "  bond  of  manrent 
by  Ninian  Bannachtyne  of  the  Kamys,  and  Robert  Bannach- 
tyne  his  son,  whereby  they  become  bound  to  be  men  and  ser- 
vants to  John,  Earl  of  Lenax,  and  to  give  him  their  best  coun- 
sel when  required,  and  to  take  part  with  the  captain  or  captains 
of  the  Castle  of  Bute,"2  which  is  dated  loth  February  1514. 

King  James  V.  granted  two  leases  of  the  lands  and  lord- 
ship of  Bute,  with  the  forest,  extending  between  1521  and 
1531,  for  payment  of  6  merks  for  each  chalder  of  bear,  32 
shillings  for  each  chalder  of  oats,  and  135.  4d.  for  each  mart, 
to  John,  Earl  of  Lennox.3  The  Earl  was  appointed  Justice 
in  Bute  in  May  1525. 

Scotland  was  once  more  unfortunate  in  being  governed  by 

1  'Rot.  Scacc.,'  p.  362:   "Et  eidem  pro  constructione  magni  turris  dicti  le 
dungeon  in  caustro  de  Rothesay  de  mandato  domini  regis  quondam  Jacob!  quart! 
cujus  anima  prospicietur  Deus  extendente,  ,£191,  7s." 

2  Duke  of  Montrose  Charters.  3  Ibid. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.          321 

a  Regency — and  that  at  first  in  the  worst  form  under  the 
widowed  queen — until  King  James  V.  assumed  the  reins  of 
power.  The  country  was  distracted.  What  with  the  levity 
of  the  queen,  the  quarrels  of  nobles  and  clergy,  the  rebellions 
of  the  Douglases  and  the  Earl  of  Arran,  the  sanguinary  feuds 
of  the  Highlanders,  the  intrigues  of  King  Henry  VIII.,  and 
the  secret  propagation  of  the  new  Reformed  doctrines  of 
religion,  the  mass  of  the  people  became  unsettled,  irritable, 
and  distrustful.  The  history  of  the  period  reads  like  that  of 
Central  Africa,  where  every  pleasant  spot  has  its  rivulet  of 
blood  murmuring  for  revenge. 

On  January  24,  1527,  the  Master  of  Ruthven  and  five 
associates  obtained  a  remission  for  treason  in  laying  siege  to 
Rothesay  Castle  and  burning  the  town  of  "  Bute." x 

Brodick  Castle,  then  under  the  castellanship  of  George 
Tait,  was  taken  and  burned  by  Archibald  and  Robert  Stewart 
in  1528,  who  killed  the  keeper,  for  which  crime  they  were 
returned  for  trial.2 

In  1534,  Colin  Campbell  of  Ardkinglas  was  lessee  of  the 
Crown  lands  at  an  increase  of  rent  upon  that  of  1440. 

In  1536,  the  castle  was  honoured  by  a  visit  of  the  young 
king,  who,  "weary  of  his  single  life,"  was  on  his  way  to 
France  to  woo  Mary  of  Bourbon,  when,  during  his  sleep,  his 
influential  companion  Sir  James  Hamilton  of  Evandale  caused 
his  vessel  to  be  turned  back  into  western  waters.  For  this 
interference  the  king  never  forgave  Hamilton,  and  a  few  years 
later  consented  to  his  execution  as  a  traitor.  One  of  the 
accusations  made  against  him  was  that,  having  obtained  3000 
crowns  from  the  king  to  repair  and  appoint  Rothesay  Castle 

1  Pitcairn,  vol.  i.  p.  240.  2  Ibid.,  vol.  i.  p.  139. 

VOL.  IT.  X 


322  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

as  a  royal  residence,  he  had  failed  to  perform  the  work  and 
account  for  the  money.  Hamilton  was  executed  on  Edin- 
burgh Castle  Hill. 

In  the  summer  of  1540,  the  king  made  a  naval  expedition 
round  Scotland  in  order  to  overawe  the  western  clans,  and 
on  his  return  visited  Bute. 

In  1538,  Sheriff  Ninian  and  his  sons  James  and  Archibald 
Stewart  had  a  lease  for  five  years  from  the  king  of  the  lands, 
lordship,  and  forest  of  Bute,  on  annual  payment  of  6s.  8d.  for 
every  boll  of  bear — price  of  the  chalder  £5,  6s.  8d., — 40  pence 
for  each  boll  of  oats — price  of  the  chalder  533.  4d., — and  for 
each  mart  5  shillings. 

Argyle  leased  these  dues  for  nine  years  from  1543,  and  was 
justiciary  in  1546. 

Argyle,  being  restored  to  the  lieutenancy  of  Bute  in  1530, 
considered  himself  superior  in  jurisdiction  to  the  keeper  of 
Rothesay  Castle,  and  consequently,  when  in  dread  of  the 
English  invasion  under  Lennox,  the  inhabitants  of  Bute 
applied  to  him  for  the  safe  passage  of  their  goods  into  his 
territory,  Argyle  granted  a  writ  of  security,  "and  keipand 
ane  leil,  trew,  and  assawld  pairt  till  us  and  to  our  serwands, 
that  we  send  to  the  keeping  of  the  Castil  of  Rosay  and  Isle 
of  Buit,  and  till  all  uthers  that  dependis  on  us  in  all  perten- 
ing."1  It  was  signed  at  Toward  on  3d  January  1544. 

Argyle  seems  to  have  been  deprived  of  his  lease,  for  in  1549 
Sheriff  James  Stewart,  on  payment  of  a  composition  of  300 
marks  to  the  Queen's  Comptroller,  received  a  nineteen  years' 
appointment  to  the  office  of  chamberlain  of  the  lands,  he  pay- 
ing a  certain  valued  sum  for  the  tenants'  rents,  and  being 

1  'Blain,'p.  201. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         323 

permitted  to  deduct  the  salaries  of  the  officials  in  the  castle, 
But  Argyle  obtained  other  grants  of  the  Crown  rents  in  1554, 
1558,  1562,  and  1566. 

By  the  death  of  King  James  in  1542,  Scotland  was  once 
again  placed  under  the  miserable  regime  of  a  Regency,  and 
King  Henry  of  England  set  into  motion  the  plots  which  were 
designed  to  ally  Scotland  to  England  by  the  marriage  of  the 
young  queen  to  his  son.  In  1544,  the  Earls  of  Lennox  and 
Glencairn  made  a  compact  with  King  Henry  VIII.  to  promote 
the  marriage  of  Queen  Mary  and  Prince  Edward,  and  to  put 
Henry  in  possession  of  the  strongest  castles  in  Scotland,  on 
condition  that  Lennox  was  made  Governor  of  Scotland, 
married  a  niece  of  Henry,  and  obtained  a  substantial  hono- 
rarium. In  terms  of  this  indenture,  instructions  were  given 
to  the  English  squadron  to  co-operate  with  Lennox  in  taking 
"Rosse  Castle  and  the  Isle  of  Bute."1  In  August  1544, 
Lennox,  and  Thomas  Bishop  of  Ochiltree,  with  an  English 
force,  invaded  Bute  and  put  it  to  fire  and  sword,  and  sacked 
Dunoon,  for  which  treasonable  acts  Lennox  and  Bishop  were 
forfeited.2  It  is  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  unexpected 
happening  when  Darnley,  the  son  of  Lennox,  afterwards 
married  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 

James  Stewart,  the  Sheriff,  espoused  from  the  beginning 
the  cause  of  his  royal  mistress,  for  which  he  suffered  at  the 
instigation  of  the  Earl  of  Arran  and  the  Earl  of  Argyle.  To 
supplant  the  faithful  Sheriff,  in  order  to  reward  or  confirm  the 
allegiance  of  James  Macdonald  of  Islay,  was  the  design  of 
these  two  nobles.  Ninian  Bannatyne  of  Kames,  who  had 
once  been  the  man  of  Lennox,  assisted  Macdonald  in  harass- 

1  '  Cal.  Stat.  Papers,'  vol.  i.  pp.  46,  47.  2  'Act.  Parl.,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  456-459- 


324  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

ing  the  Sheriff  in  Rothesay,  and  took  violent  possession  of  the 
farm  of  Barone  for  three  years.  This  feud  reached  its  acutest 
local  crisis  in  1555,  when,  after  seven  years'  litigation,  Ninian 
divorced,  on  grounds  of  consanguinity,  his  wife  Janet,  who 
was  a  sister  of  the  Sheriff. 

To  accomplish  their  machinations,  the  Sheriff  was  arraigned 
in  1549  as  a  traitor  who  had  assisted  the  English  squadron 
in  spoiling  Bute,  but  the  charge  failed.  Under  fear,  or,  as 
himself  alleged,  by  coercion,  the  Sheriff,  to  gain  the  influence 
of  the  Regent  Arran,  who  was  thirsting  for  the  Sheriff's  lands 
in  the  Isle  of  Arran  so  as  to  strengthen  his  title,  the  Sheriff 
consented  to  the  disposition  of  his  lands  to  the  Regent.  The 
Sheriff  resiled,  confessing  to  be  coerced,  and  accusing  the 
second  party  of  fraud ;  yet,  notwithstanding,  the  Regent  and 
his  heirs  kept  the  Arran  lands,  Corriegills  excepted. 

Through  the  fall  of  the  Hamiltons  in  1579,  the  Sheriff  was 
once  more  invested  in  his  lands  in  Arran,  the  chamberlainship, 
the  keepership  of  Brodick  Castle,  and  other  rights  ;  but  these 
honours  he  only  held  till  1586,  when  he  was  dispossessed  to 
make  room  for  John,  Lord  Hamilton. 

In  1590,  John,  Sheriff  of  Bute,  for  the  reduction  of  the 
strange  transaction  of  1549,  raised  an  action,  out  of  which 
nothing  eventuated,  so  that  the  lands  are  still  held  by  the 
Duke  of  Hamilton.1 

Sheriff  James,  who  died  in  1570,  was  a  sturdy  adherent  of 
the  queen's  party,  and,  according  to  Blain,  fought  in  her  ranks 
at  the  battle  of  Langside.  Sheriff  James  and  his  son  John 
seem  to  have  been  in  favour  with  Queen  Mary,  who  in 


1  For  a  full  account  of  this  affair  see  Blain's  '  Hist.,'  p.  205,  and  Reid's  *  Hist., 
p.  74. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         325 

1561  granted  to  them   for  life  the  sum  of  25  marks  out  of 
the  Crown  rents. 

During  the  troubles  consequent  on  the  dethronement, 
imprisonment,  and  unjust  death  of  Queen  Mary,  when  the 
air  was  full  of  the  threatened  invasion  by  the  Spanish  Ar- 
mada, a  proclamation  by  James  VI.  was  read  at  the  Cross 
in  High  Street,  in  September  1588,  declaring  that  sundry 
armed  bands,  horsemen  and  foot,  paid  with  foreign  gold, 
had  risen  to  change  "the  trew  religion  to  the  thraldome 
and  slaverie  of  that  proude  natioun  of  Spayne,"  and  calling 
upon  the  "  substancious  fewaris  and  landed  gentilmen"  to 
take  arms  against  these  "  pernicious  instruments,"  and  come 
speedily  too,  with  thirty  days'  provision  in  their  wallet,  and 
"weill  bodin  with  jakkis"  (t.e.t  furnished  with  a  short  coat  of 
mail),  spears,  and  long  guns,  to  meet  his  majesty  James  at 
Edinburgh  on  the  last  day  of  September.  It  was  a  patriotic 
call,  and  all  were  bidden  who  had  Reformed  principles  at 
stake.  Who  went,  we  know  not.1 

Every  prominent  hill  glared  out  its  bale-fire,  for  that  was 
then  the  statutory  summons  to  loyal  subjects. 

One  can  imagine  the  stir  at  the  old  port  of  Rothesay  in 
the  Water-gate  those  days  when,  after  a  benediction  from 
the  parish  minister,  Patrick  M'Queine,  and  a  God-speed  from 
the  burghers'  wives,  the  motley  Brandanes  sailed  away.  But 
the  expedition  was  a  muster  and  nothing  more.  All  that  the 
Butemen  saw  of  this  terrible  fleet  was  the  unfortunate  vessel 
that  sank  at  Portincross,  and  whose  crew  became  progenitors 
of  a  family  of  Hogarths,  according  to  tradition. 

However,  it  was  a  bloodless  march,  the  Armada  having 

1  « Act.  Parl.,'  vol.  iv.  p.  950. 


326  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

been  dispersed,  harmlessly  to  Scotland,  by  storm  and 
wrecking. 

In  1594,  there  was  another  muster  in  Edinburgh. 

Four  years  later  a  similar  proclamation  was  more  definite, 
and  called  a  muster  of  men  between  sixteen  and  sixty  years 
of  age,  holding  lands  worth  300  merks  a-year,  to  meet  the 
king  at  Dumbarton,  as  he  intended  chastising  the  "red- 
shanks" of  Kintyre  and  the  Isles,  who  had  been  guilty  of 
"  vyle  and  beestlie  murthours  "  (murders)  and  other  unspeak- 
able crimes,  which  then  meant  papistical  practices.  The 
Butemen  and  other  maritime  lieges  were  to  appear  there 
of  course  "  weill  bodin,"  but  also  with  "  ships,  crearis  [lighters], 
boats,"  and  other  transports,  on  the  2Oth  August  1598,  on 
pain  of  forfeiting  lands,  goods,  and  gear.1 

Bute,  like  the  rest  of  Scotland,  was  embroiled  in  the  san- 
guinary troubles  which  ultimately  ended  in  the  execution  of 
King  Charles  I.  in  1649,  an^  its  chief  men  were  partisans 
with  the  Covenanters  against  the  king,  with  few  exceptions. 
Among  those  who  signed  the  National  Covenant  of  1638, 
now  preserved  in  the  Advocates'  Library,  was  "  H[ector] 
Bannatyne  of  Kames,"  representing  the  landowners  in  Bute, 
and  "  Matthew  Spence,"  representing  the  burgesses  of  Rothe- 
say.  Sir  James  Lamont  of  Toward  and  Ascog  Castles  was 
a  Royalist.  In  March  1643,  he  received  a  commission  from 
King  Charles  to  levy  troops  and  prosecute  a  campaign  against 
the  Marquess  of  Argyle,  which  had  a  melancholy  conclusion. 
The  contending  parties  flew  to  arms.  On  the  26th  August 
1643,  ^e  Estates  taking  into  serious  consideration  the  danger 
imminent  to  the  Protestant  religion,  the  king's  person,  and  the 


1  'Act.  Parl.  ,'  vol.  iv.  p. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         327 

peace  of  the  country  by  the  multitude  of  Papists  in  arms  in 
England  and  Ireland,  resolved  to  put  the  kingdom  into  a 
"posture  of  defence,"  and  appointed  colonels  of  horse  and 
foot — who  were  called  "  Committees  of  War  " — in  the  various 
sheriffdoms.  The  Bute  colonels  in  1643  were  : — 

"  [Niniane]  Stuart  of  Killcattan,  elder. 

Stuart  of  Killcattan,  younger. 
Stueart  of  Ascog  [Niniane  Stewart  of  Askoge]. 
Alexander  Campbell  of  Pennimoore. 

Bellenden  of  Games  [Hector  Bannatyne  of  Kaymes]. 
Robert       Bannatyne  of  lupus  [Lubas]. 
Johne         Hamiltoun,  baillie  of  Arran. 
Robert       Campbell  of  Auchenwilling. 
Donald      M'Neill  of  Kilmorrey. 
Donald       Campbell  of  Kirkmichel. 

Sir  Robert  Montgomerie  [yr.  of  Skelmorly],  who  is  also  to  be 
conveiner."  x 

Sir  Robert  was  appointed  colonel  for  the  shire. 
To  these  were  added  in  1644 — 

"  Robert  Jamesonne,  crowner. 
Niniane  Spence  of  Wester  Kames. 
James  Stewart  of  Killquhindicke  [Kilwhinleck], 
Johne  Stewart  of  Ardrismore  [Ambrismore]. 
Johne  Campbell. 
Johne  Jamiesone,  proveist  of  Rothesay."  2 

The  Sheriff,  James  Stewart,  threw  in  his  fortunes  with  his 
king,  and  garrisoned  Rothesay  Castle  with  his  own  vassals  in 
the  royal  interest.  The  leading  men  of  Bute  were  Coven- 
anters, and  were  among  those  who  opposed  the  royal  army 
under  the  Marquis  of  Montrose.  On  the  2d  February  1645, 

1  'Act.  Parl.,'  vol.  vi.  p.  540.  2  Ibid.,  p.  204. 


328  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

Montrose  defeated  the  Campbells  and  the  allies  of  Argyle  at 
Inverlochy,  where  among  those  prisoners  who  escaped  the 
slaughter  was  "  Captain  Steuart  in  Bute," 1  who  was  prob- 
ably one  of  these  Covenanting  colonels  mentioned  above. 
The  Sheriff  had  been  appointed  by  the  king  lieutenant  in 
the  west  in  room  of  Argyle,  and  placed  in  command  of  two 
armed  frigates,  so  that  he  might  capture  the  Castle  of  Dum- 
barton. But  the  enterprise  failed,  and  he  had  to  seek  refuge 
in  Ireland. 

Among  the  forces  co-operating  with  Montrose  in  the  High- 
lands was  a  contingent  of  Irish  troops  embodied  by  the  Earl 
of  Antrim  under  Alexander  Macdonald,  son  of  Colla  Ciotagh. 
Argyle  had  attacked  the  Clanranald  Macdonalds,  who  in  turn 
sent  round  the  fiery  cross,  and,  gathering  up  a  ruthless  band, 
made  for  Argyle's  country  to  plunder  and  destroy.  The  ruin 
they  left  was  unmistakable  in  every  place  that  had  the  least 
relationship  with  MacAilinmor.  The  lives  of  men  and  beasts 
were  not  spared.  Bute,  too,  came  under  their  bloody  claws, 
according  to  Blain,  in  February  1646  (5  ?),  and  they  left  it 
desolate. 

Meantime  General  Leslie,  at  Philiphaugh,  had  turned  the 
wheel  of  fortune  in  favour  of  the  Covenanters,  and  the  royal 
cause  in  Scotland  was  rendered  desperate  by  that  blow. 

Not  long  afterwards  the  injured  Butemen  had  the  satis- 
faction of  learning  that  the  remnant  of  the  band  of  robbers 
who,  under  a  Macdonald,  held  out  against  Leslie  in  Kintyre 
were  mercilessly  cast  into  the  sea  from  the  wild  precipices  of 
Dunaverty  Castle. 

A  commission  in  1647  reported  upon  the  losses  the  isle 

1  'Hist,  of  the  Troubles,'  vol.  ii.  p.  296.     Bann.  Club. 


00 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         329 

sustained  by  this  descent,  but  the  despoiled  appear  to  have 
received  no  indemnity. 

In  1647,  an  impost  of  ;£459  was  laid  on  Bute,  but  it  was 
suspended  on  account  of  the  devasted  condition  of  the  shire. 
General  Leslie  was  authorised  to  raise  the  Butemen  against 
the  Highland  rebels,  who  with  "  the  Irishes  "  were  so  trouble- 
some that  the  county  petitioned  Parliament  to  send  a  regi- 
ment to  suppress  them.  The  Argyle  regiment  was  sent. 

A  petition  of  Hector  Bannatyne  of  Kames  to  the  General 
Assembly  displays  either  the  crafty  mind  or  the  needy 
condition  of  that  grim  Covenanter  in  1647 : — 

"The  Commission  of  Assembly,  having  considered  the  petition 
of  Hector  Bannatyne  of  Kames  [the  Parliament  had  made  over  to 
him  '  the  debts  and  uthers  guids,  gear,  and  means '  of  James  Boyd, 
son  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Argyll,  who  '  hes  bene  and  still  is,  in  the 
rebellion,'  to  enable  him  to  meet  the  expense  of  maintaining  a  loyal 
garrison  in  his  castle  of  Kames,1  and  authorised  their  Commissioner 
of  the  Isles  and  his  deputies  within  the  Isle  of  Bute  to  see  payment 
made  to  him — Acts  of  the  Parl.  of  Scot.,  vol.  vi.  pt.  i.  p.  676] 

1  The  following  are  the  dimensions  of  Kames  Castle  (see  p.  176),  taken  by  Mr 
Macrae,  Kames  Castle  : — 

Walls,  externally,  36  feet  10  inches  and  26  feet  respectively  in  breadth ;  to  the 
gargoyles,  42  feet  8  inches ;  to  the  parapet,  59  feet  4  inches  ;  to  the  tower,  66 
feet  in  height. 

1st  ground-floor :  Arched  doorway  on  north-west  face,  6  feet  4^  inches  long, 
3  feet  broad;  cellar,  vaulted,  26  feet  3^  inches  long,  17  feet  5  inches  broad; 
stair  in  wall  spiral ;  no  windows. 

2d  floor  :  Room,  25  feet  4  inches  long,  16  feet  7^  inches  broad  ;  stone-vaulted, 
13  feet  high  ;  walls,  5  feet  9  inches  thick,  above-ground  9  feet ;  four  windows. 

3d  floor :  23  feet  $}4  inches  long,  16  feet  broad  j  walls,  5  feet  5^  inches 
thick  ;  ceiling,  8  feet  5  inches  high ;  north-west  wall,  6  feet  10  inches  thick ;  two 
rooms ;  three  windows. 

4th  floor:  22  feet  uj^  inches  long,  15  feet  9^  inches  broad;  walls,  5  feet  5 
inches  thick  ;  two  rooms  ;  two  windows. 

5th  floor:  Attic,  22  feet  9  inches  long,  15  feet  8  inches  broad;  ceiling,  pent, 
9  feet  10  inches. 


330  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

for  himself,  and  in  name  and  behalf  of  the  poor  inhabitants  within 
the  Isle  of  Bute,  do  judge  the  desire  therof  verie  reasonable,  and 
therfor  recomend  to  the  Presbyterie  of  Dunnoon  to  allow  to  him 
and  his  tennents  the  vaking  fruits  of  the  Kirk  of  Kingarth  toward 
the  education  of  their  children  at  schools,  in  regard  of  their  neces- 
sitous condition,  and  conforme  to  the  destination  of  the  Act  of 
Parliament,  recomending  also  to  the  patron,  titulars,  heretors,  and 
others  adebtit,  in  payment  of  the  stipend,  to  mak  due  payment 
therof  to  them  for  the  pious  use  aforesaid."1 

The  Sheriff  himself  was  proscribed  by  the  dominant  party, 
and  his  family,  dispossessed  of  their  residence,  were  reduced 
to  straits.  He  had  ultimately  to  pay  a  fine  of  5000  marks  to 
obtain  his  office  and  property.2 

But  the  Campbells  of  Argyle  were  also  bent  upon  revenge, 
as  the  following  episodes  show. 

One  of  the  saddest  tragedies  that  ever  horrified  Bute  and 
the  west  was  completed  near  the  Castle  Hill  of  Dunoon,  when 
the  Provost  of  Rothesay,  several  other  townsmen,  and  adher- 
ents of  Sir  James  Lamont  of  Inveryne  and  Ascog,  were  cruelly 
murdered  by  the  Clan  Campbell.  The  episode  was  the  ground 
for  one  of  the  indictments  which  brought  Archibald,  Marquess 
of  Argyle,  to  the  block  for  high  treason,  fifteen  years  after  its 
occurrence.3  According  to  the  charge  preferred  to  Parlia- 
ment on  January  13,  1661,  by  the  Lord  Advocate,  Sir  James 
Lamont,  Knight,  on  behalf  of  himself,  vassals,  and  kindred  ; 
Robert  Campbell,  laird  of  Escog ;  Colin  Macklawchlane, 
minister  of  Lochgoilhead ;  and  others, — it  appears  that  Sir 
James  Lamont  had  received  a  commission  from  King  Charles 

1  Proceedings  of  Commission  of  Gen.  Ass.,  1647;  the  Records  of  the  Com.,' 
pp.  206,  207.     Scot.  Text  Soc.,  Edin.,  1892. 

2  Blain,  'Hist., 'p.  216. 

3  Hargreave's  '  State  Trials/  vol.  vi.  p.  423  ;  vol.  vii.  pp.  379-421. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         331 

in  1643  to  prosecute  a  war  against  Argyle  and  other  Scots 
rebels,  which  he  executed  till  1646,  when  King  Charles  gave 
himself  up  at  Newark  ;  and  in  consequence,  Lament  sheathed 
his  sword,  and  retired  to  his  houses  at  Toward  and  Ascog, 
where  his  vassals  had  found  shelter  during  the  times  their 
lands  were  wasted.  The  Campbells,  under  the  lairds  of  Ard- 
kinglas  and  Inveran,  in  1646  laid  siege  to  these  two  strong- 
holds, and  ultimately  compelled  Sir  James  and  his  garrison 
at  Toward  to  capitulate,  on  condition  that  life,  fortune,  and 
goods,  with  their  personal  liberty,  should  be  honoured.  The 
treaty  was  instantly  dishonoured,  and  their  captives,  to  the 
number  of  200,  were  bound  with  their  hands  behind  their 
backs,  and  detained  in  the  courtyard  of  the  castle. 

"Nevertheless,  they  plundered  the  said  houses  of  the  whole 
furniture  and  goods  therein ;  and  did  rob  and  take  away  the  whole 
money  and  cloathes  of  the  persons  within  the  same,  and  did  drive 
away  the  whole  cattle.  These  and  former  wastation  to  the  said  Sir 
James,  his  friends,  vassals,  and  tenants,  did  exceed  the  sum  of  fifty 
thousand  pounds  sterling,  and  in  a  most  cruel  and  most  barbarous 
way,  while  some  of  his  poor  friends  were  rescuing  their  own  goods, 
they  barbarously  murdered  and  massacred  a  number  of  innocent 
women,  as  namely — Mary  Gilaspie,  Marione  Mackleish,  a  young 
maid ;  Caleech  Breedmachfoyne,  Margaret  Crawfurde,  and  certain 
others,  and  inhumanly  left  their  bodies  as  a  prey  to  ravenous  beasts 
and  fowls,"  &c. 

Sir  James  was  ferried  over  to  Ascog  to  cajole  that  place 
of  defence  into  surrender.  Then  the  same  treachery  and 
cruelty  ensued. 

"  In  pursuance  of  their  further  villany,  after  plundering  and 
robbing  all  that  was  within  and  about  the  said  house,  they  most 
barbarously,  cruelly,  and  inhumanly  murdered  several  young  and 
old,  yea,  suckling  children,  some  of  them  not  one  month  old." 


332  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

After  devastating  and  burning  the  house  of  Ascog1  and 
wasting  the  orchard  and  demesne,  the  ruthless  Campbells 
conveyed  their  prisoners  over  to  Toward — Sir  James,  and  a 
few  of  kin,  being  taken  direct  to  Inveraray.  There  he  was 
brutally  used,  and  was  hurried  off  to  imprisonment,  which 
lasted  six  years :  the  meantime  the  Campbells  enjoyed  the 
lands  of  the  Laments  —  Robert  of  Auchinwilling  holding 
Toward,  and  Ardkinglas  Ascog,  till  1661. 

A  bitterer  fate  awaited  the  captives  penned  up  in  Toward. 
They  were  marched  off  to  the  Castle  of  Dunoon.  It  was  the 
leafy  month  of  June,  and  all  the  fresh  ash-trees  around  the 
church  were  in  full  foliage.  Thither  the  melancholy  proces- 
sion wended,  and  soon  the  Campbells  decorated  an  ash-tree 
with  the  dangling  forms  of  their  captives,  whose  names 
follow : — 

Neil  Macpatrick,  alias  Lamond. 

Archibald  Lamond,  son  of  Baron  Macpatrick  of  Cowstowne. 
Robert  Lamond,  his  brother. 
Duncan  Lamond,  brother  to  the  said  Robert. 
Hugh  Lamond,  the  other  brother. 
Duncan  Ger  Lamond,  in  Kilmarnock  (near  Toward). 
Gocie  Lamond,  son  of  above. 
John  Lamond,      do.          do. 
Ewen  Lamond,  in  Mid  Towart. 
Gilbert  Lamond. 
Duncan  Lamond. 
John  Macqueen,  alias  Lamond. 
Archibald  Mackqueen,  alias  Lamond,  his  brother. 
Donald  Mackqueen,  alias  Lamond. 

Duncan  and  John  Lamond,  sons  to  Walter  Lamond,  brother  german 
to  the  Laird  of  Escog. 

1  I  incline  to  think  that  the  Ascog  referred  to  is  the  old  peel  of  Eascaig  in 
Kilfinan  parish,  not  Ascog  in  Bute. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         333 

Hugh  Lamond,  in  Gorro  of  the  Carrie  (Kilfinan). 

Robert  Lamond,          „  ,,  „ 

Duncan  Lamond,  there 

Angus  Lamond,  do. 

Donald  Lamond,  do. 

Walter  Lamond,  do. 

Duncan  Lamond,  called  MacWalter,  there. 

Alexander  Lamond  of  Ardyne,  in  Nether  Cowall. 

William  Lamond. 

John  Mackqueen,  younger,  alias  Lamond. 

Patrick  Boigle,  son  to  the  deceased  Mr  John  Boigle,  minister  at 

Rothesay. 

Dougall  Harper,  alias  Mackallister,  servant  to  the  said  Sir  James. 
John  Lamond,  son  of  Gilbert  Lamond  of  Knockdow. 
Gilbert  Mackloy,  in  Glendaruel. 
James  Lament,  in  Ardyne. 
Donald  Lament. 

James  Mackqueen,  alias  Lamond,  in  Nether  Cowall. 
James  Lament,  his  son. 
John  Macpatrick,  alias  Lamond,  in  Ardyne. 

What  the  Provost  of  Rothesay  and  other  of  his  townsmen 
were  doing  there  we  cannot  tell, — probably,  being  a  colonel 
of  the  Bute  Militia,  he  went  with  his  company  to  protect  or 
release  the  prisoners  from  Bute, — but  the  wild  caterans  of  the 
Campbells  fell  on  them  as  well,  and  butchered  with  dirks, 
pistols,  and  swords  the  following  number : — 


John  Lamond,  in  Auchenschel- 
lich  (Kilfinan),  "  4  score  years 
with  a  flux  on  him  and  pining 
with  hunger  and  thirst  as  he 
stood  at  the  ladderfoot."  (The 
ladder  referred  to  was  the  one 
in  use  at  the  tree.) 

Thomas  Brown. 

Neil  Macneil. 


Meldonich  Macmow. 
John  Macmow,  his  brother. 
Archibald  Hamilton. 
Meldonich  Mackilimichael. 
Robert  Michael. 
John  Mackinlay. 
John  Hendry. 
Alexander  Hendry. 
Patrick  Hendry. 


334 


Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 


John  Lamond. 
Angus  Mackilmune. 
John  Macinnes. 
John  Macdougall. 
John  Henry. 

William  MacWilliam,  alias  Wil- 
son. 

Hew  Mackcrow. 
John  Mackcrow,  his  brother. 
John  Macpherson. 


Donald  Macpherson. 
Duncan  Macpherson. 
Donald  Mackilbreid  Lamond. 
Duncan  Lamond. 
Duncan  Mackalaster. 
Thomas  Mackbryde. 
John  Michaelson. 
John  Moodie. 

John  Jamieson,  then  Provost  of 
Rothesay. 


They  noticed  the  Provost  sweltering  in  his  blood. 

"John  Jamieson,  then  Provost  of  Rothesay,  who  being  thrice 
shot  through  the  body,  finding  some  life  in  him,  did  thrust  several 
dirks  and  skanes  in  him,  and  at  last  did  cut  his  throat  with  a  long 
durk ;  the  said  John  Jamieson  not  only  representing  his  Majesty's 
authority  as  a  prime  magistrate  of  his  Burgh  Royal,  was  so  cruelly 
murdered  in  contempt  thereof,  and  of  the  statutes  made  in  that 
behalf." 

The  matter-of-fact  indictment  then  proceeds  to  state : — 

"The  Lord  from  heaven  did  declare  his  wrath  and  displeasure 
against  the  aforesaid  inhumane  cruelty  by  striking  the  tree  whereon 
they  were  hanged  in  the  said  month  of  June,  being  a  lively  fresh 
growing  ash-tree  at  the  Kirkyard  of  Denoone  amongst  many  other 
fresh  trees  with  leaves.  The  Lord  struck  the  said  tree  immediately 
thereafter ;  so  that  the  whole  leaves  fell  from  it,  and  the  tree  withered, 
never  bearing  leaf  thereafter,  remaining  so  for  the  space  of  two  years, 
which  being  cut  down  there  sprung  out  of  the  very  heart  of  the  root 
thereof  a  spring  like  unto  blood,  popling  up,  running  in  several 
streams  all  over  the  root." 

The  defence  of  Argyle,  that  he  also  had  a  royal  commission 
in  1644  to  punish  Lamont,  and  that  he  acted  on  the  author- 
ity of  Parliament,  was  of  no  avail,  and  being  condemned,  he 
was  beheaded  for  this  and  other  acts  of  treason,  2/th  May 
1661. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         335 

So  the  tragedies  of  Ascog,  Toward,  and  Dunoon  were 
legally  avenged. 

King  Charles  was  now  in  the  custody  of  the  Parliamentary 
party  of  England,  and  the  headsman's  block  loomed  in  the 
distance.  To  regain  the  North  he  had  entered  into  an  en- 
gagement to  promote  Presbyterianism,  which,  while  it  suited 
the  party  led  by  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  was  obnoxious  to 
the  sterner  Protestants  like  Argyle  and  Leslie.  The  "En- 
gagers," under  Hamilton,  now  raised  an  army  to  invade 
England  and  restore  Charles  to  freedom.  In  1648,  the  Sheriff 
and  John  Hamilton  were  at  the  head  of  the  Bute  Militia, 
of  whom  fifty  were  enlisted.  But  the  Scottish  forces  were 
defeated  at  Preston,  and  their  commander  taken.  In  January 
of  the  next  year  the  king  was  executed,  and  two  months 
afterwards  Hamilton's  head  was  rolled  off  the  doomster's 
block. 

Captain  Neil  Campbell  was  appointed  to  the  Bute  Fen- 
cibles  in  1649,  and  in  the  same  year  Robert  Montgomerie  and 
Hector  Bannatyne  were  on  "  the  Committee  of  War,"  when 
thirteen  horsemen  were  levied  in  l^ute. 

The  Kingarth  session  -  book  contains  a  reference  to  the 
time  when,  on  4th  February  1649,  Ninian  Stewart  of  Kil- 
chattan  was  arraigned  before  the  session  for  having  "  taken 
on  with  Duke  Hamilton  in  the  late  unlawfull  ingadgment" 
Being  armed  with  a  document  from  the  Presbytery  absolving 
him  from  responsibility,  he  was  discharged. 

The  pugnacious  Scots  now  fell  foul  of  the  Cromwellian 
party,  and  in  their  boldness  to  try  their  fiery  mettle  with  the 
southern  Ironsides,  met  disasters  which  placed  Scotland 
at  the  feet  of  Cromwell  in  1651.  A  standing  army  under 
General  Monk  kept  the  country  in  order  and  peace.  An 


336  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

English  garrison  under  Ralph  Frewin  held  the  Castle  of 
Rothesay  until  they  were  withdrawn  in  1659.  Blain  declares 
that  these  troops  razed  the  stronger  parts  of  the  castle  ;  but  it 
is  not  improbable  that  the  work  of  demolition  was  begun  in 
accordance  with  the  advice  of  Lauderdale  to  King  Charles 
II.  in  1660  to  destroy  such  citadels. 

The  restoration  of  the  monarchy  led  to  reprisals  of  the 
severest  character, — Argyle's  head  falling  under  the  same 
knife  that  sheared  off  that  of  the  gallant  Montrose,  and  the 
less  important  rebels  being  fined.  The  fines  imposed  by 
Middleton  in  Parliament  in  1662  fell  in  Buteshire  upon — 

Donald  Macneil  of  Kilmorie   .            .            .  ^360 

Neil  Macneil  of  Kilmorie         .            .            .  360 

Ninian  Spence  of  Wester  Kemby  [Kames]    .  1200 

James  Stuart  of  Kilquhandy  [?  Kilwhinleck]  .  360 x 

A  petition  of  Sir  James  Stewart  to  have  Rothesay  Castle 
repaired  at  the  direction  of  Parliament  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  granted.  He  died  in  1662. 

The  king  and  his  satellites  began  their  nefarious  attempts 
to  expunge  Presbyterianism  by  restoring  Prelacy  in  Scotland, 
to  which  an  obsequious  Parliament  gave  ratification.  Many 
ministers  seceded,  and  threw  themselves  on  the  sympathy  of 
the  common  people,  who  clung  to  them  and  to  the  Presby- 
terian form  of  worship.  The  Covenanters  again  took  to  arms, 
and  accordingly  had  to  suffer  the  cruellest  persecution  for  their 
rebellion  and  for  non-conformity  to  the  established  form  of 
religion.  But  the  enthusiasm  for  the  movement  did  not 
spread  to  Bute.  At  least  no  names  of  inhabitants  of  the 

1  Wodrow,  'Hist,  of  the  Sufferings,'  vol.  i.  p.  275,  note. 


Three  Cen fairies  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         337 

isle  are  recorded  in  the  lists  of  the  proscribed  fugitives,  and 
the  test  may  have  been  taken  with  the  grace  of  an  Argyle. 

A  minute  of  the  Town  Council,  in  1683,  evinces  as  strong 
an  anti-Covenanting  spirit  as  may  be  found  at  this  time. 

^At  Rothesay  [Tolbuith]  the  second  day  of  October  1683,  the 
Council,  after  agreeing  to  distribute  arms  to  the  militia  —  gun, 
bandelere,  and  pike — proceeded  to  draw  up  the  following  cove- 
nant : — 

"  *  We  underscribours  solemnly  swear  in  presence  of  the  Eternal 
God  we  invocate  as  Judger  and  witnesse  of  this  our  oath,  that  we 
owne  and  profess  the  true  protestant  Religion  contained  in  the 
Confession  of  faith  Recorded  in  the  first  parliament  of  King  James 
the  sixth,  and  that  we  believe  the  same  to  be  founded  in  and  agrei- 
able  to  the  wish  and  word  [?]  of  God  :  And  wee  promisse  and  sware 
that  we  shall  adhere  hereto  dureing  all  the  dayes  of  our  lyfetyme, 
and  shall  endeavour  to  educate  our  children  therein,  and  shall  never 
consent  to  any  change  or  alteration  contrary  thereto  :  And  that  we 
Disowne  and  Rennounce  all  sins,  principally  doctrines  and  practises, 
whether  popish  or  phanatical,  which  are  contrary  unto  and  incon- 
sistant  with  the  trew  protestant  religion  and  Confession  of  faith  :  And 
for  certification  of  our  obedience  to  our  most  gracious  soveraigne 
Charles  the  second  we  doo  affirme  and  sweare  that  the  King's 
majestic  is  the  only  supreme  Governor  of  this  Realme  over  all 
persons  and  in  all  causes  als  weill  eclesiastical  as  civill,  and  that  no 
forayne  prinse,  person,  pope,  prelate,  or  potentant  hes  or  ought  to 
have  any  Jurisdiction,  power,  superiority,  preheminency,  or  authority 
ecclesiasticall  or  civil  within  the  Realme,  and  therefore  we  doo  uterly 
Renunce  the  forhale  all  foraigne  jurisdictionis,  powers,  superiorities, 
and  authorities,  and  doo  promesse  that  from  henceforth  that  we 
shall  bear  faithful  and  trew  alledgeance  to  the  King's  Majestic  his 
house  and  lawfull  successores  :  And  we  further  affirme  and  swear  by 
this  our  solemn  oath  that  we  judge  it  unlawfull  for  subjects,  upon 
pretence  of  Reformation  or  any  other  pretence  whatsomever,  to 
enter  into  covenants  or  leagues,  or  to  convocat,  convene,  or  as- 
semble, in  any  Councils,  conventions,  or  assemblys,  or  treat,  consult, 
or  determine  in  any  maner  of  state,  civill  or  ecclesiastick,  without 

VOL.   II.  Y 


338  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

his  Majestie's  special  comand  or  expresse  licence  had  therto,  or  to 
take  up  armes  against  the  King  or  those  commissionated  by  him  : 
And  that  I  [we  ?]  shall  never  soe  rise  in  armes  or  enter  into  such 
covenants  or  assemblyes  :  And  that  there  lyes  noe  obligation  upon 
us  from  the  National  Covenant  and  the  Solemn  League  and  Cove- 
nant (soe  commonly  called)  or  any  uther  maner  of  way  whatsomever, 
or  endeavour  any  changes  or  alteration  in  the  Government  either  in 
Church  or  State  as  it  is  now  established  by  the  Lawes  of  this 
Kingdome  :  And  wee  doo  promise  and  swear  that  wee  shall  use  our 
utmost  power  defend,  assist,  and  mantane  his  majestie's  juris- 
diction foresaid  against  all  deadly  [?]  and  we  shall  never  declyne  his 
majestie's  power  and  jurisdiction — as  wee  shall  answer  to  God  :  And 
finally,  we  affirme  and  sweare  that  this  our  solemn  oath  is  given  in 
the  plaine  genuine  sense  and  meanning  of  the  words,  and  that  we 
shall  not  recant  or  equivocate,  mentall  Reservation  or  any  maner  of 
evasion  whatsoever,  and  that  wee  shall  not  attest  or  use  any  dispen- 
sation from  any  creetur  whatsoever.  So  help  us  God.' 

Signed  by        '  G.  STEWART.  J.  GLAS. 

A.  GLAS.  JOHN  KERSS. 

DONALD  CAMPBELL.  ARCHD.  GRAY. 

ROBERT  STEWART.  P.  J.  KELBURNE. 

W.  STEWART.  THOMAS  BYWARD. 

JAC.  RAMSAY.  WILLIAM     ANOOR     of 
PATRICK  MARTIN.  Kirktoun.' " 


At  length  James  VII.  ascended  the  throne  in  1685,  and 
the  exiled  Scottish  patriots,  thirsting  to  avenge  the  national 
wrongs,  planned,  in  Holland,  an  expedition  which,  under 
Monmouth  and  Argyle,  was  to  free  the  land.  The  Gov- 
ernment, on  the  alert,  had  garrisons  watching  in  the  west- 
lands,  and  cruisers  in  the  Firth  of  Clyde.  The  Bute  Militia, 
under  the  sheriff,  Sir  James  Stewart,  to  the  number  of  120, 
armed  and  provisioned,  were  transported  to  Ayrshire,  to 
join  the  land-forces  under  Lieutenant-General  Drummond. 
Argyle  landed  among  his  own  clan,  but  few  responded  to 


Three  Centiwies  of  Civil  Life  in  Bute.         339 

his  fiery  cross,  and  to  the  manifesto  he  promulgated.  Dis- 
sension weakened  the  insurgents,  who  had  seized  Bute,  and 
placed  their  stores  in  the  fortified  island  of  Eilean  Gheirrig 
in  Loch  Ridden,  Kyles  of  Bute,  under  command  of  Elphin- 
stone.  Argyle  led  away  his  rabble  of  warriors,  who,  intended 
for  conquest  in  the  Lowlands,  disappeared  from  fright  and 
heartlessness  in  the  cause,  until  this  tail  of  patriots  thinned 
off  to  one  follower,  with  whom  Argyle  was  captured  at 
Inchinnan.  The  block  was  his  fate,  slavery  that  of  his 
Presbyterian  compatriots. 

From  the  '  Journal '  of  the  Hon.  John  Erskine  of  Carnock, 
1683-87,  we  get  an  eyewitness's  account  of  the  depredations 
done  by  the  Highland  soldiery  in  Bute  in  I685.1  Erskine, 
then  a  student  of  law  and  theology,  had  in  Amsterdam 
joined  the  refugee  Earl  of  Argyle,  at  that  juncture  passing 
under  the  name  of  Mr  Carr,  and  other  Protestants,  who 
were  "fully  determined  to  join  in  that  design  of  endea- 
vouring, with  a  dependance  upon  and  under  God,  the  de- 
livery of  our  native  land  from  being  again  drowned  in  popish 
idolatry  and  slavery,  which  is  now  as  it  were  tyed  up  with 
a  very  small  thread  ready  to  be  broken.  .  .  .  Yea,  I  may 
say  the  standing  or  falling  of  the  Protestant  interest  in 
Europe  depended  in  a  great  measure  upon  the  event  of 
this  undertaking  in  Britain,  so  that  I  could  no  ways  make 
my  being  now  at  my  studies,  yea,  the  beginning  of  them, 
ballance  so  great  an  interest." 

These  "buffcoats"  sailed  for  Kintyre,  round  by  Orkney, 
and  on  their  way  lay  to  "at  Tippermore,  where  the  rich 
Spanish  ship  was  sunk,  for  which  my  Lord  Argyle  did 

1  Pp.  113-130,  Edin.  1893.     (Scot.  Hist.  Soc.) 


34-O  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

cause  dive,  having  got  some  cannon."  After  beating  up 
some  men  in  the  Isles  and  Kintyre,  the  expedition  set  sail 
from  Campbelton  for  Cowall  and  Bute  on  the  29th  May 
1685.  "We  had  25  boats  with  us,  some  of  them  holding 
100  men,  beside  one  bark." 

"  3o//i — This  morning  about  60  men  were  sent  off  to  the  Isle 
of  Meikle  Comray,  with  Sir  John  and  Sir  Patrick,  Sir  John  having 
the  command,  I  being  with  them.  We  were  to  try  for  intelligence, 
and  get  as  many  men  and  boats  as  we  could.  I  went  to  the 
curate's  house,  with  severall  others,  to  try  for  arms  and  provisions. 
We  carried  away  one  little  gun,  but  neither  meal  or  beef,  tho' 
there  was  of  both  there.  None  of  the  boats  could  be  got  ready 
this  night,  so  we  left  the  Isle.  I  did  see  Mr  Alexander  Symer, 
minister,  in  whose  house  I  had  been  the  last  year.  We  were  all 
night  in  the  boats." 

Upon  the  3Oth  May,  the  town  of  Rothesay  was  occu- 
pied and  the  castle  partly  fired  by  the  Highlanders,  during 
Erskine's  absence. 

"  3  i.tf. — I  went  ashore  to  Rosay  in  Bute,  a  Borough  Royal,  and 
chief  town  of  the  shire  of  Bute.  I  heard  Mr  Thomas  Forrester 
[evicted  minister  of  Alba].  We  understood  that  my  Lord  had 
caused  burn  the  Castle  of  Rosay;  there  was  only  two  chambers 
burned,  which  was  all  that  remained.  There  was  about  two 
hundred  cows  driven  to  the  town  by  the  Highlanders  at  Mr 
Charles'  [Campbell,  son  of  the  Earl]  command,  but  they  were 
all  given  back  to  the  people  again.  The  Highlanders,  in  going 
through  the  Isle  of  Bute,  committed  many  abuses,  by  plundering 
people's  houses,  killing  and  hoching  of  kine,  sheep,  and  lambs, 
only  at  Mr  Charles'  command,  who  did  himself  go  through  Rosay 
and  caused  people  depone  upon  oath  what  money  they  had,  and 
then  give  it  him,  which  many  did  much  regret,  reflecting  upon 
the  Highlanders  as  being  the  occasion  of  all,  and  bringing  on  us 
the  calumny  of  oppression  and  robbery  which  we  were  now  fighting 
against.  Mr  Forrester  from  the  pulpit  did  severely  reprove  and 
warn  them  of  their  guilt. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  Biite.         341 

"  I  went  through  the  Castle  of  Rosay,  which  has  been  of  con- 
siderable strength." 

The  little  squadron  began  filibustering  along  the  Clyde, 
the  chiefs  at  one  time  dallying  with  shifty  allies,  at  another 
trying  to  hold  together  their  caterans,  who  "  run  away  with 
their  arms,  selling  their  guns  for  a  shilling.  Eilean  .  .  . 
was  their  fastness.  We  went  up  Loch  [Riddon]  towards 
the  Castle  of  Allan  Gregg,  where  the  arms,  ammunition, 
and  ships  were  to  be  secured."  The  rebels  thought  of 
making  Rothesay  their  base  of  action. 

"  5/A  [June\. — I  went  ashore  upon  Bute,  and  shot  a  mark 
[mart?].  There  was  about  14  of  the  Sheriff  of  Bute's  cows  killed 
for  the  use  of  the  ships.  The  castle,  it  was  thought,  with  some 
pains  might  be  made  a  considerable  defence." 

But  the  campaign  was  soon  ended,  and  both  of  these 
incendiaries  of  Rothesay  Castle  found  themselves  in  the 
Tolbooth  of  Edinburgh. 

"  These  irreligious  and  cowardly  Highlanders,  who,  after  they  had 
refused  to  fight,  turned  about  and  left  the  main  body  of  the  army 

(at  )  which  occasioned  the  taking  of  my  Lord  Argyle,  their 

master,  some  hundreds  of  them  having  turned  back  together." 

The  sons  of  Innisgail  had  much  belied  their  ancient  char- 
acter for  loyalty  and  daring,  when  these  ignominious  practices 
were  committed  in  the  face  of  danger. 

According  to  Blain,  the  Government,  who  ordered  an  ac- 
count of  the  loss  caused  by  this  eruption  of  the  rebels, 
found  it  amounted  in  Rothesay  to  £4852,  33.  6d.  Scots.1 

The  arsenal  in  Loch   Ridden  was  taken  by  the  English 

1  Blain,  '  Hist.,'  p.  225. 


342  Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 

frigates,  and  found  to  contain  5000  stand  of  arms,  500  barrels 
of  gunpowder,  guns,  and  other  instruments  of  war. 

On  June  16,  1685,  "  Master  Andrew  Fraser,"  then  minister 
of  Rothesay,  "  acquaints  the  session  that  on  the  last  month 
when  Argyle  and  the  Rebells  were  here  in  the  countrey," 
that  Argyle's  ministers  and  some  "others  of  the  Rebells 
lodging  themselves  violently  at  his  house,  among  many  other 
injuries  done  by  them  to  him,  they  sacrilegiously  broke  up 
the  Poor's  Box  and  took  away  all  the  charities,  and  this 
being  a  known  truth,  it  appointed  that  at  taking  account 
of  the  poor  money  nothing  be  exacted  before  Sunday  last, 
June  14.  May  30,  we  were  forced  to  leave  the  island  when 
the  Rebell  entered,  and  did  not  return  till  June  I2th." 

The  times  were  ripening  for  the  Revolution,  which  was 
effected  by  the  invasion  of  William,  Prince  of  Orange,  who 
with  Mary  his  wife  were  proclaimed  King  and  Queen  of 
England  on  the  I3th  February  1689,  and  of  Scotland  soon 
afterwards.  The  Jacobite  party  now  began  intrigues  to 
reseat  James  on  the  throne,  so  that  the  Estates  of  Scotland, 
afraid  of  the  "  Irishes  and  other  papists,"  called  out  the  Bute 
Militia,  from  sixteen  to  sixty  years  of  age,  on  the  3<Dth 
March  1689,  and  this  well-armed  muster,  under  "Bannatyne 
of  Kaims,  Elder,  and  Mr  John  Stewart  of  Escog,"  set  sail 
for  Dumbarton.  The  summons  at  the  cross  also  ordained 
the  Sheriff  and  his  deputes  to  prepare  beacons  on  Bute,  which 
were  to  be  kindled  if  there  was  any  appearance  of  Irish  in- 
vaders, and,  while  all  horses  and  cattle  were  to  be  removed 
ten  miles  inland  to  prevent  them  falling  into  the  enemy's 
hands,  the  fencible  men  were  to  muster  at  the  beacons.1 

1  'Act.  Parl.,'  vol.  ix.  pp.  26a,  281),  300. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  B^lte.         343 

But  the  danger  passed  away,  and  the  levies  soon  returned 
to  their  homes,  no  doubt  yearning  for  peace.  The  dispersion 
of  the  Highland  Jacobites  brought  it.  The  concord  grew, 
and  the  people  settled  down  to  their  industries,  and  to  the 
enjoyment  of  civil  government  and  Presbyterian  worship. 
Members  of  Parliament,  magistrates,  and  ministers  were 
settled,  the  churches  were  rebuilt  or  repaired,  and  the  in- 
habitants were  left  undisturbed  by  foreign  invaders. 

The  next  theme  which  awakened  local  interest  was  the 
question  of  the  Union  of  the  Parliaments  of  Scotland  and 
England,  to  treat  of  which  the  Sheriff,  then  a  privy  coun- 
cillor, was  appointed  a  commissioner  in  1702.  In  1703,  he 
was  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Earl  of  Bute.  He  was  not 
present  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  Scottish  Parliament  in 
1706,  when,  by  the  removal  of  the  parliamentary  insignia, 
there  was  "an  end  to  an  auld  sang." 

For  some  unknown  reason  those  eligible  in  Buteshire  to 
take  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Scottish  Parliament  do 
not  seem  to  have  availed  themselves  of  their  rights,  with 
any  frequency,  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Even  the  burgh  had  no  citizen  enterprising  enough 
to  watch  the  popular  interests  until,  in  the  troublous  reign 
of  James  I.  of  England,  meddling  hands  essayed  to  tamper 
with  the  settled  forms  of  Presbyterian  worship,  when  the 
smaller  lairds  in  Bute  began  to  attend  the  meetings  of 
Parliament. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  Parliaments  attended  by 
representatives  from  Bute  : — 

1484-85.   March  21.    A  Parliament  held  in  Edinburgh  was  attended 

by  a  representative  from  Rothesay,  who  is  not  named. 
1488.  October  6,    A  Parliament  immediately  after  the  accession 


344 


Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 


of  James  IV.  was  attended  by  a  representative  from  Bute- 
shire. 
1617.   May  27  to  June  28.     James  VI. 

The  Laird  of  Camyis,  Bannatyne    ) 

Paul  Hamilton  j 

1621.  June  i  to  August  4. 

William  Stewart  of  Kilchattan 

Mathow  Spens        .... 
1628-33.  Charles  I. 

Hector  Bannatyne,  younger  of  Keames 

Johne  Stewart  of  Ethok  (Ascog) 


Buteshire. 

Buteshire. 
Rothesay  burgh. 

Buteshire. 


Mathew  Spens 


Rothesay  burgh. 


1639-41, 


Hector  Bannatyne. 

Mathew  Spens,  provost. 
1643-44.  Convention  of  Estates. 

Sir  Robert  Montgomerie  of  Skelmorlie 

Johne  Jamesone,  session  i. 
1648-51.  Charles  I. — Charles  II. 

The  Laird  of  Kilchattane         .        ^ 

The  Laird  of  Kames 

The  Laird  of  Ascog         .  '  J 

Donald  Gilchryst,  sess.  ii.,  iii.  . 
1665.   Convention. 

Sir    Dougall    Stewart    of   Kirktown, 

Knt.,  Sheriff 

1667.  Convention. 

Ninian  Bannatyne  of  Kaims    . 
1669-74.  Parliament. 

Sir  Dougall  Stewart,  Sheriff      .        \ 

Ninian  Bannatyne  of  Kames    .        j 

Mr  Johne  Stewart  of  Askoge,  Advo- 
cate, sess.  i.-iii.    . 
1678.  Convention. 

John  Boyle  of  Kelburne  .        \ 

Ninian  Bannatyne  of  Kames    .        j 

Robert  Stuart 


Buteshire. 
Rothesay  burgh. 


Buteshire. 
Rothesay  burgh. 

Buteshire. 
Buteshire. 

Buteshire. 
Rothesay  burgh. 

Buteshire. 
Rothesay  burgh. 


Three  Centuries  of  Civil  Life  in  BiUe.         345 

1 68 1.  Parliament. 

John  Boyle  of  Kelburne  ) 

Buteshire. 
Nmian  Bannatyne  of  Kames    . 

Cuthbert  Stewart,  late  provost  .          Rothesay  burgh. 

1685-86.  Parliament.     James  II. 

Sir  James  Stewart,  Sheriff  ) 

T  u     -n     i      cv  iu  Buteshire. 

John  Boyle  of  Kelburne  .        3 

Cuthbert  Stewart,  provost         .         .          Rothesay  burgh. 
1689.  March  14.     Convention  at  Edinburgh. 

Sir  James  Stewart,  Sheriff        .        } 

David  Boyle  of  Kelburne         .        j 

Mr  Robert  Stewart,  Advocate,  uncle  to  the  Sheriff. 
1689-93.  William  and  Mary. 
*Sir  James  Stewart. 

David  Boyle  of  Kelburne. 

Mr  William  Stewart  of  Ambrismore,  vice  Sheriff. 
*Mr  Robert  Stewart,  Advocate. 

Robert  Stewart  of  Lochlie,  vice  Robert  Stewart. 

Those  marked  with  an  asterisk  did  not  sit.  On  loth  May  1689, 
the  Committee  of  Estates  ordered  Sir  James  Stewart  to  be  kept 
a  close  prisoner  in  the  Tolbooth.  On  25th  April  1693,  the  seats 
of  the  Sheriff  and  Robert  Stewart  were  declared  vacant,  because 
they  had  not  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  signed  the  assurance. 

1703-7.     Anne. 

Sir  James  Stewart  of  Bute,  sess.  i.-vi.         Buteshire. 
1703.  May  6  to  September  16. 

Mr  Robert  Stewart  of  Tillicoultrie    .          Buteshire. 

John  Stewart  of  Kilwhinlick,  vice  Sir  James. 

Mr  Dougald  Stewart  of  Blairhall       .          Rothesay  burgh. 

The  history  of  life  and  work  in  the  Isle  of  Bute  during  the 
past  two  centuries  would  form  an  interesting  but  melancholy 
addition  to  this  work.  During  that  time  came  into  vogue 
many  improvements  conducing  to  the  advancement  of  the 
people,  and  rose  into  importance  many  industries  which 
have  sicklied  and  died  entirely.  The  various  branches  of 


346  Biite  in  the  Olden  Time. 

the  fishing  trade, — once  an  extensive  business, — with  the 
attendant  industries  of  coopering,  ship-  and  boat-building, 
sail-making,  rope-spinning,  are  now  attenuated  into  a  pre- 
carious calling  for  a  handful  of  fishers  and  a  few  ancient 
mariners. 

Formerly,  Rothesay  had  every  prospect  of  becoming  the 
seat  of  the  cotton  industry,  on  account  of  the  availability  of 
water-power  and  the  appositeness  of  its  water-highway,  where- 
as to-day  the  numerous  mills  which  once  gave  bread  to 
hundreds  stand  silent  as  the  grave. 

The  lack  of  local  employment  has  driven  thousands  of 
Butemen  into  foreign  lands,  where  they  have  succeeded 
in  every  rank  of  life,  in  many  instances  amassing  wealth 
whose  enjoyment  they  have  shared  with  their  less  fortunate 
brethren  at  home. 

The  only  source  of  labour,  apart  from  the  common 
mechanical  trades,  which  has  not  ceased  to  exist,  but  has 
improved  in  its  methods  and  activities,  although  not  in  the 
power  of  being  adequately  remunerated,  is  agriculture.  And 
this,  with  its  cognate  industry  of  floriculture,  may  be 
reckoned  the  staple  industry  in  Bute. 

The  labours  of  the  greater  portion  of  the  population,  how- 
ever, are  devoted,  for  a  few  months  during  the  summer 
season,  to  the  service  of  those  who  frequent  the  island  as  a 
health-resort,  for  the  pleasures  of  idleness,  or  the  profit  of 
rest  from  the  work  and  restraint  of  city  commercial  life. 
4  The  delineation  of  this  phase  of  modern  existence  may 
be  fitly  left  to  another  pen.  And  here  I  say  Farewell  to 
Bute  in  the  Olden  Time. 


APPENDIX. 


I.— GENEALOGY    OF    MAORMOR    OF    LEVEN. 


GEINEALACH    MORMHAIR 
LEAMHNA  ANNSO  sios. 

Donnchadh. 
Me  Bhailtair. 
Me  Amlaoibh. 
Me  Donnchaid. 
Me  Amlaoibh  Oig. 
Me  Amlaoibh  Mhoir. 
Me  Ailin  Oig. 
Me  Ailin  Mhoir. 
Me  Muireadhaigh. 
Me  Maine. 
Me  Cuirc. 

Me  Maoildomhnoigh. 
Me  Maine  Leamhna. 
Me  Cuirc. 


GENEALOGY  OF  MAORMOR  OF 
LEVEN  DOWN  HERE. 

Duncan. 
Son  of  Walter. 
Son  of  Aulay. 
Son  of  Duncan. 
Son  of  Aulay  the  younger. 
Son  of  Aulay  the  great. 
Son  of  Ailin  the  younger. 
Son  of  Ailin  the  great. 
Son  of  Murdoch. 
Son  of  Maine. 
Son  of  Core. 
Son  of  Maoldomhnach. 
Son  of  Maine  Leven. 
Son  of  Core,  &c. 


The  above  genealogy  of  the  Maormor  of  Leven  has  been  taken 
from  g-  Royal  Irish  Acad.  Collection  of  Irish  MS. 


II.— GENEALOGICAL    TABLE    O] 

Compiled  from  various  Sow 
KING  KENN 


DONALD,  860-864. 


CONSTANTINE  II.,  863-877. 
DONALD,  889-900. 
MALCOLM  I.,  942-954. 


CONSTANTINE,  900- 


I  I 

DUBH,  962-967.         KENNETH,  971-995. 

DUNCLINA  = 


INDULPH,   954-96 

CHILEAN,  967-97 


CONSTANTIN,   995- 

=  married  = 


I 
KENNETH  III.,  997-1005. 


BOEDHE. 


GRUOCH=I.  married  Gilcolmgain  of  Moray. 

=2.  married  MACBETH,  Thane  of  Ross  and  Moray. 


MACDUFF, 
Thane  of  Fife. 


MACDUFF 


married  - 


LULACH,  1058. 


MALCOLM  II.,  1005-1034. 
BEATRiCE=Crinan,  Abbot  of  Du 
DUNCAN  I.,  1034-1040. 


ALAN,  1073-1153,        WILLIAM. 
the  Second  Steward. 


ED< 


WALTER,  1108-1177, 
the  Third  Steward. 

I 


ALAN,  1140-1204, 
the  Fourth  Steward. 

WALTER,  1 173-1241  =  Beatrix  of  Angus, 
the  Fifth  Steward. 

ALEXANDER,  1214-1283, 
the  Sixth  Steward,  1214. 

I 

JAMES,  1243-1309, 
the  Seventh  Steward. 

WALTER,  1293-1327, 
the  Eighth  Steward. 

ROBERT,  1316-1390, 
the  Ninth  Steward,  and  First  Stewart  King. 


WAI, 


HE    STEWARDS    OF    SCOTLAND. 

illustrate  the  Old  Traditions. 


ACALPINE,  860. 


AEDH  or  ETHUS.        (From  Symson's  Genealogy. ) 


DOIR,  870-936,  Thane  of  Lochaber. 


MURDOCH,  900-959, 
Thane  of  Lochaber. 
I 


PHERQUHARD,  929-980,        DONALD  of  Moray. 
Thane  of  Lochaber. 


I  I  I 

Bp.  ALEXANDER.        ALViLLA=Constantine,        GUNORA, 

ancestor  of  a  Nun. 

=  KENNETH,  960-1030,  Grahams. 

Thane  of  Lochaber. 


GAREDE,  Thane  of  Athol. 

LAUCHLANE,  Thane  of  Athol. 

PHAELUS,  Thane  of  Athol. 


BANQUO, 


married 


MULDIVANA  or  MAUD. 


990-1043, 
Thane  of  Lochaber. 


BEATRIX. 


I 
FLEANCE,  1020-1045. 


WALTER,  1045-1093,        FLEANCHA, 
the  First  Steward.  a  Nun. 


MALCOLM.          FLEANCE.       WALTER. 

1                            1 
MARGARET              EMMA 
=  Simon  Fraser.           =  Griffin 
of  S.  Wales. 

1 
HELEN 
=  Alexander, 
ancestor  of 
Abernethys. 

SIMON, 
ancestor  of  Boyds. 

MARGARET. 


Pr&ceptum  de  Ecclesia  B.  Maricz  de  Combornio.     353 


III._PRjECEPTUM  DE  ECCLESIA  B.  MARINE 
DE  COMBORNIO.1 

.  .  .  Unde  ego  Rivallonius,2  homo  militaris  de  Britannia  de 
Castello  Combornio 3  ipsi  largitori  bonorum,  omnium,  aliquid  ex 
his  quae  ab  eo  accepi  per  manus  pauperum  offerre  decrevi.  Sciant 
igitur  praesentes  omnes  et  futuri,  ad  quorum  notitiam  hujus  nostri 
scripti  Series  poterit  pervenire,  donasse  me  Sancto  Martino  Majoris 
Monasterii  et  fratribus  qui  ibidem  deo  sub  Abbate  Alberto  4  famu- 
lantur,  pro  mea  parentumque  meorum  Hamonis  et  Raentlinae,  sed 
et  conjugis  meae  Aremburgis  ac  liberorum  nostrorum  Guillelmi. 
Johannis,  Galduini,  Gauffredi,  atque  advisae  anima,  medietatem 
cujusdam  ecclesiae  Beatae  semper  Virginis  Marias  nomini  dicatae, 
quae  in  Britanniam  episcopatu  S.  Machuti  apud  jam  dictum 
Castellum  meum  consistit.  .  .  .  Et  quidem  liberalitatis  nostrae 
donum,  ut  irrefragabile  in  saeculum  perseveret,  dominus  meus  Con- 
anus,5  comes  Britanniae,  de  cujus  beneficio  haec  obtinebam,  inter- 
pellatus  postea  a  quodam  monacho  S.  Martini,6  Urvodio  nomine, 
pro  sua  patrisque  Alani  comitis  anima,  auctoritate  vitata  sua  affigiato 
in  hoc  scripto  crucis  caractere  confirmavit.  .  .  . 

.  ,  .  De  dono  meo  hi  qui  suis  signis  et  vocabulis  permissu  meo 
uxorisque  meae  ac  liberorum  subnotantur:  s.  Rivallonii,  s.  Arembur- 
gis, uxoris  ejus ;  s.  Guillelmi,  filii  ejus ;  s.  Advisae,  filiae  ejus ;  s. 
Alui,  vicecomitis ;  s.  Glac,  filii  Eudonis ;  s.  Gurguar,  s.  Fredaldi, 
senescalci ;  s.  Urvodii,  praepositi ;  s.  Hervei,  filii  Tchoni ;  s.  Main- 
onis,  fratris  ejus ;  s.  Glac,  praepositi ;  s.  Rorgni,  filii  SufBciae ;  s. 
Gualterii,  filii  Heligonis ;  s.  Gualterii,  filii  Riculfi ;  s.  Henonis, 


1  '  Histoire  de  1'Abbaye  de  Marmoutier  en  Tourraine,'  par  Dom.  Martene.    Part 
II.,  Titres,  p.  241  ;  Bib.  Nat.,  Paris,  MS.  Latin,  12,878,  fol.  239,  240. 

2  Rivallonius  (Capra  Canuta),  son  of  Hamo,  and  brother  of  Archbishop  Jim- 
Is  eneus  of  Dol,  fl.  ante  1066.     William,  son  of  Rivallon,  monk  of  St  Florent- 
pres-Saumur,  founded  St  Florent-sous-Dol.     John,  fl.  1156-1161. 

3  Combourg,  castle  built  by  Archbishop  Junkeneus,  and  given  to  Rivallon  in 
the  eleventh  century. 

4  Abbot  Albert  ruled  over  Marmoutier  from  1032  to  1064. 

5  Conan,  Earl  of  Brittany,  died  in  1066. 

6  St  Martin's,  Marmoutier. 

VOL.  II.  2  A 


354  Appendix. 

filii  Bernerii ;  s.  Karadoci,  filii  ejus ;  s.  Bonalli,  s.  Rainerii  Guahart, 
s.  Ebrardi  de  Guahart,  s.  Gualterii,  filii  Gavaini ;  s.  Gualterii  mona- 
chi, s.  Tatbari,  s.  Johannis,  s.  Ingomari,  monachi ;  s.  Johannis 
monachi,  s.  Urvodii  monachi.  .  .  .  &c. 


IV.— INQUISITION  MADE  IN  NORFOLK  IN  1275. 

Inquisitiones  facte  ...  in  comitatu  Norfolcie  .  .  .  anno  regni 
Regis  Edwardi  tercio  .  .  .  Hundreda  de  Laundiz.  .  .  .  Dicunt  et 
quod  manerium  de  Melam  cum  suis  pertinenciis  fuit  in  manu  Regis 
Willelmi  le  Bastard  in  Conquestu,  et  dictus  Rex  dedit  dictum  man- 
erium cuidam  militi  qui  vocabatur  Flancus  [Flautus?]  qui  venit 
cum  dicto  Rege  in  Angliam  cum  suis  membris  et  omnibus  aliis 
suis  pertinenciis  et  preterea  dictum  manerium  de  herede  in  heredem 
usque  Johannem  filium  Alani  qui  nunc  in  Custodia  Domini  Regis, 

&C.1 


V.— DONATIO  DE  SPARLAIO. 

Hoc  sciant  omnes  fideles  futuri  atque  presentes  quatinus  Deo 
annuente,  Alanus  Flaaldi  filius  concessit  Sancto  Florentio  ejusque 
monachis,  scilicet  istis  presentibus  Guihenoco,  Guigone,  et  Guil- 
lelmo,  ecclesiam  Sparlaici  cum  omnibus  decimis  pro  salute  sue 
anime  perpetue  et  crostum  cujusdam  viri  duarumque  terram  car- 
rucaturum,  unam  in  Sparlaico2  et  alteram  in  Melahan,  et  de  uno 
nemore  ad  domos  edificandos  et  ad  monachorum  focum  et  eorum 
rjeccoribus  pascua  cum  suis  ubique  peccoribus,  et  predictam 
ecclesiam  Sancti  Florentii  monachis  omnino  solutam  et  quietam 

1  *  Rot.  Hundredorum,'  vol.  i.  p.  434  ;  Eyton,  '  Houses  of  Fitzalan  and  Stewart,' 
p.  3  ;  « Cal.  Gen.  Hen.  III.  and  Edw.  I.,'  ed.  C.  Roberts,  vol.  ii.  p.  687. 

2  Sporle,  a  Benedictine  priory  in  Norfolk,   cell  to   St   Florent-pres-Saumur, 
ascribed  to  Henry,  Earl  of  Anjou, — Henry  II. 


Auctoramentum  Johannis  Dolensis,  etc.         355 

maxime  a  querela  monachorum  sancti  Trinitatis  fecit,  attributes  illis 
in  unoquoque  anno  xxu  solidis  de  sua  ferma  de  Sparlaico. 

Hujus  rei  testes  sunt  hi,  Artotellus  presbiter,  Ivo  diaconus, — de 
laicis  Odo  [do]  Norguico,  Hamo  Got,  Gurhant  Rivallonus  extraneus, 
Garius  de  Marisco,  Urfoen  filius  Fulcherii,  Alanus  Urvoni  filius, 
Bondo,  Torkil  filius  ejus,  Rivallonus  monachorum  famulus,  Osbertus 
et  Arketellus  frater  ejus.1 


VI.— AUCTORAMENTUM  JOHANNIS  DOLENSIS 
DE  ECCLESIIS  DE  GUGUEN,  VOEL,  ET  DE 
TRONCHETO  ET  DE  MIRACULIS  ABBATIS 
BARTHOLOMEI. 

Johannes  dictus  Dolensis  Comburnii  Dominus  omnibus  fidelibus 
salutem  in  Domino  Ego  futurorum  notitie  declarare  decrevi,  quod 
plurium  relatione  audivi  et  didici,  scilicet  quod  Maino  filius  Theoni- 
gete  dedit  Deo  et  B.  Martino  Majoris-monasterii,  et  abbatis  Bar- 
tholomeo  et  monachis  ejusdem  coenobii  apud  Comburnium  com- 
morantibus  ecclesiam  S.  Martini  de  Guguen  et  ecclesiam  S.  Martini 
de  Voel  [Noel]  cum  omnibus  appenditis  suis  perpetuo  possidendam. 
Descenderat  enim  aliquando  idem  venerabilis  abbas  in  Britanniam 
causa  visitandi  domos  quas  habebat  in  Britanniae  partibus  et  hos- 
pitandi  gratia  venit  Comburnium.  Tune  venit  ad  eum  supradictus 
Maino  rogans  eum  ut  descenderet  apud  Guguen  visitare  filios  suos, 
Haimonem  et  Gauterium  qui  gravi  tenebantur  infirmitate,  descendit 
et  signum  crucis  frontibus  eorum  imposuit,  et  statim  obdormierunt, 
et  post  somnium  integrse  sanitati  restituti  sunt.  Quo  viso  et  audito, 
quod  leprosum  osculo  sanaverat  supradictus  abbas,  et  aquam  in 
vinum  converterat,  supradictus  Maino  et  Theonus  pater  ejus  senior 
supradictas  ecclesias  si  dederunt,  concedentibus  filiis  suis  Haimone 
et  Gauterio  et  ALANUS  FILIUS  FLOAUDI  \Flaudi '('  Preuves ')]  quicquid 
juris  in  ecclesia  de  Guguen  habebat,  eidem  abbati  concessit  et 

1  'Livre  Blanc  de  St  Florent,'  fol.  130.  (Preserved  in  Archives  of  Prefecture 
of  Maine  et  Loire.) 


356  Appendix. 

monachis  Comburnii.  Monachi  vero  Gauterium  presbyterum  ibi 
constituerunt  et  Baudrico  archiepiscopo  prsesentaverunt,  et  in 
tempore  ipsius  Gauterii  tertiam  partem  decimo  de  Guguen  ha- 
buerunt.  Hoc  ego  Johannes  a  pluribus  audivi :  quae  sequuntur 
vidi,  scilicet  quod  Haimo  presbyter  de  Guguen  in  praesentia  Hugonis 
archiepiscopi  se  deposuit,  et  ad  jurisdictionem  monacjiorum  supra- 
dictam  ecclesiam  pertinere  recognovit,  et  de  manu  Guillelmi  prioris 
ipse  Haimo  ecclesiam  recepit,  et  Hugoni  archiepiscopo  eum  prior 
Willelmus  praesentavit,  et  Hugo  hoc  concessit  et  concessionem 
sigillo  suo  confirmavit.  Necnon  sciant  omnes  quod  Alanus  films 
Jordani  et  Eudo  Spina  donationes  antecessorum  suorum  concesserunt 
de  ecclesia  de  Guguen,  et  innovaverunt  in  praesentia  Hugonis 
Archiepiscopi,  videntibus  istis  Guillelmo  priore,  Turpino  et  Durando 
monachis,  magistro  Willelmo  Susionensi,  Evanocato,  Normanno  de 
Listreio  et  filio  ejus  Gaufredo,  Philippo  de  Boteniguel,  magistro 
Herves,  Gauterio  Brasard  et  aliis  multis.  Dedit  insuper  coram  illis 
prsedictus  Alanus  per  manus  Hugonis  archiepiscopi  ecclesiam  de 
Tronchet  cum  omnibus  appenditis  suis,  concedente  Gauterio 
ejusdem  loci  magistro  et  omnibus  fratribus  ejus.1 

[Sigillum  Joannis  Domini  Dolensis — une  main  tenant  une  epee 
en  pal.] 


VII.— FONDATION  DU  PRIEURE  DE  S.  FLORENT- 

SOUS-DOL. 

Scripture  hujus  veraci  assertione  natum  fieri  volumus  has  dona- 
tiones quas  Abbas  Guillelmus  ad  Monachatum  veniens  Contulit  loco 
Sancti  Florentii.  .  .  .  Deinceps  (Johannes  et  Gilduinus  ejus  fratres) 
dederunt  villam  Mezuoit  prope  Castellum  Dolis  cum  omnibus  con- 
suetudinibus  quas  in  ea  habebant  et  ex  altera  parte  villae  vineas 
proprias. 

In  supradicta  villa,  scilicet  Mezuoit,  cospit  Johannes  construere 
monasterium  in  honorem  S.  Martini  et  S.  Florentii  per  auctoritatem 

1  MS.  Latin,  12,878,  fol.  244  recto.  Tronchet  Abbey  (Benedictine),  one  league 
S.S.W.  of  Dol,  9%  from  Rennes.  Hugo,  abbot,  1156-1161.  Abbot  Bartholomew 
was  dead  in  1084.  '  Preuves,'  p.  492. 


Charter  of  Confirmation  by  Alan  Fitz  Jordan.     357 

P.  Gregorii  VII.  et  per  testimonium  Milonis  Archiepiscopi,  qui  prius 
Decanus  Parisiensis  Ecclesiae  ab  Apostolico  ordinatus  est  Episcopus 
Beneventanae,  quern  de  hac  re  intercessorum  apud  Papam  habuit 
Joannes  Eventius  x  etiam  Archiepiscopus  Dolensis,  ut  construeretur 
annuit  et  cymiterium  ipse  benedixit,  et  omnes  suas  consuetudines 
illi  monasteris  donavit,  et  ut  etiam  feria  in  festivitate  S.  Florentii  ib 
adunaretur  permisit  ita  tamen  ut  monachi  burgenses  ejus  in  burgum 
suum  hospitandos  non  reciperent  nisi  ejus  grantavanti  absolutione. 
.  .  .  Alanus  similiter  Siniscallus  dedit  furnaticum  ejusdem  villae,  id 
est  Mezuoit,  et  renditionem  panis  suam  partem.  Et  hoc  concessit 
Fledaldus  frater  ejus  et  monachi  ob  hoc  fratrem  ejus  Rivallonem 
ad  monachatum  receperunt.  .  .  .  (Testes  .  .  .  inter  alios,  Alanus 
Siniscallus,  Herveus  Butellarius,  &c.)2 


VIII.— CHARTER  OF  CONFIRMATION  BY  ALAN 
FITZ  JORDAN,  TO  MARMOUTIERS. 

Omnibus  notum  sit  presentibus  et  futuris  quod  Alanus  Flaaudi 
filius  ....  dedit  Monachis  Lehonensibus  .  .  .  decimam  de  suo 
dominio  de  Burtona.  .  .  .  Ego  siquidem  Alanus  Jordani  filius  a 
primogenitus  progenie  supradictorum  descendens 3  .  .  .  ipsam 
decimam  quam  avus  meus  eisdem  contulerat  .  .  .  annuentibus 
filiis  concessi.  .  .  .  Et  ne  quis  in  futuro,  &c.,  proprii  sigilli  im- 
pressione  presentem  cartam  confirmare  decrevi,  favente  uxore  mea 
Johanna  et  filio  meo  Jordano  et  ceteris  qui  omnes  hujus  beneficii 
participes  sunt  et  testes,4 


1  Eventius,  Archbishop  of  Dol,  1076-1081. 

2  'Preuves,'pp.  433,  434. 

3  The  words  "primogenitus"  &c.,  induced  the  Earl  of  Crawford  and  Balcarres 
to  think  at  first  that  Alan,  the  son  of  Flaud,  was  identical  with  Alan,  the  son  of 
Fredaldus  Senescallus ;  same  applicable  if  Alan  Fitz  Flaald  was  twice  married, 
that  Jordan,  the  father  of  Jordan,  was  the  son  of  the  first  marriage  and  heir  of 
Burton,  while  Walter  and  William  were  of  the  second  or  Hesding  marriage. 

4  Titres  de  Marmoutier  ;   Bib.  Nat.,  Paris,  MS.   Latin,   22,322,  p.   176,  No. 
143- 


358  Appendix. 


IX.— CARTA  DE  MOLENDINO  DE  BORTONE. 

Charter  of  Confirmation  by  Jordan  Fitz  Jordan  Fitz  Alan  Fitz 
Flaald)  of  a  Grant  by  his  Father  of  the  Mill  at  Burton  to  the 
Priory  of  Sele  in  Sussex.1 

Jordanus  films  Jordan!  films  Alani  hominibus  suis  de  Burton 
salutem.  Sciatis  me  reddidisse  Monachis  S.  Florentii  de  Salmur 
molendinum  de  Burton  in  elemosinam  sicut  pater  meus  disposuit  in 
infirmitate  qua  mortuus  fuit  coram  archiepiscopo  G.  de  Dol.2  Et 
volo  et  firmiter  precipio  ut  ipsi  habeant  illud  sicut  umquam  melius 
et  quietius  illud  habuerunt  tempore  Alani  filii  Flealdi  et  tempore 
Jordani  patris  mei.  T[estibus]  Rollando  Monac[ho]  et  Herberto 
clerpco]  et  Willelmo  clerico  de  Tusfort 3  et  Ansgero  presbitero  et 
Rotberto  filio  Godeboldi  et  Joelo  Delmares  et  Denchisinat  et 
Ewvardo  de  Lachater  et  Radulfo  filio  Berhaldi  apud  Tusfort.4 


X.— CARTA  HENRICI  REGIS  ANGLORUM  DE 
CELLA  S.  TRINITATIS  EBORACENSIS. 

"  Henricus  rex  Anglorum  G.  archiepiscopo  Osber toque  vicecomiti  et 
omnibus  suis  baronibus  salutem.  Notum  fieri  volo  me  concessisse 
monachis  S.  Martini  Majoris-monasterii  elemosynam  Radulfi  Pagan- 
elli,  id  est  quidquid  eis  dedit  in  terra  et  ecclesiis  et  decimis."  Then 
are  enumerated  the  donations  of  Paganellus,  including  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  in  York,  "Bertona  in  Rivala,"  and  many  others. 
"Actum  est  hoc  Eboraci  videntibus  istis  et  audientibus  Radulfo 
eodem  Paganelli,  Eudone  Dapifero,  Willelmo  de  Albiniaco,  et  ejus 
frater  Negello,  Radulfo  de  Roiliaco,  Alano  Floaldi  [Fevaldi]  filto, 
Rannulfo  thesaurario. "  5 

• 

1  Sele  was  a  dependency  of  St  Florent-pres-Saumur. 

2  Godfrey,  Archbishop  of  Dol,  translated  to  Capua  in  1144. 

3  Tusford  =  Tuxford  in  Notts. 

4  MS.  Magdalen  College,  Oxford  ;  Cartwright  and  Dallaway's  '  Hist,  of  Sussex,' 
vol.  ii.  p.  225. 

5  '  Hist,  de  1'Abbaye  de  Marmoutiers  en  Tourraine,'  2d  partie  ;  Bib.  Nat.,  Lat., 
12,878,  fol.  228  recto. 


Donation  faite  a  Marmoutiers,  etc.  359 

XL— CHARTER   DISPONING   LAND   TO   ST 
FLORENT,    ATTESTED    BY    ALAN,    DAPIFER. 

Guillelmus  Decanus,  Salomonis  Decani  filius  vendidit  monachis 
Sancti  Florentii  terram  quam  pater  suus  Solomon  habuerat  in 
Mezuoit.  Hoc  annuerant  fratres  ejus  Maino,  Goffredus  et  Evenus 
et  Blidehildis  mater.  .  .  .  Acta  sunt  haec  coram  his  testibus  Comite 
Goffredo  Hamone  filio  Rodaldi,  Alano  dapifero.  .  .  .  Hamone  filio 
Galleri,  Galtero  filio  Guillelmi,  &C.1 


XII.— DONATION  FAITE  A  MARMOUTIERS  PAR 
JOURDAIN  FILS  D'ALAIN. 

Ego  Gaufridus  Dolensis  Ecclesiae  totius  capituli  nostri  assensu  in 
Archiepiscopum  electus  Jordanum  filium  Alani,  strenuum  virum  et 
illustrem,  conveni  quatenus  Cimiterium  Ecclesiae  S.  Crucis  et  St 
Mevenni  de  Fraxinaria,2  quod  quasi  proprio  et  hereditario  jure  pos- 
siderat,  ecclesiae  Majoris  Monasterii  annueret.  Quod  mox  ut  animad- 
vertit  se  injuste  tenuisse  concessit,  &c.,  &c.  x  Jordanus  fil.  Alani 
subscripsit :  X  Maria  uxor  Jordani  subscripsit :  X  Jordanus  sub- 
scripsit :  X  Alanus  subscripsit.  (Hi  duo  filii  Jordani.)  Actum 
Anno  ab.  Incarn.  Dom.  MCXXX.,  &c.3 


1  'Cart.  Blanc  St  Flor.  Saum.,'  fol.  8 1,  recto  et  verso ;  '  Recueil  de  Dom.  Hous- 
seau  Anjou  et  Touraine,'  torn,  ii.,  No.  299. 

2  Fraxinaria  =  La  Fresnage,  a  few  miles  N.  W.  of  Dol. 

3  Morice,  '  Preuves,'  torn.  i.  p.  564. 


XIII. 

GENEALOGICAL    TABLE 

OF 

THE    ANCESTRY    OF    THE    FITZ    ALANS 
AND    STEWARTS 


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XIV. 


A    GENEALOGICAL    TABLE 


SHOWING 


THE    DESCENT    OF 

THE    STEWARDS    OF    SCOTLAND    FROM 
BANQUO    AND    ALAN 


VOL.  II.  2  C 


XIV.— A    GENEALOGICAL    TABLE    SHOWING    THE    DESCENT    O 

=  BANQUO,  Thane 


I 
FLEANCE 


ALAN  FITZ  FLA 
died  1114. 

Fe—  Christina,  =  WILLIAM  FITZ  ALAN,= 
>f  Robert,  Earl               1105-1160. 
jucester,    died 

=  2d  wife  —  Isabel, 
daughter,  and  heiress 
of   Helias   de    Say, 
Lord  of  Clun. 

i.  WAL: 

"Dapi. 

1 

| 

ALAN,  died  infant. 


WILLIAM  FITZ  ALAN,  =  Daughter  of  Hugh  de 
1154-1211.  Lacy  of  Ewyas. 


WILLIAM  (?). 


i  FITZ  ALAN, 
;d  1216. 


JOHN  FITZ  ALAN  I.,  =  Isabel  de  Albini, 


died  1240. 


in  her  issue  co- 
heir of  the  Earls 
of  Arundel. 


III.    WALTER   FITZ  ALAN,=  Beatr: 
Steward  of  Scotland, 

(or  1241?)  died  1246. 


JOHN  FITZ  ALAN  II.,=Maud,  daughter 


died  1267. 


of  Rohese  de 
Verdon,  died 
1283. 


JOHN  FITZ  ALAN  III.,  =  Isabel,    daughter   of 


died  1271. 


Roger  de  Mortimer 
of  Wigmore. 


IV.  ALEXANDER  STEWART,  =  Jean,  daughter 
Steward  of  Scotland,  Lord  of  Bi 

died  1283. 


JAMES,          =  Cecilia,  daughter  of  Patrick,  E; 


Steward  of  Scotland, 

died  1309. 


Dunbar  and  March. 


I 
Houses 


RICHARD   FITZ  ALAN, 

Earl  of  Arundel, 

born  Feb.  3,  1267  ; 

Claimant  of  Stewardship  of 

Scotland  in  1336. 


I  ! 

ANDREW.          VI.   WALTER,       ===.-  (i)  Alice,  daught 

Steward  of  Scotland,  —  =  (31  Isabel,  daugh 

died  Qth  April  1326.      =  (2)  Marjory,  dau§ 


VII.    ROBERT, 
born  2d  March  1316  ; 
Steward  of  Scotland,  1326  ; 
King  of  Scotland, 

ROBERT  II., 

26th  March  1371 ; 

died  1390. 

JOHN, 

Earl  of  Carrick, 
changed  his  name  to 

ROBERT  III., 
King  of  Scotland. 

i 

JAMES  I., 
King  of  Scotland. 

JAMES  II. 


=  (i)  Elizabeth  Mure. 
[2)  Euphemia  Ross. 


GWENDOLEN  MARY  ANNE  HOWARD,  = 


JOHN  PATRICK  CRICHTON-STUART, 
Marquess  of  Bute. 


JAMES  III. 
JAMES  IV. 
JAMES  V. 

MARY. 

I 
JAMES  VI. 


67  ] 

THE  STEWARDS  OF  SCOTLAND  FROM  BANQUO  AND  ALAN 


^haber         GRIFFITH  AP  LLEWELLYN,  Prince  of  N.  Wales  ;=Alditha,  daughter  of  Algar, 
succeeded  1037  :  died  1063.  Earl  of  Mercia. 


married 
I 


GUENTA  or  NESTA. 


=  Avelina,  Adelina,  or  Adeliza, 
de  Hesding  (Hastings). 


FITZ  ALAN,  =  Eschina,  daughter  of 


SYBIL = Roger  de  Freville. 


JORDAN. 


SIMON. 


ward, 

gis  Scotise," 
1177. 


Thomas  de  Lundin. 


I 

LGARET. 


II.   ALAN   FITZ   WALTER,  =  (i)  Eva,  daughter  of  Suan,  son  of  Thor,  Lord  of  Tippermuir  and  Tranent. 


Steward, 

died  1204. 


fa)  Alesta,  daughter  of  Morgund,  Earl  of  Mar. 


ighter  of  Gilchrist,  Earl  of  Angus. 


DAVID. 


1 

nes,                JOHN, 
killed  at  Damietta  s 
in  1249. 

WALTER,                 WILL 
Earl  of  Menteith, 
Senescallus. 

IAM.           BEATRIX           CHRISTIAN.            MARGARET 
=  Earl  of                                          =  Niel,  Earl 
Lennox.                                               of  Carrick. 

.  —  _                                                         . 

E 

|                             I 
ALEXANDER.            JOHN. 

Sir  JOHN,      : Margaret,  heiress  of  Bonkyl. 

killed  at  Falkirk 
in  1298. 


ELIZABETH = William  Douglas,  the  Hardy.          ANDREW. 


T~  I 

nnox,  Galloway,  Blantyre,  and  Traquair,  Darnley,  Daubigny. 


,ord  Erskine. 

Sir  John  Grahame. — 

f  King  Robert  Bruce. 


I 

Sir  JOHN, 
killed  at  Dundalk, 
1318. 


Sir  JOHN  STEWART  of  Ralston, 


Sir  JAMES 
of  Durrisdeer. 


JEAN. 


EGIDIA  =  Sir  Alexander  Meynis. 


EGIDIA. 


Report  on  Rothesay  Castle.  369 


XV.— REPORT   ON    ROTHESAY   CASTLE. 

BUTE  ESTATE  OFFICE, 
ROTHESAY,  i8M  October  1871. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — Having  now  completed  the  excavations  in  the 
courtyard  at  Rothesay  Castle  which  you  requested  me  to  have 
examined  by  desire  of  Lord  Bute,  I  have  to  report  to  you  the 
result.  To  make  the  search  a  thorough  one,  I  caused  every  inch 
of  the  area  to  be  dug  over  to  the  depth  of  from  2  to  3  feet,  and 
then  with  an  iron  rod  4  feet  long  pierced  the  ground  under  that 
level  at  short  distances  apart  to  find  whether  there  was  anything 
underneath.  When  stones  were  touched  upon,  the  loose  earth  was 
first  cleared  away,  and  it  was  seen  whether  they  formed  part  of 
a  wall  or  were  loose  stones  which  had  fallen  down  from  off  the 
walls  :  if  they  were  found  to  form  part  of  a  wall,  it  was  followed  out 
as  far  as  it  went ;  or  if  the  stones  were  loose,  they  were  taken  up 
and  put  aside,  any  carved  or  hewn  stones  being  specially  taken  care 
of.  All  the  walls  laid  bare  have  been  left  exposed  to  view,  but  the 
drains  shown  on  plan *  have  been  covered  over  again.  You  may 
remember  that  all  that  was  visible  in  the  courtyard  when  you  visited 
it  were  the  walls  of  the  chapel  and  stair  at  the  end  of  it,  part  of  the 
great  staircase,  the  well,  and  the  walls  (which  for  convenience  of 
reference  I  have  marked  i  and  2  on  the  accompanying  plan) ;  but 
now  a  good  many  more  fragments  of  buildings  are  to  be  seen,  and 
I  shall  describe  to  you  as  briefly  and  clearly  as  I  can  the  appear- 
ance presented  by  them,  and  notice  any  point  in  connection  with 
the  chapel  and  other  walls  above  referred  to  brought  to  light. 
Digging  was  commenced  near  the  well,  and  the  walls  first  laid  bare 
were  No.  3,  which  were  found  a  foot  under  the  surface.  The 
building  varies  from  i  to  2  feet  in  height,  and  consists  wholly  of 
rubble-stones,  various  sizes,  with  the  exception  of  three  large  red 
sandstones,  supposed  to  be  doorsteps,  which  are  splayed  both  inside 
and  out.  4  is  a  pavement  of  grey  flagstones,  each  from  5  to  6 
inches  thick,  and  with  2  to  3  square  feet  in  each.  5  is  a  causeway 
of  large  unshaped  stones  lying  in  front  of  the  building,  6  to  9  inches 
under  the  level  of  the  doorsteps.  6  consists  of  a  course  of  dressed 

1  The  plan  referred  to  in  this  letter  is  marked  drawing  No.  5. 
VOL.  II.  2  D 


37°  Appendix. 

and  squared  freestone  on  three  sides,  with  three  single  stones  apart 
from  the  square ;  but  in  the  same  line  as  one  of  the  faces  there  is 
no  freestone  in  one  side  of  the  square  :  it  appears  to  have  been 
removed.  A  few  of  the  freestones  are  dressed,  but  not  all  alike, 
and  must  have  been  in  use  somewhere  else  before  being  laid  here. 
There  is  nothing  to  indicate  where  a  door  or  window  may  have 
been.  7  is  a  mass  of  masonry  irregular  in  shape,  and  near  it  a  rough 
causeway  of  large  pebbly  stones  from  4  to  6  inches  through  was 
touched  upon.  8  is  a  wall  standing  i  to  2  feet  high,  and  what  is 
most  noticeable  here  is  a  splayed  base-course,  shown  on  plan  by 
a  double  line,  and  the  projection  near  the  centre  of  the  wall,  round 
which  it  is  continued,  resembling  the  foundation  for  a  buttress. 
9  is  a  division  wall,  1 2  inches  thick,  with  a  single  course  of  boulder- 
shaped  stones,  some  set  on  edge.  10,  walls  standing  about  18 
inches  high,  and  at  the  corner,  near  door  leading  to  crypt  under 
chapel,  the  wall  is  seen  to  be  bevelled  to  improve  the  passage.  The 
door  into  that  building  is  supposed  to  have  been  at  A.  The  free- 
stone step,  being  of  value  probably,  has  been  removed  from  this 
point,  and  beyond  this  a  passage  could  not  be  got  betwixt  and  the 
outer  wall.  1 1  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  hearth ;  it  is  partly 
surrounded  by  stones  on  edge  and  causewayed.  The  floor  of  that 
part  nearest  the  wall  10  consists  of  a  layer  of  sandy  grey-coloured 
ashes  on  the  top,  covering  a  layer  of  sand  and  clay  mixed,  burned 
and  leaving  a  red  appearance  on  top,  gradually  changing  into  a 
yellow  colour  below.  The  step  and  jambs  of  doorway  at  the  angle 
of  the  crypt  have  been  exposed  fully  to  view ;  the  door  still  remains 
built  up.  1 2  is  the  remains  of  the  stair  leading  to  chapel ;  the 
lowest  step  only  is  to  be  seen,  which  is  in  two  stones.  1 3  is  a  large 
door  entering  to  the  crypt  through  the  west  gable,  which  has  been 
uncovered ;  the  jambs  and  scuntions  of  the  door  are  pretty  entire 
for  2  feet  in  height  or  so  from  the  floor.  There  is  a  rough  cause- 
way outside  the  doorstep  of  very  hard  stones.  14  is  a  door,  of 
which  a  rybat  remains  on  each  side  above  the  step ;  both  rybats 
and  step  are  displayed  on  the  outside.  1 5  is  an  opening  through 
the  wall,  6  inches  squared  on  the  one  side  and  13  inches  on  the 
other,  at  the  level  of  the  floor,  with  rough  sides  and  cover,  and  a 
sandstone  in  the  bottom  of  it,  hollowed  out  as  shown  on  margin  to 
carry  off  water.  1 6  is  a  regularly  built  rubble  wall  2  7  inches  thick 
coming  up  to  the  floor-level,  and  is  not  connected  with  the  front  or 


Report  on  Rothesay  Castle.  371 

back  wall.  17  are  two  of  the  original  stair-steps;  the  upper  one 
seems  to  have  been  displaced  a  little ;  both  are  of  red  sandstone, 
and  at  bottom  of  stair  there  appeared  to  have  been  a  rough  cause- 
way. 1 8,  as  at  No.  7,  with  a  stone  margin  of  large  grey  flagstones. 
19  are  five  roughly  squared  stones,  laid  in  a  line  with  each  other 
and  bedded  in  mortar,  and  probably  formed  part  of  a  wall.  20  is 
a  rubble  wall  of  about  a  foot  in  height,  with  no  dressed  stones  about 
it  whatever.  2 1  are  three  steps,  each  1 3  inches  broad,  from  1 8  to 
21  inches  long,  and  having  risers  the  ordinary  height.  The  wall 
above  them  (22)  is  faced  with  a  red  sandstone  squared,  and  exactly 
like  the  facing  of  the  original  building  round  the  courtyard;  it 
stands  exposed  to  the  height  of  from  i  to  3  feet.  Betwixt  said 
facing  of  that  and  the  outer  wall  there  appears  the  packing  or 
hearting  of  the  wall,  on  which  the  stair-steps  rested.  By  this  stair 
direct  communication  could  be  held  between  the  tower  and  court- 
yard, through  the  archway  which  you  observe  built  up  near  B.  In 
digging  under  the  archway  at  C  there  was  exposed  to  view  the 
jambs  of  a  door  or  gateway  4  feet  7  inches  wide,  checked  on  the 
outside  3  inches  deep  each  way ;  this  is  without  doubt  of  a  later  date 
than  the  first-built  portion  of  the  wall.  There  was  further  brought 
to  light  here  the  jambs  of  an  old  doorway  standing  4  feet  high  on 
each  side,  which  door  would  be  the  next  barrier  after  the  portcullis 
gave  way ;  the  jambs  are  of  red  sandstone  splayed  on  the  corners, 
and  have  a  base  standing  8  inches  high,  projecting  2^  inches. 
The  portcullis  groove  goes  down  to  a  depth  of  7  feet  8  inches 
below  the  underbed  of  string-course,  appearing  in  the  section  sent 
to  you.  I  had  the  steps  lifted  up  and  the  bottom  of  the  entrance- 
door  carefully  examined  where  you  supposed  there  might  be  a  rebate 
or  check  for  the  drawbridge  to  go  fn,  but  could  see  nothing  of  any 
kind  to  indicate  how  the  drawbridge  was  closed  or  opened.  The 
wall  under  the  door  appears  to  have  been  broken  down  and  roughly 
built  up  again. 

Having  noticed  these  points  about  the  buildings,  you  will  next 
observe  that  attention  to  drainage  has  not  been  wanting.  The 
main  line  from  D  to  E  is  formed  of  stones ;  in  some  parts  of  it  the 
sides  are  formed  of  square  sandstones,  and  in  others  unshaped 
stones,  but  nearly  all  the  same  depth,  i  foot.  The  width  is  also 
pretty  uniform  throughout,  but  it  contracts  very  much  opposite 
the  chapel,  whether  the  result  of  accident  or  not  it  is  difficult  to 


372  Appendix. 

say.  About  one-half  of  the  length  of  the  drain  was  found  covered 
with  large  grey  flagstones,  and  in  one  or  two  places  the  bottoms 
were  also  paved  with  the  same  materials.  The  other  lines  of 
drains  are  formed  for  the  most  part  of  thin  stones  set  on  edge, 
as  shown  in  margin.  The  open  courtyard  when  excavated  appeared 
to  show  nothing  beyond  what  is  shown  in  plan ;  the  soil  is  for  the 
most  part  underlaid  with  a  coarse  yellowish  gravel  mixed  with 
sand.  At  F  there  were  traces  of  a  floor  laid  with  iron-mine  dust, 
which  when  broken  lifted  in  a  cake  condition  i  to  i}4  inch  thick. 
At  G  the  floor  is  covered  with  dry  sand  and  shivers,  exactly  like 
what  is  to  be  seen  on  the  floor  of  a  builder's  hewing-shed,  and 
probably  at  this  spot  stones  had  been  dressed  for  some  part  of 
the  buildings.  The  figures  in  red  ink  on  the  plan  give  relative 
levels  at  different  points,  the  datum  level  (lowest  point)  being 
marked  O,  and  at  the  under  side  of  the  rebate  or  check  or  jamb  of 
door  under  archway  at  C. 

I  think  I  have  alluded  to  every  point  of  interest ;  but  if  I  should 
have  failed  to  convey  to  you  distinct  impression  on  any  point,  you 
have  only  to  call  my  attention  to  it  and  I  will  be  happy  to  give 
further  explanations. — I  remain,  my  dear  sir,  yours  very  truly, 

JNO.  R.  THOMSON. 


XVI.— LIST    OF    CHARTERS,    ETC.,    RELATING 
TO    THE    STEWARTS. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  most  important  charters  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Stewarts  : — 

'AN  INDEX  OF  MANY  RECORDS  OF  CHARTERS,'  edited  by 
W.  Robertson  (ed.  1798). 

In  King  Robert  Firsts  Reign  (1306-1329). 

P.        No. 

Charter  to  James  Stewart,  brother  to  Walter  Stewart  of  Scot- 
land, the  lands  of  Dorisdeir  in  the  valley  of  Neith,  which 
Alexander  Meinzies  resigned  .  .  .  .  13  82 

Charter  to  the  said  James  Stewart  and  his  spouse  of  the 

barony  of  Enache  (Session  6,  32)  .  .  .  .  13  83 

Alexander,  Senescal,  obtains  Archibetoun,  forfeited  by  David 

Betoun  in  1309  .  .  .  .  .  .18 


List  of  Charters,  etc.,  relating  to  the  Stewarts.  373 

P.       No. 

Alexander  obtains   charter    of   lands    of   Achykillichan    and 

Scottisbiryn      .             .             .             .             .             .             .     I  10 

John,  Senescal,  obtains  Frendraught        .             .            .            .     i  19 

James,  Senescal,  obtains  Peristoun  and  Wanvickhill      .                 6  39 

Robert,  heir  of  Walter,  Senescal  of  Scotland,  obtains  lands  (      7  54 

of  Cunningham                                                                          ^9  10 

Alexander,  S1-,  obtains  Ganniltoun,  Dunnyng,  Elvingstoun,  1        \  63,64, 

Fischerstatis                                                                              ft  66 

Charter  to  Walter,  of  barony  of  Kilbryde  in  Lanark       .            .9  12 

ti        to  Robert,  son  of  Walter  I.,  Cessford,  Nisbitt,  Caver- 

toun  (Roxburghshire)  .            .             .             .             .  10  13 

it        to  Robert,  barony  of  Methven  (Perth),  Kellie  (Forfar)    10  14 

it        to  Walter,  barony  of  Dalswintoun  (Dumfries)  .             .  13  94 
u        to  Walter,   Eckford,  Nisbet,  Langnewton,  Maxtoun, 

Cavertoun  (reign  14,  i6;  29)    .             .             .             .21  22 

tt        to  Walter,  Methven          .             .             .             .             .  21  23 

H        to  Walter,  Bathcat,  Kilbryde,  &c.           .            .            .21  31,32 

ii        to   Robert,   son   of  Senescal  of   Scotland,    lands    of 

Kintyre             .            .            .            .            .            .  26  32 


Reign  of  David  II.  (1329-1371). 

Charter  to  Alexander,  Senescal,  of  an  annual  in  Cambusnethan 

barony  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  33         24 

n  to  Robert,  Senescal,  of  all  his  lands  (i4th  of  David's 

reign)    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  40        21 

M  by  Robert,  to  Murray  of  Tullibardine,  of  lands  in 

Tullibardine     .  .  .  .  .  .  43         23 

n  by  Robert  of  lands  in  Dalziell,  Motherwell,  &c.  .  43  27 

n  by  Ranulph  to  Walter  of  Garleyis,  Glenmannache, 

Corsock,  Kirkormock .  .  .  .  •  45  33 

it  of  Dunmore  in  Fyfe  .  .  .  .  •  45  35 

it  of  Earldom  of  Athole  to  Robert,  Senescal,  i6th  Feb. 

i34i  •  .  48  29 

M  granting  customs  of  Edinburgh  to  John,  son  of  Walter, 

Senescal  .  .  .  .  .  •  49  5 

u  to  David  Stewart,  son  of  Robert,  lands  of  Kinloch, 

Perth    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  53        27 

M  to  Robert,  Senescal  of  Scot.,  lands  of  Kintyre,  and  to 

John,  son  of  Elizabeth  More  .  .  .  •          .  60        30 

it        to   Robert,   Senescal,   barony   of  Stanboithe    (Clack- 
mannan) .  .  .  .  .  .  61         ii 

n  to  Robert,  Senescal,  barony  of  Reidcastle  .  .  68  [?] 

i,  to  Robert  and  Eufamie,  his  spouse,  of  barony  of 

Methven  (i7th  Sept.,  a.  r,  41)  .  .  .90      255 


374  Appendix. 


Reign  of  Robert  II.  (1371-1390). 

P.         No. 
Charter  to  Dilecto  filio  nostro  David  Senescallo  (iQth  June, 

i  r.)  of  castle  and  lands  of  Urchard   .  .  .94      293 

ti        to  David  Sen.,  Militi,  comiti  de  Stratherne,  filio  nostro 

karissimo,   .   .   .    Comitatus  Stratherne         .  .  94       294 

ii        to  Alexander,  his   son,  of  60  davates  in   Badenoch, 

castle  of  Lochindorb  and  forest  of  Inverness  .  94       286 

M        to  John,  Lord  of  the  Isles  (married  Margaret),  his  son, 

of  the  Isles  held  by  Alan         .  .  .  .  97      316 

it        to   John,    Earl   of  Carrick,    Steward  of  Scotland,   of 

Prestisfield,  Grange  of  St  Giles,  &c.  .  119        27 

ii        to  Walter,  his  son,  of  Arroch      .  .  .  122        97 

it  to  John  Stewart,  son  to  the  king,  gotten  by  him  upon 
Marion  Cardny,  lands  of  Kinclevin,  &c.  (Perth) ;  to 
James,  another  of  her  sons,  of  Kinfauns  ;  to  Alex- 
ander, another  of  her  sons,  Lounan  and  Petfour  124  13, 14 

M       to  Alexander   Stewart  of  Buchan,  of  Kynnedward,)        ("21,25, 
Dingwall,  Sky,  Lewes,  and  other  baronries  J        1       26 

it  to  John  Stewart,  gotten  betwixt  the  King  and  "dilec- 
tam  nostram  Moram,"  lands  in  the  thanedom  of 
Kynclevyn  .  .  .  .  .  125  29 

ii        to  Mariote  de  Cardne,  lands  beside  Milnathort  j 

n        to  "  Willielmo  filio  Alani  Senescalli  justiciario  Scotie" 

( 1 2th  Nov.,  33d  of  Alexander)  .  .  .  76        92 

Confirmed  2oth  Sept.,  36th  of  David  II. 
n        to   Cunninghame    of  Reidhall  by   Robert,   Duke   of 
Albany,    is    attested    by    John     Stewart    "fratre 
naturali "      .     .  .  .  .  .  161  i 

n        to  John  Campbell  of  Loudon  by  Robert  III.  is  attested 
by  "  Johanne,  Senescallo,  fratre  suo  naturali,  Vice- 
comite  de  Bute,"  at  Rothesay,  24th  Aug.  1408  (?)      164        36 
Donald  de  Bute,  Dean  of  Dunblane,  attests  charters  of  Robert, 
Duke  of  Albany,  during  first  four  years  of  his  regency 
(1406-1410). 

Charrter  to  Kilwinning  Abbey  of  Advocation  of  the  Kirk  of 
Rosay    by    James     Stewart,    grandson    to    King 
Robert  III.  ;  Bute       ....  140        42 

ii        confirming  to  John  Stewart  of  Bute,  ane  annual  of  20 

merks  from  barony  of  Abernethy ;  Perth      .  146        35 


List  of  Charters,  etc.,  relating  to  the  Stewarts.     375 
'REGISTRUM  MONASTERII  DE  PASSELET'  (Maitland  Club). 

Page 

Carta  Walter!  filii  Alani,  domini  Regis  Scotorum  Senescallus  de 

ordinatione  primi  Abbates  (c.  1220)          .  .  .  .         i 

Charter  of  Foundation  of  Paisley  Monastery  by  "  Walterus  films 
Alani  dapifer  Regis  Scotie."    Witness,  "  Simone  fratre  Walteri 
filii  Alani.     Apud  Fodrigeiam."    .....         i 

Various  confirmatory  charters  .  .  .  .  .  2,  3,  4 

Charter  of  Walter  granting  to  Paisley  lands  and  churches  in  Inner- 
wick,  Ligertwood,  Hassendean,  Cathcart,  Strathgryfe,  Paisley, 
Prestwick,  1163-1173          ......         4 

These  grants  again  witnessed  to  by  "  Alano  filio  meo  "  .7 

Charter  of  Alan,  son  of  Walter,  "  dapifer  Regis  Scotie,"  confirming 

all  the  previous  grants,  1177-1199  .  .  .  .11 

Alan  grants  Mill  of  Paisley,  1201-1204  •  •  .       13,  86,  87 

it     grants  Muniabroc  and  liberties,  1202  (confirmed  p.  253)          .       13 

it     grants  tithes  of  Maphelin  (Mauchline),  1202-1203         •  •       J4 

ii     grants  church  and  chapels  of  Bute,  and  confirms  Fulton          .       15 

Walter  the  Second  grants  lands  between  Haldpatric  and  Espedare 

and  Caldor,  1208-1218  .  .  .  .  17 

n       the  Second,  son  of  Alan,  grants  freedom  of  multure  of  Ren- 
frew burgh  mill,  1204-1246    .  .  .  .  .20 

it       grants  Hillington  .  .  .  .  .  .20 

H       founds  House  of  Canons  of  Simpringham  at  Dalmulin  (Dal- 
mellington),  and  grants  this  and  fishings  between  Ayr  and 
Irvine,  1204-1214       .  .  .  .  .  .21 

u       grants  churches  of  Dundonald  and  Sanquhar,   1208-1214 
(confirmed  by  Alexander   Fitz   Walter  in   1250-1280,  p. 

225,  226)  .  .  .  .  .  .  .22 

n       grants   Drumgrane,  Drumley,  and  Petihaucingowin  (con- 
firmed, p.  47)  .       23 
n       grants  all  the  goods  resigned  by  the  Monks  of  Simpringham 

(the  resignation  bears  the  date  Sept.  1246)  .  .       24 

Robert,  Seneschal  of  Scotland,  Earl  of  Strathearn,  and  John,  his 
first-born  and  heir,  confirm  previous  grants  in  Kyle  and  Cowal 
to  Paisley    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  29,  32 

Charter  of  Walter  the  First  to  Henry  of  St  Martin's,  attested  by 

Alan  .  ....      48 

u        of  Henry  attested  by  Alan      .  .  .  .  -49 

Alexander,  the  Senescal,  confirms  grant  of  Ingliston,  1260  .  .       59 

Robert,  Senescal  of  Scotland,  grants  precept  regarding  lands  of 

Aldhus  in  1361         .  .  .  .  .  .66 

n  confirms  all  previous  grants  (Bute  not  mentioned),  "John 
Senescal,  Lord  of  Kyle,  our  first-born,  and  Walter  Senes- 
cal, our  dear  son,  Lord  of  Fyff,:J  being  witnesses  .  .  67 


376  Appendix. 

Page 

King  Robert  III.  confirms  in  1396       .  .  .  .  .68 

Charter  of  Lady  Eschine,  wife  of  Walter,  Dapifer  of  the  King  of 

Scotland,  granting  Carrucate  in  Molla,  to  Paisley,  about  1177. 

Attested  by  Walter  and  their  son  Alan  (confirmed  p.  76)  .       74 

Alexander,  Senescal  of  Scotland,  grants  deeds  concerning  certain 

privileges  in  1246   .  .  .  .  .  .  87,  88 

Alexander,  Senescal  of  Scotland,  confirms  all  the  lands  in  1252       .       90 
Donation   of  Robert   III.,  in   1396,  of  Regality  of  Kyll  and  the 

Stewartlands,  in  a  barony  (general  confirmation,  p.  97)  .  .91 

James,   Senescal  of  Scotland,  confirms   right   of  stone  and   lime 

quarrying     ........       92 

King  William   confirms   churches   of  Cathcart,   Cormannoc,   and 

Rutherglen,  "  Alan  my  dapifer  "  attesting  .  .  .     106 

Charter  of  Alexander  the  Steward  of  lands  of  Innerwick,  excambed 

in  1246        ...  .  .     113 

Ferchard  de  Buit,  son  of  Nigel  de  Buyt,  and  his  brother  Duncan, 

attest  charter  by  Angus,  son  of  Dovenald,  of  grant  to  Paisley 

127,  128 
Donation  of  church  of  Largs  and  chapel  of  Cumbraye  by  Walter  in 

1316-1318    ...  ....     237 

Charter  of  James,  Senescal,  granting  free  transit  in  Lochwinnoch, 

1283-1303    ...  .     254 

Deed  granting  three  silver  merks  to  Paisley  by  Walter  the  Second, 

1207-1214    ........     401 


'  LIBER  DE  MELROS'  (Bannatyne  Club). 

No. 

Charter  of  King  David  granting  the  three  granges  of  Eldune, 
Dernewic,  and  Gattuneside,  with  consent  of  Prince  Henry,  is 
attested  by  Henry  and  by  "  Waltero  filio  Alani "  at  Ercheldon 
in  Junio  (1142?)  .......  i 

Prince  Henry's  charter  (1124-1153)  confirming  the  gift  to  Melrose 
Abbey  of  lands  in  Melrose,  Eldune,  and  Dernewic  by  King 
David  is  attested  by  "  Waltero  filio  Alani "  .  .2 

"Walterus  filius  Alani  dapifer  regis  Scocie,"  in  reign  of  King 
Malcolm,  grants  [in  (1153-1165)]  to  St  Mary's  of  Melrose  4 
carrucates  of  the  lands  of  Edmundiston  ....  4 

The  charter  of  William  (1165-1214)  confirming  the  rights  and 
•liberties  of  Melrose  is  attested  by  "Waltero  filio  Alani  Dapi- 
fero"  and  "Alano  filio  ejus,"  at  Rokesburch  (Roxburgh)  .  13 

"Walterus  filius  Alani  dapifer  regis  Scocie"  gives  to  Saint  Mary's 
of  Melrose  a  toft  beside  the  Tweed  in  Berwick  and  twenty 
acres  in  the  plain  of  Berwick  which  Malcolm  the  King  gave 
him .........  19 

This  is  confirmed  by  King  William     ,  20 


List  of  Charters,  etc.,  relating  to  the  Stewarts.      377 

No. 
In  a  charter  by  William  of  houses  in  the  Briggate  of  Berwick,  the 

lands  of  "  Walteri  filii  Alani  Senescalli  mei "  are  mentioned      .       23 
A  charter  of  Dunekan,  Earl  of  Carrick,  attested  by  "  Alano  Dapifero  "      32 
A  charter  of  Robert  Avenel  of  Eskedale  granting  lands  to  Melrose 
is  attested  by   "  Walterus  films  Alani"  and  "Alanus  Senes- 
callus  regis  Scotiae "  .  .  .  .  -39 

A  confirmatory  charter  by  James,  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  of  lands 
in  Glasgow  given  by  Rannulph  of  Hadington  is  attested  by 
"  Alano  dapifero  regis "    .  .  .  .  .  .43 

"  Walterus  filius  Alani "  confirms  gift  of  his  grandfather,  Walter,  of 

Edmundiston          .  .  .  .  .  .  .46 

William  confirms  this  charter  and  Walter  attests  it   .  .  •      47 

A  charter  of  King  William  confirming  the  grant  of  Hertished  to 

Melrose  is  attested  at  Lanark  by  "  Waltero  filio  Alani "  .       53 

In  a  confirmatory  charter  of  King  William  of 'various  grants  to 
Melrose  is  mentioned  "  a  meadow  which  the  monks  hold  off 
the  soldiers  of  Alan,  son  of  Walter,  in  feu  from  Innerwick"       .       57 
In  a  charter  by  Robert  of  Kent  of  portions  of  the  wheat-lands  of 
Innerwick,  Alan,  son  of  Walter,  is  mentioned  as  his  over-lord. 
It  is  witnessed  by  "  Alano  de  Thirlestain "  .  -59 

Walter,  son  of  Alan,  attests  a  charter  by  Roger,  son  of  Glay,  his 
vassal,   granting    pasturage   in   the  village    of    Innerwick  to 
Melrose       ........       60 

A  similar  charter  by  another  vassal  is  attested  by  "Waltero"          .       61 
A  confirmatory  charter  by  Walter  is  granted .  .  .  .62 

Another  vassal  who,  in  granting  Steintun  to  Melrose,  wishes  the 
safety  of  "  Walteri  filii  Alani  et  Alani  filii  ei  dominorum  nostro- 
rum   .   .    .    et  Walteri  junioris,"  is  Willelmus    le  Waleis,  with 
his  wife  Isabel        .  .  ...  .  .  .64 

The  grant  to  Melrose  of  Machelin  (Mauchline)  by  Walter,  son  of 

Alan,  is  attested  by  "  Alano  filio  meo  "     .  .  .  .66 

The  charter  confirming  the  latter  grant  by  Alan,  is  attested  among 
others  by  "  Reginaldo  de  Asting  "  and  "  Willelmo  filio  Walteri 
nepote  dapiferi "     .  .  .  .  .  .  -67 

King  William  confirms  the  grant         .  .  .  .  .68 

"Walterus  filius  Alani  filii  Walteri  dapifer  regis  Scotie"  confirms 

the  preceding  benefaction  of  Mauchline  .  .  .72,  *72,  73 

The  grant  of  Richard  Wallace  of  Barmor  and  Godenech  in  Gallo- 
way to  Melrose  is  attested  by  Walter  son  of  Alan,  by  Alan, 
and  confirmed  by  Alan  of  Baremor  .  .  .69,  70,  71 

Walter  Fitz  Alan,  junior,  granted  part  of  the  Forest  of  Ayr  to 

Melrose       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .74 

Walter,  senior,  gave  to  Melrose  and  its  hospital  for  lepers  at 
Auldenestun,  lands  in  that  vicinity  and  at  Ednam,  with  free 
pasturage  at  Birchenside  and  Ligertwood,  and  the  right  of  his 
mills  without  multures  ,  .  ,  .  .  80,  8 1 


378  Appendix. 

No. 
A  charter  of  King  William's,  granted  at  Selkirk,  is  attested   by 

Alan,  son  of  the  Steward  .  .  .  .  .  .89 

Alan  grants  a  charter  "  de  quieta  clamatione  de  Bleneslei "  .  -97 

King  William  confirmed  this  deed,  and  Alan  attested  the  charter    .       98 
Another  confirmatory  charter  by  William  witnessed  by  Alan  .     in 

Walter  the  Seneschal  executes  a  charter  of  excambion  of  land  in 
Molle  held  off  William  de  Vesci  for  land  at  Freretim 

142,  143.     Also  296 

By  another  charter  Walter  gives  the  lands  of  Molle  to  the  monks 

of  Melrose,  his  witnesses  being  Thomas  Croc,  Symon  son  of 

Bertulf,   Ada  le  Waleys,   William  of    Haukerest,    Robert    of 

Kiphan,  soldiers,  and  others        .  .  .  144.     Also  297,  298 

Walter  appears  as  a  signatory  to  a  charter  regarding  Ringwood, 

signed  by  King  William  at  Lanark  .  .  .  .     1 5 1 

At  the  same  place  a  royal  charter  regarding  Wittun  is  attested  by 

Alan  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .170 

In  1243,  Alexander,  Senescal  of  Scotland,  is  witness  to  a  charter  of 

Walter  Champenais  of  Carrick     .  .  .  .  .191 

King  Alexander  II.  (1214-1249)  confirmed  all  the  lands  of  Melrose, 
at  Edinburgh  (3d  April  [?]),  and  the  donations  of  the  Steward 
are  thus  mentioned  : — 

"Donationem    quam    Walterus    films     Alani    fecit     eidem 
Ecclesiae  et  monachis  de  terra  de  Mauhelin,  et  de  pas- 
tura  in  foresto  eius.     Et  de  una  Carrucata  terre  versus 
terram  de  Duneglas.     Et  de  piscatura  in  hostio  flumenis 
Ar.     Et  de  terra  de  Aldemundestune.     Et  de  viginti 
acris  terre  cum  Tofto  de  Berewick.     Item  totam  terram 
illam  de  Eskedale  per  divisas  que  nominantur  et  conti- 
nentur  in   cartis   Roberti  Avenel   et   Gervasii    heredis 
ipsius'^         .  .  .  .  .  .  .174 

Walter,  son  of  Alan,  attests  charters    .  .  .189,  193,  198,  202 

Walter,  son  of  Walter,  Senescal,  attests  charters       .  235,236,237 

Alexander  the  Seneschal  grants  the  lands  and  pasturage  of  Mauch- 
line  and  Cairntable  to  Melrose,  which  donations  are  confirmed 
by  the  King  at  Traquair  on  I2th  December  1264-5.  Other 
concessions  are  confirmed  at  Scon  the  next  year  322,  323,  325,  326 
On  Christmas-day  1296,  "Lord  John,  Senescal,"  by  a  deed  gave  a 
wax  taper  and  two  pounds  of  wax  to  be  bought  at  the  markets 
X)f  Roxburgh,  to  the  principal  light  of  the  Abbot  Saint  Waldeve 
in  Melrose,  and  "  Lord  James,  Senescal  of  Scotland,"  attested 

the  deed  at  Blackball [?] 

In  1325  (6th  March)  Walter,  Senescal  of  Scotland,  a  witness  at 

Scone  to  King  Robert's  charter  founding  new  church  of  Melrose  361 
On  loth  Jan.,  at  Aberbrothock,  Walter  witness  to  deed  of  King 

Robert  giving  ^100  from  rents  of  Berwick  to  Melrose  .  .     362 

1 6th  Aug.  1326,  at  same  place,  Walter  witness  ,  .  .     368 


List  of  Charters,  etc.,  relating  to  the  Stewarts.     379 

No. 

26th  Nov.  1326,   at  Berwick-on-Tweed,  Walter  witness  to  deed  by 

King  .  ....     375 

roth  April  1321,  Walter  witness  to  deed          ....     385 

ist  Oct.  1321,  at  Aberbrothock,  Walter  a  witness       .  .  .     391 

Walter  witness  to  deed  granting  toft  in  Kinross  to  Melrose  .  .     394 

1 8th  July  1316,  at  Dryburgh,  Walter  the  Senescal  and  Alexander, 

Senescal,  witness  confirmatory  charter  granting  Ochiltrie          .     402 
24th  July  1317,  at  Melros,  witness  to  charter  granting  Lessidewyn 

to  Melrose  ........     420 

No  date.     James,  Senescal  of  Scotland,  witness  to  charter  confirm- 
ing grant  of  Eskdale          ......     376 

No  date.     Charter  of  James  to  Melrose  conceding  ancient  rights  in 

connection  with  lands  in  Kyle       .....     396 

In  King  David  II.'s  reign,  Robert,  Senescal,  witnesses  charters  : — 

In  Edinburgh,  3ist  Aug.  1357       ....         435,  436 

1 6th  Sept.  1368,  at  Edinburgh       .  .  .  .  .441 

Irvine,  6th  Mar.  1335         ......     448 

Glasgow,  "die  lune  proxima  post  festum  Sancti  Johannis,"  1338    450 
Witness  to  charters  relating  to  Tarbolton       .  .  .         452, 454 

At  Paisley  Monastery,  nth  Nov.  1342  .  .  .  -455 

At  Paisley,  i6th  June  1369        ......     459 

Charter  concerning  Dernyhunche        .....     460 

At  Edinburgh,  royal  charter  of  Cavers,  I2th  Jan.  1358  .  .     465 

The  charter  of  Regality  of  Melrose,  by  Robert  II.,  is  signed  by 
"Johanne  primogenito  nostro   Carryk   Senescalli   Scocie,"  at 
Edinburgh,  loth  Oct.  1380  .....     476 

Various  charters  attested  under  same  designation 

477,  478,  479,  48i,  482,  484,  485,  489,  492 
John,  Earl  of  Carrik,  confirms  Melrose  in  its  lands    .  .  .     483 

'  LIBER  S.  MARIE  DE  CALCHOU'  (1113-1567,  Tyron.) 

"Alanus  de  bodha"  witness  to  grant  of  church  of  Dumfries  to 

Kelso  .  ......  n 

[1189-1199.]  "Alan,  son  of  Walter,"  attests  charter  of  grant,  by 

William,  of  Langton  .  .  .  .  .  .  144 

1185.  In  "Eschina  de  Londoniis'"  charter  giving  church  of  Molle 
to  Kelso,  she  refers  to  "  domini  mei  Gauterii  filii  Alani  et  pro 
anima  filie  (Eschine)  mee  quae  apud  Kelcho  sepulta  est"  .  146 

"  Walter,  son  of  Alan,"  mentioned  in  subsequent  similar  charter      .     147 

A  charter  disponing  a  bovate  of  land  in  Molle  is  attested  by 

"  Waltero  Senescallo" 156 

Walter  witnesses  similar  charter  regarding  Molle      .  .  .     162 

"  Gilberti  Avenel  militis  mei  (Will  de  Vesci)  et  heredis  Cecilie  filie 

Eschine  quondam  Domine  de  Molle       ,  ,  ,  .     139 


380  Appendix. 

No. 

"Gauterus  films  Alani  dapifer  Regis  Scocie"  grants  land  in  Rox- 
burgh, in  Molle,  and  Renfrew  to  Kelso    .  .  .  .170 

1236-1246.  Walter  grants  charter  regarding  Innerwick          .  .     247 

1190.  Alan,  son  of  Walter,  confirms  a  convention  made  between 

his  (milites)  men  of  Innerwick  and  the  monks  of  Kelso  248,  253,  260 
1147-1152.  Walter,  son  of  Alan,  witness  to  charter  granting  church 

of  Selkirk  by  King  David  ......     373 

1160-64.  Walter  attests  grant  of  church  of  Keith        .  .  .     379 

ii  M       attests  grant  of  shealings  of  Bothwell  .  .     380 

1153-1165.  Grant  in  Selkirk      ......     381 

1189-1199.  Grant  of  bovate  in  Sprouston         .  .  .  -385 

1165-1174.  Regarding  Traverlen          .....     389 

1160-64.  Donation  in  Perth      ......     400 

1171-78.  Donation  of  Morton  in  Nithsdale    ..  .  .  .     400 

'REGISTRUM  DE  NEUBOTLE'  (Cistercian). 

(In  1312  Gervase,  William  in  1378,  Abbot.) 

Alan,  son  of  Walter,  grants  to  the  church  of  St  Marie  at  Newbattle 
a  toft  in  Renfrew,  beside  his  own  garden,  and  net  fishing  in  the 
Clyde,  for  soul  of  Eva  his  spouse,  &c.      .  .  .  .178 

This  mentioned  in  Innocent  II I.'s  Bull  ....     223 

"Walter,  son  of  Alan,"  attests  charter  of  Malcolm  as  to  Gocelin      .       n 
Walter  attests  charter  of  Alexander  II.  (or  III.)  as  to  morthmart 
and  Gladwys  at  Edinburgh,  3d  June  1218.     Anno  Reg.  Dom. 
Reg.  vie.  quinto      .  .  .  .  .  .  .22 

Same  day,  same  subject,  in  charter  he  is  styled  "  Waltero  filio  Alani 

Senescallo,  Justiciario  Scocie "      .  .  .  .  .24 

Walter  attests  charter  of  Radulph  de  Sules     .  .  .  -37 

Walter  referred  to  as  granting  to  Nicholas  Sulis  "  salinam  meam  in 

Karso  de  Calentyr"  (my  salt-pit  in  the  carse  of  Callander         .     170 
Charter  confirmed  by  him  .  .  .  .  .       xii 

Walter  the  Senescal  granted  a  charter  at  Bathgate  on  St  Michael's 
feast  1323,  giving  monks  of  Kelso  right  of  way  with  carriages, 
&c.,  to  Munkland,  through  Bathgate,  on  account  of  his  especial 
affection  for  them  .......     204 

Walter  attests  King  Malcolm's  charter  of  church  of  Bathgate  .     267 

Colin   Campbell    gives    as    sureties   "James,    Sen.    Scocie,"   and 

"  Johannem  fratrem  suum,"  at  Renfrew,  1293,  for  lands  in  Kyle      [?] 

'  LIBER  ECCLESLE  S.  TRINITATIS  DE  SCON.' 

Foundation  confirmatory  charter  of  King  Malcolm  at  Stirling, 
attested  by  Walter  and  "  Galfrido  de  Coningesburg,"  1163, 
"anno  regni  regis  Malcolmi  undecimo"  .  .  ,6 


List  of  Charters,  etc.,  relating  to  the  Stewarts.     381 

No. 

Walter  attests  another  charter  there    .....         7 
and  other  charters  at  Perth,  Stirling,  Edinburgh. 

Alexander  II.  confirmed  concession  made  to  Scone  by  "Walter, 
son  of  Alan,"  of  the  land  in  Tibermur  given  to  the  canons 
there  by  his  grandfather,  "  Suanus  films  thori"  .  78,  125 


'LIB.  CARTARUM  PRIORATUS  SANCTI  ANDREE  IN  SCOTIA.' 

Page 

1146-1153.  "Walter,  son  of  Alan,"  attests  charter  of  David,  con- 
cerning toft  of  B,al  wine  .  .  .  .  .  .188 

Walter,  son  of  Alan,  attests  the  famous  charter  granting  Lochleven 
to  the  priory,  and  protecting  the  Keldei  "  si  regulariter  vivere 
uolerint,"  at  Berwick  .  .  .  .  .  .189 

Walter,  son  of  Alan,  attests  charter  by  Malcolm  at  Berwick  .     196 

ii  it  attests  charter  by  Malcolm  at  Dunfermlin       .     197 

it  ii  attests  charter  by  Malcolm  at  Edinburgh         .     198 

Walter,  son  of  Alan,  Dapifer,  attests  charter  by  Malcolm  at  Kinross   202 

(In  William's  reign  Alan  is  mostly  designed  Alan  simply,  some- 
times "  Dapifer.") 

"  William,  son  of  Alan,  Dapifer,"  at  Forfar,  attests  charter  of  King 

William       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .219 

Alan,  son  of  Walter,  gave  lands  in  township  of  Unthank  to  St 

Andrews     ........     257 

Grant  confirmed  by  Walter      .  .  .  .  .  .258 

Before  1187,  Alan  grants  a  toft  in  Rutherglen,  and  a  half  carrucate 

in  Dundonald,  to  the  priory          .  .  .  .  .64 


'REGISTRUM  GLASGUENSE.' 

1150.  "Walter,  son  of  Alan,  attests  at  Traquair,  along  with  Bishop 
Herbert  (i  147-1 164),  charter  granting  church  of  St  John  of  Rox- 
burgh Castle  to  the  church  of  Glasgow. 

1165.  Walter  gives  to  St  Kentigern's  church  two  shillings  annually 
from  the  rents  of  Renfrew.  Signs  various  charters  for  Glasgow. 


'MUNIMENTA  ECCLESIE   SANCTE  CRUCIS   DE  EDWINESBURG.3 

No. 

Walter,  son  of  Alan,  attests  charter  by  King  Malcolm  at  Edinburgh 
Walter,  designated  "dapifer,"  attests  charter  by  Malcolm  at  Stirling  18,  20 
Walter  also  attests  charters  by  Malcolm  at  Clackmannan,  No.  26 ; 

and  at  Tranent       .  .  .  .  .  .  -35 

James,  Senescal  of  Scotland,  confirms  charter  of  his  grandfather 
Walter,  and  father,  Alexander  of  Brumholm,  in  reign  of  Alex- 
ander III.  ...  ....  78 


382  Appendix. 


No. 

*  LIBER  S.  MARIE  DE  DRYBURGH'  (Premon.) 

1160.  "Walterus   filius   Alani"   gives   lands   of  Herdesley  to   the 

Canons  of  Dryburgh         .....          112,242 


'REGISTRUM  DE  DUNFERMELYN.' 

Page 

In  five  charters  in  reigns  of  Kings  David  and  Malcolm,  Walter  is 

simply  designated  "  Son  of  Alan  "  8,  9,  23,  24,  27 

In  William's  reign,  Walter  is  styled  "my  steward,"  "meus  dapifer," 

and"dapifer"  .  31,33-37 

Walter  filius  Alani  Senescallus  Justiciarius  Scocie,  attests  a  charter 

of  King  Alexander  at  Stirling,  27th  Dec.  1236-37  .  .  [?] 


1  REGISTRUM  DE  CARTARUM  DOMUS  DE  SOLTRE.' 

Walter  Dapifer  attests  at  Edinburgh  charter  of  King  Malcolm, 

granting  the  lands  of  Brotherstanys       .  .  4 

'  MONASTICON.5 

Walter  attests  King  David's  charter  to  May  Priory  at  Kyn- 

gor  between  Aug.  1147  and  May  1153  .  .  .  iv.  62  i 

Walter  attests  Prince  Henry's  charter  to  Holm  Cultram 

between  Jan.  1150  and  June  1152  .  .  .  v.  594  iii. 


BAIN,  '  CALENDAR  OF  DOCUMENTS,'  &c. 

Vol.     No. 

[122 1  ?]  June  1 8.  Alexander,  King  of  Scots — grant  to  Johanna, 
his  spouse,  of  lands  in  dower.  Witnesses :  (amongst  others) 
— WTalter  fitz  Alan,  Steward  [3],  &c.  York  .  .  .  i.  808 

[1228-29].  Alexander,  King  of  Scots — grant  to  his  younger  sister 
Margaret,  for  her  marriage.  Witnesses  :  (amongst  others) 
—Walter  fitz  Alan,  Steward  [3]  of  Scotland,  &c.  Edinburgh, 
an.  reg.  15,  March  10.  Recited  in  a  charter  of  inspeximus, 
by  Henry  III.,  Westm.,  an.  reg.  15,  1230,  Dec.  25  .  .  i.  1113 

[1237,  Sept.  25].  Agreement  in  presence  of  O[do],  the  Legate, 
•between  Henry,  King  of  England,  and  Alexander,  King  of 
Scots.  Walter  fitz  Alan  [Steward  (3)]  is  mentioned  as  one 
of  the  barons  of  the  King  of  Scots  who  swore  to  keep  the 
peace.  York  .  .  ...  i.  1358 

This  includes  a  provision  (p.  247),  that  the  Steward  of  the 
King  of  Scots  should  sit  as  a  justice  in  the  northern 
counties  of  England  in  certain  cases. 


Bannatyne  of  Kames  and  Bannatyne.          383 

Vol.     No. 

1244.  Walter  fitz  Alan  [Steward  (3)]  was  one  of  those  who  trans- 
mitted to  the  Pope  for  confirmation  a  charter,  whereby  Alex- 
ander, King  of  Scots,  bound  himself  and  his  heirs  to  keep 
the  peace  with  Henry,  King  of  England,  and  his  heirs  .  i.  1655 

tI255>  39  Hen.  III.]  Aug.  10.  King  Henry  [III.]  accredits 
certain  Earls  and  others,  to  Patric,  Earl  of  Dunbar,  and 
others,  including  Alexander  the  Steward  [4]  of  Scotland, 
and  Walter  le  Senescall.  Cawood  .  .  .  .  i.  1987 

CRAWFURD'S  'BARONAGE.' 

Page 

"  John  Blair  of  that  ilk  ...  (2)  dr.  Elizabeth  married  to  Ninian 
Stewart,  which  appears  by  a  charter  under  the  Great  Seal, 
Elizabethae  Blair  sponsae  Niniani  Stewart  et  Roberto  Stewart 
eorum  filio,  terrarum  de  Ambriore,  &c.,  in  Bute  ;  I5th  August 
1529"  •  •  • 195 


XVIL— ACCOUNT  OF  BANNATYNE  OF  KAMES 
AND  BANNATYNE. 

(Abridged  from  'A  Gen.  Account  of  the  Principal  Families  in  Ayrshire,'  by 
George  Robertson,  vol.  i.  pp.  50-69,  Irvine,  1823,  and  apparently  compiled 
by  Lord  Bannatyne,  with  Notes  by  J.  K.  H.) 

This  ancient  family  formerly  held  lands  in  Ayrshire,  as  they  do 
still  (1823).  Their  Gaelic  patronymic  is  M'Omelyne,  M'Amelyne 
(Mac-O-Maol  Ian  =  the  son  of  the  grandson  of  the  tonsured  John) ; 
Bannatyne  of  Kames,  the  chief,  being  styled  M'Amelyne  Moir. 
They  descend  from  Gilbert  (c.  1263),  whose  son  Gilbert  and  grand- 
son John  obtained  charters  from  Walter  the  Steward,  one  being 
dated  before  1318  (Kames  Charters),  of  lands  in  Bute.  John  the 
son  of  Gilbert  is  the  John  Gibbonson  of  Fordun  (and  of  Wyntoun, 
see  ante,  p.  101  ;  also  of  the  'Excheq.  Rolls,'  in  1329,  "John,  son 
of  Gilbert,  Baillie  de  Boyet ").  His  lands  of  Corsbie  in  Ayr,  and 
of  Bute,  descended  to  Thomas  Bannatyne,  the  fifth  or  sixth  heir 
from  the  first  Gilbert,  then  to  Ninian  son  of  Thomas,  and  to  his 
son  Robert.  Ninian  and  Robert  lived  in  1491. 

THOMAS  BANNATYNE  married  secondly  Agnetta  M'Connyle  or 
M'Donald  of  Kintyre  and  Islay. 


384  Appendix. 

NINIAN,  his  son  (married  Janet  Stewart,  see  ante,  p.  153),  in 
1498  was  tacksman  of  the  forest  of  Bute. 

ROBERT,  his  son,  acquired  the  fifty-shilling  land  of  Ardmoleish 
from  Ninian  Stewart,  Sheriff  of  Bute,  in  wadset.     He  married — 
i.  Christian  Campbell, 
ii.  Douglas. 

ROBERT,  his  son,  by  the  second  marriage,  succeeded.  In  1506 
the  Bannatynes,  kindly  tenants,  of  Loubas,  Kerry-Lamont,  Brochag, 
Coygach,  Dunallunt,  Dremochloy,  Scarel,  Clachnabae,  'Shallunt,  and 
Stuck,  obtained  charters  and  became  vassals  of  the  Crown  (see 
ante^  pp.  137,  138).  Their  feus  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  family 
of  Kames.  One  family  held  Inchmarnock  in  feu  off  Saddell  Abbey ; 
another  held  the  three-merk  land  of  Grenach.  Robert  Bannatyne 
died  in  1522. 

NINIAN,  son  of  Robert  II.,  acquired  the  five-merk  lands  of  Barone 
in  wadset  from  Sheriff  Ninian  Stewart. 

A  quarrel  between  Ninian  Bannatyne  and  Sheriff  James  Stuart 
was  arbitrated  upon  by  John  Boyle  of  Kelburne,  i2th  April  1548. 
Ninian  Bannatyne  took  part  in  the  insurrection  of  the  Earl  of  Len- 
nox, and  was  routed  on  Glasgow  Moor,  receiving  a  remission,  8th 
March  1554. 

i.  He  married  and  divorced  Janet   Stuart.      Their  daughter 

Janet  married  John  Stuart  of  Ambrismore. 
ii.  He  married  Margaret  M'Cowel  or  M'Dougald  of  Raray ; 
a.nd  had  four  sons,  Hector,  Angus,  Ronald,  Charles  (of 
Creslagloan),  and  three  daughters  :  married  to  Dun- 
can Campbell  of  Dremnamuckloch ;  Isabel,  married  to 
Archibald  Carsewell  of  Carnasery ;  and  Annabella,  married 
to  Ronald  M'Connyle. 

HECTOR  married — 

i.  Margaret  M'Lauchlan,  daughter  of  M'Lauchlan  of  M'Lauch- 

lan,  and  had  a  son,  Ninian. 

ii.  Marion,    daughter    of    M'Naughton    of    M'Naughton,    and 
had  three  sons,  William  (of  Scarrel),  Archibald,  and  Alex- 
ander,  and  two    daughters,  Agnetta,  married  to  Ninian 
Spence  of  Wester  Kames,  and  Elizabeth,  married  to  Dun-      + 
can  Campbell  of  Evanehan. 


Bannatyne  of  Kames  and  Bannatyne.  385 

NINIAN  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Duncan  Campbell  of  Auchin- 
breck. 

HECTOR,  their  son,  succeeded  his  grandfather  Hector,  and  mar- 
ried Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Patrick  Stuart  of  Roslin  and  Balshagry. 
His  estate  suffered  from  the  M'Donalds  after  Inverlochy.  Hector 
was  a  member  of  the  Scots  Parliaments,  1617-1639.  He  had  a  son, 
Ninian,  and  daughter.  The  latter  married  William  Campbell  of 
Wester  Kames. 

NINIAN,  in  1678  Captain  of  Bute  Militia,  member  for  Bute  in 
1667,  1669,  1671,  1672.  Married  Isabella,  daughter  of  Sheriff 
Sir  James  Stuart,  and  had  two  sons,  Hector,  James,  and  three 
daughters.  Elizabeth,  married  to  John  Campbell,  Captain  of  Dun- 
oon ;  Anne,  second  wife  to  the  same ;  Annabella,  married  to  John 
Campbell  of  Knockamelie. 

HECTOR  married — 

i.  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  George  Maxwell  of  Newark,  with 

issue, 
ii.  Marion,  daughter  of  Fairholm  of  Babberton,  with  issue — 

James  and  Isabella. 

Hector  raised  a  contingent  of  fencibles  in  Bute  for  Argyle.  In 
1715,  as  Captain  of  Militia,  accompanied  the  first  Earl  of  Bute  to 
Inverary  to  join  Argyle  in  opposing  the  Pretender*  The  civil  wars 
impoverished  his  estate,  and  compelled  him  to  sell  much  of  it  to 
the  Earl  of  Bute. 

JAMES  died  unmarried,  aged  eighty-nine,  and  the  succession  went 
to  the  son  of  his  sister  Isabella — 

WILLIAM  MACLEOD,  the  son  of  Roderick  Macleod,  W.S.  He  was 
an  advocate,  Sheriff  of  Bute  in  1774,  and  a  Lord  of  Session  in 
1799.  Lord  Bannatyne  died  unmarrried.  His  sister  Isabella 
married  the  Rev.  Dr  MacLea;  another  married  Alex.  M'Donald; 
a  third  died  unmarried.  Margaret  married  (i)  John  Macleod,  (2) 
Hon.  John  Grant  of  Kilgraston  •  Anne  married  Sir  John  M'Gregor 
Murray  of  Lenrick  Castle. 

Armorial  bearing  of  Bannatyne  of  Kames  and  Bannatyne  :  Quar- 
terly, first  and  fourth,    Gules,   a  chevron,   Argent,  between  three 
VOL.  II.  2  E 


386  Appendix. 

mullets,  Or,  for  Bannatyne.  Second  and  third,  Azure,  a  castle 
triple,  towered  and  embattled  Argent,  masoned  Sable,  the  windows 
and  portcullis  shut,  Gules,  on  the  dexter  chief  point  a  star,  Or,  for 
M'Leod.  Above  the  shields  is  placed  a  helmet  befitting  his  degree, 
with  a  mantling  Gules,  the  doubling  Argent ;  in  a  wreath  of  his 
liveries  is  set  for  crest  a  demi -griffin,  in  his  dexter  paw  a  sword 
erected,  proper ;  in  an  escroll  above  the  crest  this  motto — Nee  cito, 
nee  tarde  ;  and  on  a  compartment  below  the  shield  are  these  words 
— Murus  aheneus.  Supporters,  two  angels,  proper,  habited  Azure, 
and  winged  Or. 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS,    NAMES, 
AND   PLACES. 


Aberbrothock,  manifesto  of,  98. 

Agriculture,  ancient,  314. 

Aird,  Rev.  Robert,  291. 

Alan,  Count  of,  or  in>  Brittany,  9 — con- 
nection with  Walter,  9,  note. 

Alan  FitzFlaald,  31  —  benefactor  to 
church,  32,  36 — crusader,  33 — courtier 
at  Henry  First's  court,  34  —  lands 
granted,  35 — married  Adeliza  de  Hes- 
din,  35. 

Alan  FitzWalter,  Steward,  Crusader, 
Scots  general,  47 — married  Eva,  47 — 
gave  Kilblaan  Church  to  Paisley,  48 — 
death  of,  48 — builder  of  Kilblaan  and 
Rothesay  Castle,  49. 

Alan's  men  at  Innerwick,  88. 

Alanus  Senescallus,  of  Dol,  benefactor  of 
church,  28. 

Albany,  Duke  of,  309,  310. 

Alditha,  wife  of  Griffyth,  8  — of  King 
Harold,  8,  note. 

Alexander,  becomes  Steward,  52 — victor 
at  Largs,  53  —  subdues  Man,  53 — 
marries  Jean  of  Bute,  54. 

Armada,  the,  325. 

Ascog,  house  of,  166,  167,  184,  185 — 
lands  of,  184 — result  of  siege  of,  278 — 
tragedy  of,  330,  334. 

Baliol,  Edward,  126. 

Bannatyne,  Ninian,  323 — Hector,  329— 
Thomas,  383 — Ninian  I.,  384 — Robert, 
384— Ninian  II.,  384 — Hector,  384 — 
Ninian  III.,  385 — Hector,  385 — Ninian, 
385— Hector,  385— James,  385. 

Bannatynes  of  Kam'es  Castle,  175,  383- 
386— arms  of,  385. 


Bannockburn,  battle  of,  70. 

Banquo,  Shakespeare's,  i,  4 — Boece's,  3, 
4,  1 6— Bishop  Leslie's,  8— Thane  of 
Lochaber,  5  —  genealogy  of,  10-14 — 
descendant  of  Irish  and  Scots  kings, 
through  Lennox  family,  11-15  —  rela' 
tion  to  king,  office,  history,  19,  20 — 
fulfilment  of  prophecy  concerning  heirs 
of,  80 — meaning  of  name  Ban-cu,  15, 
17 — not  killed  by  Macbeth,  descen- 
dant of  Kenneth  I.,  Chalmers's  opinion 
of,  1 6. 

Barbour,  biography  of  Stewarts,  2 — pane- 
gyric on  Walter  the  Steward,  74. 

Barone  Hill,  battle  of,  100. 

Barons  of  Bute,  133-187. 

Bellenden's  Account  of  Banquo,  3. 

Berwick,  siege  of,  97. 

Bishop's  House,  209,  210. 

Blaan's  Churchl  St,  building  of,  215 — in 
ruins,  292. 

Blearie's  Cross,  Queen,  75. 

Boece,  story  of  Banquo  by,  3,  4,  1 6 — His- 
tory of  Scots  by,  4. 

Bogill,  Rev.  John,  298. 

Bowrer  mentions  Brandanes,  87. 

Brandanes,  the,  85 — first  mentioned  by 
Fordun,  86 — referred  to  by  Wyntoun 
and  Bower,  87 — at  Neville's  Cross,  78 
— at  Northallerton,  90 — native  men  of 
Steward,  87  —  position,  tenants  of 
Crown,  88 — origin  of  name,  89  —  de- 
scription, 90 — musters  of,  as  soldiers,  at 
Torwood,  91— Perth,  91— Falkirk,  92 
— Bannockburn,  70,  94 — Borders,  95 — 
Tarbert,  96— Berwick,  York,  97— to  be 
annihilated  by  English  fleet,  63 — monu- 


388 


Index  of  Subjects,  Names,  and  Places. 


ment  to,  by  Marquess  of  Bute,  94 — at 
Berwick,  97  —  at  Byland  Braes,  97 — 
musters  of,  325,  326,  342. 

Bread-baking  monopoly  in  Dol,  28. 

Bride's  Chapel,  St,  Rothesay,  232,  235. 

Brittany,  Walter  son  of  Fleance  in,  9 — 
Banquo  in,  16. 

Brown,  Rev.  Alexander,  302  —  Rev. 
Richard,  296. 

Bruce,  King  Robert  the,  covenant  with 
James  the  Steward  and,  55 — vassal  of 
English  king,  58 — returns  to  Scotland, 
65  —  wanderings  in  West,  66  —  cam- 
paigns of,  69-71 — settlement  of  crown 
on,  72 — under  ban  of  Pope,  98 — Mar- 
jory, 71,  72,  75,  247,  249. 

Buchanan,  Rev.  John,  297. 

B  urges,  W.,  report  on  Rothesay  Castle  by, 
107-132. 

Burgh  lands,  139,  134,  203,  185 — sale  of, 
208. 

Burials,  288. 

Bute.     See  Stewartlands. 

Bute,  granted  to  Walter  Fitz  Alan,  45 — 
a  rendezvous  of  Scottish  patriots,  60,  62, 
94 — military  centre,  94 — harried,  311, 
319,  328 — forest  of,  320. 

Bute,  Countess  of,  quarrel  with  Lady 
Ascog,  280. 

Bute,  Earl,  Marquess  of.     See  Stewart. 

Bute,  Earls  of,  156-158,  343. 

Bute,  John,  Marquess  of,  monument  to 
Brandanes  by,  94 — on  Duke  of  Rothe- 
say, 306.  See  John,  Marquess  of  Bute. 

Campbell,  Rev.  Hugh,  301 — Rev.  John, 
291— Bishop  Neil,  290. 

Carswell,  John,  Bishop,  231,  237. 

Cellach,  Celestinus,  Abbot,  216. 

Chalmers's  '  Caledonia  '  considers  Banquo 
and  Fleance  fictitious,  16. 

Chapels  in  Bute,  232-250. 

Charles  I.,  326,  335. 

Charles  II.,  336. 

Charter  by  James  IV.  to  vassals  in  Bute, 
140— of  Rothesay  Burgh,  190-195— 
relative  to  Fitz  Alans,  353-359 — re- 
lative to  the  Stewarts,  372-383. 

Clergy  in  Rothesay,  231-236 — in  Kin- 
garth,  236,  237. 

Colonels  in  Bute,  327. 

Columba's  Chapel,  St,  Rothesay,  236. 

Combourg  Castle,  21. 

Covenanters,  327,  336,  337. 

Craig,  Rev.  Robert,  302. 

Crawford  and  Balcarres,  Earl  of,  on  the 
origin  of  the  Stewarts,  24. 

Cromwell,  131. 

Crown  lands  in  Bute,  81,  135,  204. 


Crowner  of  Bute,  160-165. 
Cu,  a  dog-totem,  17. 
Cummin,  William,  effigy  of,  239. 
Cummings  in  Bute,  100,  135. 
Customs,  strange,  in  Bute  (social,  baptis- 
mal, bridal,  bacchanalian,  funeral),  261. 

Dapifer.     See  Stewards. 

David,    Duke    of    Rothesay,    306-309  — 

Marquess  of  Bute  on,  306. 
David,  King  of  Scots,  and  Fitz  Alans  in 

England,  39 — patron   of  Walter    Fitz 

Alan,  41. 
David  II.,  King,  imprisoned  in  England, 

78 — umbrage  at  the  Steward,  79. 
Denoon,  Rev.  James,  296,  302. 
Dewar,  Rev.  Peter,  303. 
Dog-totem  among  Celts,  17. 
Dol,  history  of  town,   Archbishopric,  22 

— Steward  of,  14,  27,  28. 
Duncan,  King  of  Scots,  5. 

Education,  282. 

Education,  martial,  313. 

Edward    I.    at    Norham,    56  —  destroys 

Berwick,  57 — death  of,  68. 
Effigy  of  lady  in  St  Mary's  Chapel,  242. 
Eilean  Gheirrig,  camp  of  insurgents,  339, 

341. 

Erskine,  Alice,  249. 

Fitz  Alan,  Jordan,  33,  36 — Seneschal  of 
Dol,  37  —  Richard,  Earl  of  Arundel, 
claims  Stewardship  of  Scotland,  43. 

Flaald,  Seneschal  of  Dol,  15 — father  of 
Alan  of  Oswestry,  25,  27,  29 — identified 
with  Fleance,  29 — later  history,  31 — 
Fredald,  in  Brittany,  21 — unique  name 
in  Brittany,  23 — Steward  of  Dol,  14, 
27,  28. 

Flanchu,  meaning  of  name,  15,  17. 

Flancus,  Norman  warrior  and  proprietor 
in  England  in  1066,  same  as  Flaald  or 
Fleance,  29-31. 

Fleadan,  meaning  of  word,  corresponds 
with  Flaald,  15. 

Fleance  (Fleanchus,  Flann,  Flean, 
Fleadan)  of  Shakespeare,  Boece,  and 
Holinshed,  I,  4,  6— son  of  Banquo, 
flees  to  Wales,  6 — beguiles  Nesta,  8 — 
father  of  Walter,  9  —  identified  with 
Flaald,  29. 

Fordun  mentions  Brandanes,  86. 

Fraser,  Rev.  Andrew,  299. 

Froissart,  description  of  Scots  by,  91. 

Garrachty,  lands  of,  170,  171. 
Genealogical    table   of    the   Stewards   of 
Scotland,  350,  351 — of  the  ancestry  of 


Index  of  Subjects,  Names,  and  Places. 


389 


the  Fitz  Alans  and  Stewarts,  362,  363 — 
showing  the  descent  of  the  Stewards  of 
Scotland  from  Banquo  and  Alan,  366, 

367. 

Genealogy  of  Maormor  of  Leven,  347- 
Glass,  family  of,  102,  135,  184,  165,  166. 
Glen,  Rev.  Robert,  294. 
Gordon,  Bishop  Alexander,  229. 
Graham,    Bishop    Archibald,    290,    294, 

298. 
Griffyth,  Prince  of  North  Wales,  8. 

Haco,  King,  124. 

Halidon  Hill,  98. 

Hamilton,  Sir  James,  129 — executed,  322. 

Hay,  Father,  criticism  of  Barbour's  Lives 

of  Stewarts  by,  2. 
Haye,    Pere    de    la,     answers    Matthew 

Kennedy,   14,  note  2, 
Hepburn,  George,  Bishop,  229. 
Hesdin,    Adeliza   de,   wife   of  Alan  Fitz 

Flaald,  35. 

Holdings,  various,  in  Bute,  134. 
Holinshed's  account  of  Banquo,  3. 
Husbandry  in  Bute,  315. 

Inchmarnock,  182. 

James  I.,  King,  309,  313. 

James  II.,  310 — in  Rothesay,  312. 

James  III.,  314. 

James  IV.,  314 — in  Bute,  317,  318 — 
death  at  Flodden,  319. 

James  V.  in  Rothesay,  129. 

James  VI.,  King,  grants  charter  to  Rothe- 
say, 191. 

James,  Steward  of  Scotland,  one  of  the 
Regents,  54 — Sheriff  of  Ayr  and  Bute, 
signs  Turnbury  Bond,  55 — vassal  of 
Edward  I.,  56,  57,  60,  64,  66 — favours 
Bruce,  56 — joins  Wallace,  59 — at  Stir- 
ling and  Falkirk,  6l — lands  forfeited, 
62 — in  France,  63 — keeps  aloof  from 
Bruce,  65 — joins  Bruce,  68 — death,  68 
— marriages,  59,  69. 

Jamieson,    Niel,    Chamberlain    of    Bute, 

3«- 

Jamiesons,    Crowners   of  Bute,    161-165. 

See  MacNeills. 
Jean    of    Bute    marries    Alexander    the 

Steward,  54. 
John,  Marquess  of  Bute,  94,  160 — quoted, 

218,  306. 
Juhell,  Archbishop  of  Dol,  25. 

Kames,  laird,  of,  in  1679,  201. 

Kames,  lands  of,  175 — Castle  of,  176 — 
dimensions  of,  329,  footnote  —  pro- 
prietors of,  176,  177. 

VOL.  II. 


Kennedy,  Matthew,  genealogy  of  Banquo 

by,  13,  14- 

Kerrycroy,  village  of,  151. 

Kingarth,  ministers  of,  236,  237,  291-297 

— new  church  of,  built,  293— patronage 

of,  294. 
Kirk-sessions,  powers  of,  260— quotations 

from  records  of,  290. 
Knox,     Bishop    Andrew,    289  —  Bishop 

Thomas,  289. 

Lament,  Sir  James,  331. 

'Lecan,  Book  of,'  by  Mac  Firbis,  on  the 

Royal  Line  and  Lennoxes,    13,    14. 
Lech,  tradition  regarding  family  of,   145 

— lands  of,  169. 
Lennox   family,    origin    of    Banquo   and 

Stewarts  in,  10. 
Lennox-men  Irish  colonists,  20. 
Leslie,  Bishop,  reference  to  the  Stewarts 

in  Bute  by,  7— Bishop  John,  289. 
Lindsay,  Sir  Patrick,  129. 
Lochaber,  thane  of.  5, 16 — thanedom  of,  20. 

Macbeth,  King,  I,  5,  6,  9,  16. 

M 'Bride,  Rev.  Peter,  302. 

Mac  Firbis,  Duald,  genealogy  of  Banquo, 
Stewarts,  and  Lennoxes  by,  n,  12,  14, 
note  i. 

Mac  Firbis,  Gilla  Isa  Mor,  « Book  of 
Lecan,'  on  the  royal  line  and  Len- 
noxes, 13,  14. 

M 'Gibbon's  Cross,  197. 

M'Kilmorie,  Rev.  Donald,  297, 

M'Kinlay,  John,  quoted,  240. 

M'Laine,  Rev.  Archibald,  291 — Rev. 
Alexander,  291. 

MacLea,  Rev.  Dr,  300,  301. 

MacNeills,  Crowners  of  Bute,  161-165, 
208. 

Macpherson,  Rev.  J.  F.,  303. 

M'Queine,  Rev.  Patrick,  297. 

Maison  des  Plaids,  26. 

Major,  John,  description  of  Scots  by,  85, 

95- 

Malcolm  III.,  King  of  Scots,  7. 

Mark,  Bishop  of  Sodor,  56. 

Marshall,  Rev.  Mark,  296. 

Mary's  Chapel,  St,  Rothesay,  239,  237- 
250. 

Maxwell,  Rev.  James,  291. 

Michael's  Chapel,  St,  Rothesay,  113, 114, 
115,  232,  236. 

Ministers  of  Kingarth,  291-297— of  Rothe- 
say, 297-303. 

More,  Elizabeth,  142. 

Mountstuart,  burgh  of,  151 — House  of, 
built,  157 — new  church  at,  also  called 
Scoulag,  295. 

2  F 


390 


Index  of  Subjects,  Names,  and  Places. 


Munro,  Rev.  John,  299. 

Murdoch,  Murechach,  Maormor  of  Leven, 

II — identified  with   Banquo,    13 — fate 

of,  1 6. 

Native  men,  Brandanes,  87. 

Nesta  (Guenta,  or  Marjoretta),  daughter 

of  Prince  Griffyth  and  mother  of  Walter 

the  Steward,  8. 
Nicholas,  Abbot,  Bishop,  217. 
North  Bute,  ministers  of,  303. 

Olave  the  Black,  122. 

Omey,  Rev.  Donald,  291,  298. 

Otterburn,  battle  of,  80. 

Paisley   Priory  founded  by  Walter   Fitz 

Alan,  45. 
Parliament,  members  of,  from  Bute,  343, 

345- 
Presbyterian  polity,   252 — worship,    253- 

260 — liturgy,  253 — psalmody,    254-259 

— communion,  259. 
Presbytery  Records,  294. 
Principality,  lease  of,  316,  317 — feuars  of, 

318  (also  chapter  v.) — fermes  of,  318, 

320,  321,  322. 
Punishment,  instruments  of,  277. 

Reformation,  causes  of,  224-227 — effects 
of,  251-253. 

Reformed  Church,  the,  251-303. 

Robert  I.,  King.     See  Bruce. 

Robert,  Steward  of  Scotland,  King  Rob- 
ert II.,  birth,  75 — boyhood  in  Durris- 
deer,  76 — at  Halidon  Hill,  77 — recap- 
tures Rothesay,  77 — Stewartlands  for- 
feited, 77  —  at  Neville's  Cross,  78— 
Regent  of  Scotland,  78 — in  prison,  79 
—  ascends  throne  of  Scotland,  80 — 
regent,  103 — father  of  John  Stewart, 
141 — visits  Bute,  80,  98-103  —  mar- 
riages, 81 — death,  81,  305  —  family, 

143- 

Robert  (John)  the  Steward  (Robert  III.), 
103 — grants  charter  to  Rothesay,  190. 

Robert  III.,  141,  142,  143,  144,  247 — in 
Bute,  305 — death,  127,  309,  footnote. 

Roger,  James  C.,  quoted,  240,  245. 

Roman"  Church,  212-250 — extensiveness 
of,  2 1 9 — abuses  in,  223. 

Rothesay.     See  Stewartlands. 

Rothesay,  burgh  of,  188 — origin  of,  189 
— charters  of,  190-195 — seals  of,  196, 
197  —  records  of,  198 — extracts  from 
records,  200-204— Cross,  197,  198,  203 
— burgh  lands,  204,  207,  208 — proprie- 
tors in  burgh,  205-207— mill  of,  210 — 
manses,  208  —  glebe,  209  —  bishop's 


house,  209  —  parish  church  of,  287- 
300,  302 — ministers  of,  236,  237,  299, 
303— chapel  of  ease,  204,  302,  303. 

Rothesay,  meaning  of  name,  106.  (See 
Index,  vol.  i.) 

Rothesay  Castle,  built  by  Alan,  besieged 
by  Uspak,  49 — retaken  by  Robert  the 
Steward,  77 — levelled  by  Robert  the 
Bruce,  94 — keys  of,  handed  to  Baliol,  99 
— repair  of,  100 — capture  by  Robert  L, 
103 — home  of  the  Stewarts,  105 — re- 
port on,  by  W.  Burges,  107-132  —  re- 
port of  J.  R.  Thomson  on,  123,  369- 
372 — history  of,  121 — tower  built,  320 
— sieges  of,  312,  321 — visited  by  James 
V.,  325— repair  by  Hamilton,  321— 
taken  by  Lennox,  323 — taken  by  High- 
landers, 340. 

Rothesay,  David,  Duke  of,  306-309. 

Rothesay,  Provost  of,  murdered  at  Dun- 
oon,  334. 

Rothesay's,  Duke  of,  free  tenants,  140. 

Royal  Arms,  121,  127,  248-250. 

Sabbath  keeping  and  breaking,  273-277. 
Saunders,  Rev.  John,  291,  footnote,  297. 
Schools  and  schoolmasters,  282-287. 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  'Quentin  Durward,' by, 

quoted,  3. 
Scottish    kings,    early   blood   of,    in    the 

Stewarts,  19,  24. 
Secular,  Rev.  J.  G.,  297. 
Seneschal.     See  Stewards. 
Seneschal,  meaning  of  word,  and  nature 

of  office,  26 — Breton  equivalents,  27. 
Shakespeare's  Banquo,  I,  4,  6 — Macbeth, 

4,  6 — Fleance,  I,  4. 
Sheriffdom  of  Bute  added  to  Kintyre,  57 

— James,  Sheriff,  55. 
Sinclair,  Rev.  Archibald,  291. 
Slogans,  89. 
Sodor,  bishops  of,   217,   228— Cathedral 

of,  232,  237 — Episcopal  bishops  of  (see 

Index,  vol.  i.),  289-291. 
Somerled  defeated  by  Walter  Fitz  Alan, 

45- 

Spens,  family  of,  177. 

Steward,  Walter  the,  at  siege  of  Berwick, 
97  (see  Walter)— death,  98— tomb  of, 
241,  247— effigy  of,  244-250. 

Stewards,  the,  traced  by  Irish  and  Gaelic 
genealogists  to  Irish  kings  through 
Lennox  family,  n — Stewards  of  Scot- 
land, 38-84 — Richard  Fitz  Alan's  claim, 
43 — first  Steward  so  called,  49. 

Stewart,  Sir  Dugal,  156. 

Stewart,  Rev.  Dugald,  30 — Sheriff  James 
(I.),  152— Sheriff  James  (II.),  154— Sir 
James  (III.),  148, 155— Sir  James  (IV.), 


Index  of  Subjects,  Names,  and  Places. 


first  Earl  of  Bute,  147,  151,  156,  163, 
202 — James,  2d  Earl,  157 — Rev.  James, 
296  — Sheriff  James,  323,  324,  327— 
Sir  John,  at  Falkirk,  92 — monuments 
to,  93— John,  of  Bute,  55 — John  (I.), 
appointed  Sheriff  of  Bute,  136,  141, 
142,  144 — his  history,  142-146,  147, 
152,  305— John  (II.),  Sheriff  (1579),  146, 
154,  324— John  (III.),  Sheriff,  155 — 
John,  3d  Earl  of  Bute,  157— John,  ist 
Marquess  of  Bute,  158 — John,  2d  Mar- 
quess of  Bute,  159— John,  3d  Marquess 
of  Bute,  94,  160,  218,  306— Rev.  John, 
278,  291,  294,  298— Ninian,  lands  of, 
146 — Sheriff  of  Bute,  146,  147,  153 — 
Ninian,  Keeper  of  Rothesay  Castle, 
318,  322. 

Stewart,  Rev.  Patrick,  272,  298 — Rev. 
Robert,  297,  298. 

Stewartlands,  81-84. 

Stewarts  of  Ascog,  John,  163,  167,  174, 
1 80,  181,  184— Robert,  163,  167,  168, 
174,  181 — Ninian,  166,  168,  183,  184. 

Stewarts,  Royal  House  of,  origin  of,  i- 
37 — biography  by  Barbour,  2 — the  first 
in  Scotland,  7,  8 — traced  to  Banquo,  I, 
13,  15,  17 — traced  to  Fleance,  12  et  seq. 
— history  of,  by  Boece,  4,  7 — Bellenden, 
Stewart,  Buchanan,  Leslie,  7 — Matthew 
Kennedy,  13,  note  2 — traced  to  Core 
and  Irish  kings,  10-19  —  traced  to 
early  Scottish  kings,  19  —  Earl  of 
Crawford  and  Balcarres  on  origin  of, 
24 — traced  to  Flaald,  25-31 — traced  to 
Fitz  Alan,  25-37 — first  mention  of  term 
for  Seneschal,  50 — in  the  crusade  of 
1249,  51 — origin  of  Bute  family  of 
Stuart,  141-146 — arms  of,  248-250. 

Stuart,  Rev.  Joseph,  297. 

Tenantry  of  Crown  in  Bute,  137,  140. 


Thomson,    J.    R.,    report    on    Rothesay 

Castle  by,   123,  369-372. 
Thomson,  Rev.  Robert,  302. 
Thorburn,  Rev.  James,  296. 
Tolbooth  of  Rothesay,  203. 

Wales,  Fleance  and  Walter  in,  8. 

Wallace,  Bishop  Robert,  290,  210,  292. 

Wallace,  William,  retainer  of  the  Steward, 
59 — rising,  60 — Stirling  Bridge,  6l — 
Falkirk,  62 — betrayal  by  a  Stewart,  63. 

Walter,  the  Steward,  son  of  Fleance,  flees 
to  Scotland,  6,  9 — to  England,  9 — 
appointed  Steward,  7 — family  according 
to  Boece,  7 — in  Brittany,  9 — partici- 
pates in  conquest,  9 — connection  with 
Alan  of  Brittany,  9 — descent  from  Irish 
kings  according  to  Kennedy,  13 — same. 
as  Walter  son  of  Allan  son  of  Mure- 
chach,  15 — (Fitz  Alan  I.)  witness  to 
charter,  37 — with  Empress  Maud,  39 
— settled  in  Scotland,  and  made  Stew- 
ard, 40 — charter  of  Seneschalship,  41 
—  benefactor  to  the  Church,  44  — 
founded  Paisley,  vanquishes  Somerled, 
obtains  Bute,  45 — death  of,  46 — family 
of,  47 — joins  Bruce,  69 — at  Bannock- 
burn,  70 — marries  Marjory  Bruce,  72 — 
relation  to  the  Crown,  72,  73 — dies,  73 — 
monument  in  Rothesay,  73 — signs  man- 
ifesto to  Pope,  98 — at  Bannockburn,  95 
— at  Berwick,  97 — at  York,  97. 

Walter  (Fitz  Alan  II.),  called  Walter  of 
Dundonald,  Steward  of  William  the 
Lion,  48 — Chief  Justice  of  Scotland, 
first  styled  Steward  of  Scotland,  49 — 
ambassador  in  France,  51 — death  of,  52. 

Wester  Kames,  Castle  of,  177,  178. 

Witchcraft  (witches,  fairies,  incantations, 
divination  by  sieve,  evil-eye,  freits)  in 
Bute,  261-270. 


THE    END. 


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Hewison,  James  King 

The  Isle  of  Bute  in  the 
olden  time