|
THE DOUGLASES.
INTRODUCTION.
page 48
On his return to Scotland the Knight of Liddesdale exerted himself more
energetically than ever to expel the English invaders and to vindicate the
independence of his country. He took part in the conflict with the Earl of
Athole at the Forest of Kilblane, in which that powerful but rapacious and
unpatriotic noble was defeated and killed. He captured and demolished the
Castles of Dunnotar, Kinclaven, and Laurieston, which had been garrisoned
by the English. He encountered, near Crichton,
the Lords Marchers of England, who had come to the relief of Edinburgh
Castle, then besieged by the Regent, and drove them across the Tweed, but
was himself severely wounded in the contest. He expelled the enemy from
Teviotdale, captured Sir John Stirling at the head of five hundred
men-at-arms, intercepted a convoy of provisions on its way to Hermitage,
and succeeded in reducing that fortress; defeated Roland de Vaux, a
celebrated warrior in the English interest, and in a fierce and repeatedly
renewed engagement with Sir Lawrence Abernethy, a Scotsman who had
espoused the cause of Edward Baliol, he succeeded at the fifth encounter
in capturing that knight and dispersing his followers. In 1339 he was sent
to solicit assistance from the French Court, and brought back with him
from France five ships of war, having on board a body of men-at-arms under
the command of an experienced French officer, who contributed largely to
the reduction of Perth, at that time held by the English. Shortly after he
succeeded, by a dexterous stratagem, in recovering the Castle of
Edinburgh. He tarnished his laurels, however, and his reputation, by the
cruel murder of his friend and companion in arms, Sir Alexander Ramsay.
Such was the weakness of the Government at this time, that King David was
obliged not only to pardon the savage murderer, but to bestow upon him the
office on account of which he had perpetrated the atrocious crime. The
assassination of David de Berkeley shortly after, at the instigation of
Douglas, is supposed to have been connected with a plot for the
restoration of Baliol to the throne. It is certain that Edward at this
time appointed commissioners with full powers 'to treat of and to conclude
a treaty with William Douglas, to receive him into our faith, peace, and
amity, and to secure him a reward,' and that Douglas accepted the terms
which they offered. But, for some unknown cause, the conspiracy was laid
aside for the time.
THE DOUGLASES.
INTRODUCTION.
page 58
ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS, his eldest son, succeeded him as fifth Earl of Douglas
and second Duke of Touraine. He had during his father's lifetime possessed
the earldom of Wigton, which was resigned to him by Thomas Fleming, the
head of that old family. After the return of James I. from his long
captivity in England, the Earl of Douglas was arrested in March, 1424,
along with Murdoch, Duke of Albany, the late Regent, and upwards of twenty
other nobles of the highest rank, for no reason assigned, but probably on
account of his alliance with the house of Albany. He was speedily
released, however, and sat on the jury by whom the Duke was tried. He was
again imprisoned in May, 1431, probably because of his opposition to the
measures of the King; but, at the urgent solicitation of the Queen and the
nobility he was set at liberty in the following September. After the
murder of James, in 1437, the Earl of Douglas was elected a member of the
Council of Regency, and in the following year he was appointed
Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom. His great military talents and
experience fitted him in a high degree for the duties of this office; but
he was intolerably arrogant and jealous of the honour of his family and
his privileges as a noble, quick to revenge an injury, and by no means
scrupulous as to his mode of gratifying his resentment. He cherished a
strong dislike to the chief ministers of the late King— Sir Alexander
Livingston of Callendar and Sir William Crichton
the Chancellor—who belonged to the inferior class of barons, and had
been elevated by James to high office for the purpose of assisting him in
his efforts to restrict the power of the great nobles. When Livingston and
Crichton quarrelled after the death of their
patron, and the latter solicited the assistance of Douglas, offering his
constant friendship in return, the Earl not only rejected the overtures of
the Chancellor, but in fierce and contemptuous terms declared Livingston
and him both to be 'mischievous traitors,' whom it became not 'the
honourable state of noblemen' in any way to help. 'Would to God,' he said,
'I might see a miserable mischief to befall them both, seeing they have
both deserved the same condignly, through their own ambition, falsehood,
pride, and height.'
THE DOUGLASES.
INTRODUCTION.
page 60
Livingston and Crichton saw clearly that their
position would be insecure so long as this powerful and haughty noble
lived, and they resolved to cut him off before he reached maturity. 'But
how shall they do with him?' says Godscroft. 'He is not easy to be dealt
with; they must have muffles that would catch such a cat,' and they
adopted a plan to get him into their power, which displayed the vilest
baseness and dishonesty. Crichton, in his own
name, and that of Livingston, sent a message to the young Earl, professing
the greatest esteem for him, and inviting him to the Court, in order that
he might cultivate personal intercourse with his youthful sovereign.
Douglas fell into the snare, and attended by a small retinue he set out
for Edinburgh, along with his younger brother David, and his friend
Malcolm Fleming. On the way he halted at Crichton
Castle, the seat of the Chancellor, where a splendid entertainment 'had
been provided for him, and accompanied by his host he resumed his journey
to the capital. Before he entered the city some of his attendants
observing that a number of private messages were passing between the
Chancellor and Livingston, who was Governor of the Castle, reminded the
Earl of the injunction of his father that he and his brother 'should not
come both together into one place where themselves were not masters, lest
they should endanger their whole family at once,' and urgently entreated
them both to return; or if the Earl was bent on going forward, that he
should at least send home his brother. This prudent counsel was
unfortunately rejected by the unsuspecting youth, who seems to have placed
unbounded confidence in the honour of Crichton
and Livingston. He proceeded direct to the Castle, where he was received
in state by the Governor and conducted to the presence of the King.Several
days were spent in pleasing intercourse between James and the Douglases,
who were greatly delighted with each other, but their enjoyment was
speedily brought to a tragic termination.
THE DOUGLASES.
INTRODUCTION.
page 60
During a banquet at the royal table Crichton and
Livingston suddenly dropped the mask and assailed their unsuspecting
guests with charges of treason. The oft-repeated tale that a bull's
head—the signal of death—was placed on the table towards the close of
the entertainment, is purely fabulous, and in all probability originated
in the fertile fancy of Hector Boece, which is responsible for other
similar embellishments of Scottish history. But this much is certain, that
the astonished youths, rendered defenceless by the absence of their
attendants, were seized and bound by a body of armed men and hurried to an
adjoining apartment, to undergo the formality of a mock trial. It is said
that the young King clung to the Chancellor and entreated him with tears
to spare the lives of the youthful nobles, but his interference was
sternly rejected by Crichton; and the Earl and
his brother were condemned to death, and straightway beheaded in the back
court of the Castle. Three days afterwards their friend Malcolm Fleming
shared their fate.
THE DOUGLASES.
INTRODUCTION.
page 62
WILLIAM, eighth Earl of Douglas, who inherited all the courage, ambition,
and energy of his family. He was born about the year 1425, and succeeded
to the family title and estates in 1443. In the following year he obtained
from Rome a dispensation to marry his kinswoman, Margaret Douglas, Lady of
Galloway—a union which was greatly desired by his father. Thus the vast
possessions of the family, which had been divided on the death of the
sixth Earl, were united in the person of the eighth Earl. This increase of
territory greatly augmented the power of the Earl and of his formidable
house. He lost no time in maturing and carrying out his plans for the
restoration of the political influence of his house, and securing that
place in the administration of public affairs which he considered due to
his ancient family and extensive estates. He first of all made his peace
with the King, professing unbounded attachment to his person and crown.
James, who was greatly delighted with his unexpected submission, made the
Earl a member of the Privy Council, and soon after conferred on him the
office of Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom. 'The raising of new and mean
men was the thing that he and his house did ever dislike very much,' says
Godscroft, a remark which, as Mr. Hannay observes, brings the Claudian
family to mind, and shows us how great power bred great haughtiness, and
the house became unfit to be quiet subjects. This feeling was, no doubt,
at the root of the Earl's dislike to Livingston and Crichton.
Through his influence the former was deprived of his office; and Crichton,
towards whom he cherished a deadly hatred, was in a Parliament held at
Stirling, in 1445, found guilty of treason, and proclaimed a traitor and
his estates confiscated.
THE DOUGLASES.
INTRODUCTION.
page 63
Although the Earl had now been deprived of the office of
Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, James, unwilling to come to an open
rupture with his too-powerful subject, appointed him Warden of the West
and Middle Marches, and confirmed to him and his descendants, by deed of
entail, the earldoms of Wigton and Douglas. But these acts of kindness,
which he probably regarded as indications of weakness and fear, only
emboldened the Earl to set at defiance both the restraints of law and the
authority of his sovereign. He attempted to assassinate his old enemy Crichton,
who had been restored to the Chancellorship; he hanged Sir John Herries of
Terregles, who had refused to become his ally, in contempt of a positive
order of the King requiring his release; and he beheaded Maclellan of
Bomby, in circumstances shockingly cruel and aggravating. With an evident
view to an open insurrection against the royal authority, 'he sought and
persuaded all men under his opinion and servitude, and in special the
gentlemen of Galloway, with Coile, Carrick, and Cunninghame, and all other
parties that were near adjacent unto him, desyreing them daylie to ride
and goe with him as his own household and servant is, and to assist him in
all thingis whatsomevir he had to doe, whether it was ryght or wrong, with
the King or against him.'
THE DOUGLASES.
INTRODUCTION.
page 64
Matters were now evidently approaching a crisis; but the King was anxious
to avert an open rupture, for he was well aware that Douglas and his two
associates in a treasonable league could unitedly bring into the field a
force superior to that of the Crown. He resolved, therefore, by the advice
of Crichton and other experienced counsellors, to
invite the Earl to Court, in order that he might try the effect of a
personal remonstrance with him respecting his illegal and turbulent
conduct. Douglas accepted the invitation, but took the precaution to
obtain a letter of safe conduct under the great seal, and signed by the
principal nobles of the Court. Trusting to this security, he repaired to
Stirling with a small retinue, and upon Shrove Tuesday (13th February,
1452) received and accepted an invitation to dine at the royal table. He
not only dined but [p.64] supped at the Court. After supper the King
conducted his guest apart into an inner room, and, informing him that he
was aware of the league he had made with the Earls of Crawford and Ross,
eritreated him to withdraw from a confederacy which was both inconsistent
with his allegiance and dangerous to the peace of the country. Douglas
refused, however, to comply with the King's request, and as James
continued to urge him more earnestly he became more haughty and dogged in
his refusal, and declared that he could not honourably renounce the
engagement which he had made with Ross and Crawford, nor would he do so
for any living man. The King, whose temper was naturally fiery and
impetuous, lost all self-command at this insolent defiance, and
passionately exclaiming, 'If you will not break this league, I shall,'
drew his dagger and stabbed the Earl, first in the throat and then in the
lower part of the body. Sir Patrick Gray, who was present, and had sworn
to be revenged upon Douglas for the murder of his nephew, struck him on
the head with his battleaxe, and the rest of the nobles rushing in stabbed
the dying man in the most dastardly and disgraceful manner with their
daggers and knives. The dead body of the murdered noble, pierced with
twenty-six wounds, was cast out of the window into the open court, where
it was buried. The Earl left no family.
THE CRICHTONS OF FRENDRAUGHT.
INTRODUCTION.
page 175
THE Crichtons are an ancient Scottish family, but their origin is unknown.
They derived their surname from the barony of Crichton,
in the county of Edinburgh. A Thurstanus de Crichton
is one of the witnesses to the charter founding the Abbey of Holyrood, in
the days of David I., and a Thomas de Crichton
was one of the barons who swore fealty to Edward I. in 1296. The family,
however, appear to have remained in the rank of minor barons, taking no
prominent part in public affairs till near the middle of the fifteenth
century, when they suddenly rose to almost supreme power in the State
through the great abilities and political address of Sir William Crichton,
the famous Chancellor of Scotland during the minority of James II. This
able and accomplished but unscrupulous statesman held in succession the
offices of Chamberlain to the King, Master of the Household, and Governor
of Edinburgh Castle before he became Chancellor and Lord Crichton.
His rivalry with Sir Alexander Livingstone, the King's Governor, his feuds
with the great house of Douglas, and the prominent part which he took in
the hasty execution of Earl William and his brother in 1440, are familiar
to all the readers of Scottish history. In spite of various reverses of
fortune, the Chancellor retained the confidence and favour of his
sovereign until his death in 1454, shortly before the complete success of
his policy in the triumph of the King over the Earl of Douglas and the
total ruin of the potent family of the 'Black Douglases.' The cousin of
the Chancellor was High Admiral of Scotland, and no doubt through his
influence was created Earl of Caithness in 1452. Lord Crichton's
grandson was the son-in-law of James II., and is said to have seduced the
sister of James III. in revenge for that monarch having dishonoured his
bed. He took part in the unsuccessful rebellion of the Duke of Albany
against his brother King James, and was in consequence attainted for
treason, and stripped of his titles and estates. His magnificent castle of
Crichton, on the banks of the north Tyne, which
Sir Walter Scott describes in most picturesque terms in his poem of 'Marmion,'
was conferred upon Ramsay of Balmain, and afterwards became the seat of
the Hepburns. On the forfeiture of the notorious Earl of Bothwell, Crichton
fell to the Crown, and was granted to Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell,
who was a thorn in the side of his kinsman, King James VI. It has since
passed through the hands of several proprietors.
THE CRICHTONS OF FRENDRAUGHT.
INTRODUCTION.
page 175
Sir James Crichton, the fifth in descent from the
forfeited peer, inherited the barony of Frendraught, in Banffshire, which
came into the family through the wife of James, second Lord Crichton
—Lady Jane Dunbar, eldest daughter and co-heiress of James, Earl of
Moray. The grandson of this Sir James is the person implicated in the
terrible tragedy called 'The Burning of Frendraught,' which, as Mr. Burton
remarks, has to the northern peasant as distinct a tragic phase in history
as the Sicilian Vespers or the night of St. Bartholomew has to the
Italians or the French. The barony of Frendraught is situated in the heart
of the country of the great family of the Gordons, whose power had now
become so formidable that the Court endeavoured to counterbalance and
weaken the influence of the Marquis of Huntly, the head of the house of
Gordon, by cherishing and strengthening the Crichtons as territorial
rivals. As yet no open feud had broken out between the two houses, but
various disputes had arisen which seemed likely to lead to open
hostilities.
THE CRICHTONS OF FRENDRAUGHT.
INTRODUCTION.
page 177
A week before this visit a squabble had taken place between the Crichtons
and the Leslies, in which James Leslie, of Pitcaple, had been shot through
the arm by Robert Crichton, of Condlaw. Though
Frendraught had nothing to do with this outrage, and had shown his
displeasure by expelling Condlaw from his company, Leslie vowed vengeance
on him, and came to Strathbogie at the head of thirty armed followers,
with the intention of attacking Frendraught as soon as he should quit the
shelter of Huntly's roof. The Marquis, who seems to have acted with great
discretion, tried in vain to pacify his angry visitor, and to convince him
that the unfortunate Frendraught was not to blame for his son's wound.
Leslie quitted the castle breathing out vengeance against Crichton,
and in great displeasure with Huntly himself. Next day, when Frendraught
was about to take his leave, the Marquis made him aware of his danger, and
offered to send an escort to protect him on his way home from the Leslies,
who were known to be lying in wait for him. The escort was put under the
command of the young Lord Aboyne, the heir of the house of Gordon, and
Gordon of Rothiemay, who was in the castle, displaying one of those traits
of generosity which streak with light the darkest scenes of our domestic
history, overlooked the slaughter of his father, and offered to join the
convoy for Frendraught's protection. The party were too strong to be
attacked, and they reached Crichton's mansion
without molestation, and were hospitably entertained by the master and
mistress. Lord Aboyne and young Rothiemay prepared to return at once, but
in conformity with the customs of the age, Frendraught and his wife
earnestly entreated the party to stay for the night. They consented, and
after a merry supper at a late hour, the guests were conducted to their
bedrooms in the tall narrow old tower, which, with a modern addition,
formed the Castle of Frendraught. Lord Aboyne and two servants—Robert
Gordon, and his page, English Will—occupied the first floor over a
vault, through which there was a round hole, immediately below his
lordship's bed. On the second was Rothiemay, also with some servants. On
the third were accommodated a Captain Rollock, Chalmers of Noth, and some
more attendants. The lowest storey or vault was arched with stone, but the
three floors above were constructed of timber.
THE CRICHTONS OF
FRENDRAUGHT.
INTRODUCTION.
page 182
A herald was sent by the Privy Council, in November, 1634, to summon the
instigators and perpetrators of these outrages at the market-crosses of
the northern burghs, and it was considered a somewhat remarkable triumph
of the law that he was allowed to discharge this duty without receiving
any injury. 'The herald,' says an old chronicler, 'was blythe to win away
with his life.' The Sheriff of Banff, by the orders of the Council,
proceeded with a force of two hundred men against the outlaws who were
plundering the Crichton estates; but on reaching
Rothiemay, where they had taken up their residence, and had been
hospitably entertained by the lady, the Sheriff found that they had left
this stronghold two hours before his arrival, and as soon as he retired
they came back again and resumed their outrages. In the end the Marquis of
Huntly was compelled to travel in the midst of a snowstorm to Edinburgh, a
journey which occupied nearly four weeks, to answer for his conduct, and
on his appearance before the Council he obtained his liberty only on
condition that he would undertake to repress the attacks on Frendraught,
and to give security under a penalty of £100,000 Scots that the luckless
laird and his tenants should be unharmed. In the following year (1636)
Lady Rothiemay, after a long detention under caution, was brought to trial
for giving encouragement to the Frendraught spoilers; but the charge,
after being twice delayed, was finally allowed to fall to the ground.
After the lands of the Crichtons had thus been plundered for successive
years it is no matter of surprise that their property should have
gradually wasted away, and that it should be noted in a manuscript written
in 1720 that the family of Frendraught, which once possessed three
parishes—Forgue, Inverkiethny, and Aberchirder—was by these inroads of
their enemies reduced to poverty, and in seventy years was 'stripped of
all and extinguished.
THE CRICHTONS OF FRENDRAUGHT.
INTRODUCTION.
page 182
One of the younger sons of Frendraught was killed by Adam Gordon in 1642.
James Crichton, his eldest son, took a prominent
part on the royal side in the Great Civil War, and was created a peer in
his father's lifetime, under the title of Viscount Frendraught. He
accompanied the great Marquis of Montrose in his last unfortunate
expedition, in March, 1650, and was with him at Invercharron, in Rossshire,
when he was defeated by Colonel Strachan. When the Marquis was wounded and
had his horse shot under him, he was generously mounted by Lord
Frendraught, who was also severely wounded and taken prisoner. Shortly
after, this luckless head of a luckless house anticipated a public
execution by a death in 'the old Roman way.' His elder son and his
grandson died young, and his younger son, Lewis, the fourth and last
viscount, was attainted by Parliament for his adherence to the exiled
monarch, James VII., and died without issue in 1698.
THE CRICHTONS OF FRENDRAUGHT.
INTRODUCTION.
page 183
A son of Crichton of Naughton, a cadet of the
family, became Bishop of Dunkeld in 1525, and was afterwards Lord Privy
Seal and an Extraordinary Lord of Session. He is the prelate of whom the
well-known story is told, that he remonstrated with Dean Forret, the
martyr, respecting his practice of preaching every Sunday, observing with
great simplicity that by so doing he might make the people think that the
prelates ought to preach likewise. 'It is enough for you,' he added, 'when
you find any good Epistle or any good Gospel that setteth forth the
liberty of the holy Church to preach that, and let the rest alone.' Forret
replied that he had read both the Old and New Testaments, and had never
found an ill Gospel or Epistle in any of them, but if his lordship would
point them out, he would preach the good and omit the evil. 'Nay, Brother
Thomas, that I cannot do,' said the Bishop, 'for I thank God I never knew
either the Old or New Testaments, but only my breviary.' From this saying
arose a common proverb: 'Ye are like the Bishop of Dunkeld, who knew
neither the old nor the new law.'
THE CRICHTONS OF FRENDRAUGHT.
INTRODUCTION.
page 184
Another branch of this ill-fated race settled in Dumfriesshire, and from
it sprang that famous prodigy of learning, the 'admirable Crichton,'
whose tragical death, in the twenty-second year of his age, is known to
all scholars. An interesting notice of this prodigy of learning and
ability has just been discovered in the archives of Venice. In the
Register of the Council of Ten, there is the following entry under A.D.
1580, 19th August:—'A young Scotchman, Giacomo Cretonio, of very noble
lineage, and from what has been clearly seen by divers proofs and trials
made with very learned and scientific men, and especially by a Latin
oration which he delivered this morning extempore in our college, of most
rare and singular ability. In such wise, that not being above twenty, or
but little over, he astounds and surprises everybody. Wherefore it will be
put to the ballot, that of the monies in the chest of the Council there be
given to the said Crichton, a Scottish gentleman,
one hundred golden crowns. Ayes, 22; noes, 2; neutrals, 4.'* William de Crichton
married one of the two daughters and co-heiresses of Robert de Ross, and
obtained with her half of the barony of Sanquhar. The other half was
subsequently purchased by his successors. Sir Robert de Crichton,
a successor of this William, had charters of the barony of Sanquhar and
the lands of Eliock, and of the office of Sheriff of Dumfriesshire in
1464, and of the office of Coroner of Nithsdale in 1468. His eldest son,
Sir Robert Crichton of Sanquhar, was elevated to
the peerage in 1487 by James III. as a reward for his services in
assisting to defeat the Earl of Douglas and the Duke of Albany at
Lochmaben in 1484. The sixth Lord Sanquhar of this line was hanged for the
murder of one Turner, a fencing-master, who had accidentally put out one
of his lordship's eyes with a foil. Seven years after this incident had
occurred, Lord Sanquhar was on a visit to the Court of France, and was
casually asked by Henry IV. how he had lost his eye. 'By the thrust of a
sword,' replied his lordship, not caring to enter into particulars. The
King, supposing this accident to have been the result of a duel,
immediately remarked, 'Does the man yet live?' This remark so acted upon
the morose and anti-social disposition of the peer that on his return to
England he hired two men to assassinate Turner. On the perpetration of the
foul deed (11th May, 1612) the assassins fled, but were speedily captured,
brought to trial, and executed. Lord Sanquhar absconded on the capture of
his accomplices, but a reward of £1,000 was offered for his apprehension,
and he was shortly after taken and brought to trial in the King's Bench,
Westminster Hall. He was capitally convicted, on his own confession, and
was hanged on a gibbet in Great Palace Yard on the 29th of June. His
peerage devolved upon a distant relative, who, in 1622, was created
Viscount Ayr, and in 1633 Earl of Dumfries—titles which have now passed,
through the female line, into the possession of the Marquis of Bute. The
name of the ill-fated Crichtons, once widely
diffused throughout Scotland, has thus disappeared from the roll of the
peerage, and almost from the ranks of the landed gentry. Their extensive
estates are in the hands of strangers. Crichton
Castle, their ancient family residence, splendid even in ruins—
THE LESLIES OF ROTHES.
INTRODUCTION.
page 299
WILLIAM, third Earl, had considerable trouble in making good his title to
the family inheritance; and before his difficulties with the Crown were
removed he was killed, along with the King and the flower of the Scottish
nobility, on the fatal field of Flodden, 9th of September, 1513. His son
GEORGE, fourth Earl, inherited not only the titles and estates of the
family, along with their ability and courage, but also some other
qualities which appear to have 'run in the blood' of the Rothes Leslies.
He filled various high offices of State, among others that of ambassador
to Denmark, in 1550, and was one of eight Commissioners elected by the
Estates to represent the Scottish nation at the marriage of Queen Mary to
the Dauphin, at Paris, April 24, 1558. On their way home the Earls of
Rothes and Cassillis, and Bishop Reid, President of the Court of Session,
died at Dieppe all in one night, and Lord Fleming died about the same time
at Paris. It was universally believed at the time that the Commissioners
had been poisoned because they had firmly refused to settle on the Dauphin
the crown matrimonial of Scotland, or to promise that on their return to
their own country they would endeavour to effect that object. Earl George
was five times married. His first wife, Margaret Crichton,
was a niece of James IV., who inherited the passions and misfortunes of
her lineage. During her husband's absence as ambassador at the Court of
Denmark, she had an intrigue with Patrick Panter, Abbot of Cambuskenneth,
Secretary of State, one of the most learned men of his age, and bore to
him a son, who ultimately became Bishop of Ross. On the 27th of December,
1580, the Earl obtained a divorce in the Consistory Court, not, however,
on the ground of his wife's unfaithfulness to him, but the marriage was
declared null and void from the first, on the plea that the Earl confessed
to having illicit intercourse before his marriage with Matilda Striveling,
who was related to Margaret Crichton in the
second and third degree of consanguinity, thus making the Earl and
Margaret related to each other in the same degrees of affinity, and
rendering their marriage incestuous and illegal according to existing law.
This remarkable proceeding, connected as it is with 'one of the strangest
and darkest stories to be found in Scottish family history,' throws a
flood of light on the state of morals at that period among the upper
classes in Scotland through the operation of the law of marriage and
divorce instituted by the Papal Court.
THE LESLIES OF ROTHES.
INTRODUCTION.
page 299
The fourth Earl of Rothes was succeeded by his eldest son by his second
wife, Agnes Somerville. His eldest son, Norman, and his second son,
William, by Margaret Crichton, were passed over,
both having incurred forfeit as traitors on account of their connection
with the murder of the celebrated Cardinal Beaton. There can be no doubt
that apart from the desire to avenge on the Cardinal the martyrdom of
Wishart, Norman Leslie was actuated by personal enmity in the part which
he took in the murder of Beaton; and his uncle, John Leslie, a prominent
actor in the scene, shared his feelings. After the surrender of the Castle
of St. Andrews to the French in the June following, Norman Leslie was
carried with the other prisoners to France. He subsequently entered the
service of the French King, and obtained great celebrity for his brilliant
exploits in the wars between France and Germany. His gallantry at the
battle of Cambray (1554), in which he was mortally wounded, drew forth the
admiration both of friends and foes, and led Prince Louis of Conde to
remark that 'Hector of Troy had not behaved more valiantly than Norman
Leslie.'
THE LAUDERDALE MAlTLANDS.
INTRODUCTION.
page 365
CHARLES, became sixth Earl. He was appointed General of the Mint, and at
the general election he was chosen one of the sixteen representative
peers. He served as a volunteer, under the Duke of Argyll, in 1715, and
fought with great gallantry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. He had by his
countess, a daughter of the Earl of Findlater and Seafield, Lord High
Chancellor of Scotland, a family of nine sons and five daughters. Two of
the former attained high rank in the army. Charles, the second son,
married the heiress of Towie, and assumed the name of Barclay. The
celebrated Russian General, Prince Barclay de Tolly, who died in 1818, was
a descendant of Charles Barclay. The sixth son, the Hon. Frederick, a
rear-admiral, was the founder of the family of Rankeillour, which
produced the well-known Maitland McGill Crichton,
the able and zealous advocate of the principles of the Free Church. Sir
Frederick Lewis Maitland, the grandson of Admiral Maitland, was a
distinguished naval officer, whose eminent services in the war with
France, and especially in the expedition to Egypt in 1801, received high
and well-merited commendation. It was to him that the Emperor Napoleon
surrendered on board the Bellerophon, in 1815. He was promoted to the rank
of rear-admiral, and was appointed Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies.
He died at sea, on board the Wellesley, his flagship, in 1839.
THE JOHNSTONES OF ANNANDALE.
page 60
Mr. Hope Johnstone was one of the most respected and influential country
gentlemen of his day, and there was a strong desire among all classes and
parties that he should be successful in his suit. When the case was first
considered, in the year 1834, Lord Brougham, who was then Lord Chancellor,
was very favourable to the claim, and delivered an elaborate opinion in
its support. An opposition, however, was started, which was countenanced
by Lord Campbell, and the claim lay over for ten years. In 1844 an adverse
decision was given by Lord Lyndhurst. The question turned upon the
construction of the words, 'heirs male' in the patent of the Earldom of
Annandale in 1661, which are capable of being construed to mean heirs male
general, or heirs male of the body, according to circumstances. Upwards of
thirty years afterwards, it was discovered that, unknown to their
lordships, or the law officers of the Crown, or to Mr. Hope Johnstone, a
transaction had taken place nearly two hundred years before, which made an
important change in the destination of the peerage. It is a recognised
principle in the law of Scotland that a Scottish peer, previous to the Act
of Union, provided he obtained the sanction of the Crown, might alter the
limitation of his honours, in precisely the same manner as he might alter
the destination of his estates. He resigned his honours just as he
resigned his land for a regrant from the Crown, and if the regrant were
made in favour of a different series of heirs from those who would have
been entitled to succeed under the original grant, the dignities passed
with the old precedence into the new line of succession. The resignation
bars the previous heirs, and the regrant which follows upon it vests the
old peerage in the new series of heirs. Now a resignation of this kind of
his titles and estates was made by the second Earl of Hartfell, on the
10th of June, 1657, and was followed by a re-grant bearing date 13th
February, 1661. But the bond of resignation was not known to be in
existence, and was not discovered until 1876. It was brought to light by
Mr. William Fraser, of the Register House, the eminent authority on
peerage law, in a manner which reads like an incident in a romance. About
the middle of the last century Mr. Ronald Crawfurd and his successor in
business, Mr. John Tait, grandfather of the late Archbishop of Canterbury,
were the law agents in Edinburgh of the third Marquis of Annandale, and of
his tutor in law and heir of his estates, the Earl of Hopetoun. The
Annandale muniments were of course deposited with Messrs. Crawfurd and
Tait; and though these gentlemen ceased to be the Annandale agents on the
succession of Lady Anne Johnstone Hope in 1816, it appears that a
considerable number of important documents belonging to the family
remained in the possession of the firm, and of their present
representatives, Messrs. Tait and Crichton. This
fact was unknown to them, as well as to the possessors of the Annandale
estates and their present law agents. Mr. Fraser, however, became aware
from investigations made by him on other questions, that Messrs. Tait and Crichton
were in possession of a large collection of ancient documents of various
kinds, and as their firm had at one time been agents for the Annandale
estates, it seemed highly probable that among these documents there would
be some papers which might throw light on the Annandale peerage case. Mr.
Fraser readily received permission from these gentlemen to make an
examination of their old papers.
THE SCOTTS OF BUCCLEUCH.
page 192
Sir Walter Scott was cousin to Sir William Crichton,
the powerful and unscrupulous Chancellor of James II., and it was, in all
probability, through this connection that the Scotts took part with the
King in his desperate contest with the house of Douglas. In 1455 the three
brothers of the exiled Earl—the Earls of Moray and Ormond, and Lord
Balveny—invaded the Scottish borders at the head of a powerful force,
but were encountered (1st May) at Arkinholm, near Langholm, by the Scotts
and other Border clans, under the Earl of Angus, and were totally routed.
Balveny escaped into England, but Moray was killed, and Ormond was
wounded, taken prisoner, and executed. Sir Walter Scott was liberally
rewarded for his services in this conflict. He obtained a grant of
Quhychester and Crawford-John—part of the forfeited estates of the
Douglases —expressly for his meritorious deeds at Arkinholm, and a
remission of certain sums of money due to the Crown. For the same reason
the lands of Branxholm were erected into a free barony, in favour of David
Scott, Sir Walter's son, to be held in blench for the annual rendering of
a red rose. In various other ways Sir Walter added largely to the estates
of the family, and greatly increased their influence. He was appointed no
less than seven times one of the conservators of successive truces with
England, along with a number of the most powerful barons in the kingdom.
He died before 9th February, 1469, leaving by his wife, Margaret Cockburn
of Henderland, Cockburn of Henderland, probably Lady Scott's grand-nephew,
fell a victim to the raid which James V. made, in 1529, into the Border
districts. The pathetic ballad of the Lament of the Border Widow, is said
to have been written on his execution.* three sons, and was succeeded by
the eldest—
THE SCOTTS OF BUCCLEUCH.
page 201
Sir Walter Scott was married three times. His first wife was Elizabeth
Carmichael, of the family of Carmichael of that ilk, afterwards Earls of
Hyndford. She died before the year 1530, leaving [p.201] two sons, both of
whom predeceased their father. He married, secondly, Janet Kerr, daughter
of Sir Andrew Kerr of Ferniehirst, and widow of George Turnbull of Bedrule.
Sir Walter's third wife was Janet Beaton, 'of Bethune's high line of
Picardy,' a relative of Cardinal Beaton, whom she seems to have a good
deal resembled in her character. Like Sir Walter, she had been twice
previously married, and was divorced from her second husband, Simon
Preston of Craigmiller. She was the daughter of Sir JohnBeaton of Creich,
in Fife, and was first married to Sir James Crichton
of Cranston Riddell. Having been left a widow, in 1539, she soon
afterwards married Simon Preston, the Laird of Craigmiller. In 1543 she
instituted a suit of divorce against him, and set forth as the ground of
her suit that before her marriage to her present husband she had had
illicit intercourse with Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, and that he and
Preston were within the prohibited degrees, as the one was the
great-grandson and the other the great-great-grandson of a common
ancestor. On that plea the marriage was declared null and void; and the
motive of the suit immediately became manifest, for on the 2nd of
December, 1544, she was married to Sir Waiter Scott.
[p.233] THE SCOTTS OF HARDEN.
page 246
Raeburn's eldest son, William, at the age of twenty-four, fell in a duel
with Pringle of Crichton, whichwas fought with
swords, near Selkirk, in 1707. The second son, Walter, received a good
education at the University of Glasgow. He was a zealous Jacobite, and was
called 'Beardie,' from a vow which he had made never to shave his beard
till the exiled royal family were restored. Sir Walter Scott says of him
'that it would have been well if his zeal for the banished dynasty of
Stewart had stopped with his letting his beard grow. But he took arms, and
intrigued in their cause, until he lost all he had in the world, and, as I
have heard, ran a narrow risk of being hanged, had it not been for the
interference of Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth.'
THE HEPBURNS.
page 249
Lord Hales commanded the vanguard of the rebel forces at the battle of
Sauchieburn (June 11, 1488), in which King James lost his life. On the
surrender of the castle of Edinburgh a few days after this conflict, the
custody of that important fortress was committed to Lord Hales, with three
hundred merks of the customs of that city. As the government of the
country was entirely in the hands of the victorious party, honours,
offices, and estates were showered upon the person who had contributed so
largely to their success. He was appointed Sheriff-Principal of the county
of Edinburgh, Master of the Household, and High Admiral of Scotland for
life. He obtained a charter of the lands of Crichton
Castle and other estates in the counties of Edinburgh and Dumfries, along
with the lordship of Bothwell, in Lanarkshire, of which Sir John Ramsay, a
favourite of the late King, had been deprived. He was also created (17th
October, 1488) Earl of Bothwell, a title which had been borne by Ramsay.
Shortly after he obtained a grant of the office of Steward of
Kirkcudbright, and of the custody of Thrieve Castle, the stronghold of the
Black Douglases, with its feus. On the 29th of May of the following year,
his covetousness being still unsatiated, the Earl and his uncle, John
Hepburn, Prior of St. Andrews, received a lease of the lordship of Orkney
and Shetland, and were made custodians of the castle of Stirling. A few
weeks later he was appointed Warden of the West and Middle Marches. On the
slaughter of Spens of Kilspindie, by Archibald Bell-the-Cat, Earl of
Angus, the King compelled Angus, before he would pardon him for this
crime, to exchange the lordship of Liddesdale and the castle of Hermitage
for the barony and castle of Bothwell, which was a considerable diminution
to the greatness and power of the Douglases, and added not a little to the
influence and importance of the Hepburn family.
THE HEPBURNS.
page 255
JAMES HEPBURN, fourth Earl of Bothwell, whose foul crimes have stamped his
memory with infamy, was born about the year 1536. His early years were
spent in the castle of Spynie, near Elgin, with his granduncle, Patrick
Hepburn, Bishop of Moray, a prelate who was conspicuous, even at that
immoral period, for the neglect of the duties of his office, and his gross
licentiousness. James Hepburn was only in his nineteenth or twentieth year
when his father died, and he succeeded him not only in the family titles
and estates, including the strong fortresses of Bothwell, Crichton
and Hailes, but also in his hereditary offices of Lord High Admiral of
Scotland, Sheriff of the counties of Berwick, Haddington, and Midlothian,
and Bailiff of Lauderdale. He was thus the most powerful nobleman in the
south of Scotland. This 'glorious, rash, and hazardous young man,' as he
is styled by Walsingham, was, from his youth upwards, the cause of strife
and discord in the country, and of trouble to the public authorities.
Though he professed to be a Protestant, he espoused the cause of the Queen
Regent against the Lords of the Congregation, and showed himself utterly
unscrupulous in the means he adopted to promote her interests. In 1558,
though little more than of age, he was appointed by her Lieutenant-General
of the Middle Marches, and keeper of Hermitage Castle, which added largely
to his already overgrown power. In October, 1559, having learned that
Cockburn of Ormiston had received four thousand crowns from Sir Ralph
Sadler, for the use of the Protestant party, Bothwell waylaid and wounded
him, and robbed him of the money. On receiving intelligence of this gross
outrage, the Earl of Arran, the Governor, and Lord James Stewart
(afterwards Regent Moray) immediately went to Bothwell's house in
Haddington, with a body of soldiers, to apprehend the depredator; but, a
few minutes before they reached the place, he received intelligence of
their approach and fled down the bed of the river Tyne, which is closely
adjoining, and took refuge in the house of Cockburn of Sandybed. Entering
by the back door, which opened to the river, he changed clothes with the
turnspit and performed the duties of that menial. In return for the
protection afforded him in this extremity, Bothwell gave to Cockburn and
his heirs a perpetual ground annual of four bolls of wheat, four bolls of
barley, and fourbolls of oats, to be paid yearly out of the lands of
Mainshill, near Haddington. These quantities of grain continued to be paid
to Cockburn's heirs till the year 1760, when his estate was sold by his
descendant to Mr. Buchan of Lethem; and he shortly after disposed of the
ground annual to the Earl of Wemyss, who was then proprietor of Mainshill.
THE GORDONS.
page 297
Lord Huntly died 15th July, 1470, and was buried at Elgin. He was three
times married. His first wife, daughter of Robert de Keith, grandson of
the Great Marischal of Scotland, brought him a fine estate but no
children. His second wife, who was daughter and heiress of Sir John Hay of
Tullibody, bore to him a son, Sir Alexander Seton, who inherited his
mother's estate, and was ancestor of the Setons of Touch. The Earl's third
wife, a daughter of Lord Crichton, High
Chancellor of Scotland, bore to him three sons and three daughters. The
title and estates were settled by charter on the issue of this third
marriage, and the eldest son succeeded his father in 1470.
THE GORDONS.
page 344
George, fifth Earl of Aboyne, who, on the death of the fifth Duke of
Gordon, became ninth Marquis of Huntly, was descended from Lord Charles
Gordon, fourth son of the second Marquis, who was created Earl of Aboyne
by Charles II. in 1660. The title had previously been conferred by Charles
I., in 1627, along with that of Viscount Melgum, on the second son of the
Marquis of Huntly, who was burned to death in the tower of Crichton
of Frendraught. George, the eldest son of the Marquis, was created
Viscount Aboyne in 1632, and on his succession to the Marquisate, in 1636,
the title of Aboyne devolved on his second son, James, who died without
issue in 1649. Earl George was the author of some poems, which have been
preserved in local manuscript collections, but have escaped the notice of
the historians of Scottish poetry. Second Report of the Historical MSS.
Commission, There is nothing worthy of special notice in the lives of his
son and grandson, the second and third Earls, but CHARLES, fourth Earl of
Aboyne, was a noted agricultural improver, and set a most praiseworthy
example of industry and economy. He succeeded his father in 1732. On
coming of age, as his estate was small and burdened with debt, he thought
it insufficient to enable him to live in Scotland, in a manner suitable to
his rank. He therefore resolved to take up his residence in France, and
had sent his luggage to Paris, when he fortunately changed his mind.
Setting himself to improve his estate by the introduction of improved
modes of agriculture, enclosing and subdividing the fields by the erection
of stone fences, and forming plantations, he increased the value of his
property to such a large extent that in no long time it was freed from
debt, and yielded a greatly increased rental. He died 28th December,
1794, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. By his first wife, a daughter
of the Earl of Galloway, he had a son, who succeeded him, and two
daughters, one of whom became the wife of William Beckford of Fonthill,
the author of 'Vathek'—'England's wealthiest son,' as Lord Byron termed
him. The Earl's son, George Douglas Gordon, by his second wife, daughter
of the Earl of Morton, inherited through his mother the fine estate of
Hallyburton, in Forfarshire, and assumed the name and arms of Hallyburton.
|
|
&
.co.uk