Table of Contents
Sir John Colquhoun, son of Malcolm, succeeded his grandfather, Sir John, about the close of the year 1439. He was a man of distinguished abilities, and in every position he acquitted himself in a manner which gained him much credit and honour. He was in high favour both with King James the Second and King James the Third. Between the years 1457 and 1478 he received numerous royal and other charters, which prove the extent of his territorial possessions. During the same period he held successively several important offices of State, which no less clearly indicates the eminence which he had attained as a statesman; and for the services rendered by him to his sovereign and his country, the honour of knighthood was conferred upon him. It thus appears that in him the family of Colquhoun rose to great wealth and distinction.
On the 22d of February 1457, King James the Second granted him a charter of the lands of Luss, Colquhoun, and Gartscube, in the shire of Dumbarton, and of the lands of Glyn and Sawchie, in the shire of Stirling. The charter, in which he is designated John Colquhoun of that Ilk, proceeds on his own resignation, and by it these lands were united and incorporated into a free barony, to be called the Barony of Luss, to be held, by him and his heirs, of the Crown, for rendering the services therein specified. On the 20th of March 1458, his Majesty also granted him a charter erecting into a Free Forest the lands of Park of Rossdhu, and the lands of Glenmuckerne, in the shire of Dumbarton, which heritably belonged to Sir John, and had been resigned by him into the hands of the King.[1]
Soon after, Sir John acquired the lands of Saline, in the shire of Fife, which had previously been the property of John de Haliburton. On 26th April 1465, in the presence of a notary-public and of various witnesses, he delivered to John de Haliburton of Sawling a letter of presentation from the King; and, after it was read, he requested that he might be infefted in the lands of Bordeland of Sawling, according to the tenor of that letter. John de Haliburton declined in the meantime to do so, and retained in his possession the letter of presentation;[2] but on 16th January 1465-6, he resigned all his right and title to the two Sawlings, namely, Black Sawling and Little Sawling, in favour of Sir John.[3] On 10th November in the same year, Sir John, for his counsel, assistance, and favour rendered in many ways to the granter, received from David de Haliburton, son of John de Haliburton, a charter to himself and his heirs, in feu and heritage for ever, of an annual rent of £6, 13s. 4d. Scots, from the lands of Uchtirstoune and Burnhouse, in the shire of Berwick.[4]
On the 24th of March 1465-6, he received from King James the Third a charter, in which he is designed John de Colquhoun of that Ilk, Knight, Comptroller of the Exchequer (computorum rotulator), of the half of the lands of Kilmerdoning, in the shire of Dumbarton, and on the confines of Stirlingshire to the east of the church, on the resignation of them by their former proprietor, Alexander de Auchinros, to be held of the Crown, for rendering the services due and wont.[5] On 7th August 1469, he acquired, for payment of a certain sum of money, from John Haliburton, a charter of the four merk land of Nisbet, in East Lothian.[6] On 29th November 1473, he obtained a charter of the lands of Roseneath, in the county of Dumbarton; and on the 8th of October 1474, he further received from King James the Third a charter of the lands of Strone, Kilmone, Invercapill, and Cayveland, in Argyleshire, which formerly belonged to James Scrimgeour of Dudhope, by whom they were resigned into the hands of the King.[7]
From George second Earl of Huntly he obtained an assignation of the lands of Tulyechil, in the Stewartry of Stratherne. But a right to occupy these lands to his exclusion was claimed by Humphrey Murray of Abercarny, who had received an assignation of them from another party. Sir John, therefore, pursued an action against him for the wrongous occupation of them, for the wrongous spoliation of their mails, and for the wrongous uplifting from them of fourteen bolls of bere. On 9th July 1476, when the case was brought before the Lords Auditors, Sir John produced a letter of assignation of these lands from the Earl of Huntly, and Humphrey Murray produced a similar letter of assignation from William of Stirling, who, he alleged, had to them a prior right. Both parties having been at length heard, the Lords Auditors assigned to Humphrey Murray, the 2d of October next, to prove that William of Stirling had power from the Earl of Huntly to assign or to let the lands to the said Humphrey, and failing in the proof, to devoid them to Sir John, and to pay to him the mails thereof from the time of the lease made to Sir John, with the said bolls of bere, as far as Sir John should prove that the defender had taken them up.[8] The final decision of the Lords Auditors is not recorded.
In 1477 and 1478, Sir John acquired various tenements of land and houses in the burgh of the Canongate, Edinburgh.[9] All these properties were to be held of the Lord Abbot and Convent of the Monastery of the Holy Cross of Edinburgh. In a notarial instrument relating to these properties, dated 21st October 1478, it is narrated that Humphrey, “son and apparent heir of Sir John Colquhoun,” took instruments in name and behalf of his father; a statement which shows that his father was then alive, and consequently that Bishop Lesley and others are mistaken in saying that the death of Sir John took place on 1st May 1478.
Sir John also obtained the lands of Kirkton and Inchberry, in the county of Dumbarton, from Huchon Thomson, son of the deceased Walter Thomson. He pursued an action against Hew Lord Fraser for the wrongous occupation of these lands, and for the taking up of their mails for three years previous. The case came before the Lords of Council on 19th October 1478, when their Lordships decreed that Lord Fraser should cease from the occupation of these lands in time to come, and that he should pay to Sir John the sum of £30, being the mails thereof, which he had taken up for the three years past, as was proved before the Lords.[10]
Some other lands Sir John acquired at different times, as appears from the references made to them, in the Acts of the Lords of Council in the year 1480. Among these were the lands of Over-Glenny, in the shire of Perth, of which he granted a charter and infeftment to James Menteith of Radnoch, with clause of warrandice;[11] the lands of Westirdenlethir, in the same shire, of which he gave a charter and infeftment to Malcolm M’Rure;[12] and the lands of Galmore and the Middlequarter of Dunfawy, in the same shire, of which he obtained a charter from David Wardlaw, made in his own favour only, and not extending to his heirs.[13]
Sir John was a witness to several charters, relating both to the civil and ecclesiastical transactions of his time. He was witness to an indenture between Robert Lord Fleming and Gilbert Lord Kennedy, concerning the lands of Easter and Wester Mains, and others, in the barony of Lenze and shire of Dumbarton, dated 10th February 1465. In the indenture he is designated Sir John Colquhoun of that Ilk.[14] He was witness to a charter granted by King James the Third, at Edinburgh, 26th February 1471, with consent of the Three Estates of Parliament, to William Lord Monypenny, of the lands of Kirkandris, in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, which lands had been resigned by James Lord Hamilton, to whom they belonged heritably, into the hands of the King, in exchange for his Majesty’s forty merk lands of Esterbermukkis, Westerbermukkis, and others, in the lordship of Bothwell.[15]
Sir John was also witness to a charter of King James the Third, dated Edinburgh, 14th October 1475, granting to the Cathedral Church of Glasgow, for his singular devotion towards the blessed St. Kentigern, and that Saint’s mother St. Tenew, and towards the said cathedral, three stones of wax, in which it had stood infefted from ancient time, to be raised annually from the lands of Udingston, in the lordship of Bothwell and shire of Lanark, before these lands had been appropriated to the Crown, but which had been detained by their possessors for some years past, for the lights of St. Kentigern and St. Tenew, his mother. Two and a half stones were to be distributed for the lights of the first-mentioned saint in that Cathedral Church, upon his sepulchre; and half a stone was to be distributed upon the sepulchre of St. Tenew, in the chapel where her bones reposed.[16] Another ecclesiastical charter to which Sir John was a witness, was one by the same monarch to the Bishops of Glasgow, dated at Edinburgh, 15th July 1476, whereby his Majesty granted and confirmed anew, with the authority and consent of Parliament, to John Bishop of Glasgow and his successors, bishops of Glasgow, the right formerly given to them by his Majesty’s predecessors, with advice of Parliament, to hold the city of Glasgow, the barony of Glasgow, and the lands of Bishopforest, for a free regality and barony. This right included the power of constituting within the said city a provost, bailies, servants, and other officers for the government thereof, and of appointing one sergeant, who should bear a baton or silver rod with the royal arms and the arms of the Bishop of the said church, for making arrestments and executing the mandates of that prelate within the said regality, and through all other lands and possessions belonging to him within his diocese.[17] This charter his Majesty granted for his singular devotion towards the blessed confessor, St. Kentigern, patron of the Cathedral Church of Glasgow, and for his special favour and love towards the reverend father in Christ, John, Bishop of that church, his heartily beloved counsellor, for his merits and gratuitous and faithful services rendered to his progenitors and to him. Sir John, again, was witness to a charter of confirmation by King James the Third, dated 15th June 1478, confirming a charter of John Bishop of Glasgow, by which he gave a tenement at Edinburgh to the Cathedral Church of Glasgow.[18]
In many of the political transactions of his time, Sir John took an active part; and, while holding the various honourable public offices which, by the patronage of his friends, and from his acknowledged abilities, he obtained, he on several occasions rendered important services to his country, both at home and at the Court of England.
His sovereign, James the Second, by whom he had been much esteemed, fell, in the prime of life, by the sudden explosion of a cannon, when encouraging his troops at the siege of Roxburgh Castle, in August 1460.[19] After this melancholy event, a Parliament was held at Edinburgh, on the 23d of February 1460-1, by which the custody of the deceased King’s son, James the Third, who was a minor of only eight years of age, and of his two brothers, and sisters, was committed to the Queen Mother, whilst it was determined that the administration of affairs should be divided among a select few of the nobility. Sir John Colquhoun of Luss, if not a member of the Government at first chosen, was soon after appointed Comptroller of the Exchequer. The other officers of state with whom he was associated were James Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrews, to whom the chief management of affairs was intrusted; Andrew Stewart, Lord Evandale (natural son of Sir James Stewart, and grandson of Murdoch Duke of Albany), who was Chancellor; Robert Lord Boyd, to whom Sir John was related by marriage, who was Justiciar of Scotland; James Lindsay, Provost of Lincluden, who was Keeper of the Privy Seal; and James Lord Livingston, who was Chamberlain.[20]
Sir John was frequently a member of Parliament, and sat as one of the Barons. His name first appears in the list of members in the Parliament of King James the Third, held at Edinburgh in October 1466, and he was appointed by it one of the Lords Auditors of Complaints.[21] He is designated Sir John Colquhoun of that Ilk, Knight. He was again a member of the Parliament held at Edinburgh in October 1467, and was put on a commission to which it committed power to advise and conclude upon various matters in an adjourned meeting to take place at Stirling, on 12th January 1467. Among the matters treated upon by that commission was the marriage of King James the Third. It was unanimously resolved that an embassy should be sent with all haste, before the month of March or April following, to Denmark and other places considered expedient, with full power to advise and conclude upon the marriage of their sovereign Lord, with a suitable person of noble blood, and to marry and bring home a queen, and that in the said embassy there should be a prelate, a lord, a knight, or a clerk, to be chosen by the King, and forty honourable and worshipful persons, or fewer, with them.[22] According to this ordinance of Parliament, Andrew Muirhead, Bishop of Glasgow; William Tulloch, Bishop of Orkney; Andrew Lord Evandale, Chancellor; Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran; and Mr. Martin Vans, Grand Almoner and Confessor to the King, were sent ambassadors to the Court of Denmark to negotiate a marriage between King James the Third and the Princess Margaret, the only daughter of Christian the First, King of Denmark and Norway. This they had the good fortune to bring to a successful termination. The youthful bride landed in Scotland on 6th July 1468, accompanied by a brilliant train of lords and ladies, and the marriage was celebrated with much pomp and solemnity on the 10th of that month, in the Abbey Church of Holyrood House.[23]
In the years 1469, 1471, 1476, and 1478, Sir John was also a member of Parliament.[24]
He appears on record as occupying the office of Comptroller of the Exchequer till 1469, when Adam Wallace of Craigie was appointed in his place.[25]
After the downfall of his friend, Robert Lord Boyd, who was indicted for high treason before the Parliament, and condemned to be beheaded, in 1469, though he saved his life by making his escape into England, where he died at an advanced age, at Alnwick, in the following year, Sir John, by his loyalty and prudence, preserved his interest at the Court of King James the Third.[26] So high did he stand in the royal favour, that he continued to receive from his Majesty honourable preferments, and was employed as before in some of the most important affairs of State. In 1471, he was appointed Principal Sheriff of Dumbartonshire, and he was also one of the sheriffs of the shire of Linlithgow.[27]
In 1474, Sir John was still more highly promoted, having been raised to the position of Great Chamberlain of Scotland. This was one of the most ancient offices of State in Scotland. It existed in the reign of King Malcolm the Second, and in his time it was, under the Crown, the third highest office in the commonwealth, ranking next to those of Chancellor and Justiciar, and taking precedence of those of Steward, Constable, and Marischall. In Sir John Colquhoun’s time it was still one of the most honourable, responsible, and lucrative offices of State. This it is necessary to bear in mind in considering his position as a statesman, as the office of that name is now merely a situation in the household establishment of the Sovereign, having no connexion with the administration of public affairs.
The Great Chamberlain anciently collected the revenues of the Crown before the appointment of a treasurer, of which there is no trace till the restoration of King James the First, in 1425, and he disbursed the money required for the maintenance of the King’s household. The rolls of the royal receipts and expenditure, which were kept by the Chamberlain, still exist, affording curious illustrations of the state of the Court, of the condition of Scotland, its agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and of the customs and manners of its inhabitants in those early times.[28] But the Great Chamberlain of Scotland was, besides, invested with the power of judging of crimes committed within burghs, and, like the Justiciar, he had his aires or circuit courts through the country annually, or as often as the adequate administration of justice required. His sentences were to be put in execution by the bailies of the burghs. In the third Parliament of King James the Third, held at Edinburgh in November 1469, it was enacted, in reference to chamberlain aires as well as Parliament and Justiciary aires, “that the Court of Parliament, Justice Are, Chawmerlane Are, or sic like courtis, that has continuatione, nede nocht to be continuit fra day to day, bot that thai may be of sic strinth and fors as thai had bene continuit fra day to day, vnto the tyme that thai be dissoluit: the Parliament be the King; the Justice Are be the justice; the chawmerlane Are be the chawmerlane.”[29] In the third Parliament of King James the Fourth, held at Edinburgh in May 1491, it was ordained that inquiry should be made in the Chamberlain aire how the common goods of burghs were spent.[30]
The commission from the Crown, conferring on Sir John Colquhoun of Luss the office of Great Chamberlain of Scotland, has not been preserved; but an idea of the nature and extent of the jurisdiction of the office to which he was now elevated, may be formed from the commission of Chamberlainry granted by Queen Mary under the Great Seal, 12th November 1553, to James Lord Fleming. From that commission, which invested him with all the rights and powers which his father or any of his predecessors, Great Chamberlains, possessed from her Majesty, or her most noble progenitors, kings of Scotland, we learn that the Chamberlain had full power by himself, or by his deputies whom he might constitute, to appoint and hold circuit courts, as often as it seemed necessary or expedient to him, in the accustomed places in burgh or land within the kingdom, and to continue them; to cause suits to be called, to fine the absent, to punish delinquents according to the laws and custom of the kingdom, and the number and quality of their crimes, to appoint clerks, sergeants, judges, and all other officers necessary thereto, to cause parties to be sworn, and generally to do whatever was held to belong to the said office.[31]
In the capacity of Great Chamberlain of Scotland, Sir John Colquhoun, along with Thomas Spence, Bishop of Aberdeen, James Schaw of Sauchie, and the Lyon King-at-Arms, were in July 1474 sent to the Court of England with plenipotentiary power to treat of a marriage between the Prince of Scotland, who was then only in the third year of his age, and the Princess Cæcilia, daughter of Edward the Fourth, King of England, who was only in her fourth year. So successful were Sir John and his colleagues in this important and delicate mission, that all the preliminaries were agreed upon, and they returned to Edinburgh in the beginning of October, accompanied or followed by the Bishop of Durham, Lord Scroop, Mr. John Russel, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and Mr. Robert Booth, Doctor of Laws, whom King Edward commissioned to proceed to Scotland to complete what had been so auspiciously begun in England. New commissioners, consisting of John, Bishop of Glasgow, William, Bishop of Orkney, Colin Earl of Argyle, David Earl of Crawford, the Abbot of Holyrood House, and the Archdean of St. Andrews, were appointed by King James to treat with those whom King Edward had sent to Scotland, and to arrange the terms of a treaty in reference to the contemplated marriage, which promised so greatly “to contribute to the wealth, peace, honour, and interest of this noble isle, called Great Britain.”[32]
On the 26th of October, the treaty or contract of marriage between the Prince and Princess was agreed to, and signed by the commissioners of both kingdoms. To render it as secure as possible, the formalities characteristic of feudal times were carefully observed. On the same day, David Earl of Crawford, as procurator for the King of Scotland, and Lord Scroop, Knight of the Garter, as procurator for the King of England, appeared in the Low Greyfriars’ Church at Edinburgh, in presence of the English and Scottish Commissioners and others assembled, and went through the ceremony of betrothment. Each of these noblemen having declared the character in which he appeared, and demanded that his letters of procuratory should be read, the letters were publicly read accordingly. Then the Earl of Crawford, taking Lord Scroop by the right hand, solemnly promised for and in name of his master, the King of Scotland, that his Majesty would bestow Prince James, his son, in marriage, upon the Princess Cæcilia, the daughter of Edward King of England, when the Prince and Princess had arrived at the age prescribed by the Canons. Lord Scroop, having next taken the Earl of Crawford by the right hand, made a like solemn engagement for and in name of his master, King Edward of England. Upon which two notaries, one for the King of Scotland and the other for the King of England, took instruments before witnesses. Sir John Colquhoun of Luss was present on this occasion, and he was one of the witnesses to the notarial instrument.[33]
By the treaty, the King of England was to give with his daughter a dowry of 20,000 merks, English money, of which 2000 were to be paid every year at Edinburgh, in the parish church of St. Giles, the first payment to be made on the 2d of February following, and the other instalments on the same day every successive year till complete payment of the whole should be made. Both Kings were also to assist one another, as often as required, against their respective rebels. For some state reasons this marriage was, after all, never completed. But in the meantime King James reaped considerable advantage from the alliance. He received punctual payment of a portion of the dowry which Edward promised to give with his daughter. He had now leisure to settle the revenue of his own kingdom, and strengthened by the promise of assistance from the King of England, he could bring such of his subjects as had disturbed the tranquillity of the state, during his minority, to account for their actions.[34]
It was probably as a reward for the services rendered by Sir John, on the occasion of his mission to the Court of England, that he was soon after appointed Governor of the Castle of Dumbarton for life, with all the emoluments pertaining to the office, which included the lands of Cardross, Cumray, an annual rent from the lands of Cadzow, with the corn-mill of Paisley, commonly called le Uache Mele (the walk mill). His commission as Governor empowered him to name and appoint all other necessary officers. It passed the Great Seal, at Edinburgh, on 7th September 1477.[35]
Sir John did not, however, long enjoy this new appointment. A brave and skilful soldier, as well as an able statesman, he in the following year joined the army raised by King James the Third for the defence of himself and his government, against his brother, Alexander Duke of Albany, who had engaged in an unnatural rebellion against him. The army hastened to besiege the Castle of Dunbar, which the Duke of Albany had garrisoned and held against the King and Government. The siege was successful; for the garrison, after an intrepid defence of some months, were compelled, from want of provisions, to evacuate, and escaping during the night preceding the day on which the besiegers entered the Castle, sought refuge in England or France. But Sir John Colquhoun did not live to see the triumph of the King’s cause. The cannon mounted on the ramparts of the castle by the besieged for their defence, were used with fatal effect against the besiegers. On the second day of the siege a single cannon-ball killed three of the most valiant knights in the royal army,—Sir John Colquhoun of Luss, Sir Andrew Wallace of Craigie, and Sir James Shaw of Sauchie.[36] The exact time when the siege commenced not being known, the precise date of the death of Sir John is uncertain. It must, however, have happened between the 21st of October 1478, when he is referred to in a notarial instrument as then living, as already observed, and the 14th of June 1479, when his son Humphrey was infefted as heir to his deceased father in certain properties.[37] In a decreet of the Lords of Council, 22d January 1479-80, he is designed “the vmquhile Schir Johne of Culquhone of that Ilk, vschare in the tyme of oure Souerane Lordis Chawmer durre.”[38]
Before his death Sir John Colquhoun made a testament, containing various provisions in favour of his second wife, who survived him. He constituted Mr. Robert Houstoun, parson of Luss, and Patrick Houstoun, his executors. In the year 1484, an action was pursued in the Supreme Civil Court by Mr. Robert Houstoun, parson of Luss, and Patrick Houstoun, executors to the deceased Sir John Colquhoun of the Luss, Knight, against Sir William of Murray of Tullibardine, Knight, John of Murray, his son and heir, and Robert Balmaclone for the wrongous spoliation of certain corn out of the lands of Inverpeffre and Gorte, belonging to the late Sir John. This action the Lords Auditors, on 22d October that year, continued to the 14th of January following.[39]
Sir John married, first,—— Boyd, a lady of the family of Lord Boyd, by whom he had a son, Humphrey, and a daughter, Margaret. Lady Luss predeceased her husband, who married, secondly, Lady Elizabeth Dunbar, second daughter of James Dunbar, fifth Earl of Murray. This lady was the relict of Archibald Douglas, second son of James seventh Earl of Douglas, who obtained with her the earldom of Murray, having been the sixth Earl of that name. Her elder sister, Janet, with whom she was co-heiress of the earldom of Murray, had, by reason of her seniority, a preferable right, and indeed actually assumed the dignity. But Archibald Douglas, after his marriage with Elizabeth, succeeded, from the almost unlimited power which his family wielded in the affairs of State, in securing that earldom to himself.[40]
The marriage of Archibald Douglas and Elizabeth Dunbar appears to have taken place in the year 1442. They obtained a royal charter of the lands of Kintore, in the bailiery of Kintore, which belonged to Janet and Elizabeth Dunbar, daughters of the deceased James Dunbar, Earl of Murray, heritably, and which the said Janet and Elizabeth resigned into the hands of the Crown in their pure and simple virginity, to be held by Archibald, second son of James Earl of Douglas and the said Elizabeth, and the longest liver of them, and the heirs-male to be lawfully procreated betwixt them; failing whom, the other heirs therein mentioned. On 26th April 1442, a precept of sasine was addressed by King James the Second to the Sheriff and his bailies of Aberdeen, commanding them, in terms of the charter, to give sasine of the lands of Kintore to the said Archibald and Elizabeth.[41] Soon after obtaining sasine, Archibald Douglas assumed the title of Earl of Murray, which he held for about thirteen years. Having engaged in the rebellion of his twin brother, James ninth Earl of Douglas, against King James the Second, the Earl of Murray was slain in the battle with the King’s troops, which was fought on the 1st of May 1455, at the small river Sark, in Arkinholm, in the county of Dumfries.[42] His head was cut off, and carried to the King, who was then at Abercorn. In the following month of June, all the lands, rents, possessions, superiorities, and offices of “Archibald pretended earl of Murray,” were declared to be forfeited to the Crown,[43] and the title of Earl of Murray was soon after conferred by the King on his youngest son, Prince David. Elizabeth Dunbar had by Archibald Douglas a son, James, and a daughter, Janet, as we learn from a document to be immediately quoted. Of the history of these children we have no information; but they were probably involved in the calamities which befell their relatives of the house of Douglas, when that powerful house was stript of its great power and proscribed by the Government.[44]
After the death of Archibald Earl of Murray, his relict, Elizabeth Dunbar, married George Lord Gordon, afterwards second Earl of Huntly. She lost no time in arranging this second matrimonial alliance, as the contract for the marriage between her and Lord Gordon is dated at Forres, 20th May 1455, only nineteen days after the death of her first husband. The substance of the contract may here be quoted. The parties to the indenture are designed “Alexander Earl of Huntlie, lord of Gordoun,... his spouse, Elizabeth Countass of Huntelie, etc., and George Master of Huntelie, Knight, [son] and appearand heir to the said lord and lady,... upon the ta part, and an noble Lady, Elizabeth Countass of Murray, Nicolas of Sutherland, captain of Ternway, Sir Richard of Holland, Channtor of Murray,[45] James of Dunbar, Alexander Flemyng, Huchone of Douglas, and William Inglis, men to the said lady, upon the tother part.” It is agreed “that the said George sall marry and have to wife the said Elizabeth Countas of Murray, and nane others indurand her life, and make the dispensation of the authority of our haly fader the Pape be obtained, in all gudely haste, in the sickerest fourme, of all impediments that appears or may appear betwixt them, sua that they may lauchfully complete the said marriage; and in the meantime he sall not constrenzie the said lady to carnal copulation but of her free will. Alsua the said lady’s men, now being in Ternway, sall be keepers of that house, mony or few, as liks to the said lady, unto the tyme of the fullfilling of the said marriage lauchfully, quhilk being done be dispensation, the said Castell sall be delivred freely to the said George and his said spouse”.... “Alsua the said lady and her men sall do all their gudlie power and diligence, so that the said lord Earl of Huntly have delivrance of the Castell of Louchindores.” James, the son and heir of the Countess, being “received be his lady moder, sall be in keeping with her, or with her advice, quhair she best liks, till his lauchful age withouten bodily harm till his life.” Further, the Earl and his son shall not “constrenzie ... the said lady Countass of Murra to mak resignation nor alienation of the earldom of Murra with the pertinents fra hir heirs gottin, but at her awin fre will, in the quhilk earldom the said lord, his spouse, and appearand heire sall defend the said lady, Countass of Murra, at all thair gudely power, and mak hir sicker at his power of our sovrain lord the King, to be undistroblit in the posyession of hir earldome.” There is also a guarantee that “the said lady’s men” shall enjoy the lands granted to them by the deceased Archibald Earl of Murray, her former husband, with her consent, or by herself in her widowhood, and mention is made of her daughter Janet.[46]
Motives of family aggrandizement led, it may be supposed, to this marriage of the heir of the House of Huntly with the heiress of the earldom of Murray, the House of Huntly having always coveted the possession of that earldom. The Master of Huntly, however, afterwards obtained a divorce from her, not necessarily because she had been guilty of any violation of the marriage vow, for the most frivolous pretences were often in those times made the ground of divorces when one of the parties had become alienated from the other, or when personal interest or passion impelled to separation in order to make way for a new matrimonial alliance, more advantageous or more attractive. She and the Master of Huntly, it would seem, were within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, which rendered a papal dispensation necessary, in order to the legality of this marriage; and this dispensation, from neglect or otherwise, not having been obtained, as was agreed to in the marriage-contract, a ready pretext could be found at any time for its dissolution.
The fact of her having been deprived, by the forfeiture of her late husband, of the earldom of Murray, it is not improbable, may have been the main reason why Elizabeth Dunbar was repudiated by Lord Gordon. That she was deprived of the earldom is evident from an entry in an Exchequer roll of the Account of the earldom of Mar, between 31st July 1455 and 12th October 1456, to the effect that the thanedom of Kintore was in the hands of the King, “by the forfeiture of Elizabeth of Dunbar, formerly Countess of Murray.”[47]
The divorce of Elizabeth Dunbar from Lord Gordon, Master of Huntly, must have taken place before the 10th of March 1459, when Annabella, daughter of King James the First, appears in a charter as his wife.[48] That Princess also was solemnly divorced from him on the 24th of July 1471; and it is from her divorce that we learn the fact that he had obtained a divorce from Elizabeth of Dunbar. Annabella was divorced from him, not because of any misconduct on her part, but merely because she and the Master of Huntly were held to be related to each other in the third and fourth degrees of consanguinity, in consequence of Annabella’s having been related in the like third and fourth degrees of consanguinity to Elizabeth Dunbar, the Master of Huntly’s former wife, from whom, as the deed states, he “had been lawfully divorced and separated by the judgment of the church.” On this ground the marriage of the Princess with the Master of Huntly was pronounced to be illegal.[49]
The exact date of the marriage of Elizabeth Dunbar with Sir John Colquhoun of Luss has not been discovered. But it took place prior to 26th July 1463. The following extract from the Account of Bothkennar, etc., from 6th August 1462 to 26th July 1463, establishes this point, and also proves that a pension had been granted her by the Crown: “Expenses, etc. By payment made to Elizabeth Dunbar formerly Countess of Murray, of the farms of the lands of Duchra, for her support, in part of payment of 100 merks granted to her by the charter of our lord the King under the Great Seal, John of Colquhoun of Luss, knight, her spouse, confessing the receipt.”[50] In the year 1472, Sir John Colquhoun and Elizabeth Dunbar, his spouse, were infefted in a house in Stirling.[51] Sir John’s children by his first wife were—
1.
Humphrey, who succeeded him.
2.
Robert, who was a clergyman, and became Bishop of Argyll. Robert Colquhoun was rector of Luss and of Kippen in 1466. Under that designation he was incorporated a member of the University of Glasgow on 27th October that year.[52] The churches of Luss and Kippen, of which he was first rector, were in the diocese of Dunblane, of which the bishop at that time was John Hepburn. Having, as rector of these churches, claimed the right of patronage to the vicarage of the church of Kippen, Robert Colquhoun became involved, in consequence, in a contest with that bishop. On 3d February 1471, in the Chapter House of Dunblane, he publicly presented kneeling to the reverend father in Christ, John Bishop of Dunblane, a chaplain, Sir Robert Colquhoun, together with a presentation to the vicarage of the parochial church of Kippen, which was at that time vacant by the death of Sir James Lauder, the last vicar. But the bishop refused to receive the presentation, on the ground that he had previously given that vicarage to another person. On the same day, in the Cathedral Church of Dunblane, the bishop, with the consent of the said rector, deferred the case, till the meeting of the Synod of Dunblane, when it would be brought under the review of the bishop and his presbyters, the rights of the parties concerned not to suffer in the meantime any prejudice.[53] How the question was decided we have not discovered. Other notices of Robert Colquhoun occur in the ecclesiastical transactions of the time. As rector of the churches of St. Kessog of Luss[54] and Kippen, he, on 5th February 1471, deposed a chaplain named Adam from the curacy of Kippen; but the reasons for which this ecclesiastical sentence was pronounced are not recorded.[55] In the year 1473, Robert Colquhoun was consecrated Bishop of Argyll, and in this See he continued upwards of twenty years. As Bishop of Argyll he was present as a member of the Parliament held at Edinburgh, in February 1471, and joined with the other bishops in urging King James the Third, from the great love they had to his person, to remain at home, and not to carry out the intention he had announced to the Parliament of proceeding out of the kingdom at the head of a force for recovering his right to Brittany in France; a step which they conceived would be fraught with peril to the realm, considering his tender age, and that he had no succession or issue.[56] To this enterprise King James had been persuaded by Louis the Eleventh, King of France, who had despatched an ambassador to his court with the object of persuading him to invade and take possession of Brittany, promising that he would annex it to the Crown of Scotland. Orders had been given for the immediate levy of 6000 men, whom the King himself, intoxicated by these flattering persuasions, was to conduct in person on the expedition, whilst the Parliament had agreed to contribute £6000 to meet the expenses.[57] But circumstances arose which prevented that expedition. Robert Colquhoun, Bishop of Argyll, was also present as a member of the Parliament held in the year 1476, and was a witness to the charter granted by King James the Third, whereby John Earl of Ross, who, for rebellion, had, by the Parliament in November 1475, been forfeited, was, upon his submission, restored to the title of Lord of the Isles, and to the possessions thereof, though he was still to remain deprived of the Earldom of Ross. He was again present as a member of the Parliaments held in 1478, 1482, and 1485.[58] His name appears in writs of the period as bishop of the diocese of Argyll in 1495; but he probably died before 1499, when a bishop of another name appears as the occupant of that bishopric.[59]
3.
Margaret. She married William Murray, seventh Baron of Tullibardine, who succeeded his father in 1446. William Murray took an active and prominent part in public affairs. He was Sheriff of Perthshire; and also one of the Lords Justices who were named to be of the King’s daily council. When, in compliance with a desire expressed by Henry the Sixth, King of England, it was resolved by King James the Second, who had always cultivated friendly relations with that monarch, that the truce between Scotland and England, which would terminate on 6th July 1459, should be renewed, William Murray of Tullibardine was one of the Commissioners who were sent to Newcastle in the character of plenipotentiaries in July that year, to conduct the negotiations for the prolongation of the truce.[60] The other Commissioners were Ninian, Bishop of Galloway, George Shoreswood, Bishop of Brechin, who was also Chancellor of the Kingdom, William Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and Caithness, the Abbots of Melrose and Holyrood, the Lords Graham, Boyd, and Borthwick, John Arous, Archdean of Glasgow, and Secretary of State, and Nicholas Otterburn, Clerk Register. William Murray of Tullibardine was knighted by King James the Third. He greatly enlarged the collegiate church of Tullibardine, which had been founded and largely endowed by his father, Sir David, and which was the burial-place of his family for many generations. Of the marriage of Sir William Murray and Margaret Colquhoun it is said that there were seventeen sons, and that they all lived to be men. Tradition relates that Sir William and his seventeen sons, each attended by one servant, and the father by two, all dressed in full Highland costume, armed, and accompanied with pipers to enliven the scene, came to pay a visit of respectful loyalty to their sovereign—but whether it was King James the Second or King James the Third, is uncertain—on the occasion of a temporary sojourn he made at Perth. His Majesty not having been previously apprised of their coming, some of the royal household, on hearing the sound of the bagpipe, and observing a body of armed men at a little distance advancing towards the residence of the King, were apprehensive, from their number and warlike appearance, that it was some hostile clan or faction who intended to do violence to the person of the monarch—an alarm which was not unnatural, when it is remembered that King James the First had been murdered at Perth so recently as February 1436-7—and the drawbridge was secured and the gates closed with the utmost haste. But the alarm soon subsided. A messenger having been sent to inquire who the party were, and what was their object, it was found that they were the Baron of Tullibardine and his seventeen sons coming to testify their devotion to their sovereign. They were at once admitted, and honoured with a most gracious reception. The Baron, with pride and pleasure, explained that he was the father of these seventeen young men, who, with himself, had come to cast themselves at the feet of his Majesty, and to pledge themselves to defend his person and government. The King declared himself highly gratified with the expressions of their devoted loyalty, and especially congratulated Sir William on his felicity in having so numerous and so promising a family of sons.[61] The eldest of Sir William’s sons was ancestor of the Dukes of Athole and Earls of Tullibardine; and from several of the other sons various distinguished families of the name of Murray are descended. The second son was killed on entering Ochtertyre House, as he was making his escape from the Drummonds, with whom his family were at feud, he being single, and several of them pursuing him. Another son married a daughter of the Earl of Gowrie, who leapt ‘the maiden leap’ at Huntingtower, and was buried in the church of Tibbermure, over against the pulpit, on the inside of the wall of the kirk, where, in 1710, her and her husband’s names were to be seen.[62]
[Skip footnotes]
| [1] | Original Charters at Rossdhu. |
| [2] | Original Notarial Instrument at Rossdhu. |
| [3] | Original Instrument of Resignation, ibid. |
| [4] | Original Charter, ibid. |
| [5] | Original Charter at Rossdhu. |
| [6] | Original Charter, ibid. |
| [7] | Original Charters, ibid. Reg. Mag. Sig. Lib. vii. Nos. 73, 308. |
| [8] | Acta Dominorum Auditorum, p. 46. |
| [9] | On 9th July 1477, he received a charter of a piece of waste ground, six perches and five yards in length, and eight and a half yards in breadth, in that burgh. On 11th September following, he obtained a charter and sasine of a piece of ground situated therein. On 4th June 1478, a disposition, and, on the day after, a charter, was made in his favour of an annual rent of six shillings, which the granter derived from the land of Sir John, lying in the same burgh.—Original Charters and Sasine, and Copy Disposition at Rossdhu. |
| [10] | Acta Dominorum Concilii, p. 15. |
| [14] | Original Indenture in Cumbernauld Charter-Chest. |
| [15] | Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 188. |
| [16] | Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis, tom. ii. pp. 426-428. |
| [17] | Reg. Episc. Glasg. tom. ii. pp. 430-433. |
| [19] | Tytler’s History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 306. |
| [20] | Crawfurd’s Officers of State, pp. 37, 313; Rymer’s Fœdera, tom. xi. p. 476. |
| [21] | Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 85; Acta Dominorum Auditorum, p. 3. |
| [22] | Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 89, 90. |
| [23] | Balfour’s Annals, vol. i. p. 194. |
| [24] | Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 93, 98, 102, 121, 188, 191. |
| [25] | Crawfurd’s Officers of State, vol. i. p. 318. |
| [26] | In testimony of his duty and affection to his sovereign, Sir John sent to him a present of two hounds. In the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland’s books, connected with Dumbartonshire, under 3d November 1473, is the following entry:—“Item, to a man that come fra the lairde of Luss witht ij grew hundis to the King, xs.” |
| [27] | Acta Dominorum Auditorum, p. 54. |
| [28] | The Accounts of the Great Chamberlain of Scotland, and some other officers of the Crown, rendered at the Exchequer, extending from 1263, in the reign of Alexander the Third, to 1453, in the reign of James the Second, have been published in three large volumes, under the editorship of the late Mr. Thomson, Deputy-Clerk Register. This is a most important work to the student of the history and antiquities of Scotland, as, from the minuteness of its details, it supplies much important authentic information on his favourite subject not elsewhere to be obtained. The original Rolls are deposited in her Majesty’s General Register House, Edinburgh. |
| [29] | Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 97. |
| [30] | Ibid. vol. ii. p. 227. It thus appears that it is a mistake to suppose, as Mr. Tytler seems to do in his History (vol. ii. p. 152), that the office of Chamberlain belonged exclusively “to the personal estate of the Sovereign,” and that the nature of the office is fully described by simply saying that “those who held it enjoyed the supreme authority in the management of the King’s household, and in the regulation of the royal revenue.” |
| [31] | Crawfurd’s Officers of State, vol. i. pp. 251, 464. The office of Chamberlain, in the course of time, lost much of its importance. The Chamberlain aires, from their maladministration, became very unpopular in the burghs, which regarded them as instruments of oppression rather than courts of justice. The Lords concerned in the raid of Ruthven, in August 1582, from their hostility to the Duke of Lennox, then heritable Chamberlain, discharged, by a proclamation issued in the King’s name, the keeping of Chamberlain aires. The rights and privileges of the office gradually ceased to be exercised, and at last, in 1703, the Duke of Lennox resigned it into the hands of Queen Anne, ad perpetuam remanentiam. Since that time no Chamberlain has been appointed.—Seot of Scotstarvet’s Staggering State of Scots Statesmen, p. xx. |
| [32] | Rymer’s Fœdera, tom. xi. p. 821. |
| [33] | Rymer’s Fœdera, tom. xi. p. 821. |
| [34] | Lesley’s History, p. 304; Rymer’s Fœdera, tom. xi. pp. 814, 815, 821, 822, 824, etc.; Abercromby’s Martial Achievements of the Scottish Nation, vol. ii. pp. 424, 425. |
| [35] | Charter in Pub. Arch. quoted in Crawfurd’s Officers of State, p. 319. |
| [36] | Balfour’s Annals of Scotland, vol. i. p. 202; Lesley’s History, p. 43; Tytler’s History of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 375. |
| [37] | Original Instrument of Sasine at Rossdhu. |
| [38] | Acta Dominorum Concilii, p. 49. |
| [39] | Acta Dominorum Auditorum, p. 150*. |
| [40] | In 1454 Janet had assumed the dignity. On 8th November that year, an original grant was made by “Janet of Dunbar, Countess of Murray, and Lady of Frendracht and of Crechton,” to her cousin, Walter Ogilvy of Bewfort. To this “her seal of arms is appended, containing four quarters—the first, the arms of Murray, as usual, with the double tressure; the second, a lion rampant for Crichton, the arms of James Lord Crichton, her husband, also in her right, Earl of Murray, or it may be for Dunbar (the seal being partly defaced), and Janet being a cadet of the Dunbars, Earls of March; the third exhibits Annandale, indicative also of the latter descent; and the fourth, a fess cheque between three frais, or strawberry blossoms, for Fraser of Frendraught. This branch of the Frasers, who merged in Murray, had married the heiress of the Stewarts of Frendraught, an ancient stock of the Stewarts, who can be traced as far back as the time of Robert Bruce.”—Riddell’s Tracts, Legal and Historical, p. 214. |
| [41] | Original Precept in the Charter-Chest of Lord Forbes. |
| [42] | Pinkerton’s History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 231. |
| [43] | Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 76. |
| [44] | The fact that, in 1494, Malcolm Colquhoun, grandson of Elizabeth Dunbar, comes forward as her heir, claiming certain lands in her right, seems to afford some foundation for the statement in the text.—Riddell’s Tracts, Legal and Historical, p. 87. |
| [45] | Sir Richard of Holland, Chanter of Murray, who here appears in the retinue of Elizabeth of Dunbar, Countess of Murray, was the author of the poem entitled the “Howlat,” which is dated at Tarnaway, the seat of the Earls of Murray, and which was probably written before the battle in which Archibald Douglas, Earl of Murray, was slain in 1455. In this poem the author commemorates his honourable patroness:—Holland was in England in 1481, and was regarded as a traitor, having, it may be supposed, been obliged to seek shelter in that kingdom in consequence of his connexion with the Douglases. From his name, which is not Scotch, but English, it is supposed that he was a native of England, or was of English descent. |
| [46] | The Miscellany of the Spalding Club, vol. iv. p. 128. |
| [47] | That the forfeited title of Earl of Murray was conferred by King James the Second upon one of his sons, there seems to be no doubt. In an Exchequer roll, the Account of Strathern, from 16th July 1454 to 18th October 1456, there is a charge for the expenses of “Lord David Earl of Murray.” This Prince, of whom no notice is taken in any of our peerage books, was probably the youngest son of James the Second. He died soon after; for in another Account in the same record, brought down to 18th July 1457, the term “quondam” is prefixed to his name.—[Exchequer Rolls, in H.M. General Register House, Edinburgh.]After the forfeiture of the earldom of Murray to the Crown, the Castle of Tarnaway often became the scene of the carousals of the sovereigns of Scotland, and in its extensive and beautiful grounds they indulged in the pleasures of the chase. In an Exchequer roll in the year 1463, there is an item of expenditure for making and polishing a large number of tables in the forest of Tarnaway. In 1501, King James the Fourth granted to Jane Kennedy, Lady Bothwell, the Castle of Tarnaway, as long as she remained without a husband, or any other man, and dwelt in that castle, which in the writ is designated Dernway, with the King’s son and hers, James Stewart—[Privy Seal Records, vol. ii. p. 73]. This celebrated lady, of whom the King was so passionately enamoured, was the daughter of John Lord Kennedy; and James Stewart, here mentioned, her son by the King, was afterwards created Earl of Murray. |
| [48] | Registrum Magni Sigilli, Lib. v. No. 91. |
| [49] | Gordon Charter-Chest. Within less than a month after this divorce was pronounced, namely, on the 18th of August 1471, the banns of the marriage of Lord Gordon with Elizabeth Hay, daughter of William first Earl of Errol, were proclaimed in the church of Fyvie. But the past having proved how slippery Lord Gordon was as a husband, and doubts being entertained as to the legality of the Princess Annabella’s divorce, Nicholas, second Earl of Errol, the lady’s brother, adopted some precautions for the protection of his sister. In a contract between him and George Lord Gordon, dated 12th May 1476, the latter binds himself that “I sal never presume til hafe actual delen wyt the said Elizabet, nether be slight nor myght, nor any other manner, on to the tyme it be sene to the said lord Nichol, and her other tender friends, that I may hafe the saide Elizabeth to my wife lauchfully, and this before thir witnesses,” etc. This he swears upon the Bible.—[Errol Charter-Chest, quoted in Riddell’s Tracts, Legal and Historical, p. 85.] The marriage was not consummated till after the 12th of May 1476, when, by the death of Annabella, the difficulties arising from the doubts entertained as to the legality of her divorce, were removed. |
| [50] | Exchequer Rolls, in H.M. General Register House, Edinburgh. |
| [51] | Original Instrument of Sasine at Rossdhu. |
| [52] | Munimenta Universitatis Glasguensis, tom. ii. p. 72. |
| [53] | Notarial Protocols, Dumbartonshire, in Dennistoun’s MSS., vol. viii., Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh. |
| [54] | The kirk of Luss was so designated from its patron saint, St. Kessog. |
| [55] | Notarial Protocols, ut supra. |
| [56] | Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 102, 103. |
| [57] | Tytler’s History, vol. iii. p. 358. |
| [58] | Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 120, 145, 168, 190. |
| [59] | Keith’s Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops, p. 288. |
| [60] | Rymer’s Fœdera, tom. xi. pp. 423, 426, 427; Abercromby’s Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation, vol. ii. p. 374. |
| [61] | Tradition in the family of Colquhoun of Luss. The essential parts of this story are confirmed by a tradition preserved in the Tullibardine family. There are at Blair Castle some bed-curtains (of Murray tartan) which have been handed down from generation to generation as the curtains of a bed in which the seventeen brothers slept. It is supposed that the bed must have been in the shape of a bell tent, and that the brothers all lay with their feet to the centre pole; only the curtains are no longer in the original shape, as at some period they were used for an ordinary bed. |
| [62] | The declaration of George Halley in Ochterardair, aged sixty-four years, what he can say of the family of Tullibardine, at Tullibardine, 25th April 1710. |
