Henry Paton

“ The legal right of Menteith to prosecute his claim to Strathearn was never really impugned by his enemies, who sought, though it proved impracticable, to destroy every document which could aid in proving his connection with Robert II.
Menteith's enemies now spread reports that he had boasted of his blood, and thought his right to the crown as good as the king's. The queen was induced to speak to Charles, who was intending to go to Scotland for his coronation. Charles promised to settle the matter when there. Meanwhile he wrote to the Scottish council to investigate the truth of the report. ”

“ Bruce being defeated Fraser was led captive from the field, but he succeeded in escaping, and after Bruce had resumed the campaign he rejoined him with his friends and vassals at the Mounth in the Mearns, and aided him in inflicting the crushing defeat on his enemies, the Comyns, known as the ‘harrying of Buchan.’ He was also present at the battle of Bannockburn, on the eve of which he received the honour of knighthood. Shortly afterwards Fraser married a sister of King Robert Bruce, Lady Mary Bruce, who for four years was imprisoned by Edward I in a cage in the castle of Roxburgh. ”

“ GRAY, ANDREW, first Lord Gray (1380?–1469) , was the only son of Sir Andrew Gray of Fowlis, Perthshire, by his first wife, Janet, daughter of Sir Roger de Mortimer, whom he married in 1377. He is usually styled second Lord Gray, and the creation of the title is said to have taken place in 1437 in the person of his father. But this is now recognised as a mistake (Burke, Peerage, voce ‘Moray’) . The title was not created until 1445. Sir Andrew Gray, who died before 17 July 1445, is referred to by his son Andrew in a charter of that date, as well as in a later deed, dated 16 Jan. ”

“ The eldest son, Sir Alexander de Forbes, succeeded to the estates in 1405, on his father's death, and during his time both added considerably to their extent and obtained their consolidation into a barony, with his own elevation to the peerage as a baron of parliament. In 1407 he was one of four knights who went to England to hold a friendly tournament with an equal number of English knights. Wyntoun calls him a knight of Mar, and praises the worthy manner in which he and his comrades upheld the honour of their country on the field of chivalry. ”

“ In the discussion he sided with Argyll and the other members of the so-called ‘honest’ or ‘godly party,’ which was powerfully supported by the Scottish church. Leven and Argyll drew up a ‘petition of the army,’ embodying the contention of the church that before arms should be taken for the king's relief religion and the covenant must first be secured. Nevertheless parliament invited Leven to resume the active command of the army in England. ”

“ KEITH, Sir ROBERT (d. 1346) , great marischal of Scotland, son of Sir William de Keith, first appears as marischal in 1294, when he received a charter from King John Baliol of the lands of Keith. During the war which ensued on Baliol's dethronement, Keith, who had been appointed by the Scottish regents warden of the forest of Selkirk, was in 1300 captured by the English and imprisoned in the castle of Carlisle. Reported to Edward as ‘one of his worst enemies,’ and ‘of bad repute,’ he was ordered to be removed to Nottingham Castle ”

“ He raised large levies of men from his estates, sending many to join the military operations in England, while he upheld the authority of parliament in the north. He was one of the leaders at the battle of Auldearn in 1645. His estates suffered severely from ravages made upon them by Lord Reay and the clan Mackay, who took the royalist side, and had a special feud with Sutherland on account of his acquisition of the territory of Strathnaver. Sutherland invoked the aid of parliament, and at length surprised Lord Reay in the castle of Balveny, Banffshire, and sent him a prisoner to Edinburgh. ”

“ Sharing ardently the royalist sympathies of his father, he, while Lord Ogilvy, took a very active part on behalf of Charles I during the Scottish wars. In 1640 he held Airlie Castle against Montrose, then a covenanter; but, being obliged to surrender, he was permitted, with his wife, to escape, an incident for which Montrose was sharply challenged by the tables (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1640, p. 53) . Refusing to obey the order of the Scottish parliament to appear before them and give caution for keeping the peace, Ogilvy was declared a rebel, and was specially exempted from pardon. ”

“ But in 1650 he raised a thousand men to assist Leslie against Cromwell. When he reached Edinburgh he learned that the battle of Dunbar had just been lost, and at the request of Charles II, who wrote to him from the camp at Stirling, he carried his men thither, and received the royal command to return and raise additional levies. Charles acknowledged the services of Sutherland at this time in a special letter of thanks. On the departure of the expedition under Charles into England, Sutherland was sent north for the protection of the northern parts of Scotland. ”

“ At Huntly's castle in Strathbogie, on 15 Sept. 1484, the marriage of Grant with Margaret, daughter of Sir James Ogilvie of Deskford, Banffshire, was arranged. There is a tradition that the father of this laird marched at the head of the clan Grant in 1488 to the assistance of James III during the insurrection of the prince, and that along with some other highland clans the Grants arrived only in time to find the decisive battle of Sauchieburn already fought and their king dead. But as Grant's father died in 1482 the tradition, if true, has probably reference to this second laird of Freuchie. ”

“ Newcastle, on being summoned, refused to surrender, and Leven for a time did little more than maintain his ground and prevent the royalist army in the neighbourhood under the Marquis of Newcastle from proceeding to the assistance of the king. After his arrival in England he was appointed commander-in-chief of all the ‘British and Scottish’ forces in Ireland, by a joint committee of the two kingdoms, which managed the war, but he never personally assumed that command. ”

“ The Scots encountered no opposition until they reached the Tyne at Newburn, where after a brief struggle they forced the passage of the river, took possession of Newcastle, and within a brief space reduced all the surrounding country as far south as the Tees. Leslie remained at Newcastle for a whole year, and there welcomed to the Scottish army twenty-six of his distinguished comrades in the German wars. Charles was during the period at York, but few in his camp were anxious to begin hostilities. ”

“ In January 1645 the earl was present at a meeting of parliament in Edinburgh, whence he was recalled to his command in order to prevent the advance of Montrose from the highlands to the king's aid in the west of England. Leven marched into Westmoreland, but the failure of the English parliament to send him payment for his army hampered his movements, and in order to support his army he was obliged to permit his soldiers to plunder the farmers far and near. ”

“ At a meeting of the Scottish estates held shortly after the death of Alexander III, Fraser was chosen as one of six regents, three of whom were to govern north of the Firth of Forth and three south, pending the arrival of Margaret, the Maid of Norway, who was next heir to the throne. He supported the proposal for the marriage of the princess of Scotland to Edward, prince of Wales, and in connection with the negotiations therewith made a journey to the court of Edward I in Gascony. ”

“ Gladstanes in a later letter to James speaks of his influence with complacency. ‘All men,’ he says, ‘do follow us and hunt for our favour upon the report of your majesty's good acceptance of me and the bishop of Caithnes.’ James placed the regulation of the stipends of the clergy in the power of the bishops, and also distributed money among them. In 1610, just before the meeting of the assembly in June, he placed ten thousand merks at the disposal of Archbishops Gladstanes and Spotiswood for the members of that meeting (Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, viii. 844) . ”

“ In 1528 the clan Chattan rendered itself obnoxious to government. The neighbouring clans were empowered to extirpate it, saving alive only the priests, the women, and the children. The women and children were to be shipped off to Norway (Miscellany of the Spalding Club, ii. 83) . The clans recoiled from this atrocity, and Grant protected some of the clan Chattan, to whom he was related by marriage (A. M. Shaw, The Mackintoshes and Clan Chattan, p. 197) . ”

“ In March 1758 Douglas married Margaret Douglas, of the family of Mains, and descended from the earls of Morton. She was a beautiful and an accomplished lady. A year after their marriage a separation took place, the duke making one condition of her receiving an alimentary allowance that she should not attempt to see or speak with him save by his invitation. Within a few months, however, they were reconciled, and lived together afterwards until his death. The Duchess of Douglas made it the main business of her remaining lifetime to redress the wrong done to Lady Jane. ”

“ Charles took legal advice, which, as it was taken from the parties hostile to Menteith, was utterly condemnatory of his action. Charles seems to have considered Menteith to have been only imprudent, and, while stripping him of his new title of Earl of Strathearn, gave him that of Earl of Airth, with the precedency due to the earldom of Menteith, created in 1427, promising also to continue his favour (Fraser, Red Book of Menteith, ii. 49) . ”

“ In November 1641, while in Scotland, Charles introduced his nephew, the young prince elector palatine, to the Scottish parliament, and appealed for aid in gaining the young man's kingdom of Bohemia. The matter was committed to the consideration of four noblemen, of whom Leven was one, and they reported next day that ten thousand Scottish foot might be sent on the country's charges to any convenient German port on the prince's service. ”

“ GORDON, Sir ALEXANDER (1650–1726) , of Earlston, covenanter, eldest son of William Gordon (1614-1679) [q. v.] of Earlston, and Mary, daughter of Sir John Hope of Craighall, Fifeshire, was born in 1650. His grandfather was Alexander Gordon (1587-1654) [q. v.] Like his father he became a zealous presbyterian. He was present at the battle of Bothwell Bridge. One of his tenants saved him during his flight by dressing him in woman's clothes and setting him to rock a cradle. Within a few days he was proclaimed a rebel and cited to appear as such before the justiciary court at Edinburgh on 8 Feb. ”

“ Callander was in England when the ‘Engagement’ between the king and the Scots was first suggested, and he entered into communication with Charles, and actively promoted the movement. On 24 Dec. 1647 Charles signed a commission making Callander sheriff of Stirling and keeper of Stirling Castle. A few months later the parliament confirmed his custody of the castle. Of the army, raised in pursuance of the engagement to proceed into England and attempt the liberation of the king, Callander became lieutenant-general. His superior in command was the Duke of Hamilton, with whom he was on bad terms. ”

“ He also attended the duke at Culloden, having command there of the cavalry on the extreme left wing of the royal army, after which he was placed for a short time in charge of all the forces on the east of Scotland. In December 1746 he again accompanied the duke to the continent. On the death of his granduncle, Lord Mark Kerr, he was promoted to be colonel of his regiment, the 11th dragoons, and was, as lieutenant-general, with the duke in his expedition to the east coast of France in 1758. ”

“ In 1663 Gordon was required by the commissioners of the privy council then in the district, as patron of the church of Dalry, to present an episcopal curate to the charge, and their letter was sent by the hand of the curate himself. Gordon, in a letter which Wodrow has printed in his 'History' (ed. Burns, i. 369) , declined to force any one upon the people contrary to their wishes. He was forthwith cited before the privy council, and banished the kingdom, never to return under pain of death. ”

“ He was also appointed on parliamentary commissions for the plantation of churches and raising of taxes, but on both of these, by an ordinance of parliament in July 1644, he was replaced by James McDowell of Garthland, because ‘that Alexander Gordonne of Erlestoun is so infirme that he cannot attend the service.’ He was stricken with palsy for some time before he died, which greatly disabled him, but he continued in parliament, until 1649, and in that year was nominated for a military command in connection with the operations then intended against the Commonwealth of England. ”

“ In 1694 Grant obtained a crown charter erecting his barony of Freuchie into the regality of Grant. His castle, which was formerly known as Ballachastell, became Castle Grant, and Castleton became the village of Grantown, while his own designation of laird of Freuchie was changed to laird of Grant. In 1677 he became proprietor of the estate of Pluscarden, Elgin. It was purchased for 5,000l., the money being provided by his father-in-law, the laird of Brodie, who stipulated that the lands should form the inheritance of his daughter's second son. ”

“ Gordon's imprisonment in Blackness was voluntarily shared by his wife, and some of their children were born there. It continued until 5 June 1689, though on 16 Aug. 1687 he was recommended to the king for a remission by the Scottish council. His employment during his confinement consisted in wood-carving and the study of heraldry. Some of the carvings were illustrations of events of his own times and family history.
The Earlston estates were restored to Gordon after the revolution, and he and his family returned thither on leaving the castle of Blackness. ”

“ On the re-formation of the company of Scots gens d'armes in France in 1624, under the captaincy of Lord Gordon, earl of Enzie, Gray was appointed lieutenant, and rendered considerable service in the French wars of that period. ”

“ When, therefore, Cromwell marched towards Scotland in July 1650, Leven, pursuing the military tactics of former days, laid waste the southern counties and concentrated his army in and around Edinburgh for defensive purposes only. ”