We have in the Papal Letters proof that the Popes, chief of the whole hierarchical system, regarded the earls and not the kings of Scotland as patrons of the see of Strathern, afterwards called Dunblane. The Charters of Inchaffray exhibit great officers of the earldom called by the same names as those of the king. We find in these charters a dapifer, a pincerna, a chamberlain, a marshal, a carver, a dispenser, and a judge or dempster. Such officials existed no doubt in all great fiefs and households, but here they are remarkably exemplified. Then we find two individuals called miles meus.' Whether this imports knighthood by the king or earl, or whether the description is purely one of tenure is a question of some importance. The experts of the present day usually take the latter view. The word palatine is foreign to English and Scottish feudal law, and its precise meaning is not clear. But if the word be used to denote a quasi-sovereign fief, of which the lord is autocrat in respect of all internal jurisdiction, it would be difficult to find a more conspicuous example than Strathern. Afterwards when the word was adopted we find Strathern forfeited or resigned, and the new grantee, who received the earldom to hold as Malise held,' at once styled earl palatine. We have thought it desirable, without attempting a full exposition of all that may be deduced from the Charters of Inchaffray, to offer a number of notes respecting the subjectmatter, the parties to and the witnesses of a remarkable set of deeds. In several details the great development of historical research, with publication of records in the course of the last half-century, enables us to add to the information given by the editor of the Chartulary for the Bannatyne Club. Our notes are intended as suggestions rather than conclusions, as clues rather than discoveries, for we are still at the threshold rather than within the Temple of Antiquity. We also offer some observations upon the genealogy of the Earls of Strathern and a few of their principal vassals, which observations are made in respect of minor points, not by any means unfolding the whole political and historical status of the house which held so pre-eminent a place. Of all the ancient earldoms, Strathern was strategically the most important in the eyes of kings who desired to consolidate the government of Scotland beyond the Tay, and not unnaturally the Stewarts, when the whole kingdom was about to fall to their lot, coveted Strathern. Just as Lennox overhung the Stewartry, so did Strathern and Menteith the northern capital of the kingdom. In process of time the Stewarts obtained them all, as also Fife and Atholl. But while the monarchy was strengthened, and the national independence was established, the grandeur of the earldoms was lost. They emerged in myth like the Highlanders, and passed as the old order changed. Mallus or Malise appears as Earl of Strathern in the Chartulary of Scone, before 1124, and witnessed the charter of King David to Dunfermline, c. 1128; and others later. Ferchard or Ferteth, Earl of Strathern, with five other earls, attended a Parliament at Perth in 1160, and expressed strong dissatisfaction with King Malcolm for having accompanied—perhaps as a vassal-King Henry II. to Toulouse. This earl and his wife Ethen endowed the church of St. Cathan of Aberruthven with tithes and land. He died in 1171,1 having had issue: 1. Gilbert, his heir. 2. Malise, who is mentioned in a number of his brother's charters to Inchaffray, and took a conspicuous part in the settlement of the canons. He was a witness to Royal charters as a tenant in chief of the Crown, and also held estates mentioned in the first charter of the Appendix, some of which descended or passed to the Grahams and the Morays of Ogilvy. 1 Chronicle of Melrose, 84. Sir Malise granted, c. 1208, the lands of Rathangothen, except the mill, to the Abbey of Lindores,1 for the souls of himself, Ada, his wife, daughter of Earl David, and others. He also granted an annuity of half a mark to the Abbey of Arbroath from his fishing of Ure, confirmed by King William when Philip de Valoines was chamberlain. The Lady Ada granted a carucate of land to Lindores, that she might be buried there. He apparently had no issue. Christian is stated to have been daughter of Earl Ferteth, and wife of Walter Olifard, by Macfarlane on the authority of a charter quoted by Lord Strathallan. Gilbert, Earl of Strathern, the founder of the Monastery of Inchaffray, granted a number of the more important charters printed in this volume. The distinction between those granted to brethren and those granted to canons is set forth, ante p. xxiv, and it is to be observed that in the great charter of foundation (No. Ix.) he describes himself as son of Ferteth, and by the indulgence (=grace) of God earl. This style may be held to suggest that some of the subjects were given or promised by his father. The grantee Malise, priest and hermit, was not improbably a relation. This Malise appears in the place previously occupied by I., Isaac or the successor of Isaac, or possibly J. is Jonathas, second Bishop of Strathern. The earl witnessed a charter of King Malcolm to Scone in 1164, and was therefore born about 1150, and he died in 1223. He was justiciary, c. 1190. He married (1) Matilda, daughter of William d'Aubigny, whom we suppose to have been 'Brito,' the founder of the house of Belvoir; (2), a lady named Ysenda, who granted a charter to 1 Cf. Chartulary of Lindores, number forty-two of the Scottish History Society's publications. Dunfermline Chartulary, 35. Inchaffray of five acres in her ville of Abercairny perambulated by her brothers Sir Richard and Galfridus de Gask (No. XLVI.). He had issue : 1. Gilchrist, witness to his father's charter of the Churchof Aberruthven to the brethren of Inchaffray (No. III.), c. 1198. Died in the year 1198, and was. buried at Inchaffray (No. 1x.). 2. William, witness to Charters IV., V., IX., XIV., XV., XVII., and xxv., but disappears after 1208. 3. Ferthed, witness to Charters XI. and XII., and all those witnessed by William. He also disappears after 1208. 4. Robert, who succeeded to the earldom. 5. Fergus, who witnesses his father's charters after William and Ferthed cease and three of Earl Robert's as a knight. A charter was granted by him of a rent from Ouchtermakan c. 1247 (No. LXXV.). He confirmed his uncle's grant to Arbroath, and granted charters to Lindores. 6. Malise. He first appears as a witness to No. xxv. of the Charters, 1203-8, again to Charter xxxIx., his brother Robert's Charters XLI. and LII., and in August 1234 he witnessed the Bishop of Dunblane's charter remitting certain tithes. Afterwards as a knight he granted (No. cII.)1 some land, pasturage, and peats to the Abbey of Inchaffray out of the tenement of Rossy, from which we learn that he had two sons. (1) Malise. (2) N. (= Nicholas) rector of the church of Crieff and chamberlain of Earl Malise I. (No. LXXXVI.) in 1257-8 which he had ceased to be 1266 (No. xcv.). Sir Malise also witnessed the confirmation charter of his nephew Earl Malise 1247 (No. Lxxvi.).1 7. Gilchrist, witness to Charter xxv. by his father and to none of his brothers. 8. Gilbert, witness to Charters xxxviii. and xxxix. by his Matilda, witness to her father's Charters XI. and Cecilia, wife of Walter, son of Alan (Ruthven). Ethne, first wife of David de Haia, erroneously named Helen in pedigrees, was probably a daughter of Earl Gilbert. Robert, eldest surviving son, described as heir in Charter XXVIII., was a knight in 1215, and succeeded his father as Earl of Strathern. As heir-apparent he confirmed grants to the abbey by his father in 1219 (No. XLI.), and as earl he granted a general confirmation (NO. LI.). He confirmed gifts by Nigel de Lutoft in Dolpatrick, and Henry, son of Tristram, in Kyntocher (No. LVI.), and confirmed (No. LVIII.) a charter 1 See Charters in the Appendix to the Lib. Ins. Miss. (Bannatyne Club). |