We have under this date a curious specimen of the administration of
justice under King James. Letters are raised at the instance of ‘Helen
Henderson, spouse of William Murray elder of Romanno; Margaret Tweedie,
spouse of John Murray younger of Romanno; and ---- Nisbet, spouse
of William Murray, _third_ Laird of Romanno, with the puir tenants,
cotters, and labourers of the ground of the lands of Romanno, lying
within the sheriffdom of Peebles:’ stating that these three lairds,
with sundry other persons, had been denounced at the horn for their
concern in the slaughter of John Hamilton of Coitquott[186] and his
son; and, on the complaint of the widow and children of the said John,
with a false report that the Lairds of Romanno were fortifying their
tower of Romanno, there to defend themselves against the powers of the
law, ‘his majesty appointit the same to be keepit by four persons,
allowing them monthly the sum of twenty merks ... to be payit out
of the living of Romanno,’ and caused letters to be directed to the
complainers, charging them with this payment. The three ladies appeal
against this order, on the ground that they had not been previously
heard in their own cause. Had they been so, they could have shewn
reasons to the contrary--‘the house of Romanno was never keepit agains
his hieness, but the same, as alsae the country, is left by the said
rebels, and that immediately after committing the fact (gif in their
awn defence and by procurement of other persons God knaws and time will
try), and therefore needit nae sic keepers, it being bot ane auld and
ruinous touir, not meet for nae man to keep or hazard his life into,
and, besides this, the said Helen Henderson, Margaret Tweedie, and ----
Nisbet, are infeft in conjunct fee and liferent in the haill lands of
Romanno, whilk is bot a puir ten-pund land, in effect barren of the
self, and subject to the incursion and stouthreif of the broken men
and thieves of baith the borders, and, as is mair nor notour, will not
sustene the said complenars nor their families, they having nae manner
of thing else whereupon to live.’ The ladies further pointed out the
hardship of punishing the innocent for the guilty, and pleaded how they
had already made a great composition with the representatives of the
slaughtered persons. Nevertheless, on parties being heard before the
Council, the letters complained of were found to be legal and proper,
and so the garrison imposed on the old tower would remain for the
meantime a burden on the estate.--_P. C. R._
On the ensuing 17th of March, Jonas Hamilton of Coitquott gave surety
by sundry of his friends, under large sums, that ‘Margaret Tweedie,
relict of John Murray of Romanno, her tenants and servants, sall be
harmless and skaithless.’
[Sidenote: 1591.]
The garrison consisted of this Jonas; William, his brother; William
Hamilton in Cranston; and William Brown in Bordland. It appears that
the Murrays had held the house in contempt of a summons from John
Blainslie, ‘Bute pursuivant,’ and had been thrust out with their
families by force. The widow Margaret, with feminine tenacity of
purpose, obtained a letter under the king’s signet for dispossessing
the Hamilton garrison; and now this was reclaimed against. Parties
being heard in presence, his majesty affirmed the order for the
surrender of the house to the widow, on condition that she should
give security that it should not prove a refuge for her outlawed
relatives.--_P. C. R._
* * * * *
[Sidenote: DEC. 22.]
During this troublous period of the king’s reign, the book of the
Privy Council becomes a kind of review of the nobility and gentry of
Scotland, as they severally appear to give caution for one another as
to the maintenance of the peace, or are cited or denounced for its
infraction. As an example of a kind of entry which occurs several
times at every meeting, John Murray of Blackbarony becomes ‘actit and
obleist as cautioner or surety for William Burnett of the Barns [both
in Peeblesshire], that he sall compeir personally before the king’s
majesty and Lords of Secret Council, at Halyrudhouse, or where it sall
happen to be for the time, the 29 day of December instant, and answer
to sic things as sall be inquirit of him, touching sic deidly feid as
he has interest in, and that he sall underly sic order as his hieness
and the said lords sall demene to him thereanent, under the pain of ane
thousand merks.’--_P. C. R._
* * * * *
The Earl of Bothwell seems to have been little distressed by his
forfeiture. According to his own ideas, he was only suffering from
the malice of a successful enemy, the Chancellor Maitland. All that
he aimed at was a change of administration in his own favour. How to
bring it about? In our days, such a discharged favourite would bide
his time, in hopes that some new turn of affairs or a gust of popular
favour through the House of Commons would bring him into favour again.
In Scotland, at the close of the sixteenth century, the needful first
step was to obtain, by whatever means, possession of the king’s person.
Now then commenced a series of remarkable assaults on King James by his
turbulent cousin.
[Sidenote: 1591.]