"Be it kend till all men be thir present lettres, me Thomas Kirkpatrik
of Closburn, to be bundin and oblist, and be the tenor heirof, bindis
and oblissis me be the faith and treuth of my body, in manrent and
service to ane nobil and mychty lord, Robert Lord Maxwell, induring
all the dayis of my lyfe; and byndis and oblissis me, as said is, to
be leill and trew man and servand to the said Robert Lord Maxwell,
my master, and sall nowthir heir nor se his skaith, but sall lat the
samyn at my uter power, an warn him therof. And I sall conceill it
that the said lord schawis to me, and sall gif him agane the best
leill and trew counsale that I can, quhen he ony askis at me; and that
I sall ryde with my kin, freyndis, servandis, and allies, that wil do
for me, or to gang with the said lord; and do to him aefauld, trew,
and thankful service, and take aefauld playne part with the said lord,
my maister, in all and sindry his actionis, causis, querrellis, leful
and honest, movit, or to be movit be him, or aganis him, baith in
peace and weir, contrair or aganis all thae that leiffes or de may
(my allegeant to owr soveran ladye the quenis grace, her tutor and
governor, allanerly except). And thir my lettres of manrent, for all
the dayis of my life foresaid to indure, all dissimulations, fraud,
or gyle, secludit and away put. In witness, &c." The deed is signed at
Edinburgh, 3d February, 1542.
In the collection, from which this extract is made, there are bonds
of a similar nature granted to Lord Maxwell, by Douglas of Drumlanrig,
ancestor of the Duke of Queensberry; by Crichton Lord Sanquhar,
ancestor of the earls of Dumfries, and many of his kindred; by
Stuart of Castlemilk; by Stuart of Garlies, ancestor of the earls
of Galloway; by Murray of Cockpool, ancestor of the Murrays, lords
Annandale; by Grierson of Lagg, Gordon of Lochmaben, and many other of
the most ancient and respectable barons in the south-west of Scotland,
binding themselves, in the most submissive terms, to become the
liegemen and the vassals of the house of Maxwell; a circumstance which
must highly excite our idea of the power of that family. Nay, even
the rival chieftain, Johnstone of Johnstone, seems at one time to
have come under a similar obligation to Maxwell, by a bond, dated 11th
February 1528, in which reference is made to the counter-obligation of
the patron, in these words: "Forasmeikle as the said lord has oblist
him to supple, maintene, and defend me, in the peciabill brouking and
joysing of all my landis, rentis, &c. and to take my aefald, leill and
trew part, in all my good actionis, causis, and quarles, leiful and
honest, aganes all deedlie, his alledgeance to our soveraigne lord the
king allanerly excepted, as at mair length is contained in his lettres
of maintenance maid to me therupon; therfore, &c." he proceeds to bind
himself as liegeman to the Maxwell.
I cannot dismiss the subject without observing, that, in the dangerous
times of Queen Mary, when most of these bonds are dated, many barons,
for the sake of maintaining unanimity and good order, may have chosen
to enroll themselves among the clients of Lord Maxwell, then warden
of the border, from which, at a less turbulent period, personal
considerations would have deterred them.
_Adieu! my castle of the Thrieve_.--P. 268. v. 2.
This fortress is situated in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, upon an
island about two acres in extent, formed by the river Dee. The walls
are very thick and strong, and bear the marks of great antiquity. It
was a royal castle; but the keeping of it, agreeable to the feudal
practice, was granted by charter, or sometimes by a more temporary and
precarious right, to different powerful families, together with lands
for their good service in maintaining and defending the place. This
office of heritable keeper remained with the Nithesdale family (chief
of the Maxwells) till their forfeiture, 1715. The garrison seems to
have been victualled upon feudal principles; for each parish in the
stewartry was burdened with the yearly payment of a _lardner mart
cow_, i.e. a cow fit for being killed and salted at Martinmas, for
winter provisions. The right of levying these cattle was retained by
the Nithesdale family, when they sold the castle and estate, in
1704, and they did not cease to exercise it till their
attainder.--_Fountainhall's Decisions_, Vol. I. p. 688.
This same castle of the Thrieve was, A.D. 1451-2, the scene of an
outrageous and cruel insult upon the royal authority. The fortress was
then held by William VIII. Earl of Douglas, who, in fact, possessed a
more unlimited authority over the southern districts of Scotland,
than the reigning monarch. The earl had, on some pretence, seized
and imprisoned a baron, called Maclellan, tutor of Bombie, whom he
threatened to bring to trial, by his power of hereditary jurisdiction.
The uncle of this gentleman, Sir Patrick Gray of Foulis, who commanded
the body-guard of James II., obtained from that prince a warrant,
requiring from Earl Douglas the body of the prisoner. When Gray
appeared, the earl instantly suspected his errand. "You have not
dined," said he, without suffering him to open his commission: "it is
ill talking between a full man and a fasting." While Gray was at meat,
the unfortunate prisoner was, by Douglas's command, led forth to the
court-yard and beheaded. When the repast was finished, the king's
letter was presented and opened. "Sir Patrick," says Douglas, leading
Gray to the court, "right glad had I been to honour the king's
messenger; but you have come too late. Yonder lies your sister's son,
without the head: you are welcome to his dead body." Gray, having
mounted his horse, turned to the earl, and expressed his wrath in a
deadly oath, that he would requite the injury with Douglas's heart's
blood.--"To horse!" cried the haughty baron, and the messenger of
his prince was pursued till within a few miles of Edinburgh. Gray,
however, had an opportunity of keeping his vow; for, being upon guard
in the king's anti-chamber at Stirling, when James, incensed at the
insolence of the earl, struck him with his dagger, Sir Patrick rushed
in, and dispatched him with a pole-axe. The castle of Thrieve was the
last of the fortresses which held out for the house of Douglas, after
their grand rebellion in 1553. James II. writes an account of the
exile of this potent family, to Charles VII. of France, 8th July,
1555; and adds, that all their castles had been yielded to him,
_Excepto duntaxat castro de Trefe, per nostres fideles
impraesentiarum obsesso; quod domino concedente in brevi obtinere
speramus.--Pinkerton's History, Appendix_, Vol. I. p. 486.--See
_Pitscottie's History, Godscroft, &c._
_And most part of his friends were, there_,--P. 269. v. 3. The
ancestor of the present Mr. Maxwell of Broomholm is particularly
mentioned in Glenriddell's MS. as having attended his chieftain in his
distress, and as having received a grant of lands, in reward of this
manifestation of attachment.
_Sae now he's o'er the floods sae gray_.--P. 269. v. 3.
This seems to have been a favourite epithet in old romances, Thus in
_Hornchilde_, and _Maiden Rimuild_,
Thai sayled ower the _flode so gray_,
In Inglond arrived were thay,
Ther him levest ware.