|
|
Duncan, Earl of Fife
He was a youth of 17 years, held in England as a ward of court, when Robert
the Bruce was crowned King of Scots on 25th March 1306 at Scone Abbey. His elder
sister, Isabel, Countess of Buchan, had ridden through the night to Scone to
perform the hereditary rite of crowning the king on her brother's behalf.
|
|
Sir Thomas Randolph, Earl of
Moray, Lord of Man and Annandale
From his seal of 1296, when he swore fealty to Edward I, he bore three lozenges or cushion lozenge-wise. His father,
also Thomas, had been married a half sister of the Bruce and at some stage after
the the coronation of 1306 he added the double tressure around the
cushions
|
|
|
|
Sir Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March.
Seal Attached : A shield of arms: A lion rampant within a bordure charged with eleven roses. The shield within a rounded and pointed trefoil panel.
Legend : S : PATRICII DE DV[NBAR] COMITIS MARC'
Sir Patrick used a number of seals throughout his life. There is some doubt as to whether the roses are semy because they vary in number according to which seal one looks at
|
|
Malisa, Earl of
Strathearn
Seal Attached : On horseback to sinister, a knight in
hauberk and plumed helmet with sword and shield bearing arms: Two chevronels.
Horse plumed and armorially caparisoned.
Legend :
S' MALISII COMIT' DE
He was married to Agnes elder daughter and
co-heiress of Magnus Earl of Caithness and died before 1329.
|
|
|
|
Malcolm, Earl of
Lennox
Seal Attached : A saltire between four
roses.
Legend : S' MALCOLMI :
COMITIS:DE:LEV[ENAX]
Malcolm fifth Earl of Lennox married a daughter of
Christian Bruce (the king's sister) and sister of Donald earl of Mar. He died at
the battle of Halidon Hill in 1333. His father, who died in the very early 1290s
was an early adherent of the Bruce cause. His brother-in-law, Donald earl of Mar
was regent of Scotland after Robert I's death, but did not sign the Declaration
of Arbroath, as he was ill with a cold.
|
|
Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney
The last reference to Magnus earl of Caithness is his signature of the Declaration of Arbroath. He was certainly dead by 1329, leaving two co-heiresses, Agnes the elder, married to the earl of Strathearn and Margaret the younger, married to Sir Simon Fraser of Brotherton, from whom the family of Lovat descend.
|
|
|
|
William, Earl of Sutherland
|
|
Walter, Steward of Scotland
James fifth Steward had been an early adherent of the Bruce cause, both by his relationship to Robert, whose grandmother was a Stewart, but also by being brother in law to James Douglas. Walter sixth High Steward of Scotland had married Marjory Bruce, the king's daughter by his first marriage in 1315. He was born in 1293, so was only 27 at this time. Widowed, he died in 1326 leaving an only son who became King Robert II.
|
|
|
|
William Soules, Butler of Scotland
Seal Attached : A knight on horseback to the sinister with sword and shield. Arms on the caparaison of the horse: Barry of six.
Legend : SIGILLVM:WILELMI:D......S......
His father, Sir John Soulis, had been one of the unsuccessful claimants to the throne in 1292 tracing his decent from an illegitimate half sister of Alexander III. Sit William was to have been put on the throne if the plot to murder the Bruce had been successful. Seized at Berwick shortly after the signing of the Letter, he quickly confessed and was imprisoned for life along with his aunt, Agnes Comyn, Countess of Strathearn.
|
|
James, Lord of
Douglas
The Good Sir James was Bruce's staunchest supporter in his fight
to rid Scotland of the English. He was the son of Sir William Douglas of
Douglas, le Hardi by his wife Elizabeth Stewart daughter of Alexander 4th High
Steward. He succeeded his father in 1298. After the death of the king in 1329,
he took Bruce's heart on a crusade, to fulfil the king's promise to crusade. He
died in 1330 while fighting the Moors in Spain. The red heart now born by
Douglas was granted as an honourable augmentation in recognition of this. It is
considered that the three stars on the blue chief represent an agnatic
connection with the Moray family (see Alan Murray infra).
|
|
|
|
Roger Mowbray
Seal
Attached : A lion rampant.
Legend :
[SI]GILLVM:REGERI:DE:MOVBR…
Implicated in the plot to murder the Bruce
shortly after the Letter was signed, He died before 4th August 1320 when the
Black Parliament was called to try the conspirators. His corpse was brought
before the judges on a litter. Found guilty of treason he body was threatened
with mutilation but the King intervened and he was allowed a decent
burial.
|
|
David, Lord of
Brechin
Seal Attached : Being the seal of his second wife, Maria Ramsay : Three shields, with
their bases to centre within a cusped trefoil, bearing arms : Dexter Shield: Three piles in point
(Brechin). Sinister shield : Three garbs (Cumming). Upper shield : An eagle displayed (Ramsay)
Legend : S: MARIE:DE:RAMS:..
A
perpetual turncoat he displayed a pattern of disloyalty throughout his career.
Was on the English side at Bannockburnand captured after the battle. Swore
fealty to the Bruce but was one of the main conspirators it the plot to murder
the king only weeks after the Letter was signed. Found guilty he was drawn
through the streets of Perth behind horses hung and then beheaded.
|
|
|
|
David Graham
Seal Attached : A shield of Arms : On a chief three escallops. Shield suspended from a tree of three branches. On the reverse of the seal, a boar head couped erect
.
Legend : S'DAVIT: DE:GRAHAM:
|
|
John Menteith, Guardian of the
Earldom of Menteith
|
|
|
|
Sir Alexander Fraser of
Touchfraser
Great Chamberlain of Scotland
Seal
Attached : A knight on horseback to the sinister in armour with a
fan-plumed helmet, sword chained to shoulder, and shield bearing arms : six
fraises (3,2 and 1). The horse is armorially caparisoned.
Legend : Within a cusped circle : S' : ALEXANDRI :
FRASER : MILITIS
He married in 1316, as her second husband, Mary Bruce, the King's sister.
He was killed fighting Edward Balliol at the Battle of Dupplin in 1332. The
Frasers of Touchfraser ended in an heiress who married Sir William Keith
Mariscal in 1351; this line ended in an heiress who married a Gordon, wherefore
the Gordons of Huntley bear a Fraser quarter. Sir Alexander's younger son's line
continued in Philorth, subsequently becoming Lords Saltoun. The arms are
'fraises' or strawberries, canting on the name, or perhaps the name canted on
the arms, originally either five or six, by later three fraises, two and one.
|
|
Sir Gilbert Hay of
Errol, Constable of
Scotland
Seal Attached : On a shield three
escutcheons. Scroll ornament at top and sides of the shield.
Legend : S………DE:LE:HAY
|
|
|
|
Sir Robert Keith, Marischal
of Scotland
|
|
Sir Henry St.Clair of
Roslyn
He was the son of William St Clair who had died as King Edward's
prisoner in the Tower of London about 1299. Sir Henry was married to Alice de
Fenton. He was dead by 1335.
|
|
|
|
John Graham
Probably John de Graham of Dalkeith and Abercorn son of
Nicholas of Dalkeith.
|
|
Sir David Lindsay, Lord
of Crawfurd
Son of Sir Alexander Lindsay a supporter of Wallace and the Bruce. Sir David was
custodian of Edinburgh and Berwick castles. He married in 1325 the widow of Sir
Andrew Leslie, Mary Abernethy. He died in 1355.
|
|
|
|
Sir William
Oliphant
Seal Attached : A shield, three
crescents.
Legend : …:
WILLELMI:OLIFAVN:
Under King John Balliol and the Guardians, Sir William
Oliphant had been the commander of Stirling Castle. Falling in to the hands of
the English in 1304 he spent four and a half years in prison until he consented
to fight against the Bruce. He was installed as commander of the Perth Garrison.
The garrison was overrun by the Bruce and the loyal Scots in January 1313. He
joined the Bruce there after and remained loyal.
|
|
Sir Patrick Graham
Seal Attached : A shield of
Arms : On a fess three escallops. Shield within a pointed quatrefoil panel.
Legend : SIGILLVM : PA….CII :
GRA...
|
|
|
|
John Fenton
Must be assumed to be the successor of Sir William, Lord of Fenton, who married Cecilia heiress of Sir William Bisset of Lovat. Sir William was one of the auditors of the claims of Balliol and Bruce in 1296 at Berwick, when the English king Edward I adjudicated between the claimants.
|
|
William Abernethy
|
|
|
|
Sir David Wemyss
Son of the 1296 homager, Sir Michael Wemyss, a supporter of John Balliol. Sir David married firstly Annabella St Clair, widow of Sir Robert Bissett and secondly before 1304 Margery daughter of Sir Walter Ramsey. He died in 1332.
|
|
William Mushet
|
|
|
|
Fergus of Ardrossan
|
|
Sir Eustace Maxwell of Caerlaverock.
The Maxwells were strident
supporters of King John (Balliol) and much in league with the English, but this
not suprising as their lands in Dumfries were often in English hands. Eustace's
father John and grandfather Herbert both swore fealty to Edward I in 1296
(Ragman Roll), the latter with an armorial seal depicting a saltire. Eustace
succeeded his father John de Maxwell about 1312 and switched his support to the
Bruce shortly before Bannockburn. Probably a willing signatory of the letter
because the fortunes of his lands were so much dictated by the English just
across the border. He was implicated in the plot to murder the King only five
months later, he was however, acquitted along with Sir Patrick Graham.
|
|
|
|
Sir William Ramsey of Dalhousie
He was also a homager in 1296
|
|
Sir William Mowat
Did homage to Edward I at St Andrews in March 1304 but was solidly in the
Bruce's party by 1306 remaining loyal through out the rest of his life.
|
|
|
|
Alan Murray of
Culbin
Seal Attached : A shield of arms :
Three stars. Shield suspended by guige, wyverns at sides.
Legend : S'ALANI DE… Beaded borders.
Seems to
have been a cousin of Sir William Murray of St Fort. he held lands in Fife and
Forres.
|
|
Donald Campbell
He seems to be the younger son of Colin Campbell. His elder brother, Sir Neil
Campbell, was Colin's successor but was dead by 1315, so Donald may have been
the next in line as head of the House of Campbell.
|
|
|
|
John Cameron
Most probably the son of Robert Cameron of Balnely whose
Ragman Roll seal bore three bars.
|
|
Sir Reginald Cheyne
Seal Attached : A shield
of arms: On a bend, between 6 crosses crosslets fitchée, three eagles displayed
(quite distinct large eagles filling up all the bend)
Legend : ……….:LE:CHE:
|
|
|
|
Sir Alexander
Seton
Seal Attached : A
shield of arms: On a bend three crescents. The shield marked with coarse oblique
crossing lines.
Legend : S'ALEXANDRI:
SETON
He was the son of the
executed Sir Chrisopher Seton by Christina, sister of the Bruce. He probably did
not change his arms to the traditionally recognised Seton coat of Or three
crescents within a double tressure flory counter-flory Gules until after
1322.
|
|
Andrew
Leslie
He was
heir of Sir Norman Leslie of that Ilk, Sheriff of Aberdeen and homager of 1296.
(dead by 1317) Sir Andrew married Maria the younger daughter and co-heiress of
Alexander of Abernethy in 1317 gaining lands in Fife and Forfar. He was dead by
1324.
|
|
|
|
Alexander
Straiton
|
|
Alexander
Lamberton
Seal Attached : A shield of arms :
Three escallops inverted
Legend : S ALAXAN':
DE:LAMB'TV
Probably a near relative of
William Lamberton, Bishop of St Andrews.
|
|
|
|
Sir Edward Keith of Synton
Seal Attached :
A shield of arms : On a chief three pallets, over all a bend. Lozenge diaper on
chief and on background.
Legend : SIGILLVM :
EDWARDI : DE : KE
Succeeded his brother as Great Marischal of Scotland in1346, died 1351.
|
|
John of Inchmartin
Lord of that Ilk
Seal Attached : A shield of arms :
Billetté, a lion rampant. Shield between two wyverns.
Legend : S'JOHANNIS DE HINCMARTIN
His father, Sir David de
Inchmartin, was at the coronation of the Bruce in March, 1306 but was captured
by the English after the Battle of Methven in June of the same year. He was
hanged, without trial at Newcastle shortly after. A Sir Henry Inchmartin, Lord
of that Ilk, bore circa 1305, a lion rampant. So John's coat, with the billetty
field may represent a differencing as Sir Henry may well have still been the
head of the family at the time of the signing of the letter. Sir John was
Sheriff of Perth in 1328 and was killed at Durham in 1346.
Proposed
Arms : Argent billetty
Sable a lion rampant of the second armed and langued Gules.
|
|
|
|
Thomas
Menzies
Seal Attached : A
shield of arms : A chief dancettée (of four teeth). Shield between three
wyverns.
Legend : S'THOME D' MEINERIS
|
|
John Durant
|
|
|
|
Thomas Morham
|
