The House of Seton. a Study of Lost Causes

"R. 2/7 2..* National Library of Scotland 1 B000017303* THE HOUSE OF SETON A STUDY OF LOST CAUSES BY SIR BRUCE GORDON SETON, Bt., C.B. VOLUME II LINDSAY AND MACLEOD io GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH 1941 LAURISTON CAST! t LIBRARY ACCESSION Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from National Library of Scotland http://www.archive.org/details/houseofsetonstv200seto . : ONTENTS ( S ont inue d ) CADETS (Continued). Page CHAP. XIII. The Seton-Gordons 371 XIV. Setons of Touch 392 XV. Setons of Abercorn 497 XVI. Setons of Preston and Ekolsund 581 XVII. Setons of Meldrum 587 XVIII. Setons of Pitmedden 602 XIX. Setons of Mounie 617 371 CHAPTER XIII . THE "SETON-GORDONS " Of the cadet branches of the family of Seton by- far the most Important, and the largest, is that which, only two generations after its emergence from the parent stem, dropped the patronymic and. assumed the surname of the heiress of Gordon. In so far as the history of Scotland is concerned, this family of "Seton-Gordons", i.e. the Gordons who originated from the Setons, was a more consistently important factor in the affairs of State than the main line, from the early 15th Century onwards. To their undoubted success many factors contribu- ted. When Alexander de Seton, second son of Sir William de Seton, married in 1408 Elizabeth de Gordon he became through her, and her maternal relations, the .possessor of large properties. He found himself at once in the position of one of the great land owners in the North; and he and his successors were particularly skilful in "birsing yorifj;" their boundaries. Geographically, too, they were favoured in their remoteness Irom the Borders and escaped the English in- vasions which were the nightmare of the great families in the South. It is true that, when they migrated North from the ancestral estates in Berwickshire, they found themselves .in an Enclave of Clahs who had no affection for them and lest no opportunity of doing them injury; but their superior organisation and mili- tary training made the Seton-Gordons, and their successors the northern Gordons, bad enemies; and what they had they held. They also, generation after generation, showed a remarkable flair for successful marriages; their alliances with the Stewart Kings would have been enough to explain their success, even if their own qualities had not been what they were. 372 If they inherited their estates from their women, and their political position largely from their Royal connexions, they inherited from their Seton ancestors certain qualities which characterised that family; and, for three centuries, they stood for ideals, political and religious, many of which were coming to be or were already recognised as Lost Causes. In successive generations they suffered, in their persons and their properties, because they did not take the line of least resistance and bow to the will of the majority which is universally regarded as right. Nevertheless, in spite of temporary eclipses of fortune, attainder, forfeiture, and imprisonment, and in spite of the intense jealousy of their neighbours they "birsed yont"; and, without them, the history of Scotland would perhaps have been comparatively tame. It is impossible however to introduce a history of the Gordons into this work. All that can be done is to consider the union of the Setons and Gordons in 1408, and of the two succeeding generations, when they were still Setons. 573 THE EARLY GORDONS. Tradition takes the family, in Scotland, back to the time of Malcolm "Ceannmor" who was killed at Aln- wick in 1093. Whether they took their name from the Berwickshire lands or whether they gave it to the lands can not now be stated. As a surname, Gordon does not appear before 1171, and was probably assumed by the then owners of the lands, which were held of the Earls of Dunbar C 1 ). The coincidence of the identity of their arms and of those of the older family of Swinton of that ilk is so remarkable, that they may well have sprung from the latter. Leaving aside the early members of the family we get to a historical basis with Sir Adam Gordon who did 2 homage to Edward I. at Elgin on 28 July 1296 ( ) and was later a Warden of the East March. At that time he was an adherent of the English and held the office of Justiciary of Lothian from 1305-1312. In the following year, however, he transferred his allegiance to Robert Bruce, and, as Barbour says, "was becummyne a Scottis man". The cause of this change of policy was the fact that Sir Adam had been unjustly imprisoned by an English commander and fined 1000 merks, and could get no redress from Edward II. w). In 1320 he was one of the two Ambassadors from Scotland carrying to Pope John the letter dated 6 April 1320 from the Scots Parliament, and, on his return, received a grant of the barony of Strathbogie which had been declared forfeited, at the Parliament of Scone in December 1319, from David Strathbolgi, Earl of Athol. This grant was of great importance as it established Sir Adam and his successors^ in the North. Sir Adam probably died before 1329, and hi 3 grand- son John Gordon had a confirmation of the grant of Strathbogie from David II, dated 20 March 1357/58 John died before February 1360/61. 1. Scots Peerage lV 505, 507. 2- Calendar Docs. Scotland II 195. 3. ib • ib III 337 374 This John Gordon had two sons, Sir John and Sir Adam. Sir John, who was engaged most of his life in fighting the English, was knighted about 1390. He was present at Otterburn, and died after 1391 but before 1395, when he was succeeded by Sir Adam Gordon. According to the Scots Peerage: "When the Earl of March in 1400 passed to the service of King Henry IV. and his Scottish estates were forfeited, Gordon was granted the superiority of his lands of Gordon and Pogo, and thus attained baronial rank. He is styled Lord of Gordon among the barons in the English accounts of the battle of Homildon, and Sir q ) Adam Gordon, Knight, in writs of a later date. Sir Adam was killed in the action at Homildon Hill on 14th September 1402. He married, in or about 1380, Elizabeth Keith, fourth daughter of Sir William Keith, Marischal of Scot- land, by his wife Margaret Praser, granddaughter and heiress of Sir Alexander Praser. By this marriage there were two children, John and Elizabeth. John Gordon... succeeded his father on 14th Septem- ber 1402. He married Agnes Douglas, daughter of James Douglas, Lord of Dalkeith, but had no issue by her, and himself died before 7th March 1407/8; the succession then opened to his sister Elizabeth. 1. Scots Peerage IV 517. 575 ELIZABETH GORDON. In accordance with feudal custom, she being at the time of her father's death at Homildon Hill in 1402 a minor, the gift of Elizabeth's "ward and marriage" was in the hands of the crown. Her uncle by marriage, Robert, Duke of Albany, was Guardian of the Kingdom, and it is generally stated that he granted the wardship to Walter Haliburton of Dirleton. The relationship of the parties concerned was as shown in the following Table: Ro bert II Sir William Keith = Margaret Marischal 1 Fraser John Robert, Duke = Muriella (Robert III) of Albany Governor of Sir Adam Elizabeth Gordon "Lady of Scotland v of Aboyne" Huntly J ame s I Sir Walter = Isobel Haliburton Sir Alexander Elizabeth of Seton Dirleton 376 Sir Walter Haliburton, in his turn, sold the "casualties" on 27th March 1408, for an annual payment of fifty merks during his own life time, to Sir William de Setoune-L* who thus became Elizabeth's guardian. There may, however, have been another step in these transactions, as there is a Charter by Robert III. dated "2nd February in the 14th year of our Reign" i.e. 1404, granting the wardship of Elizabeth to Walter de Buchanan. 2. In 1408, however, Elizabeth was certainly the ward of Sir William Seton of that ilk; up till that time she was probably a negligible quantity, as her brother John was alive and was married, and her prospects were not bright. But this changed in or about March 1408 when her brother John died without issue, and Elizabeth became the possessor of the Gordon estates. According to Maitland, the Chronicler of the Seton family, Sir William wished to bestow his ward on his eldest son John; but the latter had made other matri- monial arrangements for himself, and declined the offer. Sir William then gave her in marriage to his second son Alexander in July 1408, within a few months of her brother's death. Elizabeth and her husband were within the fourth degree of consanguinity and had to obtain a dispensation for their marriage; many years later it was dis- covered that there was a still nearer degree of propin- quity between them, - the third degree - and a fresh 1. Reg. Mag. Sig. folio Vol. 232. No. 25; Scots Peerage VIII. 518. 2. Harleian MSS. 4693 fol . 9b. ) 377 dispensation was obtained on 15th December 1429 from Henry, Bishop of St. Andrews. (1). On her brother's death Elizabeth de Gordon inherited not only the Gordon and Huntly estates in Ber- wickshire but the Comyn lands of Strathbogie which had been granted to her great grandfather Sir Adam de Gor- don in 1319, after the forfeiture of their owner David de Strathbogie Earl of Athol by Robert Bruce in 1314.

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