}n^^ //V^;r 84,EAT0N SQUARE, Pf^ U^i^lU^ S.W.I. ^ ir^ ^^f- 4^"^ ^,.^<7 lf/^7i ^ -iu- /^ ^'^^ w ^ /^^U.'i^^^ 'tyia^i^ ^y^-^y,»y /*»*if^^ Sii^h^^ o-' -^21 7? i^t<^ I • y^ GLAMIS CASTLE, ^'" GLAMIS, rA yf/^^-T' )i)^ Jn/i^u^^yk- N.B. ^* X^>£5 /V /.^^cy^^^ L LYON, EARL OF STRATHMORE AND KINGHORNE /O^^^^^l^^i^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from National Library of Scotland http://www.archive.org/details/lyonearlofstrathOOIyon •tratj^mort an^ l^ingfjorne LYON EARL OF STRATHMORE AND KINGHORNE PRINTED FROM THE MS. ORIGINALLY PREPARED FOR THE NEW 'SCOTS PEERAGE' BY ROSS HERALD 1911 LYON, EARL OF STRATHMORE AND KINGHORNE IKE some other noble families in Scotland, that of Lyon is assigned a Norman origin by our older genealogical writers, few of whose tracts, how- ever, are of a remoter antiquity than the seven- teenth century. The story goes that the origi- nal ancestor was ' one of the ancient family of de Leonne in France, which continues there in great honour to this day, and derives its original from the noble race of the Leones in Rome. He came from France to England with William the Conqueror, and from thence to Scotland with King Edgar, son to Malcolm iii., about the year 1098, from whom, for good service he had done him against Donald Bane the usurper, he obtained certain lands in the sheriffdom of Perth, which were called after him Glen Lyon.' This startling inversion of the usually accepted theory regard- ing the origin of surnames is buttressed by a charter said to have been granted by King Edgar in the seventh year of his reign (a.d. 1104) to the church of the Holy Trinity at Punfermliue, one of the witnesses being a certain 'Syrro A 1 LYON, EARL OF STRATHMORE AND KINGHORNE de Leone,' the reputed ancestor of the family in Scotland. It was not difficult for the inventor of the tale to imitate the brief charter forms in use in King Edgar's day, but not so easy to produce a list of witnesses thereto which should stand the test of criticism, and that is precisely the point at which the ingenuity of the manufacturer of the charter in question is at fault.' It is probably now a hopeless task to settle who the true eponymus of the race was, but it is to be observed in this connection that the most ancient possessions of the family, the Celtic than- ages of Glamis, Tannadyce and Belhelvies, lie around the Mounth, that great mountain chain which, rising from the shores of Loch Linnhe, and traversing Scotland in an easterly direction until it declines to sea-level at the flsh- ing-port of Stonehaven on the German ocean, long remained the stronghold of a Gaelic-speaking race, some remnants of which yet linger in the Highland parishes of Angus, in Edzell, Lochlee, Olova, Glenisla, Kirriemuir and Airlie.' Two significant incidents in the history of the Glamis family, occurring in the early part of the eighteenth century, while the clan system was yet unbroken, and to be referred to in their own place, tend to strengthen the belief that the family is truly of Celtic origin. Many of the offices held by the chiefs of the house in the fifteenth and sixteentli centuries could only have been filled by those conversant with the Gaelic language. The record narrative of the family begins with John Lyon, whose career reads like a fairy tale. No youth who ever stepped from his father's tower to seek his fortune in the world, with visions of a castle and a princess in the lap of the future, ever in tale or lay so completely realised his dreams, as did John Lyon in the Scotland of the fourteenth century. His social rank may be inferred from the fact that when he leaps into fame and power in the reign of David ii., the son and successor of King • The curious may see the charter Lyon Office Library, D, i. £ol. in question ' out of the Registers ' 240. in 'The Scots Noblitie' Ms., ' Census Returns for Scotland. ' LYON, EARL OF STRATHMORE AND KINGHORNE Robert the Bruce, we find him fully equipped for his career as a courtier, statesman and diplomatist. He was in the service of the Grown prior to 9 July 1368, as appears from the inductive clause in the charter of Gourtastoune granted to him in that year, but the earliest record reference to his oflBcial position at Gourt is on 13 January 1368-69, when he is designed ' clericus domini nostri regis,' on his appoint- ment as one of the auditors to examine the accounts of the Ghamberlain of Scotland.' The remuneration of the auditor- ship was a fee of ten merks sterling, to be uplifted out of every Justiciarie to be held on the north side of the Forth, the date of the grant being 10 April following.' He re- mained auditor until his own appointment as Ghamberlain. In the same year (1369) he was dispatched on a mission to London,' and in the English state papers he is referred to as the ' Glerk of the Privy Seal of the King of Scotland.' On the accession of Robert ii. in 1371 he was appointed Keeper of the Privy Seal.' On 10 October 1375, Queen Euphemia, the second wife of Robert ii. assigned to him certain liferent duties payable to her out of the revenues of the Gastle of Edinburgh, of which John Lyon was then Keeper.' There is a precept by the King dated at Dun- fermlyn 25 June 1380, directing the auditors of the royal accounts to allow to John Lyon (whom he and his eldest son had appointed keeper of Edinburgh Gastle for life) the whole expenses disbursed by the Ghamberlain in fortifying and furnishing that fortress with provisions, warlike instru- ments, and all other necessaries.' On 20 October 1377 he was appointed Ghamberlain of Scotland, then the inost important office in the disposal of the Grown.' This position he retained until his death. In the spring of 1382 he was again engaged in a mission to England.' ' Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, ^ Acta Pari. Scot., i. 5il (ved). it. 339. " Letter of Grant by Queen - Original grant in Glamis Euphemia in Glamis Charter- Charter-room. room. * Exch. Rolls, ii. 358. ' Glamis Charter-room, * Calendar oj Documents relat- * E.vch. Rolls, ii. 583. ing to Scotland, Iv. No. 173. ^ Rotuli Scotia:, tr, 41a, ';:; LYON, EARL OP STRATHMORE AND KINGHORNE His acquisitions of property date from an early period in his career. On 10 July 1367 he acquired from Walter, Earl of Ross, and Euphame his wife, the lands of Pordell in the barony of Forgandenny,' and on 28 May 1368 from John de Hay, lord of TuUibothwell, Ballyndireth, now Bandirran, ^ in the Fenton's barony of Coulas ; on 13 April 1370 from the above John de Hay, Tolynachton, with the pertinents and native men thereof in the forest of Buyne and sheriffdom ; of Banff ' in 1370 from Walter de Lesly, Knight, Lord of Philorth, twenty oxgates of land in Monorgan, with three acres of meadow, three cruives, and a yair called Brakeless, a grant confirmed in 1371 by Andrew de Lesley, Lord of that ' Ilk : ' in this charter John Lyon is designed of Forteviot.' The lands of Longforgan he acquired in three separate portions ; the first or Pyngle's part, formerly belonging to the Lady of Balliol, was granted by Robert the Bruce on the forfeiture of that family to Jolin de Dunfermlyn and was conveyed by Emma de Dunfermlyn, heir and cousin of the deceased Alexander de Dunfermlyn, to Adam de Pyngle, burgess of Aberdeen, who in turn sold it to John Lyon, the discharge of the purchase price being dated 20 March 1374 ; tlie second or Bruce's part of Longforgan he got in excambion for certain other lands, from Agnes, wife of Sir Robert de Ramesay, Knight, on 28 April 1377 the third or Scarlet's part was resigned by Thomas ' Original Charter at Glamis. and tlnonghout the various changes ' Ibid. of d.ynast J' it remained an appanage ' Ibid. of the Crown (Exch. Molls, i. 18, a.d. * Ibid. 1264). King Robert the Bruce made * This designation of Forteviot is grants of various parts of the lands interesting as, taken in conjunction see particularly Robertson's Index with the Chamberlain's pious solici- of Missing Charters, f. 19, No. 87, tudeforthe welfare of the burgesses etc. Sk.ene{IIistorians of Scotland, of Perth, it affords a possible clue iv. 417-418) enumerates the different to the origin of the family. For- classes of tenants in a thanage teviot was one of the ancient Celtic first, the bondsmen or native men, thanages, and at a very early period who held the land from year to came into the possession of the year or at will ; second, the free ten- Crown. Kenneth Maoalpin, King ants and those of gentle blood, who of the Scots, died at his palace there held lands for a fixed term of years in A.D. 858 {Chron. of the Picts and or in perpetuity ; lastly, the thane, iSco<8,Skene'sed.,Introd,p.cxxxiii), who held from the Crown, LYON, EARL OF STRATHMORE AND KINGHORNE Scarlet oa 6 June 1377, and conflrmed to John Lyon 14 ; July 1378 ' these lands were erected into a barony by charter from Robert ii. 2 October 1378.' On 8 April 1373 he acquired in tack from William de Meldrum Altermony and Dalrevach in Stirling.' On 18 February 1375 he had a grant from the convent of Arbroath of the lands belonging to the abbey within the territory of Glamis.' On 29 June 1378, he had a lease from the Abbot of Dunferm- line of the lands of Fothros and Schenevale, near Portyncrak in Fife, for services rendered to the monastery ; ' this lease was transferred into a heritable right in his grandson's time, the grantee being taken bound not to remove any of the nativi without the consent of the convent.' On 22 March 1379 he had a liferent from Alexander, Abbot of Scone and the monastery thereof, for services rendered and to be rendered, of the