Memoirs and Adventures of Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange
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^IPfei ','':/' •«* fc. 7 ? 1" r-¥t Digitized b^rtfre^nternet Archive in 201^ wiih funding from NationaNUbr^y of Scotland http://archive.org/details/memoirsadventureOOkirk MEMOIRS SIR WILLIAM KIRKALDY OF GRANGE. PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. MEMOIRS ADVENTURES SIR WILLIAM KIRKALDY OK GRANGE, KNIGHT, COMMANDER OF FRENCH HORSE, LORD OF THE SECRET COUNCIL, AND GOVERNOR OF THE CASTLE OF EDINBURGH FOR MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. STOL'TE MAN, WHO ALWAYS OFFERED, BY SINGLE COMBATE AND AT POINT THE SWORD, TO MAINTAIN WHATEVER HE SAID." WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON. MDCCCXLIX. PREFACE. Though no period of Scottish history has been more elaborately discussed than that of Mary, the author pre- sents these Memoirs to his readers, assured that they cannot fail to become interested in the career of Kirkaldy of Grange. Without endeavouring to discover the secret springs or impulses which moved the great politicians and turbu- lent nobles of that age, the author has presented, as dis- tinctly as he can, the life and actions of one of the most remarkable men of the time. He has not ventured upon those elaborate disquisitions which necessarily load the pages of history, but has rather endeavoured to awaken interest by the minute detail of individual action. By confining a narrative to the history of an indi- vidual rather than of a nation, a better idea of the time may be gathered, and striking anecdotes and glimpses given of great men of the day— incidents which the historian, as a recorder of more important events, passes over in silence. VI PEEFACE. Iii the days of Sir William Kirkaldy, Scotland was filled with selfish, furious, and bigoted leaders in war and theology, whose hearts were fired by religious fanaticism and military ferocity— men suited to that iron age, which exercised so powerful an influence on the development of the national character and spirit ; and for which the gentle Mary Stuart, by her mind and accomplishments, was altogether so unfitted. Mary was peculiarly unfortunate in living at the period of the Eeformation—an event which might not have hap- pened in her time, had not the cupidity of the Scottish barons been excited by the hope of acquisitions from the plunder of the church. For many a gloomy year after that event, Scotland was one vast arena of ambitious intrigue, political rancour, and religious animosity, which the clergy fostered to the utmost, and of which the detestable policy of England made a cruel and fatal use. In the strife so long waged between two factions of fierce and grasping nobles, the mass of the Scottish people (like the Spaniards of our own day) concerned themselves but little — a fact proved by the small number of com- batants ranged under the chiefs on each side. The author has avoided those perplexing hypotheses concerning the crimes and intrigues of the time, and, without caring to assume the part of pleader for the mis- guided Mary, the subtle Murray, or the heartless Eliza- beth, has confined himself to giving descriptive accounts PEEFACE. Vll of the battles, sieges, and feuds of the period, and to exhibiting the romantic achievements and brilliant ad- ventures of the brave warrior whose Memoirs are now for the first time laid before the public. Many notices are given respecting the old localities where those stirring events were acted, and of the tac- tics, cannon, and weapons of the age, when the defensive armour and heraldic cognisances of the days of chivalry were gradually giving place to the military fashions of our own. The authorities are placed before the reader ; many more might have been given, but they would, perhaps, have imparted a tedium to the work. The events of the hero's life, from his debut in his father's house of Halyards to the close of the scene, have been chiefly drawn from rare and privately printed works, which, with other ancient lore delineating our national history, are generally be- yond the reach of the reading public. Some information concerning the Kirkaldys of Grange has been gleaned from an ancient MS. birth-brief of the family, and upwards of thirty MS. charters and other documents preserved in the Record Office, and Office of the Great Seal. For local information concerning them, the author was indebted to the late incumbent of Kinghorn. A gentleman, holding an official situation in Fifeshire, had in his possession, thirty years ago, a great many of Sir William Kirkaldy's private papers; since then Vlll PREFACE. they have unfortunately been lost beyond the chance of recovery. Notwithstanding that he was for five years governor of Edinburgh castle, no documents concerning him are preserved in the fortress. In the Ordnance Offices in London and Edinburgh there is now no document relat- ing to the castle dated farther back than a hundred years, all the old records and garrison-orders relating to that important stronghold in 1745 (and prior to that period, which is so interesting to Scotsmen) having been committed to the flames some years ago—a piece of strange policy or wanton destruction, which, however, must have emanated in an order from the Master-General of the Ordnance. Edinburgh, November 1848. CONTENTS. CHAP. I. THE KIRKALDYS OF THAT ILK, 1 II. THE LORD HIGH TREASURER, . 11 111. THE CONSPIRATORS, 21 IV. THE DEATH OF CARDINAL BEATOUN, 34 V. THE CASTLE BLOCKADED, 42 VI. ARRIVAL OF LEON STROZZIO, 55 VII. MONT SAINT MICHEL CAPTIVITY AND ESCAPE, 63 VIII. THE WARS IN PICARDY FIRST CAMPAIGN, 76 IX. SECOND CAMPAIGN THE DEATH OF NORMAN LESLIE, 82 X. BATTLES OF RENTI AND SAINT QUENT1N, 91 XI. GRANGE RETURNS TO SCOTLAND HIS MARRIAGE BREAKS A SPEAR WITH RALPH EVERS, 90 XII. THE LORDS OF THE CONGREGATION, 111 XIII. THE FRENCH INROAD IN FIFE, 122 XIV. KIRKALDY DESTROYS l'aBAST AND HIS COMPANY HE REVENGES HIMSELF ON D'oiSEL, 131 XV. THE ROUNDABOUT RAID, 141 *XV. CARBERRY HILL, 154 XVI. THE BROKEN TREATY—LOCHLEVEN 174 XVII. THE UNICORN, 184 XVIII. THE BATTLE OF LANGSIDE, . 192 XIX. KIRKALDY GOVERNOR OF EDINBURGH CASTLE, 206 Z CONTENTS. Page CHAP. XX. KIRKALDY AND HIS SOLDIERS REVOLT, . 222 XXI. KIRKALDY's DEFIANCE A MOCK FIGHT AND A REAL ONE, . 237 XXII. KIRKALDY HOLDS A PARLIAMENT DRURY's PEACE, .... 249 XXIII. THE EXPLOITS OF CAPTAIN MELVILLE, . 265 XXIV. THE LORDS OF THE BLACK PARLIAMENT, . 275 XXV. BLOCKADE OF THE CAPITAL THE CRABSTANE, 288 XXVI. THE DOUGLAS WARS—THE LEAGUERS OF MER- CHISTON, . .298 XXVII. THE DOUBLE BETRAYAL LADY HELEN KIRK- ALDY, .... 314 xxviii. the signal gun the english troops, . 324 xxix. the last efforts of valour and despair, 337 xxx. the gibbet and the setting sun, . 355 notes, .... 365-383 MEMOIRS KIRKALDY OF GRANGE, CHAPTER I. THE KIRKALDYS OF THAT ILK. William Kirkaldy, reputed the bravest soldier, the most accomplished cavalier of his time, and one of the earliest converts made by the Scottish Reformers, was the eldest son of Sir James Kirkaldy, Baron of Kirkaldy - Grange, (Lord High Treasurer to King James V.,) and of Janet Melville his wife, daughter of Sir John Melville of Raith, progenitor of the Earls of Leven and Melville, and chief of an ancient house in Fifeshire, which deduced descent from a famous Hungarian warrior of the days of Malcolm III. 1 No family displayed greater wisdom in the cabinet, or heroism in the field, than that of Grange, during the 1 Douglas Peerage. Crawf. Lives. Fol. A 2 MEMOIRS OF KIEKALDY OF GRANGE. regency of Mary of Guise, and the troubled reign of her unhappy daughter. It is greatly to be regretted that, from the disjointed and imperfect state of some of our public records, few notices can be gleaned from them of the descent and succession of the Kirkaldys yet these ; few are sufficient to prove their claim to considerable antiquity. Their surname was no doubt derived from the town, which was bordered by their estates, and the name of which signifies a cell of the Culdees, the secular priests of ancient Caledonia, who existed prior to the establish- ment of the Roman Church on its monastic footing. In Gaelic, Culdee signifies a monk or hermit ; hence Kirk- culdei. In Prynne's History, it appears that a Sir William de Kirkcaldy was one of the Scottish barons who submitted to Edward III. of England, during one of his wanton and rapid invasions. A Simeon Kyrcaldie appears in a charter of David II. dated apud Edynburgch ; and the same monarch granted a pension to an Andrew de Kirk- aldye, " capellano, 5 marcarum sterlingorum annuatim de custuma civitatis Sancti Andrea?, quosque per Domi- num Regem ad aliquod beneficium ecclesiasticum fuerit promotus," &C 1 There was an ancient branch of the surname of Kirk- aldy who were Barons of Inchture in the shire of Perth. At an early period this line became merged in the house of Kinnaird, by the marriage of Lady Marjorie, daughter and sole heiress of Sir John de Kirkaldy, to Sir Rainold de Kinnaird, Knight, to whom her lands were confirmed 1 Roll of Charters. Registrum Magni Sigilli, &c. THE KIEKALDTS OF THAT ILK. 3 by a charter from King Robert III. on the 28th January 1399. Of this marriage come the Lords of Kinnaird, who bear in their coat-of-arrns a fess wavy between three stars gules, for Kirkaldy. 1 Of the family of Inchture, it is supposed from a younger son, came the line of Grange, and another of much less note and importance, the Kirk- aldys of Wester Abden, who appear to have become extinct, or to have lost their lands, about the beginning of the seventeenth century.