15^ « ,. „CJbJrJp>] ,*M i, X A DIURNAL OF REMARKABLE OCCURRENTS THAT HAVE PASSED WITHIN THE COUNTRY OF SCOTLAND SINCE THE DEATH OF KING JAMES THE FOURTH TILL THE YEAR M.D.LXXV. FROM A MANUSCRIPT OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY IN THE POSSESSION OF SIR JOHN MAXWELL OF POLLOCK, BARONET. PRINTED AT EDINBURGH M.D.CCC.XXXIII. At a Meeting of the Committee of Management of THE BANNATYNE ClUB, HELD IN THE HOUSE OF THE President, December 4. 1829, Resolved, That a Manuscript Chronicle of Affairs in Scot- land, by an anonymous writer during the latter part of the Sixteenth Century, in the possession of Sir John Maxwell of Pollock, Baronet, and communicated to the Club in the view of its publication, be forth- with printed under the superintendance of Thomas Thomson, Esq. Vice-President, for the use of the Members. Extractedfrom the Minutes of the Club. D. LAING, Secretary. THE BANNATYNE CLUB M.DCCC.XXXIII. THOMAS THOMSON, ESQ. [PRESIDENT.] THE EARL OF ABERDEEN, K.T. RIGHT HON. WILLIAM ADAM, LORD CHIEF COMMIS- SIONER OF THE JURY COURT. SIR WILLIAM MACLEOD BANNATYNE. 5 LORD BELHAVEN AND HAMILTON. GEORGE JOSEPH BELL, ESQ. ROBERT BELL, ESQ. WILLIAM BELL, ESQ. JOHN BORTHWICK, ESQ. 10 WILLIAM BLAIR, ESQ. THE REV. PHILIP BLISS, D.C.L. GEORGE BRODIE, ESQ. CHARLES DASHWOOD BRUCE, ESQ. THE.DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH AND QUEENSBERRY. 15 JOHN CALEY, ESQ. JAMES CAMPBELL, ESQ. WILLIAM CLERK, ESQ. HENRY COCKBURN, ESQ. VICE-PRESIDENT.] DAVID CONSTABLE, ESQ. 20 ANDREW COVENTRY, ESQ. THE BANNATYNE CLUB. JAMES T. GIBSON CRAIG, ESQ. WILLIAM GIBSON CRAIG, ESQ. HON. GEORGE CRANSTOUN, LORD COREHOUSE. THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE. 25 JAMES DENNISTOUN, ESQ. GEORGE DUNDAS, ESQ. ROBERT DUNDAS, ESQ. RIGHT HON. W. DUNDAS, LORD CLERK REGISTER. CHARLES FERGUSSON, ESQ. 30 ROBERT FERGUSON, ESQ. LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR RONALD C. FERGUSON. THE COUNT DE FLAHAULT. HON. JOHN FULLERTON, LORD FULLERTON. THE DUKE OF GORDON. 35 WILLIAM GOTT, ESQ. ROBERT GRAHAM, ESQ. LORD GRAY. RIGHT HON. THOMAS GRENVILLE. THE EARL OF HADDINGTON. 40 THE DUKE OF HAMILTON AND BRANDON. E. W. A. DRUMMOND HAY, ESQ. SIR JOHN HAY, BART. JAMES M. HOG, ESQ. JOHN HOPE, ESQ. 45 COSMO INNES, ESQ. DAVID IRVING, LL. D. JAMES IVORY, ESQ. THE REV. JOHN JAMIESON, D.D. THE BANNATYNE CLUB. ROBERT JAMESON, ESQ. 50 SIR HENRY JARDINE. FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. JAMES KEAY, ESQ. THOMAS FRANCIS KENNEDY, ESQ. JOHN GARDINER KINNEAR, ESQ. [TREASURER.] 55 THE EARL OF KINNOULL. DAVID LAING, ESQ. [SECRETARY.] THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE, K.T. THE REV. JOHN LEE, D.D. ALEXANDER W. LEITH, ESQ. 60 THE MARQUIS OF LOTHIAN. HON. J. H. MACKENZIE, LORD MACKENZIE. JAMES MACKENZIE, ESQ. JOHN WHITEFORD MACKENZIE, ESQ. JAMES MAIDMENT, ESQ. 65 THOMAS MAITLAND, ESQ. VISCOUNT MELVILLE, K.T. WILLIAM HENRY MILLER, ESQ. THE EARL OF MINTO. HON. SIR J. W. MONCREIFF, LORD MONCREIFF. 70 JOHN ARCHIBALD MURRAY, ESQ. WILLIAM MURRAY, ESQ. JAMES NAIRNE, ESQ. MACVEY NAPIER, ESQ. THE EARL OF ORMELIE. 75 SIR FRANCIS PALGRAVE. LORD PANMURE. THE BANNATYNE CLUB. HENRY PETRIE, ESQ. ROBERT PITCAIRN, ESQ. ALEXANDER PRINGLE, ESQ. 80 JOHN RICHARDSON, ESQ. THE EARL OF ROSSLYN. ANDREW RUTHERFURD, ESQ. THE EARL OF SELKIRK. RIGHT HON. SIR SAMUEL SHEPHERD. 85 ANDREW SKENE, ESQ. JA1VD3S SKENE, ESQ. GEORGE SMYTHE, ESQ. EARL SPENCER, K.G. JOHN SPOTTISWOODE, ESQ. 90 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR JOSEPH STRATON. SIR JOHN ARCHIBALD STEWART, BART THE HON. CHARLES FRANCIS STUART. THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND. ALEXANDER THOMSON, ESQ. 95 WALTER C. TREVELYAN, ESQ. PATRICK FRASER TYTLER, ESQ. ADAM URQUHART, ESQ. RIGHT HON. SIR GEORGE WARRENDER, BART THE VENERABLE ARCHDEACON WRANGHAM. Of the author or compiler of the following " Diurnal," nothing is known, or seems likely to be discovered. The manuscript from which it has been printed, came into the possession of the family of its present owner in the reign of Charles II,* and appears to be of the latter end of the sixteenth, or the beginning of the seventeenth centurv. It is obviously the work of an ignorant, and often careless transcriber ; whose frequent mistakes, in the names of persons and places, are not the most important or perplexing of his apparent deviations from the original. Some errors however are of a kind which cannot be fairly ascribed to the mere negligence of transcription, and with which the original author may be more justly presumed to have been chargeable. To those who are at all acquainted with the minute details of Scot- tish history in the sixteenth century, a very slight perusal of the work will suggest, that, in its different parts, it is of very unequal value. From the era of the battle of Floddon, and the death of King- James the Fourth, in the year 1513, at which it commences, down to the termination of the government of the Earl of Arran in 1553, its details, comparatively meagre, and occasionally inaccurate, are obviously not recorded by a contemporary chronicler, but must have been derived from tradition and other imperfect sources. Yet even in this first and * one of the blank leaves prefixed to the " On M.S. there is this inscription : John Max- " well of Pollok aught this book by gift of a freind, 22d March (1678)." He was created a Knight Baronet in 1C82, and in l6'99 appointed a Lord of Session, and Lord Justice Clerk. ; least valuable portion of the work, will be 'found many minute facts and notices that would be vainly looked for in the ordinary histories of the reign of King James the Fifth, and the first ten years of the reign of Queen Mary. The next, and the most considerable portion of the work, begin- ning at the year 1557, and ending in June 1572, bears evident marks of having been written by a contemporary observer, residing in Edinburgh, and probably employed in some subordinate official situa- tion, not very remote from the Court, yet not of such a kind as to afford him accurate or confidential intelligence in matters not obvious to all the world. On the most important and most dubious facts in this eventful period of Scottish history, our journalist will probably not be thought to have thrown any new or strong light ; yet in his register of local occurrences, and temporary feelings and observa- tions, there is much, not to be found elsewhere, that cannot fail to interest the students of Scottish history, and which may help to correct or confirm the evidence of which they were previously in possession. To this largest portion of the work, succeeds the third and last which professes to resume the events of the history from the commence- ment of the regency of the Queen dowager Mary of Guise, in 1554, but which, in its details, adds little to the preceding narrative ; and, omitting entirely a period of ten years prior to 1571, becomes really valuable from the continuation of the narrative of events down to its abrupt conclusion in the month of July 1575. These different portions of the Work may be readily discriminated in the following pages without the aid of more minute reference. To have separated them under distinct heads, would have heen an easy task ; and in a publication for popular use, it might have been deemed expedient to reduce the whole contents of the manuscript into a more regular and continuous series. This however would have been a departure from the avowed intentions of those for whose gratification the present work has been undertaken, and whose objects have been to preserve and render somewhat more accessible the original and genuine materials of the history of Scotland. On the plan, accordingly, that has been followed in several preceding publications made under the same authority, the text of the manuscript has been literally adopted, without the exercise of any critical discretion, unless in a few instances of palpable omission or notorious error ; and even in these, the necessary corrections have been introduced in such a way as still to leave the actual readings of the manuscript completely manifest. From this rule, the only deviation that has been hazarded, or of which it is necessary to apprise the reader, has been in the subdivision and punctuation of sentences, which in the manuscript are frequently such as entirely to mar the meaning of the writer, and to demonstrate that the transcriber had not the slightest comprehension of the sense of the original. The manuscript is without any title ; and that which has been adopted, and prefixed to the following pages, seems to correspond with the age of the composition, and sufficiently to indicate its nature and extent. January 1833. A DIURNAL OF REMARKABLE OCCURRENTS IN SCOTLAND. A. D. M.D.XIIL—A. D. M.D.LXXV. A DIURNAL OF OCCURRENTS IN SCOTLAND. the firft, the tuantie In wpoune tua day of februar [nynt day of September] a. 1. c the geir of God J"1 v and threttene geiris, king James the fourt was flaine in the feild of Flowdane be our auld inymies of Ingland. Thair was in this feild mony of theScottis nobillis flane. They ar to fay, Alex' archibifchope of Sandlandrois and commendatare of Dunfermeline and Coldinghame, fone naturall to the faid king, the bifchope of the Ylis, commendatare of Abirbrothok and Ycolmkill, James Stewart abbot of Melros and bro- ther to the Laird of Innermeith, the erllis of Bothwill, Lennox, Arroll, Crawfurd, Cathnes, Montrois and Caflillis, lordis geifter, Erfkine, Inner- meith, lord Sinclare of Orknay, Homes Falcaftell, Colwill and Robert [fir Robert Colwill of] Ochiltre, with many vtheris. Afoir his deceis a litill, he pail in Ingland with the powar of Scotland, and faigeit the caftell of Norhame and gat it, quhilk he kell doun ; and als gat Furde and Werk, quhilkis he keft doun, with mony vtheris honfiis.