$cs. 2% PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY VOLUME XXVIII WEDDERBURNE’S COMPT BUIK May 1898 THE COMPT BUIK OF DAVID WEDDEKBURNE MERCHANT OF DUNDEE 1587-1630 TOGETHER WITH THE SHIPPING LISTS OF DUNDEE 1580-1618 Edited from the Original Manuscripts, with Introduction and Notes, by A. H. MILLAR, F.S.A.Scot. EDINBURGH • T £) 0: L£ Printed at the University Press by T. and A. Constable x ou T for the Scottish History Society 1898 PREFATORY NOTE The manuscript Compt Bulk of David Wedderburne belonged to the late Mr. A. C. Lamb, Dundee, and a few of the historical entries were used in Mr. Lamb’s volume, entitled Dundee: its Quaint and Historic Buildings. The editor assisted Mr. Lamb in the preparation of the literary portion of that volume, and it occurred to him that the Compt Buik would afford precisely the kind of material suitable for a volume such as the Scottish History Society would publish. On making the suggestion to Mr. Lamb, he at once adopted it, and placed the manuscript at the disposal of the Society. He gave free access to his extensive collection of documents relating to the history of Dundee, and rendered valuable assistance in other ways. As the Editor had made voluminous notes in the charter- room of Dundee when engaged upon his Boll of Eminent Burgesses of Dundee, 1513-1887, he was able to utilise these in identifying many of the persons mentioned in the Compt Buik. He has specially to acknowledge the courtesy of Alexander Wedderburn, Esq., Q.C., London, who kindly pro- vided the material for the account of the Wedderburn Family, which forms a separate portion of the Introduction. Mr. Wedderburn, who has long been engaged on a volume of family history, entitled The Wedderburn Book, frankly offered to the Compt Buik this contribution, which embodies the result of elaborate researches in private repositories of the Wedderburns to which he had access. With Mr. Lamb’s con- vi WEDDERBURNE COMPT BUIK sent the manuscript had been transcribed by the Rev. Walter Macleod for Mr. Wedderburn’s use in his volume; and the proof-sheets of the text have been compared by Mr. Wedderburn with this transcript, besides being carefully collated with the original by the Editor. The text may therefore be accepted as doubly revised. The Scottish History Society is indebted to the late Lord Provost of Dundee, Sir James Low, and to the present Lord Provost, Henry M‘Grady, for permission to transcribe the Shipping Lists of Dundee; and also to Sir Thomas Thornton, Town-Clerk of Dundee, who is official custodian of these documents, and who placed them in the hands of the Editor for transcription. The Editor has further to express his obligations to Mr. T. G. Law for many useful suggestions; to Mr. Mill of the Signet Library, for compiling the Index; and to Mr. Alexander Balharrie, Montrose, for assistance in pre- paring the work for the press. CONTENTS Introduction, ..... ix-xlvi The Wedderburn Family, . xlvii-lxxii COMPT BUIK of DAVID WEDDERBURNE, 1-192 Shipping Lists of Dundee—1580-1618, . 193-302 Index, INTRODUCTION The materials for writing a history of Scottish commerce in the reign of James vi., before and after the Union of the Crowns, have hitherto been very scanty. Some idea of the trade of Scotland with other countries in the fifteenth century may he obtained from a study of The Ledger of Andreio Halyburton, 1492-1503, edited by Professor Cosmo Innes, and published in 1867. That volume also contains the ‘Table of Customs and Valuation of Merchandises, 1612,’ which indirectly shows the goods imported from which rates were levied, though it affords no clue as to the quantity of goods brought into Scotland, nor does it indicate the places whence these were brought. Professor Innes was thoroughly aware of this defect, for in his Preface he thus alludes to the tariff of 1612 :— ‘It is certainly very carefully formed, although we may regret that it appears intended to contain and exhaust all articles of possible commerce. It would have suited our pur- pose, the purpose of the historian, better, if it had indicated the commodities which were habitually, or even occasionally, shipped and landed, bought, sold, bartered in Scotland, just nine years after King James had gone to fill the long-expected seat of Queen Elizabeth, and thought that he had ended the national feud which had so long interrupted the commerce of his two kingdoms.’ The present volume more than fills the space in the annals of Scottish commerce which was vacant when Professor Innes wrote his Preface, and it is the first book issued which con- tains authentic details of the imports, exports, and home trade WEDDERBURNE COMPT BUIK at a busy Scottish seaport during the eventful period between 1587 and 1630. It thus covers sixteen years before the Union of the Crowns, and twenty-seven years after that event, in all, forty-three years of Scottish mercantile life, in a time of political and national transition. The last entry in Andrew Halyburton’s Ledger is dated July, 1503. The earliest com- mercial entry in David Wedderburne’s Compt Bulk was made on 15th March 1587. The intervening period is a total blank, so far as documentary evidence of Scottish commerce is concerned, save for stray references in the Acts of Parliament, and the Records of the Convention of Burghs. The last entries in Wedderburne’s book were made on 12th December, 1630 (pp. 76, 77), two years before his death. This parchment- bound volume, with its quaint flap, partly frayed by constant use, had been his continual companion for forty-three years, and to its pages he had committed the records of his com- mercial transactions, the register of his family, the lists of deeds relating to his properties, the books he most highly prized, the furniture and warlike graith which were most valuable to him, the portentous local and national events that seemed most worthy of notice, everything, in short, which made up the life of a thriving merchant three centuries ago. In this respect the Wedderburne volume is much more instructive than The Ledger of Andrew Halyburton; for while the latter book contains the business transactions of a fifteenth century Scottish merchant, formally arranged for commercial purposes only, the present volume gives a vivid picture, drawn unconsciously, of the domestic life of a burgess in the latter half of the succeeding century. It is the familiar note-book of an educated merchant, the representative of a notable family, moving in the best local society of the time, with a large business connection in Norway, the Low Countries, France, and Spain; and it shows what he exported and imported, how he managed his foreign traffic, the method whereby he con- ducted his ordinary sales in the burgh, the weights and INTRODUCTION xi measures of the period, the forms of charter-party in use for ^shipments sent abroad, the currency of the time, and many other details which throw a flood of light upon the commerce of his day, and afford information upon a subject that has hitherto been wrapt in shade. Previous to the issue of this volume, there was no authentic publication upon the subject between Halyburton’s date (1503), and the Report, by Thomas Tucker, upon the harbours of Scotland, written in 1656 for the information of Cromwell, and published by the Bannatyne Club. It will thus be seen that the Wedderburne book fills a wide gap in the commercial history of Scotland, and covers a period of great interest. Indirectly, also, it shows the progress of the secularisation of ecclesiastical property. Wedderburne was factor for the Scrymgeoures of Dudhope, so far as some of the chaplainries were concerned, which had fallen into their hands; and the accounts he rendered, and his lists of docu- ments connected with these properties, are full of instruction upon an obscure subject. While the editor was engaged upon the Wedderburne manu- script, it occurred to him that the book gave only one side of the trade of that time. The exports sent to foreign lands are detailed with considerable fulness, and the imports are shown by numerous entries. But to understand fully the import trade at a leading seaport of the period, it was necessary to have more than the record of one merchant’s transactions. Researches made by the editor in the charter-room of Dundee, for another purpose, had enabled him to discover volumes which gave the Shipping Lists from 1580 till 1700, and he thought that the printing of a selection from these Lists, in which the contents of each cargo are detailed, would show, upon indisputable evidence, what were the imports to Dundee; in fact, would supply exactly the information which Professor Cosmo Innes had desiderated. With the sanction of the Council of the Scottish History Society, application was made to Sir Thomas Thornton, Town Clerk of Dundee, and with xii WEDDERBURNE COMPT BUIK his courteous consent the editor transcribed the Shipping Lists, beginning with 1580, the date of the earliest volume extant, and continuing chronologically till 1618. It was not deemed necessary to carry the transcription further than the latter date, as the thirty-eight years included give a fair idea of the imports. Taking the two portions of this volume to- gether, it is possible to have an adequate notion of the imports, exports, and home trade in a thriving Scottish burgh before and after the Union of the Crowns. The Wedderburne manuscript contains 102 leaves, measur- ing 7f- inches by inches. The paper is made up in nine bundles of five double-leaves, stitched with twine, and fixed within a parchment cover (not lined), having a flap which covers the front edge of the book and extends about half-way over the back-cover; that is to say, the parchment is one piece of skin measuring 17 inches by 7£ inches.