SC^.SHS./3] PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY THIRD SERIES VOLUME LIII THE COURT BOOK OF THE BURGH OF KIRKINTILLOCH 1658—1694 1963 THE COURT BOOK OF THE BURGH OF KIRKINTILLOCH 1658—1694 Edited by GEORGE S. PRYDE, M.A., Ph.D. EDINBURGH Printed by T. and A. Constable Ltd. Printers to the University of Edinburgh for the Scottish History Society 1963 I 20 OEg V1963 Printed in Great Britain PREFATORY NOTE Professor George S. Pryde died suddenly in Cornwall on 6 May 1961, when he had almost completed the editing of this volume. Although a graduate of St. Andrews, his academic career, after a period of study at Yale, was spent in the University of Glasgow. Successively Assistant, Lecturer and Reader in the Department of Scottish History and Literature, he succeeded to the Chair in 1957. His publications in the fields of both medieval and modern Scottish history are well known, but special mention must be made here of his edition of the Ayr Burgh Accounts, published by the Scottish History Society in 1937. He became a member of the Society in 1934 and joined the Council in 1948. He was at the time of his death Chairman of Council, after holding that office for only a few months. Tributes have been paid elsewhere to his gifts as an his- torian and as a teacher but his colleagues on the Council of the Society will recall also the cheerful friendliness which he brought to its meetings. Professor Pryde had prepared for print almost the whole of the text of the court book and his introduction was complete to 1660. The only addition which has been made to his text is a section at the end of the manuscript which appears below on pp. 146-51. To complete the introduc- tion for the period after 1660, two sections have been added from the Rhind Lectures which Professor Pryde delivered in 1958. These sections, though less full than the remainder of the introduction, clearly follow out the main lines of the editor’s study of the Scottish burgh of barony. Un- fortunately, Professor Pryde’s papers contained no more than a few notes specifically about the text of the Kirk- intilloch Burgh Court Book, which must therefore be left to speak for itself, against the background provided in the introduction. We have been responsible for seeing the volume through the press, and the index has been prepared by Mr. Ian D. Grant. PREFATORY NOTE The manuscript, which is in the custody of the Keeper of the Records of Scotland in H.M. General Register House, is on paper and is in a nineteenth-century leather binding. The hands of two different clerks appear in it. The first, covering the period down to 1683, is apparently that of James Hendrie, notary, town clerk of Kirkintilloch, whose attestation of an entry appears below on p. 149. Hendrie became a burgess on 6 January 1671 (see pp. 27-8). The second hand is that of James Currie, notary in Castlecary, who became town clerk in 1684 (see p. 126). The spelling and capitalisation of the manuscript have been retained, but modern punctuation has been sparingly added. The paragraphs of the original have normally been retained, but occasionally several short paragraphs have been combined into one. The page numbering of the manu- script is given within round brackets, in italics. Editorial matter is in square brackets. Except for the first heading, which is given in full, the headings of the entries are abbreviated and, along with details of the assize, are given in square brackets. Entries of a formal nature are similarly treated. Details of the taking of instruments, or of oaths, are normally reduced to ‘ [etc.] ’. Names of witnesses are not normally given and the presence of signatures is indicated by ‘ [Subscribed] ’. The words ‘ the quhilk day ’ or ‘ the said day ’, which occur at the beginning of many paragraphs in the manuscript, have usually been silently suppressed, but the omission of other formal phrases is indicated by ‘ leaders ’. Blanks in the manuscript are indicated by ‘ leaders ’, with an explanatory footnote. Professor Pryde would have wished to record his thanks, first, to Miss Virginia D. Porter, who assisted in the identi- fication of places named in the text and in investigating the histories of several burghs, and, secondly, to Mr. A. J. Aitken, Editor of the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, who gave help with the meanings of several Scots terms in the text. G. D. G. G. S. CONTENTS PAGE PREFATORY NOTE v ABBREVIATIONS ix INTRODUCTION xi COURT BOOK 1 INDEX 153 ABBREVIATIONS A.P.S. Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland (Record Com- mission). Bute, Baronial Burghs John, Marquess of Bute, J. H. Steven- son and H. W. Lonsdale, Arms of the Baronial and Police Burghs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1903). E.R.S. Exchequer Rolls of Scotland (Record Series). Hist. MSS. Comm. Historical Manuscripts Commission. Inquis. Retorn. Abbrev. Inquisitionum ad capellam domini regis retornatarum ... abbreviatio (Record Commission). Munic. Corp. Comm. Municipal Corporation (Scotland): Re- ports of the Commissioners (4 parts, 1835-6). N. S.A. (New) Statistical Account of Scotland. O. S.A. (Old) Statistical Account of Scotland. R.C.R.B. Extracts from the Records of the Convention of Royal Burghs, ed. Sir J. Marwick (6 vols., 1866-90). R.E.A. Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (2 vols., Spald- ing Club, 1845). R.E.B. Registrum Episcopatus Brechinensis (2 vols., Banna- tyne Club, 1856). R.E.G. Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis (2 vols., Banna- tyne Club, 1843). R.E.M. Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (Bannatyne Club, 1837.) R.M.S. Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum (Record Series). R.P.C. Register of the Privy Council of Scotland (Record Series). R.P.S.A. Liber Cartarum Prioratus Sancti Andree (Bannatyne Club, 1842). R. S.S. Registrum Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum (Record Series). S. H.R. Scottish Historical Review. S.H.S. Scottish History Society. S.R.S. Scottish Record Society. A generous contribution from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland towards the cost of producing this volume is gratefully acknowledged by the Council of the Society INTRODUCTION ECCLESIASTICAL AND BARONIAL BURGHS, 1140-1400 The Scottish burgh of barony, as an institution with a distinctive title and a defined place in legal, social and economic life, had an effective span stretching from the mid-fifteenth to the mid-nineteenth century, with an epilogue continuing to the present time, but with little in the way of a prologue : only the faint foreshadowings of what was essentially a late medieval creation are to be found in the records of the twelfth, thirteenth or fourteenth century, and a lively imagination is needed for the detec- tion of its roots, or even its antecedents, in earlier epochs. Yet it is well to begin our study, if only to establish the negative results of the quest, at the period when the feudal foundations of the kingdom were being laid. David I, in addition to founding at least fifteen and probably as many as eighteen burghs holding from himself,1 authorised the erection, in favour of two great Church dignitaries, of the burghs of St. Andrews and Canongate. In the former case Bishop Robert’s charter (1140 x 1153) declares nos licencia regis nostri David bur gum apud Sanctum Andream in Scocia statuisse,2 while the king’s great charter to Holyrood (1143 x 1147) gives the abbot and canons the right herbergare quoddam burgum inter eandem ecclesiam et meum burgum [i.e., Edinburgh].3 Malcolm IV’s reign is marked by the appearance of only two, or possibly three, new burghs, all holding from the Crown.4 Of the sixteen burghs founded in William’s reign, eleven 1 Berwick, Roxburgh, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Perth, Stirling, Elgin, andLinlithgow, Crail; andRenfrew, probably Aberdeen, Jedburgh, Forres, Lanark Haddington, and Montrose. Peebles, [Details Rutherglen of the datesduction of firstwill appearance,appear in a or forthcoming of erection, ofpublication burghs mentioned by the University in this intro- of Glasgow2 of lists of Scottish burghs prepared by Professor Pryde.] 3 A.P.S., i, 85; A. C. Lawrie, Early Scottish Charters (1905), 118. 4 LiberInverkeithing, S. Crucis Inverness(Bannatyne and Club, possibly 1840), Clackmannan. 6 ; Lawrie, op. cit., 132-3. xii KIRKINTILLOCH BURGH COURT BOOK belonged to the king or his brother,1 three to the Church and two to the baronage. Walter FitzAlan’s charter of 1165 x 1173 to the abbey of Paisley refers to burgo meo de Prestwic (the earliest baronial burgh founded as such).2 In 1175 x 1178 the king authorised Bishop Jocelin and his successors vt burgum habeant apud Glasgu.3 In 1178 x 1182 he gave the abbot of Arbroath licenciam et libertatemfaciendi burgum.* A papal bull of 1184 shows the monastery of Dunfermline as holding burgum . de Muskilburg cum omnibus libertatibus suis.5 And in 1211 x 1214 William granted William Cumyn and his heirs vt burgum habeant apud Kirkintulloch.6 To the reign of Alexander II, besides three more king’s burghs,7 there date one abbatial and three baronial burghs. Five burgesses of Kelso witnessed a charter of 1237 con- cerning land in burgo de Kelchou ; we have here a burgh in existence at its first recorded appearance.8 Patrick, earl of Dunbar, granted a toft in burgo meo de Dunbar about the year 1230, and another before 1231.9 In 1236 x 1241 we find Gerard de Lindsay speaking of burgenses mei de 1 Kinghom, Nairn, Banff, Cullen, Dumfries, Forfar, Kintore, Ayr, Airth ; and2 Earl David’s burghs of Dundee and Inverurie. 3 Reg.