LAND OF THE LINDSAYS by ANDREW JERVISE F.S.A. - SECOND EDITION

PAGES 26 - 33

SECTION III

EARL CRAWFORD'S CORONACH.

Families of Adzell and Abbe - Knocquy Hill - De Glenesk family - De Strivelyn Marriage of Sir Alexander Lindsay with Catherine Stirling - Story of Jackie Stirling - Origin of the name and family of Lindsay - - -

The properties of Edzell and Glenesk have been joined together, as they are at present, from the earliest record; and being both known by the common name of ‘Glenesk’, the surname of ‘de Glenesk’ was not only assumed by the most ancient owners of these lands, but also gave title to many of their followers, and now perhaps appears under the name Glennie.  This may be the reason why the former district, which ultimately assumed the more important position of the two, is seldom mentioned in comparison with the latter.

It is not, however, to be inferred, although the ancient Lords of Glenesk had their name from thence, that the family of Adzell also, that survived in the lowland district till past middle of the fifteenth century, were lords of the lands from which they assumed their cognomen.  It was not an infrequent custom for the vassal to take his surname from the lands that he held under some great lord, as in the case of Rossy, of which the Norman family of Malherbe were lords and granted charters to their vassal, Rossy of that ilk.  In like manner the Adzells who lived at Edzell were dependent on the lords of Glenesk - at least they were so in the time of the Lindsays, and we have not found them mentioned as holding of the Crown.  In the capacity alluded to, Johannes Adzell de codem is the last of several of the Crawford vassals of Forfarshire, who witness the laird of Dun's confirmation of the third part of the lands of Baluely (Balwyllo), which he granted to Alexander, the Earl’s natural son.  The latest, and only other notice which we have met, is that of Richard in 1467, on whose resignation the Earl of Crawford granted Edzell to his uncle, Sir Lindsay of Beaufort, who, as will be shown in a subsequent page, was progenitor both of the present noble house of Crawford and Balcarres.

There was, however another set of old residenters, who bore the odd name of Abbe; one of these John the son of Malise, with consent of his son Morgund, granted to the Abbots of Arbroath a right to cut and burn charcoal in their wood of ‘Edale,’ so early as the year 1204.  Little is known of the Abbes, and some believe that they were merely hereditary lay Abbots.  Although the name was not peculiar to this district, it seems to have been rare; and whether assumed from the office of Abbot or otherwise, the family were of considerable importance in their time, for, contemporaneous with those of Edzell, a Douenaldus Abbe de Brechin witnessed a charter by Bishop Turpin of Brechin in 1178-80, and also gifted the davoch of Balligilleground in Bolshan to the Arbroath Monastery; and a Maurice Abbe, who lived in the time of Gilchrist, the great Earl of Angus, is designed ‘de Abereloth,’ or Arbirlot.

There is also good ground for believing that the ancient lords de Brechin had an interest in Glenesk, since, on the execution and forfeiture of David de Brechin for his connection with the conspiracy of William de Soulis against the life of The Bruce (King Robert, the Bruce), the lands of ‘Knocquy’ were among those of Brechin's estates that were given by the King to his trusty friend Sir David Barclay, the future lord of Brechin, and brother-in-law of the forfeited noble.  Knocquy, now known as Knocknoy, is in the immediate vicinity of Edzell Castle, and represented by the large hillock beside the farm-yard of the Mains.  This had, ill all probability, been the moot-hill of old, or the site of the baron's court, for, within these fifty years, a large rude stone lay at the foot of it, which is said to have tumbled from the top, and had doubtless been the "Stannin' Stane" that in the early ages was an indispensable object at the site of justice.

But, though the names of the lords de Brechin live in the imperishable page of the historian, those of the Adzells and Abbes are now, at least to the general reader, as if they had never been known.  Even the credulous tongue if tradition is mute concerning them; and if their deeds had ever been worthy of being preserved in the measured language of the rude minstrel, or their names associated with the hills and dales of the land of their adoption - sources not to be despised in the solution of historical and genealogical difficulties - they have all been faithless to their charge; and but for the slender records of the grateful monks, the connection of the Abbes with the parish, and even their name, would have been lost for ever.

The most ancient proprietors hitherto spoken of in connection with Glenesk were the family of Stirling; . . . (A family of the name of Stirling were proprietors of Lauriston in the Mearns, in 1243, as at that date Alexander de Strivelin gave to the Prior and Canons of St. Andrews the Chapel of Laurenston, which was a dependency on the church, of Ecclesgreig, and also bound himself and heirs to pay year1y a pound of wax, according to the market price of Montrose.) . . .and Nisbet says that the Johannes de Stryvelin, miles, who swore fealty to Edward in 1296, was then lord of Glenesk.  There is reason to believe, however, that Nisbet had confounded the name with that de Glenesk which was the surname borne by the then proprietor.

Traces of the old family de Glenesk are also limited; but such as remain are found in equally authentic muniments as those of the Abbes and Adzells, and point to a knightly, and, no doubt, warlike race, who inhabited the banks of the North Esk, at least a century prior to the clan Lindsay.  Nay, not so much from the fact of their assuming the surname de Glenesk, as from the independent part that they took in the important transactions of the times, it may be presumed that they were the original landowners, though the period of their first occupancy, and the cause of their receiving the lands, are both unknown.  The first appearance of John de Glenesch, miles, is in the trustworthy capacity of witness to a charter to Walter de Rossy, about 1260; and the same person, or his son, occurs in the interesting year 1289, as subscribing the celebrated letter of the community of Scotland to Edward, consenting to the marriage of his son Prince Henry with our Princess Margaret.  Seven years later, while the English conqueror was carrying his conquest into the very heart of the kingdom, and when "the spirit of Scotland had sunk into despondency," Sir John de Glenesk passed to Aberdeen on the 15th of July 1296, and, along with another of the same name, who is designated cheva1ié, swore fealty to that ambitious monarch.  Again, in the parliament held at Berwick-on-Tweed on the 28th of August of the same year, John de Glennysk, and Morgund de Glennesk, took the oaths, with others of the county of Forfar.

These are the only notices that we have seen respecting the most ancient lords of Glenesk, and the relationship, if any, between Morgund and John is not stated.  It is probable, however, that Morgund was John's son, and from his bearing the same Christian name as was borne by the last recorded of the Abbes, the idea of supposing some kindred between the families of Abbe and de Glenesk may not be altogether visionary.  Perhaps, in the absence of better record, it may be taken as indicative of the extinction of the Abbes, and an alliance with the lords de Glenesk.

The surname of Stirling, or Striuelyn as it is written in the oldest deeds, had, in all probability, a territorial origin, and been assumed from the old town of that name.  The family is ancient and famous.  The laird of Keir is reckoned the chief, and supposed to have descent from Walter de Striuelyn, who is a witness to Prince Henry's charter of the church of Sprowistoun (Sprouston) to the Abbey of Kelso.  It is probable that the Stirlings of Glenesk were of this stock, from the similarity of their armorial hearings; and, besides being lords of the extensive properties of Glenesk, they possessed large estates in Inverness and Moray, and were occasionally designed de Moravia.  They are so Ragman Rolls, from which it appears that several of the name swore fealty to Edward at the same time with de Glenesk - a circumstance which perhaps had led Nisbet to commit the error before referred to.

The date of the death of the last Stirling of Glenesk is unknown; but he left two daughters, who succeeded as co-heiresses.  One of them, Catherine, became the wife of Sir Alexander, third son of Sir David Lindsay of Crawford, about the year 1357, and the other married Robert de Atholiâ, grandson of Angus, lord of the Isles.  Lindsay succeeded to the Forfarshire portion of the Stirling estates, which consisted of Edzell, Glenesk, and Lethnot, while the other son-in-law inherited the Inverness and Moray portion, and, by a second marriage, was ancestor of the ancient house of Struan-Robertson, which flourished in considerable pomp until about a century ago.

This mode of Lindsay's succession to Glenesk, though borne out by substantial evidence, is too much matter of fact, and partakes so little of the wonderful, that the insatiable craving for romance that characterised the minds of our ancestors, is exhibited in relation to it in one of its most striking features.  Co-heiresses are unknown to tradition, and a son and only daughter are the substitutes.  They were left orphans (it is said), and the former, small of stature and greatly deformed in body, was familiarly known as Jackie Stirlin'.  Although physically defective, he enjoyed good health, and was neither impervious to the softer feelings of humanity, nor too unseemly for the kindly eyes of women.  By one of these, the daughter of a neighbouring baron, his offer of marriage was accepted.  This was altogether contrary to the wishes and expectations of both his sister and her lover, the gallant Sir Alexander Lindsay.  All remonstrance having failed to prevent the nuptials, they laid a deep and heartless scheme for his overthrow.  One evening, while taking an airing alone in the wooded defile to the north of the castle, ‘Jackie’ was pounced upon by a masked assailant, and summarily despatched at a place still pointed out.  He was buried in the family sepulchre, and many old people believe, that amongst the broken bones with which the vault in former days was so profusely strewn, they have seen the crooked remains of this luckless knight!

It was under these circumstances, according to local story, that Lindsay married the daughter of Sir John Stirling, and fell heir to one of the largest districts in Angus, which, together with the importance of his own family connection, made him so courted by his brother barons that he had little leisure to reflect on the enormity of his crime.  It is unquestioned fact that his second wife was Marjory Stuart, cousin of Robert, Duke of Albany, the marriage having taken place in 1378.  But, as a day of retribution comes sooner or later, his heart began latterly to fail, and, according to the custom of the period, he determined to atone for the foul deed of his youth by large gifts to the church and a pilgrimage to Palestine.  With a view to his safety, he rebuilt the church of Finhaven, and gifted it to the cathedral of Brechin, where the Prebendary had a stall in the choir, and said mass daily for his safe conduct.  These precautions, however, were of little avail the avenging angel pursued him wherever he went, and be breathed his last in a distant country in the year l382, long ere he reached Jerusalem, the haven of his penitential sojourn.

Of the genealogy of the great Scottish family of Lindsay, Wyton remarks with much caution -

Notwithstanding this guarded remark by a well-informed historian, later writers have invested the origin of the Lindsays with all the romance and improbability with which the early genealogies of other old families abound.  These need not he dwelt upon, but suffice it to say, that recent investigation shows them to have been a branch of the Norman house of Limesay, and the first known in England, Randolph de Limesay, to have come over with the Conqueror, to whom he was nephew; on the extinction of his male line, the head of the Scottish Lindsays was selected to marry one of the co-heiresses.  The name is not of territorial origin, as popularly believed, but is assumed from the Norman ‘Lindeseye,’ or ‘Limes-eye,’ both implying ‘Isle of Limetrees’; and, as shown in the Lives of the Lindsays, it has had from earliest record to latest no fewer than eighty-six different spellings.

<added January 2007>But it was Walter de Lindsay, an Anglo-Norman, and witness and juror in the celebrated Inquest of Prince David into the possessions and rights of the See of Glasgow in 1116, who was the earliest of the name in Scotland. He is supposed to have settled in Cumbria; but it is not until the time of his grandson William, who was designed of Erceldon and Luffness, and the first of the family who possessed the old property of Crawford-Lindsay in Clydesdale, that anything positive is known of them as Scottish landowners. He was one of the great magnates of the kingdom, and and a hostage for the redemption of William the Lion after his capture by Henry II of England. He was also High Justiciary of Lothian, and bore a prominent part in the leading transactions of the period; and from him, through Sir David Lindsay of Crawford, Sir Alexander (who married Catherine Stirling, the heiress of Glenesk, being a second son) was the tenth in lineal descent. By the heiress of Glenesk, he had Sir David, his successor, and Sir Alexander of Kinneff, the former of whom succeeded his father when only sixteen years of age; and on the death of his, uncle, Sir
James de Lindsay of Crawford, in 1397, without male issue, he became chief of the family, and heir to their extensive inheritances in Clydesdale and other places. He married the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Robert II, and had his estates augmented by his royal father-in law, by a gift of the barony of Strathnairn in Inverness-shire; and on the 21st of April, 1398, he "was created Earl of Crawford, by solemn belting and investiture, in the parliament held at Perth that year the Earldom Crawford being the third created since the extinction of the Celtic dynasty, that of Douglas having been the second, and Moray the first."

It is not our intention to dwell on the valorous actions which characterised the life of this celebrated nobleman - his overthrow of Lord Welles at the famous tournament at London Bridge, which took place on the feast of St.George, in 1395, in presence of King Richard and "Good" Queen Anne - and his dreadful onset with the natural son of the Wolf of Badenoch (his own near relative, through his aunt's marriage with Robert de Atholia), at Glenbrierachan, in the Stormont, when Ogilvy, the Sheriff of Angus, and his uterine brother, Leighton of Ulishaven, and many other Angus barons, were slain, and from which Sir David Lindsay and Sir Patrick Gray very narrowly escaped with their lives - are so beautifully and effectively described by his noble kinsman, that the reader is respectfully referred to Lord Lindsay's "Lives" for these particulars, as well as for more important notices of the many great achievements of the other illustrious members of the family, which can only, be briefly noticed in the following pages.

The brother of Sir David, or the first Earl of Crawford, and second son of Catherine Stirling, was "Yowng Alysawndyr the Lyndyssay," who, along with his cousin, Sir Thomas Erskyne, and several others, attacked the English, under the Duke of Lancaster, near Queensferry, in the year 1384; and though greatly inferior in numbers, by surprising them almost immediately on leaving their ships, they completely routed them in the manner thus quaintly described by Wyntown:-

"Bot thai, that had his cummyn sene,
Tuk on thame the flycht bedene,
And til the se thame sped in hy.
Bot Schyr Thomas sá hástyly
Come on, and swá thame turnyd agayne,
That a gret part of thame war slayne.
Sum tane, and sum drownyd ware:
Few gat til thare schyppis thare.
Welle fourty hangyd on a rápe,
Smá yharnyd thai for ethchape;
Bot áne, that wes in-til a bate,
Sá dowtand wes in that debate,