Volume I Part 41 (1/2)

[134] See note 77.--The Rev. C. Anderson shows, from Foxe, that it was the Vicar of Ecclesgreig, and not Prior Hepburn, with whom Stratoun had a dispute about tythes. (Annals, vol. ii. p. 470.)

[135] From the Register of the Great Seal, it is evident that the Stratouns of Stratoun and the Stratouns of Lauriston in Kincardines.h.i.+re, were one and the same family. Thus we find that charters were granted to

(1.) Alexander Stratoun de eodem, and Agnes Ogilvy his spouse, in 1507; and to Alexander Stratoun de Lauranstoun, (of the barony of Stratoun,) in 1509.

(2.) Andrew Stratoun de eodem, and Isobel Lindsay his spouse, in 1541.

(3.) George Stratoun, son and heir of Andrew Stratoun de eodem, in 1539; and George Stratoun de Lauriston, in 1547. (The last will of George Stratoun of that ilk, is recorded 5th April 1576, in the Register of Confirmed Testaments.)

(4.) Alexander Stratoun, son and heir of George Stratoun de eodem, in 1553. This Alexander Stratoun de eodem was served heir of George Stratoun de eodem, his father, 3d June 1580.

David Stratoun, who suffered martyrdom, was probably a younger son of the first Alexander Stratoun above mentioned.

[136] In MS. G, ”cast himself.”

[137] The Rood or cross of Greenside. The actual site of the gibbet, where criminals were executed, is somewhat doubtful; (Maitland's Edinburgh, p. 215;) but it was near the road leading from the Calton towards Leith. James the Second, in 1456, had granted a piece, on the eastern side of this road, in the place which still retains the name of the Greenside, for holding public sports and tournaments.

[138] In MS. G, ”Church.”

[139] Among the persons who fled at this time to England, was James Hamilton, Sheriff of Linlithgow, and brother of Patrick Hamilton; also his sister Katherine. In August 1535, Cranmer introduces him to Crumwell as a gentleman who had left his country for no cause, but ”that he favoured the truth of G.o.d's word;” and on the 24th of April 1536, he sent to Crumwell a copy of the sentence given against him by the Bishops at Holyrood, praying that Henry would write to his nephew on his behalf.

See the Rev. Chr. Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. ii. pp.

471, 472. Hamilton obtained permission to return in 1540.

[140] The exact dates of the several persons accused of heresy, or who suffered martyrdom in Scotland during the reign of James the Fifth, in many instances cannot be ascertained; but it is evident that while many persons were accused between 1534 and 1537, the flames of persecution were rekindled with greater fury, at the time that David Beaton became Coadjutor of St. Andrews, and was raised to the dignity of a Cardinal, at the close of the year 1538.

[141] Knox has here mistaken the time when Sir John Borthwick, being accused, but having made his escape to England, was burned in effigy.

The date was the 28th of May 1540, or two days after the baptism of Prince James. See Appendix, No. VIII.

[142] Mary of Lorraine, daughter of the Duke of Guyse, and widow of the Duke of Longueville, became James the Fifth's second Queen. On her arrival from France, she landed at Balcomie, near Crail, in Fife, on the 14th of June 1538. She was conveyed to St. Andrews with great pomp; and Pitscottie has furnished an interesting account of the pageants, &c., represented on that festive occasion. See also Lyon's Hist, of St.

Andrews, vol. i. p. 273.

[143] In Vautr. edit., ”Killor.” Unfortunately his play, which probably was represented in 1535 or 1536, has not been preserved. Neither has any information respecting Friar Kyllour himself been discovered.

[144] The property of persons convicted of heresy and other penal crimes, became escheated to the Crown; and the escheat was usually bestowed by a special grant from the King under the Privy Seal, upon payment of a composition to the High Treasurer. On the 1st of March 1538-9, such a grant was made to James Menteith, ”of all gudis quhilkis pertenit to uniquhile Sir Duncane Symsoun, Chaplane, and pertenyis to our Soverane Lord be reason of eschete, through justifying of the said Sir Duncane to the deid for certane crymes of heresy imput to him.”--(M'Crie's Knox, vol. i. p. 363.)

[145] In Vautr. edit. and the later MSS. ”Forrester.” Robert Forrester was ”brother to Thomas Forrestare of Arngibbonne.” Along with ”William Forrestare, son to John Forrestare, burgess of Stirling,” and three other persons, he found surety to underly the law, on the ground of ”haifing and using of sic bukis as ar suspect of heresy,” &c. 10th January 1538-9.--(Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. i. p. 216.) It appears from Knox and other authorities, that he was condemned, and suffered on the 1st of March that year; and after their death, the goods of Robert Forrester, and of William Forrester, were confiscated 23d March 1538-9.

[146] Of Thomas Forret, Canon-regular in the Monastery of St. Colm's Inch, and Vicar of Dollar, who finished his education at Cologne, an interesting account is preserved in Foxe's Martyrs, and has been copied into ”The Scots Worthies.” His father is said to have been Master of the King's Stables, in the reign of James the Fourth. In the Treasurer's Accounts, in February 1501, we find the name of Thomas Forret, as one of the persons at Court to whom dresses were furnished at the King's expense. In like manner,--

”1507, July 9. Item, to Thome Foret, in bredil-silver of ane hors send furth of Sanct Johnstoun to the King, ix s.

”1512, July 10. Item, to Thome Foret, to pas to Fast Castle, to see the Inglis schippis, xiiij s.”

[147] In MS. G, is added, ”Upoun the Castell Hill.”

[148] That is 1538-9, the year then being reckoned to commence on the 25th of March. But the actual date of their martyrdom, instead of the last day of February, seems to have been the 1st of March, according to an incidental notice in the Household Books of James the Fifth; as, in order to render the example more striking, the King himself was present:--

”1 Mar. 1539. Accusatio Haereticorum et eorum Combustio, apud Edinburgh, REGE PRESENTE.”--(Archaeologia, vol. xxii. p. 7.) The next day the King returned to Linlithgow. A corresponding notice is furnished by the Treasurer's Accounts, 1st of March 1539.

”Item, deliverit to Archibald Heriot messinger, to pas and search their goods who were abjured and declared heretics in Edinburgh and Stirling, xij s.”

[149] That is, the Cardinal Beaton; Gawin Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow and Lord Chancellor; and George Crichton, Bishop of Dunkeld.