OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                   77

CHAPTEE V.

1509—1535.

The Charters of 1509.—The New Baronies of Urquhart, Corri-
mony, and Glenmoriston.—Reservation of Church Lands.—
The Proprietors’ Duties and Services to the Crown.—The
Castle to be added to and Strengthened.—The Inhabitants
to be Protected.— Waste Lands to be Reclaimed.—The King’s
Highway to be Improved.—Bridges to be Maintained.—
Hemp and Flax to be Cultivated.—Strange Division of the
Parish.—Gradual Re­adjustment of Marches.—Troubles with
the Inhabitants.—Troubles with the Crown.—Compositions
for Crimes.—The Last of the Macleans.—Invasion of Sir
Donald of Lochalsh.—A Large Booty.—Prices of the Period.
—The Bard’s Proceedings against Sir Donald.—The Bard’s
Treaty with Lochiel.—Death of the Bard.—Seumas nan
Creach.—Barbarous Decree against the Clan Chattan.—
Urquhart Exempted from the Jurisdiction of Local Courts.

“ Know ye,” says the King in the charter to John
the Bard¹—and the preambles of those to his sons
are in similar terms—“ that for the increase of our
rental, and the profit of the patrimony of our
Crown, and also with a view to the advance­
ment of order and manners, and the promotion
of good government in the lands underwritten,
among the inhabitants thereof, and for making
those obedient to our laws who in times past
have been unruly, and disobedient to our said
laws, we have given, granted, and in feu-ferme

¹ Reg. Mag. Sig. Lib. XV., No. 173. Chiefs of Grant, III., 51.

78                 URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

demitted, and, by this our present charter confirmed
to our lovite John Grant of Freuchie, and his heirs
male, All and Sundry the lands underwritten,
namely, the twelve merk lands of Bordlande [Borlum]
of Urquhart, with the Castle and fortalice of the
same ; the six merk lands of Kil St Ninian, with
the mill thereof ; the six merk lands of Karowgar ;
the six merk lands of Drumboy ; the three merk
lands of Wester Bunloade [Bunloit] ; the three
merk lands of Middil Bunloade ; the three merk
lands of Ester Bunloade ; the six merk lands of
Ballymakauchane [Balmacaan] ; the six merk lands
of Gartale [Cartaly] ; the six merk lands of Polmale
and Dulchangy ; the nine merk lands of the three
Inchbrunys [Inchbrine] ; the three merk lands of
Mekle Deveauch, with the office of forester of our
forest of Cluny, and the huts commonly called
the shielings of the said forest—extending in all to
forty-six pounds of lands of new extent, as is con­
tained in our new rental, and all lying in our
Lordship of Urquhart, and within our Sheriffdom of
Inverness : but reserving to ourselves and our suc­
cessors the property of our said forest of Cluny, and
of the huts or shielings of the same.”

The King then, in consideration of Grant’s ser­
vices, unites and incorporates the whole of the subjects
above-mentioned into one barony, to be called the
Barony of Urquhart, with the Castle as its principal
messuage ; but the lands of Petcarill Chapell are
excepted from the conveyance, and reserved to the
Chapel of St Ninian ; which lands, adds His Majesty,
“ we are on no account willing to alienate.”

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                   79

In return for the grant the Bard and his suc­
cessors were taken bound to pay £46 6s 8d Scots
of yearly feu-duty ; to provide and maintain three
sufficient horsemen for every ten pounds of land—
that is, fourteen or fifteen horsemen for the whole
Barony—for royal service in time of war beyond the
kingdom ; and, at the King’s command, to convene
with all “fencible persons” dwelling on his lands.
These provisions were inserted on what may be
called national grounds. But the King had also
in view the domestic welfare and improvement of
the inhabitants of the Barony ; and the Bard and
his heirs were taken bound to repair or build at the
Castle a tower, with an outwork or rampart of stone
and lime, for protecting the lands and the people from
the inroads of thieves and malefactors ; to construct
within the Castle a hall, chamber, and kitchen, with
all other requisite offices, such as a pantry, bake-
house, brewhouse, barn, oxhouse, kiln, cot, dove-
grove, and orchard, with the necessary wooden
fences ; to reclaim and labour untilled land lying in
meadows or under pasture ; to make “ stiling,” or
enclosures ; to improve the King’s highway within
the Barony ; to cultivate hemp and flax ; to watch
over such matters of common advantage as stone and
wooden bridges, “faldyettis” [cattle folds], and
stiles ; to provide common passage through the
lands and Barony ; and thankfully and obediently
to pay their tithes and offerings to God and the
Church. The charter is dated at Stirling, the 8th
day of December, 1509.

80                   URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

On the same date, and under similar conditions,
certain lands, erected into the Barony of Corrimony,
were conferred on the Bard’s second lawful son,
Iain Og—Young John ; and lands, incorporated
into the Barony of Glenmoriston, on his natural
son, Iain Mor — Big John — a man of singular
stature and prowess, who, despite the bar sinister,
early attained to great influence, and, in addition to
Glenmoriston, owned the estate of Culcabock, near
Inverness.

The lands embraced in the Barony of Corrimony
were the four pound lands of Corrymony ; the four
pound lands of Morull ; the eight pound lands of the
four Mikleis¹ ; the forty shilling lands of Lochletter ;
the forty shilling lands of Auchintamarag ; the forty
shilling lands of Deveauch ; and half of the lands
of Mekle Clune [Clunemore], extending to twenty
shillings of land ; and the forty shilling lands of
Petcarill Croy—extending in all to £27 of land as in
the new rental, and all lying in the Lordship of
Urquhart. The annual feu-duty payable to the
King was £27 6s 8d.²

Iain Mor’s Barony of Glenmoriston consisted of
the forty shilling lands of Conechane ; the forty
shilling lands of Craske ; the forty shilling lands of
Enachur [Aonach] ; the forty shilling lands of
Auchlayn ; the forty shilling lands of Wester
Tullclechart [Dulchreichard] ; the forty shilling
lands of Easter Tullclechart ; the forty shilling

¹  The four Meiklies included Shewglie, and Craskaig, sometime called
Lakefield and now Kilmartin.

² Reg. Mag. Sig. Lib., XV., No. 175 ; Chiefs of Grant, III., 54.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                   81

lands of Wester Duldragyn ; the forty shilling lands
of Easter Duldragin ; the forty shilling lands of
Innerwik ; the forty shilling lands of Blaree ; the
forty shilling lands of Over Inver [Invermoriston] ;
the forty shilling lands of Nether Inver ; the forty
shilling lands of Coulnakirk¹ ; and half of the lands
of Mekle Cluny [Clunemore], extending to twenty
shillings of land—extending in all to £27 of land as
in the new rental, and lying in the Lordship of
Urquhart. In this case, also, the feu-duty was
£27 6s 8d ;² and the pecuniary result of the new
arrangement was that for the whole Lordship the
King was now to get £101 per annum, in lieu
of the £100 formerly payable, but seldom paid.

With the exception of the Church lands of
Achmonie, Pitkerrald Chapel, St Drostan’s Croft at
Balmacaan, St Adamnan’s Croft, the site of which is
not now known, and a croft attached to St Ninian’s
Chapel at Temple House, the whole parish thus
became the property of the Grants. It is difficult to
account for the singular manner in which the lands
were divided between the Bard and his sons.
Probably the King’s intention was to keep them
and their successors in dependence on each other,
and to furnish them with a common motive for the
maintenance of peace. The Bard, as has been seen,
had the shielings of Cluny, situated more than
thirty miles from his Castle, and beyond the inter­
vening Barony of Glenmoriston ; and he also

¹ See p. 16 supra—footnote.
² Reg. Mag. Sig. Lib. XV., No. 174.

6

82                 URQUHART AND GLENMORTSTON.

possessed Carnoch and Kerrownakeill or Kerrow-na-
Coille, beyond the lands of Corrimony, and on the
borders of Strathglass. Iain Mor had the detached
holdings of Culnakirk and half of Clunemore, both
in the very heart of his father’s estate ; while John
Og’s Barony of Corrimony embraced the other half
of Clunemore, as well as Achintemarag, Divach, and
Pitkerrald-croy, also all situated in the centre of the
Bard’s possessions. We shall hereafter see how
curiously this arrangement affected the administra­
tion of justice in the Parish ; and the inconveniences
to which it gave rise were so great that in the
course of time the proprietors found it expedient to
re­adjust their marches. In 1580, John, Second of
Corrimony, resigned his Barony in favour of Duncan,
heir-apparent of the Laird of Grant, who, on 19th
August, obtained a Crown charter thereof, in virtue
of which the Chiefs of Grant have ever since been
the feudal superiors of that estate. In granting to
John’s successor a renewal of the title, in 1610,
John, Laird of Grant, retained Shewglie and Loch-
letter, which accordingly ceased to form part of
Corrimony. In July, 1674, Ludovick Grant of
Grant made over Carnoch and Kerrow-na-Coille to
John Grant of Corrimony in exchange for Pitkerrald-
croy and Achintemarag. He had probably already
acquired Corrimony’s lands of Divach and Clune-
more. Glenmoriston’s half of Clunemore, as well as
his lands of Culnakirk, were sold to Ludovick
in June, 1696. And as to the grazings of Cluny,
which were the common shieling ground of the

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                   83

tenants of both Glen-Urquhart and Glenmoriston,
they have for generations been in the exclusive pos­
session of the Glenmoriston family.

The Grants, notwithstanding the absolute right
which they had now acquired to the ancient royal
domain, had not yet attained to absolute peace.
Iain Mor of Glenmoriston, especially, experienced
great difficulty in reconciling to his rule the
Macdonalds of his Glen, who still looked on the
Macdonald chiefs as their only lords.¹ The new
proprietors, too, early got into trouble with the
Crown. Their charters provided that if they or
their successors should at any time be convicted of
treason, murder, or common theft, the forfeiture of
their estates would be the penalty. But the

¹ There were five septs of Macdonalds in Glenmoriston—Clann Iain
Ruaidh, Clann Iain Chaoil, Clann Eobhainn Bhain, Sliochd Ghilleasbuig, and
Clann Alasdair Choire-Dho. The first four were descended from four sons of
Iain Mor Ruidh nan-Stop. That personage was on one occasion returning
from Glen-Urquhart, along with his sixteen stalwart sons, when they all sat
down to rest at Fasadh-an-Fhithich, near Allt-Iarairidh. As they rested, a
raven flew over their heads, and dropped a bone in their midst. Twelve of the
young men handled the bone with curiosity, and as the thirteenth was about
to do so, he was stopped by his father, who said, “ Ma ’a fortan e, tha gu leoir
againn ; ma ’s mi-fhortan e, tha tuille ’s a choir againn”—“ If it augurs good
fortuue, we have enough ; if it forbodes evil, we have too much.” Before the
end of a year and a day, the twelve who touched the bone were all dead. The
other four—Iain Ruadh (Red John), Iain Caol (Slender John), Eobhan Ban
(Fair Ewen), and Gilleasbuig (Archibald)—survived, and from them sprang
the four septs called after them. Sliochd Alasdair Choire-Dho lived in
Corri-Dho. It has been, and still is, the custom in the Parish to bury the
dead on their backs, with their feet towards the east, in order that when rising
at the Resurrection, they may have their faces towards our Lord, as he appears
in the east. Sliochd Alasdair Choire-Dho, however, lie with their feet to the
west, in order that, in rising at the sound of the last trump, they may face
their beloved Corri-Dho. Their graves occupy the nearest corner to that
Corrie of the old churchyard of Clachan Mhercheird.

84                 URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

apparent harshness of this provision was greatly
modified by another clause, which sanctioned “com­
position” for certain crimes. This privilege, which
resembled the Gaelic custom of Eric, and under
which pardon was purchasable for money, was a
source of considerable revenue to the Scottish kings ;
and it was soon put in practice in our Parish. In
some unexplained manner the new proprietors and
certain of their tenants were, in 1510, held guilty
of receiving and assisting rebels, and forced to
make composition. Iain Mor of Glenmoriston’s
componitur is dated 1st July. On the 10th a
similar composition is made by a number of persons,
including John Makgillecallum in Borlum, and John
Roy Makenis [Son of Angus], Donald Roy Makdon-
ald, Muldonych Owre, and John Makyngown [the
Smith’s Son], all residing in Urquhart ; and John
Makmurrych, Gillendris Makmurrych, Gillecreist
Macmuldonych, Donald Gowroy [son of the Red
Smith], and William Alexanderson [i.e., Son of
Alexander], all on the estate of Corrimony ; and the
Bard himself compounded on the 15th.¹ Alexander-
son is especially distinguished, for he has slain, or
has been a party to the death of, Farquhar Macewen
—a crime for which he obtains express pardon.
Farquhar appears to have been a son of Ewen Mac-
lean ; and, with this slight reference to his death,
his brave race disappears from record. In time
they ceased to dream of the ownership of Urquhart ;
and Ewen’s descendants are now peaceful tenants on

¹ Chiefs of Grant, III., 56, 57.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                   85

the lands for which their forefathers so long fought
and bled.

Greater misfortunes than these troubles with the
Crown were about to fall on the Parish. The bold
and chivalrous character of James the Fourth was
much to the liking of his Celtic subjects, and, when
he entered on that expedition which ended so
disastrously at Flodden, they flocked to his
standard. But it happened after his death as it
happened after the death of James the Second.
The confusion that followed destroyed the loyalty
of the fickle Islanders, and aroused in their
breasts the old desire for independence. A Lord
of the Isles was proclaimed in 1513, in the
person of Sir Donald Macdonald of Lochalsh, whose
father had previously claimed the title. As the best
bid for popular favour, Sir Donald began his career
by leading a large army into Glen-Urquhart.
Seizing the Castle, he expelled the garrison, and
plundered and laid waste the Glen¹—among those
who aided him being Chisholm of Comar, Macdonald
of Glengarry, an amazon from Buntait who rejoiced
in the name of Mor Euoin Evin, and her son Donald
Mac Alasdair. The spoil was rich and varied. From
the Castle were taken pots, pans, kettles, napery,
beds, sheets, blankets, coverings, cods, fish, flesh,
bread, ale, cheese, butter, salt hides, and “ uther
stuf of houshald,” of the value in all of more than
£100 ; while the booty from the lands consisted of
300 cattle and 1000 sheep, 300 bolls of bear and
200 bolls of oats, with the fodder, from the town

¹ Gregory, 114.

86                 URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

and grange of Kil St Ninian, which was in the
Laird of Grant’s own hands ; 100 bolls of bear and
200 of oats from Corrimony ; 60 bolls of bear and
120 of oats from Achmonie ; 100 bolls of bear and
200 of oats from Pitkerraldmore and Dulshangie ;
120 bolls of oats and 60 bolls of bear from Meiklie ;
120 bolls of oats and 60 of bear from Kerrowgair ;
and 120 bolls of oats and 60 of bear from the lands
of “ Tulaichla,” probably Tullich of Corrimony. The
value of the oats, including straw, is stated at 4s
per boll, and that of the bear at 8s. Each cow is
valued at 26s 8d, and each sheep at 4s.

Sir Donald was not satisfied with the mere
produce of the land. As the successor of the old
Lords of the Isles, he would also have the territory,
and for three years he kept forcible possession of
Glen-Urquhart, “ lauboring and manuring” the
fields, and preventing the rightful possessors from
enjoying their profits. In legal proceedings subse­
quently taken by the Bard, these profits, after
deducting working expenses, were estimated at 300
bolls of bear and 200 bolls of oats, valued at the
above prices ; and to this was added the grazing of
600 cows and oxen, 1000 sheep and goats, 200 horses
and mares, and 200 swine (the value of each “ soum”
of grass being 1s 6d), and also 120 merks of money,
and 280 bolls of victual, bear and meal, at the value
of 8s per boll, as the amount of “ the maills, carriage,
services, profits, and duties of the remanent of the
lands and lordship of Urquhart,” of which the Laird
was deprived during the three years.¹

¹ Chiefs of Grant, III., 62, 372, 373.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                   87

In consequence of the friendliness, if not the
active aid, of the Clan ’Ic Uian in Glen-Urquhart,
and of the Macdonalds in Glenmoriston, Sir Donald’s
sojourn in the Parish was considerably longer
than it would have been under less favourable
circumstances. But the Grants finally prevailed,
and Urquhart saw the last of the invaders
before the close of 1516. Having won in the
field, the Bard now entered the courts of law
against Sir Donald and his friends. A summons for
the loss and damage sustained by himself and
his fellow sufferers, was called before the Lords
of Council at Edinburgh, on 26th February,
1517. The accused failed to appear, and the
extent of the damage was referred to the oath
of the Bard, who was present. “ Tua thousand
pund, with the mair,” was the sum and substance of
his evidence ; and for £2000 judgment was accord­
ingly given. The Bard, however, did not get his
money. Sir Donald died in 1519. His sisters,
Margaret and Janet of the Isles, succeeded to him ;
and in 1549—long after the Bard’s death—we find
his son James obtaining authority, under the
signet of Mary, Queen of Scots, to recover
the debt by poinding and selling the goods and
effects of Margaret, and of Thomas Dingwall of
Kildune, son and heir of the now deceased Janet ;
of Donald Mac Alasdair, for himself and as heir of
his mother, the amazon of Buntait, who had also
gone the way of all flesh ; and of Chisholm, and
other offenders.¹ What the result of these pro-

¹ Chiefs of Grant, III., 62, 372.

88                 URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

ceedings was it is perhaps impossible to ascertain.
The probability is that the debt was never recovered.
In any case, no compensation reached the people of
Glen-Urquhart for the famine and distress which
followed their spoliation in the beginning of the
winter of 1513-14, and the violent possession of
their holdings by the strangers. Glenmoriston had
the fortune to be inhabited mainly by Macdonalds,
and so it was spared.

One result of the invasion was that the Bard
sought an alliance with Ewen Allanson of Lochiel,
Captain of Clan Cameron, with whom he entered
into a bond of friendship on 22nd October,
1520. The deed was executed at Urquhart before
distinguished witnesses, including the noble and
mighty lord, Thomas, Lord Fraser of Lovat ; the
venerable father in God, Nychol, Prior of Beauly ; Hew
Fraser, Master of Lovat ; John the Grant of Culcabock,
as Iain Mor calls himself ; and Sir John McCoule,
Vicar of Kilmonivaig, who doubtless had come to
watch over the legal interests of Lochiel in con­
nection with the transaction, for in that age the
preachers of the gospel were also the practitioners
of the law. The Bard and his son and heir, James,
and Lochiel and his son and heir, Donald, bind
themselves and their heirs for ever to stand by each
other, in “ leil, trew, anefold” kindness, and to defend
each other in their persons, goods, lands, and kin.
The treaty especially provides that the Camerons
shall defend the Grants in Urquhart and Glen-
moriston, and that the Grants shall defend the

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                   89

Camerons in Lochaber, against “all thame at levis
or dee ma ;” and to strengthen the alliance, and
“ for the mair securitie,” a marriage is, as usual,
resorted to. Young Donald Cameron is to marry
the Laird’s daughter, Agnes Grant, in face of Holy
Kirk, immediately after a papal dispensation rendered
necessary by some canonical impediment shall be
procured. Meanwhile, as in the case of the some­
what similar contract between Mackintosh of
Gallovie and Donald Mackintosh in 1482,¹ the rules
of the Church yield to the worldly interests of the
parties ; and until the dispensation shall arrive the
young couple are to live together without the sanction
of religion—an arrangement calmly concurred in by
the pious vicar of Kilmonivaig. “ And,” to quote
the document itself, “ if it shall happen that the
said dispensation come not home within the said
time of fifteen days after Martinmas [1520], the said
John the Grant is bound and obliged to cause them
be handfast and put together, his said daughter
Agnes Grant and the said Donald, for marriage to
be completed, in the default of the dispensation not
coming home at the said time.” There is danger, of
course, that after the handfast period of probation
Donald may decline to tie himself indissolubly to the
young lady. And so to meet this risk Lord Lovat,
Alexander Cumming, son of Cumming of Altyre, and
Patrick Grant in Ballindalloch, become sureties that
the marriage shall be duly completed after the arrival
of the dispensation, under the penalty of one thousand

¹ See p. 68, supra.

90                 URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

merks to be paid by them to the lady and her father
in the event of Donald’s refusal—and for that sum
they undertake to grant their formal bond at “ the
time that the said Agnes is handfast in hope of
marriage.” The parties then touch the holy
evangel, and give their “ bodily oaths” to implement
the covenant ; and so the bond of friendship is
solemnly concluded.¹ For the lady’s sake it is
pleasant to record that Donald Cameron showed no
desire to discard her ; and in course of time their
regular marriage was duly solemnized. But the
great object of the treaty was not attained, and we
shall hereafter find Agnes’ eldest son taking a
leading part in the most sweeping raid ever made
on our unfortunate Parish.

Under the charters of 1509, the Grants were, as
we have seen, bound to provide and maintain three
sufficient horsemen for every ten pounds of land, for
the King’s service in time of war beyond Scotland,
and to assemble with all their fencible followers when
required within the kingdom. Several Highland
chiefs were in James the Fourth’s army at Flodden,
and although there is no clear evidence on the point,
it is probable that the Bard was among them.
But when he and his people were summoned by
the Regent Albany in October, 1523, to join him in
an expedition against England, they failed to obey.
The Regent’s army crossed the Border, and
attempted to take Wark Castle ; but it was driven
back, and the foolish adventure came to an end.

¹ Chiefs of Grant, III., 64.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                  91

The conduct of the Grants was, however, not for­
gotten, and they had to buy themselves out of
the consequences of their disobedience. On 13th
February, 1527, by letters under the Great Seal,
James the Fifth remitted to the aged Bard and
his son James, their kinsmen of Glenmoriston and
Corrimony, and a number of other persons whose
places of residence are not given, their crime of
absence from the King’s host at Solway and Wark,
and took them under the royal protection.¹ The
list of defaulters was, however, not yet exhausted.
On 26th November, 1534, a number of Urquhart
men compounded for their absence from the Solway
expedition and other offences by paying £14 into
the King’s exchequer. Their names deserve mention
—Gillanderis M’Gillemartyne M’Kerin, Kennoch
M‘Gillepatrik, John Croy M‘Patrik M‘Gillespik,
Donald M‘Paule Nele, John Dow M‘Mulmore, and
James M‘Kynkeir.²

The venerable Bard closed his long and useful
life in May, 1528, leaving the Barony of Urquhart
and his other estates to his son Seumas nan Creach
—James of the Forays. James had no sooner
succeeded than he was called on by the King to
execute a strange and barbarous commission. The
Clan Chattan, whom we saw giving trouble in
connection with the claims of Ewen Maclean to
Urquhart, became, under the leadership of Hector
Mackintosh, such a scourge to their neighbours that
a royal mandate was issued in November, 1528, for

¹ Chiefs of Grant, I., 515, and III., 72.          ² Ibid., III., 77.

92                 URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON.

their complete extermination.¹ Directed to the
northern Sheriffs, the Earl of Moray, Lord Lovat,
John Grant of Freuchie, Chisholm of Comar, and
other Highland potentates, the writ commanded
them to invade the territories of the proscribed clan,
and to utterly destroy them by slaughter, burning,
and drowning, and to leave none of them alive
except priests, women, and children. What was
to become of the priests after their flocks were
destroyed is not suggested ; but the women and
children were to be taken to the nearest port, and
put on board ships to be furnished at the King’s
expense, which would “ saill with thame furth of
our realme, and land with them in Jesland, Zesland,
or Norway ; because it wer inhumanite to put handis
in the blude of wemen and barnis.”

John the Bard was dead before the commission
was issued, and the duty of executing it fell to
Seumas nan Creach. But he and the other
personages to whom it was directed, were slow to
act, and the Mackintoshes continued in their old
courses. In 1534 they besieged and destroyed the
castle of Daviot, belonging to Ogilvie of Strath-
nairn, slew twenty-two persons, including women and
children, and carried off a large booty of grain, cattle,
goods, and household effects. In this enterprise they
were aided and abetted by Seumas nan Creach
himself, as well as by Iain Mor of Glenmoriston,
Gillanderis M‘Gillemartyne M‘Kerin, and the other
Urquhart men who compounded for their crimes

¹ Spalding Club Miscellany, II., xxxv., 83.

OLDEN TIMES IN THE PARISH.                   93

in November of that year.¹ But this composition
did not cover their offence of assisting Hector Mac­
kintosh and his accomplices, which was indeed
specially excepted from the remission. A further
payment became necessary ; the money duly passed
into the King’s treasury ; and on 22nd July, 1535,
Seumas nan Creach obtained a general pardon.²
By this time, indeed, he had greatly ingratiated
himself with the King ; and, on 28th July, he
received a royal letter exempting himself and his
friends and servants, and the tenants of Urquhart
and his other estates, during all the days of his life,
from the jurisdiction of all courts and judges, except
the high civil and criminal courts in Edinburgh,
and prohibiting inferior judges and magistrates from
summoning or arresting the favoured people.³ The
Edinburgh courts were far distant, and for the
remainder of James’ lifetime the men of Urquhart
were virtually independent of all law, save that of
their own baron-bailies. They would have been
better than the evil days in which they lived, if
they did not take full and frequent advantage of
the doubtful privilege which they had obtained.

¹ Invernessiana, 206 ; Chiefs of Grant, III., 77.
² Chiefs of Graut, III., 77.           ³ Chiefs of Grant, II., 1.

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