[A1504/3/147]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
James, by the grace of God king of Scots, to all good men of all his land, clergy and laymen, greeting. Know that, whereas previously, in contemplation of marriage between ourself and our dearest wife Margaret, daughter of the most excellent prince and our father Henry [VII], king of England, we have given and granted to our same dearest wife in liferent, by our charter under our great seal, [and] sasine following thereof, certain earldoms, lordships, lands, possessions etc., as are more broadly contained in our said charter, the tenor of which follows, in this form:
James, by the grace of God king of Scots, to all and sundry to whose notice our present letters may come, greeting. Whereas previously it was agreed, contracted and concluded between our commissioners, ambassadors, spokesmen and delegates, on the one [part], and the commissioners, ambassadors, spokesmen and delegates of the most illustrious and most mighty prince Henry, king of England, on the other part, that we should join with the most illustrious Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of the same king of England, in lawful matrimony, according to the manner and custom of the church; and, among other things, it was agreed and concluded in the same covenant and treaty that, before 1 July 1503, we should make, give and grant to the same Lady Margaret, for the term of her life, a marriage gift equivalent in kind and extent to the gift of any queen of Scotland at any time in the past, in towns, lordships, manors, lands, estates and rents, by the most effective ways and means that may be achieved in law; and that, around 1 July, we should effectively give, and cause to given, and cause to be made, [to] her, or her commissary, procurator or delegate, [or] commissaries, procurators or delegates sent and dispatched for this purpose, in real, bodily, full and peaceful possession of the same, as is more fully contained by the aforesaid covenant, treaty and agreement in writing, sealed under the seals of the commissioners, spokesmen, ambassadors and delegates both of ourself and of our father the king of England, and dated 24 January 1501 [1502], and thereafter approved, ratified and confirmed by our letters patent sealed with our great seal, and signed and subscribed with our own hand, to which treaty we refer, and for this purpose wish to have inserted. We, the above James, king of Scots, contemplating in a happy and grateful spirit the solemnization in person of the marriage between us, God willing, [and] desiring and electing to implement and fulfil the aforesaid covenant, treaty and agreement, have given and granted, and by the presents assigned, by the tenor and strength of the said treaty, to the aforesaid Lady Margaret, in perfection and completion of the aforesaid marriage gift, all and sundry the underwritten earldoms, lordships, castles, palaces, towers, fortalices, lands, tenements, rents, fermes, victuals, meadows, woods and pastures, with the pertinents, namely all of our lordship of Ettrick Forest, and all of our of forest of Ettrick, with the pertinents, called Ettrick Forest, in our sheriffdom of Selkirk, likewise the tower, fortalice or manor of Newark in the aforesaid forest; all of our earldom of March, and the lordships of Dunbar and Cockburnspath, with warrens and lakes, and their pertinents, our castle of Dunbar and the keeping of the same specially reserved to ourself and excepted; also our palace of Linlithgow, otherwise Lithgow, with all of our lordship of Linlithgowshire, otherwise Lithgowshire, in our sheriffdom of Linlithgow; all of our lordship of Stirlingshire, with the pertinents, and our castle of Stirling, with the pertinents; all of our earldom of Menteith, and the lordship and castle of Doune in our earldom or sheriffdom of Perth; our palace of Methven, and all of our lordship of Methven, with the pertinents, in our sheriffdom of Perth; also all our lands, tenements, rents, fermes, victuals, meadows, woods and pastures, with the pertinents, in the aforesaid forest of Ettrick, earldom of March, lordships of Dunbar, Linlithgowshire, Stirlingshire, Menteith, Doune and Methven - of which the rents, issues, profits and proceeds make and constitute £2,000 sterling, English money, which makes and constitutes £6,000 of the money current and having usual course within our realm, beyond all burdens and whatsoever expenses - with services of freeholders, mills, multures and their sequels, hawking, hunting, fishing, peat-muirs, turbaries, coal-mines, quarries, stone and lime, smithies, maltings, heaths and broomlands, heriots, blood-wits and merchets of women, furca and fossa, soke, sak, toll, theame, infangthief, outfangthief, pit and gallows, wrak, waith and wair, forests and warrens, with vert and game, and also with the gift of all offices, and with full authority and power to appoint, ordain and constitute all and any officials to their offices, and with pensions, portions, annuities, corrodies, offices, tolls, gavels, taxes, liberties and free customs, profits, commodities and emoluments whatsoever, and all other things pertaining by law, statute or custom to the same earldoms, lordships, castles, palaces, towers, fortalices and the rest aforesaid, with the pertinents, or belonging to all or any of them whatsoever. Having and holding the said earldoms, lordships, castles, palaces, towers, fortalices and the rest aforesaid, to our dearest above-mentioned Lady Margaret, for the term of her life, without impeachment of waste, and without expulsion, disturbance, or whatsoever impediment by our heirs or successors, during her natural life, whether the same Lady Margaret should after our death happen to stay within our realm or without it; furthermore, promising - and we promise in good faith and on [our] royal word - that the aforesaid marriage gift of the aforesaid earldoms, lordships, castles, palaces, towers, fortalices and other things above-mentioned, and all the rest of the aforesaid things concerning them, will be ratified [and] confirmed by authority of the parliament to be held before 20 March next following the date of the presents; and if anything more carefully or effectively may be devised hereafter for [rendering] the strength of the aforesaid things, or any of them, firmer, more secure, safer, better or more free of risk or more effective, then, on request, we shall carry it out in all ways and by all means, and will carry it out with real effect so far as it lies in our power [to do so]. We promise, in good faith and on [the] royal word, perpetually to have and hold all and sundry the above-written things firm, fixed and pleasing [to us, and to], fulfil, [and] observe [them], and not to speak or act to the contrary or [allow] contradiction by us, or by another or others, for any reason, right, method, cause or device, or any other question whatever, under colour of law or in fact, in or out of court. Renouncing by the presents, by force of the agreement, every benefit, favour and assistance of whatsoever rights, laws, canons, statutes, privileges, and customs of our realm of Scotland, if such there be, or [if] such be by the authority of parliament, or the three estates of our realm, held or convoked before now, or to be held or convoked in future, or in any other manner enacted or to be enacted in future, which might in any way derogate or contravene the aforesaid things, or [any part] of them. In witness whereof, we have ordered our great seal to be set to our present charter. Witnesses: the most reverend father in Christ and our dearest brother James [Stewart], archbishop of St Andrews etc., duke of Ross etc., our chancellor; the reverend fathers in Christ William [Elphinstone], bishop of Aberdeen, keeper of our privy seal; Andrew [Forman], bishop of Moray, commendator of Pittenweem in Scotland and Coldingham in England; our dear cousins Archibald [Campbell], earl of Argyll, lord Campbell and Lorne, master of our household; Patrick [Hepburn], earl of Bothwell, lord Hailes, great admiral of our kingdom; Alexander [Gordon], earl of Huntly, lord Gordon and Badenoch; Matthew [Stewart], earl of Lennox, lord Darnley; Alexander [Home], lord Home, our great chamberlain; Andrew [Gray], lord Gray, our justiciar; George [Seton], lord Seton; Patrick [Lindsay], lord Lindsay of the Byres; the venerable fathers in Christ John [Hepburn], prior of the monastery of St Andrews; George [Crichton], abbot of the monastery of Holyrood near Edinburgh; and our dear clerks Master Richard Muirhead, dean of Glasgow, our secretary; and [Master] Gavin Dunbar, dean of Moray, clerk of our rolls and register and [our] council. At Edinburgh, 24 May 1503, and in the fourteenth year of our reign.
And because it was covenanted and agreed between us and the commissioners of the aforesaid most excellent prince and our father on either part, meeting on account the aforesaid marriage, that all the aforesaid gifts and grants should within a certain period be ratified and confirmed by us and our parliament, we therefore - with the consent and assent of the three estates of our realm gathered in our parliament held at Edinburgh on 13 March instant, following mature deliberation - approve, ratify and for ourself and our successors by the presents confirm the aforesaid things to our dearest wife, in liferent, notwithstanding whatsoever annexations and unions to our crown previously made, concluded or confirmed by us or our predecessors of the said lands or any part thereof. And furthermore we confirm and ratify for ourself and our successors to the same Margaret, our wife, with the advice, counsel and deliberation of our three estates of parliament gathered at the said day and place - notwithstanding whatsoever annexations and unions, as above - our lordship of Kilmarnock, with the castle and fortalice of the same, with the pertinents, and with tenants, tenandries [and] services of freeholders, and with the advowsons of churches and chaplainries, by us, as a marriage gift given, granted and promised to our said wife at the time the solemnization of the marriage between ourself and her was performed and completed. Having and holding to the said Margaret for the whole term of her life in the manner of a marriage gift, with all and sundry the liberties, commodities, profits and pertinents whatsoever as is more fully expressed in our charter immediately above-written, provided that the said gifts and grants have effect† only during the lifetime of our wife, and that it is not permitted for us or our successors to confer them on others, but that after her death they are to revert, including from any others to whom gift [was made], to the original state of the annexations and unions made formerly. In witness and faith and corroboration of all and sundry the aforesaid things, our great seal, and the seals of the said three estates of our realm [there] present, were appended, at Edinburgh, on the said 13 March 1503 [1504], and in the sixteenth year of our reign.