Committee members: privy and secret council

These are the lords that the king's grace wills and ordains to be of his council, of which he wills that there be at all times waiting on his grace a certain part of the said lords as he shall command, of which number he will, at his pleasure and as his grace shall think [appropriate to the] cause and time, choose a certain few to the number of 4, 5 or 6 as he shall think expedient to be of his secret council, with whom he will advise upon diverse matters as they occur. And as for the expedition and subscribing of letters, his grace wills that none be answered at the seals but those that are subscribed by him, his treasurer and the three compositors chosen by his grace regarding matters concerning his casualty, and in matters concerning his property, his comptroller and the three compositors as is said. That is to say:

These are the lords that the king's grace wills and ordains to be of his secret council, and named by himself. That is to say, for the spiritual estate, the Archbishop of Glasgow, the Bishop of Aberdeen, the Bishop of Galloway, and for the temporal estate, the Earl of Angus, the Earl of Argyll, the Earl of Lennox, the Earl of Morton, the Earl of Glencairn, and the Lord Maxwell, whose counsel his grace will use for the good of his realm.

  1. NAS, PA2/8, I, f.27v-28r. Back
  2. See Fasti, pp.102-3. James Chisholm resigned the bishopric on 6 June 1526 in favour of his brother William. Technically, William Chisholm was Bishop Elect of Dunblane on 13 June 1526, but since there is no mention of 'bishop elect' in the sederunt, there is the possibility that the clerk meant James Chisholm. Back
  3. Robert Maxwell succeeded John Benston in 1526. Nominated on 13 February 1526, provided 9 April 1526, consecrated circa June-August 1526. See HBC, p.318; Fasti, p.328. Back
  4. Patrick Hepburn, prior of St Andrews vacated the position on 15 June 1526. A warrant for Erskine's appointment to the office of secretary was dated 6 March 1525 [1526]. See HBC, p.193. Back
  5. Perhaps Patrick Houston of that Ilk, mentioned subsequently in this parliament as the recipient of the office of director of the king's chancellery. See 1526/6/48. Back