[1388/8/1]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
In the general council of our lord King Robert II held at Linlithgow on Tuesday 18 August A. D. 1388 and in the eighteenth year of the reign of the same king, Sir Robert [Stewart], earl of Fife, related before the king and council that, whereas the barony of North Berwick is held of him as a tenancy by homage and service as he asserted is well known, and his tenant was now dead; and, if it was necessary to go there at this time for receiving or recognoscing the same tenancy with the fortalice or castle situated in the same into his hands, he would [be forced to] lay aside the clearly more necessary work for the defence of the kingdom brought about then by the time of open warfare, and it would also place a heavy burden on him in such a troubled time, and [would be] useless and excessively expensive both to him and the entire country; wherefore he asked the intention and decision of king and council to be given to him concerning this. The king for his part, advised in his council, having considered and listened to these things, caused him to be answered, by the deliberation of council so to speak, that he should be able and ought lawfully to enjoy and make use of the said barony, inwardly and outwardly, with the fortalice or castle, as if [it were] a tenancy held of him, until the true heirs of the same barony and castle shall have recovered sasine and standing thereupon according to common justice. Furthermore, it was ordained by the council that the king would instruct and command without delay, by letters under his great seal, the freeholders and inhabitants of the said barony of North Berwick, and the warden and constable of the same castle and the others living in that castle, that in the meantime they shall answer to and obey the aforementioned earl of Fife in all ways as the superior lord of the same, and, having seen his letters, they should release and resign the same castle to him immediately, without any excuse or the raising of any difficulty. And they shall not disregard this under every penalty which can occur by that cause.