[1378/1]¹

Charter: confirmation by Walter Stewart, lord of Brechin, and Margaret Barclay, of a sale of lands by David de Arrat

To all whose notice the present letters shall come in the present and future, Walter Stewart, son of the magnificent prince the lord Robert, by the grace of God illustrious king of Scots, lord of the barony of Brechin in the sheriffdom of Forfar, and Margaret, his spouse, daughter and heir of the late Sir David de Barclay, lord of the said barony, send eternal greeting in the Lord. Know that we, and each of us, after matrimony was solemnly contracted between us in the presence of the church, and after we were vest and seized as of fee concerning the said barony of Brechin with the pertinents, by authority and dispensation of our lord king who granted us pardon for our age, we being below the legal age, and by our unanimous consent and assent, and of each of us, also by the will and desire of our aforesaid lord king and by the counsel and consent of all other our parents and friends, have ratified, approved and confirmed by this our present charter for ourselves and each of us and our heirs whomsoever that sale and grant of sale by title which David de Arrat² made by his charter to Thomas de Rait, lord of Ury,³ of his half of of the tenement of Arrat, with the pertinents, in the aforesaid barony of Brechin in the sheriffdom of Forfar. To be held and had by the same Thomas and his heirs or assignees of us and our heirs to be procreated of our bodies, or else, those [heirs] failing, of the true and legitimate heirs of me, Margaret, the daughter and heir of the aforesaid late Sir David de Barclay, in fee and heritage, by all its rightful boundaries and divisions, as freely and quietly, fully, integrally and honourably, with all liberties, profits and easements, and whatsoever their lawful pertinents, in and by all ways, as the charter of sale of the aforementioned David de Arrat made to the same Thomas de Rait fully contains and purports in itself, moreover without any reservation. The said Thomas de Rait and his heirs or assignees making to us and our said heirs the service due and customary regarding the said half of that tenement of Arrat by the said David de Arrat [and] his ancestors to us and our ancestors. And furthermore I, Margaret, the aforesaid daughter and heir of the aforesaid late lord of Barclay and the aforementioned wife, promise my lord Walter, son of our lord the king, in good faith, that if it should come to pass that I survive after the death of my aforesaid lord, with no heir procreated between us surviving, God forbid, I shall consider the aforementioned ratification, approval and confirmation as fixed and strong in and by all ways as it was made, as above, and I shall not contravene the same nor procure it to be contravened, directly or indirectly, publicly or secretly. In testimony of which matter the seal of our lady the lady queen and the seal of the magnificent lord Sir John [Stewart], earl of Carrick and steward of Scotland, our brother, along with our own seal, are appended to the present [letters]. Given at Scone in the full parliament of our lord the king held in the same place on 19 October A.D. 1378, [and] the eighth [year] of the the reign of the very same lord king.