[1649/5/354]¹

Act of levy of horse and foot within this kingdom

6 August 1649

The estates of parliament, considering how necessary it is for the good of the kingdom that the remainder of the horse and foot that were appointed to be raised and put out by the act of levy of the date 28 February last and are not as yet put out should be in readiness upon advertisement, therefore the said estates of parliament have ordained and do ordain the whole shires and burghs within this kingdom presently to raise and have in readiness the rest of the foot mentioned in the said act and not as yet raised and put out, namely: the sheriffdom of Edinburgh, 450 foot; the sheriffdom of Haddington, 450 foot; the sheriffdom of Berwick, 450 foot; the sheriffdoms of Roxburgh and Selkirk, 750 foot; the sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross, 900 foot; the sheriffdom of Linlithgow, 187 foot; the sheriffdom of Peebles, 150 foot; the sheriffdom of Dunbarton, [...] foot; the sheriffdom of Dumfries, 450 foot; the sheriffdom of Wigtown and stewartry of Kirkcudbright, 450 foot; the sheriffdoms of Ayr and Renfrew, 750 foot; the sheriffdom of Lanark, 450 foot; the sheriffdoms of Stirling and Clackmannan, 375 foot; the sheriffdom of Perth, 900 foot; the sheriffdom of Forfar, 562 foot; the shire of Kincardine and [William Keith], earl Marischal's part of Aberdeen, 450 foot; the rest of Aberdeen and sheriffdom of Banff, 600 foot; out of the sheriffdom of Elgin and Nairn and that part of Inverness on this side of the River Ness, 375 foot; out of [George MacKenzie], earl of Seaforth and [Hugh Fraser], lord [Fraser of] Lovat's division of Inverness and Ross, 375 foot; out of the rest of Inverness, Sutherland, Ross and Caithness, 600 foot; out of the sheriffdom of Orkney, 375 foot. And whereas the said estates of parliament have found it most just and reasonable that in time coming all levies of horse shall be proportioned upon the several shires of the kingdom according to their maintenance, according to the act of the date 12 July last, and having caused cast up the said proportions accordingly, they do ordain and appoint that in the putting out of the two part of the levy of horse, appointed by the said act of 28 February, the several shires shall put out according to the list following, namely: the shire of Roxburgh, 180 horse, and the shire of Selkirk, 47 horse; the sheriffdom of Fife and Kinross-shire, 290 horse; the sheriffdom of Linlithgow, 66 horse; the sheriffdom of Peebles, 49 horse; the sheriffdom of Dunbarton, 30 horse; the sheriffdom of Dumfries, 146 horse; the sheriffdom of Wigtown and stewartry of Kirkcudbright, 130 horse; the sheriffdom of Ayr, 173 horse; the shire of Renfrew, 58 horse; the sheriffdom of Lanark, 117 horse; the shire of Stirling, 90 horse; the shire of Clackmannan, 28 horse; the sheriffdom of Perth, 228 horse; the shire of Forfar, 160 horse; the shire of Kincardine, 44 horse; the sheriffdom of Aberdeen, 186 horse; the shire of Elgin, 54 horse; the shire of Nairn, 14 horse; the shire of Sutherland, 15 horse; the shire of Caithness, 24 horse; the shire of Cromarty, 3 horse; the shire of Banff, 56 horse; the whole shire of Inverness with the shire of Ross, 138 horse; the shire of Orkney and Shetland, 54 horse; the sheriffdom of Argyll, 80 horse; the shire of Bute, 13 horse. Only the estates of parliament do dispense for the present with the shires of Edinburgh, Haddington and Berwick, and do appoint that they put out their proportion of horse according to the act of 28 February, namely: the sheriffdom of Edinburgh, 133 horse; the sheriffdom of Haddington, 133 horse, the sheriffdom of Berwick, 133 horse. And ordain the whole burghs of this kingdom to raise and have in readiness the proportion of horse according to the act of 28 February last and not already put out by them, or, in their option, three foot for every horse and man. And the said estates of parliament ordain the committees of war to divide and lay on proportionally the horse according to the maintenance upon the several heritors and others liable in putting out the same. And in regard in all former levies of foot the heritors in several shires who have small rents and many men dwelling upon the lands have borne an unequal burden in time past, it is now statute and ordained that in all levies of foot in time coming the expenses of equipping arms, levy money and all other necessaries shall be equally divided and laid on throughout the shires, and according to the valuation as the maintenance and other common burdens are, and the persons of men to be put out of the several parishes and heritors' lands according to the number, providing that the dividing of the expenses of arms, levy money and other necessaries through the shires be not a retardment to the putting out of the said levies of foot, and likewise appoint the committees of war to take the particular heritors and others liable in putting out horse and foot obliged for having the same well mounted and armed in readiness within 24 hours after advertisement from the committee of estates, under the pain of 400 merks for each horse and man, and £100 for each footman, to be paid by the heritors failing to have them in readiness as said is; and where heritors fail to contribute fractions, ordain the committee of war respectively to take an effectual course that the proportion may be in readiness as soon as the rest of the levy, as they will be answerable. With power also to the said committees of war, with advice of the colonels, to condescend upon and name the several officers of horse and foot above-written. And further ordain every heritor liable in putting out horse and foot to give in sufficient arms according to his proportion, and ordain the committees of war to cause receive the said arms, and put them in such a place or places of the said shires respectively as they shall think fit. With power likewise to the said committees of war, with advice of the colonels, to do all things according to the former acts of levies as they shall find necessary for the more speedy and effectual raising and having in readiness the horse and foot above-written. And the said estates of parliament ordain the said committees of war of the said shires on this side of the River Tay to make report of their diligence between now and 1 October next, and on the other side of the River Tay between now and 15 October.