CHAPTER VII.

THE THANAGES AND THEIR EXTINCTION.

[Sidenote: Review of the Thanages and their conversion into Baronies.]

Such being the process by which the ancient tribe in the eastern districts passed into the thanage, the events which followed the death of Alexander the Third produced a change which entirely altered this position, so that the thanage in its original form may be said to have ceased with the dynasty of kings of which he was the last. The war with England which followed, the conflict between two families of Norman descent for the succession to the crown, the numerous confiscations of their respective partisans which accompanied it and led to their possessions falling to the Crown and the final establishment of a Norman dynasty of kings, naturally created a great revolution in the land-tenure of Scotland; the extension of the feudal holding of ward and relief became the established policy of the Crown, and the ancient Celtic tenures gradually gave way before the advancing feudalism, and eventually disappeared under its influence.

After the wars of independence and succession we find most of the thanages had reverted to the Crown, and they were usually re-granted to Norman barons on a feudal tenure for military service. This will be illustrated by three charters of David the Second, all granted in the same year. By the first he infefts his cousin, Walter de Lesly, knight, heritably in the thanage of Aberkerdor and its pertinents in the county of Banff, and in the thanages of Kyncardyn; and then follows this instructive clause:—‘Yet because perchance the heirs of the thanes who anciently held these thanages in feu-farm might recover these thanages to be held in future as their predecessors held them, we grant to our said cousin, that if these heirs, or any of them, recover these thanages, or any of them, our said cousin and his heirs shall hold and possess the services of the heirs or heir of the said thanes or thane, and the feu-duties or feu-duty anciently due from the thanages or thanage.’ This clause seems to have interposed no obstacle to the feudal tenure of the thanages being completed, for it is followed by two charters to Walter de Lesly,—one of the fee of the thanages of Kyncardin, Aberluthnot, and Fettercairn, with their bondmen, bondages, and followers, and erecting the same into a feudal barony, with the usual jurisdiction, and under the obligation of rendering military service; and another of the thanage of Aberkerdor, likewise erected into a barony in similar terms.[313]

A review of the thanages still existing at this time, with such information as the records afford us, will complete this view of their position.

[Sidenote: Thanages in Moray and Ross.]

Beginning with the north, we find in the great province of Moray and Ross but one thanage situated north of the Moray Firth, that of Dingwall; but we have merely a mention of its name in 1382 and 1383, when Euphame, lady of Ross, resigned the thanage and castle of Dingwall in the hands of the king for a re-grant.[314] Of the mythic thanage of Crumbachtyn or Cromarty, with which Wynton invests the usurper Macbeth, we find no trace whatever. Proceeding to the southern shores of the Moray Firth, we find a belt of thanages extending from the river Nairn to the Spey. Between the river Nairn and the burn of Lethen, which falls into the Findhorn near its junction with the sea, lay the four thanages of Dyke, Brodie, Moyness, and Cawdor. In a charter by Alexander the Second to the bishop of Moray, in the twenty-fourth year of his reign (1238), he grants twenty-four marks of the feu-duty (_feodofirma_) of Moythus or Moyness and sixteen marks of the feu-duty of Dike and Brothyn, by the hands of his _feodifirmarii_ of these lands.[315] In an Extent of the lands of Kylravoc and Estir Gedeys in 1295, William, thane of Moythes, and Donald, thane of Kaledor or Caldor, are among the jurors; and in 1311 Michael, son of Malcolm, thane of Dyke and Brodie, is mentioned; but it is only with regard to the thanedom of Caldor that we have any information beyond the mere mention of the name. There is preserved at Caldor an original charter by Robert the First to William, thane of Caldor, in which he grants to him in feu-farm (_ad feodofirmam_) the whole thanage of Caldor, with its pertinents, for an annual payment of twelve marks, as was wont to be paid in the time of Alexander, king of Scotland, our predecessor last deceased, to be held by him and his heirs of us and our heirs heritably in feu-farm, rendering to us the service due and wont to be rendered in the time of King Alexander.[316] This charter refers back to the time before the war of independence, when the thanage-tenure was still preserved intact. The thanage appears afterwards to have been held of the earls of Ross, but in the forfeiture of the earl of Ross in 1475 it fell once more to the Crown, and is confirmed by King James the Second to William, thane of Caldor; and his whole lands are erected of new into a thanage, with the privileges of a barony, and the feudal holding by ward and relief is combined with the customary annual payment,—thus retaining the name of a thanage while the character of the tenure is altered.[317] Among the lands incorporated in the new thanage were lands in the parish of Urquhart in the Black Isle, detached from the old thanage, and they afford a curious instance of the retention of the old Celtic name by a Gaelic-speaking population, for these lands became known by the term of _Fearintosh_ or the _Toishach’s_ land. Between the Lethen Burn and the Lossie lay the extensive thanage of Moravia or Moray, of which the forest of Darnaway appears to have formed a part.[318] We find this thanage mentioned in the Records, but have no particulars of its history; but it is no doubt from it that the family of De Moravia took its name, the earliest possession of this family having been Duffus, which, if not a part of it, was at least adjacent to the thanage.

On both sides of the Lossie lay the thanage of Kilmalemnok, the greater part of which forms the parish of St. Andrews; and a charter by Archibald, Earl of Douglas, to James Douglas of Balvany, confirmed by King James the First, includes ‘all his lands lying in the thaynedomes in the lordship of Kilmalaman.’[319] The only other thanage in this province of which any mention is preserved was that situated in the interior of the country, as in 1367 Joannes de Dolais was thane of Cromdale, a district on the river Spey, at some distance from its mouth.[320] Besides the mention of these thanages, which are mainly to be found in the more level districts adjacent to the sea, we are not without indications that the different classes which, according to Fordun, were connected with the thanages, likewise existed in the interior districts of this province. Thus in an agreement between the bishop of Moray and Walter Cumyn, between A.D. 1224 and 1233, regarding lands in Badenoch, it is provided with regard to the native-men (_nativi_), that the bishop shall have all the cleric and two lay native-men—viz. Gyllemaluock Macnakeeigelle and Sythad mac Mallon, with all their chattels and possessions, and with their children and all their posterity, and the chattels of their children; and Walter Cumyn to have all the other lay native-men of lands in Badenoch; and when, after the war of independence, Robert the Bruce erected the whole lands extending from the Spey to the Western Sea into an earldom of Moray in favour of his nephew Thomas Randolph, the earldom was granted, with all its manors, burgh townships, and thanages, and all the royal demesnes, rents, and duties, and all barons and freeholders (_libere tenentes_) of the said earldom, who hold of the Crown _in capite_, and their heirs were to render their homages, fealties, attendance at courts, and all other services, to Thomas Randolph and his heirs, and to hold their baronies and tenements of him and his heirs, reserving to the barons and freeholders the rights and liberties of their own courts according to use and wont; and Thomas Randolph was to render to the king the Scottish service and aid due as heretofore for each davach of land.[321]

[Sidenote: Thanages in Mar and Buchan.]

Crossing the Spey and entering the province of Mar and Buchan, a rental of the crown lands in the reign of Alexander Third furnishes us with the names of ten thanages, with their yearly values. These are Aberdeen, Kyntor, Fermartyn, Obyne, Glendowachy, Aberkirdor, Conuath, Bugh, Munbre, Natherdale.[322] Of these thanages we find a line extending from the shore of the Moray Firth to the eastern sea at Aberdeen, and separating the eastern portion of Buchan from the inland districts on the west. The first of these thanages extends along the shore from Cullen to Banff, and includes the parishes of Boyndie, Fordyce, Deskford, and Ordiquhill, forming the greater part of the district of Boyne, which, with that of Enzie, makes up the modern county of Banff. It consisted of two parts,—the thanage of Boyne properly so called, containing the parish of Boyndie and parts of Fordyce and Banff, and the forest of Boyne adjoining it in the south. Of the early history of this thanage we have no information, till we find it converted into a feudal barony by King David II., who grants a charter in 1368 to John de Edmounstone of his whole lands of his thanage of Boyne, with an annual rent of four pounds from the town of Banff, to be held as a barony, with the tenandries and services and homages of the freeholders (_liberetenentium_). The forest of Boyne appears to have remained in the Crown.[323]

East of this thanage was that of Glendowachy, also called Doune, which, in the Rental of Alexander the Third is valued at twenty pounds yearly. It appears to have been granted by Robert the First to Hugh, earl of Ross, but in 1382 Robert the Second grants to John Lyounn, knight, the whole lands of the thanage of Glendowachy, which had fallen to him by escheat from the late William, earl of Ross, who had alienated it without the royal consent—to be held by him for the accustomed services. Adjacent was the small thanage of Munbre, valued in the Rental at thirty-four pounds eight shillings and eightpence.[324]

South of these thanages lay those of Aberkerdor and Natherdale, co-extensive with the parish of Marnoch, and that of Conveth, with the parish of Inverkeithnie. Of these thanages we have some information prior to the war of independence. Between 1286 and 1289, Simon, thane of Aberkerdor, founds the chapel of Saint Menimius on the banks of the Dovern, and grants certain lands to it; and in an inquisition regarding this foundation in 1369, it is found that Simon was thane of the two thanages of Conveth and Aberkerdor, and owing to derelict against the king he had seized both thanages, on which Simon made over six davachs of Conveth to the earl of Buchan, in order that he might recover the other thanage of Aberkerdor, and founded the chapel in consequence. He appears to have had an only daughter and heiress, and the thanage of Aberkerdor is found in the Crown in the reign of David II., who includes it in the grant to Walter de Leslie formerly noticed,[325] in whose favour it was erected into a barony.

From the thanage of Conveth, co-extensive with the parish of Inverkeithnie, to the eastern seaboard between the Ythan and the Don, lay the extensive thanage of Fermartyn, the principal seat of which was Fyvie. Its annual value in the reign of Alexander the Third was 120 marks, and it appears to have been farmed by a tenant, as _Reginald Firmarius de Fermartyn_ accounts in the Chamberlain Rolls of that reign for its _firma_ or rent.[326] It consisted, like other large thanages, of thanage and forest, and among the missing charters of Robert the First is one to Sir John Broun of the thanage of Fermartyn, and another to Patrick de Monteath of the office of forestership of Killanell and Fermartyn, showing that the forest had become a royal forest; David the Second, however, grants one-half of his thanage of Fermartyn to William, earl of Sutherland, for his life, with its tenandries and services of the freeholders (_liberetenencium_), and with its bondmen, and their bondage services, native-men and their followers, to be held in free barony, and his heirs to hold it in ward and relief. The other half of the thanage was held, as appears by the Chamberlain Rolls, by Thomas Isaak, but it appears to have again fallen to the Crown, and is finally granted by King Robert the Third as a barony to Henry de Prestoune, with the town and castle of Fyvie.[327] Adjacent to Fermartyn on the sea-coast was the smaller thanage of Belhelvie. We know nothing of its history as a thanage prior to the war of independence, but in 1323 Robert the Bruce confirms to Hugo de Barclay for his homage and service the lordship of the thanage of Belhelvie, with the lands of Westerton, Keer, and Egie, within the said thanage, with the office of sergand, and the _Can_ of the church land of Belhelvie, extending to forty-pound land and rent, to be held as a free barony, rendering the Scottish service pertaining to a forty-pound land, and the lands to return to the king on failure of heirs of the body.[328]

Between the rivers Dee and Don, which formed the old earldom of Mar, were five thanages. The old town of Aberdeen, on the south bank of the Don, near its junction with the sea, appears as a thanage in the reign of Alexander the Third. It is included as such in the Rental of the crown lands with the annual value of fifty merks, and in the Chamberlain Rolls for 1264 the sheriff accounts for twelve pounds received from the thane of Aberdeen; while in 1358 one-half of the thanage of Aberdeen appears in the Crown, and the other half in the hands of John Herys by concession of the king.[329] One of the missing charters of the reign of Robert the First is one to the burgh of Aberdeen of the forest of Stocket, which was no doubt the forest of the thanage. It merges after this time in the town and town lands of Aberdeen.

One of the most important and instructive thanages between Don and Dee was that of Kyntor, now Kintore. It appears in the Rental of the crown lands in the reign of Alexander the Third, with the annual value of 101 merks, and in the Chamberlain Rolls of 1264 the sheriff receives £17 : 13 : 4 from the thane of Kintor. This thanage was of considerable extent, and, with the exception of a small part on the north side of the Don, extends along that river on its south side for about ten miles, and approaches on the south-east to within a mile of the river Dee. In that part of the thanage which is separated from the rest by the river Don is the church of Kinkell, a name which signifies the chief _Cill_ or church. This church had several chapels dependent upon it. Five of these were the chapels of Kintore, Kemnay, Kinnellar, Skene, and Dyce, all now erected into separate parishes, and this gives us the extent of the ancient thanage. Part of the old parish of Kinkell lay on the south side of the river Don, and this part formed the lands of Thaneston, or the Thane’s town. South of it lay the forest of Kintore, with the ancient keep of Hallforest. The name of the thanage, Kintore, contains the same prefix of _Kin_ or _Ceann_, signifying chief, and the latter part of the word is probably _Torr_, a mound or castle. These two names of Kinkell and Kintore—the one the name of the principal church, the other that of the thanage, or tribe territory which surrounded it—illustrate a passage in the Book of Deer, where we find mention of the burdens that fall ‘on the chief tribe residences of Scotland generally and on the chief churches’ (_Ardmandaidib_, _Ardchellaib_). The charters which follow the war of independence show very clearly the different classes by whom the thanage was occupied. In 1324 Robert the First confirms to Robert de Keith all the lands and tenements he held of the Crown _in capite_, and these include the forest of Kintore;[330] but in the following reign it appears to have been in the Crown, as David II. dates several of his charters from his manor of the forest of Kyntor;[331] but in 1407 Robert, duke of Albany, confirms a charter by William de Keith to his son Robert de Keith of the lands and barony of Aldene, and of the forest of Kyntor, with the freeholders (_liberetenentibus_) of said lands and their services.[332] The thanage itself forms the subject of other grants. In 1375 Robert the Second grants to John de Dunbarre, earl of Moray, all and whole our lands of the thanage of Kyntor, reserving, however, the tenandries, freeholders (_liberetenentibus_), lands of the freeholders, and the _Cans_, due to us from the said thanage, to be held as a barony, with the bondmen, bond services, native-men and their followers, for military service. This is followed by another charter in 1383, in which the lands of the thanage of Kyntor are granted, along with the tenandries, freeholders, and lands of the freeholders, and _Cans_ due from the thanage reserved in the previous charter, but still reserving the tenandry of Thaynston. This tenandry appears, however, to have passed likewise to the earl of Moray, and to have been held under him by a family of the name of Gothynnis, and to have fallen to co-heirs, for in 1450 Katerina de Gothynnis sells to Thomas Wardrop the fourth part of the lands of Thaneston, in the thanage of Kyntor, and the fourth part of the annual rent of Kynkell. In 1465 James III. confirms to Thomas Wardrope of Gottinys the lands of Thaneston, with the annual rent of ten shillings from the lands of Kynkell; and in 1467 Alexander Wardrope sells the lands of Thaneston, and the annual rent of thirty shillings from the lands of Kynkell, along with the township of Foulartoun, adjacent to said lands of Thaneston, in the thanage of Kyntor, and all _Cans_ of oats and cheese, and all money in name of _Ferchane_ due to him and his heirs from the lands of Kynkell and Dyse, within the said thanedom, rendering to our lord the king the usual and customary services.[333] The word here used of _Ferchane_ is the Gaelic equivalent of _manred_ or _manrent_, the homage and service due by a bondman, which was by this time very generally commuted to a money payment, as we see from a rental of the bishopric of Aberdeen, dated in 1511, where the rent of each holding paid in kind concludes with a sum of money amounting to 3s. 4d. for each two ploughgates, _pro bondagio_, in lieu of the services of the bondmen.[334]

On Deeside, at some distance from its mouth, were three thanages—those of O’Neill, Birse, and Aboyne. The thanage of O’Neill is merely mentioned in a list of the second tithes due to the bishop of Aberdeen, who drew tithe from it, but as it is not contained in the rental of the crown lands in the reign of Alexander the Third, and the lands of O’Neill had fallen in that reign to the great nobleman Alan Durward, in part of a succession derived from the earls of Mar, it is probable that was a thanage held of these earls. The thanage of Birse lies on the south side of the river Dee, and is separated from O’Neill by that river, and of this thanage we have a very early notice, for King William the Lion in 1170 grants to the bishop of Aberdeen his whole lands of Brass, now Birse, consisting of sixteen townships under the kirkton or church land, and likewise the royal forest of Brass, with all the native-men of these lands, the thanes, however, being excepted. This exception is somewhat similar to the grant of the thanage of Kyntor with the exception of Thaneston, and as Thaneston was eventually conveyed by the Crown, so by a subsequent charter in 1241 Alexander the Second confers upon the bishops the right to hold the whole lands of Birse in free forest without excepting the thane’s land, and thus terminated the thanage.[335] Farther up the Dee was the thanage of Obeyn, now Aboyne, from which likewise the bishop draws second tithes. In 1328 we find this thanage mentioned in the Exchequer Rolls as being then in the hands of Sir Alexander Fraser heritably. The _firma_ or rent of this thanage, amounting to £100, belonged in 1348 to the queen.[336]

[Sidenote: Thanages in Angus and Mearns.]

Separated in part by the river Dee and in part by the great chain of the Mounth, and extending south as far as the Firth of Tay, lay the great province of Angus and Mearns. The latter earldom, which was much the smaller of the two, seems from an early period to have fallen to the Crown, and upwards of two-thirds of its territory was composed of thanages. These form two groups. The first extended from the river Dee to the Eastern Sea at Stonehaven, cutting off the north-east corner of the earldom, and consisted of the two thanages of Durris and Colly or Cowie. Both thanages were in the Crown as early as 1264, when we find the sheriff of Kincardine charging the expense of repairing the houses of Collyes and Durris, and both possessed forests which had become royal forests, for we find John, earl of Buchan, _custos_ or keeper of these forests in 1292.[337] The earl of Buchan was forfeited in 1305, and twenty years after, in 1328, King Robert the First grants to Sir Alexander Fraser and his son John, the king’s nephew, the forest of Cragy, in the thanage of Cowie, afterwards called the forest of Cowie, and in the same year there is the note of a missing charter to Sir Alexander Fraser of the thanage of Cowie.[338] There is also a notice of a missing charter of King David the Second to William Fraser and Margaret Murray his spouse of the thanage of Durris and thanage of Collie, which thanage of Collie was Alexander Fraser his father’s, with the lands of Eskyltul, in Kincardine. In 1359 we find the bishop of St. Andrews accused of having unjustly obtained the _Cans_ of the kirkton of Durris, but the sheriff, William de Keth, charges himself with the _firma_ of the thanages of Colly and Durris, but not the forest of Colly, which is said to be in his hands by concession of the king.[339] In 1369 King David II. grants to Alexander Fraser the lands of the thanage of Durris, which is erected into a barony,[340] and the thanage of Cowie shared the same fate, as, though no charter is extant, Alexander Fraser, lord of the baronies of Colly and of Durris, grants in 1400 a charter in favour of his son of certain lands in the barony of Durris, which is confirmed by the king.[341] Robert de Keith, son of William de Keith and Margaret Fraser, gets a charter from Robert II. of ‘the forest of Colly, the forest called the forest of the Month, the lands of Ferachy, Glastolach, Cragy, Clochnahull, whilk of old was of the thanage of Colly and vicecom. Kincardin.’[342]

The other group of thanages forms the southern part of Mearns, and extends from the Grampians to the sea. The most westerly are those styled the thanages of Kyncarden, and consist of those of Kyncarden, Fettercairn, and Aberbuthnot. These three thanages, with the park of Kyncardyn, the castle and the _Cans_ of the same, appear in 1359 as in the hands of the Earl of Sutherland by royal concession.[343] Kincardine was from an early period a royal seat, and Robert the First confirms to Alexander Fraser six arable acres in the tenement of Auchincarie adjoining the royal manor of Kincardine. It embraces the greater part of the parish of Fordun, and as we find in it the name of Kinkell, there may probably have been a chief church corresponding to the name of Kincardine, as the same term of Kinkell did to Kintore. The thanage of Fettercairn is co-extensive with the parish of that name, and contained in it lands called the Thanestone, that of Aberluthnot with the parish of Marykirk. How these three thanages became converted into feudal baronies has already been noticed. On the west side of Fettercairn was the small thanage of Newdosk, which once formed a parish, now united to Edzell. Among the notices of missing charters is one by David II. to Ronald Chene of the thayndom of Newdoskis, and in 1365 he grants to Sir Alexander de Lyndesay all his lands in the thanage of Newdosk, to be held as a free barony.[344]

On the west side of Kincardine was the important thanage of Aberbuthnot, now Arbuthnot. It contained twenty-three townships, beside the kirkton or church land of Arbuthnot. This thanage appears originally to have been co-extensive with the parish of Arbuthnot, and to have been broken up by King William the Lion, who grants the lands of Altrethis, now Allardyce, to the ancestor of that family, and the thanage itself to Osbert Olifard the crusader, while the lands of Kair, consisting of four townships, and those of Inchbreck, appear as separate possessions. The entire parish appears to have contained fifty-four ploughgates of land, giving an average of two ploughgates or a half davach to each township; but in the eighteenth century the separate possessions consisted of fourteen farms of two ploughgates each, twenty-two of one ploughgate, five of half a ploughgate, and six of a quarter ploughgate or husbandland.[345] This is probably a fair enough picture of how the land had been occupied in older days by the different classes of its possessors, and if the ploughgate in the main represents the Welsh _Tref_ the entire thanage in its oldest state was the equivalent of the Welsh _Cymwd_.

A curious insight into the ancient state of this thanage is given us by a document, the original of which is preserved at Arbuthnot House. It is a decreet of the Synod of Perth in a cause betwixt William, bishop of St. Andrews, and Duncan de Aberbuthenot, in the year 1202. The church of Arbuthnot was in the diocese of St. Andrews, and the question related to the respective rights of the bishops of St. Andrews and of the Arbuthnots, who represented the old thanes, in the kirkton or church lands of Arbuthnot, and it preserves the evidence of the witnesses who were examined. The inquiry extends over a period of more than half a century, and during the episcopate of four bishops. During the episcopate of Richard, who became bishop in 1163, Osbertus Olifard appears as lord of the land, and the kirkton is occupied by a multitude of _Scolocs_. Then in the time of Bishop Hugo his successor Osbertus Olifard goes on a crusade, and lets the land to Ysaac de Bonevin for six years, who is termed _firmarius_, and the kirkton was then occupied by eight holders called _personæ_, having under them people having houses and pasturing beasts. Then, in the time of Bishop Roger, Walter Olifard, the next lord, gave his land of Arbuthnot to Hugo Swintun for his service, and his son Duncan was called De Aberbuthnot, removed the _Scolocs_, also called the native-men, from the kirkton, and first cultivated their land, that is, added it to his own demesne. These lords, from Osbert Olifard to Duncan of Aberbuthnot, evidently represented the old thanes, as it is said that no thane before Duncan had ever cultivated this land, nor that any thane had put a plough in that land before Duncan did so. Osbert Olifard, however, was, from his name, a Norman intruder, who had obtained it from the Crown after the thanages became crown land, and it seems to have passed in this way through many hands, as one witness had seen thirteen thanes possessing the land, but none of whom had vexed the men of the kirkton before Duncan. The result of the inquiry was that the bishop was entitled to _Conveth_ from the men of the kirkton, and to a rent of two cows, and one-half of the _blodwits_ and _mercets_, but the thane received the _Can_ and ten cheeses from each house in the kirkton, three men for harvest from each house, and men for the _Expeditio_ or _Feacht_.[346] This Duncan de Aberbuthnot was the ancestor of the noble family of Arbuthnot, who afterwards held the thanage as a barony.

Next to Aberbuthnot was the small thanage of Morphie. It is mentioned in 1362 in the Exchequer Rolls, and among the missing charters by David II. are two of annual rents furth of the thanage of Morphie.[347] It is situated in the parish of St. Cyrus, formerly called Ecclesgreig, and here we come in contact with another designation of land which we noticed in a previous volume, viz., that of the _Abbacia_ or _Abthanrie_.[348] This was land which had formerly belonged to an abbey or monastery of the Columban Church, but had fallen to the Crown either by the monastery falling into the hands of lay abbots or by its extinction, and when they became crown lands we find them classed with the thanages. These _Abthanries_ are in the main confined to the country lying between the great mountain chain of the Mounth and the Firth of Forth; and the first we meet with is that of Ecclesgreig, which was granted by King William the Lion to the priory of St. Andrews. By his charter the king conveys the church of Ecclesgreig, with the chapel of St. Regulus, and with the half carucate or ploughland in which it is situated, and with the land of the _abbacia_ of Ecclesgreig, according to its ancient rights, and with its common pasture, canons, and men, and with my thane and my men throughout the whole parish of Ecclesgreig. The thane here mentioned seems to have been the thane of Morphie, as that thanage was within the parish, the rest of the land forming the _abbacia_ or _abthanrie_; and the thanage appears to have passed into the hands of David, earl of Huntingdon, as King Alexander the Second confirms the above grant with the exception of his thane and his men, and Earl David grants to the priory of St. Andrews ‘the whole _Can_ and _Conveth_ which the canons were due to him for the land of Ecclesgreig, and the services which their men were bound to render to him, which is confirmed by Earl John, his son.’[349]

When we enter the earldom of Angus, which forms the southern and larger part of this province, we find that the thanages lie more apart, and bear a less proportion in extent to the whole land of the earldom. This arises from its greater importance, from its situation, its size, and the character of the land as a part of the territory in the heart of the kingdom, and the greater extent to which the land had been granted to foreign barons as feudal holdings. The oldest mention of the thanages in this earldom is in connection with the grants to the very ancient church of Restennot, near Forfar. A charter by David the Second in 1344 narrates that the kings Malcolm (Ceannmor), Alexander (the First), and David (the First), had granted to the prior and canons of Restennot, besides other donations, the tithe of all the fruits of their thanages and demesne lands, whether in money or in kind, within the sheriffdom of Forfar, which he confirms; and King Robert Bruce, in a charter confirming various rights and privileges to the prior and canons of Roustinot in 1322, which they had possessed in the time of Alexander the Third, includes the sum of twenty shillings and tenpence received annually from the thanage of _Thanachayis_ or Tannadyce, and the second tithes of the thanages of Old Monros, Duney, Glammes, Kingaltevy, and _Aberlemenach_ or Aberlemno, and likewise of the three bondages or servile lands of Forfar, viz., Trebog, Balmeshenor, and Esterforfar, six merks from the barony of Ketnes, and forty shillings and a stone of wax from the barony of Brechen; while a decreet of the deputies of the earl of Ross, as Justiciary of Scotland north of the Forth in 1347, finds that the prior was entitled to payment of the tithes of the thanages of Monyfoth and Menmur, as well as the other thanages and and royal lands within the shire of Forfar.[350]

The thanages within the earldom of Angus fall into two groups in the northern and southern parts of the earldom respectively. Of the northern group the beautiful valley of Clova, through which flow the upper waters of the South Esk, forms the most westerly of the thanages, that of Cloveth or Clova. In 1328 King Robert Bruce grants to Donald, earl of Mar, his whole thanage of Cloveth, with two pendicles of land called Petnocys, to be held in fee and heritage for payment of a _firma_ of twenty pounds, and rendering the carriages and other small services due and customary in the time of Alexander the Third;[351] and in 1359 the sheriff of Forfar debits himself with nothing from the thanage of Cloveth and the two Lethnottys, which return annually forty-two pounds, because it is in the hands of the earl of Mar, but by what title he knows not.[352] Here we find the pendicles of land termed Petnocys in the charter are called Lethnottys in the rolls, which throws some light on the meaning of Pit as a denomination of land. Leth means the half of anything, and, as we have seen, was applied to the half of a penny land. It here probably refers to the half of a ‘villa’ or township expressed by ‘villula.’ Clova appears in the Record of Retours as a barony containing the kirkton and other seven townships, and as having a manor-place, mill, glens, and forests.[353]

Proceeding along the course of the South Esk, we find on its north bank the thanages of Kingaltevy and Tannadyce, forming the parish of that name. The thanage of Kingaltevy appears to have remained in the Crown as late as the reign of Robert the Second, as that king grants in 1386 to Sir Walter de Ogilvy for his service an annual rent of twenty-nine pounds due and arising to him from the thanage of Kyngaltevy in the sheriffdom of Forfar, but it appears in the retours as a barony.[354] The thanage of Tannadyce, however, was granted by David the Second first to Peter Prendergast, and afterwards to Sir John de Logy and the heirs of his body, to be held blank for payment of a red falcon; and in connection with this thanage we have a manumission by the same monarch, the terms of which it will be interesting to preserve. It is termed a charter of liberty, and is addressed to all good men to whom these presents may come, and proceeds thus:—‘Be it known to you, that we have made William the son of John bearer of these presents, who, as we are told, was our serf and native man of our thanage of Tannadyce, within the sheriffdom of Forfar, our free man, as well as all who proceed from him, so that he and all proceeding from him, with all his progeny, shall be free to dwell within our kingdom wherever he will; and we grant to the said William and all proceeding from him that they shall be free and quit of all native servitude in future.’[355] In the retours this thanage too appears as a barony.[356]

Adjoining Tannadyce on the east, but on the south bank of the river, was the thanage of _Aberlemenach_ or Aberlemno. Among the missing charters of King Robert Bruce is one to William Dishington of Balgassie, in the thanage of Aberlemnoche, and two to William Blunt, one termed ‘ane bounding infeft’ of the thanage of Aberlemnoche, and the other ‘of the mains of Aberlemnoche bounding;’[357] but in 1365 King David the Second grants to Sir William de Dysschynton his lands of Balmany and mill of Aberlemnache, and his lands of Tolyquonloch, and the annual rent of Flemyngton, in the thanage of Aberlemnache, for military service.[358] North of Aberlemno, and separated from it by the parish of Brechin lay the thanage of Menmuir. This thanage appears in the reign of David the Second as possessed by three persons, for he confirms a charter granted to the prior and canons of Rostynot by Andrew Dempster, Finlay, son of William, and John de Cullus, lords of the lands of Menmuir, regarding the tithes of these lands,[359] and in the retours it appears as a barony.

On the shore in the north-east corner of Angus was the thanage of Old Monros or Monrose, and like Morphie this thanage was connected with an _abthanrie_, for King William the Lion, in his foundation charter of the monastery of Aberbrothok, includes in his grant the church of St. Mary of Old Monros, with the church land, which in Scotch is called _Abthen_; and in a subsequent charter grants to Hugo de Robesburg, his cleric, the lands of the abbacy of Munros, to be held of the monastery of Arbroath.[360] Two thanages are mentioned in close vicinity to it. On the south bank of the Esk was the thanage of Kynnaber, from which an annual rent of seven merks was granted by King Robert I. in 1325 to David de Grame; and on the south side of the water of Luan was the thanage of Edevyn, now Idvies. Two thanes are mentioned, viz., Gilys Thayn de Edevy in 1219, and Malys de Edevyn in 1254, but we have no further information with regard to either.[361] On the shore farther south was the thanage of Inverkeillor. This thanage appears as early as the reign of William the Lion to have been held feudally by the family of De Berkeley, for Walter de Berkeley grants to the church of Saint Macconoc of Innerkeledur (Inverkeillor), and Master Henry, its parson, the king’s cleric and mine, the _Grescane_, and every service which the church land and the men dwelling theron were wont to render to the Thanes of Inverkeillor, and afterwards to myself; and frees them from the _Grescane_ and every cane and rent belonging to us or to any lay person, with the right of common pasturage along with him and his men throughout the whole territory of Inverkeillor. This grant is confirmed by King William,[362] and presents an analogous case to that of Arbuthnot, whose cane was payable by the kirkton or church land to the thanes, and afterwards to the feudal lord.

Of the southern group of thanages the most westerly, situated in the south-west corner of Angus, was the thanage of Kathenes or Kettins, the only notice of which is the appearance in 1264 of Eugenius, thane of Kathenes, as possessing a large grange;[363] but there appears to have been in connection with it an _abthanrie_, as certain lands in the parish are termed in the retours ‘the lands called Abden of Ketins,’ They form but a small part of the parish, the larger portion probably forming the thanage. North-east of Kettins, and separated from it by the parish of Newtyle, was the much more important thanage of Glammis, which possesses a fictitious interest from its supposed connection with the career of Macbeth. It too makes its first appearance in 1264, when we find a payment of sixteen merks to the Thane of Glammis for the lands of Clofer and Cossenys, subtracted from the thanage of Glammis; and in 1290 the sheriff of Forfar accounts for twenty-seven cows as the _Waytinga_ of one and a half nights of the thanage of Glammis during two years.[364] After the war of independence this thanage appears to have remained in the hands of the Crown till the reign of Robert the Second, when in the second year of his reign he grants to John Lyon his whole lands of the thanage of Glammis, erected into a barony, with the bondmen, bondages, native-men and their followers, and with the tenandries and services of the freeholders (_liberetenencium_).[365]

On the shore of the Firth of Tay we find the thanedom of Monifieth, of which the only notice is a missing charter by King Robert Bruce to Patrick, his principal physician, of the lands of Balugillachie, within the thanage of Monifieth, but here we likewise meet with an _abthanrie_; the distinction, however, between the two is here apparent, for during the reign of Alexander the Second we find that the former was, like most thanages, held of the Crown, while the latter belonged to the earls of Angus. Thus King Alexander grants to the monastery of Arbroath ten merks annually, paid each year from his _firma_ or rent of Monifieth; while Malcolm, earl of Angus, in the same reign, grants to Nicholas, son of Bricius, priest of Kerimure, and his heirs, in fee and heritage, the whole lands of the _abthein_ of Munifeth.[366] Adjoining Monifieth, in the adjacent parish of Monikie, was the last of the Forfarshire thanages—viz., that of Duny or Downie. In 1359 the sheriff charges himself with nothing from the thanage of Duny, because it was then in the hands of the earl of Sutherland heritably through his marriage with the king’s sister.[367] But, at the same time, when Robert the Second erected Glammis into a barony in favour of John Lyon, he grants a similar charter in favour of Sir Alexander de Lyndesay of all and whole his lands of the thanage of Downy, erected into a barony, with the bondmen, bondages, native-men and their followers, and with the services of the freeholders (_liberetenencium_) of the said barony.[368] In connection with this thanage we find the waste land termed the Moor of Downie.[369]

[Sidenote: Thanages in Fife and Fothriff.]

Crossing the Firth of Tay and entering the province of Fife and Fothriff, we find the thanages few in number and at some distance from each other, and this arises from the land having been extensively granted at an early period as feudal holdings to the Saxon and Norman followers of the king. In Fife we find traces of three thanages, and in Fothriff of two. Those of Fife are, first, Kinneir in the parish of Kilmany. We have no early notice of Kinneir as a thanage, but it was afterwards a barony; and among the lands belonging to the barony we find mention of the thainis lands, viz., those of Straburne, Fordell, and Fotheris. Not far from it was the thanage of Dervesin or Dairsy. In a charter granted by Ernald, bishop of St. Andrews, to the church of St. Andrews, of the church of Dervesin, with a carucate of land in that township, in his demesne, among the witnesses is Hywan, son of Malcothen, Thain de Dervesin; and in the retours it appears as the barony and demesne lands of Dairsie.[370] In the parish of Cairnbee, not far from the shore of the Firth of Forth, we find the thanage of Kelly. When King David the First granted to the priory of May the lands of Balugallin, they were perambulated among others by Malmure, Thain de Chellin or Kelly, and among the missing charters of Robert the First is one to William Seward of the barony of Kelly.[371] In Fothriff we find in the interior the thanage of Falkland, mentioned at a very early period; for among those who perambulated the marches between Kyrkness and Lochore in the reign of Alexander the First was Macbeath, Thaynetus de Falkland, and we find that it afterwards became a royal forest.[372] The only other thanage was that of Kinross.[373] We find in 1264, I de Kynross, sheriff of Kynross, accounting for the Waytinga of four nights in the year, amounting to forty cows, besides pigs, cheese, and grain. This burden indicates that it had been a thanage, and it appears as such in the reign of Robert the First, when an inquisition was held at Kinross, on the 23d September 1323, regarding the lands of the forest of Kinross, and these lands were separated from the thanage of Kinross. It afterwards appears as a barony, with the castle, lake, and fishings of Lochleven.[374]

[Sidenote: Thanages in Stratherne.]

Crossing the range of the Ochils and entering the ancient earldom of Stratherne, we find one of the earliest residences of the old Scottish kings appearing as a thanage. In the reign of Alexander the Third the thane of Forteviot has to answer to the king for twenty merks, and we find the sheriff of Perth subsequently accounting for the _firma_ or rent-charge of the land of William of Forteviot;[375] while King Robert the First grants in 1314 to the church and canons of Inchaffray his lands of Cardnay and Dolcorachy in the thanage of Forteviot. It appears in the retours as a barony.[376] In this earldom we meet for the first time with a thanage held of the earl and not of the Crown. The foundation-charter of the abbey of Inchaffray, granted by Gilbert, earl of Stratherne, in the year 1200, is witnessed among others by Anechol Theinus or thane of Dunine, now Dunning; and in a subsequent charter the same earl terms him ‘Anechol, my thain of Dunyn.’ In 1247 a charter is granted by Malise, earl of Stratherne, to the abbey of Inchaffray, of twenty merks annually from the thanage of Dunyne and Peticarne, to be received for all time in future from the hands of those who hold the said lands for the time being; and in confirmation of this grant he addresses a mandate to Bricius, thane of Dunin, to see twenty merks at Dunin from the _firma_ due to the earl, paid to Inchaffray. The descent of these thanes of Duning can, however, be ascertained from the Chartulary. The most powerful family next to the earls was that of the seneschals or stewards of Stratherne. They descend from Gilleness, seneschal of Stratherne in the time of Earl Gilbert, who had two sons—Malise, who appears as seneschal in 1220, and Anechol, who was thane of Duning. From Malise proceeded a line of seneschals, the succession to which was carried by a daughter to the Drummonds. Anechol was succeeded as thane of Duning by Bricius, who likewise appears as thane of Duning; but in the time of Robert, earl of Stratherne, the son of Malise, the seneschalship had fallen to him likewise, and he witnesses a charter of that earl as ‘Bricius de Dunin, his seneschall.’[377] The lands of Duning and others were erected into the barony of Duncrub in favour of Andrew Rollo of Duncrub in 1540; and among the lands we find the thane lands also called Edindonyng.[378] One of the charters by Earl Gilbert, which is witnessed by Anechol, thane of Dunin, is likewise witnessed by Duncanus, Thanus de Struin. This is the only notice of this thanage, but the name corresponds with that of the parish of Strowan on the south bank of the Earn above Crieff. It is now united with the parish of Monzievaird, from which it is divided by the river. It was probably a thanage also held of the earl, and the old family of the Toschachs of Monzievaird no doubt derived their name and descent from its _Toschach_ or thane.[379]

[Sidenote: Thanages in Atholl.]

North of the earldom of Stratherne, and within the range of the Grampians, lay the ancient earldom of Atholl. It is from this district that the royal dynasty emerged which terminated with Alexander the Third, the founder of the house having been lay abbot of Dunkeld, and possessor of the _abthanrie_ of Dull,[380] and from his son Duncan proceeded not only the kings of Scotland, but likewise the ancient earls of Atholl. The _abthanrie_ of Dull was a very extensive district, and embraced a large portion of the western part of the earldom, and may be viewed as the original patrimony of the royal house. It contained within it two thanages, viz., those of Dull and of Fothergill, now Fortingall. Thus we find Alexander the Second issuing a mandate addressed to his theyns and other good men of Dul and Forterkil, in which he grants to the canons of Scon the right of taking materials from his thanages of Dul and Forterkil for the work at their church of Scon.[381] In the reign of Alexander the Third we find in 1264 Alan the Hostiary bound to account for the _firma_ of Dull, and in 1289, Duncan, earl of Fife, is _Firmarius_ or renter of the manor of Dull, the rent for two years being five hundred pounds seven shillings and fourpence.[382] He is also keeper of the prison of Dull, but while the _abthanrie_ with its two thanages is thus in the Crown, the church of Dull, with its chapels of Foss and Branboth in Glenlyon, belonged to the earls of Atholl, and was granted by Malcolm, earl of Atholl, to the priory of St. Andrews after the death of William his cleric. This grant is confirmed by the bishop of Dunkeld, reserving a right to give the latter, to the extent of ten merks, to a vicar, and an annual rent of twenty shillings due to him and his clergy from the _Abthanrie_ of Dull.[383] By king David the Second the bailiary of the _abthain_ of Dull was granted to John Drummond, and in his reign the thanages began to be broken up, for he grants a charter to John de Loorne, and Janet, his spouse, and our cousin, of the whole lands of Glenlion; another to Donald M‘Nayre of the lands of Estirfossach or Foss, in the abthanrie of Dull, which had been resigned by Hugo de Barclay; and a third to Alexander Meinzies of the barony of Fothergill, in the county of Perth.[384]

Besides these thanages held of the Crown, we find mention of two held of the earl of Atholl, and two of the bishop of Dunkeld. On the north bank of Loch Tay was the thanage of Cranach, but it no sooner appears in the records than it vanishes as a thanage, for it passed into the Menzies family, and among their writs is a charter by David de Strathbogie, earl of Atholl and Constable of Scotland, to Sir Robert de Meygnes, knight, son of Sir Alexander de Meygnes, for his homage and service, of the whole thanage of Cranach, in the earldom of Atholl, with the lands of Cranach, Achmore, Kynknoc, the two Ketherowes, and Achnechroish, as a feudal holding for military service. The other thanage lay in the valley of Glentilt, near Blair, and of it we have more particulars. The earldom of Atholl had become vested in the person of Robert, Steward of Scotland, and before he succeeded to the throne in 1371 he grants a charter, as Lord of Atholl, which is undated, to Eugenius, thane of Glentilt, brother of Reginald of the Isles, of the whole thanage of Glentilt, being three davachs of land, for his faithful service, to be held of him in fee and heritage for ever, for payment of eleven merks in money, and the carriage of four horses once a year for hunting in the forest of Bencromby if demanded. There is a provision that should the yearly value of the thanage at any time not reach the sum of eleven merks, he is to pay such sum as may be fixed by an assize of the inhabitants of Strathguye and of those dwelling in the thanage. There is then a retour at Logyraite in the court of the earl of Athole, by which, on 29th July 1457, Andrew de Glentilt is served heir to his father John le thane de Glentilt, in the lands of Petnacrefe in Strathguay; and a charter of sale, in 1461, by Andrew, thane of Glentilt, to John Stewart of Fothergill, of the lands of Achnamarkmore, to be held of himself; and this is followed by a notarial instrument taken on the sale by Finlay ‘le thane de Glentilt,’ son and heir of the late Andrew le thane de Glentilt, on 27th April 1647, of the right of reversion of these lands for twenty pounds, payable in one day between sunrise and sunset. There is then a precept of sasine by Findlay, thane of Glentilt, in favour of Neill Stewart of Fothergill, as son and heir of Neill Stewart of Fothergill, of the lands of Achnamarkmore, given at Glentilt on 4th June 1500, in presence of John, Thane, son and heir-apparent of Findlay, and on 13th August 1501 a charter of sale by Finlay, thane of Glentilt, to Elenore, countess of Atholl, of Kincraigy. We have then two charters of even date, granted by John, earl of Atholl, and superior of All and Whole the lands of the _Thanagium Abnathie_, or the thanedom of Glentilt, to John Stewart, his son and heir, of the said lands _Thanagii Abnathie_, or le thanedom of Glentilt, which formerly belonged to Finlay Toschach, thane of Glentilt, and which he voluntarily resigned, as is proved to us by his corporal oath sworn on the holy evangels of God. The earl’s seal and the seal of Finlay Toschach are appended, at Dunkeld, the last day of May 1502, and these charters are confirmed by a charter under the Great Seal on 2d July 1502, of the thanage, with the bondmen, bondages, native-men and their issue.[385] According to this charter the thanage contained seventeen townships, including the two tenandries of Achnamarkmore and Kincraigy, giving an average of about the sixth part of a davach to each township; and we here see the family, which originally descended from that of the Isles, adopting the name of Toschach, from their designation of Thane. From them no doubt proceeded the M‘Intoshes of Tiriny in Glentilt, which is included among the lands of the thanage.[386] We find mention of two other thanages in Atholl, but it is not very clear whether they were held under the earl, or under the bishop of Dunkeld. King William the Lion confirms to the church and canons of Scone a grant made to them by Malcolm, earl of Atholl, of the church of Loginmahedd, now Logierait, with its chapels of Kilchemi, Dunfolenthi, Kelkassin, and Kelmichelde Tulimath, and with all its other lawful pertinents; but John, bishop of Dunkeld, grants and confirms to the abbots and canons of Sconie the church of Logymahedd, in Atholl, with the full tithes, benefices, and rights lawfully pertaining to said church, viz., of Rath, which is the chief seat of the earldom (_caput comitatus_), and of the whole thanage of Dulmonych, and of the whole thanage of Fandufuith, and with these chapels, Kylkemy, Dunfoluntyn, Kilcassyn, Kilmichell of Tulichmat, and all pertinents of said chapels, and a toft in Logyn, with common pasture, as is contained in a charter of Earl Henry.[387] The _Rath_ or fort is still visible on a height between the two rivers at the junction of the Tay and the Tummel, and the modern names of the places where the four chapels were situated are Killichangie, Dunfallandy, Killichassy, and Tullimet, and they are all within the parish of Logierait, but the two thanages seem not to have been included in Earl Malcolm’s charter, and are situated within the territory termed the bishopric of Dunkeld, now the parish of Little Dunkeld, for Fandufuith is now Fandowie in Strathbraan, and Dalmonych is probably Dalmarnoch, on the south bank of the Tay, in the same parish. We have no other notice of these thanages.

[Sidenote: Thanages in Gowry.]

Between the earldom of Atholl and the province of Fife and Fothriff, and separated from the latter by the Firth of Tay, lay the earldom of Gowry. In the account of the seven provinces of Scotland prior to the Scottish conquest, this earldom formed one province along with that of Atholl; but after the Scottish dynasty was seated on the throne it was attached to the province of Fife and Fothriff. It was the heart of the kingdom, as within it was situated the royal seat of Scone, where, as Fordun rightly tells us, ‘both the Scottish and Pictish kings had whilom established the chief seat of government;’ and from an early period it appears to have belonged to the royal family, as Bower makes the curious statement that Alexander the First had received at his baptism, as a donation from his father’s brother the earl of Gowry, the lands of Lyff and Invergowry, where, after he became king, he began to build a palace, and finally conferred them upon the abbey of Scone. These lands are in fact contained in the foundation-charter of Scone by Alexander the First, and that the earldom had been the appanage of Donald Bane, who alone can be meant, is probably true enough.[388]

In the reign of Malcolm the Fourth, who confirms the foundation-charter of Alexander the First, we find mention of the four royal manors of Gouerin or Gowry paying _Can_ to the king, and these were Scon or Scone, Cubert or Coupar-Angus, Forgrund or Longforgan and Stratherdel; and these appear to have been likewise royal thanages. Thus Alexander the Second grants to the canons of Scone, in exchange for tithes which they exacted from the lands of Forgrund, one net of his fishings in the thanage of Scone, two acres of land in the territory of Scone where the Canon’s Well is situated, and a perpetual lease of his demesnes of Rath and Kynfaunes in Gowry; and finally King Robert the First grants to the abbot and canons of Scone the whole thanage of Scone, with all its pertinents.[389] Strathardell, too, was a thanage, as we find a charter granted in the reign of William the Lion by Laurence of Abernethy of the church of Abernethy to the monks of Arbroath is witnessed by Macbeth, sheriff of Scon, thane of Strathardel;[390] and though we have no notice of the royal manors of Cupar and Forgrund being termed thanages, it is probable that they were so.

North of Cupar, however, was the thanage of Alyth, in which was situated the royal castle of Invercuych, as we find Robert the Second granting to Sir James de Lyndesay All and Whole the lands of Aberbothry, as also the place of the royal castle of Invercuyth and all the lands which belonged to John de Welhame and John de Balcasky, in the thanage of Alyth, to be held as a barony; and the same monarch includes the thanage of Alyth with its pertinents in a subsequent charter to Sir James de Lyndesay of the castle and barony of Crawford and other lands;[391] and in connection with this thanage there appears to have been a forest, as in two charters of King David the Second to the canons of Scone, Alyth is mentioned among the royal forests.[392] As Alyth with its royal castle was at the north-east extremity of Gowry, so we find at its north-west boundary the thanage and royal castle of Kinclaven, on the west bank of the Tay, near its junction with the river Isla. We find notices of the repair of the castle in 1264, while the sheriff of Perth accounts for its _firma_, and King Robert the Second grants to his illegitimate son, John, his lands of Ballathys, Invernate, and Mukirsy in the thanage of Kynclevin, with its tenandries and services of the freeholders, the native-men, bondmen, and their bondages and followers.[393]

[Sidenote: Thanages south of the Forth.]

The thanages of which we have thus given shortly the history were all situated north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde, and in those eastern districts which formed originally the seat of the Pictish tribes, and afterwards fell under the dominion of a dynasty of kings of Scottish race. The Scots were thus a dominant race over a subject population, and under the succeeding dynasty, who adopted Norman customs and assimilated the laws and institutions of the country to those of a feudal monarchy, these districts became the theatre of a Saxon colonisation and of a gradually increasing settlement of Norman barons, who held the land on a feudal tenure from the Crown; and thus the more ancient tenures represented by the thanages were comparatively speaking few in number, and scattered in isolated situations. But while the thanages in general were thus situated, there was one thanage south of the Firth of Forth which appears to belong to the same class. It was situated on the south bank of the river Carron, and represented that small district, distinguished in the Irish Annals by the name of _Calathros_, and in Latin documents and chronicles as Calatria,—a name preserved in the more modern Callender. The name of _Ecclesbreac_ by which the church was known, and by which it is still called in the Highlands, indicates that it was inhabited by a Gaelic-speaking people, and the term _Breac_ is usually associated with those of Pictish race. They were probably the remains of the old Pictish population which gave their name to the Pentland Hills. Be this as it may, the notices of this thanage are in entire harmony with those of the thanages north of the Forth. A charter by King David the First to the canons of Stirling is witnessed by Dufotir, sheriff of Stirling; and the same Dufotir witnesses a charter of King David to the church of Glasgow, as Dufoter de Calatria. About 1190 appears Dominus Alwynus de Kalenter.[394] A charter by Herbert, son of Herbert de Camera, of a half carucate of land in his territory of Dumfries, consisting of four bovates or oxgangs near Louchbane, is witnessed by Malcolm, thane of Kalentyr, and Alexander the Second grants to the canons of Holyrood, in feu-farm, his whole lands of Kalentyr, which had been in his hands since the day on which he assigned to Malcolm, formerly thane of Kalentyr; forty pound lands in Kalentyr, which lands are reserved to the said thane. Then we find the old thanage converted into crown demesne, and the thane bought off with a feudal holding. In the same reign a charter by Maldouen, earl of Lennox, is witnessed by P., Thane of Kalentyr; and a missing charter of King David the Second ‘to William Livingston of the lands of Callanter by forfeiture of Patrick Calentyre,’ appears to terminate the line of the thanes, and to indicate the conversion of the lands into a barony in favour of the Livingston family.[395] A charter granted by David the First before his succession to the throne, when the province of Lothian and the ancient Cumbrian kingdom were under his rule, and addressed to all his faithful _Tegns_ and _Drengs_ of Lothian and Teviotdale,[396] shows that any thanes who appear in these districts where the population was entirely Anglic, belong to the Saxon organisation, and have no connection with the more northern thanages.

[Sidenote: _Toshachdor_ and _Toshachdera_.]

We have seen that the term Thane, in connection with that portion of the crown land north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde called a thanage, and considered as crown demesne, was the equivalent of the Gaelic _Toisech_ or _Toschach_, but we also find this word _Toschach_ used in Scotland in combination with two other words nearly resembling each other, and thus forming the two denominations of _Toschachdor_ and _Toschachdera_, indicating in this form a person, and in the form of _Toschachdoracht_ and _Toschachderacht_, an office, just as the function of the Toisech is expressed in the Irish system by _Toisecheacht_. Sir John Skene, in his treatise _De Verborum Significatione_, gives under the word _Toscheoderache_, several interpretations of it. He says that it was ‘ane office or jurisdiction, not unlike to a bailliarie, especially in the Iles and Hielandes.’ ‘Some alleagis it to be ane office pertaining to execution of summondis. Uthers understandis the same to be ane crowner. Last, summe understandis it to be ane searchour and taker of thieves and limmers.’ But it is obvious from his references that he confounds the two offices together. The _Toschachdoracht_ was the office like a bailiary, and the _Toschachdor_ was considered the equivalent of the coroner, and this office was mainly confined to the Highlands and Islands. The _Toschachdera_ he rightly explains, in his Notes to the Old Laws, as a name given by the original Scots and Irish to the serjeand or servitor of court who put the letters of citation in force, and that this office was commonly called ‘ane Mair of Fee.’[397] We find the two offices existed distinct from each other in the Isle of Man, and this throws some light upon it. That island was divided into six sheadings, and each sheading had two officers. The first was the coroner, and this office, says Mr. Train, in his _History of the Isle of Man_, is of the highest antiquity in the island. He is called in Manks _Toshiagh Jioarey_, or chief man of the law. There is likewise, says Mr. Train, an officer of unknown antiquity in every parish called a _Maor_, who collects all escheats, deodands, waifs, and estrays.[398]

The _Toischeachdor_ derives his name from _Toisech_, and _Dior_, an old word signifying ‘of or belonging to law,’ and is obviously the same as the Manks _Toshiagh Jioarey_, and this office is not to be found in those eastern districts where the thanages prevail, for the simple reason that it is there represented by the _Toschech_ or Thane himself, but the _Toiseachdera_ or Mair of Fee occurs repeatedly in connection with them. Thus in the laws of King William the Lion, which gave the form of citation, it is directed to be made by the serjeand or coroner or _Tosordereh_ or other summoner;[399] and that the serjeand and _Toshachdera_ are the same, will be evident on comparing a charter of the thanage of Belhelvie, which mentions the office of smith and the office of serjeand, with one of the demesne lands of Davochindore in Kildrummy, where the same offices are called _Fabrisdera et Toshachdera_.[400] We find in connection with the thanage of Moravia the office of Mair of Fee,[401] and in 1476 the lord of Strathawin, in Banffshire, grants to Alexander Crom Makalonen the lands of Invercahomore, with the office of _Toshoderatus de Strathawin_.[402] We can trace the appearance of this office too in connection with the church lands in this part of Scotland. One of the earliest grants to the bishop of Aberdeen was the schyra or parish of Rayne. It contained the lands of Ledyntoschach, or the _Toschach’s_ half, and Rothmaise, in which the word _Rath_ appears. These lands were held under the bishop by a family of De Rane, and afterwards by a family called Tulidef, but in 1544 the bishop feus to Mr. Walter Stewart the lands of Invirquhaland, Newmore, and two parts of Rothtmaise _cum ly Derachthowis_.[403] The lands of Tarves, within the thanage of Fermartin, were conferred upon the abbey of Arbroath by Alexander the Second, and in 1384 the abbot of Arbroath confers the office of _Derethy of Terwas_ upon Thomas de Lochane and the heirs of his body in perpetuity.[404] In the thanage of Fettercairn we find, besides the thaneston, or mensal land of the thane, another portion termed _Deray_ lands, or the possession of the _Toschachdera_.[405] These notices will be sufficient to show the existence of this office in connection with the thanages, to which a portion of the land was assigned as official demesne.

[Sidenote: Result of survey of thanages.]

We have now completed our survey of the thanages which survived the war of independence, and we thus see that there existed in the eastern Lowlands isolated territories, scattered here and there among the feudal holdings, still bearing the name of _Thanagium_, and preserving many of the characteristics of the older Celtic tribe. These thanages during the period of the rule of the kings of the race of David the First were considered as forming part of the crown demesne, and were held of the kings by persons called Thanes in feu-farm for payment of an annual _firma_, rent or feu-duty, but their connection with the ancient tribe lands is indicated by the fact that the feuar bearing the Saxon name of Thane was likewise known by the Celtic name of _Toschach_, and therefore represented the ancient _Toisech_ of the _Tuath_ or tribe, and that his annual feu-duty was likewise known by the Celtic name of _Cain_, usually amounting to about twelve merks, while the land was subject to another burden termed _Conveth_, and afterwards _Waytinga_, which was no other than the _Coinmhedha_ or _Coigny_ of the Irish tribes. These thanages had therefore obviously replaced the more ancient _Tuath_, and what was now regarded as crown land was the ancient tribe territory. It varied in size, as did the Irish _Tuath_. Its principal measure of land bore the Celtic name of Davach, a name also retained when the land had passed into feudal holdings. Each davach contained four ploughgates, equivalent to the Irish _Bally_ and the Welsh _Tref_, and the fourth part of the ploughgate seems to have formed the smallest holding, and been known by the Celtic term of _Rath_. The size of these thanages or tribe territories held of the Crown varied from twelve to six davachs, and those held of the earls seem in general not to have exceeded three. Part of this territory was held by the thane or _Toschach_ in demesne, and was known as the Thanestown or thane’s lands, and was cultivated by bondmen or prædial serfs, of whom there were two kinds, the _bondus_, or occupier of a servile tenement, amounting usually to the fourth part of a ploughgate or township, and the native-man, who was servile by race. Another part of the thanage consisted of tenandries, or free tenements, held under the thane by a class of sub-vassals called _libere tenentes_, or freeholders, for payment of a _Cain_ or feu-duty, and these were likewise known by the Celtic name of _Octhigern_, the equivalent of the Irish _Oclach_. They were in fact the lower of the two divisions of the _Flaith_ or nobles of the Irish tribe, consisting of the _Aire ard_ and the _Aire desa_, while from the upper division the _Ri Tuath_ or _Toisech_, as the case might be, was chosen, and when we find the territorial name of Dyce connected with some of the thanages, as Fordyce in the thanage of the Boyne, Dyce in that of Kintore, Tannadyce in the thanage of the same name, we can hardly avoid recognising the _Deis_, or private property, which constituted the basis of the _Grad Flath_, or territorial nobles of the tribe.

Between the class of freeholders and the servile class part of the land was occupied by the _liberi firmarii_, or free farmers, who had a mere usufruct of their possessions, which varied in size from the tenandry to the small holding of two oxgangs, or the fourth part of a ploughgate. These farmers usually held upon the system termed the Steelbow, when the stock and implements belonged to the proprietor, and were handed over to the tenant during his occupation of the land, who was bound to return an equal value at the termination of his tenure, his rent being usually paid in kind. This tenure closely resembled that of the _Saer_, or _Ceile_, of the Irish tribe, while the _Daer_, or bond _Ceile_, were represented by the _Bondi_, or occupiers of a servile holding in the thanage.

Another portion of the thanage was the church land. When the church consisted merely of the Cill, or parish church, it was known as the _Terra ecclesiæ_, kirkton or Pettintaggart, and was cultivated by the _Scolocs_, who paid _Cain_ to the thane, and _Conveth_ to the bishop in whose diocese it was. It generally varied in size from a half davach to a half ploughgate, but when a Columban monastery had been founded in the thanage, it was of larger extent and fell into lay hands under the name of _abbatie_, or _abthanrie_, paying, however, both _Cain_ and _Conveth_ to the church. This was in fact the _termon_ lands of the Irish tribe. Lastly, what had originally been the waste land of the tribe became known as the forest, and became dissociated from the cultivated land of the thanage. It either formed the subject of a separate grant or was retained as a royal forest.