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]

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 13581358 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]

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]

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]