vi

These important charters, although they have not escaped the notice of some of our more diligent antiquaries, had fallen almost into oblivion, and only a tradition remained, that they "were preserved, until a recent period, in the archives "of the Earls of Morton d" When examined for the purpose of the present publication, they were found to be contained in twenty-six linen bags, and appeared not to have been disturbed since the middle of the last century. The charters are generally in fine preservation; and numerous seals are preserved, many of which have, at early periods, been carefully protected by little bags of linen still fitting closely round each seal.

These muniments, before the dissolution of the monastery, had already formed the subject of two compilations or chartularies. The more ancient, as it now exists, is very imperfect. It is preserved in the library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh, and consists of 44 leaves of vellum, of a small quarto size, not always in proper order. It contains charters from the restoration of the Abbey by King David I., down to the reign of Alexander III., written uniformly and at the same time, if not by one hand; and its execution may be safely ascribed to the end of the latter reign, or to the period of confusion which immediately followed it.

The other and more complete register of the title-deeds of Melros is in the British Museum. It is described as "a handsome folio of 119 leaves, well "written on parchment, and in good preservation." It is of much later date, and records occasional charters, even so low down as the reign of James IV.

Neither of these chartularies contains nearly the whole of the original charters here printed, although they present some of which the originals are not now preserved. But it is not in omitting charters only that they are wanting in the interest of the originals. They scarcely ever give the witnesses, or the dates where these occur at the end; and, of course, they always want the interesting and often important authentication of the seal.

ton, and nephew to the Regent Moray. He appears to have been twice married, first, it is said, to Jean Anstruther, and, secondly, to Helen Scott, in 1596. The commendator certainly had a son, Archibald, alive in 1591, (Acta Parl. vol. III. p. 596,) but nothing more is known to the Editor of his family.

e They appear to have been examined, and roughly inventoried, by the indefatigable Macfarlane.

d Morton's Monastic Annals of Teviotdale, p. 245.

e A. 5. 47.

f MSS. Harl. 3960. This is, probably, the same book which, in Bishop Nicholson's time, was in the hands of the Earl of Haddington. Scot. Hist. Libr.

The present work embraces the whole of these materials. The original charters have always been adhered to where extant; and where recourse was had to the chartularies, the older was preferred, unless the Harleian copy afforded a manifestly better reading 5.

The arrangement of these materials was attended with some difficulty. Even after a positive or conjectural date and locality had been assigned to each, it did not seem expedient either to adopt the order of time, and thus sacrifice all connexion of subject, nor, on the other hand, to adhere to the usual arrangement of title-deeds, with reference to the lands only, by which method charters might have stood together, differing some centuries in date. A mixed plan has been adopted. The charters, after being disposed under the different King's reigns to which they seem to belong-and no nearer approximation can often be made to their dates have afterwards been arranged in reference to the various lands which form their subjects. Whether this arrangement shall be considered judicious or not, it is hoped that the full table of contents, exhibiting the heads of the classification, with an accurate index, will afford as great facility of consultation as can be required in a work of this nature. The topographical heads, which could not be made accurate or uniform over such an extent of time, during which new jurisdictions were continually varying and adding to the nomenclature of the country, have been fixed perhaps too arbitrarily. This does not seem of much consequence, since the only object was to collect in the same series the writs of lands lying in the same district ".

It is proper here to notice certain minor details of the compilation. It may be expected that some defence shall be given for printing these charters with the abbreviations which obscure the originals. If, by any mode of printing, the work could have been rendered popular, there might be more room for difference of opinion on this matter. But the subject is one necessarily requiring a certain measure of preparatory learning; and the trifling additional labour required by the general scholar to master the abbreviations, will be bestowed

g The Table of Contents indicates the charters printed from the Originals in the Earl of Morton's collection, by the addition of Orig. A few other originals are referred to their various sources. The addition of Regist. vetust. refers to the chartulary in the Advocate's Library: Regist. recent. to the Harleian MS.

h There is probably no authority for separating Roxburgh as a district, from the valley of Teviotdale; yet the separation was convenient, and it has been followed throughout. It will be observed, that Carric, of old, included much of what is now called Galloway, and that considerable confusion arises from the great extent of that Earldom in other directions.

willingly, when it is considered that their adoption saves him, in a vast multitude of instances, from the fallible conjectures of an editor, and places before him the very fac-simile of the original writ.

It may be thought somewhat at variance with this strict representation of the original documents, that the early deeds, which are printed at length in the previous part of the work, are not reprinted when they are recited in later charters. The original deeds which still exist undefaced, whatever additional force in evidence they might receive from subsequent confirmations, could not acquire either fresh interest or more authenticity from these comparatively recent transcripts.

Where, as in most cases, contemporary, or at least very ancient endorsements were found on the charters, these have been adopted as titles; and where either chartulary was used, the title prefixed in it to each charter was adopted in printing it. Where no title was found of any ancient authority, it has been thought proper to supply one; and this liberty, which is but of rare occurrence, can be detected by the supplied titles being printed without abbreviations.

The list of the plates sufficiently explains their subjects. A great number of the seals remain still unengraved. There are very perfect impressions of most of the Great Seals from the time of William the Lion, none of which have been here engraved; partly because Anderson has already published them, but chiefly because a complete series of our Royal seals, engraved in a style worthy of modern art, is a desideratum in Scotch History, and cannot be supplied from one collection. For the latter reason, not without much hesitation, the seals of the family of Douglas have been altogether omitted in the plates, though many beautiful specimens of them are to be found in this collection. A tolerably complete series of the seals of that family, which could be made up from this and other charter chests, would not only throw much light on Scotch heraldry, but would very probably clear up some disputed points, and remove some mistakes, in the genealogy of that illustrious house.

The Appendix consists partly of documents connected with Melros, though not at any time contained in its archives, and partly of charters which, though belonging to this collection, had fallen aside, and were not recovered in time to

i From N. 510, downwards.

be inserted in their proper places. A few deeds have been placed there, only because the Editor has been unable to assign dates to them with tolerable precision kk.

In preparing and passing through the press such a mass of ancient documents, it is impossible but that many errors should have been committed. In the arrangement, especially with regard to the dates of the charters, after every test has been applied, there is often room for difference of opinion. It is sufficient to say that none have been placed without much consideration. The grounds on which dates have been assigned to the most doubtful have been preserved, but it has not been thought proper to encumber this work with those lucubrations of the compiler; neither has it been thought necessary to enumerate a few minute literal errors of the press. Where an error occurs, by which the sense is injured or rendered doubtful, it has been corrected in the list of errata.

The materials thus brought together, forming as they do the finest collection of ancient writs preserved in Scotland, comprising more than a hundred royal charters from David I. down to Robert the Bruce, must be regarded with interest by every intelligent student of Scotch history. The reader who brings to their perusal the temperate curiosity that seeks only for information regarding the history, laws, and arts of our forefathers, may not sympathise with the enthusiasm felt by the zealous antiquary on the first excavation of such a treasure; but there is much to repay the patient investigation of the severer student, while the more laborious trifler in the curiosities of antiquity cannot fail to find material of infinite speculation in these records of the administration of monkish property from the days of Saint David.

Upon the interesting subject of our ancient laws and forms of legal procedure, a collection of authentic writs like the present, is calculated to throw more light than the law compilations of a later date, which, although soon adopted by Scotch lawyers, can only rank as transcripts or modifications of the writings of English jurists.

We find from the sure authorities now published, that so early at least as

k N. 25, 26, 27, 28.

kk N. 1 of the Appendix, which is reprinted from Anderson, is a duplicate of the first charter of this collection. Along with many others

b

of Anderson's materials, the original has disappeared. The original of N. 2 was found in the Register House at Edinburgh, after a copy of the same charter had been printed from the older chartulary, N. 264.

X

the reign of Malcolm IV. the Crown was held to be the origin of all real property. Royal confirmations occur so frequently after that period, that we cannot avoid the conclusion that they were considered necessary for the completeness of titles. It would be more difficult to find a reason for the repeated confirmation of crown charters by successive Sovereigns, to the same individual or to bodies corporate. That practice however, was not peculiar to the early ages illustrated by the present collection, but extended down to a recent period in the conveyancing of Scotland. In the first reigns of the present collection, we find a more complete and intricate structure of feudal tenures, with all their accompanying services and other peculiarities, than might be expected at so early a period. It was not merely that the lord of a great territory portioned it out among his followers and retainers, though that must have been the rude commencement of the system; but already in the reign of William the Lion, we find persons holding lands of their equals, and even of their inferiors in rank, by the feudal tenure, and subject to the feudal services of vassalage. There are numerous instances too, of repeated sub-infeudations of lands, where each person held of his subject superior, up to the last who held immediately of the Crown m. We have, in like manner, all the nice specifications and distinctions of feudal service that occur in the conveyancing both of England and Scotland of a later period ".

I Thus Walter the High Steward holds of De Vesci, N. 144, 296.

m Thus Helen de Lindesay held of her father, who again held of Pollock, and he of Mauleverer, who grants a confirmation to the real proprietor, and who probably held immediately of the crown, N. 140. In like manner, Melros held a plough of land in Maxton of Thomas de Normanvill, who held it under his brother Guy. Guy's immediate superior was his brother Walran, who held of the eldest brother, John de Normanvill; the reddendo being a pair of gilt spurs payable to the immediate superior, and a tercel, capitali domino feudi, N.

338-41.

bert de Kent grants land in Innerwic, and guarantees it free de forensi servitio et omni terreno servitio versus dominum Regem et omnes alios dominos nostros,-expressions which are perhaps translated in the Tenendas clause of the charter,-liberam ab omni servitio et de inware et de utware. The Reddendo is a merk of silver de recognitione, N. 59. The same services in a later charter are stiled servitium extrinsecum et intrinsecum, N. 260. Alexander II. grants to the monastery the lands of Brunschet and Dergavel, under burden of performing forinsecum servitium in auxiliis tantum quan"tum pertinet ad quartam partem militis," while it is freed" de exercitu et omni alio forinseco servitio," N. 207. William Grenlaw, for certain lands in Halsington held of De Muscamp, who held under the Earl of Dunbar, is bound to pay "servitium quantum pertinet ad tricesimam partem servitii unius militis in forinseco "servitio domini Regis cum illud acciderit," and is to be free "a multura, varda castelli et a sequela omnium placitorum," and from all other service, aid, custom, tax, and claim, N. 233. In a later charter, the monks are bound to pay “ vicesimam partem servitii unius militis quando commune servitium exigitur per totum regnum Scotie," N. 330. It may be conjec

n The Abbey had a grant of land in Clifton "liberam ab omnibus auxiliis, placitis, interro66 gatis, geldis, assisis, scutagiis, cornagiis, et "ab omni servitio et consuetudine et exactione

seculari," N. 116. Alexander II. exempts the possessions of Melros in Berwick de omnibus gildis, assisis, auxiliis, collectis, placitis, querelis, murdris, toloneis, passagiis, pontagiis, muragiis, fossagiis, stallagiis, lastagiis, de omni them et tala omnique terreno servitio, exactione seculari et servitio servili, N. 366. Ro