X

HISTORY OF THE

[APPENDIX.

had his Knights Companions of this Order, among whom I meet with Archibald, fourth Earl ofDouglas, and first Duke of Touraine, Lord Longueville, and Marshal of France, called Tynman, not forhis cowardice, being abundantly gallant and brave, but for his unfortunate success in battle, beingkilled at the unfortunate battle of Vernuil, in France, anno 1424, and interred in the Church ofSt. Gratian’s at Tours, the 20th of August this year, according to Sir James Balfour in his Peerage ofScotland. But Andrew Favin, in his Theatre of Honour, describing the arms of this Archibald Earl ofDouglas, whom he says was interred at St. Germains de Preez at Paris, calls him Knight of the MostNoble Order of the Thistle. 1 And I find King James II. retained high regard for this Noble Order, foron the seal of Mary, daughter of Arnold Duke of Guelderland, Queen to this King, appended toseveral writs and evidents, particularly to a charter in the lower Parliament House, granted by her toArchibald, Abbot of Holyrood House, of an annual rent of twenty shillings, payable out of the Baronyof Balernock, in excambion of two acres of land in the territory of Broughton, belonging to the saidAbbot and Convent, of the date 16th April, anno 1459, is her own Arms impaled with those ofScotland, and placed in the arms of an angel, whose head and breast is above the shield and crown,and above the head is a cross, and on the breast below is placed a saltier of Saint Andrew’s Cross. 2And King James III. as he commonly wore about his neck, pendent at a gold chain at his breast, theBadge of this Order, as may be seen in all old paintings of his effigies, so he had his KnightsCompanions of this Order, among whom, Sir James Balfour in his said Peerage, gives us the instanceof one, viz. William Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, and to prove which, he tells us he had seen an oldcharter, about the time of this King’s reign, of the lands of Roslin, in Lothianshire, given by this EarlWilliam to his second son, Oliver Sinclair, wherein he styles himself ‘ Willielmus de Sancto Claro,Dux de Oldenburgh, Comes Orcadiaa et Cathaniensiae, Dominus de Zitland, Newburgh, Sinclair,Dysert, Rosslin, Mussilburgh, &c. limitum orientalium, et occidentalium Scotiae prefectus, Baro deEcford et Cavertour, Magnus Camerarius et Admirallus Scotiae & nobilissimorum Cardui, St.Michaelis, et Aurei Velleris, Eques.’ 3 Neither is it to be doubted, but that this King’s grandfather,King James I., after his releasement from captivity in England, being bred at that Court from hisinfancy, and a very polite and learned Prince, took occasion, after his restoration, to introduce many ofthe deservedly commendable practices and customs of the English nation. And as their Order of theGarter was in high repute at that time, so it is presumable to think he also, in imitation thereof, did hisutmost to raise the reputation of his own Order of Knighthood, the Thistle. But however that maybe, I shall not determine, having as yet found no document to instruct the same; but I find, and haveseen, that in all paintings and sculptures of the effigies of the said King James III. and IV. to shewthat these Kings were not forgetful to honour and esteem this his Sovereign Order of Knighthood,that of King James III. is commonly drawn with a large gold chain about his neck (in the samemanner as Collars of Royal Orders of Knighthood are now usually worn) to which hang pendent onhis breast the Image of Saint Andrew, embracing his saltier Cross on his breast with both his arms.And that of King James IV. is represented holding in his hand a Thistle, of the like figure as thesame is commonly struck on our copper coin, only it is not ensigned with a crown as on the said coin. 4

And Balen, in his Maison de Montmorency, lib. ii. p. 3, affirms that when King James V. went toFrance, anno 1535, to marry Magdalen, daughter of Francis I. King of France, among the tokens ofhis love, during his abode there, he bestowed the Order of the Bur (as he called it), that is to say, the

1 Neither Balfour’s nor Favine’s statement is entitled to much weight. It is not corroborated by any authority,and is rendered unlikely by every other fact on the subject.

2 The introduction of a saltire on the breast of an Angel in a Seal, is not very conclusive proof of the existenceof the Order of the Thistle in 1424.

3 It would be more satisfactory, if Nisbet’s proofs of the antiquity of the Order did not so frequently rest upon

the unsupported assertions of Sir John Balfour, who may have found this Charter, with the other, “ among therubbish of the Abbey of Scone!” Without inquiring into the authenticity of the other dignities attributed toWilliam Sinclair, it may be observed that no notice occurs of the title of “ Duke of Oldenburgh” in the accountof the Earl of Orkney, in Wood’s edition of Douglas’ Peerage of Scotland; that it was not then usual for persons