278 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Lord Prowsta
the city, Berwick, Roxburgh, and Stirling, met in
Holyrood Abbey.
After a gap of forty-eight years we find John
Wigmer aZdermm in 1344. Thirteen years subsequently
certain burgesses of Edinburgh and other
burghs are found negotiating for the ransom of
King David II., taken in battle by the English.
In 1362 WilliamGuppeld was alderman, 9th April,
and till 1369, in which year a council sat at Edinburgh,
when the king granted a charter to the
abbey of Melrose.
In 1373 the dderman was Sir Adam Forrester,
.said to be of Whitburn and Corstorphine, a man
possessed of immense estates, for which he obtained
no less than six charters under the great seal of
Robert II., and was several times employed in
-treaties and negotiations with the English, between
In 1377 John of Quhitness first appears as
Pmost, or Prepositus, on the 18th of May, and in
the following year Adam Forrester was again in
office. In 1381 John de Camera was provost,
and in 1387 Andrew Yutson (or Yichtson), between
whom, with ?Adam Forster, Lord of Nether
Libberton,? the Burgh of Edinburgh, and John of
-Stone, and John Skayer, masons, an indenture was
made, 29th November, for the erection of five new
-chapels in St. Giles?s, with pillars and vzulted roofs,
-covered with stone, and lighted with windows.
These additions were made subsequent to the
burning of the city by the invaders under Richard
of England two years before.
In 1392 John of Dalrymple was provost, and
*the names of several bailies alone appear in the
Burgh Records (Appendix) till the time of Provost
Alexander Napier, 3rd October, 1403, whom
Douglas calls first Laird of Merchiston. Under him
Symon de Schele was Dean of Guild and KeepeI
.of the Kirk Work, when the first head guild was
held after the feast of St Michael in the Tolbooth.
Man of Fairnielee was provost 1410-1, and
again in 1419, though George of Lauder was provost
So lately as 1423 John of Levyntoun was styled
alderman, with Richard Lamb and Robert of
Bonkyl bailies, when the lease of the Canonmills
was granted by Dean John of Leith, sometime
Abbot of Holyrood, to ? the aldermen, baylyes, and
dene of the gild,? 12th September, 1423. His
successor was Thomas of Cranstoun, Preporitus,
when the city granted an obligation to Henry VI.
of England, for 50,000 merks English money, on
account of the expenses of James I., while detained
in England by the treasonable intrigues of his
.uncle. William of Liberton, George of Lauder,
1 3 9 4 4 1404-
hl 1413.
and John of Levyntoun, appear as provosts successively
in 1425, 1427, and 1428.
In 1434 Sir Henry Preston of Craigmillar wag
appointed provost; but no such name occurs in
the Douglas peerage under that date. After John
of Levyntoun, Sir Alexander Napier appears as
provost after 1437, and the names of Adam Cant
and Robert Niddry are among those of the magistrates
and council. Then Thomas of Cranstoun
was provost from 1438 till 1445, when Stephen
Hunter succeeded him.
With the interval of one year, during which
Thomas Oliphant was provost, the office was held
from 1454 to 1462 by Sir Alexander Napier of
Merchiston, a man of considerable learning, whom
James 11. made Comptroller ofScotland. In 1451
he had a safe-conduct from the King of England
to visit Canterbury as a pilgrim, and by James 111.
he was constituted Vice-Admiral. He was also
ambassador to England in 1461 and 1462.
In succession to Robert Mure of Polkellie, he
was provost again in 1470, and until the election of
James Creichton of Rothven, or Rowen, in 1477,
when the important edict of James 111. concerning
the market-places and the time of holding markets
was issued.
In 1481 the provost was Rilliarn Bertraham,
who, in the following year, with ?the whole fellowship
of merchants, burgesses, and community ? of?
Edinburgh, bound themselves to repay to the King
of England the dowry of his daughter, the Lady
Cecil, in acknowledgment for which loyalty and
generosity, James 111. granted the city its Golden
Charter, with the banner of the Holy Ghost, locally
known still as the Blue Blanket. In 1481 the
provost was for the first time allowed an annual
fee of A z o out of the common purse ; but, some
such fee would seem to have been intended three
years before.
His successor was Sir John Murray of Touchadam,
in 1482; and in the same year we find Patrick
Baron of Spittlefield, under whose rt?gime the
Hammermen were incorporated, and in 1484 John
Napier of Merchiston, eldest son of Provost
Alexander Napier. He was John Napier of
Rusky, and third of Merchiston, whom James III.,
in a letter dated 1474, designates as OUY Zouift
fandiar sqwiar, and he was one of the lords
auditors in the Parliament of 1483. Two of his
lineal heirs fell successively in battle at Flodden
and Pinkie.
The fourth provost in succession after him was
Patrick Hepburn, Lord Hailes, 8th August. He
was the first designated ?? My h r d Provost,? pre
bably because he was a peer of the realm. He had
Lord Promsts.] THE DOUGLASES AND HAMILTONS. 279
?James of Creichtoun of Felde,? as a deputy provost
under him ; and the first entry in the Records
under that date is a statute that ? the commoun
pyperis of the towne ? shall be properly feed, for
the honour thereof, and that they get their food,
day about, from all honest persons of substance,
under a penalty of 9d. per day, ?? that is to ilk
pyper iijd at least.?
The fifth provost after this was Sir Thomas Tod,
zznd August, 1491, and again in 1498, with
Richard Lawson of the Highriggs, and Sir John
Murray in the interval during 1492.
From this date to 1513, with a little interval,
Richard Lawson was again provost ; the office was
held by Sir Alexander Lauder of Blythe, who -in
the last named year was also Justice Depute.
He fell in the battle.on the fatal 9th of September,
1513, and the apairs ofthe city, amid the consternation
and grief that ensued, were managed by George
of Tours, who with Robert Bruce, William Lockhart,
William Adamson, and William Clerk, all
bailies, had been, on the 19th of August, chosen
by the provost and community to rule the city
after his departure with the army for England.
The aged Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus
(better known as Archibald Bell-thecat)-whose
two sons, George Master of Angus, and Sir William
Douglas of Glenbervie, with more then zoo
knights and gentlemen of his surname, found their
tomb on Flodden Hill-was elected provost on the
30th of September, twenty-one days after the battle ;
and at the same time his son, Gawain the Poet,
provost of St. Giles?s, was ?( made burgess, gratis, for
the Common benefit of the town.? It was he of
whom Scott makes th?e grim old Earl say, with
reference to the English knight?s act of forgery,
? Thanks to St. Bothan, son of mine,
Save Gawain, ne?er could pen a line.?
He was succeeded on the 24th July, 1514, by
Alexander Lord Home, Great Chamberlain 01
Scotland in 1507, and baron of Dunglasand Greenlaw,
under whom preparations for the defence of
the city, in expectation of a counter-invasion, went
on. An Act was passed for the furnishing ?01
artailyerie for the resisting of our auld innemies of
Ingland;? a tax was laid upon all-even the
widows of the fallen, so far as their substance permitted
them to pay-and all persons having heidyaird
dykes, ?were to build them up within fifteen
days, under pain of six pounds to the Kirk-werk.?
In August of the same year David Melville was
provost, and the pestilence caused the division ol
the city into four quarters, each under a bailie and
quartermaster to attend to the health of the people.
Except the interval, during which Sir Patrick
Hamilton of Kincavil and Archibald Douglas were
Provosts, Melville was in office till 15 17, when James
Earl of Arran, Regent of Scotland, took it upon
him, and was designated Lord Provost. In consequence
of the influence it conferred, the office was at
this time an object of ambition among the nobility.
His enemies, the Douglases, taking advantage of
his temporary absence from the city, procured the
election of Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, the
uncle of the EarLof Angus, in his place ; and when
Arran returned from the castle of Dalkeith, where
the court was then held, he found the gates of Edinburgh
shut against him. His followers attempted
to force an entrance sword in hand, but were repulsed,
and a number were killed and wounded on.
both sides. Similar scenes of violence and bloodshed
were of almost daily occurrence, and between
the rival factions of Hamilton and Douglas the Lowlands
were in a complete state of demoralisation ;
and on the z 1st of February, 15 I 9, in consequence
of the bitter feud and bloody broils between the
houses of Douglas and Hamilton, he was ordered
by the Regent, then absent, to vacate his office, as
it was ordained that no person of either of those
names was eligible as provost, till the ?Lord
Governor?s home coming, and for a year.?
Thus, in 1510, Robert Logan of Coitfield was.
provost, and in October he was granted by the
Council 100 merks of the common good, beside his
ordinary fee, for the sustentation of four armed
men, to carry halberds before him, ?because the
warld is brukle and troublous.?
The fourth provost after this was Robert Lord
Maxwell, 18th August, 1524, who was made so by
the Queen-mother, when she (? tuik the hail1 government
of the realm and ruele of the king (James
V.) upoun her.? This was evidently an invasion of
the rights of the citizens ; yet on the same day the
Lord Justice Clerk. appeared before the Council,
and declared ? that it was the mind and will ? of the
king, then in his minority, that Mr. Francis Bothwell,
provost, ?? cedit and left his office of provostier
in the town?s hand,? and the said provost protested
that the leaving of his office thus should not be
derogatory to the city, nor injurious to its privileges
Lord Maxwell was afterwards Governor of Lochmaben,
Captain of the Royal Guard, Warden of the
West Marches, and Ambassador to France to
negotiate the king?s marriage with Mary of Lorraine ;
but long ere all that he had been succeeded as
provost by Allan Stuart.
In 15.26 Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, Lord
High Treasurer, was provost again. In this year
it was ordained that through the resort to Edin
