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
