The book Arran; - Cook Clan

26 THE BOOK OF ARRAN
Alexander ii., the young Earl of AthoU worsted Walter Bysset
of Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, in a tournament at Haddington,
and immediately thereafter was burned to death in his house.
For this the Scottish nobles laid the blame upon Walter and
his nephew, John Bysset of the Aird, founder of Beauly
Priory, and feeling was so strong that the king had to remove
both out of the country. The two took service with Henry iii.
of England, and fought for him in Ireland, where John got
lands in Ulster, while Walter had some English estates.
Walter was afterwards in Scotland, but may have found the
country still too hot for him : the AthoU feud would still be
lively. Then he is known to be dead, but the jurors, who
settle about his English estates, are in a difficulty :
' For
they know not the date of his death, nor can know it. For
he died far off in Scotland, in a certain island called Arrane.' ^
This was in 1251, fifteen years before Arran was definitely of
Scotland, though the Scottish power was probably intruding
itself, as we have seen. Bysset must have found the island
a temporary refuge in trouble. He left his property to his
nephew Thomas, who may have been a child of John of
Ulster ; at any rate, it is a Thomas Bysset from that quarter
who is the next link with the island.
In the interval much had happened. The direct succession
to the Scottish Crown had failed ; Edward i. had been
invited to act as a friendly arbiter among a dozen claimants,
had first forced acceptance of his claim to be Feudal Superior
of the Scottish king, and then given a decision in favour of
John Balliol. King John and his nobility were next harassed
into a futile rebellion, and Edward assumed for his own the
forfeited kingdom. Followed the rising under William
Wallace.
If we could accept the authority of The Wallace, the
reputed work of blind Henry the Minstrel, we should have
Arran devotedly backing the patriot
• Bain's Calendar of Documents, i. No. 1836.
: