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THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 33
mantle;"* and finally after enumerating other treasonable acts for "ye
tressonablc stuffing with men and wittale of ye Castell of Crechtoun, and
for the treasonable consale and assistence gevin to the personis being in
the said castell of Crechtoun in the treasonable halding of the said castell
aganis our said lords writings and Acts of Parliament, efter our soveran
lords grace to the said lord Crechtoun gevin and grantit efter the mony
and divers crimes Rebellionis and trespasses contrar our soueran lord
and his Eealme be him comytit and done." ["Act Parl. Scot." ii., 260.]
This was a most formidable indictment, and deserving all the penalties
of the crime of high-treason, aggravated also by his previously having been
pardoned for former numerous crimes of rebellion. It is therefore not
surprising that he should have dreaded appearing for trial before his peers,
and sought refuge in the remote parts of the north of Scotland, where he
found sanctuary within the inviolable " girth of S. Duthach, at Tayn in
Ross." Lord Crechtoun must have fled to Tain about the middle of the
year 1483, probably immediately after hearing
of the forfeiture of the
Duke of Albany, in whose treasons he was so deeply implicated ; and
more especially after stuffing, that is garrisoning, his ancestral Castle of
Crechtoun, near Edinburgh, and putting it in a state of defence against
the royal troops, in behalf of his friend the Duke of Albany. From the
Acts of Parliament, above referred to, it appears that the Sheriff of Edinburgh,
being unable to apprehend Lord Crechtoun personally at his own
castle, published the summons for treason at the Market Cross of Edinburgh,
on December 7, 1483; and next endeavoured to serve it with the
necessary legal formalities, according to the following account of the proceedings.
"The 11 day of December 1483, I, William Cumyn, macer
and Sheriff in that part, by our Sovereign lord specially constituted, by his
letters directed to me, passed with the same, and the witness Symon
Sperdor, messsenger, Thomas Scot, Johne Cowy, with others diverse,
to the Market Cross of Aberdene ; and in likewise the 1 8 day of the
same month and year forsaid, I passed with the said letters and these
witnesses, Thomas Scot, Johne Fresar, and Johne Cowy, Patric Prat, one
of the Bailies of Banf, Patric Blith, and Patric Duncansoun, burgess of
the same, to the market cross of Banff; and the 20 day of the same
month and year I passed with the said letters and these witnesses, Symon
Sperdor, Thomas Scot, Johne Fresar, John of Cowy, with others diverse,
to the market cross of Elgin ; the 22 day of the said month and year, I
passed with the said letters and these witnesses, Thomas Scot, Johne
Fresar, John Cowy, Archbald Broun, and John Terres, with others
diverse, to the market cross of Forres ; the 23 day of the moneth and
year foresaid, I passed with the said letters and these witnesses, Thomas
Scot, Johne Fresar, Johne Cowy, William Caldor, and Alane Thomsoun,
burgess of Name, with others diverse, to the market cross of Name ; and
the same 23 day I passed with the said letters and these witnesses,
Thomas Scot, Johne Fresar, Johne Cowy, Alexander Fleming, Alexander
Eede, and Johnne Patersoun, burgess of Inverness, to the market cross
of the same ; and beoause I cowth not get certain verification nor know-
* The earliest Pursuivant-at-arms Bluemantle recorded, is John Brice, gent, who
was in office, under Richard VII., and " probably dispossessed," according to Noble, in
"History of College of Arms," [4to, London, 1804 ; p. 93] probably the same.
C