496 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'><i S. V. 129., June 19. '58. 



SSitplltg. 



LOED-LTON KING-AT-AKMS, SCOTLAND. 

 (1" S. vii. 208.) 



Upwards of five years ago I sent a Query on 

 the above subject, but it has not hitherto elicited ^ 

 reply ; as it is now in my power, from various 

 sources of information collected since then by 

 myself, I give a brief catalogue, though not so 

 complete as could be desired, of the successive 

 Lord-Lyons of Scotland from the early part of the 

 sixteenth century to the present time. 



The office of Lord-Lyon does not appear under 

 that name earlier than the reign of the first of the 

 Stewart Kings of Scotland (Robert II.), towards 

 the end of the fourteenth century ; but the duties 

 were probably of as high antiquity as the bearing 

 of coats armorial in that kingdom. It was an office 

 always esteemed of the greatest importance and 

 sanctity, the Lyon King being the chief judge of 

 chivalry within the realm, and official ambassador 

 from his sovereign to foreign countries. 



15 — . Sir WUliam Comyn,'Lordi-Ijyon K.\ng-&t' 

 Arms, in the reign of King James IV., is the 

 earliest possessor of the office whom I have been 

 as yet able to discover ; but the dates of either 

 his appointment or death are uncertain, as also 

 whether the next in my list was his immediate 

 successor. 



1530. Sir David Lyndsay, of the Mount in 

 Fifeshire, appointed by King James V., and held 

 the office for a quarter of a century, dying shortly 

 before April 18, 1555, aged 65, Sir David is well- 

 known for his poems, and the best account of his 

 Life and Works is by G. Chalmers ; his Collections 

 of Scotish Blazons — the earliest and purest re- 

 cord of Caledonian heraldry — are preserved in 

 the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. 



1555. Sir Robert Foreman succeeded, and con- 

 tinued in office till 1567. 



1568. Sir William Steuart, constituted Lyon- 

 King, February 20, and inaugurated 22nd of that 

 month, by the Regent Murray, previously Ross 

 Herald. He was deprived of his office within six 

 months afterwards, and, after a year's imprison- 

 ment, was burnt at St. Andrew's in August, 1569, 

 on a charge of necromancy; his real offence, how- 

 ever, being opposition to the Regent's faction, and 

 loyalty to his sovereign. Queen Mary. 



1568. Sir David Lyndsay, the younger, of Ra- 

 thillet, brother of the former Sir David (it is sup- 

 posed by a different mother — an instance of two 

 brothers with the same Christian name), ap- 

 pointed August 22, and inaugurated September 

 13 following. He had been previously and suc- 

 cessively Dingwall Pursuivant, and in 1561 Rothe- 

 say Herald, and died in 1591. 



1591. Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount, son of 

 Alexander of the Mount, whom he succeeded 

 there in 1576, and his uncle, Sir David, as Lyon- 



King in 1591, being appointed on Christmas-day, 

 and inaugurated May 2, 1592 ; James VI. crown- 

 ing him with the ancient crown of Scotland, used 

 by the Scotish sovereigns before they used the 

 close crown. An interesting volume, entitled 

 Collectanea Domini David Lynd de Month, Mi- 

 litis, Leonis Armorum Regis, dated October 11, 

 1586, is preserved in that great national reposi- 

 tory, the Advocates' Library. Sir David resigned 

 the office of Lyon-King in favour of his son-in- 

 law in 1621, and died in 1623 without male issue. 



1621. Sir Jerome Lyndsay of Denino and An- 

 natland, son of David, Lord Bishop of Ross, 

 1600 — 13, and husband of Agnes, eldest daughter 

 and co-heir of Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount, 

 in whose right he succeeded to the Mount (which 

 his descendants still possessed in 1710, if not later, 

 though in a "decayed state"), became Lyon-King 

 on his father-in-law's resignation, and was so 

 created June 27, 1621. Sir Jerome also resigned 

 the office in the year 1630, and died in 1642. 



1630. Sir James Balfour, of Denmylne and 

 Kinnaird in Fifeshire, created Lyon-King through 

 the recommendation of George, Viscount Duplin, 

 then Chancellor of Scotland, and afterwards first 

 Earl of Kinnoul, who crowned him as Royal Com- 

 missioner, June 15, 1630 ; he had been knighted 

 May 7- previous, and was made a Baronet of Scot- 

 land by King Charles I., December 22, 1633. 

 He succeeded his father Sir Michael in the lands 

 of Denmylne, February 4, 1652, and discharged 

 the duties of his office for many years with great 

 reputation, until he was at length deprived of the 

 dignity, on the usurpation of Cromwell, cir. 1654 ; 

 for, although a staunch Presbyterian, he was a 

 firm loyalist — rather an unusual circumstance in 

 those days. He died in February, 1657, aged 57 ; 

 and his numerous MSS. and treatises on Scotish 

 genealogy, history, antiquities, &c., are preserved 

 in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh ; though, 

 unfortunately, many were destroyed or dispersed 

 by the English on their capture of Perth, where 

 he had caused his collections to be conveyed for 

 safety during the commotions of that period. Sir 

 James's Historical Works were printed in four 

 vols. 8vo. at Edinburgh in the year 1824. 



1654. Sir Alexander Durham appears as Lyon- 

 King in the year 1659, and probably succeeded, 

 under the commonwealth, on the deprivation of 

 Sir James Balfour, cir. 1654. He was a son of 

 Durham of Pitkerrow, and purchased the lands of 

 Largo in Fife from the family of Wood, the de- 

 scendants of the celebrated admiral of King James 

 IIL 



1663. Sir Charles Erskine of Cambo, a younger 

 son of Alexander Viscount Fenton, and brother 

 of Thomas and Alexander, second and third Earls 

 of Kellie, installed Lord-Lyon King-at-Arms in 

 1663 by order of King Charles II., who also 

 created him a Baronet of Nova Scotia, August 20, 



