Transactions. 153 



It is true that Celtic etymologists long ago explained the words 

 to their own satisfaction, but they could have explained 

 Nebuchadnezzar on similar principles with as little difficulty. 



II. Earliest Chartur References (After 1 1 24). 



Soon after 1124 when David I. gave Annandale to Robert de 

 Brus, he granted* to him " that land and its castle " illam terram 

 et suum casteUum.] There is doubt whether this refers to 

 Lochmaben or to Annan, but the latter town has a reason- 

 able claim. There is evidence from an English source that the 

 castle of "Anant" fcastelhtm de AivmU) was held % by William 

 the Lion in 1173 in his war with Henry II. 



Numismatists § tell us that under Alexander II. coins wore 

 minted at Annan. Their proof, which is by no means so strong 

 as to exclude robust scepticism, exists in silver. Stamped on one 

 side with the words " Johannes on An " and " Tomas on An " to 

 indicate first the coiner and second the place of issue,|| these 

 Annan pennies, as they are called, bear on the other side the 

 effigy of Alexander II. In the 13th century charters^ we see 

 public courts held at Annan ; the land is measured and conveyed 

 by carucates and oxgangs ; granges and areas and tofts are 

 specified ; the town is referred to almost always as a vill ; the 

 gallows, that stern symbol of justice, is mentioned ; a constable 

 and a clerk are alluded to ; and we hear of townsmen bearing 

 names still known — such as Johnstone, Skelton, and French. 



It is a little odd that no gi eat cathedral or monastery was ever 

 raised within the bounds of Annandale. Robert de Brus founded 



* National MSS. Scotland, Vol. i. No. xix. 



fOastellum at that date was most likely to mean not a castle but a fort. 

 For instances see Roitnd's Oeoffrey de MandevUU, 328-346, and — applied to 

 Carlisle Keep— my article in Notes and Queries, 8th series, viii., 321. 



XBtnedictus Abbas (Rolls Series), i. 48. See also Palgrave's Documents 

 and Rccorils, i. 77, and Bain's Calendar, ii., p. 117. The fragment inPalgrave 

 is evidently to much the same effect as Benedictin Abbas, and does not, I 

 think, convey the meaning Mr Bain has taken from it that King Henry 

 had possession of the fortress. 

 %Gardoiinel's Numismata Scotiae, p. 44, plate 1. Cochran Patrick' ^i 

 ■; Records of Coinage of Scotland, introd. p. xliv. 

 ^^L II" An,'' thought to be a contraction for Anand. 



^^K UDetails shewn by these documents are beyond the scope of this paper. 

 ^^B Charters referred to will be found in Bain'a Calendar, i. 606 (of late 12th 

 ^H or early 13th century), 704 (about 1218), 1763 (about 1249), 70,5, 1680, 

 ^^H 1681, 1685 (of about 1260-1280). As regards these last dates, see Scots 

 ^H Lore, 129-130. 



I 



