James Lindsay, Provost of Lincluden. '^9S 



by him in the Church of Dunbar, and to pay to his rival a pension 

 out of the lands of Covington. ^ 



By this time he had succeeded to the family estate, presum- 

 ably through the death of an elder brother ; for, had he himself 

 been the first-born son it is unlikely that he would have been 

 dedicated to the priesthood. This early attainment by him of 

 the status of a minor baron, with the right to a seat in Parliament, 

 assured his advancement in the Church ; but of even more con- 

 sequence to that end, and of more consequence than his own 

 ability, was the patronage of the great house of Douglas. Just 

 at what time and in what manner he had entered on terms of 

 friendship with the chief of the Douglases we do not know, but 

 as early as 1441 he was witness to a charter of James the Gross. ^ 

 In the list of witnesses to an ancient document it may not be per- 

 missible to infer more than a chance association, but generally 

 the witnesses were selected for definite reasons ; and in the light 

 of immediately subsequent events we may be allowed to see more 

 than chance in this connection of the rector of Arbuthnot with 

 the 7th Earl of Dougla.s. Probably there was some degree of 

 blood relationship between them ; for, in presenting in 1447 one 

 Master James Lindsay to the Church of Hawick, newly erected 

 into a prebend of the Collegiate Church of Bothwell, the 8th Earl 

 of Douglas calls him " consanguineus noster ' ' ; and there can be 

 little doubt that this Master James was identical with him who had 

 previously been rector of Arbuthnot.^ That the presumed rela- 

 tionship was a near one is out of the question ; but distant ties 

 were at that time readilv acknowledged and regarded. The origin 

 of the Covington Lindsays has not been ascertained, but in all 

 probability they were cadets of the Lindsays of Crawford, with 

 whom the Earls of Douglas had common blood. 



James the Gross died in 1443. Previous to this event, per- 

 haps, and certainly not later than the same year. Master James 

 Lindsav became parson of Douglas with a stall in the choir of 

 Glasgow and a place in the chapter ; for the parsonage was a pre- 

 bend of the cathedral.'' So from that time until his election to the 



1. Calendar of Papal Registers, Vol. VIII., pp. 256, 422, 460. 



2. Hist. MSS. Com , 11th Eep., App. Part VI., p. 212. 



3. Req. Epis. Glasguensis, Vol. II., p. 366. 



4. Laiiifj Charters, No. 122. 



