igre} Transactions. 
son of the laird of Closeburn. Alexander had granted a bond of 
manrent and service to Robert Charterisof Amisfield—the captain, 
as we have seen, of Annan—and when the rewards of the battle 
of Kirkconnel were given a curious law suit arose out of Amis" 
field’s claim to one third of his vassal’s handsome winnings, a 
claim which the lords of Council were minded to sustain.* 
XVI. The Church (1474-1510). 
Meanwhile what of the church? The memory of its connexion 
with Guisborough had long been effaced. Fora full century and 
a half there is not a word of record on the ecclesiastical affairs of 
Annan. In 1474 Gilbert Maxwell was rector,+ succeeded before 
1487 by William Turnbull.j How long he was rector we cannot 
precisely say. In those days the priests were not married, but, 
as has been satirically said, they were often succeeded by their 
eldest sons. William Turnbull’s successor was Adam Turnbull. 
In Sir Adam’s pastorate a terrible scandal arose The Border 
clergy of the 16th century were rough pastors of rough flocks, 
otten men of violence and blood. Sir Adam somehow did to 
death a man named Robert Faresch. <A citation was executed$ 
in April 1510 in the churches of Lochmaben, Annan, Cummer- 
trees, and Garwald. Rumour had laid a charge of “cruel 
slaughter ” at Sir Adam’s door. The summons was for the 
purpose of eliciting a regular and formal accusation at the 
instance of some relative, friend, or person having interest. No 
such accuser entered appearance.|| What came of the case in the 
end does not appear, but a presumption of Sir Adam’s guilt 
arises from the fact that a year later he appealed to the Pope" 
from some decision by the Archbishop of Glasgow. The proba- 
bility is that this decision, though its subject is not mentioned, 
was a sentence of deprivation or the lke pronounced in conse- 
quence of this damaging charge. When we consider, as we shall 
need to do directly, that the castle of Annan, which was to be 
garrisoned in 1482, was in all likelihood no other than the church 
steeple, we need not wonder if the parson was a man of blood. 
*Acta Dominorum Concilii, p. *95. 
+Munimenta Universitatis Glasguensis, ii., 81. 
tRegistrum Magni Sigilli, ii., 2131. 
§ Diocesan Registers of Glasgow, ii. 330. 
||Diocesan Registers, ii., 356. 
TIbid., ii. 402. 
