Michael Forbes Tweedie. Published 1902.
CHAPTER II
THE DAWN OF RECORD
It is a long step from legend and inference to history, but it is one which, when once made, lands us upon trustworthy ground where the searcher feels himself almost in personal touch with the past.
AD 1214-1249
The first man whom we find mentioned in the records by the surname which the family has borne through so many ages is one Johannes de Tueda, as he describes himself in the reign of Alexander II. He afterwards had a Charter from Alexander III, granted him under the name of John de Tuedy, and this would have been about the years 1214-1249. It is on record that he was the owner of lands on the River Tweed from which the family took their name, and that even then the family connections and possessions were widespread and powerful.
The next step brings us to documents which put us at the present day into direct view of the dawn of record.
In the Charter room at Duns Castle are some ancient writs and charters, so ancient indeed that some time since their mere interest as such prompted an antiquarian, searching there for other purposes, to make a note of them. In subsequent days chance led him to hear of this present work, and realising that these ancient documents were of first importance to it he gave information which led to their careful consideration. They turned out to be the original writs and charters of the family of Tweedie dating from the year 1314 to the year 1633.
Their presence at Duns Castle is accounted for by the fact that in the year 1633, Drummelzier Castle, up till then the chief seat of the Tweedies, passed into the possession of Lord Hay of Yester who made it over to his younger son. His descendants subsequently parted with the property, but retained, as of no value, the old charters and writs which had gone with Drummelzier when it left the hands of the Tweedies; and they have lain in the Charter room ever since at Duns Castle, by the kind leave of whose owner inspection has been permitted of these interesting old records.
With these writs and charters and the documents on the public registers, begins the recorded and accurate history of the family, upon which we will enter without further comment.
AD 1296
The earliest of these charters and writs of the family refers to Fynley de Twydyn, "del Comte de Lanarke" (of the County of Lanark), an undoubted ancestor, who did homage to Edward I of England on his assuming sovereign rights over Scotland. This Fynley or Fynlaw had a son named Roger, who married one of the co-heiresses (the eldest daughter), of Sir William Fraser of Oliver Castle, son of Sir Simon Fraser, so celebrated in the days of Bruce, and it was through her the estates of Drummelzier and Oliver came into possession of the family of Tweedie. This marriage may have taken place at anytime between 1296 and 1329, but probably during the reign of David II. Roger was evidently a person of some importance, and apparently even then used the arms which the family of Tweedie carry at the present day, as we learn from subsequent records that he bore on his shield: argent a saltire engrailed gules a chief azure: along with which he displayed the arms of Fraser in right of his wife, the heiress, but the Fraser Quartering was afterwards discontinued some time between the years 1500 and 1600. Mary, the other co-heiress of Sir William Fraser, married in 1308, Sir Gilbert Hay of Lockerward.
AD 1296-1305
Among the most ancient possessions of the family was Hopcailzie, and on the 28th August 1296, "William le Hopkelioghe" is found as one of the tenants of the King in the County of Peebles, but whether he was actually an ancestor or not is unknown: he swore fealty to Edward I at Berwick-upon Tweed. His seal is described as "Vesica shape Lion passant to Sinister" and lettered "Willelmi de Hopcailov". He is also on record as holding the lands of Westerhopkeliov and Esterhopkeliov of the King, and a little later on he obtains leave from the King to lease certain portions of these lands, the consideration or rent for which is not uninteresting: "12 Chalders of provender, a Suitor at the Court of Peebles, a 3rd of a Knights service in the King's Scottish Army and a Man for 8 days to keep the road through Minehe Moor free from robbers".
AD 1311
In a humble way, illustrative of the times, we find among the garrison of the Castle of Bothville one Hugo de Twydyn, an archer, possibly one of Fynlaw's men, at 2d a day, from 8th July 1311.
AD 1314
In the year 1314, Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, made a grant to his beloved and faithful Roger (who we have already mentioned), the son of Fynlaw de Twydyn, of all the lands which belonged to John of Seton, within the tenement of Cornokis, in recompense of the damage sustained by Roger in consequence of John of Seaton, and his brother having abducted the "Equitinium" of Roger. The original of this document is still in existence, and is dated at Ayr, 18th December, 8th year of the reign of Robert the Bruce, and it seems probable that Roger must have fought for the Bruce, and John of Seton on the other and losing side.
What the "Equitinium" was that was stolen is a matter of some doubt, as there is no such word to be found in classical Latin, but it may be a mistake for equitium, meaning a stud of horses, a valuable appendage of the landowner of those days. Can John have descended upon Roger and got clear away with his horses? And if so, was that all he took? We think, knowing the spirit of the times, it did not probably stop there, and a curious picture is conjured up of a sudden attack, stampeded cattle and horses and blows and cries in the darkness of a certain night in the year 1314.
AD 1320
In the year 1320, this same Roger the son of Fynlaw of Twydyn, acquired the house, brewhouse, yard and lands in Drummelzier, which William the son of Utting, had held formerly, and for which Roger was to pay yearly a pair of gilt spurs or sixpence sterling, a curious example of the value of property, and in 1321 we find Roger also acquiring property in Kilbucho.
AD 1326
In the year 1326, and possibly on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter to Roger, Sir William Fraser granted to Roger the Barony of Drummelzier, for "a pair of guilt spurs or 12 pennies if asked", which was confirmed by King Robert I (The Bruce), at Glasgow, on the 12th June in the same year, and henceforward the Tweedies became Barons of Drummelzier.
This marriage of the daughter of a local family to a stranger probably gave rise to the tradition of the mythological origin of the Family of Tweedie. The common people, whose ignorance usually gives birth to all legends found a stranger among them whose presence and power they could not account for, and whose origin they accordingly put down to supernatural causes; a tradition that was not likely to lose in strength for the want of a little additional colouring as the legend passed down from mouth to mouth through successive generations of a credulous and superstitious peasantry.
In much the same way local traditions claim for the district other supernatural characters, such as Jack the Giant Killer, King Arthur, Thomas the Rhymer, and the Wizard Merlin. Thus a legend prevalent in the parish of Tweedsmuir relates how a person of diminutive stature, called Little-John, from behind a boulder discharged an arrow at a freebooter of gigantic proportions who, though standing on the opposite side of the Tweed, could not elude the deadly stroke, and was buried on the spot where he fell. This incident is considered the origin of the well known story of Jack the Giant Killer, and if any there be who disbelieve it, all that can be said is, that there is the legend, that a tumulus in which human remains have been found is still pointed out as the "Giant's Grave", and that if any further evidence be wanted, to this very day the boulder can be seen in Tweedsmuir, close by the road leading from the church to Menzion House.
As for Merlin the Wild, his grave is pointed out at Drummelzier beneath an ancient thorn tree, close to the junction of the Powsail with the Tweed, and we learn from Fordun that this personage resided at Drummelzier, and roamed through the woods of Tweeddale, and it is in his name that the Scottish prophecies are issued. The whole district is pervaded with the fame of Thomas of Erceldoune, or Thomas the Rhymour of Erceldoune, or simply Thomas the Rhymour, and it is the best known name with which a definite work is associated. The historical facts about this soothsayer are but few, and they are mostly given by Sir Walter Scott in his notice of him in the Minstrelsy. He lived some time in the thirteenth century, in the hamlet of Erceldoune, now Earlston, and even in his lifetime he was regarded as a seer and foreteller of the future, and as having a mysterious connection with the land of Faerii. The story of his end is, that he disappeared from his grey tower of Erceldoune one day in response to a supernatural call and was never seen again.
About King Arthur, his personality and exploits, so great a conflict has raged that we refrain from entering into it further than to say that local legends claim the Tweeddale district to have been the scene of his life, his battles and his death. "A mystery to the world" says the old Bard "is the grave of Arthur"; and a mystery to the world is the story of his life, as far as we know it now. But for a masterly treatment of the Arthurian legend we would refer our readers to the fifth chapter of the first volume of Professor Veitch's "History and Poetry of the Scottish Border", and advise them to see for themselves the wonderful picture of the past conjured up by the learned Professor before making up their minds on the subject.
AD 1329
In 1329, Roger, the son of Fynlaw of Twydyn, acquired the lands of Wester Hopkailzie under another charter granted by King Robert I, and in 1331 the lands of Glenbruk, now Glenbreck, in Tweedsmuir, from Sir Hugh de Gurclay, which is the last mention made of Roger to be found in the records.
AD 1331
On the 26th November 1331, we find a complaint lodged before the Parliament at Scone by the Lord of Skirling against William Tweedie, in that the latter had not performed "Sectas et Servitia". This William was the son of Roger, and the grandson of Fynlaw de Twydyn, and in the year 1351 we learn that Tweedie of Drummelzier (probably William), married the fourth daughter of Sir James Douglas and Lady Agnes Dunbar. This Lady Agnes Dunbar was the celebrated Black Agnes of Sir Walter Scott's "Tales of a Grandfather"
"She kept a stir in Tower and Trench,
That brawling boisterous Scottish Wench,
Came I early, Came I late,
I found Agnes at the Gate."
sang the minstrels in their ballads about the siege of the Castle of Dunbar in 1333, and her exploits in its defence. With this near relationship between them and the leading characters of the day, we may be sure that the Tweedies took an active part in all the long and terrible wars that then raged, when there was nothing but fighting, the making of prisoners, battles, and the wounding and slaying of men innumerable, when as Sir Walter says "there was no finding any refuge or protection but in the strongest arm and the longest sword; when there was no raising of crops, no religious devotion, and all the laws of humanity and charity were transgressed without scruple; when whole families were found starved to death, even cannibalism being resorted to, and the whole country reduced to a most disastrous state."
AD 1355
The Douglas family about this time appear to have been allies of the Tweedies, and to have exerted themselves in their interests, for on the 8th December 1355, letters of regress (or pardon) were issued by Robert, the Steward of Scotland, Lieutenant of the King, in favour of James of Tweedie, because the Lord of Douglas had received him to the faith and peace of the King. This was Tweedie of Drummelzier, and he must have been in trouble of some sort. These letters were confirmed by David II, King of Scots, at Perth, on the 4th July 1360, five years afterwards. It will be remembered that David II had been taken prisoner by the English at the battle of Neville's Cross, near Durham, on the 17th October 1346, and carried to London, nor did he regain his freedom for eleven years, which was possibly the reason of the delay in confirming this charter. In the meanwhile, William Douglas had shown great courage and skill in regaining the Borders for the Kingdom of Scotland, and it was no doubt in respect of some arrangement arrived at with James of Tweedie in regard to this, that this charter was granted, probably to secure Tweedie's co-operation in the fighting which resulted in the retreat of Edward III, from Scotland and the liberation of David II.
AD 1362
About this time also (1362), the Tweedies were connected with the powerful family of Cockburns, for Sir Alexander Cockburn married Margaret, a cousin of this James Tweedie of Drummelzier, and she had an annual (or annuity), charged upon his lands of Hopkelloch.
AD 1373
On the 27th March 1373, the name of "Walter de Tuedy", "locum tenens Vicecomitis de Peblis" appears in proceedings recorded in the Exchequer Rolls, and in the same records, under the date 12th June 1388, we find mention of a "William de Tuedi" in matters connected with the borough of Peebles.
AD 1389
James of Tuedy of Drummelzier was made her nominee by Jonet of Graham, Lady of Watchtone, by a document dated 8th February 1389, for the purposes of dealing with the lands of Hartree.
From about the year 1388, with the exception of the last mentioned incident, the records are silent for thirty years, an entire generation, and we think the reason is not far to seek. 1388 was the year of Otterbourne, and although the number of Scots and English engaged in that fight were not great, but few indeed of those on either side returned. Amongst the slain no doubt were many Tweedies, for their intimate relations with Douglas made it sure that they supported him in that and every other quarrel, and the old ballad says of the followers of Douglas that "They are born along by the water of Tweed", that is, were natives of Tweeddale.
The story of the fight is historical. In August 1388, James, the second Earl of Douglas, made a raid into Northumberland, laid waste a great part of the district, and finally met Henry Percy, or Hotspur, in single combat before the new Castle, winning from him his pennon, which he declared he would carry back to Scotland as a trophy. This Percy swore he should never do, and pursuing the Scots as they retired homewards, came up with them at Fawdoun Hill on the east side of the Otterbourne at nightfall. The battle raged throughout the entire night, and finally ended in a victory for the Scots, who captured and carried off Percy and his brother. The accounts vary as to the number of men engaged, but a recent discovery at Elsdon Church, about three miles from the scene of the conflict, may be regarded as throwing some light on the slaughter. There skulls to the amount of a thousand have been disinterred, all lying together. They belong to lads in their teens, and to young and middle aged men; but there are no skulls of old men or women. Probably these are the dead of Otterbourne, perhaps of one side and perhaps of the other, or perhaps of both; and if as is likely, the manhood of the family of Tweedie fell at Otterbourne along with that of many other Border families, the silence of the next thirty years is well accounted for.
AD 1422
Next in date, among the original writs of the family comes a dispensation by the Bishop of Dunblane, dated 25th January 1422, at the Abbey of Cambus Kenneth, for the marriage of James Tweedie of Drummelzier with his cousin Katherine of Caverhyll, which was required apparently because they were related to each other in the third and fourth degrees of consanguinity, and the young bridegroom may well have been the son of one of the men who fell at Otterbourne leaving only an infant son to succeed him.
AD 1425
We now come, in order of date, to the next document of the original writs and charters of the family, which takes the form of letters of maintenance and defence by King James to "James of Tweedy of Drummellioure" in recognition of Bond of Man rent and service by James to the King, and is described as having been given under the Privy Seal at Lanark on the 8th March in the 19th year of the reign (1425).
AD 1426
One year later, on the 17th December 1426, Thomas Frysale (or Fraser) surrendered to Walter Tweedie, "his superior," all the lands he had in the Barony of Drummelzier.
AD 1429
"Johannes de Twedy" appears in 1429 as a witness to a charter by King James I, to James of Douglas; and among the manuscripts of the Duke of Roxburghe we find the same name again as a witness to a document dated 28th April 1432.
AD 1434
Walter Tweedie of Drummelzier, the name and title now beginning to take a more definite form, was a witness, in the year 1434, to the proceedings under which John of Geddes resigned, by delivery of a staff and baton as the fashion then was, his lands of Half of Ladyurd into the hands of his Over Lord Walter Scott of Northington, it is believed for the charitable uses of the Church of St Andrews at Peebles. In the same year in a charter dated 22nd July 1434, Walter is mentioned together with James Tweedie, "his son and heir apparent". This Walter appears to have been a man of considerable property, and for nearly fifty years he evidently was of great consequence in the district.
James of Douglas, second Lord of Dalkeith, by a Charter dated 15th June 1434, granted the lands of Hartree in the Barony of Kilbucho, resigned by James of Tuedy in 1389 as above mentioned to Richard Brown, to be held by him and the heirs of his marriage with "Elizabeth of Twedi", the granddaughter [neptem] of Lord Dalkeith. This charter was confirmed by James II on 12th March 1439-40.
The feudal payments made by crown vassals were entered in a series of books known as "Libri Responsionum". The extant books begin in 1513, but there is a manuscript index or minute book of the Responsiones in the Archives of the General Register House for the reigns of James II and James III and in this index James Tweedie and Walter Tweedie, no doubt the Walter referred to already, are mentioned in connection with the lands of Clifton in Roxburghshire, and Horne Huntersland (now Innerleithen) in Peebleshire.
1450
Margaret Tweedie the daughter of Tweedie of Drummelzier married Andrew Ker of Auldtounbury, the ancestor of the Dukes of Roxburgh. One of their daughters married firstly Sir James Sandilands of Calder, and secondly William Earl of Errol, Hereditary Lord High Constable of Scotland.
From the history of the Cockburns of that Ilk we learn that in 1451 James, the elder son of Walter Tweedie of Drummelzier married Margaret Giffert, the widow of James Cockburn, and that Patrick, a younger son of Walter Tweedie married Mariota, a daughter of Alexander Cockburn of Skirling and Cessford. Patrick appears to have held the lands of Hopkelloch or Hopkailzie, a possession of the Tweedie family usually occupied by one of its cadets.
AD 1454
In the manuscripts of the Duke of Hamilton we find a charter by James 9th Earl of Douglas, to James Lord Hamilton, and dated at Peebles on the 9th February 1454-5, one of the witnesses being Walter Tweedie, son and apparent heir of James Tweedie of Drummelzier. This charter must have been made in the midst of all the stirring events which followed hard upon the chivalrous visit of Sir Patrick Gray, the Captain of the King's Guard, to the Castle of Threive in Galloway. At this time, the Douglas family, the Hamiltons and all whom they could collect to their support were in arms and engaged in active warfare against the King, to avenge the murder of the Earl of Douglas, the father of the 9th Earl.
Many battles were fought in different parts of Scotland between the forces of the King and the Douglasses and their allies, among whom would appear to have been the Tweedies. Much blood was spilt and great mischief done to the country; famine and pestilence followed and the land was everywhere desolate and wasted by civil wars, conflagrations and slaughters, until at length in 1453, the power of the Douglasses was broken at the Battle of Arkinholme in the valley of the Esk.
For a long period the only sort of organization in support of law and order that availed on the Borders was that of Clanship and the system of the blood feud which it involved. A blow for a blow and a life for a life was the only code of the blood feud. It was the one check on brute force and violence; and it helps us to understand the social life and history of the Borderers. Occupying an isolated portion of the country between England and Scotland, and having to depend chiefly on themselves for protection from the Southern foe and from each other, the combination of clans and families was perfectly natural, and thus we need not wonder at the rise and subsistence through centuries of the family feuds which appear to us so bloody and disgraceful. The feeling of revenge for injury to the person and for violent death is a trait of character which the Lowlander inherited from his Anglo-Saxon ancestry. It is derived no doubt from the instinctive feeling that the person of a man is the most sacred thing about him and that any injury done to him must be wiped out in blood, a feeling which is in reality just as strong with us today, but modern ideas and training teach us to repress it. The whole social history of life on the Borders is full of instances. Even the Church, for a time recognised the power if not the propriety of the system. It was long customary in the Border Counties to leave the right hand of male children unchristened that it might deal the more deadly, in fact the more unhallowed blow to the enemy. Now this may seem a shocking sentiment, and no doubt it would not be justifiable under any perfect system of social law and order. But in those trying times there was no protection for the weak or the injured, and the certainty of punishment under this system was in fact the only restraint in those lawless days on the wrongdoer and the oppressor; and the moral right of self-defence, and the duty of administering punishment where the law was powerless to protect the injured or punish the aggressor, had risen to a very positive ethical code. The nearest kinsman of the injured or slain was bound to take up the quarrel and the duty of revenge, his kinsmen were bound to support him and any relative of the man who had done the wrong was liable to have the wrath of the avenger directed against him. Family feuds of the deadliest sort thus naturally continued from father to son through many generations, and in dealing with such a state of things it is very difficult properly to apportion the blame. Even in the time of James VI, there is a certain recognition in the Acts of his Parliament of the intrinsic propriety of the custom, at least of its use and wont, and of the necessity of making allowance for the mutual reprisals that had taken place.
AD 1455
We now come to the first record of one of the many of these feuds in which this family was, and no doubt had been, embroiled for years. Probably they occurred more often than they were recorded, and similar "cruel slauchteris" had, no doubt, been going on for ages between the Tweedies and their neighbours. On the 18th November 1458, Roger Tweedie, and Walter Tweedie (a son of John Tweedie of Dreva) were killed, how and why we know not, by Sir William Cockburn of Henderland, Sir William Cockburn of Skirling, and James Cockburn, the brother of the latter. The great want of variety in christian names and of any mention in the records of relationships, and indeed the poverty of the actual records, which contain little more than meagre facts, render the task of framing any consecutive story an exceedingly difficult one throughout, and it is only by inference that anything like a connected history can be pieced together. In this particular case the whole affair is shrouded in doubt, not only of what the facts were, but also of how those concerned came to be mixed up in the quarrel. All that can be ascertained is that Patrick Tweedie, a son of Walter Tweedie of Drummelzier (no doubt the man already referred as far back as 1434), had married Mariota, the daughter of Alexander Cockburn, whilst James Tweedie, the elder son, had married Margaret Giffert, the widow of James Cockburn, and that there seems to have been some difficulty over the ownership of the lands of Hopkelloch or Hopcailzie. This affray seems to have taken place in the streets of Edinburgh during the sitting of Parliament, Walter Tweedie of Dreva was killed as we have seen, his sword and shield were carried off by the Cockburns, and an Andrew Tweedie was also "grievously wounded" for all of which the Cockburns were ordered to "satisfy" the Tweedies with whom and the Veitches of Dawick they are stated to have had, at this time a "deidly feid"; and no doubt, for years after, reprisals went on over the affair.
AD 1462
In the town repositories at Peebles, there is an original charter granted by "Sir Walter Scott, Knight, Lord of Bukcluch and Kyrkowd", giving an annual rent from his lands to "my beloved Cousin James of Tuede, Lord of Drummelzier (undoubtedly the husband of Margaret Giffert), for his manifold counsels, helps and benefits rendered to me". The seal and the document are both in excellent condition.
This Sir Walter Scott had much to do with the ultimate triumph of the king over the powerful family of Douglas, and the downfall of that sept, and it is curious to find a record of this nature after what we have seen of the intimate relations between Tweedie and the Earl of Douglas only eight years before. At the same time, it is noteworthy that Hamilton, who apparently was also on similar terms of intimacy with Douglas actually rose into power on the fall of the latter.
AD 1465
The Charter Chest of the Archives of the Earls of Wigtown at Cumbernauld contains a document dated 10th February 1465, under which Robert, Lord Fleming, Gilbert Lord Kennedy, and Sir Alexander Boyd agreed to maintain a certain "Wat of Twedy" in all his causes and quarrels. Who he was exactly cannot be ascertained, but from what we know of the relations of the Tweedie family with their neighbours, he probably had very good reasons of his own for making arrangements for effective and defensive alliances. It is possible he was Walter Tweedie of Drummelzier himself.
AD 1467
The family appears, however, at the same time, to have been held in esteem, for in the year 1467 amongst the persons ordained by Act of Parliament to make certain enquiries at Peebles, we find "ye lord of Drumellior;" and in 1468, George Tweedie seems to have acted on behalf of Walter Ker, son and apparent heir of Andrew Ker of Cessfurde, and to have represented him in the purchase of the lands of Honimame on the 20th May 1468 at Edinburgh. It is a matter for some speculation, whether this George Tweedie was not the same as, or perhaps the father of the George who founded the family of the Tweedies of Essex, as "George Twedye who came out of Scotland from the house called Dromelzearre", and to whom reference is made hereafter, as these are the only instances of the Christian name of George found on record. On the 5th March 1470, James Tweedie of Drummelzier formed one of the jury at Edinburgh, who acquitted Andrew Ker of Cessfurde, when put upon his trial "for the traitorous in bringing of James Douglas, traitor, from England within Scotland, and for treasonable communing with divers Englishmen to the hurt of the King, his realm and Lieges," and possibly it was fortunate for Andrew Ker that he had a friend on the jury at this crisis in his fortunes.
AD 1473
James Tweedie of Drummelzier handed over to "James Tweedie the son and apparent heir of Walter Tweedie and Margaret Gifford the spouse of James" a certain portion of the lands of "Hopkelyou" on the 14th May 1473.
A Chaplaincy was founded at the altar of St John the Baptist at St Andrew's Church in Peebles, on the 15th December 1473, when James Tweedie of Drummelzier (the son and apparent heir of Walter Tweedie) and Margaret Giffert his spouse with other persons, granted the patronage of the Altar to the Bailies and Community of Peebles. It was founded, more particularly in honour of King James III and his Queen Margaret, and for the souls of James Tweedie of Drummelzier and some others, and of all who had been slain in the wars of those individuals. There were two charters dated the same day and much to the same purpose, and some unexplained mystery seems to surround the proceedings. Probably the founding of the Chaplaincy may have been intended as an expiation for blood spilt in some Border feud, as hardly any other power than the Church could have compelled these warlike and predatory lairds to trouble themselves to such an extent about spiritual matters.
AD 1474
On the 5th April 1474, King James III made a grant of the barony of Cessford to Andrew Ker and his wife Margaret Tweedie, no doubt the same persons as already mentioned under the date of 1450. It must have been their son or grandson, Sir Andrew Ker, described by Sir Walter Scott as a border chief of great power, who made the celebrated defence of the Castle of Fernieherst, the feudal seat of the Kers, against the English under Lord Dacre, in 1523. The castle was taken, but with great loss to the besiegers. In the evening Lord Dacre encamped close by, and about eight at night, when the English were at supper, the camp was rushed by the Scottish men, whom the English had believed to be defeated and dispersed, the horses all cut loose, and fifteen hundred of them charged down upon the Earl of Surrey's camp, where they were received with showers of arrows and volleys of musketry, for the English soldiers thought the Scots were storming their entrenchments. The tumult was so great that the English imputed it to supernatural interference, and even the Earl of Surrey himself alleged that the devil was seen visibly six times during the confusion.
AD 1475
Walter Tweedie was returned heir of his father, James Tweedie, in the Barony of Drummelzier, on the 4th July 1475, as we see from the original writs of the family. On the "inquest" we find Sir William le Hay (Knight) and William le Hay of Mynzaw, and others with six Seals, and among the same writs we find a charter by Walter Tweedie, granted about 1476 to Thomas Frysale of Frude, to which the witnesses are James of Douglas of Balvany, Patrick of Levyngstone of that Ilk, and others.
AD 1477
Certain members of the family seem to have been inclined to peaceful callings, for in the next year we find an Alexander Tweedie, a burgess of Edinburgh, as a witness to a charter under which King James III made a grant to one Archibald Dundas on the 11th June 1477; though after all, if what is gathered from the city records is true, even the Burgesses of Edinburgh had plenty of fighting on hand at that time and for long after, in order to support the King in his difficulties with his own turbulent Barons, and his more serious quarrels with his cousin of England, and the subjects of that realm on the other side of the Border.
AD 1478
The next incident is an example of "the good old rule, the simple plan, that they should take who have the power and they should keep who can." Some time previous to the 18th March 1478, James Tweedie and Marion of Crechton, his spouse, had seized on certain lands known as "Gaitstakis", belonging to Robert Charters, son of Robert Charters of Armisfeld, and held them against him by force, and on that day, Robert Charters made formal complaint to the authorities and asked for redress. This matter was adjourned to the "X day of Maii nixt to cum", but it is to be feared that it never came for Robert Charters, as nothing more is ever heard of him, and if Robert was not actually put quietly beyond the power of making further trouble, he no doubt received a sufficient warning of what might happen. There was in those days a rough and ready method in Tweeddale of dealing with troublesome people, and there is talk yet of the terrible knob of stone at Drummelzier that was used as a gallows, as it also was elsewhere, and was seldom without a corpse or a "tassel" as it was called, as a grim warning to those who might wish to press undesirable claims or be otherwise unduly inconvenient.
On the 19th March 1478, Thomas Portuis of the Halkshawis (Hawkshaw in Tweedsmuir) obtained a judgement on behalf of himself and the widow and children of the late Hubert Portuis, his brother against Walter Tweedie of Drummelzier, but whether it was ever actually paid we do not know. On the same day, Walter Tweedie, who appears to have been in a good deal of trouble, had a difficulty with Henry and John Preston in regard to the marriage of Thomas Somerville, lately deceased, with Walter's daughter, whose name is not given, but whose dowry apparently had not been paid over by her father. Perhaps Walter was annoyed at the death of his son-in-law, and at finding his daughter on his hands again. After the manner of the times, however, the matter was adjourned, and we hear no more of it.
In the same year on the 11th June, there is a record of a curious dispute between this Walter Tweedie of Drummelzier and "Master Adam of Cokburne of Skraling" about "a futit Cop of Silver with a covertour of the samyn double gilt" which Adam claimed from Walter. This question was also adjourned, with the curious direction that Walter should call witnesses "gif it ples hym", and as is dryly added "gif he has ony". Whether Adam ever got the cup, history does not relate, but as Walter Tweedie had possession of it, and his death did not take place until many years after, we may have our own views of what the probable ending was.
AD 1478
On the 18th September 1478, the half of the lands of Halmyr and the Camys were confirmed to Walter Tweedie of Drummelzier, who in the following year comes into conflict with his powerful neighbours, the Hays of Yester, in regard to a claim made by them upon him and Alexander Horsbruk of that Ilk as sureties for Gilbert Cokburne of the Glen. In this matter, which was heard on the 13th March 1479, before the Lords Auditors, Tweedie pursued his old tactics of an adjournment, but without the same success, for it was heard again on the 11th October, though curiously enough the record is silent as to the result.
AD 1480
On the 14th February 1480-81, Walter Tweedie of Drummelzier served on the Inquisition which declared deliverance in the Justice Air of Peebles.
"Master" William Tweedie, Dean of Peebles, applied on the 15th February 1480, for a licence for Sir William Gibson, the Chaplain of the Rood Altar, to enable the later to travel for four years, and the licence was given by the award of the whole Court. The same ecclesiastic, referred to as "Master Wylyam of Twede, person (parson), of Glengwham, and deyn (dean) of Peblis in that tym" is mentioned in the Peebles Burgh Records under date 23rd of July 1480, when Herbert Tweedie, and others "with consent of the hayll communite of the said burgh (Peebles), passit to the markat cors of the samyn, haf gewyn herytable stat sesing and possession ... to Sir Wylyam Thomson, Chaplin, and to his successors that sall Sing mes and mak service at the Rud altar in St Androis Kyrk of Peblis, in the Rud loft ..... for evirmar to pray for the sawll of the said Sir Wylyam Thomson, his fader's sawll and his moder's sawll, and for the prosperite and the wellfar of the burgh of Peblis".
AD 1481
In the Register of the Great Seal, in a Charter of James III under date of 8th May 1481, Margaret Tweedie is again referred to as the wife of Andrew Ker of Cessford.
AD 1482
Herbert Tweedie again comes before us, in 1482, as an alleged wrongdoer, with others, in proceedings taken by Johne of Gledstaynes of that Ilk and others, in regard to the wrongful occupation of the Common of Cademuir and Common Struther, as to which the Lords Auditors direct an Inquisition to be chosen by the next Justice Air at Peebles, the date of this act being 26th March 1482. The matter seems to have been of sufficient importance to cause King James V to issues Letters dated at Edinburgh, 6th February 1484-5 directed to the Justices on the South side of the Forth to make further inquisition, whereof the deliverance or judgement is given on the 18th of the same month against Johne of Gledstanis, the finding being that the Common of Cademuir and the Common Struther belong to the Burgh of Peebles, whose interests apparently Herbert Tweedie was upholding.
AD 1483
A complaint is made in 1483, by one Henry Preston against Gilbert Tweedie for the latter having carried off "eighty ewes, a horse and a pair of brigantynis", and Gilbert is summoned, but whether he ever appeared we do not learn - probably not.
AD 1484
Lawrence Tweedie was sub-prior of Melrose Abbey about this time for on the 24th April 1484, he made a grant in his official capacity as such to David Scott of Branxholme of the bailliary of the lands of Esdale. It is somewhat reassuring to find that the family counted among its members both the Dean of Peebles and the sub-prior of Melrose, and it is to be hoped that the influence of these divines was exerted in the proper direction.
AD 1486
Alexander Tweedie and John Tweedie are found as witnesses to charters in the years 1484 and 1486, in one of which the unusual name of Yhoile appears as a surname.
AD 1487
An entry in the Acts of Parliament for the year 1487 shows that the Laird of Drummelzier was in some trouble, for the King issued a precept on the 15th October calling upon all Prelates, Bishops, Abbots, Earls and Parsons to attend in Edinburgh to advise the King upon certain matters among others "the pcess of forfatn of ye lard of Drumelzor and Edward Huntr, etc".
AD 1489
Trouble arose shortly after with Thomas Porteous of Hawkshaw, who was arraigned on the 16th February 1489 for having, no doubt by way of reprisal for some injury, lifted seventy-four lambs from the lands of Oliver Castle belonging to William Tweedie and Lawrence Tweedie.
On the 16th April in the same year King James IV confirmed a charter by Christian Dikyson, the wife of "Walter Tweedie of Drummelzier" and one of the heirs of John Dikyson of Smithfield, in favour of Elizabeth her daughter, of lands called the Denys.
Something of the state of the Lowlands and the Borders at this time may be gathered from the legislation of the period. We may be sure that if it had come to having to deal with the troubles by Act of Parliament, things must have been very bad indeed. Personal conflicts, raids, and slaughters, no doubt, were matters of every day life, long before they attracted such attention as that of the King and Parliament, and it would need a graphic pen to give any adequate description of the daily scenes of those times.
The internecine strife of the powerful families of the Borders however at length engaged the attention of Parliament. In the year 1428 a Statute had ordained "that na man suld ridande na gangande cum to na Courte na Semblay with multitude of folkys na with armys". The matter again came before Parliament in 1478, and in the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer is found under date the 6th of August 1491, an item: "to pass to the lardis of Lammyngton, Drummelzeare (Walter Tweedie), and Hawkshawis, to gar them cess a gadering."
Trouble seems still to have been on foot between the Hays and the Tweedies, for on the 6th May 1491, John Tweedie of Drummelzier is called upon by the Lords Auditors to pay over the sum of £96 8s. claimed of him by Christian, the widow of the late Thomas Hay, the sheriff depute of Peebles, and penalties are ordained on him in default. In the statistical account of Scotland it is alleged to have been a Thomas Tweedie who owed this money, but this is incorrect, for John was the delinquent. A little later in the same year another decree issues directing "to distrenze" William Tweedie, "brother to the umquhile (i.e. the late) the Lord of Drummelzare" for another sum of money, apparently a balance due by him to the same lady, but it is recorded that William Tweedie was "oft tymes callit and nocht comperit" an easy way of dealing with such demands when the authorities who make them have not the power of enforcing their judgements as was only too often the case on the Borders in those days.
AD 1492
Not content with troubles abroad, the Tweedies are found in the next year quarrelling amongst themselves. On the 4th February 1492, the Lords of Council found "for ocht that they have yet sene, Johne Tweedy of Drummelzare dois wrang and vexacioun and distroubling of James Tweedy, his brother and his tenentis" in the peaceable possession and cultivation of the lands of Horne Huntaris land. He was ordered to desist, James having produced a charter from the late James Tweedie of Drummelzier: and was also directed to restore a "herezeld ox" which he had taken from the lands in question.
In the Ledger of Andrew Halyburton reference is made, under the dates 1492-1503, to certain members of the family of Tweedie having been trading correspondents or customers of his, but it is added that not much is known of them individually.
In 1492 appears in the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer the following item: "and sua restis toyidder with twenty poundis for finance of James Yong an John Yong Wat of Twedy in Peblis £488 2s 3d".
Sasine is granted in 1492, to John Tweedie of the lands of Drummelzier, Hopkelloch, Vestir (? Yester) and Halmyr.
A statement is made in Burke's Landed Gentry that Andrew Tweedie of Oliver Castle and his kinsman Andrew and Walter of the Drummelzier family, had a suit in 1492 against William Flemyn of the Borde for the possession of half the lands of Kingledoors, and this information is also to be found in the Origines Parochiales.
AD 1493
The name of John Tweedie occurs constantly in the records of the Register of the Great Seal during this period as a witness, but who he was in particular does not transpire. In 1493, however, as it appears from the original precept from Chancery dated 3rd June, John Tweedie of Drummelzier is instituted in the lands of Drummelzier as the heir of his father the late James Tweedie. There is also an entry to be found under the same date, in the Ledger of Andrew Halyburton the Edinburgh merchant, in regard to a commercial transaction with a John Tweedie, but whether this is the same or another man is not clear.
AD 1494
In the next year a remission is granted to Walter Tweedie "for the slauchter of Alexander Bell" but no further information regarding the episode is recorded. It may however be assumed that on this occasion Tweedie had right as well as might on his side or he would not have gone boldly to Edinburgh for a pardon.
AD 1495
In 1495 there is a mention in the Ledger of Andrew Halyburton of another dealing with "John of Tuedy" whose wife's name apparently was Margaret.
In November of the same year a complaint was lodged by George Edwardsoun, a burgess of Edinburgh, before the Lords of Council, against John Tweedie of Dreva, because the latter had put him to much trouble by commencing an action against him and then not appearing to prosecute it. On the 13th of the same month a John Tweedie accepted office as an arbitrator to settle a dispute between certain persons. This arbitration was to be held at St Giles's Kirk, and if this be the same John Tweedie of whom George Edwardsoun complained, it would seem the Tweedie had more confidence in his own dispensing of justice than in that of the Lords of Council.
AD 1498
At a Justice Aire, held in Peebles by Lord Drummond, 15th November 1498, John Tweedie of Drummelzier and five others "came in at the King's will" and were each fined five merks for "act and part" in an act of oppression committed on Oswald Porteous and his wife Janet in ejecting them from their holding in Upper Kingledoors. The act of "coming in at the King's will" was a recognition of the sovereign power so apparently foreign to the nature of these Border lairds that it would almost seem as if the delinquents on this occasion had ascertained previously that merely a nominal penalty in the shape of a small fine would be imposed.
This incident brings us to the close of the 15th Century, and full though its records are of feuds, slaughters, and forays, we cannot but feel that they really tell us only little of what actually went on: we are left to picture for ourselves the lawlessness and disorder that prevailed in the Lowlands and on the Borders of Scotland in those days with the ever-present danger from the English across the Border and the deadliest feuds existing between the nearest neighbours, and it is indeed almost impossible to realise the state of constant alarm and watchfulness in which the entire population must have spent their lives.
With the kind permission of his descendants, this information is reproduced from the book privately published in 1902 by Michael Forbes Tweedie. This highly regarded book includes many references to the original sources of the information, extracts from parish registers and some detailed family trees.
Copies of the book are known to be in the British Library, Edinburgh Central Library and the New York Public Library.
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