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| [Jan.] |
1420. The Earls of Arran and Lennox. |
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1. "Allegations and reasons of James Hamilton, pretended
Earl of Arran, touching the title to that Earldom and
to the Crown of Scotland, and the answers of Matthew,
Earl of Lennox to the same." |
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2. Hamilton states that Lady Marrion Steward, sister to
James III., married James, Lord Hamilton, and bare him a
son and daughter, to wit, James, Earl of Arran, his father,
and Margaret Hamilton, "your good dame," Countess of
Lennox. As the brother succeeds before the sister, Lennox
does him wrong to quarrel him. |
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3. Lennox replies, that if Hamilton had been lawfully
begotten he should have had nothing to say against him.
Hamilton's father was married to Elizabeth Hume, daughter
to Lord Alexander Hume, about 1493, and she lived till 1543.
Many years before her death Hamilton's father took to
his company Dame Jenet Beton, by whom he had Hamilton,
she not being his lawful wife. |
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4. Hamilton affirms that there was a divorce between
his father and Elizabeth Hume, and that his father was
married to Dame Jenet Beton. To this Lennox rejoins that
yet there must be proved some lawful cause of divorce, or
it is of no avail. Hamilton states that Elizabeth Hume was
first married to Sir Thomas Hey, son and heir to Lord Yester,
and that Sir Thomas and his father being near of consanguinity, that was then a lawful cause of divorce. |
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5. Lennox affirms that this is untrue, for there was never
a marriage betwixt Sir Thomas Hey and Elizabeth Hume.
Hamilton repeats his assertion, and adds that the divorce
proves the same. He then asks Lennox how he is able to
disprove it ? To this Lennox answers that he does so because
Hamilton alleges the cause of the divorce to grow upon the
marriage of Elizabeth Hume and Sir Thomas, who were never
married. How then could there be (he asks) a divorcement
between her and the Earl of Arran? |
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6. Hamilton admits that it is hard to prove this, for his
father took a dispensation for his first marriage of the said
Elizabeth and married her again, which proves that she was
married to Hey, and that there was cause of divorce. Lennox
rejoins that dispensations for things that never were, prove
nothing. |
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7. Hamilton having remarked that this is no proof that
Sir Thomas never married the said Elizabeth, Lennox proceeds
to prove it thus. Alexander Hume, the first Hume, married
the daughter of the Carrs, and his [?] name was Nicolas. She
was inheritrix of Sariston [?] and Hutton Hall, and was
married in Berwick 1478, and about two years after, in 1480,
was the said Elizabeth Hume born. And Sir Thomas Hey
married Dame Katherine Burdyke [Borthwick], sister to William Lord Burdyke, about 1489, and the same Sir Thomas was
slain by the thieves of Eskdale 1491, and left a son a year
old. The widow of this Sir Thomas married Sir Oliver
Sinclair, Lord of Roslin, and her son by Sir Thomas lived
till he was 18 years of age. He thus proves that Elizabeth
Hume was not nine years old when Sir Thomas Hey married
Katherine Burdyke, and therefore could not be Sir Thomas
Hey's wife. |
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8. Admitting all this to be true, retorts Hamilton, he
[Hamilton] was entered heir to his father without any contradiction by him, and continued so till the decease of King
James, after whose death he was admitted to be Governor of
Scotland without impeachment. To this it is replied by
Lennox, that he was both under age and out of the realm.
Also after the King's death the Cardinal wrote to the King
of France for him to come home to Scotland to receive his
right, and he [the King] raised a summons of bastardy against
Hamilton. For when he [Hamilton] was declared Governor,
he made proclamation that the Word of God should be in
the vulgar tongue; but to stop the Cardinal's mouth, he made
a new command to the contrary, barring all men from that
benefit, and persecuting any that were forward thereto. And
thereupon the Cardinal left off to prosecute the summons of
bastardy. Lennox concludes that Hamilton has no right to
the Earldom of Arran, much less to the Crown of Scotland,
for whatsoever is set down here is to be proved by records.
Copy, in a Scottish hand. Endd. by Cecil. Pp. 4. |
| [Jan.] |
1421. Another copy of the above.
Endd. Pp. 4. |
| [Jan.] |
1422. Another copy of the above.
Endd. Pp. 4. |
| Jan. 23. |
1423. Instructions for Montague and Chamberlain. |
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Duplicate of portions of the instructions contained in Nos.
629 and 630.
Endd. Pp. 4. |
