SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MURDER, IMPRESSIVE SCOTTISH SEAL
Marcus Lord of Newbattle, i.e. Mark Kerr (d. 1609); John Hamilton senior (d. 1591) and John [aka Jonas] Hamilton junior: Writ of clare constat signed by Marcus Lord of Newbattle for infefting John [aka Jonas] Hamilton of Coldcoat [now Macbiehill] in the lands of Romanogrange [now Lamancha]. Edinburgh, 10 December 1591.
This visually impressive sixteenth-century Scottish document on vellum—with a well-preserved large hanging seal of Marcus Kerr, Lord of Newbattle (d. 1609)—relates to lands owned by the Hamilton family of Coldcoat (= Cowtcoitt, Coitquott, Colquhot, Quotquot etc; now Macbiehill). It can be situated against a complex backdrop of a series of murders in the county of Peebles.
The type of Scottish legal document concerned here, a writ of clare constat, is now extinct and can be defined as ‘a deed executed by a subject superior, for the purpose of completing the title of his vassal’s heir to the lands held by the deceased heir, under the granter of the precept [or writ]’ (Dictionaries of the Scottish Language). The superior in this instance, Kerr, reportedly had 31 children with his wife Margaret Herries (d. 1617), who was later accused of witchcraft and having caused her husband’s death (cf. Cokayne). This writ concerns the lands of Romanogrange, which had been a ‘residential appendage’ of Newbattle Abbey until the Scottish Reformation and is presently the site of Lamancha House (cf. Buchan and Paton; Canmore). The title for the lands of Romanogrange is passing here from the deceased John Hamilton of Coldcoat to his son, who was named after him but also known as Jonas.
In keeping with the formulaic language conventionally found in this type of document, John Hamilton (Senior) is simply described as deceased (obiit, line 4), but this is far from the full story. Given the date of the document (10 December 1591), we can only assume this is the same John Hamilton of Coldcoat who was murdered (along with his son Richard) by his neighbour and accomplices in August 1591. The present land transfer therefore took place as a consequence of this murder.
The details of this very intriguing case warrant further research into the original privy council records, but secondary literature indicates an ongoing feud between two families. John and Richard Hamilton were killed by William Murray of Romanno and his accomplices (Romanno appears to be in the vicinity of present day Romannobridge, about 3 miles from Lamancha). John Hamilton’s widow and children then convinced the king to authorise a four-man garrison at Romanno – at the expense of the Murray family. On the exact same date as our writ, Helen Henderson (William Murray’s wife) and Margaret Tweedie (John Murray’s wife) complained unsuccessfully to the privy council about the garrison. Tensions evidently continued to run high, and on 17 March 1592, Jonas Hamilton (i.e. John Hamilton junior) is recorded giving surety not to harm Margaret Tweedie, her tenants, or her servants. By this point, Margaret is a widow, leading one commentator to infer that ‘someone must have taken justice into his own hands and put an end to John Murray of Romanno for ever’ (Forbes Tweedie, 1902).
A working transcription of this document is available on request.
Details
Manuscript on parchment, 225 x 300 mms, 25 lines of text in cursive script with occasional display script, signed at base ‘Marcus dominus de Neubotle’. Large red wax seal hanging by a strip of vellum (max. diameter 85 mm), with heraldic shield, initials M. K., and surrounding text: ‘<S>igillvm Marci Ker d[omi]ni de Nevbot<…>’ (angle brackets indicate illegible text, apparently a result of the original impression). Seal cushioned using protective cotton, attached with string. Document folded twice vertically and horizontally. To the verso, 5 lines of summative text in a contemporary hand and date of document in a later hand.
Provenance: later identifiers to verso: ‘37’ ‘No. 11 bundle 1’, ‘No. 11’. Addison & Sarova Auctioneers, 17 August 2024, lot 57.
Condition: well preserved; slight soiling and staining to vellum plus a few hairline cracks to seal. One small hole in blank outer margin from time of parchment production, four puncture marks in blank corners.
Bibliography
The details of our writ are mentioned in James Walter Buchan and Henry Paton (eds.), A History of Peeblesshire, vol. 3 (Glasgow, Jackson, Wylie & Co, 1927), pp. 57-58: ‘Mark, Commendator of Newbattle […] on 10th December 1591, issued a precept of clare constat for the infeftment of Jonas Hamilton [i.e. John Hamilton junior], eldest son of […] John, as his father’s heir’. It is not clear to us whether Buchan saw our document, a copy thereof, or was aware of the text through another source.
Compare an instrument of sasine from 1662 in which Jonas Hamilton (probably a descendant) transfers half ownership of the lands of Romanno Grange to his nephew Robert Hamilton and his spouse Elizabeth Douglas. McMaster University, British legal instruments collection no. 39, described at https://library.mcmaster.ca/finding-aid/legalinstruments
We do not find Mark Kerr’s seal in Henry Laing’s Descriptive catalogue of impressions from ancient Scottish seals, Royal, Baronial, Ecclesiastical and Municipal embracing a period from A.D. 1094 to the Commonwealth (Edinburgh, 1850), nor in the supplemental catalogue (1866).
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Canmore (National Record of the Historic Environment), entries for ‘Lamancha’, ‘Romano Tower’, and ‘Romanno House’, accessible via www.canmore.org.uk, respectively sites 50207, 49966 and 263084.
Chambers, Robert, Domestic Annals of Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution, vol. 1, second edition (Edinburgh and London, W. & R. Chambers, 1859), pp. 227-229.
Chambers, William, A History of Peeblesshire (Edinburgh and London, William and Robert Chambers, 1864), pp. 114-116.
Cokayne, George Edward (ed.), Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, vol. 5 (London, George Bell & Sons, 1893), pp. 144-45.
Forbes Tweedie, Michael, The History of the Tweedie, or Tweedy, family; A Record of Scottish Lowland Life and Character (London, W. P. Griffith & Sons, 1902), pp. 50-51.
Hamilton, George, A History of the House of Hamilton (Edinburgh, Skimmer & Co., 1933).
Johnston, G. Harvey, The Heraldry of the Hamiltons with notes on all the males of the family, descriptions of arms, plates and pedigrees (Edinburgh and London, W. & A. K. Johnston, 1909), pp. 122-3. [this resource superseded by Hamilton 1933].
Masson, David (ed.), The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 4, A.D. 1585-1592 (Edinburgh, H. M. General Register House, 1881), pp. 698-99, 737-38.