to Colin the Irishman by King Alexander III., the earliest copy of which is said to be in the handwriting of the same Earl of Cromarty.* What was the document seen by Spottiswoode is not so clear, but it is worth while to bestow a little investigation on a matter so interesting as the foundation charter of the priory which it is our object to illustrate.

Walter Macfarlane of Macfarlane, to whose zeal for the preservation of ancient charters we owe the transcripts of the Beauly writs, was son of John Macfarlane of Macfarlane by his wife Helen, daughter of Robert, third Viscount Arbuthnot. After the death of John Macfarlane, Helen, his widow, Walter's mother, married in 1710 John Spottiswoode, advocate, who, having published a valuable work on law and taught a Scottish law class, was likely to have access to the same sources of information as the Lord Justice General, the Earl of Cromarty. John Spottiswoode died in 1728, and his edition of Hope's "Minor Practicks," printed in 1734 by his son, had appended to it his account of the Religious Houses in Scotland. It is probable, we have seen, that the Beauly charters were transcribed between 1734 and 1738, from their position among the Macfarlane transcripts. Now it is remarkable that John Spottiswoode, in his account of Beauly, mentions no document, except this foundation deed, other than those transcribed by his step-son, Macfarlane; and it seems most likely that Macfarlane had access to the so-called deed of foundation, but that he rejected it as a forgery, and would not allow his transcriber to copy it.†

Another forgery in connection with the foundation deed requires only a simple statement to secure its detection. The MS. historian of the Fraser family, in the Advocates Library,‡ whom we have already quoted as to the date of

+ For the care which Walter Macfarlane took in revising and authenticating his transcripts, see instances in Robertson's Introduction to the Register of Paisley, published by the Maitland Club, p. viii., note.

Adv. Lib. MSS., Genealog. Coll., 35, 4, 8, p. 411.

foundation, adds: "I saw the originall charter given to John Bisset by Macdonald, which begins in these terms: Ego Donaldus Insularum Rex, &c., Dono et concesso amico nostro charissimo Johanni Bizet Do de Lovat totum et integras terras de Achterloss Idem Montessen, Eq.;' and the charter closes thus: Datum apud castrum nostrum de Dingwall anno a partu Virginis M.CC.XLIII v. Idis Julii anno II. Innocentii iiii. S. D. N. Pontificis optimi maximi coram consanguineis et Consiliariis nostris M'Lean de Lews et M'Leod de Harris."" Except to show the extent of the possessions of John Byset, what object the historian of the Frasers could have in putting forward this charter, it is difficult to perceive; but Dempster, in his "Apparatus," connects Byset and Auchterless and Beauly thus:* "Bewlin in Rossia; ordinis Vallis Caulium qui ingressus Scotiam fertur anno 1230" (Scotichronicon, lib. ix., cap. xlvii.). "Hunc prioratum vero fundavit Joannes Biset, a quo nos Dempsteri habuimus Achterlos, præcipuam familiæ nostræ hac tempestate patrimoniam." The whole of the forged charter quoted in the MS. is printed in the annals of the Frasers :† "Ego Donaldus Insularum Rex tenore presentium, do dono et concedo amico nostro dignissimo Domino Johanni Bisset. D. de J. totas et integras terras de Achterlos et Mancester, cum omnibus ad eas pertinentibus tam infra quam supra terram hacce in provincia Barniæ jacentes idque sibi et suis successoribus in perpetuum chartamque hanc firmam et stabilem iis teneamur, quam nostro sigillo et chirographo confirmamus et attestamus, apud castrum nostrum de Dingwall coram consanguineis et consiliariis nostris charissimis M'Leod de Lewis et M'Leod de Harise; die decimo nono Idus Jan anno a Christo nato MCCXXV anno pontificatus. S. D. N. Gregorii ix. P. O. N. primo Pontificis optimi maximi. S. M. P."

The nineteenth day before the Ides !-But we have dwelt too long on this rubbish.

*

Dempster's App. De Religione, cap. 19, lxxx. In fact, the name of Dempster does not appear on record till 1296.

+ Annals of the Frasers, 1795, p. 24.

No. II.

CARTA WILLIELMI BYSETH DE ECCLESIA DE ABERTERTH FACTA FRATRIBUS DE BELLO LOCO ORDINIS VALLIS CAULIUM.

EX AUTOGRAPHO [1231].

"Omnibus hoc scriptum visuris vel audituris Willielmus Byseth Salutem. Sciant præsentes et futuri me dedisse, et concessisse, et hac Carta mea confirmasse pro salute animæ meæ, et animarum patris et matris meæ, et omnium antecessorum et successorum meorum Ecclesiam de Aberterth Deo et Beatæ Mariæ, et Bo Johanni Baptistæ et Domui de Bello loco et Fratribus Vallis caulium in eadem Deo servientibus et servituris in liberam puram et perpetuam Eleemosynam, cum omnibus ad eandem Ecclesiam juste pertinentibus, in terris, decimis, oblationibus, obventionibus et omnimodis Ecclesiasticis rectitudinibus. Testibus Andrea Moraviensi Episcopo, Duncano Decano, Ranulfo Archidiacono Moraviensi, Radulpho Capellano Episcopi prædicti, Johanne Bridin Capellanis, Domino Johanne fratre meo, Bartholomæo Flandrensi, Hugone Corbet, Gillandes Macysac, Hugone Augustini, Godefrido Arbalaster, Henrico Cuch, Yone Venatore et pluribus alijs."

"Not.

The seal white wax, on a shield plain a bend; no crown, the circumference not legible."

The preceding charter is a grant by William Byset, his brother John and the officials of the church of Moray being witnesses, of the church of Abertarf (Aberterth) to God, and the blessed Mary, and the blessed John Baptist, and the House of Beauly, and the Valliscaulian brethren there serving God, in pure and perpetual frankalmoigne, with all the pertinents of the same church, in lands, tithes, oblations, obventions, and all kind of ecclesiastical rights. Among the witnesses are Bartholomew the Fleming, who witnesses a charter of King Alexander II. in 1235, and the Bishop, Dean, and Archdeacon of Moray; notwithstanding which we get subsequently a confirmation of the grant by the bishop.

The seal has the arms of Byset, "on a shield plain; a bend.” The transcriber adds, "no crown;" the opinion then prevailing that the crowns quartered in the Fraser of Lovat coat were the arms of Byset: whereas they are the arms of Grant. This simple ordinary shows the antiquity of the Byset achievement. The same coat is given by Sir David Lyndsay, in 1542, with the tinctures, the field azure, and the bend argent, as the arms of

"Lord Bissart of Bewfort of auld."

These coats are identical, the tinctures are not blazoned in engraving till a much later date, and this coat is the arms of the founder of Beauly Priory.*

The parish of Abertarff is first mentioned in the foundation deed of the College of Canons, by Bricius, Bishop of Moray, between 1203 and 1216; to this Gillebred Persona de Abertarff is a witness. The next time it is mentioned is in an agreement between Thomas de Thyrlestan and Andreas, Bishop of Moray, in 1225. This agreement mentions the tithes of the royal Can, which tithes were wont to be paid before the infeftment of Thomas, out of the land of Abertarff. This reference to the tithes payable out of what was coming to the Crown, is the same we have before observed in the agreements of John Byset with relation to Kirkhill; and it shows that William the Lion had granted to the church a tenth of the rent in kind, which was paid to the Crown by the owners of land in Moray, as well as a tenth of the money rent which was so payable. §

Thomas de Thyrlstan was the proprietor of Thirlstane, in Berwickshire; and it is said, as we have before mentioned, || that Gillespie in 1228 raised an insurrection in Moray, burnt * Sir David Lyndsay's Heraldry, Edin. 1822.

Reg. Moray.

+ Reg. Moray.

§ King William, by a precept in the Register of Moray (p 2), 1171-84, directs his bailiffs of Moray to pay to the church of Moray and the bishop there the tithes of all his rents in Moray and of his rents in kind, which had not been granted to other churches by himself or his ancestors.

|| Bower's Interpolation to Fordun.

some wooden castles, and surprised and slew a baron called Thomas de Thirlstan, to whom Malcolm IV. had given the district of Abertarff. This must be the same Thomas de Thirlstan. He was succeeded at Thirlstan by Richard Maitland, who is said to have married his daughter, and about 1260 gives lands in the territory of Thirlstane to the monks of Dryburgh, excepting the third part to the Lady Agnes, formerly the wife of Thomas de Thirlstan, for her life.*

This charter of William Byset, from a witness being Duncan, the dean of Moray, is probably of the date 1231, as in 1232 Symon became dean of Moray, and continued dean until he succeeded to the bishopric in 1242; and in 1228 Freskin was dean of Moray.

We find among the suggestive and ill-understood list of the charters in the Treasury at Edinburgh, made up in 1282,† the following items relating to this subject, although others intervene :

"Item. Carta de Abirtarf.

"It. Carta Thome de Thirliston.

"It. Littera quiete clamationis Ricardi Mauteland de tra de Abyrtharf.

"It. Carta Walteri Byset de Stratharkik.

"It. Carta de Obeyn."

Walter Byset, Lord of Obeyn (Aboyne), according to the Chronicle of Melrose, was uncle of John Byset, and therefore of William Byset, John's brother; and the charter of Walter Byset of Stratherrick means, according to the usual form of entries in these early lists, not a charter from Walter Byset of the lands of Stratherrick, but a charter belonging to Walter Byset by which he holds the lands of Stratherrick. Whether Stratherrick then included Abertarff or not is uncertain; afterwards Stratherrick was styled a pertinent of the barony of Abertarff; but the present charter and these

* Thomas de Thirlstan had, by charter without date, granted the tithes of his mill of Thirlstane to the canons of Dryburgh (Reg. de Driburg, p. 87). + Act. Parl. Scot., vol. i. Robertson's Index, preface, p. xxiv.

Memoir for Hugh, Lord Lovat, p. 22.