ORAN

DO DH-UILLEAM A BHORLUIM LE TE DE CHLOINN MHIC-GHILLESHEATHANAICH A BHA NA BANALTRUIM AIGE.

FONN-"'S tearc an diugh mo chuis gaire
Tigh'nn na raidean so 'n iar."

N.B.-The above song I copied from an old manuscript. It may at least interest the writer of the Sketch of Brigadier Mackintosh of Borlum. A. M'L. S.

TAIN: THE BIRTHPLACE OF JAMES IV., KING OF SCOTS. BY MAJOR-GENERAL A. STEWART ALLAN, F.S.A., Scor.,

It is rather singular that no Scotish historian has hitherto noticed the place of birth of our chivalrous monarch, James the Fourth; and even the date of that event has never been stated with reliable accuracy, by any writer with whom I am acquainted. The year has been variously given as 1472, 1473, and 1474, according to different authorities; and the narratives of Pinkerton, Tytler, and even that of the present "historiographer royal for Scotland," Burton-not to mention those of minor historians are extremely vague and unsatisfactory. The late Agnes Strickland, in her interesting Life of Margaret Tudor, states in a footnote:"St Patrick's Day, March 17 (1472), is mentioned by some historians as James IV.'s birthday; yet not only the day, but the year of his birth, is variously quoted. Bishop Lesley's History gives the above date. He could scarcely be mistaken in the year of his royal patroness's grandfather. Lesley's Hist., p. 39." ["Lives of the Queens of Scotland;" vol. i., p. 16. Edinburgh, 8vo, 1850.] Miss Strickland is nearly correct, but confides too much in Lesley, a very careless recorder of dates; though, in the present instance, he only errs in the year; which was 1472 more Scoticano, but 1473, historically; the other being the civil and legal computation in Scotland, until January 1, 1600, when the year was ordered to commence on that day instead of, as previously, on March 25-by a royal proclamation of December 17, 1599. [Reg. Sec. Conc., in Archivis Publicis Scotiae] while in England, and some other countries, the old style was used up to Jan. 1,1753-[Stat. 24, George II., cap. 23]by which considerable confusion existed, and numerous mistakes occurred, and even now occur in dates. Bishop Lesley's account is as follows:"James, eldest sone to King James the Third, wes borne the...day of Marche 1472, quha aftiruart wes callit James the fourt, and wes ane juste and guide prince." [Historie of Scotland 1436-1561. By John Lesley, Bishop of Ross." Bannatyne Club Edit., 4to, Edinburgh, 1830, p. 39.] The day of the month is not recorded in the above history, but the year is established as 1473, from the recorded appearance of the comet of January preceding; and it betrays carelessness in Tytler and others, placing the event in 1472, though the former gives the day as "the seventeenth of March 1472." ["History of Scotland," ed. 1841; vol. iv. p. 206.] Buchanan records :-"Nuptiæ Jacobi Tertii et Margaritæ Reginæ, magno Nobililatis concursu, celebratæ, decimo die mensis Julii, anni M.CCCC.LXX. Ex eo matrimonio, tertio post anno, natus est Jacobus, qui patri in regnum successit, mense Martio, die sucro Divo Patricio." ["Georgii Buchanani Opera Omnia-Rerum Scoticarum Historia "--fol. edit. Edinburgi, 1715; "Curante Thoma Ruddimanno, A. M." Tom i., lib. xii., p. 228.] Ruddiman, in his "Annotationes," [p. 444.] endeavours to support this date of the marriage of King James III., but it is not generally admitted, and the actual year appears to have been 1469, July 10, Monday; when the young princess

was only in the twelfth year of her age, as her Maundy 'Almous' at Pasche, 1474, were “xvij gownis, and xvij hudis." ["Compota Thesaurariorum Regum Scotorum "—fol. 52a, p. 71.] Mair has :-" A.D., 1469. decimo autem die Julii Norvegia Regis filiam Margaretam nomine duodecim annos natam Jacobus tertius 20. annos natus Edimburgi, conjugem capit." ["Historia Majoris Britanniæ." Edit. nova, Edimburgi, 4to, 1740: lib. xix., p. 328.] Lesley." And the mariage wes solempnisit in the Abbay kirk of Hallierudhouse besyd Edinbruch, the x. day of July, the King and Quene being almaist equall of aige." [History of Scotland"ut. supra. pp. 37-38.] Here the good bishop is right in the year, but mistaken as to the age of the new Queen of Scots. Wyntoun has July 13, 1469, as the day of marriage [MS. Regist. at the end of his " Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland,"] but is the only one who gives that day of the month. Lesley again records-" Nuptiæ decimo Iulii in æde Sanctæ Cruci dicata, prope Edinburgum, summa omnium gratulatione celebratæ fuerunt." ["De Origine Moribus & rebus gestis Scotorum." 4to edit. Romæ 1675; lib. viii., p. 303, but under the year 1468.] Joannes Ferrerius Pedemontanus, in his Appendix to Boyce's History, says that the marriage was solemnised-"quum Rex iam circiter vicesimum ætatis annum ageret, Regina vero decimum sextum." ["Scotorum Hist," fol. Parigi 1574, p. 388, l. 70] in which he errs about the Queen's age being sixteen, as also in that of the King; afterwards he has-" 1472 anno redemptionis nostre, 1472. die vero decima mensis Martij natus est Jacobo regi euisdem tertio filius, qui in sacro fonte baptismatis patris sui nome accepit: quem postea Jacobum quartum appellarut." [Boethius, ut. supra; p. 392, l. 60.] Lindsay of Pitscottie has as follows:-"In the yeir of our Lord 1471 yeires, James the Thrid, being of the aige of twentie yeires, took to wayffe the King of Denmarkis dochter, called Margaret. This marriage was solempnized in Edinburgh, the gentlevoman being bot twelff yeires of age at this tyme." ["Cronicles of Scotland." 8vo. edit., Edinburgh, 1814; vol. i., p. 176.] These discrepancies are rather puzzling, and difficult to reconcile satisfactorily, or with complete accuracy; but it may be considered sufficiently established that the marriage of King James III., with the Princess Margaret of Denmark took place at Edinburgh, on (Monday) July 10, 1469; when he was exactly eighteen years of age (having been born on July 10, 1451), and his girl-bride only twelve, and therefore in her thirteenth year, as correctly stated by the best authorities, whose testimony can be relied upon; her birth may therefore be placed in 1457, though the month is not recorded. She was the only daughter of Christian I. of Oldenburg, King of Denmark 1448-of Norway 1449-and of Sweden 1459-who died at Kjobenhavn (Copenhagen), May 22, 1481, aged 54, by his wife Dorothea of Brandenburg, married in 1459, and died Nov. 25, 1495; and who had previously married, in 1445, Christopher, King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, who died issueless, at Helsimburg in Scania, Jan. 6, 1448. ["L'Art de Vérifier les Dates "-8vo, Paris, 1818; tome viii., pp. 187-9.] Queen Margaret predeceased her amiable husband, dying at Stirling, July 14, 1486, and being interred at Cambuskenneth Abbey ; though even here there are doubts as to the precise date, which is enveloped in the usual obscurity which surrounds all the domestic events in the lives of the Scottish royal families, even so late as the first half of the

sixteenth century, owing to the deplorable destruction of our national records. Her age at the period of her death could therefore have been only twenty-nine, and the sole issue of this marriage was three sons; for no female progeny survived to represent the graces, or mild virtues of their excellent mother. She is universally considered as having been one of the greatest beauties, as well as most accomplished Princesses of the time; and her virtues are said to have equalled, if not surpassed, her personal charms.

I hope I have now established, on sufficient authority, that the Prince of Scotland was born in March 1473, either on the 10th or 17th of that month, but most probably on the latter day, ths Feast of St Patrick; which is corroborated by the amount of his Maundy alms, and by the payment made "to the notar, quhen the King maid his reuocacioune in Douchale, that samyn day-the xvj. day of March 1497-8." ["Compota Thesaur Reg. Scot.," vol. i., p. 383.] He being then of "perfect age," that is, having completed his twenty-fifth year; the writ being obviously prepared the day before the "revocatioun." The Eqchequer Rolls also contain the following corroboration :-"

quousque dominus rex revocaverat huiusmodi literas ad suam perfectam etatem viginti quinque annorum, que revocacio facta fuit in festo St Patricii anno Domini, etc. nonagesimo septimo"-1497-8. ["Exchequer Rolls," No. 314.] which may be deemed conclusive. Further, on April 8, 1473, King James III. granted a charter of the lands of Tibbermellok to George of Muncrefe— "dilecto familiari armigero, pro suofideli seruicio . . et quia

6

sua coniux Mettey (Metta), nacionis Dacie, familiaris nostre serenissime coniugis regine, nobis felicem nuncium attulit nostram predictam coniugem nobis pulcerrima forma filium peperisse, nosque eo pacto regio prole patrem effecisse et constituisse parentem." ["Regist. Mag. Sigill,” lib. vii., n. 236; cf. Preface-pp. xliv.-xlv.-to "Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, A.D. 1473-1498," vol. i., passim; so ably edited by Thomas Dickson, Curator of the Historical Department of the General Register House, Edinburgh,' 1877; and to which work I must acknowledge my great obligations in this article. [Pinkerton, in a footnote, notices this fact-after marginally placing the birth of the Prince on March 10, 1472. "On the 8th April 1473, appears a grant to Moncrief, because his wife, a Densk (Danish) woman, brought the king tidings of the birth of a fair boy, Scotst. Cal." ["History of Scotland," 4to, London, 1797, vol. i., p. 278.] From this interesting entry, it may be inferred that the king was absent from the queen's side at the period of his son's birth, of which the joyful news was conveyed to him by Dame Moncreif, a Danish lady, who was one of the attendants, or bedchamber women, to Queen Margaret, her countrywoman, and present at the royal accouchement of this "beautiful boy," in the chapel of St Duthach, at Tain.

Mrs Everett Green, who is so well-known as an able and accomplished historical writer, in her life of Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry the Seventh, has the following foot-note:-"The date and circumstances of the birth of James IV. have been involved in much uncertainty. Both are partially cleared up by entries in the treasurer's accounts, which speak of the Abbey of 'St Duthake, at Tayn, in Ross-shire, where the king was