Luffness: Chapter 6

Medieval Luffness: Part One

Introduction

This is the story of Luffness Castle which once stood guard over Aberlady Bay and whose remains now are incorporated into the late 16th century tower house of the same name. The life of the castle spanned the calamitous events that befell Scotland in her stormy relations with England in the middle ages. In fact Scotland's development as a kingdom took place against the background of her relations with her more powerful and populous neighbour, England. Trying to interpret what was going on at this time can be confused by later attempts to provide Scotland with a narrative which would promote a certain view of history. I imagine that time adds poetry to the battlefield but we shall see if we can find any reliable sources to give good foundation to our narrative. I will try to tell the story of its foundation, its role in the wider context, the people who owned it and the stories related to them and how it met its end.

However, although we are now into the historic era the number of reliable sources is still limited with many large gaps. This state of affairs came about due to a lack of care on behalf of past generations and the removal of documents from Scotland into the hands of Edward I and Oliver Cromwell. These records were only ever partially returned. In fact one ship in 1660 called the Elizabeth was returning a cargo of legal records to Scotland when she sunk; the cargo was lost foreverⁱ.

Foundation

To find the origins of Luffness Castle we have to go back almost 900 years to a time when no castle claimed this foreshore of the Forth.

The castle was built in the 11^th century by Gospatrick (aka: Cospatrick) the first Earl of Lothian. He was exiled from England by William I in about 1072, but through his relations with Malcolm III of Scotland he was granted most of Lothian. This was in return that he would bring the wild land of Lothian under Malcolm's ruleⁱⁱ. His time as Earl of Lothian came to an end in 1138 when he is believed to have been killed at the battle of the Standard, fought at Cowton Moor, north of Northallertonⁱⁱⁱ.

Although Gospatrick is credited with the building of the castle, it soon came into the possession of the Lindsay family. This came about when Randolph de Lindsay married Etheldreda, a granddaughter of the first earl^iv.

The Lindsays arrived in Scotland early in the twelfth century and benefited from King David's introduction of feudalism into Scotland and held territory in Haddingtonshire, Ayrshire and the large barony of Crawford in Lanarkshire^v.

In fact the first time we meet anyone using the word Luffness in a title is William de Lindsay, 'Baron of Luffness'. He died in about 1200 and his son David then used the title. David had five children and the title passed to the oldest son who was also called David. However, neither he or his three brothers had any offspring and their sister Alice became the heir^vi. She married an English Baron Sir Henry de Pinkeny, Knight^vii.

However, William had another son who was also called William but this side of the family do not have 'Luffness' in their titles, but it is through their descendants the the main Scottish line of the Lindsays are born^viii. It is from this line that we come to Sir David de Lindsay who married Margaret de Lindsay.

David the Carmelites and the Crusades

David may not have had the title but his story is one of the most often told in the history of Luffness. The oral tradition is that Sir David de Lindsay was killed on crusade. David met a Carmelite monk who he offered land at Luffness to establish a friary, if he agreed to embalm David's body and return it to Luffness.

An effigy of David dressed as a knight, can be found carved into the top of a tomb, at what remains of the friary in Luffness woods.

This is the version of the story as told to me but I have also heard it told that David met the monk while he was sailing back from the crusade. Other sources can add some dates and details to David's life and death such as Nigel Tranter who tells the story just like it is above but he has David dying in the Holy Land in 1264

'….of fever not of wounds.'^ix.

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography tells us that David was a regent in 1255 and chamberlain the following year, and that he died on crusade in Egypt in 1279^x. However, the MacFarlane Clan website has him dying in Egypt on the crusade of Louis IX but in 1268^xi and his entry from the Scots Peerage says he joined the Crusade of St. Louis in 1268, and died in Egypt^xii.

No where in any of these sources do they mention his body returning from the crusades or the founding of a Carmelite monastery. Even in a book of the Lindsay family history written by one of his ancestors there is no mention of David's body being returned from the crusade; just that he died whilst on crusade^xiii.

It does make you wonder why a history of the Lindsay family would not include such an interesting story?

We can also see that there is some disagreement about the date of David's death. I suppose this is to be expected giving the lack of precise dating in the medieval period. If we follow this line of investigation it gives us a good example of the confusion that can surround dates in the different sources. For example, the crusades of Louis IX of France are known to have taken place between 1248 and 1254 for the first one and 1270 for the second. Both of these ended badly for Louis, on the first his army was surrounded in Egypt and he was made a prisoner; the second ended when disease ravaged his knights and caused his own death^xiv.

There is an East Lothian connection with the first of Louis' crusades in that the Scottish contingent was led by Earl Patrick of Dunbar, whose wife founded a hospital of Trinitarian brothers for the 'Redemption of Captives of the Infidel' at Dunbar^xv.

With this East Lothian link and the supposition that David died in Egypt it would mean that he must have gone on the first of Louis' crusades because the second only went as far as Tunis. Therefore we can deduce that he must have died no later than 1254.

However, there is a problem with this bit of detective work in that this would be quite anachronistic and would have stopped David being a regent in 1255! It is a tricky thing trying to get reliable dates in medieval Scotland.

The Friary

So having said all that can we find a record of David's gift to the Carmelite monk? We know that a Carmelite friary was established near Luffness Castle but how does this connect with the story of David^xvi.

Well, not much that I can find except that one of David's sons, who was called William, Lord of Symington, made an arrangement with Newbattle Abbey in 1293, that twenty pound stirling would be paid annually from his estate at Symington to Newbattle Abbey. This was for

'the salvation of his soul and lady Alice, his spouse, and for the soul of Sir David Lindsay, his father, and especially for the soul of Lady Margaret Lindsay, his mother....'.

The document goes on to tell how part of the money should be distributed on the feast day of Saint Andrew which includes

'And the distributors of the said money they may have on that day fifteen shillings for their labour and expenses, and they will feed on the day of the anniversary of Lady Margaret Lindsay, mother of Sir William, from one mark of the twenty pounds, if the brothers should solemnly celebrate for her soul on that day. Otherwise, the said mark should be distributed to other paupers, and on the same day they will feed the Carmelite friars of Luffness with a half mark, if they should solemnly celebrate on that day for the soul of Margaret.”^xvii.

Newbattle Abbey seems to have been one of their favourites for they also gave lands in Crawford and Stirling to Newbattle Abbey and freedom from toll in the port of Luffness^xviii.

I think we can conclude that David died whilst on crusade and that his family were in the habit of giving gifts to religious houses, as was the fashion for the nobility of that period. And what of the friars of Luffness? Well, we still don't know their exact origin but we do know they ended up with the effigy of a knight and a good feed at least once a year.

Bickerton's Tomb

Anyone who has spent time in the Aberlady area will know that the remains of the friary are known locally as Bickerton's Tomb. It seems a bit unfair that for all the Lindsay's gifts to the religious establishment the remains are now named after Bickerton. So where does the eponymous Bickerton fit into our story?

To get a good insight into Bickerton's connection with Luffness in the late 13^th century we need to go back to the other side of the Lindsay family, where Alice Lindsay heir to Luffness marryied the English Baron, Sir Henry de Pinkeny. This knight's grandson Robert de Pinkeny¹ caused a bit of a stir by leaving his belongings to the English king Edward I, even though his brother Henry was the rightful heir. In 1296 the earl of Surrey had to take the lands of Robert of Pinkeny, into the Kings hand, and make inquiry as to his heir; an inquistion was then held at Jedburgh. The details of this inquisition states that

'John of Bickerton held the castle of Luffness and three ploughgates and demesnes of the castle, worth £26 13s. 4d. of the tenement of Ballencrieff in capite of Robert; and 20 marks of the land of Binny in the county of Linlithgow, paying yearly to Robert 6d. Alexander Lindsay held a ploughgate of Robert in two parts of ‘le Cotis’ in the tenement of Ballencrieff, worth £4, paying 1d. as in his charter'.......Henry de Pinkeny, knight, Robert’s brother, is next heir and 30 years of age and more. They append their seals. .Firm dateNovember 1296'^xix.

This document describes Bickerton as holding the demesnes (which is a feudal term which basically means the land associated with a manor) in capite of Robert. This is a term in old English law meaning a tenure by which either person or land was held immediately of the king, or of his crown, either by knight-service, agricultural service or payment.

The ploughgate was a measurement of arable land used in the lowlands. It was equal to about 104 Scottish acres. It is thought to be the area that eight oxen were able to plough in one year^xx.

So we can see that by the end of the 13^th century Bickerton was farming 416 Scottish acres of Luffness and paying rent to Robert. However it is not for this deed that he is best known but for the dastardly deed of killing James Earl of Douglas.

The role of Bickerton as a villain

The oral tradition has it that when Bickerton held the castle at Luffness he was the armour bearer of James the Earl of Douglas. He left part of the Earls armour undone so that he could stab the Earl in the back during the battle of Otterburn. The Douglas' then exacted their revenge by murdering Bickerton outside the above mentioned Carmelite friary at Luffness. And that is why it is called Bickerton's Tomb. The stone effigy of a Knight being thought to be the eponymous Bickerton.

So, what can we find out about Bickerton's role in the battle of Otterburn?

John of Bickerton is at Luffness in 1296 but there is another 92 years to go before we get to 1388 and the battle of Otterburn. Unfortunately I can't find any references for any Bickertons appearing at Otterburn and apart from the the above version he does not appear in any of the more famous versions of the story. For example this is the most contempory version of the events of Otterburn:

'The Englishmen knew well they had borne one down to the earth, but they wist not who it was; for if they had known that it had been the earl Douglas, they had been thereof so joyful and so proud that the victory had been theirs. Nor also the Scots knew not of that adventure till the end of the battle; for if they had known it, they should have been so sore despaired and discouraged that they would have fled away. Thus as the earl Douglas was felled to the earth, he was stricken into the head with an axe, and another stroke through the thigh: the Englishmen passed forth and took no heed of him: they thought none otherwise but that they had slain a man of arms.'^xxi.

In most versions the Earl goes on to give a speech with his dying breath which stirs the almost defeated Scots onto victory.

Nor does he appear in either of the ballads said to be inspired by the battle; Chevy Chase or The Battle of Otterburne

Battle Of Otterbourne^xxii

20. He belted on his guid braid sword,

And to the field he ran;

But he forgot the helmet good,

That should have kept his brain.

21. When Percy wi the Douglas met,

I wat he was fu fain!

They swakked their swords, till sair they swat,

And the blood ran down like rain.

22. But Percy with his good broad sword,

That could so sharply wound,

Has wounded Douglas on the brow,

Till he fell to the ground.

I think I will leave the last word on the accusation that Bickerton killed Douglas to Sir Walter Scott '

'Indeed it seems to have no foundation, but the common desire of assigning some remote and extraordinary cause for the death of a great man.''^xxiii.

Therefore, if the king of romantic Scottish history doesn't think there is any truth in it, then I think that says a lot.

Bickerton goes to battle

However, that is not the end of the Bickertons and Luffness nor indeed their association with the Douglas', for they are found in the battle honours of the battle of Verneuil (1424). In this battle, which was part of the Hundred Years War, Scotland fought on the side of the French. The French were led by the earl of Buchan, recently made constable of France, and Archibald, Earl of Douglas. English archers repeated their success at Agincourt, nine years earlier. Buchan and Douglas were both killed^xxiv. Also in the ranks of the dead were four Bickerton's three of who were knights and their coat of arms appear in The Armorial de Berry which was written in 1445. The coat of arms (Illustration 1) is labelled as,

'Bickerton of Luffness'^xxv.

Illustration 1: The Bickerton coat of arms: PLATE X. (f° 160 V°) Ceulx de lufenness

Thus we see that the Bickertons still had some connection with Luffness. However, after 1445 the trail goes cold on the Bickertons, except for one reference from Nigel Tranter

'In time the Bickertons managed to buy the property from the Lindsay family. The Bickerton line ended with a daughter, who carried Luffness to to a Hepburn of Waughton. Sir Patrick Hepburn was the present laird of Luffness (1540s) his wife was the last of the Bickertons.'^xxvi.

The Hepburns were a large family but I cannot find any evidence that one of them married a Bickerton.

The Hepburns

There is however a different route for Luffness to pass to the Hepburns of Waughton: Alexander Lindsay who was the son of David who died on the crusade in Egypt had a daughter called Beatrice Lindsay and she gave birth to Eleanor Douglas the Countess of Carrick. This was one of the main ways for property to pass from one family to the other and Eleanor was no exception as she married five times. The last of these marriages was to one Sir Patrick Hepburn in 1376^xxvii.

The Hepburns seem to have held Luffness right through this final stage of the middle ages and documentary evidence exists in the form of charters:

Sir Patrick Hepburn of Waughton (& later Lufness) (died after February 1464) appears in charters of The Great Seal of Scotland in August 1439, January 1440, October 1450, and 1451 where he is confirmed in Luffness. In The Great Seal of Scotland a charter confirmed at Linlithgow on 2^ndAugust 1538, the King confirms upon Sir Patrick Hepburn, junior, of Waughton, and his wife his

'patrimonal lands, mill, manor and barony of Lufness in Haddingtonshire'.

There is also a charter confirmed at Holyrood house on 13^th May 1588 in which Sir Patrick is referred to as

‘..of Lufness and Waughton.’

A reconfirmation of Luffness to him appears in a charter of November 1618.^xxviii

For those that need more concrete evidence, there is a stone slab set into the floor of the friary which is inscribed with the name Kentigern Hepburn of Waughton, and is thought to date to about 1500^xxix.

So let me finish this stroll through the family history by connecting the end with the beginning. Our knight who died in Egypt; sir David de Lindsay, is none other than the nine times great grandfather of the second wife of James Hepburn^xxx, 1st Duke of Orkney (c. 1534 – 14 April 1578), better known by his inherited title as 4th Earl of Bothwell. He is best known for becoming the third husband of Mary Queen of Scots after he imprisoned her in Dunbar Castle.

If you think that sounds like a rough wooing, it was nothing compared to the tragic events that took place when her hand was first sought in marriage. In fact our next period has come to be known as the

'Rough Wooing'.
References

1 This is the same Robert de Pinkeny who claimed the Scottish throne in 1291 when it eventually went to John Bailliol.

iThe Oxford Companion to Scottish History, ISBN 0-19-211696-7. Page 311

iiTales and Traditions of Scottish Castles by Nigel Tranter. ISBN-10: 1906476748

iiiAndrew McDonald, ‘Gospatric, first earl of Lothian (d. 1138)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/50323, accessed 4 June 2013]

ivhttp://histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I81817&tree=Nixon

vSonja Cameron, ‘Lindsay family of Barnweill, Crawford, and Glenesk (per. c.1250–c.1400)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/54260, accessed 2 June 2013]

vihttp://histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I81524&tree=Nixon

viihttp://histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I64567&tree=Nixon

viiiSonja Cameron, ‘Lindsay family of Barnweill, Crawford, and Glenesk (per. c.1250–c.1400)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/54260, accessed 2 June 2013]

ixThe Story of Scotland, Nigel Tranter, 1987; ISBN-10: 1897784074

xSonja Cameron, ‘Lindsay family of Barnweill, Crawford, and Glenesk (per. c.1250–c.1400)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/54260, accessed 2 June 2013]

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xiihttp://archive.org/stream/scotspeeragefoun03pauluoft/scotspeeragefoun03pauluoft_djvu.txt

xiiiLives of the Lindsays: or, A memoir of the houses of Crawford and Balcarres. By Alexander Crawford Lindsay Crawford (Earl of)1849. (http://books.google.co.uk)

xiv The Atlas of the Crusades, 1991, ISBN 0723003610. Page 96.

xv The Oxford Companion to Scottish History, ISBN 0-19-211696-7. Page 115

xvi http://www.johngraycentre.org/collections/getrecord/ELHER_MEL619

xvii PoMS, H4/20/62 (http://db.poms.ac.uk/record/source/6859/; accessed 05 June 2013)

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xx Scotland: The Later Middle Ages, Ranald Nocholson, 1974, ISBN 06-495147-2

xxiFroissart, Jean; translated by John Bourchier, Lord Berners. The Chronicles of Froissart Page 93
Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library

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xxii http://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/scottish/itfellab.htm

xxiii The Complete Works of Sir Walter Scott: With a biography and his last additions and illustrations: Volume 1, 1883 Page 54.

xxiv A Dictionary of British History (1 rev ed.), John Cannon, Publisher: Oxford University Press, Print Publication Date: 2009, Print ISBN-13: 9780199550371, Published to Oxford Reference: 2009,Current Online Version: 2012

xxv PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, JANUARY 10, 1938.

THE ARMORIAL DE BERRY. (1445) (SCOTTISH SECTION.)

BY J. STORER CLOUSTON, O.B.E., F.S.A.ScoT.

http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_072/72_084_114.pdf

xxvi Marchman by Nigel Tranter Publication Date: 3 July 1997 | ISBN-10: 0340659947 |

xxvii http://histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I8963&tree=Nixon

xxviii Clan Hepburn, HEPBURN of WAUGHTON,By G.M.S.Lauder-Frost, F.S.A.,(Scot).

http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/htol/hepburn4.html

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