"The Chiefs of Grant" (1883) by Sir William Fraser
Volume I, Chapter 3(i)

i. PATRICK LE GRANT, LORD OF STRATHERRICK AND INVERALLAN 1345 - 1362

[26] The subject of this memoir, who, according to authentic record, succeeded Sir John le Grant in possession of Inverallan, has hitherto in former pedigrees of the Grants either been altogether ignored, or his biography has been misstated. Shaw's Moray, pp. 25, 26 Very little is known of Patrick le Grant's history, but that little is important. It is derived chiefly from charter evidence, which proves clearly, on the one hand, that he was son of, or at least directly descended from Sir John le Grant of Inverallan, and, on the other hand, that he was in actual possession of Stratherrick. In a charter dated between 1357 and 1362, Patrick le Grant, as Lord of Stratherrick, conveyed to his son-in-law part of the lands of Inverallan. Vol iii of this work, p 10. The details of the document will be treated of presently; its bearings on the subject of Stratherrick only need be considered now.

This charter is the first authoritative proof that the Grants possessed Stratherrick, no other document in which the territory is named having been found of any date between the charter to Walter Byset already referred to and this charter by Patrick le Grant. This dearth of documents concerning Stratherrick is accounted for by their destruction in the time of the troubles with the Islesmen, to which reference has already been made in the Introduction. But not even in the Register of the Bishopric of Moray is any reference made to Stratherrick, except a casual allusion to the king's dues from that district. That Walter Byset had a charter of the territory at an early period is undoubted, but no document records when the Grants acquired possession. The sole proof of their being lords of the territory rests upon this one charter; and one of two conclusions seems inevitable, either that Patrick le Grant obtained the [27] land and was the first of his family there, or that tradition is correct, and Stratherrick was the earliest home of the Grants in the north, and was inherited peacefully from father to son from Sir Laurence le Grant downwards, thus leaving no record of its transference. The latter is the more likely; and if Sir Laurence le Grant is not found to be designated Lord of Stratherrick, it is doubtless because that designation was eclipsed by the higher title of his important position as Sheriff of Inverness.

The history of Patrick le Grant, apart from this important charter, may be told in brief space. He appears on record for the first time about the year 1345, as a witness to a charter by John Randolph, third Earl of Moray, bestowing upon Sir Robert of Chisholm certain lands in Urquhart, Lochletter, etc. The place at which the charter was granted is not stated, but among the witnesses are the Bishops of Dunkeld, Moray, and Ross; William Wiseman, Reginald le Chen, and James of Kerdale, knights; the Earl's Chancellor; Simon Fraser, William of Kerdale, and others. The Familie of Innes, pp. 59, 60. All these barons held lands within the earldom of Moray, and owed military service to the Earl, as did Patrick le Grant by the tenure of his lands of Inverallan and Stratherrick, which were also territorially comprehended in the earldom of Moray. Chamberlain Rolls, quoted in the Thanes of Cawdor, p. 24.

The next notice of Patrick le Grant is in the charter of Inverallan, already referred to. The date of this charter is fixed as between 1351 and 1362, because Alexander, Bishop of Ross, one of the witnesses, was promoted to that see in March 1351, and Robert, Prior of Beauly, another witness, ceased to be prior before 1362. By that charter Patrick le Grant bestowed upon his son-in-law William, called Pylche, burgess of Inverness, that whole davoch of land of Kyldreke (Dreggie), and the half davoch of Glenbeg, with the pertinents, lying within the granter's lands of Inverallan. These lands were to be held by William Pylche and his spouse Elizabeth, the daughter of Patrick le Grant, and their heirs, as freely as Patrick's predecessor held them of the king, or he himself had held them of Thomas Earl of Moray and his heirs; and failing heirs of William and Elizabeth the lands were to return to Patrick le Grant and his heirs. William [28] Pylche was to render "forensic service" to the king, so far as pertained to Kildreke and Glenbeg, in accordance with the terms of the charter of' infeftment of Inverallan, granted to Patrick le Grant's father. Vol iii of this work, p. 10 This last clause is conclusive proof that Patrick le Grant was the son of Sir John Grant of Inverallan, as the above tenure is precisely stated in Sir John le Grant's charter of infeftment in 1316.

Nothing more is known, from authentic sources, regarding Patrick le Grant. Tradition, however, supplies the lack with various incidents, one of which is of a romantic character; but, as may be expected, dates and statements are not consistent. One tradition, which may be correct, asserts that Patrick le Grant married a daughter of Wiseman of Mulben; another asserts that Patrick, about 1400, married the famous Bigla Comyn; and a third attributes to Patrick le Grant a remoter antiquity, and states that he sold his lands of Stratherrick to his brother-in-law, Lord Lovat, and with sixteen followers came to Strathspey about the year 1250. All these stories have clustered round the name of Patrick le Grant, Lord of Stratherrick, but, as will be shown, they are the mythical embellishment of one or two facts which happened at a much more recent date. The Grant traditions also relate that after the final settlement of Patrick and his friends in Strathspey, while he was on a visit to the Baron of Kincardine, lie was attacked by a party of Cummings, The name Comyn or Cumin, after this date, appears more frequently in its modern form Cumming. surrounded by numbers and put to death. The Grants pursued the murderers, who took refuge in the church of Kincardine. This brought the Grants to a stand, as their minds were divided betwixt the desire of revenge and the fear of shedding blood within a sanctuary; but one of their number eased his con science as to bloodshed, and also satisfied his revenge, by shooting a blazing arrow at the heather-thatched roof of the church. It immediately caught fire, and the church and the Cummings were burnt together, save one man of great stature, who escaped by fleetness of foot, but was overtaken, and lost his head with the blow of a two-edged sword, "which sword," adds the chronicler, "to this day lies in the representative of Clan Cheran's house." Mr. Chapman's Account of the Grants, print of 1876, p. 21

[29] It is possible the last story may be based on some real event, as more than one massacre of the same kind is recorded by tradition, but there is nothing to fix the date or to prove that Patrick le Grant met his death at the hands of the Cummings, though tribal feuds were sufficiently common to warrant the possibility. The allegations of tradition as to the sale of Stratherrick to Lord Lovat, while evidently based on the fact that Stratherrick did pass into possession of the Frasers of Lovat, who added the arms of Grant to those of Fraser, are altogether erroneous as regards Patrick le Grant. In regard to his family also, tradition errs. It asserts that he left only one daughter and heiress, Marjory or Maud, that in spite of parental opposition, which was latterly overcome, she married an Andrew Stewart, Sheriff of Bute, who changed his name to Grant, and became ancestor of the Grants of Grant, and that afterwards they "lived quietly and comfortably together for many years." But this romantic little episode is disproved by the charter of Inverallan already quoted, and other authentic evidence regarding the descendants of Patrick le Grant of Stratherrick.

In these traditions there may be a certain amount of truth, which, however, bears the same proportion to pure legend as did Falstaff's bread to his gallon of sack. There was such a person as Andrew Grant in the preceding generation, and though the name of Patrick le Grant's only known daughter was Elizabeth, whose husband was William Pylche, yet it is true that Patrick le Grant's lordship of Stratherrick did pass away from the family through failure of male heirs. On 28th August 1419, Elizabeth le Grant, Lady of Stratherrick, gave to her son, James Mackintosh, the whole right which she had, or could claim, in the lands of Stratherrick. This gift was made with some solemnity at Kildrummy Castle, in Mar, in the presence of Robert, Bishop of Dunkeld, and Alexander (Stewart), Earl of Mar. The lady publicly declared that she had never, in times bygone, made any alienation of the lands other than she then proposed to make and, that the transaction might be more binding, she begged that the Bishop of Dunkeld would append his seal to the instrument narrating her disposition of the lands. Vol. iii of this work, pp. 15, 16.

There is no indication in the deed of concession as to the parentage of [30] Elizabeth le Grant, and at first sight it might appear probable that she was identical with Elizabeth le Grant, the wife of William Pylche, retaining her maiden name, and that James Mackintosh was the offspring of a second marriage. But a document, preserved in the Grant charter-chest and printed elsewhere, shows that she was the granddaughter of Patrick le Grant, and his nearest heir. On 29th September 1433, as granddaughter and nearer heir of the late Patrick le Grant, Lord of Stratherrick, she conveys to John Seres, her nearest heir, grandson descending in direct line (recta linea) from her, all her lands and possessions whatsoever, which she, at the time of granting, held by hereditary right, as well as all other lands and rents belonging to her, but not now in her possession; the lordship and freedom (libertatem) of the same, however, remaining as formerly with her during her life. Vol. iii. of this work, p. 259

No mention is here made of Stratherrick, which was then probably in the hands of Mackintosh or Fraser of Lovat; nor is any special reference made to Inverallan, though part of it was for a time in the hands of John Seres. But it seems clear from the document last quoted that Patrick le Grant must have left a son, whose only child and heiress was Elizabeth le Grant. The name of this son has not been positively ascertained, but it is not improbable that he was the Malcolm le Grant who appears among other barons of the neighbourhood, in a court held by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, the "Wolf of Badenoch," on 11th October 1380. On that occasion a dispute which had arisen between the Bishop of Moray and the Earl as to the holding of certain lands was finally adjusted, and the judgement of the Earl affecting the bishop's rights was ordered to be torn from the rolls of the Court, and given to a notary to be burned, which was done with much ceremony in a large fire kindled within the chamber. Among those who stood round that fire in the great chamber behind the hail in the castle of Ruthven, witnessing the destruction of the documents, were a number of clerics and barons, among the latter being Gilbert, Lord of Glencarnie, Andrew Fauconere, Hugh de Ros of Kilravoc, and Malcolm le Grant. Registrum Moraviense, pp. 183-187

Malcolm le Grant's name occurs also in an agreement between Thomas (Dunbar), Earl of Moray, and Alexander of the Isles, Lord of [31] Lochaber, made at Cawdor, in Nairn, on 25th September 1394. It was agreed that Alexander should have under his protection for seven years all lands, church lands and others, of the regality of Moray, except the lands of Hugh Fraser, Thomas de Chisholm, and Sir William of Fodrynham (the Sheriff of Inverness), and should adhere to the Earl against all persons save the king and certain others named. The Earl in return agreed to pay yearly 80 merks worth of land, namely, le Bonacht (Bona) for £20, the lands of Essy for £20, and 20 merks to be paid in money, until the Earl of Fife should decide as to the 20 merk land held by Malcolm le Grant, whether or not it belonged to the Earl of Moray. Registrum Moraviense, p. 354

In a previous memoir, the probability of a feudal connection between the Comyns and the Grants was pointed out, and, admitting this, the fact that Malcolm le Grant was in attendance on the Lord of Badenoch in 1380, suggests that he was a successor or descendant of John le Grant, for whom John Comyn, elder, of Badenoch was surety in 1297. The lordship of Badenoch was bestowed by King Robert the Second upon his son, the "Wolf of Badenoch," in 1371, and should have reverted to the Crown on the Lord of Badenoch's death, without lawful issue, in 1394. But there is no evidence, in the Exchequer Rolls or elsewhere, of any such reversion, and Badenoch seems to have been retained in possession by the Wolf of Badenoch's eldest son, who became Earl of Mar. After the forfeiture of the Comyns, Badenoch formed a part oft the earldom of Moray, conferred on Sir Thomas Randolph. In 1338, however, it was held by the Earl of Ross, and in 1372, while granting the earldom of Moray to John Dunbar, King Robert the Second specially excepted Lochaber and Badenoch. Alexander, Earl of Mar, and his father, were therefore the successors of the Comyns as Lords of Badenoch. Gilbert of Glencarnie is also an attendant on the Lord of Badenoch. Glencarnie is not a part of the lordship of Badenoch, but in 1338 the Earl of Ross granted to Malmoran of Glencarnie two davochs in Badenoch, Dalnavert, and Kinrara, Spalding Club Miscellany, vol. v. p. 1 25 which rendered Malmoran and his heirs liable to the usual services to the Lords of Badenoch for the time. These considerations suggest that Gilbert, Lord of Glencarnie, and Malcolm le Grant were both in the audience-chamber of the Lord of Badenoch in the castle of Ruthven for the same reason - feudal service required of both. The fact therefore that Elizabeth le Grant, granddaughter of Patrick le Grant, in 1419 travelled to Kildrummy Castle to make her declaration before the Lord of Badenoch, as if he had an interest in the transfer of her lands, taken in connection with Malcolm le Grant's presence at Ruthven in 1380, [32] seems to suggest that Malcolm was the father of Elizabeth and son of' Patrick le Grant. That she was the latter's granddaughter is conclusively proved.

It is possible, however, that the presence of Elizabeth le Grant at Kildrummy Castle was due to some cause peculiar to her husband's family. Who her husband was has not been clearly ascertained; that he was a Mackintosh is proved by the name of her son, but of what family is doubtful. Some light is thrown on the subject by a recent writer on the subject of the Mackintoshes, who, on the authority of MS. histories of that family, states that James Mackintosh of Rothiemurchus, son of the Shaw Mackintosh who led the Clan Chattan in the famous conflict on the North Inch of Perth in 1396, married "the daughter of Gregor Grant." The Mackintoshes and Clan Chattan, by A. M. Shaw, p. 549 From the same source, it would appear that James Mackintosh fell at the battle of Harlaw in 1411, a few years before Elizabeth Grant's charter of 1419. There is no plain statement of the fact, but the lady of Stratherrick's independence of action, without the consent of a husband, seems to imply that she was a widow. There is no evidence of the existence of a Gregor Grant at the period in question, and as the tradition of the Mackintoshes points to a union between James Mackintosh and a lady named Grant at that period, it is not improbable that Elizabeth le Grant is the person referred to, and that she was the wife of James Mackintosh of Rothiemurchus. This probability is so far strengthened by the fact that Rothiemurchus and Inverallan were neighbouring properties. James Mackintosh of Rothiemurchus is said to have left two Sons, Alexander, who succeeded to Rothiemurchus, and Adam, ancestor of the Tordarroch family. James is not mentioned, but he may have died young, and without issue; and as Stratherrick soon after passed into the Lovat family, this seems probable.
If Elizabeth le Grant was the wife of James Mackintosh of Rothiemurchus, which was within the bounds of Badenoch, she may have deemed it necessary, although the Bishop of Moray was superior of the lands, to make her declaration before the titular Lord of Badenoch, who probably held Rothiemurchus in feu-farm, in terms of a charter granted to his father iii 1383. Registrum Moraviense, pp. 189.19 1 But the Lady of Stratherrick does not present herself before [33] the Earl of Mar as if he were her overlord. She does not in any way resign her lands into the Earl's hands, as if he were her feudal superior. She simply makes a declaration in his presence that she had bestowed her own lands upon her son James Mackintosh. If the latter were a scion of the Rothiemurchus family, he would, for the reason stated, be liable to the jurisdiction of the Lord of Badenoch, and hence his mother's declaration, which also was doubtless meant to insure the validity of the transaction, by showing that it was done on her part without compulsion.

After 1419 Stratherrick passed away from the Grants, and was never again possessed by them. In the year 1456, the territory is known to have been in possession of Thomas Fraser of Lovat, but there is evidence of an earlier occupation by his family. Hugh Fraser, Lord of Lovat, entered into a contract with Thomas Dunbar, Earl of Moray, for the marriage of his son and heir (the above-named Thomas Fraser) to a daughter of the Earl. The latter, on his part, conveyed to the Lord of Lovat the barony of Abertarff and other subjects. Contract, dated 9th August 1422, printed in History of Priory of Beauly, p. 305. Abertarff, as well as Stratherrick, had belonged to the Bysets, William Byset in 1231 being patron of the parish church of Abertarff. Ibid. pp. 33-33 At a later date Abertarff included Stratherrick, as the modern parish of Boleskine and Abertarff now does. It seems probable that the dominium utile of Abertarff had belonged to the Laird of Lovat previous to 1122, as the Earl of Moray's grant refers to a previous charter. After that date, however, in 1431, Hugh Fraser of Lovat is found using a seal in which the three crowns of Grant are quartered with the three rosettes or cinquefoils of Fraser. From this fact, taken in connection with Elizabeth le Grant's charter of 1419, it may be concluded that between 1419 and 1431, Stratherrick had been acquired by Hugh Fraser, though whether these lands were comprehended in the charter of Abertarff by the Earl of Moray in 1422, cannot be conclusively ascertained. From that time Stratherrick came to he known as the country of the Frasers.

The other lands known to have belonged to Patrick le Grant, Lord of Stratherrick, namely, those of Inverallan, in Strathspey, appear to have been the first possessions of the Grants in that district, and, as has [34] been shown, were sold by John of Inverallan, the heir of the Augustines, to John le Grant in 1316. They were inherited by Patrick le Grant, and were in part conveyed by him to his son-in-law, William Pylche, on the marriage of the latter with Elizabeth le Grant. The lands given to Pylche were the davach lands of Kildreke (Dreggie) and the half davach lands of Glenbeg; but these seem to have been only the half of Inverallan, as in the charter to John le Grant in 1316 it is described as containing three davachs. Vol. iii. of this work, pp. 257, 258

William le Pylche, the husband of Elizabeth le Grant, belonged to one of the principal families in the town of Inverness. In 1263, Patrick Pylche was one of the jury on an inquest made as to the age of Patrick of Blantyre, and his succession to his father Stephen. Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vo1. i. p.102 In 1328, Alexander Pylche was Sheriff of Inverness, and in 1342 he was provost of that burgh, Exchequer Rolls, voL i. pp. 103, 478 while in 1327 and 1330, Alan Pylche (perhaps Alexander's father) also was provost of Inverness. Exchequer Rolls, vol. i. pp. 59, 261 William Pylche, the husband of Elizabeth le Grant, was probably the son of Alexander Pylche, and seems to have been made a knight. In 1361 he is mentioned as proprietor of lands in Inverness. Registrum Moraviense, p. 306 In 1376 he is styled Sir William Pylche, knight, and is also a proprietor in Inverness, in which capacity he appears in a charter by King Robert the Second, dated 20th March 1379. Charters quoted in "Invernessiana" pp. 63, 79

What family was born to William Pylche and Elizabeth le Grant does not appear. In 1482, on '20th May, the lands of Inverallan, including Gaich, Glenbeg, Craggan, and Dreggie, were resigned by Elizabeth and Marjory Pylche, then both in their widowhood, into the hands of the Crown, for new infeftment, to be granted to Alexander Hay of Mayne, under reservation of the granters' liferent interest in the subjects. Vol. iii of this work, p. 33 Elizabeth and Marjory Pylche also at tile same time resigned in favour of Hay their lands of Culcabock, Knockintinnel, and the Haugh, near Inverness. This last grant makes it probable that they were the daughters of William Pylche, Lord of Culcabock, who is mentioned in a document [35] confirmed by the Bishop of Moray in 1508. His widow, Elizabeth Pylche, granted before 1455 certain lands in Inverness to the altar of St. Michael there. Invernessiana, PP. 186, 188.
Elizabeth and Marjory Pylche were certainly the daughters of William Pylche, Lord of Inverallan, who must have died before 1427, as they were infeft as his heirs in the lands of Inverallan and others by the command of Thomas Dunbar, Earl of Moray, who deceased about that date. Vol. iii. of this work, P. 20. In 1453, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Moray, directed Duncan le Grant of Freuchie to give sasine to John le Hay of Mayne of the half town (vill) of Inverariane (Inverallan), the half town of Glenbeg, and the half town of Dreggie, which had been resigned by Elizabeth Pylche, then deceased. Ibid. p. 22 As Elizabeth Pylche, the daughter of William Pylche of Inverallan, was alive in 1482, it is probable that the Elizabeth who was dead before 1453, was the Elizabeth Pylche above referred to as widow of William Pylche of Culcabock. That the latter had also two or more daughters, seems proved by a statement that "in 1458 a deed is granted by a lady styling herself Elizabeth Pylche, daughter, and one of the heiresses of William Pylche, dominus de Culcabock." Invernessiana, P. 47

These facts point to the conclusion that William Pylche, Lord of Culcabock, and William Pylche, Lord of Inverallan, were one and the same. That he was a descendant, probably a son, of William Pylche and Elizabeth le Grant seems also proved from his possession of the lands of Inverallan. These lands were, as already stated, resigned by Elizabeth and Marjory Pylche in favour of Alexander Hay of Mayne, who received a Crown charter to himself and his heirs, dated 25th October 1482. Original Charter at Castle Grant The history of the lands is given in the Introduction.

Volume 1 Chapter 3(i)