Looking for history of Kings of Barra Castle

[Kylie B]

Hi
It was The Scots Peerage Sir robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland Published 1906.

Any idea how reliable these were/are?

I would love some help deciphering the testaments- thanks so much. I have been trying but really without much success. So I still dont know if there is anything in there that would be a clue or not. Will send you a personal message- thanks again!

Kylie B

[still_looking]

clearing up a couple of points.

I mentioned earlier :
"I strongly suspect the documents themselves are those which have been published by the Spalding club as part of a 4 volume work but note these are in the original latin."

The 4 volume work is the 'Antiquities of the shire of Aberdeen and Banff"

In "The Society of Advocates in Aberdeen" page 238

Kyng, Andrew                                                  1568
Burgess of Aberdeen, Burgh agent  *
Died Subsequent to October, 1617

* Cooper's "Cartularium Ecclesiae Sanct Nicholai," vol 2 p295
That Kyng's surroundings were not always of the most peaceful character is show in the following extract from the Kirk and Bridge Work Accounts - "1549, August 13th - Andro Meldrum wes sclane in Andro Kyng yard, and bureit in ye kirk."

That was the advocate and killing I referred to earlier BUT that isn't the same killing that's referred to in other works

New item

There are lists of burgesses of Aberdeen which include mention of an Alexander King e.g.

Alexander King, burgess
witness to a charter 16th May 1518

Alexander King, sergeant
witness to charter
31st Jan 1540

sadly no context with which to associate him with the Kings of Barra though there is mention later of a John King brother of General Sir James King, a Lt Col James King and oddly a Hans Jacob King


Regarding the reliability of the peerage work, I've no idea but like everything else it would be limited to what information was available/known to the author and how true that information actually was.

S_L

[Kylie B]

Hi there
So if I am reading this right- then Andrew King killed Andrew Meldrum?

This was quite a clan fued the Kings had with the Meldrums and Setons wasnt it.....

Aberdeen is very close to Barra, so the connection of the Barra Kings to those of Aberdeen seems likely. I can only assume they then moved to Edinburgh because this was the bigger and more prosperous city?

Do you think the references you found to an Alexander King in Aberdeen in 1518 could have been Alexander King of Burnhouse, who was murdered by George and John Seton?? And supposed gradfather of Alexander of Drydane?

I think I read in another Peerage book about a brother John of the famous General JAmes King...but have not heard of LT Col James King- perhaps his nephew as I do not believe Gneral Jame sKing had any surviving children? Nd HAns Jacob King is an interesting one....General King seemed to have close ties to Sweden- perhaps a connection there?

More nd more questions!!
Kylie B

[still_looking]

"Andrew King killed Andrew Meldrum?"

Not 100% certain, it isn't explicitly written to say that.

I've not looked at the burgess records before so I'll check to see if there's further details.

I wondered the same thing about Hans Jacob.

S_L

[Kylie B]

These clan murders have me stumped...

From reading the peerage books I have found, and cross referencing them, there are a few date differences, and a few spouse differences, but the men of the King clan seem to be reported consistently- and it would seem that in one generation, several Kings killed Alexander Seton of Meldrum, then 2 generations later, they killed another Alexander Seton of meldrum- called the young laird of Meldrum and presumably the grandson of the first.

Then we have George and John Meldrum killing Alexander King, son of James King of Barra....so clearly the families were not close. But I am intrigued that I cannot find more about the 'slayings'....were inter-clan feuds so common, that such murders were not documented? I have seen mention of different members of the 2 clans gaining dispensation from the King to avoid death themselves....would such proceedings be documented somewhere?
ANd then of course there is Andrew King of Aberdeen who was apparently thrown out as advocate after murdering someone else from the Seton family

Kylie B

[still_looking]

Regarding whether these incidents were documented. I'm sure they probably were but there's only so much that has survived. For example in the chartullarium book I quoted earlier there is a passage that explains that many earlier records were lost in a fire. Similarly I read recently of some scottish records which were transported to Paris and survived for a few centuries before being destroyed there.

Put simply, not everything survives.

S_L

[Kylie B]

Ah yes....shame isnt it!

Now here is an intersting bit of info I found last night- Drydane (south of Edinburgh) was originally owned by George Seton, Laird of Meldrum. He sold the land to the Sinclairs, who must have then sold part of the lands to Alexander and Adam King and they then sold it to John Nicolson.

So it would seem the Kings bought land originally owned by their enemies, the Setons of Meldrum. Now thats a coincidence isnt it??

Have you been able to find any references that might give us a clue as to when Alexander King (son of James of Barra) was born, or when he married Janet Douglas??

I am trying to work out- based on the dates we have for Alexander and Adam of Drydane, and other family references from the Nat Archives, whether Alexander and Adam of Drydane were sons of Alexander Of Burnhouse (son of James), or in fact sons of Alexander of Drydane....getting complicated isnt it?!

I have Alexander King of Drydane dying in 1618.

Adam King dying 1620. Married Margaret Vaws/Vans in 1608
James King advoccate dying 1630, married Janet Douglas 1603

Then there is Marie King- daughter of Alexander King Advocate (but which one) marrying Thomas Nimok in 1616 and dying 1645
Margaret King, daughter of Alexander King advocate (again which one) marrying David heriott circa 1595
Janet King daughter of Elxander King Advocate (which on??) marrying James Mossman in 1570.....

!!!!
Kylie B

[Kylie B]

Can anyone help find this article please?? I have been told about it- apparently it is about Adam King, brother of Alexander and son of James, but I cannot find it online, and my local lib says it is not a publication available here.

DURKAN, John. “Adam King: A Church Papist”. Innes Review. Volume 52, Number 2 (2001)

Pages 195-199: article on Adam King

THanks very much!!
Kylie B

[still_looking]

blimey!

hope you can view this, let me know if you can't - will make a difference from reading books

https://aulib.abdn.ac.uk/F/NR872D5LSYR9XJI4X9TEED9RP3U51MINFDHNKPEY9AFAA5ERTA-19430?func=full-set-set&set_number=001872&set_entry=000028&format=999