Walter Leslie, 7th Earl of Ross

http://books.google.com/books?id=7QGnt0PLWo8C&pg=PA65#v=onepage&q=&... Page 65 - 75 WALTER LESLIE, Earl of Ross.

Walter Leslie, who became Earl of Ross in right of his wife Eufamia, Countess of Ross, daughter and heiress of William, sixth Earl of Ross, was the fourth son of Sir Andrew de Leslie, VI. Dominus Ejusdem, by his wife Mary Abernethy, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Alexander Abernethy of Abernethy.

John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, in his Rebus Gestis Scotorum, p. 201, states that Walter Leslie served in the Imperial army under the Emperors Louis IV. and Charles IV. (1346-1378), with great distinction, against the Saracens, and was so esteemed for his bravery against the enemy, and for his humanity towards the vanquished, that he was styled the "Generous Knight." The Laurus Leslæana styles him "Walter the Wight Leslie." Walter Leslie seems to have gone to the wars in Germany in 1356, as he and his brother Norman had a safe-conduct to pass through England on their way to Prussia, 20th August 1356. Afterwards Walter Leslie returned to Scotland, but he did not remain Iong there. He went abroad again, and entered the service of the King of France. He got a safe-conduct into England for himself and sixty persons in his suite, going to foreign parts, 24th October 1358. He served with great distinction in the wars against King Edward III. of England. In reward of his services, Charles V. King of France, by a letter patent dated 1st October 1372, granted to Walter Leslie, Earl of Ross in the kingdom of Scotland, an annuity of 200 francs of gold, to be paid out of the Royal Treasury, for his good and faithful services against our ancient enemies of England, especially at the battle of Pontvalain. For this pension Walter de Leslie did homage to the King of France against all and every one, reserving the fidelity due by him to the King of Scotland and the Duke of Austria. The patent is in the possession of M. Letellier of Paris, as appears by a letter written by M. Teulet, sub-director of the Archives du Royaume, Palais de Soubise, to Colonel Charles Leslie, K. H. of Balquhain, 7th October 1845. After such distinguished services abroad, Walter Leslie returned to Scotland before 1363. The fame of his exploits gained him the favour of King David II., who, 14th October 1363, granted him a pension for life of forty pounds sterling, to be paid annually out of the great Customs of Dundee by the Chamberlain of Scotland. Also, through the influence and friendship of King David II., Walter Leslie obtained in marriage Eufamia, eldest daughter and heiress of William, sixth Earl of Ross. The Lady Eufamia was a near relation of the king, and married Walter Leslie about 1365, as is shown by a charter granted by David II. to Walter de Leslie, knight, and Eufamia de Ross his spouse, of the new forest in the shire of Dumfries, to be held of the king in free barony, dated at Perth, 13th September 1365. It appears that a papal dispensation was obtained in December 1367, as the marriage had been deemed uncanonical, because Walter Leslie had previously had illicit intercourse with a lady related within the fourth degree of kindred to Eufamia de Ross. The dispensation is dated at Avignon, viii. Kalend Decembris, anno quinto pontificatus Urbani V., a.d. 1367.

Walter de Leslie is a witness to a charter granted by Margaret de Leslie, widow of Sir Norman de Leslie, knight, and confirmed by David II. at Edinburgh, 11th February 1366, to William Cuppyld, her cousin, of the lands of Lumlethyn, Cragoe, and others within the shire of Forfar, and Asdory in the shire of Fife, which belonged to her great-grandfather, Sir Alexander de Lamberton, knight. David II. granted a charter of the barony of Philorth in Aberdeenshire to Walter de Leslie, knight. Walter de Leslie, knight, Dominus de Philorth, granted a charter of all the lands which he held in the territory of Monergood, to John Lyon of Terteviot, which charter was confirmed by Andrew de Leslie, Dominus Ejusdem, of whom Sir Walter held these lands, and who in his charter of confirmation calls Sir Walter his uncle. "Sciatis nos vidisse cartam dilecti patrui nostri Walteri de Lesley de Philorth," etc. The charter is dated 1366. Walter de Leslie, Dominus de Ross, granted a charter to Eufamia de Sancto Claro of the lands of Tiry in Buchan, and of Bra, Drum, and Bron, in the shire of Inverness, to be held of him and his heirs by her and her heirs, for payment of two pennies yearly at the feast of St. John the Baptist, if demanded, dated 1367. David II. granted a charter to Sir Walter de Leslie, and Eufamia his spouse, of the lands of the thanage of Aberchirder, and the lands of Blaresnache, to be held of the king for the service of one knight and three suits at three head courts to be held within the shire of Banff; dated at Perth, 27th February 1369. King David II. granted another charter of the thanage of the lands of Aberchirder, and of the thanage of Kincardine, to Sir Walter Leslie, knight, with a provision that if the heirs of the old thanes should recover possession, Sir Walter should have the accustomed service and rent paid by them in time past to the Crown; dated at Edinburgh, 6th May 1369. Walter de Leslie, Dominus de Philorth, granted a charter to John de Urchard, son of Adam de Urchard, sheriff of Cromarty, of the lands of Fohesterdy in Buchan, 8th November 1369, which charter was confirmed by David II. 8th November 1369.

Walter de Leslie, knight, was a member of the convention, held first at Muirhouselow, and afterwards at Roxburgh, 1st September 1367, in the affairs of the Marches, betwixt Thomas, Earl of Warwick, Marischal of England, Lord Percy, and others, on the one part; and Patrick, Earl of March and Moray, Walter, Earl of Douglas, Hugh de Eglington, Walter de Leslie, and others, on the other part. He had a safe-conduct into England on the affairs of David II., 23d January 1368. He is a witness to a charter granted by David II. to William de Dyschyngtoun, knight, at Edinburgh 18th September 1368; also to a charter granted to Alexander Lindsay, 23d February 1369; also to a charter, confirming a charter, granted by Thomas, Earl of Angus, Seneschal of Scotland, to Andrew Parker, 15th March 1369. He was one of the guarantees of the peace with England, 20th July 1369.

David II. granted a charter to William, sixth Earl of Ross, of the earldom of Ross, the lordship of Sky, and all his other lands within the realm, except the lordships and lands which sometime belonged to him by inheritance from Margaret Cumyn, one of the heiresses of Buchan, in the shires of Aberdeen, Dumfries, and Wigton, proceeding on the Earl's free and voluntary resignation of the same in full parliament at Perth, 23d October 1370, to be held by the said Earl and the heirs-male of his body, with remainder to Sir Walter Leslie, knight, and Eufamia, his spouse, and to the longest liver of them two, and to the heirs of the body of the said Eufamia ; and if the said heirs were heirs-female, then to the eldest heir-female without division; whom failing, to Johanna, the younger daughter of the said Earl of Ross, and her heirs; dated at Perth 23d October 1370. In the following year, William, Earl of Ross, made a complaint to Robert II., successor of David II., complaining that David II. had given to Sir Walter Leslie, knight, all his lands and tenements, and also those of his brother, Hugh de Ross, within the district of Buchan, neither the Earl, the complainant, nor his brother Hugh being cited; that he had written to the Bishop of Brechin, then Chancellor of Scotland, Robert, Seneschal of Scotland, Thomas, Earl of Mar, William de Keith, and William de Meldrum, supplicating letters; and also a letter to the king, and to the Lady Eufamia, the complainant's sister; that he had entrusted John de Gairdyn, his chaplain, Canon of Caithness, with these letters; that John of Aberchirder, esquire of the said Sir Walter, met John de Gairdyn and arrested him, and atrociously struck his man because he would not bind his master to his horse's tail, and then robbed the said John de Gairdyn of all his letters and led him to a wood, where he was kept till he paid a ransom, and swore on the holy Gospels, in the presence of Dominus Cristinus, vicar of Forgue, that he would not deliver any of the letters to any one except to Sir Walter Leslie; that the said John de Gairdyn then went and complained to his lord, the Bishop of Aberdeen, and to William de Keith, and then returned to the complainant and related to him what had happened; that the complainant then went in person to the king at Aberdeen, who would not grant his request unless he renounced all his rights in the platan of Forfar into the king's hands in favour of John de Logy; that he made this concession, and was asked to dinner by the king, and after dinner asked an answer to his affairs; that a long list of questions was sent to him to answer, containing many authorities from the civil law; that he said that he did not desire any litigation with the king, and had not come for that purpose; that then he returned to Ross without asking leave, and did not speak to the king again till he came to Inverness, when, seeing the king moved against him and his brother Hugh, and the said Walter Leslie to have great influence with the king, and he and his brother Hugh not being restored to the possession of their lands in Buchan, they ratified under their seals the donation of their lands made by the king to the foresaid Walter, on account of greater dangers which they thought imminent; also that the complainant's daughter was espoused to the foresaid Walter altogether against her father's will, who had never made to her any concession or donation of lands or goods up to the time of the death of David II. except through fear of the king's anger. To these complaints, William, Earl of Ross, affixed his seal at Edinburgh 24th June 1371. William, Earl of Ross, died soon after this, about 1372, and leaving no male issue, he was succeeded in his Earldom and estates by his eldest daughter, Eufamia, Countess of Ross, according to the provisions of the charter of 23d October 1370, and her husband, Walter Leslie, became Earl of Ross in her right.

Walter de Leslie, Dominus de Ross, had a safe-conduct into England 3d January 1373. He resigned the forest called the New Forest in Galloway, in favour of his nephew, James de Lindesay, who got a charter of the same from Robert II., dated at Perth, 20th August 1373. Robert III., confirmed a grant made by Walter de Leslie to Sir William de Lindesay of the lands of Aberkyrdore and others in Banffshire, 3d October 1373. Walter de Leslie, Dominus de Ross, had a safe-conduct into England, 20th August 1374, and another, 12th February 1375. Sir Walter Leslie, Dominus de Ross, and Eufamia his wife, granted a charter to his brother-in-law, Sir Alexander Fraser, knight, and Janet Ross, his wife, of the lands of Auchinschogle and Meikle Fyntra in Buchan, and of the lands of Crekiltown, in the lordship of Galloway and shire of Wigton, and of an annual rent of eighteen pounds sterling out of the lands of Farindonald in Ross, in full exchange and compensation for all claim of heritage in the lands of Ross accruing to the said Sir Alexander Fraser and Janet Ross, dated at Aberdeen, 4th June 1375. Walter de Leslie, Dominus de Ross, and Eufamia his spouse, resigned the lands of Balmaledy and Smithyhill, and the lands of Aberluthnot in Kincardineshire, in favour of Patrick de Innerpeffer, burgess of Dundee, who got a charter of the same from Robert II., dated at Dundee, 25th December 1378. Walter de Leslie, Domirras de Ross, had a safe-conduct into England, 14th August 1378.

Walter Leslie, Dominus de Ross, in several charters styles Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk and Sir William Lindsay of Byres "carissimi fratres," his dearest brothers, they being his uterine brothers, sons of his mother, Mary Abernethy, by her second marriage with Sir David Lindsay of Crawford, for which marriage a dispensation was obtained from Pope John XXII. in 1325, and was found in the Vatican by Andrew Stewart.

In a charter granted by Sir Walter de Leslie, knight, Dominus de Ross, containing a remission of certain services stipulated for in a lost charter, to John Lyon of Terteviot, dated at Edinburgh, 26 th December 1375, two of the witnesses are styled Domino Alexandra de Lindesay, domino de Glenesk, et Willelmo de Lindesay, fratribus nostris carissimis. This charter is in the possession of the Earl of Strathmore. In a charter dated at Philorth, 18th August 1381, granted by Walter de Leslie, Dominus de Ross, in favour of Andrew Mercer, of the lands of Faythley and Tyre, in the Barony of Kynedward, and of certain annual rents out of the lands of Findlater, Netherdale, Pettendreich, and Culbirny, in the shire of Banff, two of the witnesses are designed Dominis Alexandre et Willelmo de Lindesay, fratribus nostris carissimis. This charter was confirmed by Enfamia, Doniina de Ross, at her castle of Dingwall, 9th March 1382, after the death of her husband Walter de Leslie.

Walter Leslie, Earl of Ross, had issue by his wife Eufamia, Countess of Ross -

     I. Alexander Leslie, who succeeded as eighth Earl of Ross at the death of his mother ; 

     II. Lady Margaret Leslie, married to Donald, Lord of the Isles ; 

     III. Lady Mary Leslie, married to Sir David Hamilton. 

Walter Leslie, Earl of Ross, died after 18th August 1381, when he granted a charter to Andrew Mercer, and before 9th March 1382, when Eufamia, Domina de Ross, in her pure and legitimate widowhood, confirmed the said charter.