James Livingston, Lord Livingston of Callendar

Captain of Stirling Castle 1442-48; Keeper of the King's Person 1444/5; Great Chamberlain of Scotland 1448-50 and 1454-67; arrested 1449 but soon released; Keeper of Inverness Castle 1451-54; a Commissioner for a truce with England 1454-55, 1457, 1460-61 and 1465-66; Ambassador to England 1466

James [Livingston], 1st Lord Livingston, son and heir of Sir James Livingston of Callendar, Justiciary of Scotland, by his wife ..... Dundas, dau. of James Dundas of Dundas

mar. Marian of Berwick (widow of Sir William Oliphant of Aberdalgie; d. betw. 4 Jun and 19 Oct 1478)

children

• 1. James Livingston, later 2nd Lord Livingston
• 2. Alexander Livingston, mar., and had issue:
• 3. Rev David Livingston, Rector of Ayr and Provost of Lincluden
• 1. Elizabeth Livingston (dsp. bef. 1506), mar. bef 1464 John [Macdonald], 11th Earl of Ross
• 2. Eupheme Livingston (d. after 1 Jun 1493), mar. (1) bef. 2 Apr 1472 Malcolm Fleming, Master of Fleming, 1st son and heir ap. by his first wife of Robert [Fleming], 1st Lord Fleming, and (2) bef. 1 Jun 1493 William Fleming of Bord, and had issue by her first husband
• 3. Marion Livingston, mar. bef. 1478 William [Crichton], 3rd Lord Crichton, and had issue died betw. 26 Apr and 7 Nov 1467

created bef 30 Apr 1458 Lord Livingston suc. by son

Links

• http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/index1704.htm#LIVI...
• http://thepeerage.com/p34915.htm#i349144
• http://www.clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info/genealogy/TNGWebsite/getper...

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1. A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct ... By Sir Bernard Burke Pg.612

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James de Livingston de Callendar, Scutifer (Squire), was successively Captain of Stirling Castle, Keeper of the King's Person, Great Chamberlain, and Master of the Household to King James the 2nd; and, finally, was created Lord Livingston of Callendar by that monarch, who always entertained the greatest regard for this guardian, of his youthful years. He was never knighted as his immediate ancestors were. As Captain of Stirling Castle, in those days one of Scotland's most important strongholds, to which command he had been appointed prior to the year 1435, his name appears as witness to numberous charters, both public and private, of the period. The earliest mention of him as Captain of Stirling Castle is in one of the Excheguer Rolls of the year 1435. As auditor of some of thos accounts in 1444, he is styled 'Jacobus de Levingstoun, capitaneus castri de Strivelyne, filius primogenitus Alexandri de Levingstoun de Calentare, militis'; he succeeded his father as Keeper of the King's person, when he is described in official documents under his new title of 'Jacobus de Levingstoun, Custos Persone Regis, Scutifer.' This appointment was conferred on him by his father prior to Mar. 21, 1444-45, when he bears this designation as one of the witnesses to a crown charter of that date. Three years later he was promoted to the post of Great Chamberlain of Scotland. Under the act of attainder and forfeiture of Jan. 1449-50, his lands of Culter in Lanarkshire, and Calyn and Calendrath (Callendar) in Menteith, had been bestowed on the Earls of Douglas and Crawford; and though his life had been spared, and he had been permitted, through the king's personal intercession, to resume his attendance at Court, he evidently did not consider the royal protection a sufficient safeguard from further attacks by his political foes, so, therefore, according to the account of the chronicler of this reign, James of Livingston did escape 'subtelly fra the King and his counsall out of the Abbay of Halyrud house.' and fled to the Highlands. But in 1454 he is back at Court and restored to his office of Great Chamberlain. This reinstatement must have taken place previous to June 8, 1454, for in an English safe-conduct of that date by Henry VI, he is described as 'Jacobus de Levynston Consanguineus Regis, Regis Scotorum Camerarius.' From this time forward his fortunes rose rapidly as James II created him Lord of Parliament and Master of the Household and also Lord Livingston of Callendar. The earliest mention of him as Lord Livingston is found in the Exchequer Rolls under date of July 1, 1454. During the years 1454, 1456, and 1457 Lord Livingston was employed as one of the Scottish commissioners in the ever recurring negotiations in attempting to obtain a truce between Scotland and England. On the 30th of April 1458 the king 'confirmed to our beloved cousin James, Lord Livingston, our Great Chamberlain, his recently restored lands of 'the Barony of Callendar, with the castle of the same; lands of Airth, Slamannan Mure, Kilsyth; lands of PolmaiseLevilands; lands of Croftfidderal, with pertinents, lying within our shire of Stirling; also all and whole the half of the barony of Culter, with pertinents, lying within our shire of Lenark; also the lands of Calyn and Calindrade (Callendr) and Douglas, and the lands of Terintera (Terrintirran), with pertinents, lying within our shire of Perth. Which lands with the pertinents belonged to the said James, and which the said James, not led by force nor fear, nor lapsed in error, but by his own mere and spontaneous will, personally surrendered, purely and simply resigned, by staff and baton, in our hands at Edinburgh.' By this royal confirmatory charter the above lands were now erected into the free barony of Callendar, with all the rights of a feudal baron over his vassals and dependants, including the High Justice, or "pit and Gallows.' This charter included the advowsons of the churches of Monyabroch (Kilsyth), Culter, and Slamannan, and the "reddendo' payable to the crown by Lord Livingston, and his successors was 'one penny of silver of the usual money of Scotland,' is asked only in the name of blench ferme,' at the Feast of Pentecost. After the death of James II, in 1460 Lord Livingston retained his office of Great Chamberlain under his successor James III, but he lost that of Master of the Household. According to The Auchinleck Chronicle, the new king held his first parliament at Edinburgh on Feb. 23, 1460-61 at which 'the lord Kalendar' was present. Upon the defeat of the Lancastrian party in England during the Wars of the Roses, King Edward IV of England sent commissioners to meet those of Scotland to arrange the renewal of the truce between the kingdoms and to bind the Scots to agree not to render any assistance to the dethronged Henry the 6th. Lord Livingston was one of the Scottish Commissioners and a treaty was finally concluded and signed at Newcastle-on-Tyne on Dec. 12, 1465. These negotiations had barely been brought to a successful conclusion when Lord Livingston became involved in a conspiracy with Lord Boyd and his friends for obtaining possession of the youthful king's person (James III was then in his 15th year) so as to be able to control the government. At first this scheme was entirely successful, but this success was shortlived, and before its disastrous collapse Lord Livingston died, and thus escaped the usual confiscation and forfeiture which took place of the fall of the Boyds in 1469. When his family was in the ascendant in the previous reign, Pope Nicholas V in the first year of his pontificate (1447-1448) had granted indults to the late king (James II) and to some of his courtiers, such as William, Earl of Douglas, Alexander, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles, James of Dundas, and James of Livingston. These indults in which were included the 'noblewomen, their present wives,' conferred on their receivers the power of choosing the confessors who could grant them absolution at the hour of death. In his indult James of Livingston is described as 'lord of the place of Stobo, of the diocese of St. Andrews.' James Lord Livingston was deceased between April 26 and Nov. 7, 1467, on which latter date his eldest son James was served his heir. James married a lady whose Christian name, Marion, has only been preserved, but she was evidently the daughter of one Thomas of Berwick, who was a burgess and custumar of Edinburgh, and Dean of Guild in 1423. He was a man of means to whom King James I was indebted for a loan, and a merchant of repute. In the comptroller's accounts covering the period from Sept. 24, 1449 to Aug. 7, 1450, credit is taken for a sum of 66 pounds received from the above Thomas of Berwick in settlement of a composition for James of Livingston, his son-in-law, as agreed upon by the Lords of Council and the said Thomas.

James and Marion had the following children: 1. James, second Lord Livingston of Callendar 2. Alexander, 2nd son and heir, born before July 6, 1445, and father of James, third Lord Livingston of Callendar 3. Master David, Rector of Ayr, afterwards Provost of Lincluden and Keeper of the Privy Seal, and curator to his elder brother James, 2nd Lord Livingston. 4. Elizabeth married John, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles 5. Euphemia married 1st Malcolm Fleming; 2nd William Fleming 6. Marion married William, Thrid Lord Crichton

References

• Auchinleck Chronicle: Ane Schort Memoriale of the Scottis Corniklis for ... by Thomas Thomson (1819) <Archive.Org>