Sir James Scott, 12th Baron of Balwearie

Not the son of Sir William Scott, 9th of Balwearie

James Scott of Balwearie (died 1606) was a Scottish landowner and supporter of the rebel earls.

His lands were in Atholl in Perthshire, and he had houses in Fife, Balwearie Castle, near Kirkcaldy, and Killernie Castle.

Scott, Sir James, of Balwearie (d. 1607x13), landowner, was the eldest son and heir of Sir William Scott of Balwearie and Strathmiglo in Fife (d. in or before 1579) and Janet Lindsay, daughter of the laird of Dowhill. In 1579 he was served heir to his father and under him the family's lands reached their greatest extent, ‘but with him the wealth and dignity of the family came to an end’ (Leighton, 2.186) and, by the end of his life, most of the lands had been dissipated.

Scott appeared as one of the cautioners for the good behaviour of William Douglas of Lochleven in December 1583, when Douglas obtained licence to travel abroad. Soon after this the first evidence appears of Scott's association with Francis Stewart, first earl of Bothwell. In March 1588 he was summoned before the privy council for allowing certain prisoners, taken as surety for the peaceful behaviour of border criminals, to escape. In 1590, at the coronation of Anne of Denmark as James VI's queen, Scott was knighted but he was soon to fall from favour through his association with Bothwell and with the rebel Catholic earls of Huntly, Angus, and Erroll. He was ‘repeatedly fined for real or alleged assistance’ to Bothwell ‘in his various mad attempts to gain possession of the king's person’ (Leighton, 2.186). According to a number of sources he was with Bothwell in June 1592 when Bothwell assailed the king in Falkland Palace and he brought with him ‘a reasonable nomber of inarmit [i.e. armed] horsemen’ (Historie … of King James, 250). In November 1593 he attended a convention of the estates at Holyrood which passed an Act of Oblivion, giving the rebel Catholic earls until the end of January 1594 to prove their loyalty and obedience. At that convention a committee was appointed to receive their petitions for clemency and devise ways of dealing with them, and Scott was one of its number.

In desperation at their political marginalization, Bothwell and the Catholic earls were thrown together and in August 1594 they met at a tavern near the kirk of Menmuir in Fife where they subscribed a band for mutual aid. Scott ‘wes in companie with thame’ (Moysie, 121), witnessed the band, and was given it for safe keeping. In September he was with the Catholic earls at the battle of Glenlivet and fought against a royal force sent against them under the earl of Argyll as the king's lieutenant. He was subsequently captured and warded in Edinburgh Castle and then, on 23 January 1595, removed to the tolbooth of Edinburgh where he was held overnight. He ‘produceit and delyverit’ (Reg. PCS, 1st ser., 5.205) the band to the king and revealed that the four earls had planned to imprison James and crown Prince Henry king in his stead, as had happened to James and his mother in the summer of 1567. He was not held for much longer, however, receiving a remission under the great seal in return for a fine of £20,000. Some ministers meeting in Edinburgh argued over whether he should be excommunicated, in spite of his remission, but it was agreed that the matter should be passed to the general assembly and local church courts within whose jurisdiction he lived.

As well as having been involved with powerful people who were regarded by the crown as dangerous rebels, Scott also appears to have been repeatedly in trouble with the privy council over more trivial matters throughout his adult life. In August 1599 he was commanded to give caution in 5000 merks (£3333 6s. 8d. Scots) that he would keep the peace. On 5 November 1601 he was denounced by the privy council for having failed to answer for the alleged destruction of the crops of Patrick Pitcairn of Pitlour, and on 16 October 1602 he was compelled to find caution in 3000 merks (£2000 Scots) not to harm Pitlour.

Scott must have married before September 1600, at which time his son William was first recorded, being described as his heir apparent. His wife was Elizabeth Wardlaw, daughter of Andrew, laird of Torrie, and they had one other son, James, and a daughter, Janet, who married the laird of Balmuto. Scott of Balwearie's heirs were, however, left with almost nothing. To pay the numerous fines imposed on him, especially for his association with Bothwell and the Catholic earls, he was forced to sell off his lands bit by bit. The result was that by 1600 all that remained were the castle and village of Strathmiglo, and even those were lost to the family about the time of his death. A story survives of his unpleasant nature in later life, perhaps brought on by the ruin which he had brought upon his family. According to the story he was throwing some stale oatmeal out of his castle window when a beggar who happened to be passing asked if he could be allowed some, since it was being thrown out anyway. Scott is supposed to have refused, which provoked the beggar into cursing the miserly laird, saying that he would one day be glad to have such food. It is unknown whether or not Scott ever reached such a state of penury, for the date of his death is not recorded. The last reference to him in the registers of the privy council dates from 5 March 1607, although his son was still being described as ‘apparent’ (heir apparent) of Balwearie as late as January 1610 (Reg. PCS, 1st ser., 8.717). In February 1613 Scott appears in that register for the first time as ‘the late’ Sir James Scott of Balwearie (ibid., 9.554) and in February 1615 William first appears in the record as the laird of Balwearie. Owing to James's losses, his grandson was forced to enter military service on the continent ‘having been deprived of any portion of the family estates’ (Leighton, 2.187). DNB

Biographical Summary

"SCOTT, Sir JAMES (fl. 1579–1606), politician, was the grandson of Sir William Scott or Scot (d. 1532) [q. v.], and eldest son of Sir William Scott of Balwearie and Strathmiglo, by his wife Janet, daughter of Lindsay of Dowhill; he was served heir to his father in 1579. In December 1583 his name appears at a band of caution for the self-banishment of William Douglas of Lochleven (Reg. P. C. Scotl. iii. 615). On 4 March 1587–8 he was called to answer before the privy council, along with the turbulent Francis, earl of Bothwell, and others, for permitting certain border pledges to whom they had become bound to escape (ib. iv. 258). At the coronation of the queen on 17 May 1590 he was dubbed a knight, but his enjoyment of the royal favour was of short duration. A catholic by conviction, and fond of fighting and adventure, he gave active and unconcealed assistance both to the Earl of Bothwell and to the catholic earls of Angus, Erroll, and Huntly. He seconded Bothwell in his attempt to seize the king at Falkland Palace on 28 June 1592 (Moysie, Memoirs, p. 95), and having, for failing to answer concerning the ‘late treasonable fact,’ been, on 6 June, denounced a rebel (Reg. P. C. Scotl. iv. 765), he on 10 Nov. obtained caution to answer when required, and not to repair within ten miles of the king's residence without license (ib. v. 21). At the convention of estates held at Linlithgow on 31 Oct. 1593 he was appointed one of the sham commission for the trial of the catholic earls (ib. p. 103), and, as was to be expected, favoured the act of abolition passed in their favour. It was probably through him that Bothwell arranged his interview with the three catholic earls at the kirk of Menmuir in Angus in 1594, when a band was subscribed between them which was given into Scott's keeping (Moysie, p. 121); but by the accidental capture of Bothwell's servant the plot was discovered, and Scott was immediately apprehended and lodged in the castle of Edinburgh. On 23 Jan. 1595 he was brought to the Tolbooth gaol, and kept there all night. On being interrogated he delivered up the band, and, according to Calderwood, made a confession to the effect that ‘the king should have been taken, committed to perpetual prison, the prince crowned king, Huntly, Erroll, and Angus chosen regents.’ Notwithstanding this extraordinary revelation, ‘he was,’ says Calderwood, ‘permitted to keep his own chamber upon the 29th of January, and was fined in twenty thousand pounds, which the hungry courtiers gaped for, but got not’ (History, v. 359). Calderwood also publishes the heads of the band (ib. p. 360), and Scott's confession is fully noticed in the record of the meeting of the privy council of 11 Feb. (Reg. P. C. Scotl. v. 205). Nevertheless the matter does not appear to have been taken very seriously by the council, it being only too manifest that if the earls had the will, they had not the power to effect any such revolution. On 25 Jan. Scott obtained a remission under the great seal, much to the chagrin of the ministers of Edinburgh, who desired the task of excommunicating him (cf. Calderwood, v. 365). On 29 Aug. 1599 he was required to give caution that he would keep the peace (Reg. P. C. Scotl. v. 748). If during the remainder of his life he eschewed entangling himself in politics, there is evidence that he remained, as heretofore, restless and unruly. Having on 5 Nov. 1601 been denounced for failing to answer a charge of destroying the growing corn of Patrick Pitcairne of Pitlour (ib. p. 301), he on 16 Oct. 1602 found caution in three thousand merks not to harm him (ib. p. 702). On account of his repeated fines, Scott was compelled to sell various portions of his estates, until in 1600 all that remained in his possession was the tower and fortalice of Strathmiglo, with the village and the lands adjoining. On 13 Dec. 1606 a decree was passed against him lying at the horn for debt (ib. vii. 251), and various other decrees at the instance of different complainers were passed on subsequent occasions (ib. passim). Before his death the remaining portions were disposed of, and he left no heritage to his successor. The downfall of the family affected the popular imagination, and gave birth to traditions more or less apocryphal. According to one of these, although his inveterate quarrelsomeness made him lose his all, he was very mean and miserly; and on one occasion, while looking over his window directing his servants, who were throwing old and mouldy oatmeal into the moat, he was accosted by a beggar man, who desired to be allowed to fill his wallet with it. This the harsh baron of Balwearie refused, whereupon the beggar pronounced his curse upon him, and declared that he himself should yet be glad to get what he then refused. The date of his death is not recorded. By his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Andrew Wardlaw of Torrie, he had two sons, William and James, and a daughter Janet, married to Sir John Boswell of Balmuto."

SOURCE: 'Scott, James (fl.1579-1606) (DNB00)', Wikisource, The Free Library, 30 January 2011, 20:04 UTC, <http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Scott,_James_(fl.1579-16...> [accessed 28 November 2012]

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