A curious insight into the ancient state of this thanage is given us by a document, the original of which is preserved at Arbuthnot House. It is a decreet of the Synod of Perth in a cause betwixt William, bishop of St. Andrews, and Duncan de Aberbuthenot, in the year 1202. The church of Arbuthnot was in the diocese of St. Andrews, and the question related to the respective rights of the bishops of St. Andrews and of the Arbuthnots, who represented the old thanes, in the kirkton or church lands of Arbuthnot, and it preserves the evidence of the witnesses who were examined. The inquiry extends over a period of more than half a century, and during the episcopate of four bishops. During the episcopate of Richard, who became bishop in 1163, Osbertus Olifard appears as lord of the land, and the kirkton is occupied by a multitude of _Scolocs_. Then in the time of Bishop Hugo his successor Osbertus Olifard goes on a crusade, and lets the land to Ysaac de Bonevin for six years, who is termed _firmarius_, and the kirkton was then occupied by eight holders called _personæ_, having under them people having houses and pasturing beasts. Then, in the time of Bishop Roger, Walter Olifard, the next lord, gave his land of Arbuthnot to Hugo Swintun for his service, and his son Duncan was called De Aberbuthnot, removed the _Scolocs_, also called the native-men, from the kirkton, and first cultivated their land, that is, added it to his own demesne. These lords, from Osbert Olifard to Duncan of Aberbuthnot, evidently represented the old thanes, as it is said that no thane before Duncan had ever cultivated this land, nor that any thane had put a plough in that land before Duncan did so. Osbert Olifard, however, was, from his name, a Norman intruder, who had obtained it from the Crown after the thanages became crown land, and it seems to have passed in this way through many hands, as one witness had seen thirteen thanes possessing the land, but none of whom had vexed the men of the kirkton before Duncan. The result of the inquiry was that the bishop was entitled to _Conveth_ from the men of the kirkton, and to a rent of two cows, and one-half of the _blodwits_ and _mercets_, but the thane received the _Can_ and ten cheeses from each house in the kirkton, three men for harvest from each house, and men for the _Expeditio_ or _Feacht_.[346] This Duncan de Aberbuthnot was the ancestor of the noble family of Arbuthnot, who afterwards held the thanage as a barony.