Scotland -- History -- Stuarts, to the Union, 1371-1707
Complaints had been laid before the Privy Council, on the one side by
the Provost and Magistrates of the City of Glasgow against the Stewarts
and their abettors, on the other by Sir Walter Stewart of Arthurlie
against Sir George Elphinstone and the friends who accompanied him on
the eventful evening of July 23rd. Both cases were heard in Edinburgh on
August 27th, 1606. With respect to that in which the opponents of the
Corporation were the defenders, it was declared that those persons had
committed a "verie grite insolence and ryot". For this they were
condemned to be warded in the burgh of Linlithgow till His Majesty's
will was made known concerning them. At the same time the Lords
"assoilzed simpliciter" the Lairds of Minto, elder and younger, and all
the other defenders, from forethought felony intended against the
pursuers, and from the charge of "thair lying at await" for the Provost
at the Wyndhead of the city, the pursuers having failed to prove that
part of their complaint. On similar grounds, decree of absolvitor was
pronounced in favour of Sir George Elphinstone and his fellow defenders
in the suit brought against them at the instance of Sir Walter Stewart.
The King's pleasure was made known to his Privy Council in a letter
dated from Hampton Court on October 1st, 1606. After expressing his
astonishment that the information communicated to him was so scant as to
render it impossible for him to "mak ony distinctioun of offendouris in
that ryotte, that, according to the difference of thair faultis,
directioun micht haif bene gevin for inflicting upoun several personis
the moir mylde and moir hard punishment", His Majesty directed that the
meaner offenders should be released, after being bound in "greate
pecunnial sowmes for their due obedience to the Magistrates", but that
the Lairds of Minto, elder and younger, should both be "fynned in great
sowmes", and retained in ward until these were paid.
Such is the information to be gathered concerning an incident which is
of sufficient importance in itself to be recorded with greater detail
than is given in the local histories written before the publication of
the _Register of the Privy Council_. Another circumstance that lends
interest to the happily unique collision between the municipal
authorities and the citizens, is the coincidence that it was the first
occasion for the application of an Act to which, exactly three hundred
years later, the Magistrates of Glasgow found it expedient to appeal for
the staying of such "unlawfull conventions within burgh" as the
mustering and parading of street bands.
FOOTNOTES: for RIOTOUS GLASGOW
[276] _Register of the Privy Council_, vol. vii, p. 141.
[277] The official records bearing on "this commotioun of Glasgow" are
to be found in the _Register of the Privy Council_, pp. 230-1, 233, 235,
240-7, 500, 501-2.
THE OLD SCOTTISH ARMY
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account