Extract from The Great Historic Families of Scotland, By James Taylor, M.A., D.D., F.S.A and published in 1887

THE founder of the Maxwell family is said to have been a certain Maccus, the son of Undwin, a Saxon noble, who at the Norman Conquest took refuge in Scotland. He was a distinguished person in the reigns of Alexander I. and David I., and received from the latter a grant of fertile lands on the banks of the Tweed, near Kelso, which from him received the appellation of Maccuswell, and, abbreviated into Maxwell, became the designation of his descendants. He witnessed an inquest which David ordered to be made about the year 1116. A Herbert de Maccuswel, who died in 1143, made a grant of the Church of Maccuswel to the monastery of Kelso. A Sir John de Maccuswel was Sheriff of Roxburgh and Teviotdale in 1207, and held the office of Great Chamberlain from 1231 to 1233. His son, Aymer de Maxwell, was Sheriff of Dumfriesshire and Chamberlain of Scotland. He obtained also the office of Justiciary of Galloway. By his marriage with the daughter and heiress of Roland de Mearns, he obtained the land and baronies of Mearns and Nether-Pollok in Renfrewshire, and Dryps and Calderwood in Lanarkshire. His second son, John, was the founder of the Nether - Pollok branch of the family, on whom a baronetcy was conferred in 1682. Throughout the perilous and trying times of the War of Independence, the Maxwells, like many other Scottish nobles of the Saxon and Anglo-Norman race, repeatedly changed sides. In the year 1300, Sir Herbert Maxwell, grandson of Sir John, held the strong castle of Carlaverock for the patriotic cause, and was besieged by a powerful English army under Edward I., accompanied by his son, afterwards Edward II., then a youth of seventeen years. Eighty-seven of the most illustrious barons of England were in this host, including knights of Bretagne and Lorraine. 'Carlaverock was so strong a castle,' says a contemporary chronicler, 'that it did not fear a siege; therefore the King came himself because it would not consent to surrender. But it was always furnished for its defence whenever it was required with men, engines, and provisions. Its shape was like that of a shield, for it had only three sides all round, with a tower in each angle, but one of them was a double one, so high, so long, and so large, that under it was the gate, with a drawbridge, well-made and strong, and a sufficiency of other defences. It had good walls, and good ditches filled to the edge with water; and I believe there never was seen a castle so beautifully situated, for at once could be seen the Irish Sea towards the west, and to the north a fine country, surrounded by an arm of the sea, so that no creature born could approach it on two sides without putting himself in danger of the sea. Towards the south it was not easy, because there were numerous dangerous defiles of wood and marshes, and ditches where the sea is on each side of it, and where the river reaches it; and therefore it was necessary for the host to approach towards the east, where the hill slopes.'

The Maxwells, under their gallant chief, made a vigorous defence, showering upon their assailants such 'huge stones, quarrels, and arrows, and with wounds and bruises they were so hurt and exhausted that it was with very great difficulty they were able to retire.' But though the operations of the siege proceeded slowly, the besieged - were at length compelled to surrender, when it was found that the garrison which had thus defied the whole English army amounted to only sixty men, 'who were beheld,' says the chronicler, 'with much astonishment.' Possession of the castle was subsequently restored to Sir Eustace Maxwell, Sir Herbert's son, who at first embraced the cause of John Baliol, and in 1312 received from Edward II. an allowance of twenty pounds for the more secure keeping of the fortress. He afterwards, however, gave in his adherence to Robert Bruce, and his castle in consequence underwent a second siege by the English, in which they were unsuccessful. But fearing that this important stronghold might ultimately fall into the hands of the enemy, and enable them to make good their hold on the district, Sir Eustace dismantled the fortress-a service and sacrifice for which he was liberally rewarded by Robert Bruce.

Though the chiefs of the Maxwells were by no means consistent in their course, or steady in their allegiance during the reign of David II., they contrived in the end to be on the winning side, and honours, offices, and estates continued to accumulate in the family. They were Wardens of the West Marches, Stewards of Kirkcudbright, Stewards of Annandale, ambassadors to England, and Provosts of Edinburgh. They were created Lords of Parliament, with the titles of Baron Maxwell, Baron Herries, Baron Eskdale, and Baron Carlyle, Earl of Morton, and Earl of Nithsdale. They intermarried with the Stewarts, Douglases, Setons, Crichtons, Hamiltons, Herrieses, and other powerful families, and spread out their branches on all sides. If the Maxwells had succeeded, like the heads of the great houses of Hamilton, Douglas, and Scott, in retaining possession of the estates which belonged to them in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they would have been among the three or four most extensive landowners in Scotland at the present time. Sir HERBERT MAXWELL, of Carlaverock, was knighted at the coronation of James I., March 16th, 1441, and some years afterwards he was created a Lord of Parliament, on the forfeiture of the Douglases in 1455. ROBERT, the second Lord Maxwell, obtained a grant of Eskdale, which remained for nearly two centuries in the possession of the family, but is now the property of the Duke of Buccleuch. JOHN, fourth Lord Maxwell, fell at Flodden, along with three of his brothers. ROBERT, his eldest son and successor, was one of the most powerful nobles in the kingdom, and took a prominent part in public affairs during the reign of James V. and the Regency of Arran. He was appointed Warden of the Western Marches, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and a member of the Secret Council, when King James was declared of age to assume the government of the realm. He accompanied that monarch in his celebrated raid to the Borders which proved fatal to Johnnie Armstrong and a number of other Border reivers. According to the tradition of the district, this catastrophe was mainly due to the treachery of Lord Maxwell, who seized the Armstrongs on their journey from Eskdale to pay their homage to the King, and pretended to James that these stalwart freebooters had no intention of coming voluntarily into his presence, but had been forcibly brought to him for the purpose of receiving the punishment which they deserved for their offences. This allegation receives some corroboration from the fact that Maxwell obtained from the King a gift of the forfeited lands of the Armstrongs, which are declared in the charter to have been bestowed upon him for his services in bringing John Armstrong to justice. If so, the curse which accompanies ill-gotten gear seems to have rested on the gift.

Lord Maxwell appears to have stood high in the esteem and confidence of King James. On his Majesty's escape, in 1528, from the thraldom in which he was held by the Douglases, Maxwell was immediately summoned to his Council, and received a grant of the lordships of Crawford-Douglas, and Drumsiar, a portion of the forfeited estates of the Earl of Angus. In 1532 he was created an Extraordinary Lord of Session; in 1536 he was appointed one of the members of the Council of Regency, during the absence of the King in France; and in the following year he was one of the ambassadors sent to the French Court to negotiate the marriage of James to Mary of Guise, whom he espoused as proxy for the King.

Lord Maxwell was taken prisoner at the disgraceful rout of Solway Moss, in 1542. He was on foot, endeavouring to restore some degree of order in the confused and panic-stricken ranks of the Scottish forces; and was urged to mount his horse and fly. He replied, 'Nay, I will rather abide here the chance that it shall please God to send me, than go home and be hanged.' He received his liberty in 1543, along with the other nobles, on subscribing a bond to acknowledge Henry as lord superior of the kingdom of Scotland, to do their utmost to put the government of the country and its fortresses into the hands of the English King, and to have the infant princess delivered to him and brought up in England, with the intention of ultimately marrying her to his son Prince Edward. They were also pledged to return to their captivity in England if they failed to carry this project into effect. Lord Maxwell was the only one of the whole number who was faithful to his pledge, and was sent to the Tower by King Henry in return for his honourable conduct. The Master of Maxwell, the Earl's eldest son, also fell into the hands of the English in 1545, and every effort was made to induce them to agree to give up all their strongholds to the English King. Maxwell's offer to prove himself a true Englishman by serving under Hertford against Scotland was not satisfactory to Henry, and he at last succeeded in extorting from the Baron the strong castle of Carlaverock as the price of his liberty, 'quhilk was a great discomfort to the countrie.' The Regent Arran, however, succeeded in recovering this important fortress, and in capturing the other two castles, Lochmaben and Thrieve, belonging to Maxwell, whom he put in prison at Dumfries. After the murder of Cardinal Beaton, Maxwell was set at liberty, and having made a public and solemn protestation that it was from 'fear and danger' of his life that he had given up Carlaverock to the English, his castle of Lochmaben was restored to him, and he was appointed Warden of the West Marches.

It appears that during his captivity in England, Lord Maxwell had become favourable to the doctrines of the Reformed Church, though there is no evidence that he had joined its communion. It was he who introduced into the first Parliament of Queen Mary- 1542-43-a Bill to secure the people liberty to possess and to read the sacred Scriptures in the vernacular tongue, but under the restriction that 'na man despute or hold opinions under the pains contenit in the Acts of Parliament.' The measure was approved by the Regent Arran, and passed into a law. 'So,' says John Knox, 'by Act of Parliament it was maid free to all men and women to reid the Scriptures in their awen toung, or in the English toung: and so was all actes maid on the contrair abolished. . . Then mycht have been seen the Byble lying almaist upoun evrie gentlemanis table. The New Testament was borne about in many manis handes. We grant that some (alace!) prophaned that blessed wourd; for some that, perchance, had never it maist common in thare hand; thei would chope thare familiares on the cheak with it, and say, "This has lyne hyd under my bed-feitt these ten years." Others wold glorie, "O! how oft have I bein in danger for this booke: how secreatlie have I stollen fra my wyff at mydnicht to reid upoun it."'

Lord Maxwell, besides the offices of Master of the Royal Household, and Chief Carver to the King, obtained large grants of land in the counties of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Roxburgh, Perth, and Lanark. The extent of his influence is made evident by the fact that he received bonds of man-rent from such powerful barons as Murray of Cockpool, ancestor of the Earls of Mansfield; Douglas of Drumlanrig, ancestor of the Dukes and Marquises of Queensberry; Stewart of Garlies, ancestor of the Earls of Galloway; Johnstone of Johnstone, ancestor of the Marquises of Annandale; Gordon of Lochinvar, ancestor of the Viscounts Kenmure; and from other influential Nithsdale and Galloway families.

ROBERT, fifth Lord Maxwell, died in 1546. His younger son, Sir John Maxwell of Terregles, married Agnes, the daughter of the third Lord Herries, and succeeded to that title as the first Lord Herries of the house of Maxwell. The elder son-

ROBERT, sixth Lord Maxwell, 'appears to have been a man of a courageous, impetuous, and energetic character, but his early death prevented his attaining the conspicuous and influential position which his father held.' His wife, Lady Beatrix Douglas, was a granddaughter of James, the third, and daughter of James, the fourth Earl of Morton, and co-heiress of the earldom. Her younger sister married James Douglas, nephew of Archibald, Earl of Angus, who through her obtained the title, and became the celebrated Regent Morton. As we have seen, Earl Robert, in his father's lifetime, was imprisoned in England, and was permitted to return to his native country only on condition that he would promote the sinister designs of the English King on the independence of Scotland. In return for some pecuniary assistance which Maxwell asked, the emissaries of Henry strove hard to induce him to give up the castle of Lochmaben; but this, it appears, he was unable or unwilling to do. The bloody feud which raged so long between the Maxwells and the Johnstones seems to have originated at this time, in consequence of the Laird of Johnstone having violated the obligations of man-rent, by which he bound himself to assist Lord Maxwell in all his just and honest actions. Wharton, the English Warden, informed the Earl of Shrewsbury that he had used means to create discord between the Johnstones and the Maxwells. He had offered the Laird of Johnstone 300 crowns, his brother, the Abbot of Soulseat, 100, and his followers 100, on condition that he would put the Master of Maxwell into his power. Johnstone, he said, had entered into the plot, but he and his friends 'were all so false that he knew not what to say.' He placed very little confidence in them. But he would be 'glad to annoy and entrap the Master of Maxwell or the Laird of Johnstone, to the King's Majestie's honour, and his own poor honesty."

There was so much double-dealing and treachery on both sides, that it was impossible to put much confidence in any of the leaders. The Master of Maxwell, in order to obtain his father's liberation from the Tower, promised to the English ambassador that he would do his utmost to promote the English interests, but he did 'his Majesty no manner of service.' On the other hand, the Governor and the Lords of the Scottish Council compelled him to give security that he would loyally keep the houses of Carlaverock, Lochmaben, and the Thrieve, for the Queen, from 'their enemies of England.' Douglas of Drumlanrig, Gordon of Lochinvar, Stewart of Garlies, and other influential barons, were his pledges for the fulfilment of his bond. The Master was, however, shortly after, in 1545, taken prisoner in an unsuccessful expedition, and carried to London, where his father had for some time been in captivity. He remained in England until the year 1549, when he was exchanged for Sir Thomas Palmer.

Lord Maxwell died in 1552, having been only six years in the position of chief of the family. He had two sons, ROBERT, who succeeded his father as seventh Lord, but who died when only four years of age, and JOHN, a posthumous child, who became eighth Lord Maxwell, and was afterwards created Earl of Morton. In the critical state of the country at that time, a long minority might have been highly prejudicial to the interests of the family, but fortunately the infant noble had for his guardian his uncle, Sir John Maxwell of Terregles, under whose judicious and careful management the possessions and influence of the house were fully maintained. Lord Maxwell at an early age enrolled himself among the supporters of Queen Mary, and suffered severely for his adherence to her cause. His estates were laid waste, and his castles of Dumfries and Carlaverock were thrown down in 1570 by a powerful English army under the Earl of Sussex. Lord Maxwell and his uncle attended the Parliament held in the name of the Queen at Edinburgh, June 12, 1571, in opposition to the meeting convened by the Earl of Lennox, the Regent, a few weeks earlier, at the head of the Canongate. The young noble, to the great satisfaction of his retainers and the numerous branches of his house, soon made it evident that he possessed the courage and intrepidity which had distinguished his grandfather; and his marriage, in the twentieth year of his age, to the youngest daughter of the seventh Earl of Angus, brought him into close alliance with the great houses of Douglas and Hamilton, the Scotts of Buccleuch, and the Earl of Bothwell. Not long after his marriage he submitted to the Government carried on in the name of James VI., and obtained from the Regent Morton the office of Warden of the West Marches. The harmony between him and that imperious and grasping noble was not of long continuance. The claim which Lord Maxwell preferred to the earldom and title of Morton roused the jealousy of the Regent, and ultimately led to a violent quarrel.

The third Earl of Morton left three daughters, but no son. The eldest became the wife of the Earl of Arran, Duke of Chatelherault; the second married Robert, sixth Lord Maxwell; and the third became the wife of James Douglas the Regent, brother of the Earl of Angus. The Earl of Morton settled his earldom and estates upon Elizabeth, his youngest daughter, and her husband and male issue; and the settlement was confirmed by the Crown in the year 1543. Lord Maxwell, however, refused to acquiesce in this settlement, which he considered unjust, and asserted his right to the earldom on the ground that as heir to his mother he was entitled to one-third of the earldom, that he had a right to another third by the demission which he alleged had been executed in his favour by his aunt, the Duchess of Chatelherault, with the consent of her husband and son; and that he was heir-apparent of Lady Elizabeth, the Regent's wife, who had no issue. The Regent 'pressed by all means that Lord Morton should renounce his title thereto, of whilk he refusing, he commanded him to prison in the castle of Edinburgh, where lykwayes refusing to renounce, he was sent to Blackness, and from thence to St. Andrews, where he and Lord Ogilvie abode till the March thereafter.' Morton deprived Lord Maxwell of the Wardenship of the Western Marches, and conferred it on the Laird of Johnstone, the hereditary enemy of his house. He obtained his release, however, and was restored to this office after the downfall of Morton in 1577, and took a prominent part in the factious contendings of that day, which at one time threatened to lead to a civil war. Shortly after his reinstatement in the Wardenship, a case occurred which throws great light on the arbitrary and barbarous manner in which the jurisdiction entrusted to the nobles in those days was exercised. A summons was raised by John Bek, taskar, against Lord Maxwell for personal maltreatment. It was affirmed that Lord Maxwell had put the complainer in prison in the place of Carlaverock, in which he was detained for ten days, and at last taken out and conveyed to a woodside adjoining, where he was bound hand and foot to a tree, and then a small cord being tied about his head, was twisted round with a pin until his 'ene [eyes] lapened upon his cheikes.' And all this barbarous treatment he asserted was inflicted on him because he would not bear false testimony against John Schortrig, of Marcholme, as to alleged wrongs done by him to Lord Maxwell in reference to certain corns. After being thus cruelly tortured, Bek was again committed to prison. The case came before the Privy Council at Stirling, but Lord Maxwell did not appear to answer to the charge, and was ordered to set poor Bek at liberty within three days under pain of rebellion.

Lord Maxwell became closely associated with the royal favourites, Esme Stewart, Lord d'Aubigny, and the profligate and unprincipled Captain James Stewart, afterwards Earl of Arran, the bitter enemies of Regent Morton, by whom he was brought to the block. After Morton's forfeiture and execution Maxwell obtained from King James, no doubt through their influence, a grant both of the title and of the lands of the earldom of Morton. The success of the conspiracy known as the 'Raid of Ruthven,' however, expelled from the Court the worthless favourites of the young King, and placed Maxwell in opposition to the dominant party. Complaints, no doubt well founded, were made regarding the disturbed state of the Borders under his Wardenship, and it appeared that his 'household men, servants, or tenants, dwelling upon his lands, or within the jurisdiction of his Wardenry, many of them being of the name of Armstrong, accompanied by some of the Grahams, Englishmen, and others, their accomplices, common thieves, to the number of nine score persons, went, on 30th October, 1582, under silence, to the lands of Easter Montberengier, and carried off eighteen score of sheep, with plenishing estimated at the value of 290 merks. Immediately thereafter, or on the same night, they proceeded to the lands of Dewchar, from which they stole twenty-two score of sheep, twenty-four kye and oxen, and plenishing worth 100 merks; and the lands of Whitehope they despoiled of two hundred sheep and oxen, and three horses, with plenishing worth 100 merks.' To crown all, they seized upon Thomas Dalgleish and Adam Scott, two of the persons whom they had ruthlessly plundered, and 'forcibly carried them into Annandale, in which, and sometimes in England and in other parts, they kept them in strait prison in irons, and shamefully bound the said Thomas to a tree with fetters, intending to compel them to pay an exorbitant ransom.' The same course is followed at the present day by the banditti in Greece and in some parts of Italy.

Such deeds as these were not likely to pass unnoticed and unpunished at a time when Lord Maxwell's friends were out of favour at Court, and he was summoned by the sufferers to appear before the Privy Council, and to present the persons who had committed the said crimes. As might have been expected, he failed to appear and answer the charges against him. He had been ordered by the Council to present before the King and Lords of the Council certain persons, Armstrongs and Beatties, under a heavy penalty, to answer for 'all the crimes that could be laid to their charge.' The Council, therefore, ordered him to be denounced as a rebel, and he was deprived of the office of Warden of the West Marches, which was conferred upon the rival of the Maxwells, the Laird of Johnstone.

Part Two

Note: These articles are supplied by Electric Scotland. Burke's Peerage & Gentry are not responsible for the views and/or facts contained within.