He was a native frenchman, and of an ancient family in that country. According to legend, he killed a French nobleman in the presence of the King. Although he escaped, he was refused a pardon. He became a pirate and later, through Sir William Wallace’s intervention, he received a pardon and knighthood from the French King. Charteris became a loyal ally of Wallace and supported King Robert the Bruce in his campaign for the Scottish crown and against the English, earning the title for his bravery.
When the 6th Lord Kinfauns was promoted to Earl of Kinnoull, his son and heir was styled Lord Kinfauns his father's title as a courtesy, his son being a military commander on the continent he is referenced between 1621 and 1634 with this title in many documents, before he succeeded as 2nd Earl of Kinnoull and 7th Lord Kinfauns.[3][4][5]
7th Lord Kinfauns
Kinfauns origin
The village of Kinfauns likely derives its name from the Gaelic ceann-fauns, which can mean "head of the slope," referencing the nearby Sidlaw Hills.
The spot is hallowed by memories of Wallace and Bruce during the long struggle for Scottish sovereignty; and a popular legend survives, which declares that the first lord of Kinfauns was a noble French warrior, who received these broad acres as a reward for his valorous aid to the Bruce against the English invader. It is believed that his sword, dating back over 700 years, remains within Kinfauns Castle.[6]
The Lords Kinfauns were granted by the Crown the hereditary office of admiralty over the waters of Tay. Historically, the lords were tasked with preserving the fishing rights and punishing poachers. Tradition has it that all vessels sailing along the river once recognised the power of Lord Kinfauns by saluting the castle or by lowering their colours as they passed it.[7][8][9]
River Tay. A cave called the Dragon Hole on Kinnoull Hill in Kinfauns is thought to have occasionally sheltered Sir Wallace Wallace.
History of the lordship
According to legend, the title was granted in the 14th century to the Charteris family.[2] Although no original charters from that period survive, in 1487 the title is officially recorded for Sir Thomas Charteris in the Great Seal by King James III.[1][11][12]
The Charteris family held the lordship through the late medieval and early modern periods. Sir John Charteris, second lord, was murdered in 1552 during a long-running feud with the Ruthven family.[13][14] The third lord, also called Sir John Charteris, is quoted in contemporary narrative as:[15]
“the Queen’s Lieutenant here, the Lord Kinfauns, [who] refused to surrender,”
reflecting his role in resisting a siege during the conflict between supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Regent’s party. With his wife Janet Chisholm, they adopted as heir Harry Lindsay, brother of the Earl of Crawford. Lindsay took the Charteris name, succeeded as fourth lord, and later inherited the title 13th Earl of Crawford.[16] His son, Sir John Lindsay, the fifth lord, inherited his estates as a wedding present but later tragically predeceased his father.[17]
6th Lord Kinfauns, later the Earl of Kinnoul, painted by Adam de Colone, 1625
In the 17th century, ninth lord, Sir William Blair, was created 1st Baronet of Kinfauns, but having no sons, the baronetcy became extinct on his death. The lordship passed to his eldest daughter, Ann Blair, who, with her husband Alexander Carnegie, secured a Crown charter in 1673 confirming their rights.[12] Their son, Alexander Blair Carnegie, eleventh lord, was later taken to court by his wife in the case:[18][19]
Lady Kinfauns v. Lord Kinfauns (19 July 1711)
in which he was found liable for the expense of a journey to Bath that she had undertaken against his wishes.[20]
Their daughter Margaret Blair, heiress of Kinfauns, married John, 11th Lord Gray, in the early 18th century, bringing the lordship into the Gray family and merging the title with the Lords Gray. All female holders chose to be styled as Baroness of Kinfauns in reference to the baronial lordship, with the exception of two Lady Grays who styled themselves Baroness Gray of Gray and Kinfauns to emphasise both titles.[21][12]
By the 1800s, the title passed to a cousin and was long held as a subsidiary title by the Earls of Moray—one of the original seven earldoms of Scotland, known in the 10th century as mormaers (Gaelic for earl).
↑ Illustrations of the Scenery of the River Tay. Constable. 1891. p.19. The Fair Maid of Perth incorrectly refers to Patrick Charteris, Baron of Kinfauns - he was provost of Perth but not of Kinfauns
↑ Husband, Mary Fair Anderson (2014-07-21). The Characters In The Waverley Novels. Jazzybee Verlag. ISBN978-3-8496-4516-8. The Fair Maid of Perth incorrectly refers to Patrick Charteris, Baron of Kinfauns - he was provost of Perth but not of Kinfauns
Dickinson, Professor William Croft, The Court Book of the Barony of Carnwath 1523-1542, Introduction, published by Scottish History Society, 1937. "The standard scholarly work on the history of Scottish baronies"
Grant, Alexander, The Development of the Scottish Peerage, published in the Scottish Historical Review, 1978.
Roberts, John Leonard. The Jacobite wars: Scotland and the military campaigns of 1715 and 1745 (Capstone, 2002)
Szechi, Daniel. 1715: the great Jacobite rebellion (Yale University Press, 2006)
Peskett, H. Consultant Editor for Scotland, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. Burke's Peerage (107th Ed.), 'East Lothian Life', Autumn 2003, p. 17
The Great Seal of Scotland, National Archives of Scotland, document reference NAS. C2/88/1608.
Encyclopaedia Britannica: “Barons in Scotland”, Vol. 4 (Cambridge: University Press, 1911).
Scottish Castles: Tales of Nobility and Battle, Robert Hardy (Edinburgh: Scottish Heritage Publications, 2008), p. 123.
Gaelic Place Names of Scotland, Iain Mac an Tàilleir (Inverness: Scots Gaelic Society, 1999), p. 78.
Wallace, William. The Pirate and the Patriot: Kinfauns and Thomas de Longueville (Perth: Gowrie Publications, 1857).
The Scottish Parliament Records, 1406-1707 (Edinburgh: Scottish Parliament Archives, 1912).
Provosts and Magistrates of Perth: 1300-1700, J. B. Charteris (Perth: History Press, 1967).
The Charteris Family Archive, held at the Perth Museum and Art Gallery.
Lords of the North: The Rise of the Charteris Family (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1921).
Murray, David. Lords of Scone: The Family of Murray (St. Andrews: St. Andrews University Press, 1934).Gowrie, William. The Mystery of the Gowrie Conspiracy (London: Historical Times, 1882).
The Viscounts and Earls of Kinnoull (Dundee: Dundee University Press, 1915).
The Hays of Perthshire: Lords of Kinnoull and Kinfauns, A. MacKenzie (Perth: Perthshire Historical Society, 1978).
Blairs of Balthyock: Neighbours and Rivals of the Charteris Family, J. Ross (Glasgow: Strathclyde University Press, 1983).
Gray, John. The Grays of Kinfauns: Their Place in Scottish History (Perth: Local Historical Society, 1899).
National Library of Scotland Archives, Mormaers of Scotland, Manuscript Collection.
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