Walter Ogilvie of Dunlugas

Walter Ogilvie of Dunlugas or Dunlugus (died 1558) was a Scottish courtier, landowner, and Provost of Banff.

The Ogilvie burial aisle at Banff St Mary's Kirkyard

Career

He was a son of Walter Ogilvie of Boyne (died 1504) and Margaret Edmondstone.

Ogilvie was described as a master of the stables and a steward (dapifer) in the household of James V in 1524. ^[1]

In April 1538, James V gave Ogilvie a licence by privy seal letter permitting him to build a house in Banff, suitable to accommodate the king if he came north. It was to be built "palace-wise", perhaps meaning apartments on one or two storeys rather than in a large tower, ^[2] but would have "battelling" and a defensible "barmkin" enclosure. ^{[3] [4]}

In 1543, Ogilvie signed the "Secret Bond", a protest against the policies of Regent Arran which led to Mary, Queen of Scots moving from Linlithgow Palace to Stirling Castle. Later in the year, he made a band of friendship with a kinsman James Ogilvie of Cardell. ^[5]

His residence at Banff was Inchdrewer Castle. Walter Ogilvie died on 29 November 1558. His son George erected a monument at Banff. ^[6]

Library

One book that belonged to Walter Ogilvie survives in the library of the Cambridge University Library. ^[7] Printed in 1474, the volume includes the Liber Alexandri Magni , the Gesta Romanorum , and the Consalatio Peccatorum . It was presented to the Blackfriars of Dundee by Henry Barry, rector of Collace. The Ogilvie inscription is in Latin and Scots:

This Buik pertenis to ane nobill man, Sir Walter Ogilvie of Dunlugus, knycht,
and now to his sone, George Ogilvy

Iste liber pertinet ad dominem Galterum Ogilvy de Dunlugus, Milite,
Cum gaudio absque dolore,
he that stelis this buik from me,
god gif he be hangit one ane tre,
Amen for me, Amen for the,
Amen for all good company. ^{[8] [9]}

The Friaries in Dundee were sacked in September 1543, a possible occasion for the book to come into the hands of Ogilvie. ^[10]

Family

Before 1539, Walter Ogilvie married Alison Home, co-heiress of Cuthbert Home of Fast Castle. ^[11] Their children included:

• George Ogilvie of Dunlugus (died 1621), who married Beatrix Seton, a daughter of George Seton, 7th Lord Seton
• Walter Ogilvie, who married Helen Stewart, daughter of Lord Innermeath
• Magdalen Ogilvie, who married Alexander Fraser of Philorth. ^[12]

References

1. Scots Peerage, 2 (Edinburgh, 1904), p. 7.
2. Richard Oram, "Living on the Level: Horizontally-planned Lodgings in Fifteenth- and Early Sixteenth-Century Scotland", Architectural Heritage, 26:1 (2015), pp. 37–53. doi : 10.3366/ARCH.2015.0066
3. Robert Scott Mylne, Master Masons to the Crown of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1893), pp. 57–58.
4. David Hay Fleming, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, 1529–1542, 2 (Edinburgh, 1921), pp. 376–377 no. 2515.
5. Jenny Wormald, "The Sandlaw Dispute, 1546", Wendy Davies and Paul Fouracre, The Settlement of Disputes in Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge, 1986), p. 197: Letters and Papers Henry VIII, 18:1 (London, 1901), no. 945: Hamilton Papers, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 630 no. 446: Scots Peerage, 2 (Edinburgh, 1904), p. 8.
6. Joseph Robertson, Illustrations of the topography and antiquities of the shires of Aberdeen and Banff, p. 111.
7. E. Gordon Duff, "Early Scottish Book-bindings", The Scottish Historical Review, 4:15 (July 1907), p. 431: Emily Wingfield, "Ex Libris domini duncani", Rhiannon Purdie and Michael Cichon, Medieval Romance, Medieval Contexts (Cambridge, 2011), p. 164.
8. The Scottish Historical Review, 4:16 (April 1907), pp. 363–364.
9. Cambridge University Library, CUL Inc.3.E.1.4 (2787) suggests a later generation of the family.
10. William Moir Bryce, The Scottish Grey Friars, 1 (Edinburgh, 1909), p. 81.
11. Charles Rogers, Rental Book of the Cistercian Abbey of Cupar-Angus, 2 (London: Grampian Club, 1880), pp. 4-6, 139.
12. James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, 11 (Edinburgh, 1916), p. 119.