Volume 3

269
injured lady to have a son by her, who was also called Alexander; and though
of doubtful birth, assumed the title of Duke of Albany on his father's death in
1485 ; and became regent of Scotland during the minority of James V.
The Duke of Albany, tired of his concubine and of quiet in France, went
to England, in 1482 (a). The Duke now endeavoured by every traitorous
art, " to incense Edward to a war with Scotland;" protesting "that he knew
"the king his brother was fallen into such low esteem, even with those he
" cherished, and into such hatred with all mankind, that, if assaulted by the
" English, he would be constrained, by the submission of his crown, to intreat
"for safety (b)." Yet, Albany carried his "treasonous malice" one step
dangerous intrigues; and was joined therein by the Earl of Orkney, his wife's father, who would
have resented the divorce of his daughter, on so frivolous a pretence as her being his second cousin,
and being equally with himself the grand-child of Robert III. (4) The notorial certificate states
him to have been divorced by John Otterburn, the official of Lothian, on the 9th of March 1477-8,
as we have seen above ; and it is now objected, that he was not official of Lothian at that time.
He was certainly official of Lothian in January 1467-8, in November 1469, as we know from the Par-
liamentary Record, 152 and 157 ; and he continued official on the 16th of March 1472-3, as we learn
from Rymer, xi., 750; and he is described in a safe conduct, dated 21st April 1473, Rymer, xi.,  775,
as Mr. John Otterburn, archdeacon of Candida Casa, when he had ceased to be official of Lothian, for
he was present in parliament on the 23rd of July 1473, when he was appointed on the committee of
causes, by the simple designation of Mr. John Otterburn. Parl. Rec., 174. He probably died soon
after, as we see nothing more of him in any document. On the other hand, William Elphinston, the
celebrated Bishop of Aberdeen, who had certainly been official of Glasgow on the 6th of May 1471
(Parl. Rec., 159), is stated by the antiquary Crauford to have been appointed official of Lothian upon
the death of Muirhead, the bishop of Glasgow, in 1474 (Officers of State), 48), and we see William
Elphinston sitting in parliament among the clergy as official of Lothian, on the 1st of June, 1478
(Parl Rec., 218). (5) It thus appears from those several facts that Newton's notorial certificate of
Albany's divorce is obnoxious to the charge of forgery.
(a) The Duke was brought over in the Michel Carvel, which was commanded by James Douglas,
a renegade Scotsman. On the 9th of May, 1482, Edward IV. took this vessel, "which of late
conveighed oure cousin the Duc of Albany into this oure realme," into his service; he ordered
her to be fitted out, with all things necessary, under Douglas's command, and he sent him on an
eight weeks cruise along the coast of Scotland, with a view to the insidious intrigues which
were then carrying on between himself and Albany. Rym., xii. 154. The English kings in
those times were a sort of vikingr, who sent out their ships to seize whomsoever and whatsoever they
could catch on the seas. Henry IV. acted as a vikingr when he seized Prince James, the heir-
apparent of the Scottish crown, during a truce in 1405. Edward IV. acted as a vikingr when he
detained this very Duke of Albany when going to school, during a peace in 1464; and Elizabeth
acted as a kind of female vikingr when she sent out a fleet during peace to make capture of
the Scottish queen.
(b) Such is the representation of Habington, Hist. Ed. IV., 201, and, indeed, of the general strain of
the English chroniclers, who considered Albany as an oppressed prince.