Biggar and the House of Fleming

HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE FLEMING FAMILY. 471
and divisions, and with all its liberties, commodities, ease-
ments, and just pertinents, as freely, quietly, fully, and hon-
ourably as the said John held or possessed, for some time, the
said barony and its pertinents ; the said Malcolm and his heirs
rendering' to us and our heirs the service of a knight in our
army, and suit in the court of the Sheriffdom of Dumbarton."*
He also received from Bruce charters of the lands of Auchyn-
donan and their pertinents in the Lennox, which had been re-
signed by Malcolm de Drummond, and of the lands of Poltown
in the county of Wigton. Bruce also appointed him to the
offices of Sheriff of Dumbarton, and Governor of the castle of
that name ; and Walter, the High Steward, on the feast of St
Dunstan, 19th May 1321, rewarded him with an annuity out
of the revenues of the Abbey and Convent of Holyrood, drawn
from the barony of Cars.
Sir Walter Scott, as is well known, makes Malcolm Fleming
one of the characters in his last published novel, "Castle Dan-
gerous." He is described in that work as fighting at the cap-
ture of Douglas Castle, the Castle Dangerous of the novel, and
there vanquishing in single combat Sir Amyer de Vallence, on
Palm Sunday, 19th March 1306-7. He has, of course, a
sweetheart, whose name was Margaret de Hautlieu. Her
father was a Norman baron, who, in quest of adventures, came
to the Scottish court, and in the war for independence took
the side of Baliol. His daughter Margaret, in course of the
story, says, " Among these soldiers of the soil, Malcolm Flem-
ing of Biggar was one of the most distinguished by his noble
birth, his high acquirements, and his fame in chivalry. I saw
him, and fell in love with the handsomest youth in Scotland."
Her father had designed to wed her to a youth, bred at the
English court, and, therefore, was utterly opposed to her union
with Malcolm Fleming, a keen partisan of the opposite faction
of Bruce. Fleming, who was inspired by a similar passion,
resolved not to be thwarted by any ordinary obstacle, and
therefore, along with Sir William Wallace, concerted a plan to
carry her off by force. They assailed the house in which she
lived, and a combat ensuing, Wallace attempted in the midst
of the confusion to carry her down a ladder ; but this being
* In the Wigton charter chest there is a charter of the lands of Lenzie and
Cumbernauld, granted to William Comyn by Alexander II. previous to 1216.