Biggar and the House of Fleming

HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE FLEMING FAMILY. 5 29
brother James. Queen Mary, under the Privy Seal, on the
28th December 1562, conferred a gift on him of 20 chalders
of oatmeal yearly, to be paid out of the Queen's thirds of bene-
fices, because he had bestowed his whole time in her service.
The Queen further not only gave him a gift of the non-entry
of Boghall Castle, but of the non-entries of his lands, baronies,
and patronages of churches and benefices lying within the
sheriffdom of Lanark, and of the annual rent of Kers. On
the 17th May 1564, he married Elizabeth, only daughter and
heiress of Robert, Master of Ross, who was killed at Pinkie.
The marriage, instead of being celebrated at the Castle of
Biggar or Cumbernauld, took place in presence of Queen
Mary and her court at Holyrood. From an account of the
festivities which took place on this occasion, it would seem
that they were celebrated in the Royal Park, at the lower end
of the valley, between Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags, a
place at that time covered with water. Here the Queen, with
her nobles, and foreign ambassadors, forgot for a time the
cares and troubles of her unruly kingdom, and gave herself up
to mirth and jollity. As Robert Chambers says, " The inci-
dent is so pleasantly picturesque, and associates Mary so agree-
ably with one of her subjects, that it is gratifying to reflect on
Lord Fleming proving a steady friend throughout her subse-
quent troubles."
On the 25th of July 1565, he received a gift from Queen
Mary under the Great Seal, of the office of Master Usher to
her bed-chamber, with the fees thereof, and with power to ap-
point deputies. On the 1st of August following, the Queen
and Parliament conferred on him the office of Lord Chamber-
lain, an office that had been held by three of his immediate
predecessors. In 1567, he received a grant of a third of the
profits and rents of the Priory of Whithorn, for his devotion to
the Queen's interests, and particularly as a compensation, in
part, for services which he had rendered to her majesty, and
for the losses which he had sustained by depredations committed
by marauders from the borders. About the same time he was
appointed Governor of Dumbarton Castle, and "Justiciar"
within the sheriffdom of Peebles and the Upper Ward of
Clydesdale.
Lord Fleming was one of the nobles who were in the Palace of
2 L