History of the earldoms of Strathern, Monteith, and Airth

14 HISTORY OF
David Earl into England^; and in a Royal charter, dated
OF Strathern ''
andCaithkess. on the 28th of December in that year, ratifyinsr
1380—1389. ^ . ,. _, ,. , -r-111^
a grant made by him or lands in tne Earldom ot
Caithness, he is styled *' Our dearest son David
Stewart Earl Palatine of Strathern and of Caith-
ness ^ ; and he was again described by those
titles in a similar charter of confirmation on the
14th of February, 1380.^
As the charter by which the Earldom of
Caithness was given to the Earl of Strathern is
not preserved, neither its date nor its terms can
be exactly ascertained. It is, however, evident
that he held that dignity, like his Earldom of
Strathern, to him and his heirs, or the heirs of
his body, because, as will afterwards appear, the
Earldom of Caithness was inherited by his
daughter and heiress. In February, 1382, the
Earl received letters of safe-conduct from King
Richard the Second to come into England with
forty persons in his retinue.'^
This is the last notice that has been discovered
of David Earl of Strathern ; and he is presumed
to have died before 1389.^ It is a remarkable
fact that, though a legitimate son of the King of
1 Rot. Scot. vol. i. p. 983.
2 Reg. Mag. Sig. p. 150. (No. 111.) :— " CarissimS fili^ nr
David senesc comes palatini de Stratfene et de Catania."
3 Ibid. p. 142. (No. 79.).
■* Fcedera, vol. vii. p. 346. Rot. Scot. vol. ii. p. 42.
5 Vide note, p. 15. whence it appears that his daughter and
heiress was styled Countess Palatine of Strathern in 1 389.