Paper on the Mar peerage

18
require the sanction of Parliament. Was this
done for Lord Erskine? No. Was there any-
other method of making him Earl of Mar? Yes.
Would this make him the regular successor to the
old Earls or Mormaors ? No. Did Queen Mary
use this method? Yes. Therefore Lord Erskine,
when made Earl of Mar, could not be regarded as
the regular successor of the old Earls. Therefore
his successors could not by reason of her act
claim to succeed as did the descendants of the
territorial Earls or Mormaors of Mar. It is true that
in June 23, 1565, Queen Mary did what she could to
grant a territorial Earldom or estate of Mar to Lord
Erskine; but not a word was said (as would have
been necessary if she had made him an Earl) about
the dignity, nor did Lord Erskine assume the dig-
nity till after his separate and distinct creation to it
on July 29th or 30th, 1565, between these two
dates, he continued to sit at the Council as Lord
Erskine. I have said there was a method of making
Lord Erskine Earl of Mar without restoring him to
the status of the old territorial Earls, and I have
said that Queen Mary employed this method. Let
us see what it was and what reason we have to
know that she did employ it.
The dignity of the Peerage of Scotland could be
created without writing or charter. "The King
created Lord Hailes an Earl by girding him with
the sword as was the usage." So says a
chronicler, hence the term "a belted Earl," and
it has been decided that Queen Mary made Lord
Erskine a belted Earl at her marriage feast.
Randolph, in his dispatch to Queen Elizabeth, says
— " To honour the feast the Lord Erskine was
made Earl of Mar." And at the same time other
persons were raised to the Peerage. Not a word
of restoration, but it may be suid restoration might
be intended. In answer to this, let us mark one
significant fact. This new Earl of Mar sat at the
Council on the 1st of August, 1565, as junior Earl.
If he had been restored to the old honours, he
would have bjen senior Earl, indeed, the only
representative of the 7 old Mormaors. It is true
that in 1606, precedence was given to the then