Paper on the Mar peerage

Pursuing the inquiry as to the conduct of the Erskines
during the period when no one held the dignity of Earl of Mar,
it appears that after the retours of 1438 Robert Lord Erskine in
two or three private charters styled himself Eai-1 of Mar, but
after a proceeding in 1457 to which I shall presently refer, there
is no evidence of any of the Lords Erskine having assumed that
title. But all of them, from Robert the first to John the sixth
Lord, sat in Parliament by their title of Lord Erskine, and not
one of them claimed to possess the higher dignity.
After Sir Robert Erskine had, not improbably by means of
the purchased assistance of the sheriff depute, succeeded in
obtaining in 1438 a retour as heir to Isabella, he seems to have
got possession of some part of the lands of Mar, for on the loth
August 1440 the King (being then under age) and his council,
in order (as it was said) to preserve the peace of the kingdom,
entered into an agreement with Sir Robert, then Lord Erskine,
under which he was permitted to retain the castle of Kildrummy ,
holding it on behalf of the King until the King should come of
age and then to be delivered to the King, and Lord Erskine was
then to make and establish his claim before the King and three
estates. And it was further agreed that the fruits and revenues
of one half of the earldom of Mar, which Lord Erskine claimed
as Ins property, should be received by him until the judgment
were had. he being aceountable for them in case judgment
should be given against him and for the King. This agreement
proves that the claim of Lord Erskine continued to be to one
half of the earldom only, notwithstanding the two retours of
1438 by which it was asserted he obtained service as heir to the
whole. On the 22nd May 1449 the King by letters under his
Privy Seal directed Lord Erskine and his son, Sir Thomas
Erskine, to deliver up the castle of Kildrunimy to persons
named, and it seems to have been delivered up accordingly.
Nothing was done towards obtaining a judgment upon Lord
Erskine's claim to one half of the earldom of Mar until the year
1457, when proceedings were taken against some of the jurors
who sat upon the inquest of 1438, for an unjust deliverance of
the retour upon such inquest. The delinquent jurors begged
pardon of the King and were pardoned. Then the following
proceeding took place. The King with the Chancellor and Lords
passed into the Town Hall (of Aberdeen) for justice to be done
to Lord Erskine with respect to his claim of the lands of the
earldom of Mar. An inquest was chosen. Lord Erskine
alleged that the deceased Robert Lord Erskine his father had
last died vested and seised as of fee of half of the earldom of