Historical account of the family of Frisel or Fraser, particularly Fraser of Lovat

ss
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE
« Caledonia, I.
p. 317-8.
' Anderson's Dipl.
Scot. Care. 51.
" Fsedera, II. 776.
' Caledonia, 1.547.
' Anderson's
Diplomata, 110.
I Caledonia, I. 593.
■" Vol. I. 36*.
" Caledonia, I. 593.
" Remarks on the
Ragman Roll, li.
•■ Chart. Moray,
Vol. I. p. 61.
' Ibid. Vol. I. p.
126.
There is no evidence for either hypothesis : — For, 1st, David Graham
here spoken of was brother, not father to Patrick ; " was a prisoner in
England tUl 1297 ; and appears in the famous letter to the Pope in 1320,
after Simon Fraser's death. '
9,do, Patrick did not die without issue ; but left a son, David, like-
wise taken prisoner, and detained tiU 1297, *■ who died soon after the
demise of Robert the Bruce.'
Of the family of the Bissets thus noticed, it may not be uninteresting
to state a few particulars, as in our earlier history they appear to have been
one of the most powerful families in the kingdom. They were origi-
naUy from England, " and first settled in Scotland, it is said, under
WUliam the Lion, ' though Abercromby ^ supports the position of
theii- introduction in the reign of Malcolm III. His position has this
air of probability, that it would have been impossible, consistent with
ordinary events, to conceive the acquisition of a splendour and rank so
sudden, as that to which this race attained, in the short £era between
theii- introduction under WilUam, and their almost total destruction un-
der Alexander II. In the reign of William we find several of them
settled in the Merse, others in the county of Moray. " They con-
veyed the Manor of Upsetlington, m the fonner, to the monks of Kelso j
but the north, as it was the chief seat of their power, was that also of
theii" benevolence and piety. " Nobilis vir Joannes Bisseth, Dominus de
Loveth," appears in 1222 in the chartulary of Moray." We find WU-
Ham By set a witness to a charter by King Alexander II. to Andrew
Bishop of Moray, mfeafarm of Kynmile, 5th October 1226. ^
In 1226, John Byset made a donation of the right of patronage of the
church of Kiltalargy, " Deo et ecclesise Sti. Petri de Rothsan (Query,
Rothven ?) ad sustentacionem leprosorum ibidem deo Serventium." The
grant was made " pro aruma Dni. W. regis Scotiae, et pro salute Dni. me
Alex, nobilis regis necnon, et pro salute animarum ancestorum et suc-
cessorum meorum." " *
* When the volumes are specified, it is the copy of the Chartulary in the Advocates'
Library which is meant. Both it and the original vellum transcript have been referred to
indiscriminately.
t-