Wedderburn book > History

THE GUDE AND GODLIE BALLATES." 11
to remove him. When he was at Deepe, the factors at Deepe, Johne Meldrum, Henrie Part I.
Tod, Johne Mowat, Gilbert Scot, delated him to the Bishop of Rowan; but the Bishop Cba P- r »
refused to meddle with him, because they could prove nothing against him. They informed
the Bishop and Channons of Rowan that he was declared an heretick in Scotland : the
Bishop desired them to send for the processe, and that being tryed, he sould have no
residence there. We heare no farther, but that he remained as factor at Deepe, and deing,
said to his sonne, ' We have beene acting our part in the theater : you are to succeed, see
that you act your part faithfullie.'
"Mr. .lohn Wedderburn, his brother, brought up also in the course of philosophie,
under Mr. Gawin Logie, being perswaded by his friends, albeit against his will, he tooke on
the order of preesthood, and was a preest in Duudie. But soon after he beganne to professe
the (reformed) religioun. Being summoned he departed to Almaine (Germany), where he
heard Luther and Melancton, and became verie fervent and zealous. He translated manie
of Luther's dytements into Scotish meeter, and the Psalmes of David. He turned manie
bawdie songs and rymes in godlie rymes. He returned, after the death of the king, '
in December 1542, but was againe persued by the Cardinall, and fled to England.
" Mr. Robert Wedderburne, the youngest brother, brought up also under Mr. Gawin
Logie, excelled his brother both in humanitie and knowledge of the Scriptures. He
succeeded to Mr. Robert Barrie, vicar of Dundie. He went to Parise, where he remained
cheeflie in companie of those that were instructed in religioun. ... After the death of the
Cardinall he returned to Scotland. The Vicar, his mother's brother, being departed, he gott
possessioun of the vicarage, but remained for the most part with the Laird of Calder. 1
When he was comming home out of the east countries, in a Danskein ship, the shippe was
driven by contrarie winds upon Norway, where the passengers landed at Ripperwicke, and
remained certane dayes. In the meane time, upon the Saturday before Whitsonday even,
1546, after continuall disputing and reasoning among the passengers — some Popish, and
some Protestants — he, and the rest of his fellows, tooke the boldnesse, notwithstanding
they understood nothing of the Cardinall's death, to make his pourtraiture or statue, of a
great oaken blocke, and thereupon write his name in paper affixed thereon. They accuse
him, condemn him, and burne his statue in a great fire of timber. The Cardinall was
slaine that same verie day, in the morning, in his owne Castell of Sanct Ar.drewes."
It is to be regretted that Calderwood's authorities, known to have been MSS. since
lost or destroyed, are no longer at our service, not that there is reason to doubt his
statements, but because of the further matter those authorities might have provided. As
it is, there is little we can now add to his account in regard to the career of the three
brothers, and the modern writers already mentioned are not always fortunate in their
attempted particulars. They erroneously assume that the brothers had no contemporary
namesakes, and thus identify every James, John, or Robert Wedderburn mentioned in the
records of the time with the corresponding member of this triumvirate. 2 But, though
these endeavours do not help us, the rest of their work is full of value. Mr. Laing's
1 Sir James Sandilands, the friend of Knox. He was appointed by the reformers to solicit the support of
the Queen Regent.
2 Thus Mr. Laing, while conscious that " more than one family of the Wedderburns flourished in Dundee
or its neighbourhood at an earlier period" than 1546, and admitting that Douglas' account of the
family is " not quite correct," assumes that the entry in the Register of the Privy Seal (R P.S. 4)
recording a respite to Robert, son of James Wedderburn, for the slaughter of one Malisouu in 1537-38
must refer to James, the elder of these three brothers, on whom, therefore, he fathers "at least
two sons John and Robert," the fact being that he had no sou Robert, and that the above entry refers
to Robert, son of another James Wedderburn (m. Janet Logan). So again Mr. Laing adopts Douglas'
statement that David Wedderburn, who m. Helen Lawson, was clerk of Dundee, and finally after
remarking that "the preceding notes are not very satisfactory " he adds, in complete ignorance of
the available material, that " unfortunately so far as the subsequent history of the Wedderburns is
concerned, no precise information has been recorded " ; a remark inaccurate as regards the individuals
and altogether mistaken as regards their descendants. Professor Mitchell avoids, by silence, any
such errors, though he is wrong in stating that James was incorporated at S. Andrew's in 1516. ;
probably a misprint for 1514. The fact here is that three James Wedderburns matriculated there
in 1507, 1509 and 1514, and it is not possible to say with certainty which of the three was the one in
question. Mr. Maxwell, who has done good service as a historian of Dundee, devotes an entire
chapter of his Old Dundee prior to the Reformation to " Wedderburns and their writings," in which
he does not observe Professor Mitchell's caution. He begins by stating that James Wedderburn, the
father of the reformers, is first mentioned in a Dundee Charter of 1515 (D.C. 8), whereas, not only
is he first named some years earlier (see above), but the charter of 1515 does not refer to him, but to
a namesake who survived him, he being already dead in 1514. He also refers to him as living 1521-22
upon the authority of the occasional mention of a James Wedderburn in the Dundee Records of that