Wedderburn book > History

"THE GUDE AND GODLIE BALLATES." 15
one of the many feuds, common to his time, his native burgh, and, it must be added, to Part *•
his race, for to him also we must probably refer an entry in the Register of the Privy Seal, ap- '
recording a respite granted 3 April 1529 to John Wedderburn for the slaughter of .lohn
Thomsoun (R. P.S. 3). 1 There is a passage in the Chronicles of Lindsay of Pitscoitie,
which may refer to him or to his brother Robert. Writing about 1550-65 Pitscottie tells
us of a John "Wedderburn, Vicar of Dundee in 1528-29. Here there is certainly some
error, as not John, but his brother Robert was vicar of Dundee, and in 1528-29 the vicar
was their uncle Mr. John Barry. Probably the surname is correctly given, and it. is one
of the two brothers and not their uncle, then no longer young, who is meant. If the error
is in the Christian name, the honour should be given to Robert, but if it is in assigning
the vicarage to John, it is probably he who shot for Scotland on the occasion in question
This is what Pitscottie says : —
" In this year (1528-29) came an ambassador out of England, Lord William Howard,
with a bishop with him and many other gentlemen, to the number of three score horse,
which wer all able men and waled men for all kinds of games and pastime, shooting,
louping, running, wrestling, and casting of the stane : but they were well saired ere they
past out of Scotland, and that by their own provocation ; but ever they tint ; till, at last,
the Queen of Scotland, the King's mother, favoured the Englishmen because she was the
King of England's sister ; and therefore she took an enterprise of archery upon the
Englishmen's hands, contrary her son the King, and any six in Scotland than he would
wale, either gentlemen or yeomen, that the Englishmen should shoot against them either
at pricks, revers, or buts, as the Scots pleased. The King, hearing this of his mother, was
content, and gart her pawned a hundred crowns and a tun of wine upon the Englishmen's
hands ; and he incontinently laid down as much for the Scottish men. The field and
ground was chosen in St. Andrews, and three lauded men and three yeomen chosen to
shoot against the Englishmen, to wit, David Wemyss of that ilk, David Arnot of that ilk,
and Mr. John Wedderburn, Vicar of Dundee. The yeoman, John Thomson in Leith,
Stephen Talruner, with a piper called Alexander Baillie. They shot very near, and warred
the Englishmen of the enterprise, and wan the hundred crowns and the tun of wine ;
which made the King very merry that his men wan the victory."
There is an entry in the Lord's Treasurer's accounts for 1538-39 which certainly refers
to John Wedder-burn. It records the receipt of 40s. for " the escheat of the goods of
Mr. John Wedderburn convicted of heresy in favour of his brother Henry Wedderburn,"
and there is added an order to one John Paterson to pass to Dundee and search the goods
of " Maister Johne Wedderburne " there. 2 It is possible that at some time John Wedder-
burn lived in Leith, 3 and acquired property there, as it may be to him and his brother
Gilbert that two entries (D.B.R. 49, 52) in which a bond by " Gilbert Wedderburn and
John Wedderburn brother (sic) indwellers in Leith," is mentioned 17 Jan., 20 Feb. 1554.
At this time, however, John Wedderburn was, according to Johnston, living an exile in
England, and the entries in question may refer to the sons of his brother James (post p. 23).*
It does not appear what part of England he chose as his place of exile, nor what
career he followed when there. Although a priest, he may not, as a reformer, have
considered that an obstacle to secular pursuits, and he had, no doubt, his livelihood to
make. It is possible that a John Wedderburn, complainer in a proceeding before the
English courts, in 1547-51, is identical with him (S.P. 7), but this is quite speculative.
Nor does it appear whether, in disregard of his priesthood, he ever married, or, less in
accordance with his calling, than with the fashion of the time, left any issue. If he did, they
would seem to have remained in England, and not to have returned North, as neither in
the voluminous records of Dundee nor in the Public Records of Scotland do we find any
mention of any such descendants.
1 The S. Andrew's University Register names two other John Wedderbums as matriculating 1500-4 and
1507 of whom I find no other mention (S.A R. 2, 4). They do seem not to have taken their
degrees and may have died young, especially as the Dundee Records are silent in regard to them. At
the same time it is just possible that some of the above references are to one or other of them.
- See Maclaren's ed. of Thomson's History of Dundee.
s See also R.P.C. 57, where, many years later. 10 July 1621, the lands of umquhill John Wedderburn in
Leith are named.
4 It is possible that Johnston's dates are inaccurate. Mr. Laiug thinks they must be so. " These dates (he
says) cannot be relied upon, as we know that John Wedderburn was in exile in 1539, and after
Cardinal Beaton's death in 1546 there was something like toleration in Scotland which cannot be
said to have existed in England during the fires of peisecution in Queen Mary's reign, 1553-58."