History of the Fife Pitcairns

64 THE FIFE PITCAIRNS.
See the account in the description of the Lindsay- Pitcairn
marriages earlier in the book.
Elizabeth, eldest daughter of David Pitcairn of that Ilk
and Forthar, married Robert Ayton. Her brother, Robert
Pitcairn the Commendator, settled on them the lands of
Inchdairnie. 1
Carta feudefirme.
Robertj Aytoun et Eli*- Pitcairne de terris de inchedarny. 2
The Aytons are mentioned again in 1689 at Falkland, on
the 4th July, when Andrew Pitcairn, son of Andrew Pit-
cairn of Cordoune, witnessed a " renunciation by William
Aytoun, brother -german of David Aytoun of Kinaldy, to
Andrew Lundy of Cairnie."
" The family of Aytoun in Scotland is sprung from the
Norman family of De Vescy in England, who possessed
the great barony of Sprouston in Northumberland, and of
whom a long pedigree is given by Sir William Dugdale
in his ' Baronetage of England.' " 3 The family of De Vescy
was of great antiquity, but the name is now extinct. A
member of the family distinguished himself as one of
the barons who compelled King John to grant the Magna
Charta, for securing the lives and properties of the English
subjects. His name is appended to the Magna Charta.
About the same time a younger son of the family, Gilbert
De Vescy, came into Scotland, and received from King
Robert I. the lands of Aytoun in the Merse, and changed
his name, by royal authority, to the estate, as was the
custom of the period. The Aytoun family continued in
the Merse until the reign of James III., when a member
of the house of Home married the heiress, and carried the
estate into that family. This lady's uncle, her father's
younger brother, Andrew Aytoun, was Captain of Stirling
Castle, and Sheriff of Elgin and Forres, during the reign
of James IV. To him the king gave by his charters, "pro
1 Reg. Mag. Sig., lib. xxix. No. 351.
2 The Dunfermline Cartulary, fol. 37.
3 Extract from Conolly's Eminent Men of Fife.