History of the Fife Pitcairns

LORD ROBERT PITCAIRN. 113
St Andrews. 1 As the Abbot had been Arch-Dean of St
Andrews, and lived there until he was forty years old, he
was peculiarly suitable to be on this Commission, having
necessarily intimate knowledge of the University there.
On the 23rd of April he was one of the arbiters of the
feud between the clans of Gordon and Forbes.
With other chief persons of the realm he signed the second
Confession of Faith, commonly called the King's Confession,
at Edinburgh the 28th January 1580-81.
In 1581 Robert Pitcairn married Euphemia, the second
daughter of Sir William Murray of Tullibardine, and widow
of Robert Stewart of Rossyth. Her sister Annabella
married John, Earl of Mar, and was governess to the young
King, whom she brought up exceedingly well. A note as
to the Commendator's marriage is in the 'Annals of Dun-
fermline.' The entry is as follows : " James Blackwood,
' Reader in Saline,' is mentioned as incurring the censure
and prosecution of the ecclesiastical authorities for celebrat-
ing the marriage of the Commendator of Dunfermline,
residing outside of the parish, without requiring a certificate
from the minister of the place to which he belonged." 2
The marriage had probably been a private one. Saline,
where it was solemnised, is a small place on the hills, not
very far from Dunfermline.
The arms in the illustration are carved on an old build-
ing, called the old vout or vault at Limekilns, and are
the arms of Robert Pitcairn and his wife Euphemia
Murray.
In those days Limekilns and Gellets belonged to the
Commendator, which would account for his arms being
on the vault. In James VI. 's days it was used as a Royal
storage for wine. Pitcairn's seal is on the cover of
this book, and is drawn from an impression of one in
the British Museum (Laing's Catalogue of Seals, Plate vii.
fig. 9), affixed to a grant of land. Quarterly, 1st and
4th, a mascle, for Pitcairn ; 2nd and 3rd, an eagle dis-
1 Reg. P. C. Scot., ii. 279. Calderwood, iii. 501.
2 Dunfermline Entries. Between the Ochils and the Forth, by Beveridge.
H