History of the Fife Pitcairns

138 THE FIFE PITCAIRNS.
scruple in taking away the land from others without giv-
ing them compensation.
In 1594, on the 7th March, King James conveyed Henry
Pitcairn's lands to his Queen.
The charter runs as follows : —
Charter by King James the Sixth to his spouse Anne, Queen of
Scotland, of the Monastery and Abbacy of Dunfermline, with the
lands and revenues thereof, as therein described, following on resig-
nation thereof by Henry Pitcairn of that Ilk, who was lawfully pro-
vided thereto, and which the King incorporated into a free temporal
lordship, suppressing the name of the monastery. 1
" 'Henry Pitcairn of that Ilk,' nephew of Robert Pitcairn,
is styled Commendator in 1593, and his name might have
been added to the list of Abbots, although not strictly one
of that number. In that year he resigned his trust to
Queen Anne of Denmark, she having obtained the abbacy
for her life from James VI., on the morning after their mar-
riage at Upslo in 1589, and it having been confirmed to her
by Crown Charter in 1593. In the same year the abbacy
was perpetually annexed to the Crown by Act of Parlia-
ment ; and the infeftment then given by James, on Pitcairn's
resignation, to his Queen and heirs, with all infeftments
granted by her, was ratified by Parliament in 1612. This
whole transaction may, doubtless, be traced to royal cupidity,
and at the suggestion of some parasitical, worldly minded
courtiers, whereby the Church was stripped of a large por-
tion of its once vast possessions." 2
The King had granted Henry Pitcairn the office of Com-
mendator, and the revenues thereof, and the Lords of
Council had approved, and it was duly signed and ratified
by the Council, in Robert Pitcairn's lifetime. Evidently,
however, the King could not resist the temptation of taking
the property. It was near his palace of Dunfermline, under
his own eye, very valuable, and so he simply took it. In
1595, Aug. 24, there is a deed drawn up.
1 Reg. Mag. Sig., lib. xxxix. No. 248.
2 Chalmers, Hist, of Dunfermline, vol. i. pp. 203, 204.