Douglas book > Angus memoirs

82 ARCHIBALD, FIFTH EARL OF ANGUS, "BELL THE GAT."
insurgents. Whether he wished to conceal their designs, or hoped to gain
the desired end hy other means than a resort to arms, does not appear, but at
intervals during February and March 1488, he is found witnessing royal
charters at Edinburgh, side by side with David, Earl of Crawford, and other
supporters of the king. 1
The Earl of Argyll, also, who afterwards openly joined the disaffected
nobles, continued to act as Chancellor, and was still at Court some weeks
after the rebel standard had been raised. 2 The Bishops of Glasgow and
left Stirling Castle on the 2d February
immediately following, and the insurrection
was formally begun. [Ibid. pp. 184,211,223.]
This date, taken in connection with the fact
that Angus was in Edinburgh on the 4th of
February, proves that though he is said to
have taken a leading part in the rebellion, he
was not the most active partisan. The barons
who secured the prince were probably the
Homes and Hepburns, against whom the
commission was aimed, and this is corrobor-
ated by the influential position which the
heads of these houses occupied in the next
reign.
1 This fact is somewhat noteworthy, as
except to three or four charters in the year
1476, and when, as stated in the text, he is
named as a witness on 4th and 23d February,
5th, 6th, and 7th March 14S7-S [Registrum
Magni Sigilli, vol. ii. Nos. 1702, 1708, 1712,
1713, 1715-1717], Angus is a witness to no
recorded charter of King James the Third. A
further significance may perhaps beattachedto
this circumstance, if a story told by Buchanan
be accepted. Buchanan, who credits the king
with bloodthirsty designs against the rebel-
lious nobles, states that he pretended to
be reconciled to the leaders, and specially
that he made a confidant of Angus, who,
however, distrusted his sincerity and refused
to be cajoled. The historian adds that while
the nobles were assembled at Edinburgh, the
king invited Angus to the Castle, and proposed
that the Earl should assist him in apprehend-
ing the factious nobles and bringing them to
punishment. But Angus, while pretending to
enter into the scheme, warned the insurgents,
and immediately retired himself. It is evident,
however, that the nobles only assembled for
the Parliament, which was dissolved before
the rebellion was openly raised, and though
Angus attended at Court for some time after, it
may have beenforpacific purposes. Buchanan's
story may have a certain basis, but the senti-
ments ascribed to the king are at variance
with his character as given by Ferrerius, who
specially says he was greatly averse to blood-
shed. [Buchanan, Aikman's Translation,
vol. ii. pp. 217, 218 ; Ferrerius, f. 401.]
2 Argyll was chancellor until 21st Febru-
ary 1487-8, probably until the 28th ; Bishop
Elphinstone became chancellor on 29th Feb-
ruary. Argyll, as " Earl of Argyll," appears
with the new chancellor as a witness on 20th