Frasers of Philorth > Volume 1

THE FRASERS OF COWIE, DURRIS, AXD PHTLORTH. 109
the Chamberlain that no blood-relationship could have existed between
Robert I. and him.
Sir Alexander was Sheriff of Aberdeen for nearly all the remainder of his
life, certainly until the year 1399.
On one or two occasions in 1382 John Fraser's name is found as Vice-
comes of Aberdeen; 1 it is possible that during some temporary absence of
Sir Alexander, his brother John might have held that appointment, but he
himself appears as Vicecomes both before and after that date, and it may be
a clerical error, for a John de Forbes acted as his lieutenant in 1374. 2
As Vicecomes of Aberdeen Sir Alexander Fraser was a witness to a gift
by William de Meldrum to the church of St. Nicholas at Aberdeen, and
although in the Antiquities of the shires of Aberdeen and Banff, published
by the Spalding Club, the date of this charter is stated to be 1342, 3 there is
evidence in the document itself that this must be an error, for Alexander,
Bishop of Aberdeen, and Sir William de Keith, the Marischal, were also
witnesses to it, and no Bishop of -Aberdeen bore that name from the death
of the first Alexander Kinuinmond, on the 14th of August 1340, to the
succession of the second Alexander Kinuinmond in 1355, 4 while Sir William
de Keith did not become Marischal until the death of his father, Sir Edward
de Keith, who himself was not Marischal until after the battle of Durham in
1346, where his grandnephew, Sir Robert de Keith, whom he succeeded, was
killed; the correct date, therefore, must be later than 1355, and there is good
reason for believing it to be 1372, for Sir Alexander Fraser is designated
"Miles," or Knight, a rank that he will be seen to have held in 1371, at
the coronation of Robert n., but probably had not obtained in 13G9, as he
is not so styled in the charter of the barony of Durris, which he received
in that year.
David II., King of Scotland, died in February 1371, according to present
computation of time, and was succeeded by Robert Stewart, who, though his
nephew, was several years his senior, and had been guardian of the kingdom
during his captivity in England, from 1346 to 1357.
On the 26th of March 1371 Sir Alexander Fraser was one of the barons
1 Reg. Episc. Aberd., vol. i. p. 142. 3 Antiquities of Aberdeen, vol. iii. p. 45..
2 Chamberlain Rolls, vol. ii. p. 73. 4 Reg. Epise. Aberd., vol. ii. p. 24S.