New Spalding Club > Thanage of Fermartyn including the district commonly called Formartine

Fyvie. 19
as Firmarius de Fermartyn, i.e. he held the Thanage on lease. He was Sheriff of
Kincardine in 1242, and was afterwards Chamberlain. There is an account in the
Exchequer Rolls of his firma or rent — the exact sutn is not given ; but we learn from
Skene's " Celtic Scotland " that it amounted to one hundred and twenty merks."
There is mention made in the Exchequer Rolls of the sums paid by the burghers of
Fyvie for the lands of Kilmalcolm let to them, and in the said account there is a
memorandum that Henry de Fyvin ought to render an account of the eels of Fyvin for
the whole time that he held the waters and marshes of Fyvin. '^ These waters and
marshes were probably on the level grounds of the Ythan, on the site of the present
lake of Fyvie.
After Reginald Cheyne, we find that John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, possessed the
lands of the Thanage of Fermartyn. John de Baliol, King of Scotland, gave by charter
to the Earl all the lands of the Thanage of Fermartyn and Derleye, except the Burgh
and Castle of Fyvie (Fyvyn).^ And in 1304-5, the Earl pays to the King's (Edward I.)
exchequer per John Wrokwardyns the sum of ;^i6 for these lands. ••
After the battle of Inverurie, where the Comyns were defeated by Bruce, and there
followed the terrible "harrying of the lands of Buchan," the Earl ofBuchan's connection
with the Thanage of Fermartyn ceases, and we find other possessors of it and the forest
thereof
The next Thane of Fermartyn was John Brown. In the missing charters of King
Robert the Bruce, sometime between the years 1306 and 1329, there is a charter to
John Brown of the Thanage of Fermartyn.^ There is another missing charter, of the
same reign, to Patrick de Montealto of the '' ofifice of Forester of Kilanel and Fermartyn,
showing that the forest was a royal one. This Patrick de Montealto was very probably
one of the Mowats of Balquholly, now Hatton.
Sir John Brown was also Sheriff of Aberdeen, and there are extant his accounts of
second tithes due to the Bishopric of Aberdeen from the Thanages of Kintore,
Fermartyn, Belhelvie, and Aberdeen, in total, the sum of ;^7 iis., and in 1331-32 we
find him accounting for the dues from the burgh of Fyvie."
Sir John Brown was the son of Adam Brown, who fell at the battle of Falkirk in
1298. He possessed considerable lands in Ayrshire, which were forfeited, and which
were granted to William Lindsay, Canon of Glasgow.' Sir John, besides the Thanedom
of Fermartyn, owned the lands of Glanderstone in the Garioch. He married and had
issue. Among his descendants was the late David Browne of Greenknowe, Stirlingshire
and Laurieston, Midlothian, one of whose grandchildren was the late amiable and
accomplished Mr. Riddell Stodart, Lyon Clerk-Depute of the Herald's College,
Edinburgh.^
The next Thane of Fermartyn was Ranald More, Chamberlain of Scotland.
1 Skene's " Celtic Scotland," III. p. 252. 5 Rob. Inde,\ of Charters, p. 17.
2 Exchequer Rolls I. p. 21. 6 Skene's Celtic Scotland III. p. 251.
3 Bain's Calendar of State papers II. p. 40T. 7 Exchequer Rolls, Vol. I. p. 24.
4 Id., II. p. 440. 8 MS., Penes, late Mr. Riddell Stodart, Lyon Clerk-Dep.