Series 4 > Miscellany of the Scottish History Society

pursemaster’s accounts
19
6-7 March he was at Linlithgow,1 whence he proceeded to Stirling,
where the Queen was in residence. On 16 March he left Stirling for
Falkland and by 18 March he had arrived at St Andrews.2 Two days
later he visited the works in progress at Burntisland, returning to
Stirling by boat. Having spent Easter with the Queen at Stirling, he
left again on 2 April for Falkland. From 3 to 5 April he was at St
Andrews, but on 7 April he was back at Stirling once more,3 to ac¬
company the Queen on her journey to Falkland. This was accom¬
plished in easy stages. Having reached Alloa by river, they proceeded
overland to Dunfermline, where they made an offering at the Abbey.4
After spending the night of 8-9 April at Wester Kinghorn, the royal
party was transported in two galleys along the Fife coast, as far as
Ravenscraig, near Kirkcaldy, whence on 10 April they completed the
final stage of the journey overland to Falkland. There the Queen
remained until 1 May, when she removed to St Andrews.5 Meanwhile
the King, restless as ever, had left Falkland on 13 April, crossing the
Forth from Kinghorn to Leith and returning, apparently by the same
route, three days later. He remained at Falkland from the 16th to the
22nd, apart from a day’s hunting nearby at Cash on the 17th, but on
22 April he left once more, proceeding by way of Cupar to Pitlethie,
near Leuchars. His stay there lasted ten days, broken by a brief
excursion to Dundee on 30 April.6 His ‘fraucht’ across the Tay ‘pass-
and and repassand’ cost the pursemaster 44s. Having gone to Edin¬
burgh on 2 May, three days later he decided to rejoin his wife at St
Andrews. After a fortnight’s inactivity he returned to Edinburgh on
21 May, only to be recalled in haste the following day for the birth of
1 RSS, ii, nos. 3444-51, show that the King remained at Linlithgow until 13 March.
Two entries in the accounts suggest that the pursemaster had remained in Edinburgh
on this occasion. On 6 March -£200 was sent to Linlithgow ‘to the kingis graice’ and
on 7 March 3 s. was paid to McKesoun ‘ that come fra Lynlythqw fra the kingis graice
to Edinburght erandys’.
2 RSS, ii, nos. 345^-8.
8 Both RSS, ii, no. 3471, and the pursemaster’s account place the King at Grange
(probably near Burntisland) on 6 April.
4 Probably at the shrine of St Margaret, whose aid was invoked in royal childbirths
(TA, i, p. Ixxiii).
6 sro, Despences de la Maison Royale (e. 34), no. 1, pt. 7, f. 1.
6 RSS, ii, no. 3482, shows that the King was still at Pitlethie on 1 May 1540. James v
resided at Pitlethie on various occasions from June 1538 onwards and a number of
royal charters were dated there: Liber Emptorum (e. 32), no. 7, f. 105; RMS, iii, p.
1028.