Series 5 > Miscellany [of the Scottish History Society] XIII

210
FISCAL FEUDALISM
when the Ruthven regime collapsed in 1583; he died the next year.1 It is
plausible that he would have groomed a younger son to succeed him.
Alexander Colville’s existence is known only because he was
denounced by the privy council in 1605 for the ‘cruell wounding’ of
Gilbert Adglay.2 It seems unlikely that he was an official member of the
treasury staff at that point. The records, however, are recalcitrant.
References to a treasurer clerk tend to peter out after 1580, and by the
early seventeenth century there seems to have been a small team of
treasury staff.3 The document’s author clearly had experience of the
treasury in the early seventeenth century, as we shall see when we
consider its date. If this Alexander was the author, as is probable, he was
either a member of the treasury staff during some period after 1600, and
possibly before, or was assistant or servant to someone who did.
The Colvilles of Cleish had connections with the earl of Mar, which
would help to explain why Mar would turn to a member of that family
for advice on the treasury. Mar was himself a leading Ruthven Raider.
Although there were many Ruthven Raiders, Robert Colville of Cleish
seems to have been particularly closely connected with Adam Erskine,
Mar’s cousin, during and after the Raid.4 Robert Colville’s successor,
also Robert Colville of Cleish, our Alexander’s elder brother, supported
Mar in a private quarrel in 1595.5
The other possible author is another Alexander Colville, the first
Alexander’s cousin and neighbour. This second Alexander was a
younger son of Alexander Colville, commendator of Culross, who died
1 Treasurer’s Accounts of Scotland, xiii, passim; Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, xxi, 545;
Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, viii, 1680.
2 RPC, vii, 74. In this record he was not designated ‘Mr’, as the author of the ‘Breiff
Information’ was, but this could be an oversight by a council clerk who would not
necessarily feel respectful towards a criminal being denounced. Or he could have
obtained an M.A. degree after 1605.
3 The treasurer’s clerical staff in 1605-6 consisted of Adam Lawtie, writer, and John
Oliphant, ‘register to the compter’, plus two messengers: NAS, treasurer’s accounts,
1605-6, E21/78. With some changes of personnel, this team continued until at least
1620. Colville does not appear to be mentioned, nor do there seem to be explicit
references to a treasurer clerk, though the office certainly continued to exist. Until these
MSS are published it will be hard to obtain comprehensive information from them.
4 RPC, iii, 613,619.
5 Mr John Colville to Robert Bowes, 5 July 1595, Calendar of the State Papers relating to
Scotland and Mary Queen of Scots, 1547-1603, 13 vols., ed. J. Bain et al. (Edinburgh,
1898-1969), xi, 630.