BRECHIN:
SNAPSHOTS FROM THE PAST
Walter
Stewart, Lord of Brechin
Walter
Stewart, Lord of Brechin When Walter, Earl of Atholl married
the daughter of Sir David Barclay he gained, on the latter's
death, the title and lands of Lord of Brechin. Walter Stewart
was a son of Robert II by his second wife and therefore
uncle of James I. James had been a prisoner of the English
court for eighteen years before his return to Scotland in
1424. He was intelligent and industrious, and he was determined
to consolidate his power in Scotland where, as a result
of his forced exile, the magnates had developed their individual
spheres of influence. But at times he was too demanding
in securing increased taxation and lands and, after so many
years observing the belligerent, dominating style of Henry
V of England, his was an aggressive government. He created
enemies.
Possibly
Walter Stewart was alienated by his king's acquisitive nature
and aggression, or possibly he felt threatened by it - there
was a recent history of murder and execution within the
Stewart family and Walter's earldom of Atholl was held only
tenuously and, along with his lands of Strathearn, could
quite easily be taken by the monarch leaving him with little
more than the lordship of Brechin - or perhaps he had ambitions
for himself or for his grandson and heir, Robert Stewart.
Whatever his reasons there is little doubt that Walter was
the leading participant in a conspiracy that led to the
king's assassination in Blackfriars, Perth in 1437. Robert
Stewart, a trusted member of the king's household, made
it easy for the assassins to gain entry to the royal chambers
where they found James hiding in a sewer and, led by Sir
Robert Graham, stabbed him sixteen times in the chest.
The
killers bungled in failing to murder the queen who escaped
to bear witness against them. Soon all were apprehended
and met a grisly execution. Walter denied his implication
in the crime but he and his grandson, who did confess, were
also executed. So it was that within one hundred and twenty
years a second Lord of Brechin was executed for treason.
©
Copyright Brian Mitchell 2000
