My major area of focus has been the earldom of the Keiths, the Earls Marischal of Scotland. They are an excellent case study of long-term stable lordship and are a great window into the development of the Scottish state: showing how government was transformed at the top, and how the physical landscape was changed at the bottom. The Keith earldom was spread along the east coast, with concentrations in the Mearns Buchan, Lothian and Caithness. They were, for a time, the richest family in Scotland, with one of the largest lordships. Yet they were relatively few in number, so could not hope to match some of their rivals, such as the Gordon Earls of Huntly.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Keiths, but you’ll either recognise Dunnottar Castle, their principle seat of power, or Marischal College in Aberdeen – the modern building is Victorian, but the Keiths founded it.
My major work looks at George Keith, the fourth/fifth Earl Marischal.
The numbering confusion is due to some muddles with the earlier earls, which I’ve not helped with. Fourth seems to be right for George – William 3rd Lord & 1st Earl Marischal died 1483, William 2nd Earl died 1526, William 3rd Earl died 1581. In the book I thought there was an additional earl who died in 1464, which seems to be wrong.
Most studies of nobles tend to focus on murderous nut jobs – men who rebelled against the crown, murdered other nobles or were murdered themselves (the Earls of Huntly, Bothwell and Orkney, for example). These men are interesting but not typical if you want to understand how power in Scotland truly operated.
The Keiths show how power founded on force of arms gave way to power based on the control of resources from landscape, which is why the Keiths ultimately retained their position, while the Gordons had their wings clipped – at least in James’ reign. This was a slow overlapping transition from lordship to landlordism and mirrors the broader trajectory across Europe. Yet although this power was changing, contrary to arguments to the opposite, my work suggests that the nobles firmly retained their position in command of Scottish society through this adaptation, which has usually been taken as a symptom of decline.
I’ve counted around thirty castles in the Keith earldom, not least the iconic Dunnottar Castle, but also the grand and now forgotten palaces of Keith Marischal, Fetteresso and Inverugie. These were supplemented by a good number of smaller houses, such as Hallforest, Ackergill, Ravenscraig (the one in Buchan, not the one in Fife… or the steelworks). The Earls Marischal increasingly focused on estate improvement and developed a comprehensive maritime structure along the east coast, expressed through the founding of the port towns of Peterhead and Stonehaven. This meant the earldom could move their vast agricultural produce to the Royal Boroughs for national markets and international export. This plugged into wider trade networks with the continent and Baltic, and the earldom’s diaspora communities who lived there, for example the fifth earl’s uncle, Lord Dingwall, was at the court of King John III of Sweden. Thus we see the development of both Scotland’s internal and international trading networks.
Religion is a major theme of this book, and one major facet of this is Kirk Patronage. That is the old right of landowners to present candidates to the ministry of a parish church. This is a massive issue in the nineteenth century, and leads to the disruption of the 1843, resulting in the shattering of the Scottish kirk, resulting in the Free Kirk of Scotland, the United Free Kirk, and so on, but patronage had not really been studied in the Reformation period. The Earls Marischal show how patronage was exercised after the Reformation of 1560 showing how capable men were put forward as ministers, but the Keiths primarily appointed via nepotism of kinsmen or client families (which is exactly what caused 1843).
The most dynamite thing I’ve found is that before the Reformation of 1560, this family who had been Protestant for sixteen years prior, had been presenting candidates to offices within the Catholic Church. This has pretty strong implications towards debates around how the Reformation came about and the motivations behind it. One old argument is that the old church was thoroughly corrupt incapable of reform and hence the Protestant Reformation was inevitable – if Protestants were parachuting in staff at clergy level, then of course it might have been sabotaged from within. More work needs to be done in this area, as it could fundamentally change our understanding of the pre and post Reformation Kirk.
As to the Scottish Nation, there was a growing professionalisation of government over James reign – but my findings suggest that this was not at the expense of traditional noble power, but because the nobles retreated from government as they couldn’t be bothered with unthankful business of administration. This was a deliberate strategy of nobles delegating power rather than surrendering it. And this is why, for the first generation after the Union of the Crowns, there wasn’t an existential crisis with the Scottish king being in England. A lot of power was already exercised by delegation, it just so happened that now that delegation had to be done over a much longer distance. The Union of the Crowns thus had only a limited impact in its first couple of decades. Everything changed, but then again nothing changed.
Sir William Keith of Delny
- 2016 ‘Sir William Keith of Delny: Courtier, ambassador and agent of noble power’, Innes Review, 67:2, pp. 138-158.
Sir William Keith of Delny was an illegitimate son of the Keiths of Ravenscraig. He was someone who would have been expected to remain a regional support act for lesser lairdly family, but who instead enjoyed a meteoric rise to become a courtier and international diplomat. He was secured a lowly job in the royal court, and might otherwise have led an unremarkable life as a palace servant. Instead he gained the confidence of King James, and rose through the young King James VI’s chamber to become Master of the Wardrobe.
William evidently had talents as an intermediary for James, as he was quickly entrusted with diplomatic tasks, which came to a peak as one of the delegates James sent to try and prevent the execution of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots. Obviously William failed in this effort, but did not suffer for it. He joined James in his adventure to Denmark in 1589, but there got caught up in the squabbles between his superior, the Earl Marischal, and John Maitland of Thirlestane, the chancellor. As a result William was ejected from his role by James side, and spent the next couple of years out of favour and desperately scheming in ever decreasing circles. Yet once the Earl Marischal made peace with Maitland, William was able to return to James’ service and would even serve as ambassador to Venice.
William was one of Jacobean Scotland’s great intermediaries, between earl and king, king and courtiers, king and foreign governments.
Other Keiths
William Keith, d.1577, brother of George the fifth Earl. William was killed in Geneva.