Justiciar of Lothian
The Justiciar of Lothian (in Norman-Latin, Justiciarus Laudonie) was an important legal office in the High Medieval Kingdom of Scotland.
The Justiciars of Lothian were responsible for the administration of royal justice in the province of Lothian, a much larger area than the modern Lothian, covering Scotland south of the Forth and Clyde, outwith Galloway, which had its own Justiciar of Galloway. The institution may date to the reign of King David I (died 1153), whose godson David Olifard was the first attested Justiciar. The Justiciars of Lothian, although not magnates of the stature of the typical Justiciar of Scotia, were significant landowners and not creatures of the kings.
List of Justiciars of Lothian, (incomplete)
- David Olifard (c.1165–c.1170)
- Robert Avenel, Richard Comyn, Robert de Quinci, Geoffrey de Melville (c.1170xc.1178)
- Walter Olifard the Elder (c.1178–c.1188)
- Patrick I, Earl of Dunbar (d. 1232) (c.1195–c.1205)
- David de Lindsay the Elder and Gervase Avenel (d. 1219) (c.1206–c.1215?)
- Alexander, Sheriff of Stirling and Walter Lindsay, Sheriff of Berwick (c.1206–c.1215?)
- Walter Olifard the Younger (d. 1242) (c.1215–1242)
- David de Lindsay the Younger (c. 1241–1249x1251)
- David Graham, deputy (1248, 1253)
- Alan Durward, Knt.(1250),[1]
- Thomas de Normanville (c.1251–1253x1255)
- Walter Murray of Bothwell (1255x1257)
- Hugh Barclay (1258)
- Thomas de Normanville and Stephen Fleming (1259)
- Stephen Fleming (c.1260)
- Hugh de Berkeley (c1261 - after Feb 1275-6)[2]
- William de Soules (d. 1292x1293) (c.1279–1292x1293)[3]
- Geoffrey de Moubray (d. 1300) (1294–1296?)
- Adam of Gordon and John de Lisle (1305–1306)
- Sir James Douglas (c.1314-c.1318) [4]
- Sir Robert de Lawedre of The Bass (d. Sept 1337) (bef. Sept 1319 - 1337) [5][6][7]
- William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas (1371-1384)[8]
Notes
- ^ Harvey, Charles C.H., & MacLeod, John, editors,Calendar of Writs preserved at Yester House 1166-1625, Scottish Record Society, Edinburgh, 1930, p.9, no.15, where he is described as Sir Alan Durward "Justicario Scocie" on 30 July 1250.
- ^ Miscellaneous Charter no.1236, Durham University Archive (available on-line)
- ^ Foedera, p228
- ^ Munimenti de Melros, Vol II p.385
- ^ Mackenzie, Sir George, Precedency p39
- ^ Nisbet, Alexander, Systems of Heraldry, vol.II, part 4, p63, 1722/1984
- ^ Exchequer Rolls, 1337, vol.1, p452 - "Robertum de Lawedre, Justiciarium Laudonie", a member of the Council of the Regency
- ^ Exchequer Rolls, 1371, vol.2, p394,p.462
References
- Barrow, G.W.S., "The Judex", in Barrow (ed.), The Kingdom of the Scots, (Edinburgh, 2003), pp. 57–67. ISBN 0-7486-1803-1
- Barrow, G.W.S., "The Justiciar", op.cit., pp. 68–111.
- Liber Sancte Marie de Melros: munimenta vetustiora monasterii cisterciensis de Melros, ed. Cosmo Innes 1837.[1]
- Rymer, Thomas,Foedera Conventiones, Literae et cuiuscunque generis Acta Publica inter Reges Angliae. London. 1745. (Latin) [2]