top of page
Image-empty-state.png

Alexander, 1st Lord Forbes

1380 - 1448

Image-empty-state.png
Image-empty-state.png

Alexander de Forbes was born about 1380 to Sir John of the Black Lip and Elizabeth , daughter of Sir Gilbert Kennedy of Dunure. Trained as a warrior by his father, Alexander achieved great fame in tournaments and on the battlefield. He gained the patronage of the Earl of Mar and Earl of Buchan, both of whom granted him large estates throughout northern Scotland. He was granted the rank of Lord of Parliament sometime between 1429 and 1445, which is today the oldest in Scotland.

At that time, the “duchus” lands of Forbes lay within the Mar principality and the Laird, John of the Black Lip, paid dues to the Earl of Mar, James 2nd Earl of Douglas (circa 1358 –1388). When the Earl died at the Battle of Otterburn in 1388, he had no legitimate children and his sister Isabel inherited most of his property. In 1402, Isabel Douglas, Countess of Mar (1360 – 1408), granted Alexander in his own right the charter of the lands of Edinbanchory and Craiglogy. The charter was confirmed by the King Robert III in 1405. These lands had previously belonged to his grandfather John de Forbes as of 1364.

In 1408, Alexander accompanied the Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar and Sir Walter Lindsay to England for a jousting tournament organized by Henry Beaumont, fifth Baron Beaumont of Folkingham. In the "Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland" (1409), Andrew de Wyntoun praised “Alexander of Forbes, Mareschire” (Mar-shire), as one of the four Scottish knights who bested the English knights and wrote that "for gret pris and renoun, the Scots knights won gret commendatioun."

Alexander became entangled in a land dispute between the Stewarts and Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles. David II King of Scots died childless in 1371. He was succeeded by Robert II (1316 – 1390), the son of Robert I’s daughter Marjorie and Walter Stewart, named after his family’s hereditary role as High Steward of Scotland. Robert II was followed in 1390 by his ailing son John, who took the regnal name Robert III (1337 or 1340 – 1406). During Robert III's reign (1390–1406), actual power rested largely in the hands of his brother, Robert Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany. After the suspicious death of his elder son, David, Duke of Rothesay in 1402, Robert became fearful for the safety of his younger son, the future James I. Robert sent James to France in 1406 and the the English captured him en route. When Robert III died in the same year, Robert Stewart took the reigns of the Scottish government.

In 1402, Stewart assumed the protection of Euphemia II, Countess of Ross, the daughter of Alexander Leslie, Mormaer or Earl of Ross, and his wife Isabella Stewart, Stewart’s daughter. Euphemia had succeeded to the Earldom of Ross upon her father’s death in 1402.

However, this claim was contested by Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles (died 1423), who had married Euphemia's aunt Mariota, the daughter of Euphemia I, Countess of Ross and her husband, Walter Leslie, Earl of Ross. These competing claims lead to a series of battles between the Pictish barons of northeast Scotland against the Gaelic clans of the west coast.

To secure his claim, Donald of Islay recruited the clans of MacIntoshes, Macleans, Macleods, Camerons and Chattans to join with the MacDonalds. In 1411, he landed at Dingwall and defeated the Mackays to capture Dingwall Castle in 1411. He then took Inverness and advanced toward Aberdeen. However, he was met at Harlaw on July 24, 1411, by a force commanded by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar and nephew by adoption to Robert Stewart. The Earl of Mar, commanded the clans of Leslie, Lovell, Murray, Straiton, and Forbes.

The clans battled all day and at dusk Donald withdrew. Both sides suffered casualties of 600 to 1,000, including the chiefs of the MacIntoshes and Macleans. The battle is commemorated by a 40-foot high memorial on the battlefield near the town of Inverurie.

Alexander de Forbes joined the Earl of Mar in the battle. He displayed such great prowess in his fighting skills that he was celebrated in the folk ballad “Battle of Harlaw.” Clearly, the ballad was more fiction than fact since the lyrics imply that “brave Forbes” himself killed Donald (Macdonell):

The first ae straik that Forbes strack,
He garrt Macdonell reel,
An the neist ae straik that Forbes strack
The great Macdonell fell.

Alexander continued to acquire the rights to more land in 1411 when he received an infeftment (the official bestowal of heritable land) from William Fraser of Philorth for the lands of Mickle Fintray, part of Tulymald, Blacktoun, Smythill, Miltoun of Kin-Edwart, Belcorse, and an annual reddite (rent, from the Latin for “pay back”) from the "town of Edan," all within the barony of Kinedwart and shire of Aberdeen. In 1417, Alexander received a charter from John Stewart, Earl of Buchan, of the lands of Fodderbirse in the Lordship of Aboyne, of which Buchan was Constable. Many of these lands passed to other branches of the family.

In 1421, Alexander’s battle skills were once again tested at the Battle of Baugé in France. Since 1337, the English rulers of the House of Plantagenet contested the House of Valois over the right to rule the Kingdom of France. This “Hundred Years Wars” continued when Henry V won the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and regained much of England's previously held lands in France. By 1419, the House of Valois had lost Normandy to the English and was besieged with a civil war with the supporters of the dukes of Burgundy. Since the Scots maintained an alliance with France since 1295, the Dauphin (Charles, son and heir of Charles VI) appealed to the Scots for assistance.

Scotland sent 7,000 troops commanded by Sir John Stewart of Darnley (circa 1380 – 1429); Archibald Douglas, Earl of Wigtoun circa 1391 – 1439) and later 5th Earl of Douglas; and John Stewart, Earl of Buchan (circas 1381 - 1424.) By 1421, Alexander of Forbes had been knighted and given the command of a regiment under their leadership. With their French allies, the Scots army defeated the English army at Baugé and killed its commander, Henry V’s brother Thomas, Duke of Clarence.

At that time, James I, King of Scots (1406 – 1437), was in English hands. On a trip bound for France in 1406, he was seized by English pirates and delivered to Henry IV of England. When his father Robert III died later that year, the 11-year-old James became the uncrowned King of Scots. James was educated at the English Court and learned the English methods of governance. James joined Henry V in his military campaigns in France during 1420 and 1421.

After the 1421 Battle of Baugé, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, an uncle of the young King Henry VI, negotiated for the release of James. He proposed that several Scottish knights should be selected to go to Durham as hostages. Among them was Sir Alexander of Forbes. According to the Chancery Miscellaneous Portfolios (No. II, 927) of February 3, 1423/24, those knights included “Alexander of Seton lord of Gordon, Walter of Ogilvy and Alexander Forbas, Knight – 20 attendants.”

In 1423, Sir Alexander married Elizabeth, the only daughter of George Douglas, Earl of Angus, and granddaughter of Robert III by his daughter Mary. In that same year, Alexander, Earl of Mar, granted to him the lands of Alford, later the foundation of the estates serving Putachie House which became the present Castle Forbes. Also in 1423, the Regent, Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany (grandson of King Robert II of Scotland), granted Sir Alexander a new charter of the lands and barony of Forbes to “dilecto consanguineo sui Alexandrae Forbes, milite, et carissimo consanguinee Elizabeth de Douglas.” The translation from Latin is “My cousin (‘agreeable blood’) Alexander Forbes, soldier, and my beloved cousin Elizabeth of Douglas.” Elizabeth’s first cousin once removed, John, Earl of Buchan, also granted to Sir Alexander the lands of Meikle Fintray. In 1425, Elizabeth's brother, the Earl of Angus, granted to her husband the lands of Easter Cluny in Perthshire on the River Tay.

The Duke of Albany served as Regent of Scotland until 1424, when King James I was finally ransomed and returned to Scotland. Soon after James's coronation 1425, the Duke was arrested. In spite of his being a first cousin, Sir Alexander was selected for the jury of 21 knights and peers for his trial. The jury found that Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany, and two of his sons were guilty of treason, leading to their execution and the virtual annihilation of the Stewarts of Albany.

In 1426, James, King of Scots, appointed Sir Alexander to the life-long position of Baillie of the Diocese of Moray, a civic officer similar to that of provost or magistrate. In 1430, Sir Alexander was also appointed as life-long Sheriff of Aberdeen and Baillie of Strathnairn.

James, King of Scots, appointed Sir Alexander to his King’s Council and, in 1429, granted him a royal charter that consolidated most of the estates into the Lordship of Forbes. This was probably when Forbes was created a Lord of Parliament but no patent accompanied this grant. However, this elevation of Forbes is the earliest of the kind where the title has remained hereditary in the family and not been merged in any subsequent and higher title. This makes the current Lord Forbes the premier Lord of Parliament in Scotland. Forbes is first specifically mentioned as sitting in Parliament in 1445.

In 1431, Donald Balloch, Sir Alexander's cousin, led an army to demand the release of the rebellious Alexander of Islay, Lord of the Isles and Earl of Ross, who had been imprisoned by the king. Sir Alexander joined the Royalist forces led by the Earls of Mar and Caithness at the Battle of Inverlochy, near present-day Fort William. Mar and Caithness were defeated – but James himself led an army into the Highlands and disbursed the rebel forces.

Lord Forbes gained more land in 1431 when Lady Elizabeth Keith of Dunotter, heiress of the barony of Aboyne, and her husband, Thomas Somerville, Lord Carnwath granted to “Alexander de Forbes, militem, the lands of Ballindurno and half of Balshangy, with the mill of Torquhonochy.” This grant was in consideration of Forbes's assistance in establishing her right to a large part of her inheritance which had come to her from her mother, Margaret Fraser of Touch, and went eventually to her daughter (by her first husband, Sir Adam Gordon of Gordon), who was also named Elizabeth.

When the Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar, died in 1435, he had no legitimate male heir and so the Earldom of Mar reverted to the crown. However, Sir Robert Erskine of Erskine claimed the land and the title through his mother, Janet Keith Erskine (circa 1330 – 1413). He appealed his case to Forbes, who was Sheriff of Aberdeen. Not until the murder of James, King of Scots, in 1437 did Forbes judge that Erskine was rightfully 13th Earl of Mar and Garioch. Robert Erskine, 1st Lord Erskine and the new Earl of Mar, promptly granted Forbes the lordship of Auchindoir & the Cabrach and part of Strathdee.

In 1444, Alexander Seton (son and heir of Alexander Seton, Lord Gordon), 1st Earl of Huntly, granted Lord Forbes the bulk of his Lordship of Cluny, Midmar and Tough, rent-free. In exchange, Lord Forbes's son, James, the Master of Forbes, agreed to offer Lord Gordon his bond of “manrent,” to provide military aid when requested. Lord Forbes also gained the sasine or deed to Kynaldy in 1447.

As Baillie of Aberdeen, Lord Forbes was the enforcer of the law, on behalf of the young James II, King of Scots. This was put to the test sometime between 1438 and 1445. According to the Genealogy of the Family of Forbes (Lumsden, 1580), the King charged him to “put remedie” to his bastard half-brother John “Out with the Sword” Forbes due to his “extortion.” According to the Genealogy, Sir Alexander “took him at the kirk of Forbes and struck off his head and caused yerd him behind the kirk and sett his grave about with tippet stones, where it remains as yet to testifie the same.”

In 1440, Sir Alexander started building the first permanent castle around an old tower built in the previous century. This “Castle Forbes” replaced the earlier fortifications on nearby Castlehill known as “Druminnor,” Gaelic for “ridge of the confluence” and refers to the ridge between the Kearn Burn and Bogie Water. He received a receipt for part payment for “makyn ye house of Drumynnour” from the 15th century architects, John Kamloke and Wilyhame of Ennerkype. He made a downpayment of 151 merks and 5 shillings against a total payment due of 200 merks. Castle Forbes remained the seat of the Lords Forbes until it was sold in 1770. Putachie House was later renovated and expanded to become the new Castle Forbes.

By the time of his death in 1448, Alexander, 1st Lord Forbes, had greatly expanded the family fortune, land, and influence. With his wife, Elizabeth, he fathered five children: James, who became the 2nd Lord Forbes; William, Provost of St. Giles, Edinburgh; Annabella, who married Patrick, Master of Gray; Margaret, who married Alexander Meldrum of Fyvie; and Elizabeth, who married Alexander Irvine of Drum. With unnamed Stewart woman, he fathered at least one illegitimate son named Richard Forbes, who achieved knighthood, became Archdeacon of Ross, and was appointed Chamberlain of the Kingdom in 1455. In 1462, Richard was granted the ward of the lands of his deceased nephew, James, 2nd Lord Forbes, until his nephew William came of age.

Images:
Top: Depiction of the 1411 Battle of Harlaw
Middle: Depictions of the 1421 Battle of Bauge and 1431 Battle of Inverlochy
Bottom: Plan for original "Castle Forbes" and remaining block house of "Druminnor Castle"

bottom of page