David Erskine, Commandator of Dryburgh was a Scottish landowner.
He was a son of Robert Erskine, Master of Erskine, a brother of
John Erskine, Lord Erskine, and Jean Home.
In 1556 his uncle, the Earl of Mar, installed him as Commendator of
Dryburgh Abbey and
Inchmahome Priory, positions securing him a large income. His cousin
Adam Erskine was made Commendator of
Cambuskenneth.
Erskine's surviving accounts show that his kinsman
Arthur Erskine of Blackgrange and his wife
Magdalen Livingstone stayed at Dryburgh on the 9 and 10 of October 1566 before riding to
Jedburgh
Jedburgh ( ; ; or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Roxburghshire.
History
Jedburgh began as ''Jedworð'', the "worth" or enclosed settlem ...
to join
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legit ...
.
On 21 March 1567 he witnessed and signed an inventory of guns and artillery equipment at
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcol ...
. The occasion of making the inventory was that his uncle, now Earl of Mar, resigned responsibility for the castle to
James Balfour of Pittendreich. In a formal ceremony, Erskine, with
John Cunningham of Drumquhassil,
Alexander Erskine of Gogar,
Alexander Forrester of Garden, and Archibald Haldane, Constable of Edinburgh Castle, gave the castle keys to James Cockburn of Skraling.
In May 1585 his wife, Margaret Haldane, was held at
Kildrummy Castle
Kildrummy Castle is a ruined castle near Kildrummy, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Though ruined, it is one of the most extensive castles dating from the 13th century to survive in eastern Scotland, and was the seat of the Earls of Mar. It is owne ...
in the custody of the
Master of Elphinstone.
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her " spymaster".
Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wa ...
, at the instance of her brother, wrote to
Edward Wotton, an English diplomat in Edinburgh, to ask that she be moved to more congenial location. For a time,
William Stewart of Caverston, was made Commendator of Dryburgh.
In 1590
Jean Fleming, Lady Thirlestane paid him £132
Scots for the
teind of
Lauder
The former Royal Burgh of Lauder (, ) is a town in the Scottish Borders in the historic county of Berwickshire. On the Southern Upland Way, the burgh lies southeast of Edinburgh, on the western edge of the Lammermuir Hills.
Etymology
Alt ...
.
[Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts', ''Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI'' (Woodbridge, 2020), p. 71.]
David Erskine died on 28 May 1611. Margaret Haldane, Lady Dryburgh, died on 13 January 1618.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erskine, David
16th-century Scottish landowners
1611 deaths
David
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...