Of the Scot Caldwell Dynasty

Like William Wallace, Lord High Chancellor William Caldwell – whose life might have overlapped that of Wallace by a few years - grew up as a member of the Scottish minor nobility whose family history is enshrouded by mystery and legend, wrapped up in George Crawfurd’s phrase, “of that ilk,” meaning “of landed gentry.” George Crawfurd, "History of the Shire of Renfrew," privately printed in Glasgow, 1710, accessible online at google.books.

William Wallace was the son of a knight, according to his chroniclers, Blind Henry, John of Fordoun, Andrew of Wynton, and Walter Bower. Blind Harry added the phrase, “We read of one man of great renown, Of worthi blood that rules in the region, And henceforth I will relate, Of William Wallace of whom you have heard.”

William Caldwell may have been also a son of a knight, a title reserved to those who fought in battle for the Crown. Knighthood was not an inheritable right; only the title as Lord of the estate became inheritable. The first English knights to be conveyed estates in Renfrew as a reward for their services were those who served King David I and his brother, William the Lion, and Malcolm of Canmore.

Had William Caldwell been a knight, he would be allowed to wear laced or full padded sleeves and others would be obliged to address him as Sir. His children, if any, might have called him Sir, even if he were not a knight. Each William could inherit the family estate from his father only if his older brother died without issue.

At the end of the 13th century a knight was required to be ready at all times to mount himself, to clad himself in armor, and to equip himself with sword and lance, and to do the same for his esquire. An unusually large size horse had to be bred to carry the heavy armor worn by the fully armored knight. The purchase price of these horses exceeded the typical annual earnings of a knight. Most knights could not afford a horse unless they owned land. A knight was typically employed as a contract knight, residing on the land of a tenant in chief or manorial owner, equipped and maintained by his master. (Peter Reid, Medieval Warfare, Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2007, pp. 6-8.)

The nature of knighthood changed in the first half of the 14th century. Most of the knights in the 13th century were illiterate and played hardly any role in governing. But in the early 14th century, increasing involvement in administration and governing and dealing with the rising mercantile class meant that most knights were educated, fluent in Latin, French, Gaelic and English, travelers familiar with Italy, France, England, and Scotland, and familiar with a Code of Chivalry.This changing role meant that knights increasingly sought glory and honor not as part of a military elite, but in managing manorial estates and governing. Id.

Conspicuously absent was fluency in Greek. The medieval Church of the 14th century considered many of Greek philosophers a threat to the Church’s teachings. There were no printed books until the 15th century with which the writings of the Greeks could be cheaply reproduced. All of the documents of the Crown and Church were written in Latin. Latin was the universal language of the civilized world.

Had these two Williams been born of more prominent families, their surnames likely would have appeared in at least one of what today are viewed as important historical documents (see: G. Donaldson, Scotland Historical Documents, 1974; Regesta Regum Scottorum, vols. v and vi, Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, vol. I), or at least appear as witnesses in the Registrum Monasterii De Passelet (Register of the Paisley Monastery).

Perhaps someone can obtain a copy or peruse a similar document, “Registrumn Vetus Ecclesiae Cathedralis Glasguensis", in handwriting of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and "Liber Ruber Ecclesiae Glasguensis", with entries from about 1400 to 1476. The "w" is absent in the registery's reference to Glasgow as Glasguensis. These, along with other records, were in 1843 printed in a volume for the Bannatyne/Maitland Club under the title: "Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis: Munimenta Ecclesiae Metropolitanae Glasguensis a sede restauratâ saeculo ineunte XII ad reformatam religionem," reprints of which are located at National Library of Scotland. These texts may mention a Caldwell, although it is unlikely that there will be any mention of William Caldwell, because of the omission of the 14th century in these texts.

The nearest Caldwell place names during King Robert I's reign were Caldwellstoun in Carrick, Colwela in Northumbria, since ceased to exist, and Cauldwell in North Riding, Yorkshire. cf. G.W.S. Barrow, Kingdom of the Scots, Edinburgh University Press, 1973.

If England's King Edward I had become King of Scotland, he would have likely dismissed many of the Scottish clergy. cf. G.W.S. Barrow, The Kingdom of the Scots, Chap. 10, “The Clergy in the War of Independence,” pp. 214-231. The absence of the entries for the 14th century in the Glasgow Register may have have been motivated by a similar desire to conceal incriminating evidence.

In 1296 Sir Reginald Crawfurd (aka Rinaldo) was appointed sheriff of Ayr. His sister had earlier married Wallace of Elderslie and thus became the mother of William Wallace the great Scottish patriot. Needless to say, the Crawfurds rallied to his cause. The Crawfurd clan motto is "Tutum te robore reddam" which means “I will give you safety by strength.”

http://www.rampantscotland.com/clans/blclancrawford.htm.

The royal House of Bruce, that is, King Robert I, and his son, King David II, likely held both Wallaces and Caldwells in high esteem. Each of these families consistently supported Robert I, and his son David II, at times when odds of survival were dismal for the Bruces.

In late 1307 King Edward I invaded Scotland and Robert Bruce went into hiding. This might have been the year when a Lord Caldwell died -- possibly by execution -- who left no male heir, but only his wife and daughter. Any execution of Lord Caldwell by King Edward I may have been contemporaneous with that of Sir Reginald Crawfurd’s execution. After the mother’s death, his Estate may have passed to the daughter, whose status, wealth, piety, and perhaps romance resulted in a marriage proposal from Gilchrist Mure. Such a death might explain the absence of any Caldwell surname in the Arbroath Declaration of 1320. If the heiress were born in 1307, she would have been about age 26 when she married in 1333.

Scot historian George Robertson claimed that the lands in question of the Caldwell heiress were located within the “Paroch Church of Neilstoun,” the patronage of which was given by Robert Croc, “Pro salute animae suae,” to the Monks of “Pasly” (Paisley), in the reign of Scottish King William [1165-1214]. (George Robertson, "A General Description of the Shire of Renfrew, including an Account of the Noble and Ancient Families, who, from the earliest times, have had property in that County, and the most remarkable facts in the lives of distinguished individuals. To which is added, a genealogical history of the Royal House of Stewart, and the several and illustrious families of that name, from the year 1034, to the year 1710; collected from public records, chartularies of monasteries, and the best historians and private mss. Published in 1710 by George Crawfurd, author of the Peerage of Scotland, &c, &c. and continued to the present period, by George Robertson, author of The Agricultural Survey of Mid Lothian, &c.” (hereinafter, History of the Shire of Renfrew, (1818), p. 41).

“Paroch” is a term referring to lands administered by a Catholic church prelate (such as an abbot or bishop) or presbyter (church council).

Robertson referred to more than one Caldwell Estate. There were at least three Caldwell estates to the west of Loch Libo. If the Caldwell heiress’s “Terra de Caldwell” was entirely to the east of Loch Libo, it was not in the location where Caldwell Tower presently stands, to the west and north of Loch Libo. Robertson used a drawing by Timothy Pont of the 16th century that shows all of the Caldwell tower castles to the west of Loch Libo. This map can be viewed on line at National Library of Scotland. The castles would be part of what Robertson described as western Caldwell.

The vast majority of tower castles in Scotland was erected in what Barbara Tuchman describes as the “calamitous” 14th century. Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, 1987.

Scot historian G.W.S. Barrow, in The Kingdom of the Scots (1973), states that all lands west of Loch Libo were part of the Ferenze Forest and kept as part of the demense of Walter Fitz Alan, who conveyed to Robert Croc only the lands of Neilston Parish to the east of Loch Libo.

It is unclear whether the reference to the Terra de Caldwell included lands both to the east and west, north and south of Loch Libo. The present day Caldwell Tower lies to the north of Loch Libo. It is not truly a 14th century tower castle but erected in the late 17th century from stones taken from the prior castle that had been dismantled. Images of Caldwell Tower can be viewed online at google.images.

The lands of Renfrew are the first-mentioned of the estates specified in the charter granted by King Malcolm IV in 1157, in favor of Walter fitz Alan, the founder of the Stewart family, whereby he confirmed a grant which had been made by King David, who reigned from 1124 to 1153. The office of high steward of Scotland was also conferred on Walter and his successors, who from thence took the surname of Stewart, often, but incorrectly, spelt Stuart.

http://www.pressinfo.co.uk/renfrew/town.htm.

Suprisingly the Caldwell spelling within Scotland was in use no later than by the end of the 13th century, as confirmed by mention of conveyance in 1294 of mining rights to Terra de Caldwell in the Paisley Register. The name of the Scottish Caldwell Estates had undergone a variety of spellings. A 1654 map uses the spelling Coldwel. (George Crawfurd and George Robertson, “A History of the Shire of Renfrew,” supra, p. 241.) In George Crawfurd and George Robertson’s History of the Shire of Renfrew, supra, Caldwel is the spelling most often used. In early correspondence to William Mure in the first quarter of the 18th century, Sir David Hume, famed Scottish philosopher, addressed his letters to William Mure at Calwell. Later letters used the Caldwell spelling. A January 11, 1760 pleading before the Scottish Lords of Session lists counsel as William Mure (1716-1776) of Caldwall. (Answers for William Mure of Caldwall, Esq.; to the petition and complaint of Daniel Campbell ... William Grahame ... and Alexander Cunnynghame, ..., National Library of Scotland, microfiche). Throughout the nineteenth century, the Caldwell spelling was used by a later William Mure of Caldwell, author of numerous books. (See online catalogue, National Library of Scotland.)

There is yet another source indicating the spelling of Caldwell in the 14th century. According to Samuel Cowan, author of "The Lord Chancellors of Scotland," W. & A.K. Johnston Limited, 1911, vol.1, at p. 163, William Caldwell was appointed Chancellor in 1349 and served until 1354, when he died. Cowan reports that William Caldwell presided over Parliament held at Dundee, where the Estates discussed the ransom of King David, who had been imprisoned for 11 years. Lord Chancellor Caldwell pleaded for payment of the ransom, but the nobles allied themselves with France, and invaded Berwick, then held by the English. The Scots, led by Baliol, were defeated decisively. When Caldwell's successor stepped in as Chancellor, a portion of the ransom was paid in 1354, the balance to be paid later. Cowan writes that there are no documents describing the official duties of the Chancellor. He ranked below the High Steward but above the Chamberlain. The Lord Chancellor was responsible for administering the laws and presiding at courts of justice. p. 6. The position was usually given to the most learned and scholarly men of the time and most influential with the King. p. 11 Up to the Reformation, the Lord Chancellors were usually Catholic Prelates. p. 12. Many had university training in France or Italy. p. 6.

William Caldwell was a prebend of the Diocese of Glasgow that encompassed both Ayrshire and Renfrewshire. No reference indicating he was the bishop or archbishop, although many of his predecessors were. If so, he would have held positions both as head of the ecclesiastic and secular courts of 14th century Scotland. As Lord High Chancellor, he likely would have been among the wealthiest individuals in Scotland, yet no document has been revealed establishing what lands he owned or possessed. As prebend wanting to increase the tithes or rent payable to the Church, a prebend likely would favor the clearance of forests so that land could be used for pasturage. The settlers who rented these cleared areas might have been assigned Caldwell as their surname regardless of lack of kinship, perhaps an explanation why there is no Caldwell clan.

Barrow lists in the Kingdom of the Scots (1973) the more important charters for lands Walter Fitz Alan granted to others. The list does not include reference to any Caldwell by surname or place name. Robert Croc is listed. How then do we explain William Caldwell being a prebend (trustee) of lands used to support the Glasgow Diocese?

Did Walter Fitz Alan’s successor Robert Stewart designate William Caldwell to serve as the prebend, such that upon his death, management of the lands passed to another prebend or to the Church, rather than into his personal estate? Such a theory can explain the absence of a charter by which the lands became part of his hereditary estate. The administrative burdens associated with being a prebend for the benefit of the Church may have necessitated a highly educated and devout individual.

With so many dying during the Black Plague of 1349-1350, William Caldwell would have been in the position as chancellor to ensure that the people to whom he designated successors to those who died without heirs would bear the Caldwell surname. Another consideration is that the Paisley and Glasgow abbeys and cathedrals were mother churches that promoted daughter churches in the outlying areas throughout Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. William Caldwell might have fostered adoption of the Caldwell surname among the members of these daughter churches. The use of surnames became much more common following the Plague. All of the chancellors after William Caldwell bore surnames, while only 5 of 12 before him used surnames. These circumstances could have played a large role in widespread and rapid proliferation of the Caldwell surname at the end of the 14th century in Ayrshire and Renfrewshire.

Gilchrist Mure [aka Gilcrist Mure] acquired the majority of the Caldwell Estate in present day Uplawmoor, East Renfrewshire, Scotland in the 14th century. This conclusion is based upon two secondary sources: (1) "The Statistical Account of Ayrshire by Ministers of the Respective Parishes," published in the 1800s by William Blackwood & Sons (Edinburgh), states Gilchrist, second son of Sir Reginald [Mure], acquired the Estate of Caldwell by marrying the Heiress of Caldwell of that Ilk." (See posting here, 3/6/02. David Caldwell, Manitoba) (2) Burke's Landed Gentry states Gilchrist More acquired the estate of Caldwell in Ayrshire and Renfrewshire through marriage with the heir of Caldwell, of that ilk. (http://www.burkes-peerage.

net/sites/common/sitepages/page13b-may.asp, From Caldwell To Tasmania)

The Wallaces and Caldwells possibly held themselves oath-obligated to support the King, although their economic interests tempted them to defect.

A Lord Caldwell may have gathered with Robert the Bruce on the island of Arran, off the west coast of Scotland, when Robert the Bruce made up his mind to make another fight for the crown. Lord Caldwell might have been among those who greeted him, as his boat landed on the west coast of Scotland in 1314.

"Twas in spring, when winter tide
With his blasts, terrible to bide
Was overcome; and birdies small,
As throstle and the nightingale,
Began right merrily to sing,
And to make in their singing
Sundrie notes, and varied sounds,
And melody pleasant to hear,
And the trees began to blow
With buds, and bright blossom also,
To win the covering of their heads
Which wicked winter had them riven,
And every grove began to spring."

-- John Barbour, The Bruce, p. 159.

Regardless whether or not he was a knight, any Lord of the Caldwell Estate (including any heiress becoming a fee grant holder) would have owed a military obligation as a vassal to the chief of the House of Stewart, and through him, to the Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew.

In A.D. 1294, King Edward I summoned Scotland's King John Baliol to aid King Edward I in his efforts to recover former English lands in France: Gascony and Aquitane. John Baliol and the magnates of Scotland did not respond to this demand and Edward I spent the next two years assembling an army of thousands that invaded Scotland in 1306. (Peter Reid, Medieval Warfare, Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2007, p. 94.)

Edward’s preparations for war may have alarmed Lord Caldwell. In A.D. 1294, Lord Caldwell secretly obtained the money needed to retain the services of contract knights, their armor, weapons, horses, esquires, and garrisoned a squad of cross-bow and long bow archers at his three tower castles, by conveying to the Glasgow Bishop the rights to extract ore – likely lime needed to de-acidify the croplands and perhaps for processing of coal -- from the Caldwell Estate.

The conveyance was not recorded in the Registrum Monasterii De Passelet (Register of the Paisley Monastery) until after Robert the Bruce was crowned the King of Scotland in 1306. It was witnessed by Reginald Crawfurd,aka Ronald or Rinaldo, Sheriff of Ayr. Reginald was the brother of Margaret, the mother of William Wallace.

Reginald risked his life and the lives of his family to provide protection from the English to his nephew. After six years of running interference for his nephew as the situation spun out of control incident after incident, Sir Reginald paid with his life, being the first Lord of the Scottish Council of Barons to be killed by agents of King Edward at the Barns of Ayr. Some historians state that Crawfurd was executed in 1297 while others state 1307. The date of 1307 appears more likely, in light of Sir Reginald Crawfurd’s appearance as a witness along with Robert I as Scotland’s King, a title Robert had not acquired until 1306.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Crawford

Norman Reid’s Scotland in the Reign of Alexander III, John Donald Publishers Ltd., 1997, and Professor A.A.M. Duncan’s Scotland: The Making of a Nation, Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd Croythorn House, 1975, and K.J. Stringer, ed.’s Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland, Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd., 1985, reveal the life and times of Scotland during Wallace’s youth.

Thanks to numerous books, such as John of Fordoun’s Chronica Gentis Scottorum; John Barbour’s The Bruce; Andrew of Wyntoun’s Orygynale Chronykil of Scotland, 1414; Geoffrey Barrow’s Scotland and Its Neighbors in the Middle Ages, London: The Hambledon Press, 1992; Geoffrey Barrow’s Robert the Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, California: University of California Press, 4th edition, 2005; Chris Brown’s Robert the Bruce: A Life Chronicled, Stroud: Tempus Publishing Ltd. 2004; Alan Young’s The Comyns- Robert the Bruce’s Rivals, Tuckwell Press, Ltd., 1998; and Michael Douglas’s The Black Douglases, Tuckwell Press, Ltd., 1998, we know far more about Scotland during William Caldwell’s youth, because these were the years on which most Scotland medieval historians have focused.

Both Williams grew up in Scottish communities, speaking Scots (Gaelic), and this helps explain the portrayal, misleading as it may be, that these men were of the common people, rather than from a privileged, foreign and exploitive class. However, each man shared a sense of Scottish nationalism long before Bonaparte was miscredited as the first European to promote nationalism.

Most of the minor nobility of Renfrew and Ayrshire at the beginning of the 14th century was educated by monks at Paisley Abbey and Glasgow Cathedral, and attained fluency in Latin, French, English, and Gaelic. The branches of those in knight service were pruned by perilous tours to the Holy Land, man to man combat on the battlefield, and mortal wounds in tournaments upon which they depended to maintain their skills. Chris Brown, William Wallace; the True Story of Braveheart, Tempus 2005.

Until the beginning of the 15th Century, what now is the County of Renfrew, or Renfrewshire, was part of the County of Lanark, or Lanarkshire. Between August 7, 1413 and August 12, 1414, Renfrew ceased to be a barony, and was made into a shire.

http://thor.genserv.net/sub/griff/note_30.htm

The 14th century Mures of Caldwell are descended from Sir Reginald More, appointed Lord High Chamberlain of Scotland. in 1329, the year that King Robert I died, and first year of the reign of his successor, Scotland’s King David II. (W. M. (William Musham) Metcalfe. A History of the County of Renfrew from the Earliest Times, 1905, p. 105 [Go to Google Search Advanced Book Search.)

Sir Reginald More had one daughter, Alicia, and three sons. The eldest William, died without male issue. His estate at Cowdam [virtually abutting the Caldwell estate] passed to his nephew, Godfrey, son of Gilchrist Mure, second son of Sir Reginald More. (Metcalfe, ibid.)

In 1333 Gilchrist Mure had married an heiress of a Caldwell Estate and thereby assumed the title of Lord Caldwell. (George Craufurd (1710) and William Semple (1785), A History of Renfrewshire [Go to Google Search Advanced Book Search].) The very fact that this marriage occurred implies that the Caldwell heiress was a person of a prominent family.

Gilchrist’s son, Godfrey Muir, is the first Mure who is designated “of Caldwell,” i.e., born at Caldwell. (Metcalfe, ibid.)

Alicia’s second marriage was to Sir John Stewart of Ralston, son of Walter, Steward of Scotland, and half brother to King Robert II. (Metcalfe, ibid.) Any loyalty that the Stewarts owed to the Caldwells may have been transferred to the Mures as the successor Lords of the Caldwell Estate.

As to the first of the Stewart dynasty, Robert II was of no woman born, his bloody delivery by emergency Caesarean as the mother lie dying, having fallen from a horse, her neck broken. Legend has it that Robert II’s delivery was foretold by witches. His eyes had a scarred veil over them now attributed to the crudeness with which the Cesarean delivery was done.

Some historians dispute these as stories popularized by individuals desiring to discredit the Stewart dynasty and claim that Robert II was delivered not in the field by a soldier’s sword, but by a midwife in the presence of a nun or monk who blessed the birth and baptised the infant.

The sons of Alicia and Stewart included the yongest son, John, who entered the Church and became vicar of Kincardine.

In 1346, Elzabeth Mure of Rowallan (Ayrshire) “moves in with” Robert II (1316–90), then regent of King David II, and later, king of Scotland (1371–90). Because they were 3rd degree cousins, a papal dispensation is sought to permit them to married, which is eventually granted. He was a nephew of David II. He was the first sovereign of the house of Stuart, or Stewart (see Stuart, family.com), which eventually succeeded to the English as well as the Scottish throne. The son of Walter the Steward and Marjory, daughter of Robert I (Robert the Bruce), he was regent three times (1333–35, 1338–41, and 1346–58) for David II during the latter's exile and captivity. He thus led the resistance to Edward de Baliol and Edward III of England. Robert rebelled against his uncle in 1363 when David recognized Edward III as his successor. On David's death (1371), however, Robert II succeeded peacefully to the throne, in accordance with the succession law adopted in 1318. Robert's first marriage to Elizabet Mure took place after the birth of several of his sons, but their succession to the throne was legitimized by an act of Parliament in 1373.

This background may have had something to do with the rise of William Caldwell to become a secular prebendary for the Glasgow Diocese and Lord High Chancellor of Scotland in 1349, seeking financial aid from barons to free the imprisoned Robert II, then held for ransom by his English captors. Advised by his own spiritual adviser that no English King could be defeated by a Scottish King born of a woman, the English King released Robert II upon partial payment of a ransom, discovering too late that Robert II had been delivered by Cesarean. Shakespeare immortalized this irony in his play, Macbeth, which greatly pleased King James VI, a lineal descendant of Robert II.

The Mures were among the earliest Scots to dig deep coal mines in Scotland, their coal mines dating back to the 12th century, with pockets of productive mines in and about Paisley, Neilston, Cowdams, and, during the 14th century, Caldwell. (W. M. Metcalfe, A History of Paisley (1909).) The Estates at Cowdams and at Caldwell had extensive limestone quarries. The limestone initially was used to alkalize excessively acidic soil to enhance crop yields. During the industrial revolution, the coal was used to calcine lime to aid in bleaching of wool. These mines boosted the income of the Mures such that they became one of the wealthiest families in Scotland, despite not owning as extensive lands as did the more prominent landed gentry. (Metcalfe, A History of Paisley (1909).)

The biggest landholder in Renfrew[shire] and Ayr[shire] – and hence employer -- was the Diocese of Glasgow. Using his experience managing accounts, William Caldwell served as a secular prebendary of the Glasgow Diocese. As prebendary he was obliged to manage lands held in trust or conveyed by will with income destined for the church. William managed to keep the trade of wool and driving of sheep to Berwick and York open and profitable even during times of war between Scotland and England. William had to perambulate the perimeter of each estate, and draw maps from which the total amount of the estate could be calculated. Because taxes were calculated based on the land available for pasturage and agriculture, he had to familiarize himself with the forest clearances that opened up land for productive use. Ecclesiastical burghs, fairs, and markets in Ayr and Renfrew were becoming more common and an increasingly important source of income to the church.

William Caldwell gained the trust and confidence of the magnate families, who admired his boldness and integrity and liked his geniality and fairness in judgment. His education enabled him to be a distinguished speaker, unlike the magnates, most of whom were illiterate but nonetheless able to read the writing on the wall and understand the usefulness of accurate record keeping to strengthen their control and supervision of their tenants. The priests who served local chapels appreciated William Caldwell’s liberality in his gifts. The common people may have been grateful for his compassion and patience when rain swollen rivers rose above their banks, too often carrying off houses and farm animals, and washing away top soil, deprivig the tenants of ability to make their quarterly rental payments. Caldwell Tower was erected on a hill far above the flood plain, perhaps explaining why Caldwells remained as tenants for over five centuries on the Mure at Caldwell Estate. The plague of 1349-1354 wiped out a third of the population, but possibly sparing those in less densely settled rural areas. There was scarcely another individual in this region able to greet every noble, tenant, priest, widow, and child by name.

After two decades dedicated to righteousness and ritual as prebendary, William Caldwell became Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, without ever having been a bishop, earl, baron, knight, or magnate landholder, the first among Scotland’s chancellors to do so. Nonetheless the bishops, abbots and priests clung to the tradition that William Caldwell’s station in life was religiously ordained. As writer Thomas Wright put it, the medieval church taught that Mother Eve hid the least favored of her children, but such as were fair and well made she wisely and commonly kept with her. God in due course came to call upon her and asked to see her children so that He might promote them in their different degrees. He chose the eldest to be an emperor, the second a King, the judges, mayors, and so on down the respectable line. Then Eve produced other children from their hiding places. They were dirty, rough, and covered with cobwebs, misshapen in stature. God did not conceal His disgust. “None,” He said, “can make a vessel of silver out of an earthen pitcher … or a bright sword out of a cow’s tail. He then went to pronounce sentence: “You shall all be ploughmen and tillers of the grounds, to keep oxen and hogs, to dig and delve, and hedge and dike, and in this wise shall ye live in endless servitude… Some of you shall be allowed to dwell in cities…butchers, cobblers, tinkers, coastart mongers, hostlers or daubers.”

Among the people with whom William Caldwell the vast majority were preoccupied with local concerns. William Caldwell brought a new perspective to medieval Scotland – a man focused upon increasing the authority and influence of the Scottish Crown and encouraging a sense of Scottish identity.

The Scottish ecclesiastic chroniclers praised William Wallace for the combination of his heroic feats and reverence for the Catholic Church. No similar chronicle has stated that Lord High Chancellor William Caldwell deserves praise for comparable contributions, yet what we can infer renders plausibility to that hypothesis.

Neither William Wallace nor William Caldwell was born as a member of the magnate class, whose inherited wealth, influence, or extent of property ensured high status. Most of the magnates held their property as crown tenants from the king in exchange for services. Among the magnate, various Earls, high barons, bishops, and others, whose surnames appear on the Ragman’s Roll. The crown tenants made up the majority of the King’s jury, inquisitions, constables, sheriffs, and his counselors.

The Ragman Rolls take their name from a game popular in Anglo-Norman society in the 13th Century. A number of characters were written consecutively on a sheet of parchment. To each character, a string was attached, having a piece of wax or metal at the tip. This sheet, when rolled up, was called a Ragman Roll, and each person playing drew a character by pulling a string, which he or she maintained for the rest of the evening. Upon taking the oath of fealty to the English King in 1291, the names of the Scots baronage were recorded in French by Norman scribes. These rolls of names, and others obtained by the King while on his way through Scotland in 1296, are known as the Ragman Roll, the name having been given jokingly by some of the young courtiers in attendance.

http://thor.genserv.net/sub/griff/note_30.htm

The absence of any known royal charters to Wallace and William Caldwell encourages us to search for confirmation that each of their families acquired his property from a baron or earl. But the majority of charters issued in the 11th and 12th centuries by Malcolm Canmore IV, King David I and William the Lion were on parchment most of which had perished by the beginning of the 14th century. In the fifty years between 1306 and 1356, the War of Independence between the Scottish and English kings involved the destruction of many charters and the ruin of many religious structures where documents were archived. King Edward I burned Paisley Abbey to the ground in 1306. Geoffrey Barrows observes that almost all of the minor nobles of Renfrew, Annandale, and Carrick were tenants of the Stewarts, the Baron of Renfrew, Earl of Strathern, and the Earl of Carrick. Geoffrey Barrow’s Robert the Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, California: University of California Press, 4th edition, 2005. The title High Steward of Scotland was first bestowed on Walter the Steward in 1191 by David I. Malcolm IV made the position hereditary, and Walter's son inherited the title and took the surname Stewart

Being a vassal of a Stewart or Bruce was not servile or dishonorable. The Stewarts were among the richest families in Renfrew and the Bruces the richest of Annandale and Carrick. Even a minor landowner would typically serve with honor on the baron’s or earl’s jury. In Renfrew, the majority of private landholders had inherited land conveyed by Walter fitz Alan, first as baron of Renfrew, and later as Lord High Stewart of Scotland. William Caldwell dealt with Robert II as the High Stewart of Scotland.

There was no predictable relationship between the size of the estate and the knight service owed. Thomas les Colville was obliged to provide only 1/4th knight service per year, i.e., 10 days of knight service annually, although he held an estate of 300 acres (3 caracutes) The most common obligation of a Renfrew landholder was one knight service per year, i.e., 40 days of knight service. A few of the magnates owed as many as 10 knight services per year, equivalent to having one knight on duty for slightly more than one year. Chris Brown, William Wallace, 2005, pp. 14-35.

John Barbour tells us that following victory in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Scots who had supported Robert I prospered:

"His men were rich, and his country

Abounded well with corn and cattle,

And of all kind other richness;

Mirth, solace, and eke blithness

Was in the land all commonly,

For ilk man blith was and jolly."

John Barbour, The Bruce

Scottish King Robert I (or if you prefer, Robert de Brus, the Norman spelling of his surname) died in 1329 in his 50’s, following onset in the previous year of a disfiguring, disabling, and deforming chronic skin lesion resembling that which had killed his father, but which was possibly psoriasis rather than leprosy. This lesion was far more severe than an earlier flare-up. Leprosy was at its peak in the early 14th century in Scotland.

John Barbour wrote of mourning and sorrow following Robert I’s death:

" 'All our defense,' they said, 'alas!

And he that all our comfort was,

Our wit and all our governing,

Is brought, alas, here to ending;

". . . . . .

"Alas! what shall we do or say?

For in life while he lasted, aye

By all our foes dred were we,

And in many a far country

Of our worship ran the renown,

And that was all for his person.' "

Probably fearful for the safety of his only legitimate child and heir, 4 year old David the Bruce, and the future of the Bruce House of Scottish Kings, Robert had placed his son at a castle in France, where David resided at the time of his father’s death.

Because of continuous threats by Edward Baliol, David II remained in France for many years following his father’s death. The appointment of William Caldwell as Lord High Chancellor in 1349 during the time that David II remained imprisoned in England by Edward III, likely was not based on any personal acquaintance by David II with William, but reflected the desire of the Glasgow Bishop and Robert II, the Lord High Stewart, to maintain their influence over David II..

The Bishop at Glasgow had advised Robert the Bruce that he had acquired leprosy as punishment for having slain a noble – John Comyn – on a church altar. He encouraged Robert the Bruce to perform good works to gain pardon for his sins. Physicians had not yet proven or warned that the risk of leprosy is highest among those persons with a weakened immune system who had prolonged exposure to the pathogen that initiates leprosy. W. Sanders, “Robert the Bruce and Leprosy.” Proc. R. Coll. Physicians Edinburgh 2000; 30: 75-8 [online]

This fear may explain Robert’s generosity to the abbeys and Diocese of Glasgow, to whom he had conveyed large estates confiscated from the nobility that had opposed his decade’s long struggle to oust John Baliol as King of Scotland and diminish English King Edward I, II, and III’s meddling in Scotland.

Instilling fear in the nobles had been the chief means by which the Glasgow Diocese had become the largest landowner in the Barony of Renfrew – with far more land and rental income than the lands and income of all of the nobles combined. The clergy promised to say prayers at mass and keep candles lit for eternity -- a promise largely kept until the Reformation approximately 150 years later. Services had been briefly interrupted between 1329-1354, when many of the clergy died during the Black Plague and fewer were available to conduct mass.

We have no evidence except prevailing practice and custom indicating that such prayers were made on behalf of any of the Caldwells preceding the Mures as Lords of the Caldwell Manor. Possibly the first to install a chapel at Caldwell attended by a priest were the Mures. We do know that after the Reformation, the Mures added a change in the conditions by which donations and conveyances at death were made to the church. The local Neilston Parish Church adjacent to the Caldwell Estate has vaults within the church walls commemorating the Mures, unaffected by the acid rain that has rendered illegible most of the grave markers in the outdoor cemetery alongside the church.

The dispossessed and disinherited who posed a threat to the Bruce House and its vassals consisted largely of English families who retained their land holdings in England and owed liege loyalty to King Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III. Successive generations of these nobles between 1306 and 1356 promised to seize lands from Scottish nobles that had supported the Bruce House and reconvey portions of these lands to the English King. The right of the Lord to approve any appointment of clergy to the local manorial chapel posed an unacceeptable and threatening risk that the English King would gain power over the Glasgow Diocese.

Upon Robert I’s death his title as the King of Scotland merged with his inheritable titles as Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew, and David acquired all of these titles as David II, King of Scotland, Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew. David was then only an infant, age 4, born March 4, 1324.

This merger is the key to understanding how an obscure and relatively unknown Lord of a relatively small estate, “Terra de Caldwell,” in the Levern Valley about 15 miles southwest of Glasgow, became bound by liege loyalty to Robert the Bruce in his fight to wrest the Kingship of Scotland, from English baron John Baliol, 1291-1296, and then David II’s efforts, through his regents and generals, from Baliol’s son, Edward Baliol in 1332-1333, and resist the repeated invasions by the Plantagenet English Kings, Edward I through III, and restore the throne to the Bruce House.

Most of the Caldwell Estate as of 1329 was then covered with forests. The trees would have to be cleared to convert the land to grazing to increase rental income from tenants in chief. Marriage to a family with greater capital provided a ready option to improve the income of the Caldwell House. Even if the Caldwells had never any inclination to clear the forests in which they may have enjoyed the pastime of a hunt, the Mures could have readily seized the opportunity to recover the added expense of garrisoning Caldwell Tower.

Although the Mures possessed other castles and larger lands, they chose to reside at Caldwell, likely favoring its proximity to Glasgow and perhaps enjoyed the views of the sunrise and the sunset; through the 19th century Caldwell served as a gathering place for the Renaissance thinkers escaping foul smells of Glasgow. The artesian well at Caldwell kept the water free of bacteria and healthy to drink.

Legend recognizes that three brother contract knights came from southern France – but oral retellings designate their time of arrival as 1488, an unlikely date at which employment of contract knights was diminishing in favor of standing armies of the monarchy and cannons.

Once employed by the Lord (or heiress) of the Caldwell Estate, any contract knights became members of the Caldwell House. Garrisoned in the Caldwell Tower Castle, these knights could deter attempts to steal its crops, cattle and sheep and delay any marches by invading armies heading towards Glasgow from its southwest flank. Garrisoned towers were in peak usage during the late 13th and early 14th century by manorial owners.

Fordoun writes that in 1333, in the wake of the Battle at Halidol Hill won by King Edward III, Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, defected momentarily to Plantagenet cause, and only four castles remained in support of David II. Chris Brown, William Wallace, 2005, pp. 216-217. Someone — possibly William Caldwell, Robert II, the Stewart, or both – persuaded Patrick to return to Scottish allegiance, and from then on, the castle of Dunbar became the center of resistance, in which guerilla warfare, rather than direct confrontation, rendered continued garrisoning of Scotland by Edward III very expensive, well beyond any taxes, customs, and fees obtained by the English King, such that Edward III became increasingly tempted to retreat from Scotland. Edward III’s priority was the recovery of Aquitane. Id.

The name William is suggestive of an Anglo-Norman influence. Perhaps William Caldwell was named after Scottish King William the Lion, who had bestowed land beginning in A.D. 1135 upon many English knights as inducement for them to relocate to Scotland’s sparsely settled lowlands and provide a defense to invasion from Ayrshire coast and subsequent undelayed march to Glasgow on a road that passes through the Caldwell Estate.

Several of the prior Scottish heirs to the throne had succeeded to the throne as a minor, but David II was one of the few whose infancy necessitated a regent be appointed to govern Scotland.

Eager to soothe King Edward IIII and allay his inclination to invade Scotland , the regent, Donald, Earl of Mar, proceeded to arrange for David II’s marriage at age 5 to Joan, the seven-year-old sister of King Edward III. The arranged marriage was intended to preserve the House of Bruce, but had the opposite effect. David II never had any issue, perhaps with ntent to deny King Edward III a grandson as a potential heir to the Scottish throne. David II divorced Joan but remarriage did not yield offspring. Upon his death, the throne passed to the House of Stewart, pursuant to legislation that had been adopted in 1318 by the Scottish Parliament, when Robert I was childless, and provision was made to transfer the throne to the House of Stewart in the event that Robert I remained without a male heir.

Edward Baliol, son of John Baliol, decided to make a move to seize the throne upon Robert I’s death. Baliol was supported by the “disinherited,” those English barons who had lost their estates in Scotland when they refused to swear loyalty to Robert I.

Fearful of losing vast land holdings in Renfrew, Ayr, and Lanark that lie within the Diocese of Glasgow, the bishop of Glasgow and the nobles of that Diocese who had benefitted from Robert’s reconveyance of these lands, including Robert II, the High Stewart of Scotland, called upon the House of Caldwell to provide knights and men at arms to fight on behalf of David II.

The heiress of the Caldwell Estate possibly lacked the funds with which to retain and maintain contract knights and their esquires and the garrison archers. Considerable improvements had been made in armor since the 1314 Battle at Bannockburn. The newer armor was lighter, enabling knights to fight on foot on the ground. The heavier armor scavenged from the Bannockburn battlefield of 1314 and erected in a standing position in the manorial hall served only to impress a visitor, but was out of date. The English archers had slain too many horses, rendering the fully armored mounted knight less useful in affecting the outcome of a battle.

The invasion of Scotland in 1331 by Edward Baliol and King Edward III’s invasion in 1333 may have prompted the heiress of the Caldwell Estate in 1333 to marry Gilbert Mure, a wealthy Anglo Norman family allied with the Bruces. The Mures had the wealth needed to maintain a garrison of knights at the Caldwell Tower and control the surrounding lands for a 20-25 mile radius, encompassing all of the Caldwell Estate. Gilbert Mure assumed the inheritable title as Lord (owner) of the Caldwell Manor (House of Caldwell).

The Mures never applied to any King for a new charter that would enable the name of the Estate to be changed to the Mure Estate. Possibly this reflected anxiety that the King or the Caldwells might challenge the Mures right to the Estate, without proof of any original charter.

The Mures possibly covenanted o stipulated to have the descendants of the Caldwells remain as tenants for life in perpetuity, thereby lessening the risk of litigation. History reveals that Caldwells remained tenants in chief at the Caldwell Estate up through the 19th century.

In August 1332 at the Battle of Dupplin Moor, Edward Baliol defeated the Scots and assumed the throne of southern Scotland. He quickly proceeded to place his own men as tax collectors, sheriffs, coroners, and constables in charge of castles. But three months later nobles and knights loyal to David II overwhelmed Baliol’s men in Annandale and throughout the lands controlled by the House of Stewart that led to Baliol’s retreat to England.

Reentry by Baliol in 1333 was unsuccessful.

England’s King Edward III elected to bring a full army into Scotland. At the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, King Edward III defeated the Scots. David II and Robert II, his chief adviser as High Stewart of Scotland, escaped. Scottish historians attribute the victory to Edward III's deployment of an overwhelming number of long bow archers. Unlike the Scots, the English archers had access to yew, a wood capable of launching arrows much further than what was used by the Scots. The English historians credited victory to Edward III's superior planning and skill in execution, and describe David II as a hapless and inept King.

Beginning in 1337, resistance again began in Annandale and spread throughout the lands governed by Robert II the Stewart.

At the Battle of Neville Cross in 1346, David II was wounded by an arrow that struck him in the face. He was captured by Edwin III’s forces and held 11 years for ransom.

According to Samuel Cowan, author of "The Lord Chancellors of Scotland," W. & A.K. Johnston Limited, 1911, vol.1, at p. 163, William Caldwell was appointed Chancellor in 1349 and served until 1354, when he died. Cowan reports that William Caldwell presided over Parliament held at Dundee, where the Estates discussed the ransom of King David, who had been imprisoned for 11 years. Lord Chancellor Caldwell pleaded for payment of the ransom, but the nobles allied themselves with France, and invaded Berwick, then held by the English. The Scots, led by Baliol, were defeated. When Caldwell's successor stepped in as Chancellor, the ransom was paid in 1354. Cowan writes that there are no documents describing the official duties of the Chancellor. He ranked below the High Steward but above the Chamberlain. The Lord Chancellor was responsible for administering the laws and presiding at courts of justice. p. 6. The position was usually given to the most learned and scholarly men of the time and most influential with the King. p. 11 Up to the Reformation, the Lord Chancellors were usually Catholic Prelates. p. 12. Many had university training in France or Italy. p. 6.

Scottish nobles had assembled an invasion army in 1349 of knights, men at arms, and allies, to invade, waste and plunder northern England, but the Black Plague felled one-third of them before they had begun their march, and dispersed the remaining in panic, ironically spreading the Palgue throughout Scotland.

The suddenness with which the Plague swept through Scotland terrified William Caldwell. He told his King, David II, while visiting David II during his imprisonment by the English, that God was punishing the Scots for their sins.

David II concluded that must do whatever he reasonably could to retrieve from Edward III the Holy Rood that decades before, the English had seized from an abbey in Edinburgh. The Holy Rood was a black case in which was stored a priceless relic, the cross on which – according to Margaret, Queen of Malcolm Canmore -- Jesus had been crucified.

Along with the Scone that had also been seized by the English, these two objects were symbols of the newly emerging sense of Scot nationality.

Eager to be released from imprisonment David II told his closest confidante, Scotland’s Lord Chancellor William Caldwell, to urge the Scottish earls and barons to accept the terms proposed by Edward III, that called upon payment to King Edward III of a substantial ransom, oaths of allegiance by the Scottish nobles in subservience to Edward III, and renouncing of the treaty by which Scotland was allied with France. Robert II, the Lord High Stewart, opposed any such arrangement, which would deprive him and the Stewart House of any right to inherit the throne. William Caldwell was obliged to resign in 1354.

William Caldwell did not consider himself to be a failure although he was unsuccessful in getting David II freed from prison. King Edward III of England had insisted on terms to which Robert II, the High Stewart, and the nobility of Scotland would never accede: acknowledgment by the Scottish nobles that they owed leige subservience to King Edward III, that Scotland was not an independent nation, and the nobles would fund and provide knights and armed men to support King Edward III’s plan to restore and repossess Aquitane and other provinces on the mainland occupied by the French King.

William’s successor as Lord High Chancellor readily succeeded in getting David II freed in 1354, when King Edward III finally acquiesced in accepting only the ransom.

During parts of both of the King's long absences from Scotland, Robert II and he fell out. The King alleged that Robert had deserted him when he was captured at Haildon Hill. This was probably in response to Robert's efforts to prevent David II misappropriating funds owed to the English for his own release: and David’s offering to make Edward III of England heir to the Scottish throne.

Robert the Stewart rebelled against David II in 1363, but was imprisoned along with four of his sons. He was released shortly before David II's death in February 1371. David died childless, so the throne passed to Robert, who was crowned Robert II at Scone in March 1371. Robert II was the first king of the House of Stewart which was to rule Scotland for the following 230 years.

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/monarchs/robertii.html

William Caldwell possibly was not concerned if David II left no child as heir, because upon his death, his uncle, Robert the Stewart, would succeed him, and the Crown would pass from the House of Bruce to that of the House of Stewart. The Caldwells had long been closely associated with and vassals of the Stewarts, usually serving as the managers of their estates and keepers of their wardrobes (e.g., knight armory). But the conflict arising between David II and Robert II in 1363 must have forced William Caldwell to choose sides. Until David II's death in 1371, William Caldwell;s choice in favor of David II appears to have been wise.

The rise of the Caldwells to top tier of Scottish society arguably came to an end with the succession of Robert II as King of Scotland in 1371. But the rise of the Mures at Caldwell to status as magnates of Scotland in the 18th century, hosting the preeminent celebrities of the Scots Renaissance, inclding philosopehr David Hume and economist Adam Smith, rebuts this nterpretation.

Although Ireland and Scotland shared the same language, high culture, and major saints cults, and seemingly formed genetically the same people, when the Declaration of Arbroath was written in 1320 by Scottish King Robert I’s chancellor, its account of the wanderings of the Scots from Greater Scythia to Scotland made no reference to Ireland. The Declaration of Arbroath was drafted with the intent to strengthen the notion that Scotland was a nation in its own right.