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- THE ERSKINE CLAN PAGE: <<http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/cybermuse/clan.html>> created by Robert Erskine
A little history
The first Erskine on record was Henry de Erskine, being witness to a charter by King Alexander II, dated 12 March, 1226. A Sir Robert Erskine was the High Chamberlain of Scotland in 1350, and Sir Thomas Erskine, before 1371, was keeper of Edinburgh Castle and Sheriff of Edinburgh. It was not until around 1438 that an Erskine (Sir Robert Erskine) first became a Lord.
In 1457, the Erskines (by then the Earls of Mar) seem to have fallen out of favour with the crown and had their land and Earldom withdrawn, until 1565, when the Earldom was settled on one of the King's sons (later to be restored).
The most stable period of our history seems to have begun in the early 16th century, when the Erskines, as favoured courtiers, became the custodians of the royal persons (to protect them from being kidnapped by ambitious barons).
This responsibility extended from the care of the children of King James V, by the 5th Lord Erskine, to the care of Mary Queen of Scots as a child (at Stirling Castle), and later to the the care of her year-old son under the 6th lord Erskine (wherein hangs an interesting rumour). In 1571 Lord Erskine became Prince Regent, but he died a year later. The hereditary tradition of royal guardianship continued under the reign of James VI, while at the same time the Erskines held the keepership of Stirling Castle; a hereditary responsibility of the Erskines dating back to the early 14th century, and the custody of Edinburgh Castle.
The 7th Earl, John, born in 1562, was a long time friend of King James VI, and entered public life by seizing Stirling Castle from his uncle Alexander. He was charged with the care of the infant Prince Henry (over whom there was a custody battle with Elizabeth I), and in 1601 was on of the two ambassodors sent to the English Parliament to press the claim of King James to the English crown.
The best known Erskine in history was John (otherwise known as Bobbing John), who became Earl of Mar in 1689, and was charged with carrying out the final Act of Union between the English and Scottish Parliaments (1707). He became Secretary of State, and a member of the Privy Council, managing the affairs of Scotland under most of the reign of Queen Anne, but later became disillusioned by the Union and deprived of his Governership of Stirling Castle by King George I. He then committed himself to the Jacobite cause, securing the landing of King James at Peterhead, but was finally forced into exile in France, where he was Jacobite minister at the French Court. He was known as 'a man of good sense, but bad morals'.
A branch of the Erskines also inherited the Earldom of Buchan, and the Erskines also hold the Earldom of Kellie. The present Chief of the clan is Jamie Erskine, Earl of Mar and Kellie, who lives in Renfrewshire.
There is a story that Mary Queen of Scots' infant died soon after birth and that the future James VI was in fact an infant son of the Earl of Mar (6th Lord Erskine) substituted in place of the dead Prince on the instructions of Queen Mary.
This tradition was supported by the finding, in 1830, of the body of an infant walled up in the royal apartments in Edinburgh Castle, where Mary is said to have given birth to the child.
Portraits of the 2nd Earl of Mar and James VI were said to have shown an uncanny similarity of facial features.
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(Age 63 years) [natural]