Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 27.djvu/225

 He married, secondly Margaret, daughter of Alexander, master of Montgomery, by whom, he had a son, Thomas Home of Laingshaw, Ayrshire.



HOME or HUME, ALEXANDER, second  (d. 1506), was the eldest son of Alexander, master of Home, by his wife Elizabeth Home. During the lifetime of his grandfather, Sir, first Baron Home [q. v.], he was known as Alexander Home of Home, under which designation he sat in parliament in February 1483-4 and May 1485. He was appointed a commissioner to settle disputes on the marches, 8 Oct. 1484, and again to treat about a truce with England in 1485. With his relatives he joined the part of the prince (afterwards James IV) against James III, and he was one of the envoys sent by that party in May 1488 to ask assistance from England (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, iv. 1539). After the assassination of James III Home was on 7 Oct. 1488 sworn a privy councillor and constituted lord high chancellor for life. On 25 Aug. he was appointed warden of the east marches for seven years (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. i. 1893), and in that capacity concluded at Coldstream on 23 Oct. the ratification with the English envoys of a treaty for three years (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, iv. 1534). He had the custody of the castle of Stirling and the government of the king’s brother John, earl of Mar, committed to him on 10 Jan. 1489-90 for nine years (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. i. 1919). The revenues of the earldom of Mar and Garioch were assigned for his support on the following 28 April. On 12 Jan. of the same year he had a charter of the office of balliary of Ettrick Forest. His father died in 1468, and he succeeded his grandfather as second baron Home in 1491. In 1493 he made a pilgrimage to Canterbury, a safe-conduct being granted him to pass through England by Henry VII. In the winter of 1496-1497 Home and his followers, in support of Perkin Warbeck, the pretender to the English throne, made an inroad into England, and in the spring Surrey retaliated by burning Ayton Castle in Berwickshire and other of their strongholds. Shortly afterwards Warbeck set sail from England for the continent, and on 5 July 1497 Home concluded negotiations for a truce between Scotland and England (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, iv. 1635). On 19 Dec. 1502 he was appointed one of the commissioners to exchange a ratification of treaties with England (ib. p. 1696). He died in 1506. By his wife Nicolas, daughter of Sir George Ker of Samuelston, Haddingtonshire, who married secondly Sir Alexander Ramsay, he had one daughter and seven sons. Of the sons,, the eldest, succeeded his father as third baron Home [q. v.];, became fourth baron Home [q. v.]; John, abbot of Jedburgh, was banished beyond the Tay; David, prior of Coldingham, was led into an ambush by the Hepburns and slain, and William was executed for treason in 1516, the day after his brother Alexander perished. The other sons died young.



HOME, ALEXANDER, third (d. 1516), eldest son of, second baron Home [q. v.], was served heir to his father 21 Oct. 1506, and was appointed to the office of lord high chamberlain in the following year. Home was virtually prime minister during the remainder of the reign of James IV, and greatly increased the influence and importance of his family. According to Buchanan, his ‘disposition was more fierce than was expedient for the good of those times,’ and it was chiefly through his prompting that James was led to try his strength with England. The wardenship of the borders, previously entrusted to the care of three separate nobles, was delivered into his sole charge, and thus his authority was made predominant in the south of Scotland. To revenge the capture of the sea-captain [q. v.] by the English, Home, in 1513, with consent of the king, invaded Northumberland at the head of eight thousand men, and burnt and ravaged several towns and villages. Returning home heavily laden with spoil, and devoting all their attention to warding off attacks from the rear, they, on 13 Aug. 1513, fell into an ambush, and, being thrown into confusion by the sudden attack of the English archers, were completely routed, no fewer than five hundred being slain, and a great many taken prisoners, including Home's brother, Sir George. Irritated at the disaster, King James immediately resolved to take the field against England in person, and with a powerful force stormed a number of the border fortresses. On the approach of Surrey, he took up his