Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 1.djvu/516

 466 COMPLETE PEERAGE et pair ' by letters patent ; (") of this fact Mr. Stodart seems to be unaware. It must be noted that by the treaty signed at Chdtillon, 27 Jan. 1547, Henry II expressly engaged ' a conferer au Comte d'Arran le litre de due, avec duche en ce royaume de France de douze mille livres de rente, pour lui, ses hoirs et ayants cause, h perphuiti. ' The after proceeding shows clearly that this engagement was carried out to the letter by Henry. On 5 Feb. 1548 the act of cession of the duchy of Chitellerault received the sign manual. In the same month letters patent of investiture were delivered by the King at St. Germain-en-Laye. In the month of July letters de grand naturalite were granted to the ' Comte d'Arran, due de Chatellerault, pour lui et ses heritiers ; ' and moreover the King divested himself and his suc- cessors of the ' droict d'aubeyne ' with regard to the duchy, in favour of the Duke, his heirs and successors. In 1550, the Bishop of Ross, as procurator for Arran, did homage for the Duchy, and the needful proceed- ings in fulfilment of the provisions of the treaty were thus completed. There is really no doubt whatever that a hereditary duchy was fully and legally created, and that it was not merely a rental of 12,000 livres which was secured to Arran and his heirs. The King thoroughly carried out the stipulation of the treaty, and we may be sure that no other arrangement would have satisfied the Earl. No doubt could have arisen on the subject had it been remembered of how very few persons the ' pairs de France ' consisted at this time, and that the two dignities of the duchi and pairie were, and continued to be, distinct. Arran as a foreigner would care nothing for the special privileges of the pairie ; the Duchy of Chatellerault, with its hereditary title and its guaranteed revenue of 12,000 livres, would be all that he would value. The seizure of the Duchy in 1559, after Henry's death, by the ' parlement de Poitiers, ' did not destroy Arran's rights ; and in 1560, in the treaty between England, France, and Scotland, it was particularly stipulated that the Scottish seigneurs, particulierement le due de Chatellerault rentreraient en possession et jouissance de toutes les terres, possessions, heritages, estats, et offices dont ils jouissaient en France avant le sixihte Mars 1558, non ohstant toutes saisies, dont par ce traiti, Sa Majesti consentit par ses Ambassadeurs une pleine et entiere mainlevie. As a matter of fact the full restitution of the Duchy was hindered by various causes ; though money payments were made in partial satisfaction of the claim ; but the hereditary rights granted to Arran and his heirs in the Duchy, and therefore to the title of Duke of Chatellerault, were never legally annulled. It must be added that no argument can be drawn from the fact that the Earl of Arran was not always styled in documents ' Due de Chatellerault ' by the French King, in the face of many others in which his full title was accorded to him. "('') The tenure of the Duchy ceased, as far as the Hamilton family are (*) Artus de Gouffier had been created in 1 5 1 9 Due et pair de Rouanne, but died before investiture. (") G.E.C. was indebted to the Rev. John Woodward, F.S.A., for these remarks on the Dukedom.