Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 3.djvu/529

 CRAWFORD 509 OF CRAWFORD [S.], "accompanied by a regrant of the principal fief of Crawford, with a regality, or, as it was technically phrased, cum quatuor punctis corona:, conveying privileges to him and his posterity analogous to those enjoyed by the Earls Palatine of England and the Continent.'Y") He was Adm. of Scotland before Oct. 1403. In 1404, and again in 1406 he was on an Embassy to England. Dep. Chamberlain, North of the Forth 1406. He m. (disp. 22 Feb. 1374/5) Elizabeth (not Jean, or Catherine), a da. of Robert II, by his 2nd wife, Eupheme, da. of Hugh, Earl of Ross [S.]. He d. Feb. 1406/7, aged 41, at his Castle of Finhaven, in Angus, and was bur. in Grey Friars ChurchjC") Dundee. II. 1407. 2. Alexander (Lindsay), Earl of Crawford [S.], s. and h. He was b. about 1387, and was a minor at his father's death; was styled " consanguineus '' by Henry VI of England, in which kingdom he was engaged in negotiations for the ransom of the Scottish King in 142 1, being also a hostage many times between 1406 and 1427; was knighted, 21 May 1424, at the Coronation of James I, and was Ambassador to England 1429-30. He m., before 1 410, Marjory, who was living 23 Apr. 1429. She not improbably was a da. of the Earl of Dunbar [S.]. He d. 1438, after 31 Mar. III. 1438. 3. David (Lindsay), Earl of Crawford [S.], "and Lord the Lyndissay," ('^) s. and h. Was knighted before 17 Nov. 1425. Sheriff of CO. Aberdeen. He and the Earl of Douglas, being, during the minority of James II, " the most powerful subjects in Scot- land,"('^) and endeavouring " to rule paramount in the State,"(') were opposed by Bishop Kennedy, of St. Andrew's, whose lands they invaded and plundered, and by whom Crawford was excommunicated. Within a year (^) See Lives of the Lindsays. (*") Here " generation after generation of the Earls of Crawford were finally laid to rest, and their tombs were still to be seen in Gothic magnificence till the destruc- tion both of convent and church at the Reformation." {Lives of the Lindsays). (°) He is so designated in 1443, and the designation has been "ever since borne by the Earls of Crawford." {Idem). C) "That nothing should be wanting to the feudal power of the family, the Earls of Crawford acquired, early in the 15th century, the Sheriffdom of Aberdeen- shire [which they held till 1511, and only finally resigned in 1541] in hereditary right, and soon after the middle of the century that of Forfarshire. The Earldom of Crawford, therefore, like those of Douglas, of Moray, Ross, March, and others of the earlier times of feudalism, formed a petty principality, an imperitim in irnperio — the Earls affected Royal State, held their courts, had their heralds or pursuivants, and oc- casionally assumed the style of Princes, ifrc. They had also a Concilium, or petty Parliament, consisting of the great vassals of the Earldom with whose advice they acted on great and important occasions." {Idem). (') Idem.