The Brownie o' Fern Den Revisited

   By way of a slight return, I am bringing another version of the classic Angus tale to you in this post. I last gave a version of this story in October 2015 (it can be read here). The version below is taken from Elizabeth Wilson Grierson's 1910 work The Scottish Fairy Book.

There have been many Brownies known in Scotland ; and stories have been written about the Brownie o’ Bodsbeck and the Brownie o’ Blednock, but about neither of them has a prettier story been told than that which I am going to tell you about the Brownie o’ Ferne-Den.

Now, Ferne-Den was a farmhouse, which got its name from the glen, or “den,” on the edge of which it stood, and through which anyone who wished to reach the dwelling had to pass.

And this glen was believed to be the abode of a Brownie, who never appeared to anyone in the daytime, but who, it was said, was sometimes seen at night, stealing about, like an ungainly shadow, from tree to tree, trying to keep from observation, and never, by any chance, harming anybody.

Indeed, like all Brownies that are properly treated and let alone, so far was he from harming anybody that he was always on the look-out to do a good turn to those who needed his assistance.' The farmer often said that he did not know what he would do without him; for if there was any work to be finished in a hurry at the farm—oorn to thrash, or winnow, or tie up into bags, turnips to cut, clothes to wash, a kirn to be kirned, a garden to be weeded—all that the farmer and his wife had to do was to leave the door of the barn, or the turnip shed, or the milk house open when they went to bed, and put down a bowl of new milk on the doorstep for the Brownie’s supper, and when they woke the next morning the bowl would be empty, and the job finished better than if it had been done by mortal hands.

In spite of all this, however, which might have proved to them how gentle and kindly the Creature really was, everyone about the place was afraid of him, and would rather go a couple of miles round about in the dark, when they were coming home from Kirk or Market, than pass through the glen, and run the risk of catching a glimpse of him.

I said that they were all afraid of him, but that was not true, for the farmer’s wife was so good and gentle that she was not afraid of anything on God’s earth, and when the Brownie’s supper had to be left outside, she always filled his bowl with the richest milk, and added a good spoonful of cream to it, for, said she, “He works so hard for us, and asks no wages, he well deserves the very best meal that we can give him.”

One night this gentle lady was taken very ill, and everyone was afraid that she was going to die. Of course, her husband was greatly distressed, and so were her servants, for she had been such a good Mistress to them that they loved her as if she had been their mother. But they were all young, and none of them knew very much about illness, and everyone agreed that it would be better to send off for an old woman who lived about seven miles away on the other side of the river, who was known to be a very skilful nurse.

But who was to go? That was the question. For it was black midnight, and the way to the old woman’s house lay straight through the glen. And whoever travelled that road ran the risk of meeting the dreaded Brownie.

The farmer would have gone only too willingly, but he dare not leave his wife alone; and the servants stood in groups about the kitchen, each one telling the other that he ought to go, yet no one offering to go themselves.

Little did they think that the cause of all their terror, a queer, wee, misshapen little man, all covered with hair, with a long beard, red-rimmed eyes, broad, flat feet, just like the feet of a paddock, and enormous long arms that touched the ground, even when he stood upright, was within a yard or two of them, listening to their talk, with an anxious face, behind the kitchen door.

For he had come up as usual, from his hiding-place in the glen, to see if there were any work for him to do, and to look for his bowl of milk. And he had seen, from the open door and lit-up windows, that there was something wrong inside the farmhouse, which at that hour was wont to be dark, and still, and silent; and he had crept into the entry to try and find out what the matter was.

When he gathered from the servants' talk that the Mistress, whom he loved so dearly, and who had been so kind to him, was ill, his heart sank within him; and when he heard that the silly servants were so taken np with their own fears that they dared not set out to fetch a nurse for her, his contempt and anger knew no bounds.

“Fools, idiots, dolts!" he muttered to himself, stamping his queer, misshapen feet on the floor. “They speak as if a body were ready to take a bite off them as soon as ever he met them. .If they only knew the bother it gives me to keep out of their road they wouldna be so silly. But, by my troth, if they go on like this, the bonnie lady will die amongst their fingers. So it strikes me that Brownie must e'en gang himself."

So saying, he reached up his hand, and took down a dark cloak which belonged to the farmer, which was hanging on a peg on the wall, and, throwing it over his head and shoulders, or as somewhat to hide his ungainly form, he hurried away to the stable, and saddled and bridled the fleetest-footed horse that stood there.

When the last buckle was fastened, he led it to the door, and scrambled on its back. “Now, if ever thou travelledst fleetly, travel fleetly now," he said; and it was as if the creature understood him, for it gave a little whinny and pricked up its ears; then it darted out into the darkness like an arrow from the bow.

In less time than the distance had ever been ridden in before, the Brownie drew rein at the old woman's cottage.

She was in bed, fast asleep; but he rapped sharply on the window, and when she rose and put her old face, framed in its white mutch, close to the pane to ask who was there, he bent forward and told her his errand.

“Thou must come with me, Goodwife, and that quickly,” he commanded, in his deep, harsh voice, “if the Lady of Ferne-Den's life is to be saved; for there is no one to nurse her up-bye at the farm there, save a lot of empty-headed servant wenches.”

“But how am I to get there? Have they sent a cart for me?” asked the old woman anxiously; for, as far as she could see, there was nothing at the door save a horse and its rider.

“No, they have sent no cart,” replied the Brownie, shortly. “So you must just climb up behind me on the saddle, and hang on tight to my waist, and I'll promise to land ye at Ferne-Den safe and sound.”

His voice was so masterful that the old woman dare not refuse to do as she was bid; besides, she had often ridden pillion-wise when she was a lassie, so she made haste to dress herself, and when she was ready she unlocked her door, and, mounting the louping-on stane that stood beside it, she was soon seated behind the dark-cloaked stranger, with her arms clasped tightly round him.

Not a word was spoken till they approached the dreaded glen, then the old woman felt her courage giving way. “Do ye think that there will be any chance of meeting the Brownie?” she asked timidly. “I would fain not run the risk, for folk say that he is an unchancy creature.”

Her companion gave a curious laugh. "Keep up your heart, and dinna talk havers," he said, "for I promise ye ye'll see naught uglier this night than the man whom ye ride behind."

"Oh, then, I'm fine and safe," replied the old woman, with a sigh of relief; "for although I havena' seen your face, I warrant that ye are[210] a true man, for the care you have taken of a poor old woman."

She relapsed into silence again till the glen was passed and the good horse had turned into the farmyard. Then the horseman slid to the ground, and, turning round, lifted her carefully down in his long, strong arms. As he did so the cloak slipped off him, revealing his short, broad body and his misshapen limbs.

"In a' the world, what kind o' man are ye?" she asked, peering into his face in the grey morning light, which was just dawning. "What makes your eyes so big? And what have ye done to your feet? They are more like paddock's webs than aught else."

The queer little man laughed again. "I've wandered many a mile in my time without a horse to help me, and I've heard it said that ower much walking makes the feet unshapely," he replied. "But waste no time in talking, good Dame. Go thy way into the house; and, hark'ee, if anyone asks thee who brought thee hither so quickly, tell them that there was a lack of men, so thou hadst e'en to be content to ride behind the BROWNIE O' FERNE-DEN."

Fern Kirk

Forgotten Sons of Angus - The Amazing Dr Kinloch; Saved by A Black Cat!

  One of the most fascinating characters of the reign of James VI in Angus was Dr David Kinloch, a native of Dundee. Despite his prominence he receives little attention in standard works on Scottish medicine. He is given one sentence in John Comrie's History of Scottish Medicine (2 vols., 1932) and in David Hamilton's book The Healers, being afforded only the following scant notice:

Another physician who travelled dangerously was Dundee's David Kinloch (1559-1617), M. A. (St Andrews) M. D. (Paris), a writers in obstetrics and a poet.  When travelling in Spain he was seized by the Inquisition, but his execution was delayed by the illness of the Inquisitor.  Kinloch, the legend goes, sent a message (via a black cat) successfully offering his services and advice, and on the recovery of the Inquisitor, he was allowed to go free.

Kinloch's Background and Upbringing

   Kinloch descended from a family in Fife, taking their name from the barony of Kinloch, and his  mother was a Ramsay and his maternal  grandmother was a Lindsay, related to the Earls of Crawford, who were major landholders in Angus.  There are records of medical men named Kinloch (two Williams and a John) in Dundee preceding his time and Dr Buist  believed that these were from the same family, but was unsure of the exact relationship between them. Sir Alexander Kinloch of that Ilk succeeded to the barony in the 16th century. There is some uncertainty about the immediate ancestors of Dr Kinloch. His great-grandfather was probably James Kinloch, treasurer of Dundee. One writer states that Sir Alexander's s brother George had several sons, including David, a seaman of Dundee, father of the doctor.  The following is from The History of Old Dundee (p. 164):

His family had for some time occupied the position of substantial burgesses. William, [Dr Kinloch's] father, was employed by the Council on an important mission regarding the capture of an English ship in 1563, and he held possession in 1581 of 'the land lying on the north side of the windmill,' as also of  'the meadow lying on the north side of the burial place,' which had been part of the Gray Friars' lands, and continued to be called Kinloch's meadow long after it was acquired by the town.

  The writer of the above, Alexander Maxwell, believed that David Kinloch was the doctor's grandfather. Another source states that Dr Kinloch's father was named John. In 1567, there is record of a Thomas Kinloch in Dundee, master of a ship named The Primrose. It is likely the marine link continued in some branch of the family, since there is mention of a ship associated with Dundee named The Good Fortune in 1615. Whoever his father, David Kinloch was born in Dundee in 1559 and he attended St Andrews University in 1576, but he did not graduate.

Foreign Travel

   Like many other Scots, Kinloch went to Europe to finish his education. He seems to have studied in Montpellier and there is a  reference to the city of Rennes in Brittany in the brieve letter detailed below. Kinloch is said to have made connections with the French royal court.

The brieve letter or passport was granted to David Kinloch, on March 20th, 1596, bearing the signature of King James VI. It advises that Dr. Kinloch is going to reside for some years in Rennes and vouches for the fact that he is of noble blood, as is indicated by the coats of arms appended to the passport showing his descent and by a short detailed account of his genealogy. The Kinloch family are described as of moderate knightly rank. The arms show the coats of Kinloch (differenced for a third son), Ramsay, the Earls of Crawford, and the Hay family.

The Inquisition

There does not seem to be any early account of Dr Kinloch's misadventures in Europe. But the following account (from Roll of Eminent Burgesses of Dundee, Dundee, 1887, p. 93), gives a good summary:

During his second voyage it was his misfortune to fall into the hands of the Spanish Inquisition, by whom he was condemned to death as a heretic. The consistent tradition still current in the family relates that his execution was delayed for some time, and that when he inquired as to the cause of his protracted imprisonment, he was informed that it had been intended to make him one of the victims of an auto da fe, but that the illness of the Grand Inquisitor had prevented the accomplishment of this purpose. He then disclosed the fact that he was a practitioner of medicine. and discreetly suggested that it might be within his power to bring about the recovery of this high official. As the case was a desperate one, his suggestion was adopted, and, through the exercise of his skill, he was enabled to restore the patient to health. The grateful dignitary not only set KINLOCH at liberty, but also loaded him with marks of special favour, and procured for him one of the Orders reserved for nobles of the higher rank. The portrait of Dr KINLOCH, which is now at Logie House, shows him in his robes as a physician. bearing the decoration which he had thus gained by his ability.

   Kinloch seems to have been accused of Lutheran heresy by two Englishmen in Madrid. These men had known him in France, but Kinloch lodged a defence that he was a true Catholic, as was well known in that country. He further claimed that he had only assumed the guise of being a Protestant in France to further his pursuit of a Breton lady named Mademoiselle de Malot. The Inquisition records reveal that the doctor was submitted to torture, but they also give praise about his medical abilities and his pleasant personality.

   There is some mystery about what he was doing in Spain and he certainly must have been aware of the potential danger he was facing before he entered that country. It is possible that Kinloch was on a mission for King James VI. The king had appointed him Mediciner in 1597 and there is the suggestion that he had conducted missions abroad for the monarch. Was he is Spain to sound out the possibility of securing a marriage alliance with the Infanta and James's son Prince Charles? It is unlikely that we will ever know for certain. 

A depiction of the Inquisition in action in Portugal

Dr Kinloch evidently brought home from Spain a set of Inquisition thumbscrews which were kept as an heirloom by successive generations of the Kinloch family. (They were lent to an exhibition in Glasgow by descendant Major-General Kinloch.  See Palace of History, Catalogue of Exhibits, vol. 2 (Glasgow, 1911), p. 949.)

  Further details about the ordeal of Dr Kinloch were uncovered in Spanish archives in 1998 by Laura Adam and Adam Yagui-Beltran and an account of the findings published in The Innes Review.  Although Kinloch passed details of his abysmal treatment in Spain to his family and the true legend was passed down the generations, he left no full account of the depth of suffering which he endured there. Some measure of his suffering can perhaps be gleaned by having reference to his fellow Scot, William Lithgow, who was arrested in Malaga several decades after. He was nearly tortured to death by the Inquisition and was only saved by the ministrations of two slaves. Sentenced to death for being a heretic Calvanist, he was only saved by the intercession of the town's governor. He went back to Scotland, having lost the use of his left arm, and wrote a full account of his time under the Inquisition and journeys, The Totall Discourse of the Rare Adventures and Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Years Travayles (1632).

Legend of the Black Cat

   While in prison, Dr Kinloch heard that the Grand Inquisitor had fallen ill and he resolved to pass a message to him by means of writing a message to the authorities, offering his medical services, and attaching it to the prison cat. This tale too may have been passed down through the Kinloch generations. It has all the hallmarks of a folk tale, but I can find no very early version of the story.  Her is a summary given by K. G. Lowe:

his life was only spared by his curing the Grand Inquisitor who had lain 'dying of a strange fever'. Apparently Kinloch hearing of the strange illness tied a message to the tail of a black cat with which he shared his daily ration and sent it through the bars of his cell, fortunately reaching the right quarter.

The Later Years: Honours,  Plague, Trouble with the Law

    Kinloch became a burgess of Dundee on 17th February, 1602, and settled in the burgh. Kinloch's wife Grissel was daughter of Hay of Gourdie and related to the Hays of Errol. They marries several years earlier, following Kinloch's return from Europe. The couple had two sons and a daughter. Their house stood on the west side of Couttie's Wynd, near the present Union Street in Dundee. (The house was apparently leased to a another physician, William Ferguson, when the doctor was abroad. His first wife, Eupham, was Dr Kinloch's sister.)

  A great 'pest' attacked the city of Dundee in 1607, which is likely to have been typhus rather than bubonic plague, though its effects were just as deadly. A great many inhabitants were carried away and Dr Kinloch's services would have been greatly in demand. Among those he attempted to save was the brother of eminent Dundonian Peter Goldman, who wrote a vivid description on the disease ravaged burgh.

   Dr Kinloch's land holding is described in Council Minutes: 'his foreland lay foreanent the wind mill' at Yeaman Shore. In 1610 the council took action against the family because of an alleged encroachment upon the public road. According to Alexander Maxwell:

He had already made an encroachment upon another man's right, by striking furth a window in a mutual gable without obtaining his leave, but was obliged to become bound 'to condemn and to close up the licht at sic time as it should please' his neighbour to raise his house higher.  [The History of Old Dundee, p. 163.]

   The couple apparently then engaged tradesmen to engage on surreptitious building work: 'under silence of nicht, to big ane pillar [or wall] of stone wark upon the common street and bounds thereof, betwix his tenement and the windmill'. At a meeting of the burgh council on 17th July, 1610, three masons stated, 'that before sunrising  at the command of Griseld Hay, the spouse of Dr David,' they illegally built a pillar of stone work adjacent to the common road. They were fined £5 and ordered to:

demolish the said pillar to the ground and restore the common gait on passage to the auld estate.

  However, the row escalated to the Privy Council.  Kinloch complained in 16th August that the Dundee baillies William Ferguson and Walter Rollok had cast down a 'prettie piller of stone werk' which he had erected on his own land 'for setting thairon of his banefire'. It is perhaps a measure of Kinloch's standing that the town authorities could not reproach him directly regarding his unauthorised building work but had to target his hapless builders. It's possible there may have been some earlier complications with Kinloch trying to remove Dr Ferguson from his house.

  A measure of Kinloch's kindliness is perhaps preserved in another record from the Privy Council, where he was indirectly involved in another incident in the year 1613. A man named James Baldovie complained that his ward had been abducted by a suitor called John Ramsay. But Margaret gave evidence of his own assent in the matter, stating that it was 'hir awne propir will and motive' that she left James and went directly to Dr Kinloch in Dundee, whom she described as her friend.  She stated firmly that she intended to marry John and the Privy Council found in her favour.  I would guess perhaps that the young lady was a relative of Dr Kinloch's family on his mother's side.

  David Kinloch purchased the lands of Aberbothrie Bardmony and Leitfie  in Perthshire from Patrick Lord Gray, which were confirmed by a charter of James VI in 1616. He also purchased the estate of Balmyle and changed its name to Kinloch. This became the main residence of the family for several centuries.The original house, near Meigle in Strathmore, was destroyed by fire. A replacement mansion was built in 1797, but passed from the hands of the Kinloch family. The building was latterly turned into a hotel.

Death and Memorial in The Howff

   It is likely that death came fairly suddenly to Kinloch and not after a long illness, for two months before his death on 10th September, 1617, he received permission to venture abroad.  He was laid to rest with great ceremony in Dundee's main burial ground, the Howff. The monument still exists, near the north-west gate, though the inscription was erased later. The inscription to Dr Kinloch eulogised him, in Latin, as 'a most honourable man, of famous learning, and in his life adorned with many singular virtues; a most skilful physician to the Kings of Great Britain and France, by whose patents and seals the antiquity of his Pedigree and Extract is clearly witnessed and proven...'

Kinnalochi proavos et aviate stemmata gentis

Clara interproceros haec monumenta probant

Magnus ab his cui surgit sed major ab arte

Major ab ingenio gloria parta venit

Gallant Kinloch, his famous ancient race

Appear by this erected in this place;

His honour great indeed; his art and skill

And famous name both side o' the pole do fill.

   The inscription was later removed and replaced by an inscription dedication to his descendant, Sir James Kinloch Nevay.

Kinloch the Poet

For many years, Kinloch's fame was supplemented by his reputation for great learning.  Dr Kinloch's two long poems on medical subjects De Hominis Procreatione and De Anatome are actually part of a longer whole, published in Paris in 1596, and reprinted in second volume of the Scottish Latin compilation Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum (Amsterdam, 1637). The poems particularly detail the development, anatomy and diseases of man. The book contains poems by his fellow Dundonians Peter Goldman and Hercules Rollock.

Kinloch's Portrait

A painting of Dr Kinloch was completed in 1614 . It is unsigned, but was allegedly completed in Europe rather than Scotland, possibly in Madrid.  The canvas measures 42 x 32 inches. It now hangs in the Board Room of the Medical School at Ninewells Hospital and is the oldest painting in  Dundee University collection. A painted copy of this portrait also hangs in the main ward corridor of the hospital, kindly donated by a Kinloch descendent.  It was presented to the University of St Andrews by Mrs Lingard-Guthrie in the 1950's subject to the condition that it remained North of the Tay. She was descended from the Kinlochs on the distaff side. Her home, Carnoustie House, was a dower house of the Kinloch family. One branch of the family also occupied Logie House near Kirriemuir.

Dr Kinloch's Descendants

   Dr Kinloch and his wife had two sons and a daughter.  James inherited the main estate and John gained the estate of Gourdie, near Dundee. James's son, another David, was knighted by King James VII. The family maintained their association with Dundee, though the main branch had its base in eastern Perthshire.  The doctor's great grandson, Sir James Kinloch, married Elizabeth, sole daughter if John Nevay of Nevay in Angus.  This couple had twelve children. Doctor David's great-great-grandson was Sir James Kinloch Nevay who held Dundee for the Young Pretender during the Jacobite Rebellion,  from 7th September, 1745, until 14th January, 1746. A direct descendant was George Kinloch of Kinloch (1775-1833), a reformer and politician. A businessman with interests in Carnoustie and Dundee, he was elected Member of Parliament for Dundee a short time before his death. A statue of him was erected in Albert Square in Dundee in the 1870s and remains there, possibly on the ground which his ancestors had owned, known as Kinloch's Meadow.

   Further details of the later family can be consulted in Warden's Angus, or Forfarshire, volume 4, pp. 341-5.

 

Selected Sources

R. C. Buist, 'Dr David Kinloch (Kynalochus), 1559 - 1617,' The British Medical Journal, Vol. 1, no. 3409 (May 1, 1926), p. 793.

R. C. Buist, 'Dundee Doctors in the Sixteenth Century,' Edinburgh Medical Journal (June, 1930), pp. 293-302, 357-366.

David Hamilton, The Healers, A History of Medicine in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1981).

Dr. J. Kinnear, 'Early Dundee Doctors,' Edinburgh Medical Journal (April 1953), pp. 169-83.

K. G. Lowe, 'Dr David Kinloch: Mediciner to His Majestie, James VI,' Scottish Medical Journal (1991), pp. 87-89.

Alexander Maxwell, The History of Old Dundee (Edinburgh and Dundee, 1884).

Norman Moore, 'The Schola Salernitana: its history and the date of its introduction into the British Isles,' (Glasgow, 1908).

Our Meigle Book (Dundee, 1932).

James Paton (ed.), Scottish Life and History (Glasgow, 1902).

Tayside Medical History Museum Art Collection - The Kinloch Portrait

Alexander Warden, Angus, or Forfarshire (vol. 4, Dundee, 1884).

More Forgotten Sons and Daughters of Angus

Forgotten Sons: Alexander Gray

Forgotten Daughters of Angus - Clemintina Stirling Graham and Lady Pitlyal

Forgotten Sons: The First British Balloonist James Tytler

Forgotten Sons: The Strange Avenues of Hector Boece

(Not) Forgotten Sons - Captain William Kidd

Forgotten Sons - Moonlight of the West

Forgotten Sons - Captain Maule Ramsay and Right Wing Extremism

Forgotten Sons - In Search of Lewis Spence

The Rollock Family in Dundee and Death in Edinburgh

  In a previous post I wrote about the intriguing Peter Goldman, doctor and scholar, who wrote a Latin poem - Description of the Desolation of Dundee - about the pestilence which affected Dundee in the early 17th century. (The full article can be found here.)  This seems like an opportune time to have a look again at the general subject of pestilence and pandemics which, of course, are nothing new.  One of the earliest Scottish artistic reactions to the sudden and terrifying appearance of pandemic was the great Robert Henryson's poem An Prayer for the Pest, which begins:

O eterne god, of power infinyt,
To quhois hie knawledge na thing is of obscure
That is, or was, or evir salbe, perfyt,
in to thy sicht, quhill that this warld indure;
Haif mercy of us, Indigent and peure;
Thow dois na wrang to puneiss our offens:
O Lord, that is to mankynd haill succure,
Preserve us fra this perrelus pestilens.

   As it was in Henryson's Dunfermline, so it was in Goldman's Dundee. In between these two poetic reactions to the pestilence there was Hercules Rollock, who experienced and  wrote about the plague in Edinburgh. Some of his poetry was included in the same 17th century compilation of neo Latin Scots verse which also included Goldman's poems, Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum (1637), though Rollock's descriptive verse De Peste Edinburgi, was written in 1585. The plague had arrived in Fife in 1584 and was spread to the capital by the following year. It ravaged through Edinburgh and indeed much of Scotland.

   Rollock's poem shows a bustling city inflicted by the plague through God's will as a result of their sinning. His keen observations on the effect of the plague on the populace include hastily departing from the town - 'the fleeing troop of powerful citizens' -, though many stalwart citizens remains to help. Those who fled, Rollock warned, would be found by God, who 'will hunt [them] down with a keen-witted search'. The city was quickly put on quarantine and people barred from entry. Meetings in public, ‘quhairby infectioun daylie aryses’, were also banned. Rollock gave graphic descriptions of corpses being disposed of in the dead of night and other details about the dread calamity which befell the capital.  But he ends the poem on a positive note, with the disease being cleared from the city.

Hercules' Dundee Origins

 Hercules Rollock was the newly installed principal of the High School in Edinburgh when the pestilence hit the burgh. According to William Steven, he was 'a man of genius and superior classical attainments'. He was born in Dundee around 1556, the eldest son of a burgess of Dundee named George Rollock (who died around 1569). Hercules matriculated at St Andrews University in 1564 and graduated in 1568. According to William Stevens, he was appointed a regent of Aberdeen University in 1562  (though this date may be incorrect) and afterwards went to England, but on the way there by sea was caught by pirates and robbed of his valuable books. He went to Europe and studied at Poitiers in France. When he returned to Scotland he based himself in Dundee again , and was operating as a notary public and also given an official role as commissary before the role was taken away and he migrated to Edinburgh and becoming master of the grammar schools there at the end of May 1584. There are notices of legal proceedings involving Rollock in the local burgh records of Dundee. Some of these involve his own family.  In 1580 he was ordered to deliver to Margaret Rollok, relict of James Lovell, chirurgian, in the name of the lawful barnis of the said James, £20. In 1567, Lovell and Hercules Rollok were both witnesses to a deed for George Rollok, who was Hercules' father, so that it is likely that James Lovell's wife was a sister of Hercules.  The Rollock family more generally will be considered later on.

Later view of Dundee from the south

Drama at the Grammar School

In 1595, Rollock was removed from his post at the school because it was claimed his pupils there were acting violently. There was a custom called Barring Out at some schools of the period, whereby bands of pupils armed  and barricaded themselves in school as a holiday approached in the hope of forcing the authorities to grant them extra holiday.  An incident of this kind happened in 1580 and the burgh leaders were obliged to step in and end it. On the 15th September 1595, violence broke out again at the school. A group of people had asked for a week's holiday, called a 'privilege', but when it was turned down some of these 'gentilmenis bairnis' swore revenge. When Rollock rocked up at the school next day, it was closed against him and he had to summon a magistrate.  Despite threats from inside, magistrate John Macmoran allowed his men to attack the entrance with a battering ram.  He was shot in the head by a pupil, one William Sinclair, son of the Chancellor of Caithness. The barricade ended and the boys were locked up for seven months before coming to trial.  Although the trial records are lost, it seems the juvenile culprits were all acquitted.  

   Rollock's days in charge were numbered.  A recently agreed increase in school fees was rescinded and he was charged with failing to maintain proper discipline.  He was sacked from his position and unsuccessfully sued for damages at the Court of Session.  He died in January 1599, having in the interval made a living by practising law.

The Rollock Family in Dundee

  One of the earliest noticies of the family in connection with Dundee is in the records of the Parliament of 1481. Among those attending was David Rollock from Dundee. Timothy Slonosky notes the prominence of various members of the Rollock family in Dundee during the 16th century, with representation on the various institutions within the burgh, but he admits that the relationship of the individuals is difficult to disentangle. Four members of the family served multiple terms as burgh councillors during the century. In the 1520s there were two people named Rollock represented. James Rollock and George Rollock are names included in a letter from king James V on 17th July, 1526, granting a charter to the Holy Blood altar in the kirk of Dundee.  The multiple family members serving as officials between 1550 and 1563 seem to have been descended from George Rollock, who was treasurer of the burgh between 1520 and 1523. Another George was born in 1498 and died in 1562. His son was also called George. This branch held lands in Dudhope and also 'Kynreiche'. 

  A David Rollock was kirkmaster of Dundee and, in 1531,  was involved in a dispute with William Silver over his claim to the parish clerkship of Dundee, a claim that pitted the Bishop of Brechin against the burgh. Another prominent family member was James Rollock, one of a number of prominent citizens who were brought to law for espousing the new reformed religion. At the same time, other prominent Protestants were targeted and forced to flee. George Wishart fled from Montrose into England. John Wedderburn and his brother James fled to Europe. A burgess of the burgh, Rollock was 'condemned for certain heresies'. But, rather than face condemnation, the well off merchant fled to Holland and became a businessman at Campvere. His brother David took over some of his belongings in Dundee. James became an active part of the exiled Scottish business community in the Low Countries town and assumed the role of 'Portar of Camfeir'.

   In a previous post I mentioned the apparent feud between Gilbert Wedderburn, from a prominent Dundee family, and one branch of the Rollock kindred. In the 1540s Gilbert slew two members of the family and was obliged to flee the burgh and settle in Leith.

  Beyond Dundee, the family held some lands in Angus. On 21st May, 1582, James Rollock, heir of George of Duncrub, his father,was retoured in the corn mill of Cambiston, in the barony of Downie £6 13s 4d; and in the half lands of Chapeltown of Balgowie or Over Corstoun- 4 merks, on 27th January. The barony of Downie subsequently came into possession of the Maules of Panmure. At the end of the century Sir Walter Rollock, and his sons Andrew and Alexander, was in dispute with the Gardyne family over property in Angus. Robert Rollock was ordained minister of Murroes in 1618, and was deposed in 1639 for the maintenance of universalist doctrines, and for non-residence.

  Some of the family, while still distinguished citizens in the Dundee area, were involved in feuding and lawlessness.  On 27th march 1602, John and Robert Mudie had to pay as surety the sum of £1000 not to harm William Rollock of Balbeggie.  There was a further dispute three years later  when factions came to loggerhead about representation to the town council, demonstrating it was mainly a disagreement about mercantile revenues.  A claim was submitted to Commissioners of the Burghs but was rejected in July 1604.  Dundee's magistrates later complained to the Privy Council that William Rollock, Walter Rollock, Robert Fleschour, James Finlaysoun and associates were stirring up 'the common multitude be the pretence and cloak of reform' and had tried to get 'the crafts to shake off their obediance to the magistrates and prevailed on them to hold public meetings and subscribe bands against the magistrates'. The Privy Council ordered the offenders to be committed to 'free ward' in a number of towns. They were, however, released shortly afterwards and the agitators are said to have set up 'seditious mutyneis'.

   Records show a dispute in Dundee in October 1605, when Andrew Lamb, Commendator of Coupar, was commissioned to settle a dispute between James Wedderburn, son of the town clerk, and Robert Rollock.  The nature of the dispute was not recorded and nor were any of the principal parties found at fault.  However, a mariner named David Blyth had encouraged Rollock in his opposition to Wedderburn and:

Mr ANDRO found fault with him, and callit him ane evil neighbour, and said he suld accuse him as ane stayer of the peace of the town. DAVID answerit that he carit nocht for his challenge, he had been before the Privie Council of before, and he knew quhat a man Mr ANDRO wes; and that he [DAVID] wes as honest a man as Mr ANDRO, and that his father wes as honest as Mr ANDRO his father; and farder, say it that he knew Mr ANDRO would rail against him in the pulpit as Mr JAMES ROBERTSON did, but he cair'd nocht for it; and utherwayes misbehavit himself very irreverntly to Mr ANDRO.  

  Blyth was placed in ward and the main parties were bound over to keep the peace.

Some Sources

Bridging The Continental Divide. Full text of Rollock's poem and English translation.

Nine Trades of Dundee

Karen Jillings, 'Hercules Rollock and the Edinburgh Plague of 1585,' The Bottle Imp, Issue 15, https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2014/06/hercules-rollock-and-the-edinburgh-plague-of-1585/

Steven J. Reid, 'Murder, Mayhem and the Muse in Jacobean Edinburgh: introducing Hercules Rollock (c. 1546-1599),' https://www.dps.gla.ac.uk/features/display/?fid=rollock1

Steven J. Reid, '"Quasi Sibyllae folia dispersa": the Anatomy of the Delititae Poetarum Scotorum (1637),' in Fresche fontanis : studies in the culture of medieval and early modern Scotland, ed.
Janet Hadley Williams; J Derrick McClure (Newcastle, 2013), pp. 397-414.

Timothy Slonosky, 'Civil Reformations: Religion In Dundee And Haddington C.1520-1565,'  Phd. thesis, University of Pennsylvania (2014).

William Steven, The History of the High School of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 1849).