medieval-atlas/administration/171

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Place-dates: David 11 to James V It is obvious that the patterns in this series of maps differ from each other. It is not so easy to be sure what these difference; mean. An act was sealed by the king's clerks, but the date in the text may not be when and where this was actually done. Sometimes charters were issued under a warrant from the king. If so. it seems that they would normally bear the date of the warrant. which was probably when and where the king actually ordered the grant. Most royal grants. however. were formal. for example, confirmations of land transfers, which often did not involve the king at all. Such routine documents may well bear the actual date of issue; and it follows that their dates tell us nothing ofthe king's movements. Thus, the maps may reflect quite complex relationships between rulers and clerks. rather than the (1371-90) and Robert III (1390-1406) issued more acts than anyone else in Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. The governors' acts bunch more in Fife. In both cases the distribution follows the ruler's personal lands. The Stewarts' territories were in Renfrewshire and Ayrshire; and the dukes of Albany had their main ba;e in Fife. But we must be cautious. Kings may go where they do not issue charters: James I certainly penetrated the Highlands though he issued no acts there, and the king's authority may be recognised well outside areas that he visits. Landowners in the Highlands and the Borders sometimes sought royal charters to support their titles. even if those charters were issued at Edinburgh or elsewhere in the Lowlands. whereabouts of the king at any given time. An example may illustrate the kind of questions that arise. In the second half of David's reign and under James I and 11 . acts issued at Edinburgh amount to around oreven more than halfall issued. Under some other rulers, particularly the governors (1406-24), there are proportionately far fewer. This may mean that David and the Jameses spent a lot of their time in Edinburgh or that Edinburgh was becoming the fixed seat of government. If Edinburgh was becoming the fixed seat of government, one may ask what happened under those rulers when the proportion of acts issued at Edinburgh falls; it may mean that the centre of government was elsewhere, perhaps less fixed; or that there was less routine government. Some aspects of the distribution of acts may reveal territorial limitations in the structure of royal government. The almost complete absence of place-dates in the Highlands, certainly to the north and west of the Great Glen. and the small number issued in the Borders and the south-west, surely indicates that the kings in this period tended to concentrate their activities in the central Lowlands, Fife and Angus. Some variations seem personal. Robert [[ Dumbarton _ ~. /f.if • _1910 Kinloss ) ~'" Restenn.=th • Dunnlchen ~Arbroath DU'ldee Dunbar 9 3 Edlnb7HOIyrOod ~Lanark Places where acts were issued kms o 25 50 75 100 , , • One act I ,, , , , ® Number of acts where more than one o 10 20 30 40 50 60 miles Place-dates: David 11 1329 to 1346 BW 171

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