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| The famous defender of Berwick during the siege of 1333, may have been the son of the Alexander mentioned in 1271. On 13 March 1328 he was first witness (designate as 'the father') to a charter of confirmation granted by Sir William de Lewyngstoun, knight, of the charter mentioned above as granted by Sir Fergus Cumyn, about the year 1260, in favour of the Monastery of Holyrood. He may have witnessed the confirmation as representative of Serlo and Alexander de Seton, witnesses to the original charter. A different account of his parentage, derived from old tradition, has previously been accepted. Maitland and Douglas show him as grandson, and Nisbet, Crawfurd, Lord Hailes and Wood as son (by Christiana de Brus, sister of King Robert I) of the gallant Sir Christopher Seton, whom all represent as head of the Scottish family. Nisbet, accepting the family tradition on this point, was constrained to hold also that Sir Christopher held estates in England as well as the Seton lands in Scotland; and his authority seems to have influenced later historians of the family. But conclusive evidence, not known to the above-named genealogists, is now available, which proves that Sir Christopher was son of Sir John de Seton, who held the manor of Seton in Whitby Strand, co. York, of William le Latimer, and other lands in Cumberland and Durham in chief of the Crown of England. It is noteworthy that Maitland cites without remark in an 'eik' or addendum, a passage from Holinshed's Chronicle (which was first published after he had finished his family history), attributing Sir Christopher's execution by order of King Edward I, to the fact that 'he was no Scot, but an Englishman borne.'9 |
| It seems probable that the belief in Sir Alexander's descent from Christian Brus may have been partly due to the fact that he surrounded the three crescents of his coatarmorial with the royal tressure; and that this augmentation, which frequently commemorates a maternal royal descent, was ever after borne by his successors. But the sovereigns of Scotland occasionally conferred the right to bear the double tressure on subjects 'who merited well of their King and country, as a special additament of honour'; and Sir Alexander or a predecessor of his may well have been one of the early recipients of the distinction.10 |
| Numerous entries containing the name of Alexander de Seton occur in record throughout the first half of the fourteenth century. It cannot be pronounced with certainty that all of them refer to the same individual, but the main features of the career of the Lord of Seton seem clearly established. Alisaundre de Seton, Vallet, del Counte de Edeneburgh, who did homage to King Edward I on 28 August 1296, was probably the future Governor of Berwick. His lands, which had been in the King's hands, were restored to him on 5 September following' The English occupation of the Lothians continued intermittently for many years, and Alexander de Seton, though certainly a patriotic Scot, seems to have been constrained at times to accept employment in the service of King Edward I and his successor. He appears to have gone on the King's business towards the Isles with John de Mowbray in 1306, but must have fallen under some suspicion, as a royal order directed that he was to be seized and sent to the King on his return, and that his goods and chattels should be forfeited. On 18 August in the same year, a Mons. Alexandre de Setone put forward a petition for forfeited lands.11 |
| Dr. George Mackenzie states that he had seen an indenture dated in 1308, whereby Sir Alexander de Seton, Sir Gilbert Hay and Sir Neil Campbell engaged to defend King Robert's right to the Crown during their lives, and this they swore to do upon the sacrament at Cambuskenneth; but the English officials seem to have had no suspicion of this undertaking. On 20 February 1311-12 Sir Alexander was a juror at an inquisition taken before the English Sheriff of Lothian concerning the value of the lands of several local proprietors who had joined the national party. Sir Thomas Gray asserts that he was in the service of England, and accompanied King Edward II to Bannockburn; but that on the night before the battle he went over to King Robert I, assured him that the English were demoralised, and guaranteed on pain of suffering a traitor's death that if an attack were made upon them on the morrow, they would easily be overthrown. Between 1315 and 1317 he served in Ireland under Edward Bruce. In the latter year and in 1320 he was sent by King Robert I on missions to the Court of England. On 19 July 1319 his lands seem to have been nominally in the hands of King Edward II.12 |
| Sir Alexander was one of the signatories of the letter
asserting the independence of the kingdom which the Barons
of Scotland addressed to Pope John xxii. on 6 April 1320."
He is said to have received from King Robert I a coat of augmentation, viz. gules, a sword supporting an imperial crown, to perpetuate the memory of his own and progenitors worthy actions for their King and country. His services were more substantially rewarded by Crown grants of large estates. He had charters of the superiority of the lands of Elphinstone, of the commonty of Travernent which was the Earl of Buchan's, of a tenement in Aberdeen, of the lands of Barnes (said to have been granted along with the above-mentioned coat of augmentation), of Gogar, of the superiority of Dundas, Westercraigs and part of Queensferry, of the barony of Travernent which William Ferraris forfeited, of the lands of Pausyde which Alan La Suche forfeited, of the lands of Mylyis which the Earl of Buchan forfeited; and a charter of confirmation of the lands of Halsington, co. Berwick. He had also charters of the lands in Travernent and husband-lands in Nodref which pertained to the deceased Alan La Suche, of lands in Nidriffe in the barony of Winchburgh, of the lands of Hertsheved, and in 1328, charter of resignation of the barony of Lambyngston, co. Lanark. He had charters of the lands and town of Seaton in ane burgh of barony, and of the lands and barony of Seatoun erected into a free barony; and grants of liberty of market on every Lord's day after Mass, of the town of Seton in free burgage with all liberties etc., and of the lands of Setone in free warren and forest for ever. He had the town of Berwick in feu-farm before January 1327-28, when he was appointed Governor of the town, the Earl of March being Governor of the castle; and he was for a time Steward of the Household of David, Earl of Carrick, Prince of Scotland.13 |
| Between 1326 and 1332, Sir Alexander is often found designate as ' the father'; his son of the same name had doubtless grown up and been knighted before the former year. He is designate 'Sir Alexander de Seton the father, Lord of that Ilk', in a charter granted by Alanus de Hertesheued, attributed to a date anterior to the year 1328.14 |
| He remained in command of the town of Berwick until the siege by King Edward III was drawing to a close; but he seems to have been superseded by Sir William Keith, a few days before the place was surrendered between 19 and 22 July 1333. He is said to have seen from the walls the execution by the English of his son Thomas, a hostage in their hands for the conditional surrender of the town, whose life, they alleged, was forfeited by reason of the non-fulfilment of that engagement. On 15 December 1333 King Edward III addressed to Sir Alexander (as dilectus et fidelis), along with others, inquiries as to the value of the castle, town and county of Berwick. His lands had been forfeited by Edward Baliol after the battle of Dupplin, but he was one of the few that attended the Parliament held by that Prince at Edinburgh 10 February 1333-34, and he was one of the signatories of the deed of cession of Berwick. In 1340 he was commissioned, with some others, to go on state affairs to England, where he was afterwards detained for a time as a hostage.15 |
| Sir Alexander de Setoun, Lord of that Ilk, was one of the Lords Auditors of Causes and Complaints in 1341. He joined the order of St. John of Jerusalem, apparently not long after that year. He must then have been expected to denude himself of his estates, in accordance with the rule of the order. He doubtless handed them over to his next heir; but he was still styled Dominus ejusdem in 1345, when, as Master of Torphichen, he granted a charter to William de Meldrum. He had been appointed to the charge of the House of Torphichen by the Grand Master at Rhodes. On 6 February 1346-47 he obtained an indult from Pope Clement VI permitting him to choose a confessor, etc. On 12 August 1348 he had a safe-conduct to enable him to visit King David II in the Tower of London, on business, which doubtless related to arrangements for the King's ransom. He seems to have died shortly afterwards.16 |