| He is is first named as taking part, as one of the retinue of his uncle Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar, in the latter's campaign in Flanders about 1408. Wyntoun, a contemporary, tells how the Earl, before an expected battle, knighted some of his esquires, one of these being John of Sutherland 'his newew, a lord apperand of vertew, Heretabil Erl of that countre.' The young knight fought bravely, and the cause the Earl favoured was victorious. Nothing further is recorded of him until 1427, when it was probably he who went to England as one of the hostages for King James I. He remained in England for many years, being confined in Pontefract Castle, where there were many other Scots hostages. While there, on 12 July 1444, he granted to his kinsman, Alexander Sutherland of Duffus, a charter confirming the lands of Torboll. On 3 February 1444-45 a safe-conduct was issued to Margaret Sutherland, Alexander and Robert Sutherland, probably the Earl's wife and children, for a year, to pass between England and Scotland. He must have been liberated not very long after, as he was at Dunrobin Castle in May 1448, when he presented a chaplain to the chapel of St. Andrew at Golspie. On 29 April 1451 he and his wife Margaret received a crown charter of Crakaig, Easter and Wester Loth, and other lands in the parish of Loth. These lands were reserved for liferent use to himself and his Countess when he resigned his earldom into the hands of King James II in favour of his son John, who was infeft in the lands in his father's lifetime.13 |