Archibald (Bethune) Bethune IIIrd of Balfour

Ancestors

Descendants

Died after Mar 1421 in Scotland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Alan Boswell [send private message]

Biography

Archibald was the son of John Bethune.

The only contemporary evidence for Archibald's existence is a precept of sasine granted to him by Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany, of the lands of Newtoun of Kettill in Fife dated at Dundee, March 1421. This document was transcribed in the seventeenth century by George Martine of Clermont and is contained in his genealogy of the Bethunes of Balfour.^[1]

Research Notes

• Burke, John, "A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland", London: Henry Colburn Publishers,1836, Vol. III, Archive.org, p. 378

Precept of Seasine granted by Duke Murdake (Grand Child to K. Robert, (Duke of Albany and Governour of Scotland) in Favours of Archibald Bethune of Balfour, son to John Bethune of Balfour, of The Lands of Holkettle in Fife, dated at Dundee The Day of March 1421, of this Tenor

Double of a Precept of Seasine granted by Duke Murdake to The Laird of Balfour. Murdacus Dux Albanian Comes de Fyff et Menteath ac Regni Scotiae Gubernator Senascallo nostros et Ballivis suis de Fyff'e Salutem. Sciatis quod concessimus dilecto Consanguineo nostro Archibaldo Bethun filio et heredi Johannis Bethun de Balfour omnes et singulas Terras de Newtoun de Kettill cum Pertinent, jacen. infra Vicecomitatum nostrum de Fyffe. Quae quidem Terras cum Pertinent, fuerunt dicti Johannis Patris dicti Archibaldi hereditaria, et quas idem Johannes non vi aut metu ductus nec errore lapsus sed ex sua mera et spontanea voluntate nobis per suos Procuratores ac per suas Literas patentes sub suo Sigillo confectas per fustim et baculum sursum reddidit, pure et simpliciter resignavit ac totum Jus ac Clameum quod in dictis Terris cum Pertinen. de Newtoun de Kettill habuit aut habere potuit pro se aut heredibus suis omnino quyl clamavit in perpetuum. Quare mandamus Vobis et pra?cipimus quatenus statum et Sasinam hereditariam diet. Terrarum de Newtoun de Kettill cum Pertinent, praedicto Archibaldo secundum tenorem Cartae meae quam inde habet habere faciatis instanter et sine dilatione salvo jure cujuslibet, et hoc nullo modo omittatis. Datum sub Sigillo nostro apud Dundie Die Martii Anno Dom.1421.

This is translated by Google (and edited and corrected by the PM) as: Murdacus, Duke of Albany, Earl of Fife and Menteath, and also Governor Seneschal of the Kingdom of Scotland, and also in our own right, to the Bailiffs of the Fyffe, Greeting. Know ye that we have granted our dear cousin Archibald Bethun, the son and heir of John Bethun de Balfour, all and each of the lands of Newtown of Kettill, with their appurtenances, lying to the south of our Earldom of Fyffe. In fact, the lands, with their appurtenances, were inherited by the said John, father of the said Archibald, and which the same John gave not by force or by fear, nor in error, but of his freely given testament, through his agents, and by means of their letters patent made under his own seal, through the authority given by his high office, purely and simply revealed that they are in the right, and the Claim to the whole of the said land, with appurtenances of Newtown of Kettill, he had or could have had with all his heirs in perpetuity. Whereby we authorise, in so far as Sassine status and hereditary duties of the lands of Newtown of Kettill and appurtenances, in favour of the aforesaid Archibald, our Charter which he has had and held without a break, is to be confirmed immediately and without delay, we so swear to whomsoever it might concern, and this is in no way to be overlooked. Given under our Seal at Dundee in March AD.1421.

Wood, in his East Neuk of Fife, arbitrarily makes this Archibald the father of the John Beaton of Balfour - not known to contemporary sources - who married Margaret Stirling, but Martine's older genealogy explicitly states that this John was the son of an earlier John who married Jean Stewart and "was three or four Generations after this Archibald"^[2][3] Lacking any contemporary evidence, it is impossible to determine the succession of the early lairds of Balfour.

In the absence of better contemporary sources we have to use what is available. The Peerage, based on Burke's landed Gentry has Archibald as the 3rd Laird of Balfour, the son of John Bethune, 2nd of Balfour and an unknown daughter of the Stewart family., and father of John Bethune, 4th laird of Balfour.

Archibald Bethune, 3rd of Balfour M, #317623 Last Edited=23 Sep 2014 Archibald Bethune, 3rd of Balfour is the son of John Bethune, 2nd of Balfour and unknown daughter Stewart. Child of Archibald Bethune, 3rd of Balfour John Bethune, 4th of Balfour Citations [S81] Sir Bernard Burke, editor, Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 12th edition, (London, England: Harrison & Sons, 1914), page 148. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Landed Gentry, 12th ed. ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ MacFarlane, Walter, "Genealogical Collections concerning Families in Scotland made by Walter Macfarlane 1750-1751", Edinburgh: University Press, 1900, Vol. I, Archive.org, pp. 4-5 citing George Martine of Clermont. Account of the Family of Balfour Bethune as I got it from the present Laird of Balfour
2. ↑ Woodrow, Walter, "The East Neuk of Fife, its History and Antiquities", Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1887, Ed. 2 p. 371
3. ↑ MacFarlane, Walter, "Genealogical Collections concerning Families in Scotland made by Walter Macfarlane 1750-1751", Edinburgh: University Press, 1900, Vol. I, Archive.org, p. 5 citing Martine of Clermont
4. ↑ http://www.thepeerage.com/p31763.htm#i317623