Alexander (Napier) Napier IInd of Merchiston Knt. (abt. 1425 - bef. 1474)

Born about 1425 in Merchiston, Midlothian, Scotland [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died before Feb 1474 before about age 49 in Scotland [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Gregory Lauder-Frost [send private message] and Scotland Project WikiTree [send private message]

Alexander (Napier) Napier IInd of Merchiston Knt. was a member of Scottish Nobility. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland

Biography

Alexander (Napier) Napier IInd of Merchiston Knt. is Notable.

Sir Alexander Napier, second of of that name of Merchistoun, administrator and diplomat; was the eldest son of Alexander Napier, 1st of Merchistoun, Provost of Edinburgh in 1438.^[1][2][3]

The Crown confirmed a feu charter at Edinburgh on 15th May 1459 to James Douglas, Earl of Mortoun, Lord Dalkeith, and Jonete his spouse, of the lands of Easter Balbartanis and Wester Balbartanis, with the mill etc., at Kinghorn in Fife, which Alexander Napier of Merchistoun personally resigned.^[4]

In 1439 Napier was wounded when he tried to help Joan Beaufort (d.1445), widow of King James I, when she was imprisoned by Alexander Livingston of Callendar, Guardian of James II. As a reward, on 7 March 1449/50, after the fall of the Livingstons, James II rewarded Napier with the lands of Philde, Perthshire, forfeited by Livingston's son and on 24 September 1449 he was appointed Comptroller of the Royal Household. He was one of the Ambassadors sent to England in 1451 when he took the opportunity of going on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas á Becket at Canterbury. He held the office of Provost of Edinburgh between 1453-5 and 1457. He was knighted in 1460/1, possibly at James III's coronation. In a safe-conduct for him as one of the Ambassadors to the court of England dated 24th September 1461 he is designated a Vice-Admiral of Scotland. He had another Safe-Conduct in 1464. On 1468 he was sent to Denmark, with the Lord Chancellor, to negotiate the marriage between King James III and the Danish King's daughter, Princess Margaret. He was employed on several other public occasions, and in his later years held the off ice of Master of the Household to King James III.^[5]

In 1470 he is again recorded as Provost of Edinburgh.^[6]

On the 9th November 1493 at Edinburgh Archibald Napier of Merchistoun, with the consent of his mother, Elizabeth Menteith, made a charter of annual rent donations to The Church of St. Egidii at Edinburgh for the souls of his grandfather [this] Sir Alexander Napier, Knt., and his grandmother (Sir Alex's wife) Elizabeth Lauder, and his parents.^[7]

He married bef. 1451 Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Lauder of Haltoun, Knt. (d.1452).^[2][8][9] They had issue:

1. John, of Rusky, 3rd of Merchistoun,^[2][9] d. c 3 Nov 1487
2. Henry^[2][9]
3. Alexander^[9][10]
4. Janet, m. 1st John Edmonstone of that Ilk, m. 2nd Alexander Hepburn of Whitsome, m. 3rd Adam Hume^[10][11]

Alexander died about the end of 1473^[12] and certainly by Feb 1473/74.^[2]

Research Notes

• The Peerage

Sources

1. ↑ Paul, James Balfour. The Scots Peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom, Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1909, Vol. VI, Archive.org, p. 404
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} MacGregor, Gordon, The Red Book of Scotland, Scotland, private, 2022, Ed. 3, Vol. VII, p. 649
3. ↑ The Great Seal of Scotland, no.2233, dated 9th November 1493 and confirmed at Edinburgh, 22nd February 1494/5.
4. ↑ The Great Seal of Scotland, no.699.
5. ↑ The Scottish Nation by William Anderson, Edinburgh, 1867, vol.vii, p.238.
6. ↑ The Great Seal of Scotland, no.1035, dated 20th Sept 1470 and confirmed 6 July 1471.
7. ↑ The Great Seal of Scotland, no.2233, confirmed at Edinburgh, 22nd February 1494/5.
8. ↑ The Peerage of Scotland by Sir Robert Douglas, Bt., et al, Edinburgh, 1813.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3} Paul, James Balfour. The Scots Peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom, Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1909, Vol. VI, Archive.org, p. 406
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} MacGregor, Gordon, The Red Book of Scotland, Scotland, private, 2022, Ed. 3, Vol. VII, p. 650
11. ↑ Paul, James Balfour. The Scots Peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom, Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1909, Vol. VI, Archive.org, p. 407
12. ↑ Anderson, 1867, p.238.

See also:

• Wikipedia: Alexander Napier (2nd Laird of Merchiston)

• Wikidata: Item Q4719732, en:Wikipedia

• A Difficult Country - The Napiers in Scotland by Priscilla Napier, London,1972, p.265.

• The Complete Peerage by G.E.Cockayne, revised and enlarged by Geoffrey H. White, F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S., vol.xi, London, 1949, p.246.

• https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefoun06pauluoft/page/404 pgs 404-406

• Murray, Athol. "Napier, Sir Alexander, of Merchiston (d. 1473/4), administrator and diplomat." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.