as often as occasion shall arise."
His family came to an end before 1400, but in any case the Scrymgeours had long been in
possession of the similar but more important office of Bannerman. It was the creation of
this office for the Fife Kindred (later represented by the Scrymgeours) who already had
charge of the Brecbennoch, that probably led to the Brecbennoeh being given to the Arbroth
monks in the first place, as per the King’s wishes. Yet an at least partly
aprocryphal story is told by Boece regarding the acquisition by the Scrymgeours of the
post of bannerman of the vexillum regium and their name. In an early historical work, the
Crnnikls, Boece asserts that in the days of King Alexander I (1107-1124) or, as an
inconsistency, King Malcolm (Malcolm IV?- 1153-c.1175), the King traveled to Monymusk to
fight his rivals for the Crown (the Moray-men) hut saw his bannerman "trembling
for fear of enemies and not passing so pertly forward as he desired." At this point
the King took the banner from him and gave it to one "Sir Alexander Carron," who
was given the significant name Scrymgeour.
Later in the same book Boece asserts that Sir
Alexander Carron won his new surname by going forward in a skirmishing party of picked
men, with the vexillion region, and defeating and killing the opposition. First of all,
the date is far too early, as the family of Scrymgcour only held the office from the reign
of Alexander III (1249 -1216), and the first of the name Scrymgeour does not appear until
the career of Alexander, grandson of Carin, who fought bravely as Bannerman for both
Wallace and Bruce in the Scottish wars of independence. It is clearly he that this
romantic story is really about, the character Sir Alexander Carron being apparently a
combination of his name with that of his earliest recorded ancestor, Carin of Cupar, with
the added flavor of an older "Brechennoch" tradition connected with the
struggles of David I against the "Moray-men." The story is probably meant to
contrast the bravery of Sir Alexander with the relative ineffectiveness of those other
vexillum-bearers, the monks of Arbroth, hence the mention of the relatively obscure estate
of Monymusk.
The Spens too are descended from the house of
Fife, and appear to have branched off the main stem sometime after the family of Wemyss.
They take their name from the office of Spence or Spense, from dispensa, Latin
despensario, that of custodian of the larder or provision room, in this case apparently
originally connected with Inchaffray Abbey in Strathearn. The post apparently evolved into
a royal government office, in the same way that the Stewart or Steward of the King’s
household (that is, the whole Kingdom) himself became a royal officer of realm-wide
responsibility. Several persons named Spensa or Dispensa are mentioned as government
officials from the thirteenth century onwards, including one in 1529 for whom there is
entry in the royal accounts of livery for "John Spens at the cupboard." Roger
Dispensator witnessed a charter by the bishop of Moray between 1202 and 1222. Thomas
Dispensator witnessed excambion of time lands of Dolays Mychel |
