General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> Sir
Sir Robert de Chisholm. In 1358, the Justices of the King, of whom Robertde Chisholme, described as Lord of Chisholme in Roxburthshire andConstable of the Castle of Urquhart on Loch Ness, was one, remits a fineto Alexander de Chisholm. This Alexander appears to have been SirRobert's second son who afterwards succeeded to the Chiefship and estateson the death of his elder brother John without male issue, and who by hismarriage with Margaret de la Ard acquired the Erchless portion of theBisset property and other extensive estates in the North.

Sir Robert is said to have been appointed to the offices of Constable ofUrquhart Castle and Sheriff of Inverness-shire in 1359 by David II, bywhom he was knighted in 1357. On the 8th of April, 1359, "Lord Robert deChesholme, Sheirff of the county of Inverness, gave in his accounts, withall his expenses and receipts from Martinmas, 1357." He granted six acresof land to the Holy Rood of the Church of Inverness, for the benefit ofthe poor of the parish, by deed, dated the 14th September, 1362, beingthe feast of the Holy Rood. In this deed he describes himself as "Robertde Chesholme, Knight, and Lord of the same." The lands are still partlyin possession of the Kirk Session of the parish, and are known asDiriebught, or Tir nam bochd - the lands of the poor. The deed is in theInverness charter chest, and is in excellent preservation, with SirRobert's seal attached fresh and entire. It is printed at lenght by MrFraser-Mackintosh, beginning thus:  "To all who shall see or hear of thischarter, Sir Robert de Chesholme, Lord of the same, wishes eternatlsalvation in the Lord; since it is known to all that all flesh returnsinto dust, and that there is nothing after death except He who is thetrue safety and who redeemed the human race on the cross." The follows adescription of the lands, which he grants "for the salvation of his ownsoul, and the souls of his ancestors and successors, for making anincrease of divine worship forever to the altar of the Holy Rood ofInverness." The charter is witnessed, among others, by Thomas de Fenton'Alderman' of the burgh, and 'Weland Shishlac,' the exact phoneticequivalent of our Gaelic 'Siosalach' of today, who is described as aburgess of Inverness. In a deed dated 1364, Sir Robert speaks of hisgrandfather, after whom he has himself apparently been named, as SirRobert Lauder of Quarrelwood. This conclusively established his father'smarriage to Quarrelwood's daughter; and the fact that he succeeded to allhis maternal grandfather's property in the counties of Inverness, Nairn,and Moray, clearly proves that his mother was Sir Robert Lauder's onlychild and sole heiress.

The Sir Robert Chisholme designates himself in a document, describing theproceedings of a court held at Balloch Hill, near Inverness, inconnection with these lands, and dated the 25th of January, 1376, as"Robert de Cheshelme, Lord of that Ilk, Justiciary of the said Regalityof Moray." His name appears four years later, in a Protest by the Bishopand clergy of Moray in opposition to claims made at that time by the Wolfof Badenoch to the superiority of the Bishop's church lands in Badenoch.The document is dated 11th October 1380. The Bishop makes protest, that,'we lately, in the month of August last past, in the Chruch of St Mary ofINverness, before our Lord the King and the illustrious men the Lords,the Earls of Carrick and Fife, sons of our Lord the King, and Lord andEarl of Moray, the reverend father in Christ, Lord John, by the Grace ofGod Bishop of Dunkeld, Chancellor of Scotland, John Lyon, Chamberlain ofScotland, Thomas de Erskine, Robert de Cheshelm, Knights, and manyothers, disclaimed you Lord Alexander and your consort, and acknowledgedour Lord and King, (then follows the description of the lands inquestion) and we deny that we hold these lands of you."

King Robert II during his visit to Inverness in 1382 granted to his son,Alexander, Earl of Buchan, the Wolf of Bad