DE LAWEDRE (LAUDER), Robert of The Bass, Justiciar of Lothian, Ambassador, Chamberlain of Scotland, Sir ^{1 2}

   Another name for Robert was LAUDER, Robert of Edrington.³

   User ID: Q583

  General Notes:

"List of Justiciars of Lothian, (incomplete)

James Douglas (c.1314-c.1318) [5]

Sir Robert de Lawedre of The Bass (d. Sept 1337) (served bef. Sept 1319 till death) [6][7][8]

Sir Walter Oliphant of Gask, Knt. After 1337."

from Wikipedia article




"His (Robert's who fought at Stirling Bridge) son was yet another Sir Robert de Lawedre of The Bass and was appointed Justiciary of the Lothians sometime prior to 1319 by King Robert the Bruce and was a plenipotentiary to sign the English-Scottish truce on the 3rd May 1323,(Refer Rymer's Foedera vol.III, p.1022). It has been pointed out that the declaration of Arbroath of 1320 does not give a complete roll-call of the leading barons of Robert I's regime. Professor Barrow has referred to the omission of 'men such as Andrew Murray of Bothwell, Robert Lauder [of The Bass], and Robert Menzies [of Weem], etc. (Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland, K.J.Stringer, ed.,Edinburgh, 1985, p.214). The Lauders appear in a list of families below the rank of earl, who are considered as belonging to the Scottish higher nobility prominent at this time (p.225)

This same Sir Robert de Lawedre was again ambassador for Scotland 17th March 1327 (refer Robertson's Index folio, p.101) and in 1328 at Northampton. John Scott, in The History of Berwick notes that he was Governor of Berwick Castle 1329/1330. He was noted at an Inquest at Aberdeen on 10th September 1333 as Chamberlain of Scotland (refer The Douglas Book by Sir William Fraser, volume II - The Douglas Correspondence p.587) and had present as an aged observer at the Battle of Halidon Hill in July 1333 (Knyghton).

from Clan Lauder




"Sir Robert de Lawedre of the Bass, who followed in his father's footsteps, by attaching himself to the fortunes of Wallace in his patriotic endeavours to secure the freedom of' his country. He is frequently denominated 'the brave associate of Sir William Wallace.' He had a charter from William de Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews (copy of which will be found in the' Appendix) of that portion of the island of Bass, over which the abbey of St. Andrews had until then retained a right, the larger part of the island having already been in possession of the Lauders for some generations. The condition of this charter was an annual payment of one pound of white wax in name of feu-farm: 'reddendo unam libram cere nomine albe firme.' This was confirmed by the charter of John Forfar, Prior to St. Andrews, and is dated the 4th of June, 1316. It was stolen along with a number of other documents from the Grange House, Edinburgh, by a housebreaker, nth September, 1836, and has never been recovered; 'The Grange House ' was then the residence of Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Baronet.

Sir Robert was ambassador to England from Robert I. upon various occasions, one of these being in 1323, and was engaged in similar service for King David Bruce. On page xxviii. of the Appendix will be found an allusion to a ratification by King Edward III. of England, et totum consilium, dated at Northampton the 4th of May, 1328, of a treaty, concluded at Edinburgh on the 17th March of that year, between Robert, King of Scots, and the plenipotentiaries of the said King Edward III. To the faithful performance of all the articles of this treaty, Sir Robert swore by the soul of the King of Scots, and on the Holy Gospels. This oath was taken in presence of the Bruce, and by his special command. At this time Sir Robert was justiciary of the Lothians and that part of Scotland to the south of the Forth. The Extracts from the 'Index of Records of Charters,' contained in No. xx. of the Appendix to this volume, mention several charters granted by Rob. I. to this baron of the lands of Penkateland, Nisbet and Colden, and of Lethberd Mill. [....]

This is the same Sir Robert de Lawedre whom we mentioned at the beginning of this chapter in connection with the Lamberton charter. He was the eldest son of the ' great Laird of Congalton,' who had inherited one-half of the Bass - the other half being granted to his son by the Abbey of St. Andrews in 1316, five years after the 'good laird's death'. Sir Robert, the recipient of this grant, appears to have also inherited the valour and prowess of his progenitors. He had been the follower of Sir William Wallace as squire in his father's lifetime, and fought bravely in the repulsion of Edward II. from Scotland ; also in the subsequent reprisals made by Robert Bruce in the north of England. He had been appointed Justiciary of the Lothians and the south of Scotland by King Robert ; and as such he was one of the plenipotentiaries who signed the truce between those two monarchs in 1323. Negotiations for this peace had been going on for three years - the first embassy of knights having received a safe-conduct in 1320. Among these we find two of the witnesses of the Lamberton charter, and also the name of the eldest son of Sir Robert de Lawedre, who was attached to the train as a page - preparing him for the duties he was soon after called upon to fulfil according to the oath administered to those who had by chivalry won their knighthood."

from Family of Lauder




"In 1316, during the reign of Robert the Bruce, Robert of Lauder obtained a charter of one half of the Bass from William deLamberton, bishop of St Andrews, a gift confirmed by a charter of John of Forfar, prior of St Andrews, the reddendo being one pound of whitewax yearly to be paid at Tynyngham (Illustrations to Slezer's Theatrum Scotiae). Sir Robert of Lauder was in 1329 employed on a mission to England, no doubt diplomatic in its character, and payments out of public funds amounting to £60 were made to him for the expense of his journeys to London and York. It has been surmised with every probability that the negotiations in which he was engaged related to the marriage of Prince David, afterwards David II., and Johanna, sister of Edward III. In 1330 he possessed hereditarily the fishings of Edrington, and was keeper of Berwick Castle and Sheriff there. For a short time after David's accession Sir Robert held the high office of Chamberlain of Scotland, for he is so styled in the Chartulary of Aberdeen in September 1333; and in the following December the Black Book of Arbroath also describes him as holding this dignity.These successive notices point to the great position already attained by the Lauders; and in 1337, I find an even more direct reference to the connection of Sir Robert with the Bass; for in the printed Exchequer Rolls there is an entry showing that a sum of 18s. was paid for bringing a boat hired for Sir Robert of Lauder, by this time also Justiciar of Lothian (justiciarius Laudonie), from the Bass to Aberdeen, 'et in una batella locata pro domino Roberto de Lawedre del Bass usque Abirden, xviij s.' "

from Early Notices of the Bass Rock ^{1 2 3 4}

Robert married.