obert Stewart, afterwards King
Robert II. He was at the bar of a Court over which he doubtless
thought he had a right to preside. The Court sat at Foulis. Upon the
bench were Sir John and Maurice Drummond, deputies of the High
Justiciar, the Lord of Brechin. The accused pled the privilege of one
who was within the ninth degree of kin and "bluid" to Macduff, some
time Earl of Fife, stating that he had gone to the Cross of Macduff,
near Newburgh, and "given nine kye and ane colpindach (young cow), and
was therefore free of the slaucher committed by him." His counsel were
Sir Bernardo de Hawden, Knight of Gleneagles, and Sir John de Logy of
Logiealmond. The judges referred the matter to the High Justiciar, who
decided that Sir Alexander should make his defence before the Court at
Foulis. He submitted, and got off easily, "not with such severities
and rigours of law as might have been shown."

[Illustration: Gateway, Foulis Church.]

This affair made matters worse between the Murrays and the Drummonds.
Sir Alexander and his friends set about trying to emancipate themselves
from the jurisdiction of the Stewards of Strathearn. They found an
aider and abettor in Sir Patrick Graham, who had assumed the title of
Earl of Strathearn in right of his wife. Sir John Drummond of
Concraig, the Steward, was his brother-in-law, but disposed to stand
stiffly upon his position as hereditary Steward. He declined to resign
his office into the hands of the Earl of Strathearn as superior. Upon
this there ensued a bitter personal quarrel between the Earl and the
Steward. The Murray party saw their advantage and took it. The wife
of the Laird of Ogilvy was grand-niece to the second wife of the Earl
of Strathearn, and through this connection or otherwise he was induced
to give a pledge that he should either have power to dispose of the
Steward's office or not be Earl of Strathearn. He set out from Methven
Castle with the intention of breaking up the Steward's Court at the
Stayt of Crieff. Sir John and his friends encountered him in the park
of Ferntower at a place still marked by a large standing-stone. The
Earl was killed, and Sir John and his friends fled to Ireland. Fordun
states that none of them were brought to justice, except William and
Walter Oliphant. These were probably sons or grandsons of Sir Walter
Oliphant of Gask, who married Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of
Robert the Bruce, on 11th Jan., 1364. This fatal en