counter in the park
of Ferntower took place in 1413, during the regency of Albany, who
succeeded to power in 1406, after the death of his brother, King Robert
III. Sir John had secured the succession to his lands and offices in
favour of his son, Malcolm, so that the outlawry decreed against him
affected himself only. He died in Ireland. But misfortune dogged his
House. Even in the time of his grandson, the family historian states
"that ever since the killing of the Earl of Strathearn the family had
no settled peace, but were forced to keep house to so many friends and
servants for their security that it brought a consumption upon their
fortune, ingadged it in burdens, and made him pairt with many of his
lands to relieve his debts." In 1474 the laird of the time, Maurice
Keir Drummond, sold lands and his office of Steward to his chief, John
Drummond of Cargill, afterwards Lord Drummond.

Thus the Murrays had gained their object, so far. The family of
Concraig was ruined. But they were foiled in their attempt upon the
Stewardship. They had tried for that many ways. In 1441, Sir David
Murray of Tullibardine had attempted "to wind himself once in
possession of the Stewartrie" by proposing a marriage alliance between
his daughter, Isabella, and Malcolm Drummond, son of Sir John. The
scheme fell through somehow. Meantime, King James I. had put new life
into the central governing body. Parliament was now waking up to a
sense of its rights and duties. The actual reign of James I. only
lasted for thirteen years (1424-1437), but he held no fewer than
thirteen Parliaments during these years. It was his object to break
the power of the nobles and local dignitaries. The unique position of
the Earldom of Strathearn and the hereditary Stewardships which had
grown up alongside of it attracted his attention. The Earldom was the
only Palatinate within the bounds of Scotland; the only Earldom
possessing Royal privileges. King James I. was a reformer of the
"hot-haste" school. The execution of a plan of action followed hard
upon the heels of the conception of it. An Act of his first Parliament
directed an inquest to be made by the Sheriff--"what lands pertain to
the King, or has pertained during the reign of the last three kings,
and in whose hands they now are." In terms of this statute, King James
I. resumed the Earldom of Strathearn on the ground that it was a male
fee, and did not pass to the wife of Patrick Graham