Maver Family

Posted by Cai Maver, November 17, 2015

The Water of Leith flows from the bare green Pentland Hills south west of Edinburgh, winding through land still untouched by development. Deer come to drink along its green banks and herons wade in its gentle waters in search of trout. The river flows towards Edinburgh, through land given to crops and pasture, before finding itself nearly in the heart of the city. There is a deep ravine where the water flows more rapidly at a place called Dean Village - once a small town of mills and houses along the banks of the Water of Leith, but long since absorbed as a suburb of the growing city. It is this very spot on the south bank of the idyllic river where we find the first Maver in historical records.

In 1463, John Maver (recorded as Johne Mawar) was contracted to run the mill near Edinburgh. The rapid flow where the Water of Leith passes through the ravine provided an ideal place to construct a mill for grinding the grains harvested from the fields surrounding Edinburgh. John is recorded as a "wright" - the Scots word for carpenter - and he seems to have had a hand in the construction or upkeep of the mill before being contracted to manage it. He is charged to keep the mill running and ensuring that the mill not be idle.^[1]

The King of Scotland at this time was the rather unpopular James III. The king was particularly disliked by the noble classes: they complained that he seemed uninterested in their affairs, he did not enjoy traveling to dispense justice, and he was known to associate with common “fiddlers and masons,” rather than the nobility. Of course, the history that records him as unpopular comes largely from the letters written by the nobility themselves, and their schemes would lead to two civil wars in James III’s reign.

In the 1470s, James III led a war against England over several disputes between the two kingdoms. A number of Scottish nobles entered an agreement with the king’s brother Alexander, Duke of Albany, to overthrow King James III and place Alexander on the throne instead. King Edward IV of England supported this effort, with the understanding that Alexander would end the war between England and Scotland if he were made king. 

English troops launched an invasion of Scotland in 1482. At the Battle of Lauder Bridge, King James III was captured by renegade Scottish nobles and imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle. Alexander was declared king, but Scotland was falling into a civil war between supporters of James and supporters of Alexander.

During this dispute, King James’ cousin, John Stewart of Darnley, was charged with keeping James imprisoned in the castle. Anticipating that James might regain his kingdom, Lord Darnley asked the king to write a letter declaring him and the other men of Edinburgh Castle innocent for imprisoning the king.

Darnley argued that he was holding the castle as though it were besieged, and was keeping James as safe as could be expected under the circumstances. James did write this letter, and two of the men of Edinburgh Castle specifically mentioned by the king as innocent of his detention are “Johnne and Wille Mawar.”^[2]

With the help of the powerful George Gordon, Earl of Huntly, the supporters of James III managed to defeat the followers of Alexander, and in 1483 James was restored to the throne. Alexander fled to England, but tried to invade again in 1484. This attempt was unsuccessful as well, and Alexander fled to France where he died in a jousting match.

The renegade Scottish nobles had not given up though, and in 1488 they again raised an army to fight King James III. This time, they captured James’ eldest son, also named James, with the aim of putting him on the throne. It is unclear whether the younger James joined the rebels by choice, or if he was forced into it. The rebel army faced the King’s army on June 11, 1488, the king himself leading his army. They were defeated, and James III was killed.

The younger James, just 15 at the time, was taken to Scone and made King James IV of Scotland on June 24th, just 13 days after his father’s death in battle. When James discovered the role he played in his father’s death, he placed a heavy iron chain around his waist against his skin as penance. He wore this chain for the rest of his life, and added extra weight to it each year at Lent.

King James IV then went to Edinburgh to begin his duties. On the 28th of June, four days after his coronation and as his first act upon arriving at Edinburgh, King James IV made the following decree:

 

The King has decreed by letter that John Maver of Drummysheuch, owing to the long service provided to my father, shall receive for life the land of Walkmyltoun, Thornehill, Cots of Lanbride and mill of Lanbride with a yearly value of 13 pounds in the dominion of Moray near Elgin, and all the subtenants occupying the land.

 

We will never fully know why King James IV gifted these lands to John Maver. It may be that John was one of the commoners that James III enjoyed keeping the company of rather than his disaffected nobles. It is also unclear why he was gifted those particular lands in Moray, especially since John seems to have lived near Edinburgh Castle at the time (Drummysheuch was land between Edinburgh Castle and the forest surrounding it). It is possible that John Maver originally come from the Moray area and wished to retire there, though King James IV could have had some other reason for placing a supporter of his father in that area. Interestingly, this land is just to the east of land belonging to George Gordon, Earl of Huntly, a strong supporter of James III.

It seems as though John Maver moved to his gifted land in Moray, but William Maver (possibly John’s brother), and John Maver the younger (assumed to be John’s son) remained in Edinburgh and continued to work for King James IV. They are mentioned several times in the records as receiving payment for various projects around the Castle.

Most notably, John Maver the younger is appointed to build the wheels and frames for the King’s artillery, including the formidable Mons Meg, a medieval cannon used for battle until the middle of the 16th century. James IV was preparing for a new invasion of England, and he hoped to use Mons Meg to besiege Berwick-on-Tweed and Norham Castle.

In Edinburgh Castle, there is a stone carving depicting Mons Meg that has been dated to 1495, the same time when John Maver was building the gun’s frame and wheels. When Mons Meg was restored recently, they rebuilt the frame and wheels to match those depicted on the stone carving, so the gun there today is a copy of the work done by a Maver ancestor.

The land given to John Maver in Moray would become Maverston. It is clear that William and the younger John Maver stayed in Edinburgh and served the King for many years after the elder John was given his lands. On July 10th, 1497, the younger John Maver was given the Mill of Bello near Edinburgh for his service to King James IV.

From this, we know that the Mavers were a family living in the Edinburgh area, but it is unknown whether this was a place they had lived for generations, or if they had come to Edinburgh specifically to work for the king. What is clear, is that Maver was an established surname in the late 1400s, and that the early 1500s would find Mavers well established in both Moray and Edinburgh.

Notes

1: Scottish Burgh Record Society. Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh A.D. 1403—1528. Edinburgh. Colston & Sons. 1869. Edinburgh. Digital edition: https://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=OLs6AQAAMAAJ&pg=GBS.PA20
Note: see page 20.

2: Fraser, Sir William. The Lennox, Volume 2: Muniments. Edinburgh. 1874.
Digital edition: https://archive.org/stream/lennoxvol1memov200fras#page/122/mode/2up
Note: see page 123.