Link: Tweedie

The Flemings and the Tweedie family
Rivals, 1524 - 1626

The Tweedies of Drumelzier in upper Tweeddale were the Flemings’ bitterest enemies. In 1524 they killed John, 2nd Lord Fleming, and the feud that followed lasted for most of the sixteenth century.

The killing of Lord Fleming

The quarrel grew out of the wardship and marriage of Katherine Fraser, the young heiress of Fruid in Tweeddale. Both families sought to control her. On 1 November 1524 John Tweedie of Drumelzier, his son James and their followers killed John, 2nd Lord Fleming. In November 1524 his son Malcolm protested that his agreements with the Tweedies over Fruid had been made only to free his pledges, who were being held prisoner by them.

Pursuing the killers

Malcolm, 3rd Lord Fleming, pursued the Tweedies for seven years. In 1525 he had the respite granted to them annulled. In 1526 James Tweedie and sixteen others obtained only a nineteen-year respite. In 1528 John Tweedie was declared a fugitive, put to the horn and forfeited his goods to Lord Fleming. In 1529 seven Tweedies were bound over to stand trial, and an inquest ordered them to pay compensation. On 4 March 1531 the lords and arbiters gave a final sentence settling the feud, largely in Fleming’s favour. Malcolm also gained the Tweedie lands of Drumelzier and the Glenholm lands of the Fraser heiress. See Estate: Glenholm.

An uneasy peace

The settlement did not end the hostility. In 1545 the Secret Council ordered Lord Fleming and the young laird of Drumelzier to keep the peace. In 1589 and 1590 John, 1st Earl of Wigtown, was drawn into the Tweedies’ feud with the Veitches of Dawick, his own allies. He stood surety for the Veitches in a murder case, while Douglas of Drumlanrig guaranteed that the Tweedies would not harm him. In 1593 James Tweedie of Drumelzier gave the Earl a bond of protection under a caution of ten thousand marks. In 1636 the family resigned Kingledoors to Alexander Tweedie.