Hugh Fraser, 1st Lord Lovat

Hugh Fraser, 1st Lord Lovat (c. 1450-  c. 1500/c. 1501), was a Scottish peer, and the Chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat.

Hugh Fraser, 1st Lord Lovat
Born	c.1 450
Died	c. 1500/c. 1501
Nationality	Scots
Title	Lord (Fraser) of Lovat
Predecessor	new creation
Successor	Thomas Fraser, 2nd Lord Lovat
Spouse(s)	Margaret Lyon
Parent(s)	Thomas Fraser, 4th Laird of Lovat

Biography

Family

Fraser was the son of Thomas Fraser, 4th Laird of Lovat, and Lady Janet Dunbar. He was a minor when his father died, and became a legal ward, first, of Archibald Douglas, Earl of Moray (d. 1455), and subsequently of Patrick Lyon, 1st Lord Glamis (d.1459), whose daughter, Margaret Lyon, Lovat married.[lower-alpha 1] Through her, Lovat's children were great-great-great-grandchildren of Robert II. They had a son, Thomas, and two daughters, Margaret and Egidia, the latter of whom married Ferquhar Mackintosh. Lovat's grandfather, Hugh Fraser (d. 1440), 4th Laird of Lovat, was one of the hostages for the ransom of King James I of Scotland in 1424.

Education and life

In 1450 his father sent him to be educated by Lord Murray. He was certainly known to the Regent Duke of Albany when introduced and knighted by James II, and thence conferred with the Order of the Thistle. Lovat was summoned to Parliament as Lord Fraser of Lovat sometime between 1458 and 1461. In 1464 he made an indenture with kinsman, Alexander Fraser of Phillorth that each would agree to support each other's surviving heir, depending on who died first. It recognised the perilous lifespan of a highlander in an age of bloody internecine conflict. Then on 13 May 1471, the Court Auditor on behalf of Alexander Flemyng ordered Hew fraser to pay for some land purchases granted two years previously.

Lovat opposed the chaos in the Isles that occasioned James II's early death and minority of the new king. The Lord of the Isles recruited Viking mercenaries to plunder his lands seize Inverness, march to Athol and burn the Church of St Bride. A resentful tenantry lay siege to Castle Lovat, but his clan remained loyal, easily repelling the invasion. The MacDonalds victory at a battle at Caplach, west of Inverness returned peace to the glen of the Airds. On 31 March 1472, lord Hew Frassare entered into an indenture to protect the citizenry of the hill burgh of Nairn. He contracted to buy ore land for 50 Merks off William Wallace of Craigie, and planted some orchards. But the late medieval period was lawless and violent, and after a period of peace, he was obliged to act for the King in the wars of the Lords of the Isles and his kinfolk. Clannish feuds broke out in Sutherland and Caithness. 18 peasants were killed in a dispute that burnt the priory of Beauly. Some disputes were racial between Norman, and Flemish descendants of the feudal clan system complicated by James III's minority. Two years earlier he was party to a charter that was not ratified until 28 February 1480. Lovat was among the party of nobles who met the King when he crossed the Forth to Blackness in an effort to crush the rebellious incursions. The English defeated James, who was slain at Stirling before his loyal lords could intervene. Lovat lived to old age, but his favourite son was slain at Flodden with James IV.

Death

He died c.1500 and was succeeded by his son Thomas. Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, known as "Simon the Fox", was among his descendants. Lord Lovat had at least four sons Hugh, Thomas, Alexander and John as well as three daughters and two natural sons.

Notelist

1. some sources (which are confused) call her Violetta.

References

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
• www.fraserchief.co.uk
• [www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/lovat1457.htm]