Note 302 — Chapter VI · THE TRIBE IN SCOTLAND.

Acts of Parliament, vol. i. p. 377. Two popular errors have prevailed with regard to the true character and position of the thanes. By the oldest of these they were regarded as the governors of provinces, having over them an abthane or chief governor. Fordun seems the inventor of this, and to it belongs his mythic character Macduff, thane of Fife; but it is inconsistent with the account he subsequently gives of the tenure of the crown lands, and although it has received the sanction of Mr. Hill Burton, it has been justly discarded by such historians as George Chalmers, Joseph Robertson, Cosmo Innes, and John Stuart. The later theory, that the thanes were something entirely different from the English thane, and were merely crown officers or stewards appointed to levy the crown dues, has unfortunately received the powerful sanction of these writers, but the author has never been able to accept the theory. It appears to him a partial and incomplete view, and inconsistent with the facts recorded regarding them. Sir John Skene states his position correctly when he says, ‘Thanus was ane freeholder holding his lands of the king.’—De Verborum Sig., sub voce. The reader is referred to the author’s edition of Fordun, vol. ii. p. 414, for a discussion on this point.