Note 13 — Chapter I · PREPARATION OF REFORM. (From the 2nd Century to the Year 1522.)

‘Hamiltonium familia regium quoque sanguinem attingente, natus.’—Bezæ Icones. This is the opinion of Pinkerton, McCrie, and other authors. Others suppose that Sir Patrick Hamilton (of Kincavil) was a natural son of Lord Hamilton. But in a charter of April 1498 he is called brother-german of James Lord Hamilton, eldest son of his father, which seems plainly to mean that he was not half-brother by the father’s side; and in a charter of January 1513 he is distinguished from another Hamilton, a natural son of the same lord. This last circumstance doubtless gave rise to a qui pro quo.