James II (1437-60), penny, 1437-51.

This billon penny shows severe historic wear with features of the design still partially visible on both sides.

On the obverse is a crowned portrait of King James II, while the reverse bears a single long cross with three pellets in each angle. The Latin inscription reads JACOBVS DEI GRACIA R, which translates as 'James by the Grace of God King'. On the reverse is the Edinburgh mint-signature, VILL/AED/InB/VRG, that is ‘town of Edinburgh'. This billon penny was minted in Edinburgh in-between 1437-51 and offers an example of first coinage under the reign of James II. When the throne passed to James, he was only seven years old and his earlier coinage was merely a continuation of that of his father. It should be noted that the mint often travelled with James on his tours of royal residences.

Duffus Castle

An ancient seat 

The castle is situated on the Laich of Moray, a fertile plain that was once the swampy foreshore of Spynie Loch. This was originally a more defensive position than it appears today, long after the loch was drained. 

The motte is a huge man-made mound, with steep sides and a wide ditch separating it from the bailey. The whole site is enclosed by a water-filled ditch, which is more a mark of its boundary than it is a serious defensive measure. 

The ancestral seat of the earls of Moray

Duffus Castle was built by a Flemish man named Freskin, who came to Scotland in the first half of the 1100s. After an uprising by the ‘men of Moray’ against David I in 1130, the king sent Freskin north as a representative of royal authority. 

He was given the estate of Duffus, and here he built an earthwork-and-timber castle. Freskin’s son William adopted the title of ‘de Moravia’ – of Moray. By 1200, the family had become the most influential noble family in northern Scotland, giving rise to the earls of Sutherland and Clan Murray. 

A new stronghold 

In about 1270, the castle passed to Sir Reginald Cheyne the Elder, Lord of Inverugie. He probably built the square stone keep on top of the motte, and the curtain wall encircling the bailey. In 1305, the invading King Edward I of England gave him a grant of 200 oaks from the royal forests of Darnaway and Longmorn, which were probably used for the castle’s floors and roofs. 

By 1350, the castle had passed to a younger son of the Earl of Sutherland through marriage. It may have been then that the keep was abandoned, possibly because it was beginning to slip down the mound, and a new residence established at the north of the bailey. 

Viscount Dundee, leader of the first Jacobite Rising, dined in the castle as a guest of James, Lord Duffus in 1689, prior to his victory against King William II’s government forces at Killiecrankie. Soon after, Lord Duffus moved to the nearby Duffus House. The castle quickly fell into decay. 

Find out more about Duffus Castle

Details

Date Made
1437-1451
Dimensions
13.8 x 0.4mm
Property Information
Duffus Castle
Object Number
E5994
Access Status
Storage

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