Royal Abbey of St. Thomas, Arbroath, Angus Grant signed by John Hamilton later first Marquess of Hamilton, as Commendator of Arbroath ("Jhone commendatar of Arbrothe"); with a large fragment of the monastery's seal attached (a fine impression in white wax preserving approximately half the seal, showing on the obverse part of the Madonna and Child and on the reverse the four knights and murder of Thomas Beckett), on vellum, some fading and light staining, 195 x 265mm. Footnote: Note: The Royal Abbey of St. Thomas at Arbroath, Forfarshire, a house of Tironensian canons, was established by King William I (the Lion) in 1178 as a memorial to his childhood friend, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in 1170. William I was himself buried there in 1214. John, Lord Hamilton, a son of Regent Arran, who later became the first Marquis of Hamilton, was the last commendator before the Reformation. He succeded the second James Beaton, who also became Archbishop of Glasgow, as commendator in 1551, and ruled the abbey until 1560 when the Scottish reformation effectively brought monastic life at Arbroath to an end. Condition report: some fading and light staining, but legible. Purchased Bonhams, 24 June 2008, lot 155.