This week – 9 February 1293

John Balliol’s first parliament was held at Scone. Among the cases heard before the king and his council was that of MacDuff, the brother of the murdered Duncan, earl of Fife (d.1289), who claimed rights to the lands of Creich and Rires in Fife. According to later chroniclers, Balliol ‘showed too much favour’ to the family’s rivals, the Comyns and Abernethys, and thus Macduff appealed to Edward I as Balliol’s superior. Edward then summoned Balliol to his own court in London, a move which undermined Balliol’s royal authority very early in his reign.