Sir James Balfour, 1st Baronet of Denmilne and Kinnaird

James Balfour was a son of Sir Michael Balfour of Denmilne, Fife, and Joanna Durham.

Balfour was well acquainted with Sir William Segar and with William Dugdale, to whose Monasticon he contributed. He was knighted by King Charles I in 1630, was made Lord Lyon King of Arms in the same year, and in 1633 baronet of Kinnaird. He was arbitrarily removed from his office of Lord Lyon by Oliver Cromwell and died in 1657.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Some of his numerous works are preserved in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, together with his correspondence, from which rich collection James Haig published Balfour's Annales of Scotland in four volumes (1824–1825). James Maidment also extracted papers from the collection in order to publish them.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

His arms were Or, on a chevron sable between three cinquefoils vert an otter's head erased of the field but also given as three trefoils slipped vert.{{cite book|last1=Burke|first1=John|title=A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire|date=1832|publisher=H. Colburn and R. Bentley|page=[https://archive.org/details/ageneralandhera01burkgoog/page/n130 73]|url=https://archive.org/details/ageneralandhera01burkgoog|access-date=30 September 2017|language=en}}

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| escutcheon = Or on a chevron sable between three trefoils slipped vert an otter's head erased argent.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theheraldrysociety.com/articles/sir-james-balfour-of-denmylne-and-kinnaird-and-his-coronation-as-lyon-king-of-arms-of-scotland-1630/ |title=Sir James Balfour of Denmylne and Kinnaird – and his Coronation as Lyon King of Arms of Scotland, 1630 |date=2018-03-01 |website=The Heraldry Society |language=en-GB |access-date=2018-11-12}}

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| previous_versions = His arms were also blazoned as: Or, on a chevron sable between three cinquefoils vert an otter's head erased of the field.

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Balfour was an avid manuscript collector.{{Cite web |title=Pont maps of Scotland, ca. 1583-1614 - Biographies - National Library of Scotland |url=https://maps.nls.uk/pont/biographies/balfour.html |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=maps.nls.uk}} Many of his manuscripts was purchased by the Faculty of Advocates in 1698 and are now in the National Library of Scotland.{{Cite journal |last=Cunningham |first=I.-C. |date=1973 |title=Latin classical manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/scrip_0036-9772_1973_num_27_1_1012 |journal=Scriptorium |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=64–90}}

{{Reflist}}

Attribution:

• {{EB1911|wstitle=Balfour, Sir James, Bart. (antiquary)|display=Balfour, Sir James|volume=3|page=255}} which in turn cites:
• Sibbald, Robert (1699) Memoria Balfouriana; sive, Historia rerum, pro literis promovendis, gestarum a ... fratribus Balfouriis ... Jacobo ... et ... Andrea. Authore R.S.. Edinburgi: Typis Hæredum Andreæ Anderson

• {{Eminent Scotsmen|Balfour, (Sir) James, antiquary|1|107-15}}
• {{cite DNB|wstitle=Balfour, James (1600-1657)}}

• {{Citation

|last=Balfour

|first=James

|author-link=Sir James Balfour, 1st Baronet

|date=c. 1650

|editor-last=Maidment

|editor-first=James

|editor-link=James Maidment

|title=Ancient Heraldic and Antiquarian Tracts

|publisher=Thomas G. Stevenson

|publication-date=1837

|location=Edinburgh

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fjIQAAAAYAAJ

}}

• {{Citation

|last=Balfour

|first=James

|author-link=Sir James Balfour, 1st Baronet

|year=1652

|editor-last=Haig

|editor-first=James

|title=The Annales of Scotland (1057 – 1603)

|volume=I

|publication-date=1824

|location=Edinburgh

|url=https://archive.org/details/historicalworkso01balf

}}

• {{Citation

|last=Balfour

|first=James

|author-link=Sir James Balfour, 1st Baronet

|year=1652

|editor-last=Haig

|editor-first=James

|title=The Annales of Scotland (1604 – 1640)

|volume=II

|publication-date=1824

|location=Edinburgh

}}

• {{Citation

|last=Balfour

|first=James

|author-link=Sir James Balfour, 1st Baronet

|year=1652

|editor-last=Haig

|editor-first=James

|title=The Annales of Scotland (1641 – 1649)

|volume=III

|publication-date=1824

|location=Edinburgh

|url=https://archive.org/details/historicalworkso03balf

}}

• {{Citation

|last=Balfour

|first=James

|author-link=Sir James Balfour, 1st Baronet

|year=1652

|editor-last=Haig

|editor-first=James

|title=The Annales of Scotland (1650 – 1652); King Charles' Visit 1633

|volume=IV

|publication-date=1824

|location=Edinburgh

|url=https://archive.org/details/historicalworkso04balf

}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-herald}}

{{s-bef|before=Sir Jerome Lindsay}}

{{s-ttl|title=Lord Lyon King of Arms|years=1630–1654}}

{{s-aft|after=Sir James Campbell}}

{{s-reg|sct-bt}}

{{s-new|creation}}

{{s-ttl|title=Baronet
(of Denmiln and Kinnaird)|years=1633 – 1657}}

{{s-aft|after=Robert Balfour}}

{{s-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balfour, James}}

Category:1600s births

Category:1657 deaths

101

Category:Nobility from Perth and Kinross

Category:Scottish antiquarians

Category:17th-century Scottish historians

Category:17th-century Scottish male writers

Category:Lord Lyon Kings of Arms

James, Denmilne