Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford (1423–1453) was a late medieval Scottish nobleman, and a magnate of the north-east of that country.
The decree of forfeiture, both as to life and lands, which had been passed before, was now renewed and, after having gallantly struggled for a long time against all odds—even after the total defeat and submission of his ally Douglas—he found himself compelled, for the sake of his house and followers, to sue for mercy.
For himself, as he boldly tells the king, he was willing to underlie any fate, "either to be hangit [hanged], to be riven with wild beasts, to be drowned, or cassen [cast] over ane craig;” it was not even the sufferings of his dear wife, nor the weeping of his bairns [children], nor the lamentable sobbings of his friends that moved him, so much "as the decay and falling of our House, and lamentable chance and fortune of the noblemen of Angus, with the rest of my adherents, whose lives, lands, and guids [goods] stands in danger for my cause and surname of Lindsay.
[4] The king granted Lindsay clemency, but when he had been angry with the earl, he had sworn he would make the highest stone on Finavon Castle become the lowest.
Therefore, to keep his oath while yet remaining true to his grant of clemency, the king climbed to the top of the castle and threw one of the loose stones on the battlements down to the ground below.