Antoine d'Arces

Antoine d'Arcy, sieur de la Bastie-sur-Meylan and of Lissieu, (d. 17 September 1517) was a French nobleman involved in the government of Scotland.

Antoine came to Scotland for the notable tournaments of James IV and the king's marriage to Margaret Tudor in 1502, and he was a friend of John Stewart, Duke of Albany.

As a French ambassador, his instructions from Louis XII of France dated 5 October 1513 include: commiserating with Margaret Tudor; finding out the circumstances of James's death at Flodden; and going to Denmark to give an account of the state of Auld Alliance.

He was to promote the mutual benefits of the Danish king's marriage to a French noblewoman, Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne, Albany's sister-in-law.

In August 1517, during an outbreak of plague in the Edinburgh, James V of Scotland was moved to the care of De la Bastie at nearby rural Craigmillar Castle, where extra locks were bought for the royal lodging.

George Home lopped off the White Knight's head and, it was said, threaded the diplomat's hair to his saddle cloth, then rode to Duns and set this trophy on a pole in the centre of the village.

[10] The chronicler Lindsay of Pitscottie writing in the 1570s tells the story;"fearing ane conspiracie, he spurred his hors, and fled towardis the castle of Dunbar; thinking to have wone away, because he was weill horsed.

[14] There is monument to Bastie at Preston, Scottish Borders, erected by General James Home in early 19th-century in honour of Antoine d'Arces.

Several other characters in the novel are also based on real historical figures from this time and place, including John Stewart, Duke of Albany, Isabella Hoppringle and Alexander 3rd Lord Hume.