[2] As early as the reign of Alexander II of Scotland, Henry de Erskine was proprietor of the barony.
[2] In about 1226 Henry was a witness to a charter by the Earl of Lennox of the patronage and tithes of Rosneath to Paisley Abbey.
[2] John de Irskyn was amongst the Scottish nobles who submitted to Edward I of England and appears on the Ragman Rolls of 1296.
[2] Sir John de Irskyn's second daughter married Walter, the High Steward of Scotland.
[2] The seventh Lord Erskine took part in the Raid of Ruthven in 1582, in which the young James VI of Scotland was placed in the hands of an extremist faction of Protestant nobility for nearly a year.
[2] As a result, Erskine was exiled but was later restored to royal favour and in 1616 was made Lord High Treasurer of Scotland.
[2] He had been a supporter of the Union, however when he attended court in London in 1714 he was not offered the post of Secretary of State for Scotland, which he considered to be an insult.
[2] He returned to his ancestral lands and raised the standard of James VIII (The Old Pretender), and called out his own clansmen and all loyal supporters of the House of Stuart.
[2] The earl led his army of Jacobites at the Battle of Sheriffmuir against the Duke of Argyll, which was fought on 13 November 1715.