Feudal barony of Barnstaple 1386) during his life had settled the feudal barony of Barnstaple by means of an entail on his heirs male, with remainder to the crown. As all his sons from both his marriages died without children, the barony thus became the inheritance of King Richard II (1377–1399), who granted the barony firstly to Robert de Vere, who however was attainted in 1388, when it escheated to the crown. King Richard II then granted it to his half-brother John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter (c. 1352 – 1400), in tail-male. Audley had also been feudal baron of Dartington, inherited from the
Clan Ramsay was claimed by the Douglases who became jealous and William Douglas, Lord of Liddesdale captured Alexander Ramsay with a strong force of men, imprisoning him in Hermitage Castle, where he was starved to death. Alexander's brother, William Ramsay, was captured by the English at the Battle of Neville's Cross but was not killed by them as he lived to tell the tale. In 1400 another Sir Alexander Ramsay held out in Dalhousie Castle against a siege by the English, who were forced to retreat due to Ramsay's resolute resistance. In 1513 during the Anglo-Scottish Wars, Sir Alexander's descendant, another Alexander