From The Historie of Scotland; "In the year 1447, there was a parliament holden at Edinburgh, in which Sir Alexander Livingstone of Kalendar, James Dundas and Robert Dundas knights, at the pursuit of the Earl of Douglas, were forfeited and condemned to perpetual prison in Dumbarton".

In 1451, James Dundas was released from Dumbarton castle.  In the same year, Henry V1, King of England granted to James Dundas and Duncan Dundas his brother, a safe conduct to Scotland and a return to England to then proceed to the court of Rome via Calais and finally to return to Scotland via England.   In these troubled times there were many uprisings against the Crown and the Earl of Douglas who had taken the confiscated lands of Dundas, is the same Earl discovered two years later plotting against the Crown. Having incurred the King's suspicion he had taken himself to Rome and it is most likely that James and Duncan Dundas joined him in Rome to join in the plot against James 11. The planned insurrection broke out in the north of Scotland and James Dundas returned in time to join in the rebellion. The battle of Brechin was fought on the 18/5/1452 and James Dundas was slain by the Earl of Huntly.
The Earl of Douglas was slain by the King's own hand in 1451 at Stirling Castle.
 

James Dundas was pardoned after his death and on the 26/8/1452 the attainder against him and Duncan his brother was removed. The part of his estates remaining in the King's hand, namely Fingask was returned and a new charter was granted to James Dundas and his heirs male. The lands of Dundas being in the possession of the Earl of Douglas at the time of his decease fell to his brother James, Earl of Douglas and remained with him till they came to the crown by his forfeiture in 1452.

 
In 1465 a charter shows Archibald Dundas, (who was a favourite of King James 11 and 111) in possession of the lands of Dundas, and he assumed the designation of Dundas of that Ilk ever afterwards.   It is at this point in the family history that the two lands are never held by the same hand again.
 

National Archives of Scotland GD150/163. Retour of inquest held at Perth before Robert Dunyne, depute of the sheriff of Perth, by Silvester Rettre of that ilk, Alexander Blare of Balthiok, David Hering, of Leithindy, John Muncreff of that ilk, Walter Stewart of Cardynny, James Dundas of Fingask, David Skrymgeoure of Fardille, David Chawmer of Straithy, William Blare of Ardblare, Richard Eviot of Ballowsy, John Ross of Ouchtyrgavin, Thomas Blare, John Ross, Laurence Creichtoune, Henry Petcarne of Petloure and James Muncreff, who found Robert Douglass heir of his father, deceased Sir Henry Douglass of Louchlevin, in the lands of Kelore, in the sheriffdom of Perth, which were in the king's hands, on account of the death of said Sir Henry, for four months or thereby. 27 May 1476

In 1416 James Dundas obtained a licence to build a Keep from the Duke of Albany. The Dundas family later declared their allegiance to the new King and were rewarded by being allowed to build an extension to the ‘Auld Keep’ in 1436 in return for their loyalty and the provision of troops in time of war.  In the earlier reigns of the Scottish Kings, care was taken that no-one should build a castle without the King’s own licence, an essential precaution to prevent rebellious barons from obtaining possession of a place of strength which might enable the owner to defy the King and the law. A ‘Keep’ was what its name implies, a place of defence and refuge. It was used as both a home in times of peace and a fortress in times of war and hostile raids from both North and South. At such moments those in the surrounding hamlets, who were loyal to the Laird of Dundas could take refuge in the Keep. A beacon would be lighted from the top of the Keep to warn others of the impending incursions.

The old keep was a massive 15th century structure of 4 storeys with a flat roof, with a later stair wing added to create an L-plan

1. Christian Stewart   

the following children were born of this union: 
1. James Dundas  o Circa 1400 . Although 12th chief of Dundas, his son Alexander continued the line Dundas of Fingask.
2. Robert Dundas
3. Archibald Dundas  Continued the line Dundas of Dundas.
4. Duncan Dundas . Lord Lyon King at Arms. Duncan Dundas was a man of much note in his day and was frequently employed in embassies to England. He acquired from his family the barony of Newliston and founded the branch of Dundas of Newliston. His father, James Dundas, also gave Duncan the lands of Craigton in the parish of Abercorn. Duncan married Elizabeth and had two children, William who succeeded him and Elizabeth who married John Maitland. Duncan and his son William were murdered by John and James Wardlaw. (Pitcairn's criminal trials)
5. Alexander Dundas
6. Thomas Dundas
7. Elizabeth Dundas  married to Philip Mowbray
8. Christian Dundas  married to Sir John Sandilands

There is a licence by the Governor Albany to James Dundas of Dundas, " to build fortify and erect in height his tower at Dundas in form of a castle, and to fortify and surround it with walls and ditches as he pleased, and to have in it a constable, porter, and other keepers necessary, vested with the same power as any other constable, or others, have in any castle within Scotland." Dated 3 March 1416. Another similar licence by King James I. is dated in 1424, and empowers the said James Dundas to turn his tower or fortalice of Dundas into the form of a castle.

In the Scottish Record Office. there is a copy of a charter dated the 24th May 1429
by King James 1 to James Dundas of that ilk of barony of Fyngask, following on resignation thereof to the crown, now to be held by him and heirs male of himself and Christian Stewart, his spouse, whom failing his nearest lawful heirs, under reddendo of 1d. silver yearly. 

James Dundas of Dundas, founded and endowed a house of the Carmelite order at South Queensferry, and there is a Confirmation by George Lord Seton, Baron of the Barony of Winchburgh, confirming a Charter by him dated 1 March 1444, giving to God and the blessed Virgin Mary and the brethren of the order of Mount Carmel and their successors, a piece of ground lying in the town of the ferry (now South Queensferry), with the yard and green adjacent to the Church of the Virgin Mary and whole houses erected there in form of a monastery.

1. James Whitley Deans Dundas
   the following children were born of this union: 
   1. Charles Deans Dundas   
   2. James Deans Dundas   
   3. Ann Deans Dundas  
   4. Janet Deans Dundas  
   5. Sophia Deans Dundas   

1. James Deans x 28/11/1783 in Larbert, Stirling 

the following children were born of this union: 
1. James Whitley Deans Dundas  

1. Sir Thomas Gibson Carmichael  x Friday 7 February 1806 

the following children were born of this union: 
1. Alexander Carmichael   
2. Margaret Carmichael   
3. Eleanor Carmichael   

"Not far from Craigforth, there resided an old companion in arms, Colonel Dundas, of Carron Hall. He had been sent as a Commissioner by the Government to settle the limits of the British frontier in America ; in this mission he was accompanied by Lady Eleanor Dundas, and in the course of the long period which was occupied in discussing the numerous questions which were agitated by the Commissioners on either side, it was necessary that Colonel Dundas and his family should repeatedly change their position from one point of the line to another.

After they had been some time in the Back Settlements of America, Lady Eleanor gave birth to a daughter. Her Ladyship's health was far from being robust, so that she was induced to employ a squaw of one of the aboriginal tribes as the infant's nurse. The little stranger being much too young to travel, was left with the squaw, under the charge of a favourite domestic, and such was the attachment which the whole tribe had formed for their little pale-faced guest, that it was not without the greatest difficulty they were afterwards persuaded to part with her. At length, when the period arrived for the return of the family to England, a serious application was made for the restoration of the child ; but she was not given up until after a negotiation had been entered into, with all the formalities required by the laws of the tribe. Certain casks of brandy, which were employed to accelerate
the negotiation, were found to have considerable weight with the Indian plenipotentiaries ; and on the part of the tribe, the child was presented with a quantity of furs so very valuable, that I have seen a muff, worn by Lady
Eleanor, and formed out of part of the present, which was said to be worth at least a hundred guineas. Such was the warmth of the feelings manifested by these untutored savages, that a considerable body of them, accompanied by the nurse, insisted on carrying the child to the shores of the Atlantic, a distance of five hundred miles, to the place where Colonel Dundas and his family were to embark for England".
 

1. Alexander Ramsay   

 

1. Magdalen Allardice  daughter of Thomas Allardice

the following children were born of this union: 

• Agneta Dundas
• James Dundas  o Circa 1360