Alan, Earl of Menteith

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Alan, Earl of Menteith (d. c. 1310) was a Scottish nobleman.

Contents

Life

Menteith was the son of Alexander, Earl of Menteith, and is first on record as a hostage in England, to ensure the good behaviour of his father in 1296. He and his brother Peter Menteith accompanied the English King as esquires on his expedition to Flanders in 1297.

He supported King Robert the Bruce in his initial attempt to seize power following the deposition of John Balliol. Menteith was declared forfeit by Edward I of England, and his lands and title given to John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings. He was captured at the Battle of Methven, and given to Hastings' disposal. Menteith was committed to Abergavenny Castle; he died a prisoner before 13 March 1308/09, when John de Hastings had licence "to demise to Margery, late the wife of Alan, earl of Menteth, for her life, the manor of Wotton..." [1]

Menteith was succeeded in his Earldom by his son Alan II, Earl of Menteith, who was then a minor. [2]

Marriage and issue

Alan, Earl of Menteith married Marjory or Margery, who has been shown to have been a daughter of Colbán, Earl of Fife by his wife Anne Durward. [3] They had two sons, one of whom, Alan, succeeded his father as Earl when a minor. [4]

Notes

  1. Cal. Patent Rolls 2 Edw II, mem. 10, p. 108.
  2. J. Ravilious, The Earls of Menteith: Murdoch, Earl of Menteith and the Ferrers family of Groby, The Scottish Genealogist (March 2013), Vol. LX, No. 1, p. 14
  3. J. Ravilious, The Earls of Menteith: Murdoch, Earl of Menteith and the Ferrers family of Groby, The Scottish Genealogist (March 2013), Vol. LX, No. 1, pp. 12-25
  4. Prof. Barrow has shown that Duncan, Earl of Fife entailed the Earldom of Fife on his cousin Alan, son of Earl Alan of Menteith with the approval of King Robert I on 23 August 1315 (Barrow, Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, p. 391). Andrew B. W. MacEwen was the first to note that the younger Alan was the father of Mary, Countess of Menteith. Cf. J. Ravilious, The Earls of Menteith: Murdoch, Earl of Menteith and the Ferrers family of Groby, The Scottish Genealogist (March 2013), Vol. LX, No. 1, pp. 12-25

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References

Balfour Paul, Sir James Scots Peerage IX vols. Edinburgh 1904.

Preceded by
Alexander
Mormaer/Earl of Menteith
(d. c. 1310)
Succeeded by
Alan II