Helen of Galloway (fl. thirteenth century) was a daughter and co-heiress of Alan, Lord of Galloway (died 1234) and his first wife, a daughter of Roger de Lacy, Constable of Chester. Helen was the first wife of Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester (died 1264). [1] Although Helen was the first of Roger's three wives, his only descendants were his three daughters by Helen. The eldest daughter, Margaret, married William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby (died 1254); [2] [3] the second daughter, Elizabeth (or Isabella), married Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan (died 1289); the third daughter, Helen, married Alan de la Zouche (died 1270). [2]
Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, 7th Earl of Ulster, was an English nobleman and a potential claimant to the throne of England. A great-great-grandson of King Edward III of England, he was heir presumptive to King Richard II of England when he was deposed in favour of Henry IV. Edmund Mortimer's claim to the throne was the basis of rebellions and plots against Henry IV and his son Henry V, and was later taken up by the House of York in the Wars of the Roses, though Mortimer himself was an important and loyal vassal of Henry V and Henry VI. Edmund was the last Earl of March of the Mortimer family.
The Rye House Plot of 1683 was a plan to assassinate King Charles II of England and his brother James, Duke of York. The royal party went from Westminster to Newmarket to see horse races and were expected to make the return journey on 1 April 1683, but because there was a major fire in Newmarket on 22 March, the races were cancelled, and the King and the Duke returned to London early. As a result, the planned attack never took place.
Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester, and the hereditary Constable of Scotland, was a nobleman of Anglo-Norman and Scottish descent who was prominent in both England and Scotland, at his death having one of the largest baronial landholdings in the two kingdoms.
Margaret of Huntingdon was the eldest daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon and his wife, Maud, sister of Ranulf III, Earl of Chester, and daughter of Hugh II, Earl of Chester. Margaret was the second wife of Alan, Lord of Galloway. She and Alan married in 1209, and had a family of a son and two daughters. The elder daughter, Christiana, married William de Forz. The younger daughter, Dervorguilla, married John de Balliol, Lord of Barnard Castle. Margaret and Alan's son, Thomas—Alan's only legitimate son—may have lived into the 1220s, but died young.
Thomas Digges was an English mathematician and astronomer. He was the first to expound the Copernican system in English but discarded the notion of a fixed shell of immoveable stars to postulate infinitely many stars at varying distances. He was also first to postulate the "dark night sky paradox".
Alan of Galloway was a leading thirteenth-century Scottish magnate. As the hereditary Lord of Galloway and Constable of Scotland, he was one of the most influential men in the Kingdom of Scotland and Irish Sea zone.
Lochlann of Galloway, also known as Lochlan mac Uchtred and by his French name Roland fitz Uhtred, was the son and successor of Uchtred, Lord of Galloway as the "Lord" or "sub-king" of eastern Galloway.
Magnús Óláfsson was a King of Mann and the Isles. He was a son of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles, and a member of the Crovan dynasty. Magnús' realm encompassed Mann and parts of the Hebrides. Some leading members of Magnús' family—such as his father—styled themselves "King of the Isles"; other members—such as Magnús and his brothers—styled themselves "King of Mann and the Isles". Although kings in their own right, leading members of the Crovan dynasty paid tribute to the Kings of Norway and generally recognised a nominal Norwegian overlordship of Mann and the Hebrides. Magnus was driven out by King Alexander III.
John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond was considered one of the first gentlemen of the age in which he lived. He was an ambassador to the most important courts of Europe.
Ragnall mac Somairle was a significant late-twelfth-century magnate, seated on the western seaboard of Scotland. He was probably a younger son of Somairle mac Gilla Brigte, Lord of Argyll and his wife, Ragnhildr, daughter of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles. The twelfth-century Kingdom of the Isles, ruled by Ragnall's father and maternal grandfather, existed within a hybrid Norse-Gaelic milieu, which bordered an ever-strengthening and consolidating Kingdom of Scots.
Sir Walter Cope of Cope Castle in the parish of Kensington, Middlesex, England, was Master of the Court of Wards, Chamberlain of the Exchequer, public Registrar-General of Commerce and a Member of Parliament for Westminster.
Thomas of Galloway, known in Gaelic sources as Tomás Mac Uchtraigh, was a Gall-Gaidhil prince and adventurer. The son of Lochlann, king of Galloway, Thomas was an active agent of his brother Alan of Galloway as well as the English and Scottish kings. When King John, the English monarch, decided that central and western Ulster were to be added to his dominions, he conscripted Thomas and Alan of Galloway to his aid, offering them much of later counties Antrim, Londonderry and Tyrone as incentive.
Affreca de Courcy or Affrica Guðrøðardóttir was a late 12th-/early 13th century noblewoman. She was the daughter of Godred Olafsson, King of the Isles, a member of the Crovan dynasty. In the late 12th century she married John de Courcy. Affrica is noted for religious patronage in northern Ireland.
Sir John Paston, was the second son of John Paston and Margaret Mautby. He succeeded his elder brother, Sir John Paston, in 1479. He fought at Barnet and Stoke with John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, served as his deputy when Oxford was appointed Lord High Admiral of England, and was a member of the Earl's council. A number of his letters survive among the Paston Letters, a rich source of historical information about the lives of the English gentry of the period.
Walter Byset, Lord of Aboyne was a Scoto-Norman nobleman.
William Ferrers, 1st Baron Ferrers of Groby was an English peer who lived under two kings, Edward I and Edward II. His baronial caput was Groby in Leicestershire.
William Ferrers, 5th Baron Ferrers of Groby (1372–1445) was an English baron in the Late Middle Ages. He was an important figure in Leicestershire society and took part in most of the royal commissions that were held there. He was also active at a national level and earlier in his career he took part in some of the crises in the reigns of both King Richard II and Henry IV. However, he supported the Lancastrian regime under Henry V and acted as a councillor to that King's baby son when the latter inherited the throne at the age of six months. Ferrers was married three times, twice to daughters of the peerage. Because his eldest son died before him, the Ferrers barony descended to his granddaughter's husband. Thus, when William Ferrers died, the Ferrers line, which had begun in England with the Norman conquest, after which they were first granted lands in Leicestershire came to an end.
William de Ferrers (1240-1287) of Groby Castle in Leicestershire was the younger son of William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby (c.1193-1254) of Chartley Castle in Staffordshire, by his second wife Margaret de Quincy, daughter and heiress of Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester (c.1195-1264). He founded the line of Ferrers of Groby, having been given Groby Castle by his mother Margaret de Quincy. Having rebelled against King Henry III, he was taken prisoner at the Battle of Northampton in 1264, but was later pardoned. In 1282 He was with King Edward I in the Army of Wales.
The Battle of Pitgaveny, also called the Battle of Bothnagowan, was fought between the forces of Duncan I of Scotland and Macbeth, at the time the ruler of Moray, on 14 August 1040. The battle was part of a campaign by Duncan into Moray against Macbeth. It was fought at Bothganown, modern day Pitgaveny, near Elgin. The battle was a victory for Macbeth and resulted in Duncan's death.