Simon Fraser | |
|---|---|
 Arms of Simon Fraser. Sable, six cinquefoils argent, three, two, one. | |
| Died | 8 September 1306 London, England |
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Sir Simon Fraser of Oliver and Neidpath was a Scottish knight who fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence, for which he was hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1306.
Simon Fraser was the son of Simon Fraser, Sheriff of Peebles and Keeper of the forests of Selkirk and Traquair (died 1291), and his wife Maria. [1] [2]
Perhaps because he was slow in submitting to Edward I of England - he only did so on 23rd July 1291 - the younger Simon Fraser did not succeed his father in his offices. Instead, Edward confided the Forest of Selkirk to William Comyn of Kirkintilloch. [2]
When Edward's intention to usurp the Scottish throne became evident, Fraser joined the Scottish party. He was captured during the Battle of Dunbar on 27 April 1296 and was sent to a prison in England. He was forfeited of his lands. He was released to serve King Edward I of England's expedition in Flanders in 1297. [3] Fraser was made a household knight – effectively, a member of the royal bodyguard – and gifted a horse by Edward before the Battle of Falkirk. Fraser was thus among the English cavalry divisions that defeated the army of William Wallace. On 27 March 1299, in recognition of his good service, he was restored his lands and titles. He was the Keeper of Selkirk Forest, and was at the Siege of Caerlaverock on the side of the English in 1300.
He switched back to the Scottish side in mid-1301 and led the Scottish victory at the Battle of Roslin in 1303, alongside John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (also known as "Red Comyn"). Here Fraser killed Ralph Manton, an English treasury clerk, whom Fraser accused of embezzling King Edward of funds and neglecting to pay Fraser's wages when he was in English service. Consequently, the English King Edward I, marched north through Stirling taking Perth. As Edward approached Dunfermline, the Bishop of St Andrews and the bishop of Glasgow along with Red Comyn met his army and submitted. Fraser refused to swear fealty to the English King and did not attend.
In March 1304, Fraser and Wallace were ambushed by English forces at the action at Happrew and defeated. By June Fraser had deserted Wallace and accepted Edward's peace terms. In January 1305 he was employed, along with all other Scottish knights, to hunt down his former comrade Wallace.
In March 1306 Fraser once again broke faith with King Edward and defected to Robert the Bruce. He escaped from the defeat at the Battle of Methven, but was captured during the summer of 1306 at a subsequent engagement at Kirkencliff near Stirling by Sir Thomas de Multon and Sir John Jose. King Edward had commanded all captured supporters of King Robert executed and, in particular, the lands of Simon Fraser harried and burnt. The prisoner was sent to London, and hanged, drawn, and quartered in September 1306. His head was impaled on a spike on London Bridge, along with Wallace's. [4]
Simon is known to have had the following issue:
Robert I, popularly known as Robert the Bruce, was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventually led Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against England. He fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotland's place as an independent kingdom and is now revered in Scotland as a national hero.
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence.
Year 1306 (MCCCVI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
The Battle of Falkirk, on 22 July 1298, was one of the major battles in the First War of Scottish Independence. Led by King Edward I of England, the English army defeated the Scots, led by William Wallace. Shortly after the battle Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland.
John Comyn III of Badenoch, nicknamed the Red, was a leading Scottish baron and magnate who played an important role in the First War of Scottish Independence. He served as Guardian of Scotland after the forced abdication of his uncle, King John Balliol, in 1296, and for a time commanded the defence of Scotland against English attacks. Comyn was stabbed to death by Robert the Bruce before the altar at the church of the Greyfriars at Dumfries.
The First War of Scottish Independence was the first of a series of wars between English and Scottish forces. It lasted from the English invasion of Scotland in 1296 until the de jure restoration of Scottish independence with the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton in 1328. De facto independence was established in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn. The wars were caused by the attempts of the English kings to establish their authority over Scotland while Scots fought to keep English rule and authority out of Scotland.
Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale, jure uxoris Earl of Carrick (1252–1292), Lord of Hartness, Writtle and Hatfield Broad Oak, was a cross-border lord, and participant of the Second Barons' War, Ninth Crusade, Welsh Wars, and First War of Scottish Independence, as well as father to the future king of Scotland Robert the Bruce.
Clan Bruce is a Lowlands Scottish clan. It was a royal house in the 14th century, producing two kings of Scotland, and a disputed High King of Ireland, Edward Bruce.
William de Lamberton, sometimes modernized as William Lamberton, was Bishop of St Andrews from 1297 until his death. Lamberton is renowned for his influential role during the Scottish Wars of Independence. He campaigned for the national cause under William Wallace and later Robert the Bruce. As Bishop of St Andrews, the most powerful seat in Scotland, Bishop Lamberton along with Bishop Robert Wishart of Glasgow conducted the coronation of Robert the Bruce as King Robert I. Lamberton would go on to have a vital role in the formulation of the Declaration of the Clergy 1310 and the Declaration of Arbroath which would lead to Scottish Independence.
John Comyn, 3rd Earl of Buchan was a chief opponent of Robert the Bruce in the civil war that paralleled the War of Scottish Independence. He should not be confused with the better known John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, who was his cousin, and who was killed by Bruce in Dumfries in March 1306. Confusion between the two men has affected the study of this period of history.
Plenderleith is a Scottish feudal Crown barony comprising approximately one half of Oxnam Parish, Roxburghshire, in the vicinity of Kelso, Scottish Borders. The earliest references to the estates of Plenderleith date to 1175, when John de Plenderleith witnessed a charter in lands in Teviotdale during the reign of William the Lion. By the mid-13th century, the lands of Plenderleith were held by Nicholas de Prendrelathe, lay abbott of Jedburgh Abbey. In 1292, the estates passed to his daughter, Johanna, the wife of Sir John Wishart (Wishard/Wischarde/Whyssard/Wyssard).
Sir John Stewart, the brother of Sir James the 5th High Steward of Scotland, was a Scottish knight and military commander during the First Scottish War of Independence.
Alexander Stewart of Bonkyll was a Scottish nobleman. He was the eldest son of Sir John Stewart, and the father of John Stewart, 1st Earl of Angus.
Sir Richard Fraser was a Scottish noble of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. He succeeded to the lands of Touchfraser in Stirlingshire upon the death of his grandfather, Sir Gilbert Fraser.
Sir Alexander Lindsay, Lord of Barnweill, Byres and Crawford, also known as Alexander de Lindsay, was a Scottish noble.
William Comyn of Kirkintilloch was a 13th-century Scottish nobleman. He was a son of John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch and Alicia de Ros.
Sir Edmund Comyn of Kilbride was a 13th- and 14th-century Scottish noble. He was a younger son of William Comyn of Kilbride and Euphemia de Clavering.
Simon Fraser, 1st Laird of Lovat was the ancestor and first chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat which is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands. He was killed in 1333 at the Battle of Halidon Hill during the Second War of Scottish Independence.
Events from the 1290s in the Kingdom of Scotland.