Alwin of Lennox

Abt 1130 - Bef 1199  (~ 68 years)

• Name	Alwin of Lennox
  Birth	Abt 1130  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	Bef 1199  [2]
  Person ID	I28935	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
  Last Modified	21 Jun 2020

  
  

  Father	Murdac
  Mother	(Unknown daughter of Alwyn Mor),   b. Abt 1100
  Family ID	F17253	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Children	1. Alwin of Lennox,   b. Abt 1160   d. Bef 1226 (Age ~ 65 years)
  Family ID	F17246	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	21 Jun 2020

  
  

• Notes

  From The Scots Peerage, citation details below: ALWIN, first Earl of Lennox, though he is distinctly named in his son's charters as Alwin the elder, Earl of Lennox, is historically a very shadowy personage, but the combined evidence of a contemporary poet and of an ancient Celtic genealogy, without following the latter to its ancient and perhaps mythical beginning, makes it probable that his father was named Muredach, and his grandfather Maldouen. The latter, Mr. Skene goes so far as to suggest, was identical with Meldionneth, son of Machedeth, the 'good and discreet judge,' who, in 1128, aided in settling a dispute as to the bounds of Kirkness. Be this as it may, the evidence, so far as it goes, seems to suggest that the immediate ancestors of Alwin were not only Celtic chiefs but were Mormaors of their own district. So also probably was Alwin before he was made Earl. The date of his creation, if such a ceremony ever took place, can only be presumed, as the evidence is very meagre. One charter by King William the Lion granting the Lennox to his brother David is now accessible, and its date may be stated to be between 1178 and 1182. This writ was unknown to Mr. Skene, and it qualifies his view that David was Earl of Lennox during Malcolm's reign, as the charter conveys the earldom of Lennox ('comitatum de Leuenaus cum omnibus pertinenciis'), thus showing that the earldom bad been already constituted and its limits defined before 1178. But there is evidence that Prince David may have had the earldom earlier, as he grants the churches of Campsie and Altermunin to the monks of Kelso, by a charter which is confirmed by King William about 1177, or perhaps so early as 1173. He may therefore have had an earlier grant of the earldom. It may be noted that Prince David is nowhere styled 'Earl' of Lennox, but his occupancy complicates the difficulty of fixing the date of Alwin's possession as Earl, though it is probable it was not quite so early as 1154, the date usually assigned, while, as stated, it may have been so late as 1185. There are no charters of the first Earl Alwin known to exist in any form, but there can be little doubt that he was Earl for a time, and did grant lands to the church of Kilpatrick, though the date is uncertain. The poem by Muredach Albanach, his contemporary, adds little or nothing to our knowledge of him, except that his chief seat was at Balloch, afterwards a residence of the Earls. It is not known when he died, but it must have been before 1199. He left issue, but the name of his wife is unknown.

  
  

• Sources

  [S128] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant ed. Vicary Gibbs, H. A. Doubleday, Duncan Warrand, Howard de Walden, Geoffrey H. White and R. S. Lea. 2nd edition. 14 volumes (1-13, but volume 12 spanned two books), London, The St. Catherine Press, 1910-1959. Volume 14, "Addenda & Corrigenda," ed. Peter W. Hammond, Gloucestershire, Sutton Publishing, 1998. [S800] The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of That Kingdom. Ed. James Balfour Paul. Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1904-1914.