Alexander Montgomery

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Abt 1470

Notes:

Lord of Ardrossan and Eglinton.

"Created Lord Montgomery shortly before 3 July 1445, joint keeper of Kintyre and Knapdale, commissioner to conclude a truce with England 1437-38 and later, keeper of Brodick Castle." [The Ancestry of Charles II, citation details below]

Family/Spouse: Margaret Boyd. Margaret (daughter of Thomas Boyd and (Unknown) Stewart) died after 16 Sep 1453. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Alexander Montgomery was born about 1410; died in 1452.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Eglinton, Ayrshire, Scotland
• Alternate birth: Abt 1359, of Ardrossan, Ayrshire, Scotland
• Alternate death: 1429
• Alternate death: Bef 22 Nov 1429

Notes:

"[O]f age by 21 July 1380 when he leased the lands of Eglinton for ten years from Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith, being styled 'nobilem domicellum Johannem de mongomery dominum de Thornton,' captured at the battle of Homildon Hill in 1402, on the jury in May 1425 that condemned Murdoch, Duke of Albany, later a hostage in England for the return of the Earl of Douglas." [The Ancestry of Charles II, citation details below]

John married Agnes of the Isles. Agnes (daughter of John of the Isles and Helen Campbell) died before 9 Mar 1414. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Alexander Montgomery, died before 2 January 1363/4, probably in 1362 during the
'second pestilence,' certainly the father of Sir John Montgomery, was named in safe-conducts in 1358 permitting him to pass through England to visit holy places, witnessed two charters by his cousin, Thomas Stewart, Earl of Angus (named first after the knights), the first charter undated, the second dated at Edinburgh 25 May 1360, in favor of his father-in-law, Sir Hugh Eglinton." [The Ancestry of Charles II, King of England (citation details below)]

Possibly a son of John Montgomery, who died before 1328, and who is said without authority to have been married to Janet Erskine, daughter of John Erskine of Erskine.

Alexander married Elizabeth Eglinton about 1358. Elizabeth (daughter of Hugh Eglinton of That Ilk and Agnes More) was born about 1340; died after 1 Aug 1387. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Who was dead before 15th November 1369, when his father gave as a hostage Angus, the son of his deceased son John." [The Peerage of Scotland, citation details below]

John married Helen Campbell about 1360. Helen (daughter of Archibald Campbell and Isabella Lamont) was born about 1340; died between 1434 and 1447. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1434

Notes:

Also called Ellen Campbell.

Notes:

Justiciar of Lothian.

Hugh married Agnes More. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Agnes Mure. Said by some to have been a daughter of Adam More and Joanna Cunningham. Said by some to have been a sister of William More of Abercorn.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1387 and 1388

John married Amy of Garmoran about 4 Jun 1337, and was divorced before 1350. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Euphemia, Amy MacRuari, Amy Macrory.

From Undiscovered Scotland:

In 1337, Amy MacRuari married John of Islay, Lord of the Isles. In 1344, most of Clan Rauri's lands were restored to Amy's brother, Raghnall mac Ruaidhri. Raghnall was murdered by William, Earl of Ross, at Elcho Nunnery near Perth in 1346. Amy was his sole heir and John of Islay claimed the clan's lands on her behalf. He then promptly annexed them for himself.

John of Islay's ambitions were not limited to acquiring his wife's lands. He was a supporter and close ally of Robert the High Steward of Scotland, the nephew and nominated heir (and eventual successor) of King David II. In order to cement this relationship it was agreed that John of Islay should marry Robert's daughter, Margaret Stewart. John was granted a papal dispensation to divorce Amy, even though the couple had three sons together, and in 1350 he married Margaret Stewart. John of Islay was granted additional lands in western Scotland as a dowry, in return for an undertaking that his sons with Amy would be passed over in the succession in favour of any children he had with Margaret Stewart.

From Amy's point of view, the only positive in what was otherwise a truly remarkable tale of betrayal was that the divorce settlement restored to her personal control the Clan Rauri lands annexed by her ex-husband four years earlier. Even this was only temporary, however, as John of Islay later succeeded in being granted a royal charter to some of the disputed lands. In later life Amy did much to develop the areas still under her control. She built or rebuilt a number of churches in the Western Isles, including Teampull na Trionaid or Trinity Church on North Uist. She is also said to have redeveloped Castle Tioram into the structure you see today.

It is unclear when Amy died. After John of Islay's death in 1386, their son Ranald succeeded in gaining control over more of the disputed Clan Rauri lands. He also served as a tutor to his younger half-brother (and John of Islay's heir) Domhnall, and is remembered as the progenitor of Clan Macdonald of Clanranald and Clan MacDonell of Glengarry.

Notes:

Also called Gillespie (or Gillespick) Campbell, Celestin Campbell.

"[Succeeded] before 2 May 1343 when David II granted him the barony of Melfort, on 25 January 1357/8, the king granted him the lands formerly held by his father, Colin Campbell, knight, which were in the king's hands, by the forfeiture of his late brother, Dugal Campbell, one of the barons in Parliament in 1368, did homage at Scone with other magnates in 1371 to Robert II, who in 1382 granted various revenues to him and his son." [The Ancestry of Charles II, citation details below]

Archibald married Isabella Lamont about 1335. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Often styled Mary, but in a charter (1439/40) by her grandson, Sir Duncan Campbell, she is called Isabella 'Laigmani,' i.e. Lamont (SP 1:327 n. 5). The man given as her father by McKechnie, The Lamont Clan, 60-61, was actually her grandfather, as a study of the chronology shows." [The Ancestry of Charles II, citation details below]

Notes:

Hero of Walter Scott's Lord of the Isles. Leader of the Highlanders in the attack at Bannockburn that won the battle for the Scots.

Angus married Agnes O'Cathan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Áine Ní Chatháin.

Notes:

Also called Ruaidhrí Mac Ruaidhrí, Roderic of Lorn. In 1325 he was stripped of his lands for plotting against Robert the Bruce.

Notes:

Called "the swart" by The Lamont Clan (citation details below).

Colin married Helen de Menteith. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"The wife of Eoin/John mac Donald and (2ndly) Duncan, Earl of Lennox was (in English) Helen Campbell, but this could easily have been rendered Elen or Elena, hence Eleanora. She was evidently the namesake of her paternal grandmother Helen de Menteith, a daughter of Sir John de Menteith the well-known 'betrayer of Wallace' (younger brother of Alexander, Earl of Menteith). Scots Peerage has this mangled as 'Helena, daughter of Sir John Mor, son of the Earl of Lennox' [SP I:325]." [John P. Ravilious, citation details below]

Notes:

Baillie of the Steward of Scotland in Kerry.

Angus married (Unknown) Campbell. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Nigel Campbell.

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (citation details below):

Campbell family (per. c. 1300–1453), nobility, was important in the history of the western highlands, and especially Argyll, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Recorded from about the middle of the thirteenth century, the family first came to prominence in the person of Sir Neil Campbell (d. 1315?), who was noted for his active military and political support for the cause of King Robert I in the period after February 1306. He was later identified by John Barbour as one of the small band which accompanied Robert during his desperate flight from English and Scottish foes in the winter of 1306–7, and contemporary evidence seems to confirm that he was in the king's personal entourage at this time, in particular the band into which he entered about 1308, along with Thomas Hay and Alexander Seton, to defend to the death their king and the liberty of the realm. In 1309 and 1314, moreover, he represented Robert in negotiations with the English crown. Sir Neil's loyal service resulted in a number of gains for his family and kinsmen at the expense of King Robert's enemies in the west, most notably the Macdougall lords of Argyll.

The most striking confirmation of the closeness of the links between Campbell and the king came in the form of Sir Neil's prestigious marriage with Robert's sister Mary Bruce, which took place either just before Mary was captured by the English in 1306 or, more probably, following her release in 1312. Shortly after Bannockburn (24 June 1314) Sir Neil, his spouse, and their son John received a grant of the earldom and other lands which had belonged to David Strathbogie, tenth earl of Atholl. Then, on 10 February 1315, Colin Campbell, who was filially Sir Neil's eldest son, was granted his father's lands of Lochawe and Ardskeodnish in free barony. Sir Neil was probably still alive when the charter was issued, but seems to have died shortly afterwards; since Colin may have been technically illegitimate, the Lochawe charter was probably intended to ensure his succession to the lands and Campbell chieftainship. The name of Colin's mother is unknown. His father was, however, apparently married to Alice, one of the two daughters and coheirs of Sir Reginald Crawford, about 1302–3, after he and his brother Donald had allegedly abducted Alice and her sister. If the marriage took place it cannot be shown to have produced any children, and had in any case ended no later than 1312–14, when Sir Neil married Mary Bruce.

Neil married (Unknown first wife of Neil Campbell). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (citation details below):

Menteith, Sir John [...] soldier and administrator, was the second son of Walter Menteith, fifth earl of Menteith (d. in or before 1296), and brother of Alexander, who succeeded to the title. Both John and Alexander were captured after the Scottish defeat at Dunbar in 1296, and John was sent to Nottingham Castle in May, along with, among others, Sir Edmund Comyn of Kilbride. As the price of liberation he agreed to serve Edward I on his campaign against the French in 1297 and his lands were consequently restored to him. Menteith, by now a knight, returned to Scotland in 1298, but later rejoined the patriotic side. There is no record of his activities between then and September 1303, when he and Sir Alexander Menzies approached the English lieutenant Sir Aymer de Valence (d. 1324) at Linlithgow to treat for peace, presumably on behalf of the Scottish guardian, Sir John Comyn of Badenoch. At this point Edward I and his army were advancing deep into the north-east of Scotland, and the Scots sensed that submission was the only truly viable option. Although the starving state of the Irish foot soldiers with Valence persuaded Menteith and Menzies that further resistance was worthwhile, the majority of the Scots, led by the guardian, and presumably including Menteith, submitted in February 1304.

Menteith must have somehow impressed King Edward, since in March 1304 he was granted the keeping of the castle, town, and sheriffdom of Dumbarton. The area was not yet firmly under Edward's control even in 1305, however, and Menteith was permitted to postpone the hearing of his account 'until the land of Scotland is secure'. Some headway in that direction was undoubtedly made in August of the same year, when Sir William Wallace, still resolutely refusing to submit to the English king, was captured, perhaps by treachery, within Menteith's sheriffdom of Dumbarton (supposedly at Robroyston near Glasgow). The sheriff had no choice but to hand Wallace over to Edward and was duly rewarded with lands worth £100. His action brought Menteith lasting ignominy, however ill deserved: Walter Bower, writing in the 1420s, describes the reputations of the main players in this melodrama thus:

Some ostentatiously make their name great for show, like the tyrant Edward; some scandalously make it cheap so that they are abhorred, like the said John Menteith; others virtuously make it worthy so that they are an inspiration to others, like William Wallace.

Yet Menteith's career was far from over. With the murder of Sir John Comyn of Badenoch and the seizure of the throne by Robert Bruce early in 1306, Menteith remained loyal to Edward I. Although he was probably essentially a realist, willing as such to support a de facto government, it is also possible that he identified himself with the Comyn faction, which would explain his failure to support Bruce. There may even be some truth in Bower's story that Menteith made overtures to the new king of Scots at this time in an attempt to trap him in Dumbarton Castle; the plot was revealed to Robert by a servant, Roland Carpentar, who was certainly granted the lands of Eddlewood by the grateful king.

From Wikipedia (accessed 31 May 2021):

Menteith was nominated one of the representatives of the Scots barons in the parliament of both nations which assembled at London in September 1305 and was chosen upon the Scottish council, which was appointed to assist John of Brittany, the new Guardian of Scotland, in the English interest. John received on 1 June 1306 from Edward the Earldom of Lennox, while on 15 June he received the Warden of the castle, town, and sheriffdom of Dumbarton office for life. John returned to Scotland in October.

Edward appealed to John in December 1307 to join him in resisting the revolting Robert de Brus, however John abandoned his earldom of Lennox, joining Brus's side. King Robert I of Scotland rewarded John with large grants in Knapdale and Kintyre. In March 1308, John was among the Scottish magnates who wrote to the King Philip IV of France on behalf of the nation and in 1309, he was sent with Sir Nigel Campbell to treat with Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, receiving a safe-conduct on 21 August, from King Edward II of England. John's English lands were forfeited for his treason. In 1316 he was commissioned with Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray to treat on behalf of Robert Brus for a truce with the English. John remained closely attached to the royal court, as is shown by the numerous charters he attested and was at the Arbroath parliament in April 1320, and signed the Declaration of Arbroath sent by the barons of Scotland to Pope John XXII.

John was one of the negotiators of the thirteen years' truce between Bruce and the English, signed on 30 May 1323 and was present at a Scottish council at Berwick in June.

Notes:

Also called John mac Malcolm Lamont, Of That Ilk. (SP 1:327 calls him "third of that Ilk.")