Notes:

John Comyn (Cumyn) (born c. 1215, died c. 1275) was Lord of Badenoch in Scotland. He was justiciar of Galloway in 1258. He held lands in Nithsdale (Dalswinton, a Comyn stronghold, and Duncow) and Tynedale.

Life

The Comyn family were in effective power in Scotland from 1249 to 1255, when Alexander III of Scotland was a minor; John was one of those with court influence. The Comyns were ousted, by Alan Durward, but returned to power in 1257-8, before provoking a strong English reaction.

He fought for Henry III of England at the Battle of Lewes (1265), with John Baliol the elder and Robert Bruce the elder, and was captured. In 1267 he was given license to crenellate Tarset Castle in Tynedale (by present-day Lanehead, near Hexham), by Henry III; Tarset had previously been held by Walter Comyn.

He started castle construction at Blair Castle with a tower built in 1269. The place was soon taken back by David, Earl of Atholl.

Family

John was the son of a Richard Comyn and was the grandson (through Richard) of William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan.

According to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica he died in 1274, and was nephew of Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan, Constable of Scotland), and of Walter Comyn, Earl of Mentieth. His date of death is also given as 1277.

He succeeded his uncle Walter, in 1258, as Lord of Badenoch, and was succeeded by his son John II, the "Black Comyn". John I was known as the "Red Comyn", the nickname more commonly applied to his grandson.

His second wife is given as Alice de Roos (Ros), or Alice de Lindsay of Lamberton. His first wife was called Eva.

His children, at least four sons and four daughters, included:

John II
a daughter who married Alexander of Argyll
a daughter who married Sir William Galbraith, 4th Chief of that Ilk, Lord of Kyncaith
a daughter who married Galfrid de Mowbray

John — Alice de Roos. Alice (daughter of William de Roos and Lucy fitz Peter) died Abt 29 Apr 1286; was buried Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Of Badenoch.

William married Lucy fitz Peter Bef 24 Jun 1234. Lucy (daughter of Peter fitz Herbert and Alice fitz Roger) died Aft 1266. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

William Comyn was one of four sons (and three daughters) of Richard Comyn, Justiciar of Lothian and Hextilda of Tynedale. He was born in Scotland, in Altyre, Moray in 1163 and died in Buchan in 1233 where he is buried in Deer Abbey. He was Lord of Badenoch and was earl-consort of Buchan.

William made his fortune in the service of king William I of Scotland fighting the Meic Uilleim in the north. William witnesses no less than 88 charters of the king. William was sheriff of Forfar (1195-1211), Justiciar of Scotia (1205-33) and warden of Moray (1211-2). Between 1199 and 1200, William was sent to England to discuss important matters on King William's behalf with the new king, John.

William was appointed to the prestigious office of Justiciar of Scotia, the most senior royal office in the kingdom, in 1205. Between 1211 and 1212, William, as Warden of Moray (or Guardian of Moray) fought against the insurgency of Gofraid mac Domnaill (of the Meic Uilleim family), who William beheaded in Kincardine in 1213.[1] Upon finally destroying the Meic Uilleim's in 1229, he was given the Lordship of Badenoch and the lands it controlled.

From an unknown date, William held the title Lord of Kilbride.

He helped oversee the construction of St Mungo's Cathedral in Glasgow and after his death, Marjory continued his work there.

Earl of Buchan

During his period as Warden of Moray, Comyn was so successful, it may have been the reason he received the hand of Marjory (aka. Margaret), Countess of Buchan, sometime between 1209-1212. Her father Fergus, Earl of Buchan, had no male heirs and so in marrying his daughter to William he ensured a suitable line for his titles before his death. Dying sometime around 1214 (perhaps earlier) William took over the management of the mormaerdom (earldom) of Bucham, by right of his wife.

Family tree

William (is believed to have) had six children through his first wife Sarah Fitzhugh and eight through Marjory, Countess of Buchan. The two branches would be associated with the Lordship of Badenoch through his first wife and the Earldom of Buchan through the second. For the historian Alan Young, William's life, and particularly his marriage to the Countess of Buchan, marks the beginning of the "Comyn century".

NB. Children are ranked according to either accounts showing a specific rank in the order of Williams children's birth or according to the earliest available date the child was thought to have been born.

father Richard Comyn (b.c.1115-1123 d.c.1179); mother Hextilda of Tynedale (aka. Hextilda FitzUchtred or Hextilda FitzWaldeve) (b.1112-1122 d.c. 1149-1189). Hextilda's first husband was Malcolm, 2nd Earl of Atholl, making their son Henry, 3rd Earl of Atholl, William Comyn's half-brother.

first wife married 1193: Sarah Fitzhugh (aka. Sarah filia Roberti) (b.1155-1160 d.c.1204)

1. Richard (b.c.1190-1194 d.c.1244-1249); married to unknown wife; father of John I Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (b.c.1220 d.c.1277)
2. Jardine Comyn, Lord of Inverallochy (b. during or before 1190)
3. Walter, Lord of Badenoch (b.1190 d.c.1258) married Isabella, Countess of Menteith
4. Johanna (aka. Jean) (b.c.1198 d.c.1274); married c.1220: Uilleam I, Earl of Ross (aka. William de Ross) (b.c.1194-1214 d.1274)
5. John Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Angus (d.1242); married (c.1242); Matilda, Countess of Angus (aka. Maud) (b.c.1222, d.1261)
6. David Comyn, Lord of Kilbride (d.1247); married Isabel de Valoigne (d.1253)

second wife married c.1209-1212: Marjory (aka. Margaret), Countess of Buchan (aka. Margaret Colhan of Buchan) (b.c.1184 d.c.1243-1244)

1. Idonea (aka. Idoine) (b.c.1215-1221); married 1237: Gilbert de Haya of Erroll (aka. Gilbert de la Hay) (d.1262)
2. Alexander, Earl of Buchan (b.c.1217 d.c.1289-1290); married: Elizabetha de Quincy (aka. Isabel) (b.1220 d.1282)
3. William (b.c.1217)
4. Margaret (b.c. 1218-1230); married Sir John de Keith, Marischal of Scotland (b.1212 d.1270)
5. Fergus (b.c.1219-1228 d.); married 1249: unknown wife; father of Margaret Comyn (b.c.1270)
6. Elizabeth (b.c. 1223 d.1267); married: Uilleam, Earl of Mar (d.1281)
7. Agnes (b.c.1225); married 1262: Sir Philip de Meldrum, Justiciar of Scotia (aka. Philip de Fedarg or Philip de Melgarum)

Notes:

Sir Robert de Ros, or de Roos of Helmsley, was the grandfather and ancestor of the Barons Ros of Helmsley that was created by writ in 1264. In 1215, Ros joined the confederation of the barons at Stamford. He was one of the twenty-five barons to guarantee the observance of the Magna Carta, signed by King John on 15 Jun 1215.

He was the son of Everard de Ros, Baron of Helmsley and Roese Trussebut, daughter of William Trussebut of Warter. In 1191, aged fourteen, he paid a thousand marks fine for livery of his lands to King Richard I of England. In 1197, while serving King Richard in Normandy, he was arrested for an unspecified offence, and was committed to the custody of Hugh de Chaumont, but Chaumont entrusted his prisoner to William de Spiney, who allowed him to escape from the castle of Bonville, England. King Richard thereupon hanged Spiney and collected a fine of twelve hundred marks from Ros' guardian as the price of his continued freedom.

When King John came to the throne, he gave Ros the barony of his great-grandmother's father, Walter d'Espec. Soon afterwards he was deputed one of those to escort William the Lion, his father-in-law, into England, to swear fealty to King John. Some years later, Robert de Ros assumed the habit of a monk, whereupon the custody of all his lands and Castle Werke (Wark), in Northumberland, were committed to Philip d'Ulcote, but he soon returned and about a year later he was High Sheriff of Cumberland.

When the struggle of the barons for a constitutional government began, de Ros at first sided with King John, and thus obtained some valuable grants from the crown, and was made governor of Carlisle; but he subsequently went over to the barons and became one of the celebrated twenty-five "Sureties" appointed to enforce the observance of Magna Carta, the county of Northumberland being placed under his supervision. He gave his allegiance to King Henry III and, in 1217-18, his manors were restored to him. Although he was witness to the second Great Charter and the Forest Charter, of 1224, he seems to have remained in royal favour.

In early 1191, in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, Ros married Isabella Mac William (Isibéal nic Uilliam), widow of Robert III de Brus. Isabella was the illegitimate daughter of William the Lion, King of Scots by the daughter of Richard Avenel.

Issue with Isabella:

Sir William de Ros (b. before 1200 - d. ca. 1264/1265), father of Robert de Ros, 1st Baron de Ros.
Sir Robert de Ros (ca. 1223 - 13 May 1285), was Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. He married Christian Bertram; from which Elizabeth Ros (d.1395), wife of William Parr of Kendal (1350 - c.1404) descended. The two were ancestors of Queen consort Catherine Parr.
Sir Alexander de Ros (d. ca. 1306), he fathered one child with an unknown wife, William.
Peter de Ros

He erected Helmsley or Hamlake Castle in Yorkshire, and of Wark Castle in Northumberland. Sir Robert is buried at the Temple Church under a magnificent tomb.

Robert married Isabel of Scotland 1191, Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. Isabel (daughter of William I 'the Lion', King of Scotland and Avice de Avenel) was born Abt 1170. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Isabel Mac William (Isibéal nic Uilliam) (born ca. 1170), married firstly in 1183 Robert III de Brus (died ca. 1191) and married secondly Sir Robert de Ros, of Helmsley.

Notes:

Of Blaen Llyfni, Breconshire.

Peter — Alice fitz Roger. [Group Sheet]