Alan, Earl of Menteith (d. c. 1310) was a Scottish nobleman.

Life

Menteith was the son of

Alexander, Earl of Menteith Alexander of Menteith (d. bef. 1306), a Scottish nobleman and member of the Clan Stewart, Stewart family, he was the Earl of Menteith. Life Alexander was the eldest son and heir of Walter Bailloch Stewart and Mary I, Countess of Menteith and was ...

and Matilda (Maud), and is first on record as a hostage in England, to ensure the good behaviour of his father in 1296. He and his brother Peter Menteith accompanied the English King as esquires on his expedition to Flanders in 1297. He supported King

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of Eng ...

in his initial attempt to seize power following the deposition of

John Balliol John Balliol or John de Balliol ( – late 1314), known derisively as Toom Tabard (meaning 'empty coat'), was King of Scots from 1292 to 1296. Little is known of his early life. After the death of Margaret, Maid of Norway, Scotland entered an ...

. Menteith was declared forfeit by

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

, and his lands and title given to

John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (6 May 1262 – February 1313), was an English landowner, soldier and administrator who was one of the Competitors for the Crown of Scotland in 1290 and signed and sealed the Barons' Letter of 1301. He was Lo ...

. He was captured at the

Battle of Methven The Battle of Methven took place at Methven, Scotland on 19 June 1306, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. The battlefield was researched to be included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and protected by Historic Sco ...

, and given to Hastings' disposal. Menteith was committed to

Abergavenny Castle Abergavenny Castle () is a ruined castle in the market town of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales, established by the Normans, Norman lord Hamelin de Balun . It was the site of a massacre of Welsh noblemen in 1175, and was attacked during the e ...

; he died a prisoner before 13 March 1308/09, when John de Hastings had licence "to demise to Margery, late the wife of Alan, earl of Menteth, for her life, the manor of Wotton..." Menteith was succeeded in his Earldom by his son Alan II, Earl of Menteith, who was then a minor.

Marriage and issue

Alan, Earl of Menteith married Marjory or Margery, who has been shown to have been a daughter of

Colban, Earl of Fife Colban, Earl of Fife (b. 1247–1253, d. 1270/2) was ruler of Fife in Scotland. The son of Earl Malcolm and his wife, one of the daughters of Llywelyn the Great (probably Susanna fl. 1228), he succeeded his father while still a teenager on Malc ...

by his wife Anne Durward. They had two sons, one of whom,

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

, succeeded his father as Earl when a minor. Prof. Barrow has shown that Duncan, Earl of Fife entailed the Earldom of Fife on his cousin Alan, son of Earl Alan of Menteith with the approval of King Robert I on 23 August 1315 (Barrow, Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, p. 391). Andrew B. W. MacEwen was the first to note that the younger Alan was the father of Mary, Countess of Menteith. Cf. J. Ravilious, The Earls of Menteith: Murdoch, Earl of Menteith and the Ferrers family of Groby, The Scottish Genealogist (March 2013), Vol. LX, No. 1, pp. 12–25

Notes

References

Balfour Paul, Sir James ''Scots Peerage'' IX vols. Edinburgh 1904.

External links

history
of Menteith family Scottish soldiers People of the Wars of Scottish Independence Mormaers of Menteith 14th-century Scottish earls {{Scotland-earl-stub