Gospatric III or Cospatric III (died 1166) was a twelfth-century Anglo-Celtic noble, who was Earl of Lothian and later the

Earl of Dunbar The title Earl of Dunbar, also called Earl of Lothian or Earl of March, was the head of a comital lordship in south-eastern Scotland between the early 12th century and the early 15th century. The first man to use the title of Earl in this earldom ...

, and feudal Lord of Beanley. He was the son of Gospatric II, Earl of Lothian (later called

). He appeared for the first time as a witness in a charter representing his father's grant to

Coldingham Priory Coldingham Priory was a house of Benedictine monks. It lies on the south-east coast of Scotland, in the village of Coldingham, Berwickshire. Coldingham Priory was founded in the reign of David I of Scotland, although his older brother and p ...

. After his father's death in 1138, he inherited his father's territories in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a ceremonial counties of England, county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Ab ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the hi ...

and the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lot ...

. He bore the title "Earl of Lothian" on his seal. The following year "the son of Earl Gospatric and the son of Hugh de Morville and the son of earl Fergus (of Galloway)" were asked to go as hostages in negotiations with King

Stephen of England Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne '' jure uxoris'' from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 u ...

. He married a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

woman called Deirdre, and by her fathered three sons,

Waltheof, Earl of Lothian Waltheof (died 1182), Earl of Lothian or "Dunbar" and lord of Beanley, was a 12th-century Anglo-Scottish noble. He was the eldest son of Gospatric III, Earl of Lothian by his Scottish wife Deirdre. Waltheof's grandfather Gospatric II died at the ...

, Uchtred deDundas and

Sir Patrick de Greenlaw ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only ...

(

patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...

ancestor of the Earls of Home). Gospatric was a great religious patron, granting lands to many of his neighbouring abbeys. He even appears to have become a monk himself, and when he died there in 1166Anderson, Alan O., MA Edin., ''Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers AD500 to 1286'', London, 1908, p.245 where, citing

Roger Hovenden Roger of Howden or Hoveden (died 1202) was a 12th-century English chronicler, diplomat and head of the minster of Howden in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Roger and Howden minster Roger was born to a clerical family linked to the ancient minst ...

's ''Chronica'' he states "In the same year

166 Year 166 ( CLXVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pudens and Pollio (or, less frequently, year 919 ''Ab urbe condita' ...

died earl Gospatrick, and his son Waldeve succeeded him". he was probably already part of the monastic community where he was buried, at Durham. * McDonald, R. Andrew "Gospatric, second earl of Lothian (d. 1166)", Oxford

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

, 200
accessed 22 Nov 2006
*

References

1166 deaths 12th-century births Anglo-Saxon earls Earls of Lothian People from East Lothian People from Northumberland People from the Scottish Borders 12th-century mormaers Burials in County Durham {{Scotland-earl-stub