Thomas Fleming, Earl of Wigtown (died c. 1382) was the second person to hold the title

earl of Wigtown Earl of Wigtown (or Wigton) is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Scotland. The first creation was in 1341 for Sir Malcolm Fleming of Clan Fleming, and was surrendered in 1372, when the second Earl sold the Earldom and terr ...

. He was the grandson of the previous earl, Sir Malcolm Fleming, through the latter's only son John (d. 1351). His mother was a woman named Marjorie. Thomas had been the heir to the earldom since the death of his father in 1351. During King

David II of Scotland David II (5 March 1324 – 22 February 1371) was King of Scotland from 1329 until his death in 1371. Upon the death of his father, Robert the Bruce, David succeeded to the throne at the age of five and was crowned at Scone in November 1331, be ...

's captivity in England, Thomas was frequently used as a hostage, and spent many years in captivity, especially after the Treaty of Berwick in 1357. Thomas subsequently had grave financial problems, probably due to the ransom he had to pay the English crown to be released. In 1367, Thomas was regranted the earldom, but was stripped of the rights of

regality A burgh of regality is a type of Scottish town. They were distinct from royal burghs as they were granted to "Lords of Regality, lords of regality", leading noblemen. (In distinction, burgh of barony, burghs of barony were granted to a tenant-in- ...

enjoyed by his grandfather. Thomas sold the earldom to

Archibald the Grim Archibald Douglas, Earl of Douglas and Wigtown, Lord of Galloway, Douglas and Bothwell (c. 1330 – c. 24 December 1400), called Archibald the Grim or Black Archibald, was a late medieval Scottish nobleman. Archibald was the illegitimate son o ...

Lord of Galloway The lords of Galloway consisted of a dynasty of heirs who were lords (or kings) and ladies who ruled over Galloway in southwest Scotland, mainly during the High Middle Ages. Many regions of Scotland, including Galloway and Moray, periodically h ...

, later

Earl of Douglas This page is concerned with the holders of the forfeit title Earl of Douglas and the preceding Scottish feudal barony, feudal barons of Douglas, South Lanarkshire. The title was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for William Douglas, 1 ...

, in 1372. The recreation of the

Lordship of Galloway The lords of Galloway consisted of a dynasty of heirs who were lords (or kings) and ladies who ruled over Galloway in southwest Scotland, mainly during the High Middle Ages. Many regions of Scotland, including Galloway and Moray, periodically h ...

for Archibald the Grim in 1369 had posed some conceptual problems for the earldom, as it fell within the old territories of the lordship. The Douglases were, moreover, much more successful than the Flemings at crushing resistance to the Bruce dynasty in the south-west. Thomas thus had the unusual fortune of being demoted from the rank of a

magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

to that of a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

. Thomas subsequently seems to have given away just about all of his remaining lands. He died without issue in or before 1382.

References

*Oram, Richard D., ‘Fleming, Malcolm, first earl of Wigtown (d. in or before 1363)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 14 Nov 2006
* Paul, James Balfour, ''The Scots Peerage'', Vol. VIII, (Edinburgh, 1911) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Thomas 14th-century births 1380s deaths Fleming, Thomas

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

102 102 may refer to: *102 (number), the number * AD 102, a year in the 2nd century AD * 102 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 102 (ambulance service), an emergency medical transport service in Uttar Pradesh, India * 102 (Clyde) Field Squadron, Royal E ...

History of Galloway 14th-century Scottish earls