Walter fitz Gilbert

Ancestors

Descendants

Died before 1346 in Lanarkshire, Scotland

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Biography

Walter fitz Gilbert is a member of Clan Hamilton.

Sir Walter fitz Gilbert, 1st Baron of Cadzow

Sir Walter fitz Gilbert of Cadzow, was a Scottish nobleman. The son of Gilbert fitz William of Hameldone, and an unknown wife, possibly Isabelle Randolph. He is the first historically confirmed progenitor of the House of Hamilton, which includes the Dukes of Hamilton, Dukes of Abercorn and Earls of Haddington.

For a definitive study of the early documentation concerning the Hamiltons please see the attached pdf entitled "An Early History of the Hamiltons".

There is some confusion as to the ancestry of his grandfather William de Hameldone, who could, it has been argued, be descended from the Umfraville family of Northumberland, or the Beaumont Earls of Leicester. Both assertions are based on armorial evidence (both families used Cinquefoils in their arms), and references to various Hamilton place-names in Northumberland and Leicestershire. The Leicester connection is considered more likely as Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester is known to have had a son William but Heraldy expert A.C. Fox Davies has suggested the Beaumont Earls of Leicester bore the arms Gules, a lion rampant queue-fourchee argent following the work of Sir Anthony Wagner's History of Heraldry of Britain who referenced the Great Coucher Book of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Bruce A. McAndrew, in his work Scotland's Historical Heraldry argues for the Umfraville connection:

The earliest representation of the Hamilton arms appears on the Bute Mazer where Gules, three cinquefoils ermine, presumably for Walter fitzGilbert is accompanied by Gules, a chevron ermine between three cinquefoils for brother John (d 1328). On the basis of these arms, it has been customary to trace the Hamilton origins to Robert fitzPernel, Earl of Leicester (d1204), who bore a single cinquefoil ermine to the Hamiltons' three. However, no genealogical evidence supports this assumption and a more sensible proposition is that they were kin, or vassals of the Umfraville lords of Redesdale and the earls of Angus (1247-1321)and took their name from Hameldon in Northumberland. Indeed, it is a stated that a Walter fitzGilbert married Emma de Umfraville in the 13th century and of course other client Umfraville families like Swinburne and Clenell likewise bore the cinquefoils."

Further information about the Bute Mazer can now be found on Wikipedia (1) and the attached document entitled Bute Mazer from the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (2).

McAndrew also references the work of J.Bain's, 'Walter fitz Gilbert, ancestor of the Dukes of Hamilton' who further suggested that "Walter de Burghdon (Boroudoun), whose earlier seal attached to the Ragman Roll display a single cinquefoil and whose later seals displays three cinquefoils, was identical with Walter fitzGilbert of Hameldone. Bain of course was not aware of the painted heraldic evidence that demonstrated that Walter de Burghdon (d1309) bore Argent, three cinquefoils sable when fighting in the Scottish Wars and his relative Gilbert fde Burradoun bore Gules, on a bend argent, three cinquefoils sable in the Parliamentary Roll"

Rather than repeat the various volumes that have been written about him below are references to his Wikipedia entry (3) and the Peerage (4).

A full account of Walter's establishment in Scotland and service to the King, Robert Bruce, can be found in the Peerage of Ireland (5) including the case that it was him and not his father who had to flee England following the death of John de la Spencer in a duel.

Sources

• 1. Wikipedia - The Bute Mazer
• 2. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Volume 65 (1931-1932) pp 217-255
• 3. Wikipedia - Laird of Cadzow
• 4. Peerage entry for Walter fitz Gilbert
• 5. The Peerage of Ireland: or, A genealogical history of the present nobility of that kingdom, Volume 5 p92 (available online from Google books).
• 6. http://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/gg/gordon01.php

Acknowledgments

Thanks to John Hunter for starting this profile.