John (Balliol) King of Scots (abt. 1249 - 1314)

Born about 1249 in Barnard Castle, Gainford, Durham, England

Ancestors

Died 25 Nov 1314 at about age 65 in Chateau Galliard, Normandy, France

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Biography

House of Ballioll

Family and Early Years

John Balliol was born about 1240 (aged 40 in 1280), the fourth and youngest son of Sir John de Balliol and Devorguille of Galloway.^[1][2] The details of his early life remain almost completely unknown. Being the youngest son, there was small likelihood that he would ever succeed to the family estates.^[2] Instead he was educated in the schools at Durham,^[3] probably in preparation for a career in the church.^[4]

John's father died in 1269, his brother Hugh died (without issue) before 10 April 1271; his brother Alan also died soon after (without legitimate issue) although the date of his death is uncertain; and his brother Alexander died (without issue) shortly before 13 November 1278.^[5] John succeeded his brother Alexander, inheriting the baronies of Bywell and Gainford, as well as large estates in Hertfordshire, Northampton, and other counties in the south of England, extensive estates in Scotland, and the family's original holdings in France which included Bailleul, Dompierre, Harcourt, and Verney. When his mother died in 1290 he also received the lordship of Galloway and additional valuable properties in both Scotland and England.^[3]

Marriage and Children

He married, sometime before 10 February 1281, Isabel de Warenne, a daughter of John de Warenne and Alice de Lusignan.^[1][6][7] There was at least one child from this marriage: [see research note]

• Edward de Balliol, King of Scots;^[8] b. c1282;^[9] d. bef. 6 Sep 1365^[9]

Royal Succession

After the death of King Alexander III, there were thirteen contenders for the throne of Scotland but only three of them received serious consideration by the regents of the kingdom.^[10] They were: John de Balliol, great-grandson of David, earl of Huntingdon by Margaret (the earl's eldest daughter); Robert Bruce, grandson of David, earl of Huntingdon by Isabel (the earl's second daughter); and John Hastings, great-grandson of David, earl of Huntingdon by Ada (the earl's third daughter).^[11] Balliol's claim was based on his descent from the eldest daughter; Bruce's was based on his being one degree closer in descent (i.e. a grandson, rather than a great-grandson); and Hastings claimed that the kingdom should be legally divided (as an estate would be) among the three primary descendants.^[11] Hastings claim was disallowed, but both Balliol and Bruce had strong support among opposing factions of the Scottish magnates.^[11] The regents decided the question of the succession should be resolved by an impartial arbitor, and requested that the English king Edward I (to whom all of the competitors owed allegiance for the fiefs they held in Engand) make the decision.^[11]

Each claimant was required to "admit the supremacy of Edward" and abide by his decision.^[12] Robert Bruce was the first to agree to this, followed by the other claimants. John Balliol (reluctant to recognize Edward's authority over Scotland) did not give his assent until the following day.^[12] On 17 November 1292 Edward I pronounced John de Balliol to be King of Scots, and he was crowned at Scone on 30 November 1292.^[1][13]

King of Scots

John, who unlike his brothers was never trained for a career in the military or diplomatic service,^[14] found himself in an increasingly intolerable position. Edward I made repeated demands that the king of Scots swear his fealty to the king of England and summoned him to the English royal court frequently to do so, decreeing also that any complaints which Scots had against John would be heard in an English court rather than a Scottish one.^[11] Edward I was additionally instrumental in encouraging Erik II of Norway to reclaim the Hebrides when Scotland fell behind in its annual payment for the islands.^[15] When, in 1295, Edward ordered Scotland to help fund his military campaign against Philip IV of France and demanded that the Scottish king himself participate in the military engagement, the king of Scots had had enough.^[11] He not only refused, but began negotiating a treaty between France and Scotland which, in addition to setting up a military alliance between the two nations, arranged for the marriage of his son Edward to King Philip's niece.^[11][14]

War with England broke out near the end of March, 1296 when Edward I attacked Berwick and massacred its inhabitants.^[15] On 27 April the Scots suffered another crushing defeat at Dunbar from English forces led by King John's father-in-law, John de Warenne, earl of Surrey^[15][14] This was followed by the fall of Edinburgh Castle, and on 10 July 1296 John II, king of Scots , surrendered and was stripped of his authority.^[1][14]Along with his son Edward he was taken to London and imprisoned in the Tower there.^[16] The English also carried to London one of the most important symbols of Scottish independence, the Stone of Scone.^[15]

In July 1299 England finally signed a truce with France which allowed John de Balliol to be released into French and papal custody.^[1] He was transported to France and eventually allowed to remain on one of his own family estates, the "castle of Bailleul in Picardy."^[14]

Death

Sir John de Balliol, seigneur of Bailleul, late King of Scots, died at Hélicourt (in Vimeu), France sometime before 4 January 1315, when his son Edward gave his fealty to King Louis X for the inheritance of his family's estates.^[17][14] The law at that time called for fealty to be given within forty days of a son's succession, which would place John's death sometime between 25 November 1314 and 4 January 1315.^[17]

Research Notes

Did John Balliol have a second (younger) son named Henry?

A number of historians including Sir James Dunbar Paul,^[18] Sir Archibald Dunbar,^[19] and Robert Chambers,^[20] listed a second, younger son of John Balliol whose name was Henry. However, the only source which is given for this son is a mention in Fordun of a Henry of Balliol, who was slain at the Battle of Annan.^[21] Fordun nowhere identified this Henry as a son of John Balliol or brother of Edward, and more recent historians believe it more probable that he belonged to a different branch of the Balliol family in Scotland. Douglas Richardson is in this camp, listing only one son (Edward) of King John II.^[1] Amanda Beam concluded that, if Henry existed, he must have been born after John's liberation to France in 1301 as there was no record of any living expenses charged before then for anyone other than the king and his son Edward.^[22] None of the other major contemporary chronicles of the day (Anonimalle Chronicle, The Brut, Froissart, Guisborough, Hemingburgh, Jean le Bel, Lanercost, Scalachronica, and Walsingham) mentioned a Henry de Balliol,^[23] and Joseph Bain (who edited the Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland) remarked that "among the dead at Annan was Henry de Balliol, called [Edward's] brother on what authority [I am] not aware."^[24] In the absence of any evidence showing Henry to be a son of King John's, he has been detached from this profile.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), vol. 1, pp. 230-232. BALLIOL 6i. John de Balliol.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Stringer, K.J. (ed.) Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland. The Balliol Family and the Great Cause of 1291-2 by Geoffrey Stell. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers LTD (1985), p. 160
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Northumberland County History Committee. A History of Northumberland. 15 vols. Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Andrew Reid & Co. (1893-1940), vol. 6, pp. 52-68
4. ↑ Stringer, K.J. (ed.) Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland. The Balliol Family and the Great Cause of 1291-2 by Geoffrey Stell. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers LTD (1985), p. 161.
5. ↑ *Paul, James Balfour. The Scots Peerage; Founded on Wood’s Edition of Sir Robert Douglas’s Peerage of Scotland; Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of That Kingdom. Edinburgh : D. Douglas (1904), vol. 4, pp. 142-143
6. ↑ Dunbar, Archibald Hamilton.Scottish Kings; a Revised Chronology of Scottish History, 1005-1625. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1899.), p. 115.
7. ↑ Great Britain. Public Record Office, Joseph Bain, and Great Britain. General Register Office (Scotland). Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland Preserved in Her Majesty’s Public Record Office, London. Edinburgh : H. M. General Register House, 1881, vol. 2, p. 60, no. 189.
8. ↑ Pryde, E.B. (ed.) Handbook of British Chronology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press for the Royal Historical Society (1941), rev. 2003, p. 59.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), vol. 1, p.231. BALLIOL 6ia. Edward de Balliol.
10. ↑ Northumberland County History Committee. A History of Northumberland. 15 vols. Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Andrew Reid & Co. (1893-1940), vol. 6, p. 54.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6} MacKay, A.J.G.Baliol, John de (1249-1315). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography archive edition (1885).
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} >Northumberland County History Committee. A History of Northumberland. 15 vols. Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Andrew Reid & Co. (1893-1940), vol. 6, p. 57.
13. ↑ Dunbar, Archibald Hamilton.Scottish Kings; a Revised Chronology of Scottish History, 1005-1625. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1899.), p. 116.
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5} Stell, G.P. John [John de Balliol], c1248x50-1314. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online edition (23 Sep 2004), rv 22 Sep 2005. Available here by subscription.
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3} Ashley, Mike. The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf (1998), p. 412.
16. ↑ Skene, Felix J.H. (ed.) John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish Nation. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas (1872), p. 320.
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1} Beam, Amanda G. The Political Ambitions and Influences of the Balliol Dynasty, c.1210-1364. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Stirling (May 2005), available as a PDF here, p. 267.
18. ↑ Paul, James Balfour. The Scots Peerage; Founded on Wood’s Edition of Sir Robert Douglas’s Peerage of Scotland; Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of That Kingdom. Edinburgh : D. Douglas (1904), vol. 1, p. 7.
19. ↑ Dunbar, Archibald Hamilton.Scottish Kings; a Revised Chronology of Scottish History, 1005-1625. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1899.), p. 118.
20. ↑ Chambers, Robert. A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen. Glasgow: Blackie (1853), vol. 1, p. 108.
21. ↑ Skene, Felix J.H. (ed.) John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish Nation. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas (1872), p. 348.
22. ↑ CDS, ii, no. 1056, cited in Beam, Amanda G. The Political Ambitions and Influences of the Balliol Dynasty, c.1210-1364. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Stirling (May 2005), available as a PDF here, p. 235
23. ↑ Beam, Amanda G. The Political Ambitions and Influences of the Balliol Dynasty, c.1210-1364. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Stirling (May 2005), available as a PDF here, p. 387
24. ↑ CDS, iii, xli, cited in Beam, Amanda G. The Political Ambitions and Influences of the Balliol Dynasty, c.1210-1364. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Stirling (May 2005), available as a PDF here, p. 388

See also:

• Barrow, G.W.S. Robert Bruce. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (1965), repr 2016, pp. 52-70; 74-75; 82-83.

• Beam, Amanda. The Balliol Dynasty: 1210-1364. Great Britain: John Donald (2008), kindle edition.

• Beam, Amanda G. The Political Ambitions and Influences of the Balliol Dynasty, c.1210-1364. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Stirling (May 2005), available as a PDF here

• British Museum. Dept. of Manuscripts, and Walter de Gray Birch. Catalogue of Seals in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum. [London] : Printed by order of the trustees, 1887, pp. 8-9.

• Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland. Edinburgh: H.M. General Register House (1888), vol. 4, no. 168. (last mention of son Edward)

• Cawley, Charles. Medlands database online. Scotland, John Balliol.

• Harvard Historical Studies, Vol. 8: "The County Palatine of Durham. A Study in Constitutional History" by Gaillard Thomas Lapsley (Longmans, Green, and Co., New York, 1900) Page 42

• MacDonald, William Rae. Scottish Armorial Seals. Edinburgh: W. Green (1904), p. 10.

• Powlett, Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina. The Battle Abbey Roll with some Account of the Norman Lineages London: John Murray, (1889).

• Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), vol. 5, p. 312. WARENNE 9iii. Isabel de Warenne.

• Simpson, Grant G. Why Was John Balliol Called ‘Toom Tabard’? The Scottish Historical Review 47, no. 144 (1968): 196–99, available here.

• Weir, Alison. Britain' Royal Families. London: The Bodley Head (1989), p. 204

• Wikipedia: John Balliol

• Wikidata: Item Q310065, en:Wikipedia