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Grizzel (Semple) Sempill (abt. 1523 - 1575)

Grizzel "Lady Gilton, Lady Stanehous" Sempill formerly Semple
Born about in Renfrewshire, Scotlandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Wife of — married about Dec 1535 (to before 21 Feb 1546) [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 52 in Blair, Ayrshire, Scotlandmap
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Profile last modified | Created 22 Jun 2011
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Grizzel (Semple) Sempill was a historically significant person of Scotland.
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Biography

Grizzel (Semple) Sempill is a member of Clan Sempill.
European Aristocracy
Grizzel Semple was a member of the aristocracy in Scotland.

Grizel Sempill was the eldest daughter of Robert Sempill, 3rd Lord Sempill and his first wife Isabel Hamilton[1][2][3][4][5] born circa 1523,

She was contracted to marry William Wallace in Oct 1532, but that contract does not seem to have been fulfilled.[1]

She married James Hamilton[6] before 10 Mar 1539/40.[7] as his second wife.[5] He divorced her prior to 21 Feb 1546 for adultery[4][8] and died on 1 Oct 1548 while attempting to quell a riot in Edinburgh.[5] James had had five sons by his first wife: James, John, Robert, Archibald, and Thomas. James and Grissel had issue:[9][10]

  1. Robert, d. bef. 29 May 1565[9][11][12]
  2. John, d. bef. 29 May 1565[9][11][12]
  3. Elizabeth, m. Roger Kirkpatrick but was divorced by him for adultery.[12][11][12]
  4. Grisel,m. David Cunninghame of Robertland d. 25 Aug 1592[1][11][12]
  5. Janet, m. Gain Craufurd of Fermes[1][11][12]

She was the mistress of John Hamilton, later Archbishop of St. Andrew[5][13][14] and third cousin once removed to her first husband. It is he, who interceded to spare Grizzel's father, Robert, Third Lord Sempill, from execution in 1550.[15] At the time, Grizzel was a resident at the home of the brother of her lover, James Hamilton, Regent of Scotland. It was at the Regent's home that Robert Sempill was alleged to have killed William Crichton and for which alleged crime he was nearly beheaded.[16] They had issue:[17]

  1. William,[1][18] of Drumry
  2. John of Blair[1] d. 11 May 1630
  3. James[1]
  4. Margaret Jean married Robert Bruce of Blairhall, d. 1614r[1][18]

. . . and possibly:

  1. David[1][18]

She was contracted to marry, as his second wife, Patrick Learmonth, of Dairsie after 16 Feb 1550/1 to be effective after finalization of his divorce.[19][20] However, it appears Patrick was still married to his first wife as of 1581.[21]

The Arcbishop was committed to Edinburgh Castle in 1563 for attempting to restore popery.[19]

Grisel died in Oct 1575 and her will probated on 24 Feb 1576.[22]

Research Notes

  • Should not be confused with her half-sister Grizzel (Sempill) Blair who was a daughter of the second wife of Lord Sempill who married John Blair.[23] That they share the given name Grizell is compounded by the fact that both this Grizzel's husband James Hamilton and her sister's husband John Blair are associated with the name BLAIR.
  • Children:
The table below shows disparate claims on which children Grizzel had with her husband James. James had been previously married to Margaret Mowat and it is variously claimed that he had five sons, or two daughter, or no children by that marriage. An entry in the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, however, dispels any doubt regarding the son James as he is listed as a son of Margaret Mowat.[24]
It might prove useful to consider the range of years that bound the birth of the children. James and Grizzel were married before 10 Mar 1539 and were divorced before 21 Feb 1546. If one were to consider the earliest date for Grizzel's birth, then the earliest date for her marriage was 1532 and the first child no earlier than nine months later. One can conclude with confidence that the children were born between 1533 and 1545. However, she was more probably born around 1523 and more probably over 14 at marriage and implying that the marriage before 10 Mar 1539 was only days or months before and not six years. If so, this certainly would not allow time for eight children as one source claims unless there were twins or triplets.
Children of James by First Two Wives
ChildrMother According to SourceChildren of
HamiltonPaulJohnstonNaismithAndersonMargaretGrizzel
MargaretMargaretMargaretMargaretMargaret
JamesMargaretMargaretMargaretGrizzelGrizzelMargaret
JohnMargaretMargaretAuthor missed that there were sons of the same name by each wifeMargaret
RobertMargaretMargaretMargaret
ArchibaldMargaretMargaretGrizzelGrizzelGrizzelMargaret
ThomasMargaretMargaretGrizzelGrizzelGrizzelMargaret
AlexanderMargaretGrizzelGrizzelGrizzelMargaret
RobertGrizzelGrizzelGrizzelGrizzelGrizzelGrizzel
JohnGrizzelGrizzelGrizzelGrizzelGrizzelGrizzel
ElizabethGrizzelGrizzelGrizzel
GrizelGrizzelGrizzelGrizzelGrizzel
JanetGrizzelMargaretGrizzelGrizzel
  • Anderson lists Janet once of Margaret and once for Grizzel but then says they are probably just the one daughter by Grizzel.
  • Hamilton refers to her as 'a daughter' and has her married to Andrew Hamilton of Newton and Silvertonhill and dead bef. 1535. Anderson lists Margaret as a daughter of Margaret but then opines she might be a granddaughter.
  • Anderson lists four sons from the Privy Seal and notes a natural son Alexander along with three legitimate sons Archibald, Alexander, and Thomas who he, for some reason, assigns as progeny of Grizzel . It appears that Johnston and Naismith had the same reasoning.
Wikipedia claims that there were six children with the Archbishop.[25]
  • The exact year of birth is unclear. It is supposedly stated somewhere that she was born in 1522 but the source remains undocumented. One can observe from her 1539 marriage that she would have been born before 1527. She was requisitioned to be married to William Wallace of Cragie in Oct 1532,[1] which would have meant that she was at least seven at the time placing her birth before 1525 (a requisition to marry could be carried out even if the marriage itself had to wait until the bride was at least 12 and the groom at least 14). Based on her father's birth in 1501, he would have married no earlier than 1515 and the first child born no earlier than 1516. This gives a range of 1516-1525 or Jun 1521 +/- 4.5 years.
  • Given that William Wallace was requisitioned to marry Grizzel in Oct 1532, one can confidently place her marriage to James Hamilton after that date and before Mar 1539 or Dec 1535 +/- 38 months.
  • Grizzel was part of a mortgage of lands to her son Wiliam involving Henry Wardlaw.[26]

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Paul, James Balfour. "The Scots Peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom", Edinburgh: David Douglas,1910, Vol. VII, Archive.org, pp. 545-7
  2. Burke, John Bernard, "Burke's genealogical and heraldic history of the peerage, baronetage, and knightage, Privy Council, and order of preference" , London: Harriason & Sons, 1915, 77th ed. , Archive.org, p. 1801
  3. Burke, John Bernard, "Burke's genealogical and heraldic history of the peerage, baronetage, and knightage, Privy Council, and order of preference" , London: Harriason & Sons, 1915, 77th ed. , Archive.org, p. 1801
  4. 4.0 4.1 Semple, William Alexander, "Genealogical history of the family Semple from 1214 to 1888", Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Lockwood, and Brainerd Company, 1888, Hathittrust, p. 13
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Laing, David, ed., The Works of John Knox: History of the Reformation, Edinburgh: Thomas George Stevenson, 1864, Vol. 1, Archive.org, p. 124
  6. Naismith, Robert, "Stonehouse: Historical and Traditional", Glasgow: Robert Forrester, 1885, Archive.org, p. 46.
  7. Reg. Mag. Sig., "Registrum magni sigilli regum Scotorum : The register of the Great seal of Scotland, A.D. 1513-1546 published by the authority of the Lords commissioners of H.M. Treasury.", Edinburgh: General Register House, 1883, Vol. 3. , Hathitrust, pp. 476-7, no. 2120
  8. Crawfurd, George, "The Lives and Characters of the Officers of the Crown, and of the State in Scotland from the Beginning of the Reign of King David I to the Union of the Two Kingdoms", Edinburgh: George Crawfurd, 1726, Google Books, p. 381, fn
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Johnston, George Harvey, "The heraldry of the Hamiltons : with notes on all the males of the family, description of the arms, plates and pedigrees", Edinburgh: W. & A. K. Johnston, LTD, 1909, Archive.org, p. 61
  10. Anderson, John, Historical and Genealogical Memoirs of the House of Hamilton, Edinburgh: John Anderson, 1825, Archive.org, pp. 384-5
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Hamilton, George, "House of Hamilton", Edinburgh: James Skinner & Co., 1933, FamilySearch, p. 833
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Anderson, John, Historical and Genealogical Memoirs of the House of Hamilton, Edinburgh: John Anderson, 1825, Archive.org, pp. 384-5
  13. Gordon, James Frederick Skinner,"Scotichronicon: Comprising Bishop Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, Enlarged; with Reeves' and Goodall's Treatises on the Culdees,", Glasgow: John Tweed, 1867, Vol. I, Archive.org, "semple" p. 288
  14. Paul, James Balfour. "The Scots Peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom", Edinburgh: David Douglas,1907, Vol. IV, Archive.org, p. 362
  15. Pitcairn, Robert, "Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland", Edinburgh: William Tait, 1833, Vol I, Part I, Archive.org, pp. 353-5
  16. Maxwell, Herbert. "Calendar of Scottish Crime", Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, New York: The Leonard Scott Publication Co.,1897, Vol. 162,No. 984, Archive.org, p. 521
  17. George Harvey, "The heraldry of the Hamiltons : with notes on all the males of the family, description of the arms, plates and pedigrees", Edinburgh: W. & A. K. Johnston, LTD, 1909, Archive.org, p. 34
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 Anderson, John, Historical and Genealogical Memoirs of the House of Hamilton, Edinburgh: John Anderson, 1825, Archive.org, pp. 235
  19. 19.0 19.1 Paul, James Balfour. "The Scots Peerage : founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom", Edinburgh: David Douglas,1910, Vol. VII, Archive.org, p. 546
  20. MacGregor, Gordon, The Red Book of Scotland, Scotland, private, 2022, Ed. 3, Vol. V, p. 905
  21. Reg. Mag. Sig., Registrum magni sigilli regum Scotorum: : The register of the Great seal of Scotland, A.D. 1580-1593 published by the authority of the Lords commissioners of H.M. Treasury., Edinburgh: General Register House, 1888, Vol. 5., Archive.org, #298, p. 97
  22. Grant, Francis James, "Commissariot Record of Edinburgh, Register of Testaments, Part I. Volumes 1 to 35 1514-1600", Edinburgh: James Skinner & Co., 1897, Part I, Archive.org, p. 249
  23. Burke, John, "A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland", London: Henry Colburn Publishers,1838, Vol. IV, Archive.org, p. 393
  24. Reg. Mag. Sig., "Registrum magni sigilli regum Scotorum : The register of the Great seal of Scotland, A.D. 1513-1546 published by the authority of the Lords commissioners of H.M. Treasury.", Edinburgh: General Register House, 1883, Vol. 3., Archive.org, p. 362, no. 1626
  25. John_Hamilton (archbishop of St Andrews)
  26. Gibson, John C, "The Wardlaws in Scotland: A History of the Wardlaws of Wilton and Torrie and their Cadets", Edinburgh: William Brown, 1912 pp. 67-8

See also:

  • Naismith, Robert, "Stonehouse: Historical and Traditional", Glasgow: Robert Forrester, 1885, Archive.org, p. 48.




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Comments: 24

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Grizzel had two sons named John connected but the elder John was the son of her husband's first wife Margaret Mowat. This John is not connected with Margaret as the mother.
posted by [Living Anderson]
I just created her second husband, Learmonth-345, who is documented by SP and RBS. Need help to connect him as this is PPP. Thanks!
posted by [Living Anderson]
The Scots Peerage page you cite merely says they were contracted to be married once Learmonth became divorced from his current wife. Is there evidence that they actually did marry? Vol 5, p. 905 of the Red Book is about the Lindsay family and does not appear to be relevant to this question.
posted by Jen (Stevens) Hutton
edited by Jen (Stevens) Hutton
Are you looking at the 2022 edition? It states: "He m. secondly, Grisel, daughter of Robert, Master of Sempill, (c/m 16 February 1550)" and has a reference CS5/27/7 "The contract was entered into on the basis that they would marry once his divorce from Isabel Balfour was complete"

N.B. RBS gives the old-style date (155) whereas SP gives the combined old-style and new-style date (1550/1).

posted by [Living Anderson]
Hi Thom,

That is my point....do we know that he was eventually able to divorce his wife, and that the marriage with Grisel actually happened?

posted by Jen (Stevens) Hutton
It turns out Learmonth and Balfour did NOT divorce or at least were still married in 1581 (possibly re-married but doubtful) as detailed in RMS.
posted by [Living Anderson]
Margaret Hamilton is noted by James Balfour Paul as one of Grizzel's daughters. She is already connected to her father.
posted by [Living Anderson]
I've connected Margaret to her mother, thanks Thom. What a complicated family!
posted by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to make comments on the profiles of the 3 known children of Grizzel by John Hamilton that they were not married, since she *was* married to James Hamilton. I just forsee people trying to "correct" the relationships down the road if it's not specified that Grizzel was John's mistress, not wife.
posted by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
Yes, it is a good idea! I added that John was Archbishop of St. Andrews and Grizzzel was his mistress to the two children with WT profiles. There were actually four known children and possibly a fifth.

BTW, John and Grizzel are showing as 'married' in their profiles but the PPP prevents me from fixing that.

posted by [Living Anderson]
Nice job, Thom. Interesting, it appears that WT married them 'automatically' when I added the daughter to Grizzel. Hmmm, I didn't expect that. But it's now resolved/removed. I think we're in pretty good shape, and let's leave our comments so that in future we'll remember that Grizzel had a husband James Hamilton and was mistress to Archbishop John Hamilton.
posted by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
Hamilton-27370 should be added as a child of Grizzel and her husband James.
posted by [Living Anderson]
I've added her, and requested source info on Elizabeth's profile from the manager as it is currently unsourced (and a pre-1700 profile).
posted by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
Thanks, Bobbie! I added a reference for Elizabeth.
posted by [Living Anderson]
Hamilton-27370 should be added as a daughter, IHMO.
posted by [Living Anderson]
edited by [Living Anderson]
I am trying to figure this out . . . Scots Peerage and the Genealogical History of the Family Semple both say that there were two daughter of Robert Semple with the name Grizel/Grissel on by Isobel Hamilton and one by Elizabeth Carlyle. They first married James Hamilton (and later John Hamilton according to The Peerage) and the other married John Blair. In 2016, it seems that this was acknowledged but the late Raymond Adkins went ahead and merged the two. I do not know whether this was with explicit approvals or just a 30-day timeout but the merge is now water under the bridge. My question though, is whether to recreate the Grissel daughter of Elizabeth Carlyle and move John Blair as husband of this Grissel rather than Semple-15. In asking the question, I am not implying that this should be done. Of the two sources, only Scots Peerage has any primary sources listed and the entry for a second Grissel is based on an assumption based on her marriage date. That assumption does not hold much merit if this was a second marriage and the same paragraph clearly states that she is not mentioned in the precept of legitimization of Elizabeth Carlyle's other children.
posted by [Living Anderson]
William Cochrane, grandson of Grizzel Sempill, has on his escutcheon that he is a descendant of the Torthowald house, which support the idea that there were indeed two daughters of Lord Sempill named Grizzel. With that in mind, a new profile has been created for the younger Grizzel, daughter of Elizabeth Carlyle and wife of John Blair.
posted by [Living Anderson]
Semple-22 and Semple-15 appear to represent the same person because: THERE is only one Grisel, her mother is a Hamilton, she married a Hamilton and married a Blair. same father, same location, same time frame,
It seems Semple-22 and Semple-15 do not represent the same person because: Upon further research the two Grizzel are different daughters of the different wives. See source that is provided
posted by Marty (Lenover) Acks
Semple-22 and Semple-15 do not represent the same person because: Upon further research the two Grizzel are different daughters of the different wives.
posted by Marty (Lenover) Acks
Actually, multiple sources say they are two Grizell's/Grizels/Grissells, one by each wife of her father. Some say they are same person, though these tend to be newer sources. See her father Robert's profile for details on all the siblings. http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sempill-18
posted by Marty (Lenover) Acks
yes I agree Semple-15 and Semple-22 appear to be same and someone should merge them
posted by Jackie Stoddard
Semple-15 and Semple-22 appear to represent the same person because: Appear to be the same profile.
posted by Stevenson Browne
Semple-22 and Semple-15 are not ready to be merged because: Some differences - if you feel confident they are the same, I will be happy to approve the merge. Just let me know.
posted by Susan (Nixon) Shirey

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