Alexander (Stewart) Second Earl of Menteith (abt. 1250 - abt. 1305)

Born about 1250 in Menteith, Perthshire, Scotland [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1305 at about age 55 in Scotland [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Scotland Project WikiTree [send private message]

Alexander (Stewart) Second Earl of Menteith was an inhabitant of Medieval Scotland. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland

Biography

Birth

Alexander was the eldest son and heir of Walter Stewart, son of Walter, the third High Stewart of Scotland and Mary, Countess of Menteith.^[1] He had a younger brother, John, who has the unfortunate place in history as the betrayer of William Wallace.^[2] He may also have had a sister, Elena, who married John Drummond. That she was a possible daughter of Walter Stewart is based in part upon her husband's shield where the three bars wavy of Menteith were emblazoned.^[3]

Alexander's date of birth is estimated as occurring circa 1250, based upon the following statement by Cawley regarding Alexander's mother's possible birthdate:^[4]

Her birth date is estimated very approximately to [1216/30] from the estimated birth date of her older sister, but bearing in mind the [1280?] birth of Mary’s grandson Alan which suggests that she was probably born in the later part of that range.

Marriage

Alexander married Matilda of unknown parentage and had four children:^[5][4][6][1]

1. Alan, born circa 1289, who succeeded;
2. Peter, who with his brother Alan, was a hostage in England in 1296;
3. Murdoch, who following his brother's death became Earl of Menteith; and
4. Alexander, who is named Murdoch's brother in a charter to Gilbert Drummond.

Notable Events

On 20 September 1286 at Turnberry, Alexander is first mentioned along with his father and brother John in an alliance with other supporters of Bruce.^[5][1] In this same year, Alexander and his father granted the church of Kippen to Cambuskenneth Abbey (within the Mentieth earldom), which was their intended burial site.^[5] Prior to succeeding his father in or before 1295, he swore fealty to Edward I at Norham in 1291, as well as engaging in other transactions during this time.^[4][5] Alexander was among those who invaded England in response to Edward I's attack on Berwick, but upon the Scot's defeat at the Battle of Dunbar on 27 April 1296, Alexander and others fled to Dunbar Castle, but were subsequently captured and sent to the Tower of London. He was not long detained, however, as he was among those named in the Ragman Roll at Elgyn in Moray, as having sworn allegiance to Edward I on 27 July 1296.^[4] He again swore fealty at Berwick on 28 August of the same year and placed two of his sons, Alan and Piers, in Edward I's care as hostages. This was the last public record of Alexander, with the exception of a letter addressed to him by Edward I on 26 September 1297 and a few personal transactions regarding the estates of Alexander of Argyll and his son and Alexander Abernethy.^[5]

Death

He may have died before 1305, as at this time his son Alan was reported as the Earl of Menteith.^[4] Although his location of death is unknown, he is likely buried at the church of Kippen at Cambuskenneth Abbey, Scotland.^[5]

Research Notes

1. In the marriage field, Alexander's wife was entered as Mathilda Strathearn, yet there is no evidence to support this claim. The following sources have indicated that while her given name was Mathilda/Maud, her parentage is unknown:

• Cawley, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy;^[4]
• Cokayne, The Complete Peerage; ^[1]
• Balfour Paul, The Scots Peerage; ^[5]
• Fraser, The Red Book of Menteith. ^[6]

Mathilda Strathearn has thus been detached as the wife of Alexander Menteith.

Moreover, Mathilda/Maud is not named as a child of Robert Strathearn, fourth Earl of Strathearn, and none of his daughters married Alexander, Earl of Meneith.^[7]

2. Alexander and Matilda had four known children, named and sourced above. No sources were located that indicated they had a daughter named Margaret Menteith Abernathy. She has been detached as a daughter of Alexander.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Cokayne, G. E. (1932). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant (Vol. VIII, pp. 663, 664) London: The St. Catherine Press. Retrieved from FamilySearch (Available online); accessed 13 May 2022.
2. ↑ Balfour Paul, James. (1909). 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 (Vol. VI, p. 132). Edinburgh: D. Douglas. Retrieved from Internet Archive (Available online); accessed 14 May 2022.
3. ↑ Balfour Paul, James. (1910). 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 (Vol. VII, p. 29). Edinburgh: D. Douglas. Retrieved from Internet Archive (Available online); accessed 14 May 2022.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5} Cawley, C. (20 May 2021). Scotland, Earls Created 1162-1398 (Ch. 2B, Earls of Menteith-Stewart). Retrieved from Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (Available online); accessed 13 May 2022.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6} Balfour Paul, James. (1909). 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 (Vol. VI, pp. 133, 134). Edinburgh: D. Douglas. Retrieved from Internet Archive (Available online); accessed 13 May 2022.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Fraser, William. (1880). The Red Book of Menteith (Vol. I, p. xxxvi, no. 29, 458). Edinburgh: Privately printed. Retrieved from Internet Archive (Available online); accessed 13 May 2022.
7. ↑ Balfour Paul, James. (1904). 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 (Vol. VIII, pp. 244, 245). Edinburgh: D. Douglas. Retrieved from Internet Archive (Available online); accessed 14 May 2022.