Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
NameWalter Comyn Earl of Menteith 
[54, His own article], [60, Menteith art; Vol VIII, p. 660], [73, Badenoch article, Vol I, p. 505]
[54, His own article], [60, Menteith art; Vol VIII, p. 660], [73, Badenoch article, Vol I, p. 505]DeathNov 1258
Generaldsp legit. Earl de jure uxor. Prominent in Scots affairs.
FatherWilliam Comyn Earl of Buchan (-1233)
MotherSarah FitzHugh
Arms Generally notes for Walter Comyn Earl of Menteith
Barry wavy of six.
DNB Main notes for Walter Comyn Earl of Menteith
Comyn, Walter, Earl of Menteith d. 1258
Name: Comyn, Walter
Title: Earl of Menteith
Dates: d. 1258
Active Date: 1238
Gender: Male
Spouse: One of the two daughters and coheiresses of Maurice, earl of Menteith
Sources: Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, vol. i...
Contributor: T. F. T. [Thomas Frederick Tout]
Article
Comyn, Walter, Earl of Menteith d. 1258, was the second son by his first marriage of William Comyn, earl of Buchan, and half-brother of Alexander Comyn, earl of Buchan [q.v.]. In 1221 he was at York at the marriage of Alexander II with Joan of England (Federa, i. 161). In 1223 he attended that king's court, and in 1227 witnessed several of his charters (Acts of Parl. of Scotland, i. 405 b, 407 b). In 1229 he seems to have got possession of Badenoch, after his father's suppression of Gillescop's revolt, as in his composition with Bishop Andrew of Moray he is plainly recognised as in full possession of that district (Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis, pp. 82-4, Bannatyne Club; the instrument, undated, is referred by Douglas to the period before 1230, Peerage, ii. 223). Comyn also gave the monks of Scone a yearly grant of a stone of wax or of four shillings (Liber Ecclesie S. Trinitatis de Scon, p. 63, Bannatyne Club). About 1230 he married one of the two daughters and coheiresses of Maurice, earl of Menteith, and succeeded in obtaining that earldom. In 1234 he made another composition with the Bishop of Moray, with reference to his lands of Kincardine (Reg. Ep. Morav. pp. 98-9). In 1235 he was appointed to keep order in Galloway, and, soon after, his erection of two formidable castles in that county and in Lothian were enough to provoke King Henry to a Scottish expedition, but peace was soon made at York, to which Comyn was himself a party. In 1244 he swore again to keep the terms of that treaty (Federa, i. 233; Cal. Scottish Doc. i. Nos. 1358, 1654, 2671; Matt. Paris, ed. Luard, iv. 380, 382; Chron. de Mailros, s. a. 1235). The accession of the infant Alexander III gave the powerful house of Comyn supreme authority in Scotland. It was Menteith's influence that in 1249 procured the young king's coronation, despite the sophistical objections of Alan Durward. In 1251 he succeeded in overcoming all his enemies, and from then to 1255 he was supreme ruler of Scotland. Fordun gives a black account of his government, but the chronicler of Melrose and Andrew Wyntoun apparently regard the Comyns as the leaders of the party opposed to the English influence. In 1255 Henry III appeared at Kelso and upset the rule of the Comyns; but in 1257 Menteith managed to steal the young king from his bed at Kinross and convey him with the great seal to Stirling. The support of the church further strengthened his hands (Chron. de Mailros, 183), though Alan Durward, with England at his back, was still formidable. At last, in 1258, a compromise was agreed upon, and the consent of King Henry obtained to a joint regency that included Menteith and Durward and the other leaders of both parties (Federa, i. 378). In the same year Menteith died, of a fall from his horse according to Matthew Paris, but the later Scottish accounts accuse his wife of poisoning him. But the anxiety of Walter Stewart, who had married her younger sister, to obtain the earldom, and the indignation of the Scottish nobles at her hasty marriage with a low-born English knight, are enough to account for this accusation. Comyn left no direct heirs (Wyntoun, cf. Introd. to Cal. of Documents relating to Scotland, ii. lvi, and No. 466). His lands of Badenoch passed to his grand-nephew, John Comyn; but the efforts of William Comyn, another grand-nephew, to obtain the earldom of Menteith failed, and the dignity passed to the Stewarts. Fordun describes Earl Walter as ‘a man of foresight and shrewdness in council.’ He was certainly the wealthiest and most powerful Scottish earl of his time.
Sources
Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, vol. i.; Federa, vol. i. Record ed.; Matthew Paris, ed. Luard, iv. 380, 382, 384, v. 724; Fordun's Scotichronicon, ed. Skene, i. 293 sq.; Wyntoun's Chronykil, ed. Laing, bk. vii. line 3255, bk. viii. lines 1116 sq.; Chronicon de Mailros, Bannatyne Club, pp. 146, 181, 183; Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. i.; Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, ii. 223-4, cf. i. 161.
Contributor: T. F. T.
published 1887
Name: Comyn, Walter
Title: Earl of Menteith
Dates: d. 1258
Active Date: 1238
Gender: Male
Spouse: One of the two daughters and coheiresses of Maurice, earl of Menteith
Sources: Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, vol. i...
Contributor: T. F. T. [Thomas Frederick Tout]
Article
Comyn, Walter, Earl of Menteith d. 1258, was the second son by his first marriage of William Comyn, earl of Buchan, and half-brother of Alexander Comyn, earl of Buchan [q.v.]. In 1221 he was at York at the marriage of Alexander II with Joan of England (Federa, i. 161). In 1223 he attended that king's court, and in 1227 witnessed several of his charters (Acts of Parl. of Scotland, i. 405 b, 407 b). In 1229 he seems to have got possession of Badenoch, after his father's suppression of Gillescop's revolt, as in his composition with Bishop Andrew of Moray he is plainly recognised as in full possession of that district (Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis, pp. 82-4, Bannatyne Club; the instrument, undated, is referred by Douglas to the period before 1230, Peerage, ii. 223). Comyn also gave the monks of Scone a yearly grant of a stone of wax or of four shillings (Liber Ecclesie S. Trinitatis de Scon, p. 63, Bannatyne Club). About 1230 he married one of the two daughters and coheiresses of Maurice, earl of Menteith, and succeeded in obtaining that earldom. In 1234 he made another composition with the Bishop of Moray, with reference to his lands of Kincardine (Reg. Ep. Morav. pp. 98-9). In 1235 he was appointed to keep order in Galloway, and, soon after, his erection of two formidable castles in that county and in Lothian were enough to provoke King Henry to a Scottish expedition, but peace was soon made at York, to which Comyn was himself a party. In 1244 he swore again to keep the terms of that treaty (Federa, i. 233; Cal. Scottish Doc. i. Nos. 1358, 1654, 2671; Matt. Paris, ed. Luard, iv. 380, 382; Chron. de Mailros, s. a. 1235). The accession of the infant Alexander III gave the powerful house of Comyn supreme authority in Scotland. It was Menteith's influence that in 1249 procured the young king's coronation, despite the sophistical objections of Alan Durward. In 1251 he succeeded in overcoming all his enemies, and from then to 1255 he was supreme ruler of Scotland. Fordun gives a black account of his government, but the chronicler of Melrose and Andrew Wyntoun apparently regard the Comyns as the leaders of the party opposed to the English influence. In 1255 Henry III appeared at Kelso and upset the rule of the Comyns; but in 1257 Menteith managed to steal the young king from his bed at Kinross and convey him with the great seal to Stirling. The support of the church further strengthened his hands (Chron. de Mailros, 183), though Alan Durward, with England at his back, was still formidable. At last, in 1258, a compromise was agreed upon, and the consent of King Henry obtained to a joint regency that included Menteith and Durward and the other leaders of both parties (Federa, i. 378). In the same year Menteith died, of a fall from his horse according to Matthew Paris, but the later Scottish accounts accuse his wife of poisoning him. But the anxiety of Walter Stewart, who had married her younger sister, to obtain the earldom, and the indignation of the Scottish nobles at her hasty marriage with a low-born English knight, are enough to account for this accusation. Comyn left no direct heirs (Wyntoun, cf. Introd. to Cal. of Documents relating to Scotland, ii. lvi, and No. 466). His lands of Badenoch passed to his grand-nephew, John Comyn; but the efforts of William Comyn, another grand-nephew, to obtain the earldom of Menteith failed, and the dignity passed to the Stewarts. Fordun describes Earl Walter as ‘a man of foresight and shrewdness in council.’ He was certainly the wealthiest and most powerful Scottish earl of his time.
Sources
Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, vol. i.; Federa, vol. i. Record ed.; Matthew Paris, ed. Luard, iv. 380, 382, 384, v. 724; Fordun's Scotichronicon, ed. Skene, i. 293 sq.; Wyntoun's Chronykil, ed. Laing, bk. vii. line 3255, bk. viii. lines 1116 sq.; Chronicon de Mailros, Bannatyne Club, pp. 146, 181, 183; Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. i.; Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, ii. 223-4, cf. i. 161.
Contributor: T. F. T.
published 1887