The Mormaer or Earl of Menteith was the ruler of the province of Menteith in the Middle Ages. The first mormaer is usually regarded as Gille Críst (or Gilchrist), simply because he is the earliest on record.[1] The title was held in a continuous line from Gille Críst until Muireadhach IV (a.k.a. Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany), although the male line was broken on two occasions. A truncated version of the earldom was given two years later to Malise Graham, 1st Earl of Menteith, in compensation for loss of the Earldom of Strathearn, which was a likely result of the execution of the Duke of Albany.[2]

Arms of the earls, from left to right: arms of Muireadhach I, Earl of Menteith (d. 1213), the Earl at the start of the age of heraldry (c.1200-1215); Walter Comyn (jure uxoris Earl): Azure, three garbs or; Stewart of Menteith
Arms of Muireadhach I, Earl of Menteith (d. 1213), the Earl at the start of the age of heraldry (c.1200-1215): Barry wavy of six or and gules
Arms of Stewart of Menteith: Or, a fess chequy azure and argent, over all a label of five points gules in chief

List of holders

edit

First line of mormaers/earls

edit
 
Effigy of Mary Menteith and Walter Bailloch Stewart. The arms depict Stewart distinguished by a label of five.

Second line, Stewarts of Menteith

edit

Third line, Grahams of Menteith

edit

See also

edit

The Stuart-Menteth Baronetcy, of Closeburn in the County of Dumfries and Mansfield in the County of Ayr, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 11 August 1838 for Charles Stuart-Menteth. The Stuart-Menteth family traces its descent from Walter Comyn (third son of Walter Comyn, Justiciar of Scotia), who in 1258 married Isabella, Countess of Menteith (or Menteth).

References

edit
  1. ^ Fraser, Sir William (1880). The Red Book of Menteith. Edinburgh. p. 3. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  2. ^ Nicholas, Harris (1842). History of the Earldoms of Strathern, Monteith, and Airth. William Pickering: Stevens and Norton: Clark, Edinburgh. pp. 17–24.
  • Paul, James Balfour, The Scots Peerage, Vol. VI, (Edinburgh, 1909)
  • Roberts, John L., Lost Kingdoms: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages, (Edinburgh, 1997), p. 52
  • Clan Campbell Society of North America CCSNA.org, information on the Macoran sept that began in the latter half of the 17th century under the protection of the Earl of Menteith, who later gave this young Campbell of Melfort a farm at Inchanoch. That Macoran / Campbell married a Miss Haldane, niece of Haldane of Lanrick, and the family prospered.