Walter Bailloch
Encyclopedia
Walter Stewart, 3rd High Steward of Scotland
Walter, Steward of Dundonald was 3rd hereditary High Steward of Scotland and Justiciar of Scotia.He was the eldest son of Alan fitz Walter, 2nd High Steward of Scotland by his second wife Alesta, daughter of Morggán, Earl of Mar...
, and Earl of Menteith
Earl of Menteith
The Mormaer or Earl of Menteith was originally the ruler of the province of Menteith in the Middle Ages. The first mormaer is usually regarded as Gille Críst, simply because he is the earliest on record. The title was held in a continuous line from Gille Crist until Muireadhach IV , although the...
jure uxoris
Jure uxoris
Jure uxoris is a Latin term that means "by right of his wife" or "in right of a wife". It is commonly used to refer to a title held by a man whose wife holds it in her own right. In other words, he acquired the title simply by being her husband....
. His wife was Mary I, Countess of Menteith
Mary I, Countess of Menteith
Maire inghean Mhuireadhaich or Mary, daughter of Muireadhach II, Mormaer of Menteith, was Countess of Menteith, successor to her sister Isabella . She inherited the title from her father, and married Walter Bailloch, son of Walter Stewart, 3rd High Steward of Scotland...
. Characteristically of the Stewart family by the thirteenth century, he was distinguished by the sobriquet Bailloch or Balloch, a Gaelic
Goidelic languages
The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...
nickname roughly translated as "the freckled".
He is said to have gone to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
under Louis IX of France
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
, but there is no certain evidence of this. After the death of King Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II was King of Scots from1214 to his death.-Early life:...
he favoured the Durward faction
Alan Durward
Alan Hostarius was the son of Thomas de Lundin, a grandson of Gille Críst, Mormaer of Mar. His mother's name is unknown, but she was almost certainly a daughter of Máel Coluim, Mormaer of Atholl, meaning that Alan was the product of two Gaelic comital families.Alan was one of the most important...
, and by a stratagem in 1255 secured the persons of the young King and Queen, but he was not at this time admitted to a share in the government. It was about 1260, when the Countess Isabella and her husband were forced to renounce the earldom, that the King and barons of Scotland declared the lands and title to belong to the wife of Walter Stewart, and he was invested therein. He was certainly using the title "comes" (earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
or mormaer
Mormaer
The title of Mormaer designates a regional or provincial ruler in the medieval Kingdom of the Scots. In theory, although not always in practice, a Mormaer was second only to the King of Scots, and the senior of a toisech.-Origin:...
) before 17 April 1261, when he was witness to a grant to the Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey is a former Cluniac monastery, and current Church of Scotland parish kirk, located on the east bank of the White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, in west central Scotland.-History:...
.
In the following year Dughall MacSuibhne (MacSween) granted to the Earl the lands of Skipnish, Killislate, and others, being that part of Kintyre
Kintyre
Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The region stretches approximately 30 miles , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south, to East Loch Tarbert in the north...
called South Knapdale
Knapdale
Knapdale forms a rural district of Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands, adjoining Kintyre to the south, and divided from the rest of Argyll to the north by the Crinan Canal. It includes two parishes, North Knapdale and South Knapdale....
and the parish of Kilcalmonell. Following on this, the Earl granted the church of Kilcalmonell to the monks of Paisley. He also made grants to Kilwinning Abbey
Kilwinning Abbey
Kilwinning Abbey is a ruined abbey located in the centre of the town of Kilwinning, North Ayrshire.-The establishment of the Abbey:The ancient name of the town is 'Segdoune' or 'Saigtown', probably derived from 'Sanctoun', meaning the 'town of the saint'. Saint Winnings festival was on 21 January...
of churches in Knapdale, which show that he had possession of North Knapdale also. About 1263 the Earl was Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of Ayr
Ayr
Ayr is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde in south-west Scotland. With a population of around 46,000, Ayr is the largest settlement in Ayrshire, of which it is the county town, and has held royal burgh status since 1205...
, and aided in making preparations to repel the expected invasion of King Haakon IV of Norway
Haakon IV of Norway
Haakon Haakonarson , also called Haakon the Old, was king of Norway from 1217 to 1263. Under his rule, medieval Norway reached its peak....
. He is said to have taken part in the Battle of Largs
Battle of Largs
The Battle of Largs was an engagement fought between the armies of Norway and Scotland near the present-day town of Largs in North Ayrshire on the Firth of Clyde in Scotland on 2 October 1263. It was the most important military engagement of the Scottish-Norwegian War. The Norwegian forces were...
. The Earl was Sheriff of Dumbarton in 1271. On 25 July 1281 he was one of the witnesses to and guarantors of the marriage contract of the Princess Margaret
Margaret of Scotland (Queen of Norway)
Margaret of Scotland was Queen consort of Norway and wife of King Eric II of Norway....
with Eirik II of Norway
Eirik II of Norway
Eirik Magnusson was the King of Norway from 1273/80 until 1299.-Background:He was the eldest surviving son of King Magnus the Lawmender of Norway, and his wife Ingeborg Eriksdatter, daughter of King Eric IV of Denmark. Eric descended from St...
. In 1285 he and his Countess were again attacked by the rival claimants Walter Comyn and his wife Isabella
Isabella, Countess of Menteith
Isabella, Countess of Menteith was the eldest daughter of Muireadhach II, Mormaer of Menteith. When the old mormaer died without legitimate male heir in 1233, the province passed to Isabella....
, their claim having been in 1282 pressed upon King Alexander III of Scotland
Alexander III of Scotland
Alexander III was King of Scots from 1249 to his death.-Life:...
by the English King, and in a Parliament at Scone
Scone, Scotland
Scone is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The medieval village of Scone, which grew up around the monastery and royal residence, was abandoned in the early 19th century when the residents were removed and a new palace was built on the site by the Earl of Mansfield...
it was decided that the earldom should be divided into two portions.
One half was retained by Walter Stewart, with the title of Earl, he having the principal residence on the territory, and the other half was erected into a barony in favour of Comyn and his wife. The component parts of the earldom which remained to Walter Stewart are not known. The death of King Alexander in 1286 threw the kingdom again into confusion, and during the rivalry which ensued between the parties of Bruce and Balliol
House of Balliol
The House of Balliol was a Picard and Anglo-Norman family who began to rule some estates in England in the reign of William Rufus. In the late 13th and 14th centuries, two members of the house were kings of Scotland....
, the Earl of Menteith supported the cause of Bruce. In 1289 he was present at Birgham
Treaty of Birgham
The Treaty of Birgham, also referred to as the Treaty of Salisbury, comprised two treaties intended to secure the independence of Scotland after Alexander III died without issue in 1286....
, and approved of the marriage proposed between Prince Edward of England
Edward II of England
Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
and the young Margaret, Maid of Norway
Margaret, Maid of Norway
Margaret , usually known as the Maid of Norway , sometimes known as Margaret of Scotland , was a Norwegian princess who was Queen of Scots from 1286 until her death...
as she was called, the heiress of the Scottish Crown.
Her unhappy death renewed the contest between Bruce and Balliol, and when it was proposed that the King of England should arbitrate, Menteith was one of those named by Bruce as his commissioners. He was present at Norham
Norham
Norham is a village in Northumberland, England, just south of the River Tweed and the border with Scotland.It is the site of the 12th century Norham Castle, and was for many years the centre for the Norhamshire exclave of County Durham...
on 20 November 1292 when the new king John Balliol
John of Scotland
John Balliol , known to the Scots as Toom Tabard , was King of Scots from 1292 to 1296.-Early life:Little of John's early life is known. He was born between 1248 and 1250 at an unknown location, possibilities include Galloway, Picardy and Barnard Castle, County Durham...
swore fealty to Edward I of England
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
. This is the last certain record of him, as although letters were addressed by the English King to Walter Stewart, Earl of Menteith, on 29 June 1294, it is not clear that he was then alive. He may even have been dead by 10 February 1293, when Balliol's Parliament directed the lands of Knapdale belonging to the Earl to be incorporated in the sheriffdom of Lorn
Lorn
Lorn may refer to:* John Lorn McDougall , Ontario businessman and political figure* John Lorn McDougall, Sr. , businessman and political figure in Canada West* Lorn, New South Wales, Australia...
under Alexander of Argyll
Alexander of Argyll
Alexander of Argyll or Alexander of Lorne, also known as Alexander MacDougall , was a Scottish magnate from the late 13th and early 14th century, and was chief of Clan MacDougall. Alexander was the son of Ewen MacDougall, Lord of Argyll...
.
The Countess Mary predeceased her husband, but at what date is not certain. Their tombstone is preserved in the Priory of Inchmahome
Inchmahome Priory
Inchmahome Priory is situated on Inchmahome , the largest of three islands in the centre of Lake of Menteith, close to Aberfoyle, Scotland....
, bearing the effigies of husband and wife, the former bearing on his shield the Stewart fess chequy
Fess
In heraldry, a fess or fesse is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third...
with a label of five points, a device which also appears on his seal of arms in the Public Record Office
Public Record Office
The Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the three organisations that make up the National Archives...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. They had issue two sons named together by their father in a charter :
- Alexander, Earl of MenteithAlexander, Earl of MenteithAlexander of Menteith , son of Mary I, Countess of Menteith and Walter Bailloch Stewart, her husband, was a Mormaer or Earl of Menteith for most of the 1290s. He is first noted with his brother John de Menteith in a compact between Bruce and the Stewarts on 20 September 1286, at Turnberry, Carrick...
, who succeeded to the earldom. - Sir John de MenteithJohn de MenteithSir John de Menteith was a Scottish nobleman.He was born to Mary, Countess of Menteith and her husband Walter "Bailloch" Stewart, Earl of Menteith jure uxoris. He and his older brother, Alexander, Earl of Menteith, replaced their paternal Stewart surname in favour of Menteith, which earned him the...
, who has achieved an unenviable notoriety as the taker or betrayer of Sir William WallaceWilliam WallaceSir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....
.