Agnes de Graham, wife of John de Monfode
John P. Ravilious
Hello All,
In prior posts concerning Sir John de Douglas and his wife
Agnes de Graham (parents of the noted Sir James Douglas of
Dalkeith), it was noted that most accounts of the family including
that in Scots Peerage hold that Sir John's wife was Agnes, widow of
John de Monfode.
Two charters in the Registrum Honoris de Morton provide proof
of the placement of Agnes, wife of John de Monfode, as a daughter of
Sir Nicholas de Graham and Mary of Strathearn. The first,
identified as 'Carta de Hawthornsike', is a grant of the lands of
'Hawthornesyk' in the barony of Abercorn to Agnes de Monfode by
John de Graham, lord of Abercorn, dated at Lochleven, 5 Aug
1340 [1]. As John de Graham of Abercorn and Dalkeith, son of Sir
Nicholas, had died on 25 April 1337 [2], the John de Graham of the
1340 charter is clearly his son and heir.
The past difficulty (at least in part), and the correct
identification is based primarily on the language of this charter.
The editor rendered the text as a grant by John de Graham to ' my
dear friend, lady Agnes de Munfode ' [" dil'ce amice mee d'ne
Agneti de munfode "]. The word "amice" was an apparent error in
the transcription of the charter, which I confirmed today with
Andrew B. W. MacEwen. The word actually is "amite": the correct
translation of the text would then read as a grant to
'my dear aunt, lady Agnes de Munfode'.
That Agnes was a sister of the elder Sir John de Graham (and
daughter of Sir Nicholas), and not his sister-in-law, is indicated
by the word "amite", indicating that she was a paternal aunt
[nominative form "amita"]. A subsequent charter confirms this: a
subsequent grant of the lands of 'Hawthornsike' by William Mure of
Abercorn, dated 5 April 1361 mentions 'lady Agnes de Montfode,
relict of the deceased John de Montfode ' ["d'ne Agnetis de
montfode relicte quond' Joh'is de montfode"] [3]. Her name was de
Monfode, but (obviously) by marriage.
That Agnes, wife of Sir John de Douglas, was a niece of Agnes
(de Graham) de Monfode and not identical to her, is further
supported on chronological grounds. Sir John de Graham (son of Sir
Nicholas and his wife Mary of Strathearn) was born before 19 May
1278: an inquisition of 19 May 1306, concerning the Muschamp
inheritance, found that he was 28 years of age [possibly phrased as
'28 years and more'] [4]. Agnes de Graham had a dispensation for
her marriage to Sir John de Douglas in October 1344 [5], by which
date she had issue and evidently continued producing offspring
after that date (they had a total of 9 sons and daughters that
are known). Assuming a minimal range of 15 years to produce 9
offspring, from say 1335/1340 to 1350/1355, Agnes would reasonably
be assumed to have been born between say 1290 and 1320, but
probably no earlier than between say 1295 to 1300. Mary of
Strathearn was born sometime before 20 March 1248/9, as an IPM
dated 20 March 1254/5 found that she was aged 6 [presumably,
'6 and more'] [6]. The latest point at which we might assume a
child to have been born to Mary of Strathearn by Nicholas de
Graham would have been between say 1288 and 1294. It would be
an extreme stretch to place Agnes, wife of Sir John de Douglas,
as a daughter of Mary of Strathearn given these constraints.
The following is a chart previously posted, but modified to
reflect Agnes (de Graham) de Monfode and her position as one of
the Grahams of Dalkeith and Abercorn.
Sir Nicholas = Mary of Strathearn
de Graham I <coheiress of her mother>
d. 1306 I
__________I_________________________
I I
Sir John de Graham = Isabella Agnes = John de
d. 25 Apr 1337 I Monfode
_____I______________
I I
Sir John de = Agnes de John de Graham
Douglas I Graham <grantor of charter to 'aunt Agnes'
d bef 25 I
Jan 1349/50 I
I
__________I_________________________________________
I I I I I III
Sir James William John Sir Henry Nicholas <siblings>
of Dalkeith of Lugton
= 1) Agnes of I
Dunbar V
I
__I______________________________________________
I I I I I
Agnes James William Janet Jacoba
= Sir John of Dalkeith = Sir John
Livingston d. 1441 Hamilton
I I I
V V V
Cheers,
John *
NOTES
[1] Registrum Honoris de Morton II:40-41.
[2] Sanders, English Baronies, p. 101; SP VI:195.
[3] Registrum Honoris de Morton II:60.
[4] SP VI:195, cites Cal. Doc. Scot., iii. 392.
[5] Bliss, Calendar of Papal Letters III:165:
" 1344.
4 Id. Oct. To the bishop of St. Andrews. Faculty to
Avignon. grant dispensation to John de Duglas, knight,
(f. 140d.) and Agnes de Grame to intermarry, they having
lived together and had offspring, notwithstanding
the assertion made that Agnes was aunt of a woman
with whom John had cohabited, Agnes being
ignorant of the said impediment. A penance is to
be enjoined on John, and two chaplaincies of 10
marks each are to be founded within two years.
Their past and future offspring is to be
declared legitimate.
[Cal. Pet. i.79; Theiner, 282.] "
[6] SP VIII:247.
* John P. Ravilious
John P. Ravilious
20 January, 2014
Hello All,
In prior threads it was noted that Sir John de Douglas’ wife Agnes had been identified as Agnes de Graham in a dispensation dated 12 Oct 1344. It was asserted that she was likely a daughter of Sir John de Graham of Abercorn based on known grants of land, onomastics and other evidence, but no proof of the relationship was then known. It was also assumed, given that there appeared to have been two individuals identified as John de Graham of Abercorn, that they were father and son, and that the oft-mentioned Agnes de Monfode was the aunt of the younger, and sister of the elder John de Graham [1].
Evidence has been noted courtesy of the National Records of Scotland that, together with charters in the Registrum Honoris de Morton, prove that Agnes de Graham (John de Douglas’ wife) was in fact the same individual as Agnes, widow of Sir John de Monfode of Skirling, Peeblesshire (adjoining the parish of Kilbucho). By her first marriage, Agnes had a daughter Margaret de Monfode: Margaret married firstly Alexander Cockburn, by whom she had two sons, William de Cockburn of Skirling, and Edward, and a daughter Agnes. She married secondly William de Cragy, by whom she had a son John (dsp before 14 April 1377) and a daughter Margaret. Margaret de Cragy, sister and heir of John, granted a charter dated at Dalkeith, 14 April 1377, resigning her lands of Ardlory in Kinross, for which act she appointed “my dear uncle lord William de Douglas, knight, my attorney, procurator and special messenger” [2]. The fact that this grant was made at Dalkeith would indicate that Sir William de Douglas, younger brother of Sir James of Dalkeith (d. 1420) was the uncle of Margaret de Cragy. Given the Cragy descent from Sir John de Monfode and his wife Agnes, this would clearly imply that Agnes ‘de Monfode’ was the same individual as Agnes de Graham, the wife of Sir John de Douglas, and that Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith and his brother William were younger half-brothers of Margaret de Monfode, mother of Margaret de Cragy.
The implication of the Cragy-Douglas relationship has been confirmed by a group of charters of the Carmichael family of Skirling, made available through the NRS website. In particular, one charter of John de Cragy (Margaret’s brother) dated “c. 1370” was witnessed by (among others) “ Sir James of Douglas, lord of Dalketh, and Sir Henry of Douglas, brothers, uncles of the granter “ [3].
Given this proof of Agnes de Graham’s marital history, and that she was aunt of the last John de Graham of Abercorn [4], it is evident that there were 3, not 2, John Grahams of Abercorn. Chronology indicates that Agnes, the mother of Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith (b. say 1330/35) and his many siblings, could not have been the daughter of Sir Nicholas de Graham and his wife Mary of Strathearn (born before 20 March 1248/9). Agnes then must have been the daughter of their son the first John de Graham of Abercorn, who was born before 28 May 1278 [5]. Agnes therefore had a brother, the father of John de Graham, her nephew, who granted the lands of Hawthornsyke to her in 1340. This was most likely the John Graham who died on 25 April 1337 [6], previously thought to have been one and the same with the first John Graham of Abercorn.
Sir Nicholas = Mary of Strathearn
de Graham I <coheiress of her mother>
I
Sir John de Graham
d. aft 31 Dec 1321
I
_____I_________________________
I I
1) John = Agnes de = 2) John de John
de Monfode I Graham I Douglas de Graham
d. bef Oct I (“Monfode”) I____________ of Abercorn
1344 I d. aft 5 I d. 25 Apr 1337
I Apr 1361 I = Isabella
I ______________I___ I
= 1) Alexander Douglas Graham
I de Cockburn of <grantor to
I = 2) William Dalkeith ‘aunt Agnes’
I I de Cragy d. 1420 5 Aug 1340>
I I
I I_______________________________
I___________ I
_____I__________ ___I________
de Cockburn de Cragy = (1)John Stewart
of Skirling (dsp bef I of Ochiltree
I 14 Apr 1377) I = (2) Herbert
I __I Maxwell
I I
Alexander Cockburn Alexander Stewart
Notes
[1] J. Ravilious, Agnes de Graham, wife of John de Monfode, SGM, 16 Nov 2006.
[2] “… fecisse constituisse et ordinasse carissimum avunculum meum Dominum Willelmum de Douglas militem actornatum meum procuratorem et nuncium specialem…” [Registrum Honoris de Morton, vol. II, pp. 121-2, no. 148]
[3] Several of the early charters provided in this collection
are pertinent. The text of the charter referenced above,
courtesy of the National Records of Scotland:
“ Confirmation by John of Cragy of the gifts made by John, son of Ralph, and Margaret, his spouse, daughter of deceased John, son of Adam of Scralyne, and by John of Bellyngdene and Christian, his spouse, daughter of said deceased John, to Andrew, son of John, of his lands in the barony of Scralyne in the sheriffdom of Peebles. [c.1370]
Witnesses: Sir James of Douglas, lord of Dalketh, and Sir Henry of Douglas, brothers, uncles of the granter, Alexander of Cokburne, Robert of Levyngstoun, lord of Drumry, Nicholas of Douglas.”
NRS, Papers of the Carmichael Family of Skirling, GD89/1/2.
[4] Cf. discussion in the prior SGM thread, cited in note [1] above. The text of the charter can be found in Registrum Honoris de Morton, vol. II, pp. 40-41, no. 54.
[5] An inquisition of 19 May 1306 concerning the Muschamp inheritance found that John Graham, son of Sir Nicholas de Graham and Mary of Strathearn, was 28 years of age (likely “28 years and more”) on that date [Bain, Cal. Docs. Scotland, vol. II, p 476, no. 1770].
[6] Bain, Cal. Docs. Scotland, vol. III, p. 382.
John P. Ravilious
=============
Hello All,
The chart shown in the prior post can be read using a fixed font (the original was in Courier). Should anyone wish a .pdf of the post, together with the chart and the pertinent charters from the NRS website, please advise via email (spelled out below for anti-spam purposes).
Cheers,
John
therav3[at]aol[dot]com