The Ancestry of Mary Abernethy: a Menteith Connection ?
The...@aol.com
Hello All,
In a recent thread on SGM [1] I reviewed the 1346 dispensation
for the marriage of Sir James de Lindsay, Lord of Crawford (d. bef
11 Nov 1358) and his wife Egidia Stewart, daughter of Walter the
Stewart and half-sister to King Robert II. As I noted then, the
account in SP states,
' A papal dispensation for this marriage was granted at
Avignon 3 Ides of April 1346, which describes the
spouses as within the third and fourth degree on the
father's side, and in the fourth degree on the mother's.
A strong inference thus arises that Sir James' grandmother,
wife of Sir Alexander, was daughter to the Steward.' [2]
In that thread, I showed why the traditional view of a Stewart
descent for Sir James Lindsay on the paternal side was in error;
however, I noted that the alleged 4th degree (maternal) relationship
between Sir James Lindsay and Egidia Stewart still required further
study.
I have developed a hypothesis that provides a resolution for
this problem:
1. That Matilda, wife of Alexander, Earl of Menteith (d. 1306)
was the daughter (otherwise unidentified) of Malise, Earl of
Strathearn (d. bef 23 Nov 1271) by his 2nd wife Matilda of
Orkney (short of evidence here, but the chronology and
onomastics work); and,
2. That the wife of Sir Alexander Abernethy, and mother of his
daughters Mary (wife of David Lindsay - d. 1357 - mother of
the previous subject Sir James Lindsay) and Margaret (wife
of Sir John Stewart of Bonkil, later Earl of Angus),
unidentified in the SP account, was a daughter of the above
Alexander of Menteith and his wife Matilda of Strathearn.
No such daughters are identified in Strathearn or Menteith
sources I'm aware of; however, I note that Alexander, Earl of
Menteith was appointed guardian of the lands of Alexander de
Abernethy by King John (Baliol) in 1292 following the death of
his father [3]. For the Earl of Menteith to have married his
young ward to his own daughter would certainly have been typical
of the age.
If this pair of conjectures is correct (and I stress the
conjectural nature of this post), it would provide the answer
to several relationships hitherto unresolved. The conjectured
connections are denoted by broken lines [ _ _ _ _ ], or
conjectured individuals denoted by questionmarks (e.g.,
[of Strathearn ?]).
A. Sir James de Lindsay, Lord of Crawford and his wife Egidia
Stewart ["fourth degree on the mother's {side}."], discussed
above:
1) Marjorie = Malise, Earl of = 2) Matilda of
de Muschamp I Strathearn (d.ca.1271) I Orkney
I I_ _ _ _
I I
Sir Nicholas = Mary of Alexander = Matilda [of
Graham I Strathearn E of Menteith I Strathearn ?]
d. 1306 I d. 1322 d. ca. 1306 I _ _ _
I I
I I
Sir John Graham Sir Alexander Abernethy = NN [of
d. 1337 d. ca. 1316 I Menteith ?]
I I
I I
Walter = 2) Isabel David Lindsay = Mary Abernethy
Stewart I Graham of Crawford I
I_______________ _________I
I I
Egidia = Sir James Lindsay
B. David Lindsay of Crawford (d. bef 13 Oct 1357) and his wife
Mary Abernethy, parents of the above Sir James Lindsay [4].
The hypothetical descents shown include the theorized Stewart-
Lindsay descent from the prior referenced post, and the
conjectured Menteith-Strathearn descent for Abernethy
proposed above.
Walter le Steward = Beatrix of Angus
d. 1241 I
_______________________I_______
I I
Alexander le = Jean of Walter le Steward = Mary of
Steward I Bute Earl of Menteith I Menteith
_ _ _ I ___________________I
I I
NN = NN le Alexander = Matilda [of
I Steward E of Menteith I Strathearn ?]
I _ _ _ _ d. ca. 1306 I _ _ _
I I
I I
Sir Alexander = NN Sir Alexander Abernethy = NN [of
Lindsay I I Menteith ?]
I ____________I
I I
David Lindsay = Mary Abernethy
C. Sir John Stewart of Bonkil, Earl of Angus and his wife
Margaret Abernethy. Dispensation for their marriage was
issued at Avignon in October 1329: "Verum quia estis in
quarto consanguinitatis gradu conjuncti matrimonium..." [5].
Walter le Steward = Beatrix of Angus
d. 1241 I
_______________________I_______
I I
Alexander le = Jean of Walter le Steward = Mary of
Steward I Bute Earl of Menteith I Menteith
________________I ___________________I
I I
John le Steward = Margaret Alexander = Matilda [of
k. 1298 I of Bonkil E of Menteith I Strathearn ?]
___________I d. ca. 1306 I _ _ _
I I
I I
Sir Alexander = NN Sir Alexander Abernethy = NN [of
Stewart of I I Menteith ?]
Bonkil I ____________I
I I
Sir John Stewart = Margaret Abernethy
Earl of Angus
The foregoing, if validated, would impact the ancestry of the
subsequent Lindsays, Earls of Crawford and of the Stewart and
Douglas Earls of Angus, and thereby of the ancestry of a
goodly number of individuals. This would also include the earlier
generations of the ancestry of King Charles II (the current project
of Neil Thompson and Charles M. Hansen). If direct evidence can be
found to support (or supplant) the identifications conjectured
above, other unknown relationships may well be resolved.
Any relevant documentation (pro or con), comment or criticism
of the foregoing is welcome.
Cheers,
John *
NOTES
[1] <SP Correction: Sir James de Lindsay and Egidia Stewart>, SGM,
11 June 2002.
[2] The Scots Peerage, Sir James Balfour Paul, ed. Vol III
(Lindsay, Earl of Crawford), p. 11, citing Papal Letters,
iii. 225.
[3] Red Book of Mentieth I:79.
[4] SP III:10, sub Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, which recites
of David Lindsay,
'He married Maria Abernethy,...., the dispensation for which
marriage was granted on 28 Nov 1324, on the narrative that
she and her previous husband [Andrew Leslie] were both
related in the fourth degree to David de Lindsay of the
diocese of Glasgow.' [cites Papal Letters, ii. 241.]
[5] The dispensation for this marriage is given by A. Stuart,
Genealogical History of the Stewarts (London: Printed for
A. Strahan, and T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies, in the Strand,
1798), pp. 430-1.
* John P. Ravilious
Gryphon801
into these possibilities - as you say, several questions would be answered if
your proposal is correct.