Dervorguilla de Balliol

Seal of Dervorguilla de Balliol

Dervorguilla de Balliol, Lady of Galloway (also Devorguilla or Devorguilla of Galloway ) (* after 1209 - January 28, 1290 ) was a Scottish noblewoman.

origin

Dervorguilla was the second daughter of the Scottish magnate Alan, Lord of Galloway from his second marriage to Margaret , whom he had married in 1209. It probably got its Gaelic name after an Irish ancestor of her father, possibly after one of his aunts.

Marriage and inheritance

In 1233, at least five years after her mother's death, Dervorguilla married the northern English nobleman John de Balliol . After the death of her father in February 1234, she and her two sisters became the heir to the Scottish rule of Galloway . The sisters ignored the claims of their half-brother Thomas of Galloway , an illegitimate son of their father, whom they imprisoned in Barnard Castle . After the death of her uncle John, Earl of Huntingdon , she and her sister Christina (also Christiana ) had inheritance claims through their mother to the Honor of Huntingdon and to other possessions, especially in east and north-east Scotland. Dervorguilla thus received another extensive inheritance, with various goods in eastern England as compensation for her renunciation of the Earldom Chester , which fell to the English crown. After the childless death of her sister Christina in 1246, she also inherited her share of the Huntingdon inheritance. Christina's share of her father's inheritance was shared with her older half-sister Helen , the wife of Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester . Dervorguilla probably received a larger and more lucrative portion of the inheritance than her half-sister. After the death of Helen ferch Llywelyn , widow of her uncle John, she inherited their Wittum in 1253 . Her husband's wealth was increased considerably through these inheritances. In the absence of specific information, Dervorguilla had an annual income of nearly £ 470 from her Scottish possessions alone.

The Devorgilla Bridge in Dumfries

Activity as a widow

After the death of her husband in 1268 she remained in possession of her inheritance, in addition she received a lifelong Wittum from her husband's possessions. As a rich widow, she is said to have founded monasteries in Dumfries, Scotland, and in Wigtown , and she sponsored other monasteries. In Dumfries , she is said to have financed the construction of a bridge over the River Nith , which was later named after her. However, the account of their benefits dates back to the 15th century and is considered exaggerated. What is certain, however, is her founding of the Cistercian monastery Dulce Cor (also Sweetheart Abbey ) in eastern Galloway, which she donated in 1273 in memory of her husband. She had her husband's bones transferred to the monastery, with the exception of his embalmed heart, which she kept in an ivory box. In addition, she made further foundations for the benefit of Balliol College in Oxford, which her husband had founded and whose statutes she issued.

Descendants and inheritance

With her husband, Dervorguilla had at least eight children, including four sons:

• Hugh de Balliol
• Alan de Balliol
• Alexander de Balliol
• John de Balliol

The names of their four daughters are not known, presumably their names were Margaret , Cecily , Ada and Eleanor . With the exception of her youngest son John, she survived all of her children. After her death, she was buried in her Sweetheart Abbey foundation.

Although she was only the third daughter from her father's second marriage, she was a great-granddaughter of the Scottish King David I through her mother . Since her mother Margaret was the eldest daughter of her father David of Huntingdon , Dervorguillas had son John in the Scottish succession dispute from 1290 onwards a stronger claim to the throne than Robert V de Brus , who was a son of Isabel, her mother's younger sister. Eventually their son John was declared King of Scotland in 1292.

literature

• Marjorie Drexler: Dervorguilla of Galloway . In: Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society , 3rd Series, 79 (2005), pp. 101-146

Web links

Commons : Dervorguilla of Galloway  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• GP Stell: Balliol, Dervorguilla de, lady of Galloway (d. 1290). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004