Domhnall, 8th Earl of Mar

Domhnall, 8th Earl of Mar ( Anglicized also Donald , * 1293 , † 11. August 1332 at Scone ) was a Scottish magnate , Guardian of Scotland and the military at the beginning of the Second Scottish War of Independence .

origin

Domhnall son of Gartnait, 7th Earl of Mar . His mother was believed to be Christian Bruce , a sister of the future King Robert the Bruce , but it is likely that she was another member of the Brus family whose first name is unknown. His father died around 1302, so the minor Domhnall the heir to his possessions and the title Earl of Mar was.

youth

When Robert the Bruce, who at that time was still Earl of Carrick , submitted to the English King Edward I during the war with England in 1302 , he made the condition that the king grant him the guardianship and the right to marry his nephew Domhnall . Bruce had married Isabel , a sister of Domhnall's late father Gartnait. In 1305 the young Domhnall was made Earl of Mar. In 1306 Bruce rebelled again against the English king and was enthroned as Robert I as King of Scots in April. As Bruce's ward, Mar attended the ceremony in Scone . A few months later, around September 10th, young Mar was captured by the English during the capture of Kildrummy Castle , the center of his possessions. Edward I had the prisoner taken to Bristol Castle , and it was only thanks to his youth that he was not chained. Ultimately he became a page in the household of Edward II , who had become the new King of England after the death of his father in July 1307. Through this service, Mar gained a close relationship with the English king.

Living in England

After the English defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Earl of Mar was to be exchanged for English prisoners. However, when he reached Newcastle on his way to Scotland , he decided to stay in the country where he grew up rather than the country where he was born and stayed in England. This change of sides had consequences in the long-running dispute over the legal succession to the Scottish throne. Robert I claimed the throne as the closest relative of David, Earl of Huntingdon , as he was a descendant of his second daughter Isabel . Should Earl Domhnall actually be the son of an older sister of Robert I, then he could claim the throne as the next descendant of the Earl of Huntingdon after the death of the king. Even if, according to the opinion of the time, Marjorie , the daughter of Robert I, or his brother Edward had stronger claims, Earl Domhnall's claim was also significant. In 1315, the hitherto childless Robert I therefore appointed his brother Edward and his descendants, then the possible children of his daughter Marjorie as heirs. Marjorie married Walter Stewart a little later . Because of his relatives, Domhnall was likely in contact with Robert around this time. I. and possibly even took part in Scottish parliaments , for which he was granted safe conduct.

Mar rose in England through his loyalty high in the favor of Edward II, who made him numerous land donations. In 1320 Domhnall accompanied the king on his visit to France. In 1321 Mar declared that he wanted to make a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela , but during the rebellion of the Earl of Lancaster , Domhnall was a member of the royal army that decisively defeated the rebels in March 1322 at the Battle of Boroughbridge . In October 1322 he was also a member of the English army, which was defeated by the Scots in the battle of Byland . Edward II rewarded his loyalty with command of Bristol Castle. When the king fled to the west of England after Queen Isabel's invasion in 1326, Mar accompanied the king and took part in the unsuccessful defense of Bristol in November .

Moved to Scotland

After the fall of Edward II, Mar returned to Scotland, mainly to seek support for the reinstatement of the deposed king. King Robert I received his nephew personally, gave him back his possessions, restored his title and even appointed him commander of one of the three battalions with which the Scots invaded England in 1327 . The efforts of Mar to rescue Edward II were unsuccessful, because he was probably murdered in captivity in September 1327. In March 1328 Mar testified with the peace with England. Mar is said to have maintained his contacts with England, including the Earl of Kent , who was executed in early 1330 as a conspirator against the reign of Isabel and Roger Mortimer . Mar is even said to have visited Edward Balliol , the son of the Scottish King John Balliol, who was deposed in 1296 , after he returned to England in 1331 from his French exile.

Guardian of Scotland

Despite these contacts to England, Domhnall stayed in Scotland after the death of Robert I in 1329 and supported Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray , who led the reign as the Guardian of Scotland instead of the underage David II . It was thanks to Domhnall's relationship with the Brus family that after the death of the Earl of Moray on August 2, 1332, during a parliament in Perth, he was unanimously elected as the new Guardian of Scotland. But when Edward Balliol landed a little later with a small army of the so-called disinherited in Scotland to conquer the throne, Domhnall was suspected of secretly sympathizing with Balliol and the disinherited. To ward off the disinherited, Domhnall raised two armies, one on the north bank and the other on the south bank of the Firth of Forth awaiting the disinherited landings. He himself commanded the army on the north bank, where the disinherited landed in early August. When his army faced the Army of the Disinherited on August 11, Robert the Bruce of Liddesdale , the illegitimate son of Robert I, openly accused Domhnall of being in league with the enemy. This dispute had disastrous results. To prove his patriotism, Domhnall declared that at the head of his army he would attack the disinherited. As a result, there was an uncoordinated attack on the outnumbered disinherited. The Scottish Army suffered a complete defeat at the Battle of Dupplin Moor . Domhnall was among the numerous victims of the battle.

Marriage, offspring, and inheritance

Domhnall had married Isabel Stewart around 1328 , who was believed to be the daughter of Sir Alexander Stewart of Bonkill . With her he had a son and at least one daughter:

• Thomas, 9th Earl of Mar (around 1330-1377)
• Margaret, 10th Countess of Mar ⚭ William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas

It is possible that around 1315 he had a relationship with a member of the Balliol family and with her an illegitimate son, Thomas . His widow married Geoffrey Mowbray for the second time . Domhnall's heir became his son Thomas. After the childless death of Thomas in 1377, Domhnall's daughter Margaret inherited the title.

literature

• John Anderson: Donald, Earl of Mar . In: James Balfour Paul (Ed.): The Scots Peerage . tape 5 : Innermeath-Mar . David Douglas, Edinburgh 1908, p. 581–583 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Peter Traquair, Freedom's Sword: Scotland's Wars of Independence. Roberts Rinehart Publishers: above, 1998. ISBN 978-1-57098-247-7 .

Web links

• Donald, 8th Earl of Mar on thepeerage.com , accessed September 10, 2016.
• Fiona Watson: Donald, eighth earl of Mar (1293-1332). 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
• Earls of Mar. fmg.ac, accessed September 1, 2014 . 

Remarks

1. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 173.
2. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 213.
3. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 103.
4. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 385.
5. ^ ^{A b} Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 201.
6. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 13.
7. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 275.
8. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 14.
9. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 26.
10. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 46.
11. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 365.
12. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 64.
13. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 73.
14. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 81.
15. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 82.
16. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 83.
17. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 87.

predecessor	Office	successor
Gartnait	Earl of Mar 1305-1332	Thomas
Thomas Randolph	Guardian of Scotland 2. – 11. August 1332	Andrew Murray