John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (nobleman, † around 1302)

The seal of John Comyn attached to a document dating from 1278.

Sir John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (also John Comyn the Competitor or Red Comyn ) († around 1302 in Lochindorb Castle ) was a Scottish magnate . From 1290 he was a candidate for the Scottish throne .

Origin and heritage

John Comyn came from the Scottish Comyn clan , the most influential Scottish noble family of the 13th century. He was the eldest son of John Comyn and his first wife Eva . He married Eleanor (also Marjory ) between 1270 and 1275 , a sister of John Balliol . Through the marriage he also became a brother-in-law of Alexander MacDougall, Lord of Argyll († 1310), with which he established a powerful alliance between the Comyns and the MacDougalls in northern Scotland. After his father's death around 1277, he became head of the Comyn of Badenoch family , the main line of the Comyn family. His extensive land holdings included Badenoch and Lochaber with Ruthven , Lochindorb and Inverlochy Castle , as well as possessions in Atholl , where he possibly also owned Blair Castle . Other possessions belonged to him in Bedrule and Scraesburgh in Roxburghshire , Dalswinton and Dalswinton Castle in Dumfriesshire , Findogask and Ochtertyre in Perthshire and Machan in the Clyde valley . After the death of his younger brother William around 1290, he also inherited his estates Lenzie and Kirkintilloch in Dunbartonshire . To do this, he administered the royal castles Jedburgh and Clunie Castle . In addition to his possessions in Scotland, Comyn also owned extensive land holdings in England, including Tarset and Thornton in Tynedale in Northumberland and Ulseby in Lincolnshire . It used to be mistakenly called Black Comyn , but it was known to contemporaries as Red Comyn , the name usually used for the head of the Comyn family.

Magnate during the reign of Alexander III.

1270 Comyn was by King Alexander III. the defeated knight . In 1276 he was part of the royal suite in Selkirk . In 1281 he was one of the nobles who swore in Roxburgh to keep the marriage contract between the king's daughter Margarete and the Norwegian king Erik II . After the death of Alexander , the only son of Alexander III., He swore in 1284 to recognize the right of succession to the throne of Margaret of Norway , the daughter of Margaret and Erik II. After Alexander III. Having died in 1286, Comyn was elected one of the six Guardians of Scotland to rule Margaret. As a Guardian he was active between 1287 and 1291 mainly in Edinburgh , but also in Roxburgh, Haddington , Stirling , Perth and Berwick . On behalf of the Guardians he negotiated from autumn 1289 together with Robert de Brus and the Bishops William Fraser of St Andrews and Robert Wishart of Glasgow with English envoys about the crossing of Margaret from Norway to England and about the marriage of Margaret to the English heir apparent Edward . He then belonged to the barons and prelates who in July 1290 testified to the result of these negotiations, the Treaty of Birgham . After his great-uncle Alexander Comyn, 6th Earl of Buchan died in 1289, Comyn became one of the four remaining Guardians to lead the followers of the Comyn family. In 1290 he informed the English King Edward I that Margaret of Norway had reached the Orkney Islands .

Contender for the Scottish throne

However, the young heir to the throne Margarete died in October 1290 in the Orkney Islands, whereupon Comyn, a descendant of a Scottish king, was one of the thirteen men who had claims to the Scottish throne after the direct line of the Scottish royal family died out . However, he had lower demands than his brother-in-law John Balliol and than Robert V de Brus . Comyn, on the other hand, was only a descendant of King Donald III. who probably died in 1099. His granddaughter Hextilda had married a Richard Comyn († 1178) and was the great-great-grandmother of John Comyn. Therefore he put his claims back and supported his brother-in-law Balliol. A commission of over a hundred under the chairmanship of the English King Edward I was to decide on the claims of the thirteen aspirants to the throne . As one of the most promising candidates, Balliol was able to name forty members of the commission, whereupon he nominated numerous members of the Comyn family and their allies. This led to the fact that in 1290 or 1291 seven Scottish earls, together with Bishop William Fraser of St Andrews, accused Comyn in a statement of wanting to make Balliol king in a coup. Finally, on November 17, 1291, the commission decided that John Balliol had the most legitimate claims to the Scottish throne, whereupon Balliol was crowned king a little later.

Role during the reign of John Balliol and during the war with England

During the reign of Balliol, Comyn played a crucial role in Scottish politics. When Balliol was under strong domestic and foreign political pressure in 1295, Comyn was a member of the twelve-member State Council, which in fact took over government. He was a member of the delegation that traveled to France in 1295 and negotiated an alliance with the French king until 1296 . When John Balliol rejected the English king's claim to supremacy over Scotland, open war broke out between England and Scotland . Thereupon the English king had Comyn's possessions in England confiscated. After the Scottish defeat in the Battle of Dunbar , Comyn surrendered to the English king in Montrose in July 1296 . Edward I sent him and his family into exile, which Comyn spent in Geddington , an estate of the English king in Northamptonshire . During his exile, he was allowed to hunt for foxes, rabbits and wild cats in the royal woods.

Return to Scotland, support the resistance against the English and death

When there was a revolt against the English occupation in Scotland under William Wallace in 1297 , Edward I sent Comyn back to Scotland to restore English supremacy. He was supposed to support the English governor Brian Fitzalan , put down rebellions in Moray and, above all, defend the important Roxburgh Castle . Apparently Comyn changed sides shortly afterwards and joined the Scottish resistance, possibly because the English king had again confiscated his northern English possessions at the end of 1297. Presumably Comyn provided knights and other horsemen who participated in the Battle of Falkirk in 1298 . The Scottish cavalry allegedly fled the battlefield in the face of English superiority, but there were allegations that the Comyns betrayed the Scottish Guardian William Wallace. Comyn was now possibly sick, too old or fallen into disrepute on charges of treason, because after the defeat of Falkirk it was not he, but his son of the same name, John Comyn the Younger, who became together with Robert Bruce Guardian of Scotland. He did not play a major role until his death.

progeny

Comyn had several children with his wife, Eleanor Balliol, including:

• John Comyn († 1306) ⚭ Joan de Valence
• Euphemia Comyn ⚭ Andrew Moray of Petty
• second daughter not known by name ⚭ William Galbraith

Comyn had made donations to Inchaffray , Cambuskenneth, and Coupar Angus Abbey . His son John became his heir.

Web links

• Alan Young: Comyn, Sir John [called Sir John Comyn the Competitor, Red Comyn], lord of Badenoch (dc 1302). 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
• John Comyn on thepeerage.com , accessed June 22, 2019.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I and the Maid of Norway . In: Scottish Historical Review , 69 (1990), p. 166.

predecessor	Office	successor
John Comyn	Lord of Badenoch 1277-1302	John Comyn
no direct predecessors	Guardian of Scotland 1286–1292 Co-regents: Alexander Comyn (1286–1289), William Fraser , Robert Wishart , James Stewart , Duncan of Fife	Bryan FitzAlan