Malcolm, 5th Earl of Lennox

Coat of arms of the Earls of Lennox

Malcolm, 5th Earl of Lennox ( Scottish Gaelic Máel Coluim II, Earl of Lennox ) († July 19, 1333 near Berwick ) was a Scottish magnate . He is considered to be the first member of the Lennox family who achieved greater political importance.

origin

Malcolm Lennox came from the Lennox family who had been the leading noble family in the southwestern Highlands since the 12th century and named themselves after the Lennox region . He was a son of his father of the same name, Malcolm, 4th Earl of Lennox . After his death, he probably inherited his possessions and the title of Earl of Lennox at the beginning of the 1290s .

Role during the contest for the throne and in the war against England until 1304

During the contest for the succession to the throne after the death of King Alexander III. he supported the claims of Robert de Brus . He supported Brus' claim to the throne in the process called Great Cause, which lasted from 1291 to 1292 and in which John Balliol was finally appointed the new king. During the First Scottish War of Independence , he pretended to be on the side of the English before the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 . Together with James Stewart , he ostensibly negotiated with the Scots and thus delayed the English advance over the bridge. After the British had fled, he had their luggage carts attacked. The next year he took part in the Battle of Falkirk , in which the Scots suffered a heavy defeat. Due to the hopeless military situation, he surrendered to the English king at the beginning of 1304, like most other nobles.

Important supporter of Robert Bruce

When Robert Bruce openly rebelled against the English king in early 1306, Lennox immediately supported him. Lennox attended Bruce's coronation on March 25, 1306 as one of three Earls. Like Bruce's other allies, however, Lennox suffered severe setbacks in the war against the English over the next several months . The English King Edward I declared his title forfeited and gave it to Sir John Menteith , the leading English supporter on the Firth of Clyde . After the Scottish defeats in the battles of Methven and Dalry in the summer of 1306, Lennox was a refugee who allegedly only barely escaped pursuit by the English in a boat across the Firth of Clyde. However, he remained one of Bruce's most important allies and was instrumental in helping Bruce's escape through Lennox to western Scotland and on to the Hebrides or Ireland. The people of Lennox were loyal to their earl. But when Robert I was able to gradually push back the English after the death of Edward I in 1307, Lennox also got his possessions back. He took part in the campaigns of Robert I in western Scotland in 1308 and sealed with the letter of the Scottish nobles to the French king, which they wrote during the first parliament of Robert I in March 1309. In 1314 he took part in the Battle of Bannockburn . In the next few years he often witnessed royal documents and 1320 the declaration of Arbroath to Pope John XXII.

Reward from Robert I, support from David II, and death

Robert I rewarded Lennox with a number of tokens of favor, but not particularly richly. He received part of the confiscated estates from David Strathbogie, 10th Earl of Atholl in Banffshire . In early November 1309 he became the hereditary sheriff of Clackmannan and finally in 1321 sheriff and commander of Dumbarton Castle , the most important castle in Lennox. After the death of Robert I in 1329, Lennox loyally supported the succession to the throne from his underage son David II. During the Second Scottish War of Independence , he fell in 1333 at the Battle of Halidon Hill .

Marriage and offspring

Lennox had a Margaret married, supposedly a sister of the Earl of Mar was. With her he had at least one son who became his heir:

• Donald, 6th Earl of Lennox († between 1361 and 1364)

Web links

• SI Boardman: Malcolm Lennox fifth earl of Lennox (d. 1333). 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

Individual evidence

1. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 69.
2. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 34.
3. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, pp. 124-125.
4. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 143n.
5. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 187.
6. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 213.
7. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 232.
8. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , pp. 140.
9. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 66, n3.
10. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 103.
11. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 137.

predecessor	Office	successor
Malcolm	Earl of Lennox 1290s – 1333	Donald