Thomas, Earl of Atholl

Thomas, Earl of Atholl (also Thomas of Galloway ) († 1231 ) was a Scottish magnate .

Origin and possessions

Thomas of Galloway was a younger son of Roland, Lord of Galloway and his wife Helen de Morville . He had an older brother, Alan , and two sisters. Of these, Ada married the Scottish nobleman Walter Bisset from Aboyne and Dervorguilla the English baron Nicholas de Stuteville († 1233) von Liddel .

Service to the English King

His father died in 1200, after which Thomas's brother Alan inherited most of his lands. Thomas received part of Galloway , although it is not known how extensive the property was. However, his possessions were enough to set up a fleet of long boats from 1204 to 1205 . Thomas rented this fleet to the English King John Ohneland , who wanted to use it for his campaign to Normandy , which was planned for 1205 but was then canceled . In 1206 the king then used the ships for his campaign to Poitou, in which Thomas probably took part. Before 1207 Thomas was then in the service of the English king in Ireland. Presumably for this support he received possessions in north and west England from Johann Ohneland. Probably between 1205 and 1209 Thomas committed rape or robbery in York . For this crime he was pardoned in 1212 at the request of the Scottish King William the Lion .

Service to the Scottish Crown and engagement in Ireland

Around 1209 Thomas returned to Scotland, whereupon he lost his English possessions again. Around 1209 Thomas married Isabella , heiress to Henry, 3rd Earl of Atholl . Through this marriage he acquired the title of Earl of Atholl . Possibly the wedding was one of the terms of the 1209 Treaty of Norham, which the Scottish king had to conclude with John Ohneland. It is possible that Thomas had also paid the English king money to stand up for the wedding. Thomas probably had to borrow the money from the monks of Coupar Angus Abbey . After Thomas acquired the possession of Atholl, he gave the monastery land in the county, presumably in repayment of its debts. On January 7, 1210, Thomas is first referred to as the Earl of Atholl. His sister-in-law, the younger daughter of Earl Henry of Atholl, contested Thomas's rights, but her appeal was rejected by the Scottish king.

As Earl of Atholl, Thomas had risen to become one of the empire's leading magnates and supported the king. Like his brother Alan, he also pursued his own goals, especially in Ireland. In 1211 Thomas was one of the leaders of the Scottish Army that put the Guthred Macwilliam Rebellion down in Ross . In 1212 Thomas led the first campaign against the Irish Lord Áed Ó Néill in Ulster , who was allied with the MacWilliams. This campaign to Ireland was followed by more, after which he built Coleraine Castle in 1214 . In 1212 or 1214 Thomas and King Ragnvald von Man plundered the Northern Irish Derry . These campaigns by Thomas in Ireland also served the English King John Ohneland, who initially gave him a small fief in Ulster. This fiefdom was expanded to a barony with the center Coleraine in June 1215 . In addition, Johann Ohneland gave him the management of Antrim Castle . With this token of favor, Johann Ohneland probably tried to win Thomas' support in his conflict with the English barons. However, there is no evidence that Thomas took part in the War of the Barons in England, which began a little later . In June 1219 Thomas made the new English King Henry III. Homage and swore allegiance to him, for which his Irish possessions were confirmed. However, in July 1222 he was ordered to surrender Antrim and before 1224 Coleraine Castle was destroyed by Ó Néill. The English crown tried to support Thomas so that he would support them against the growing influence of Hugh de Lacy in Ulster. He had lost his possessions under Johann Ohneland and is now recapturing them. Thomas received money and land in Ireland from the English government, which he was allowed to keep until Coleraine was retaken. When the English government was able to come to an agreement with Hugh de Lacy in 1226, it apparently tried in vain to get Thomas back his Irish possessions.

Supporting his brother in the fight for Man

Thomas was unable to defend his Irish possessions at the beginning of the 1220s, because at the same time he and his brother were involved in the power struggle between Ragnvald von Man and his half-brother Olaf over the Isle of Man . In 1221 Thomas's fleet destroyed an Olaf's fleet off the Irish coast. Then his troops defeated the Irish Lord Diarmait Ó Conchobhair , who claimed the crown of Connacht against an ally of the English king . When Ragnvald was driven out by Olaf von Man in 1226, he asked Thomas and Alan of Galloway for assistance. In 1228 Thomas supported his brother Alan when he landed on Man to bring the exiled Ragnvald back to the throne. After the death of Ragnvald in 1229, Thomas withdrew from the conflict. Before July 1230 his ships were back in the service of the English king, who was campaigning in Brittany .

death

Thomas may have died after a tournament accident, because in 1252 Patrick , a knight in the service of the Earl of Dunbar and son of Constantine of Goswick , was named by King Henry III of England. pardoned for being responsible for the death of Thomas of Galloway. Thomas was buried in Coupar Angus Abbey.

Marriages and offspring

Before 1207 or 1208 Thomas had married a woman whose name was unknown and with whom he had a son. He had to hold this son hostage in England in 1213. He and his second wife, Isabella, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Atholl, had two sons, the younger of whom, Patrick , reached adulthood. He also had an illegitimate son named Alan . Another son of Thomas, Maduff was either the son of his first marriage or another illegitimate son. His heir became his son Patrick, who was still a minor when he died. Who took over the administration of Atholl when he was a minor is unknown. Thomas' widow Isabella survived him, she died before 1242.

Web links

• Richard D. Oram: Thomas [Thomas of Galloway], earl of Atholl (d. 1231). 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
• Thomas of Galloway on thepeerage.com , accessed June 14, 2019.

Individual evidence

1. ^ AAM Duncan: John King of England and the kings of Scots . In: SD Church: King John: new interpretations . Boydell, Woodbridge 1999, ISBN 0-85115-947-8 , p. 247.
2. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 543.
3. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 178.
4. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 412.
5. ↑ Michael Brown: The wars of Scotland, 1214-1371 . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2004, ISBN 0-7486-1237-8 , p. 76.
6. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 196.
7. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 529.
8. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 544.

predecessor	Office	successor
Henry	Earl of Atholl (de iure uxoris) around 1211-1231	Patrick