Clan Edmonstone
Clan Edmonstone is a Scottish clan which does not currently have a chief; therefore, it is considered an armigerous clan. However, Sir Archibald Bruce Charles Edmonstone, 17th of Duntreath is considered the Chieftain for the Edmonstones of Duntreath. It has been speculated that much, if not all, of the senior line of the Edmonstone Clan has died off. Most Edmonstones are believed to be descended from the Edmonstones of Duntreath.
Origins
Eric Anundsson or Eymundsson was a Swedish king who ruled during the 9th century. The Norse sagas describe him as successful in extending his realm over the Baltic Sea, but unsuccessful in his attempts of westward expansion.Queen consort of Scotland, Saint Margaret of Scotland "Margaret of Wessex" "The Pearl of Scotland", was born in exile in the Kingdom of Hungary. An English princess and a Scottish queen. Daughter of Edward the Exile. and granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, King of England.
After the Danish conquest of England in 1016, King Canute the Great had the infant son of Margaret; prince Edward of Scotland exiled to the continent. He was taken first to the court of the Swedish king, Olof Skötkonung his kinsman, and then to Kiev. As an adult, he travelled to Hungary, where in 1046 he supported the successful bid of King Andrew I for the Hungarian crown.
The naming of the Shire of Edinburgh
Edmundus or Admundus, a person of note in the lands of reigned of King David I "Dauid mac Mail Choluim" who reigned 1124 - 24 May 1153. who is witness to the charter granted by that prince of the lands of Riddel, Waltero de Riddle, militi, got from the same king lands in Laudonia, now the shire of Edinburgh, which, according to humour and custom of men calling their lands after their own name at the time, he called Admonston or Edmonston, and transmitted it as a surname of heraldry appellation to his descendants.Recorded in 1248 when Henricus de Edmundiston was witness to a charter. In 1359, in the reign of David II, an inquest before the Baillie of Musselburgh, declared that "Henricus de Edmundiston" had died and that "Johannes de Edmundiston" was his legitimate son and heir. It added that he held land of the Abbey of Dumfermline.
In 1352 John Edmonstone was appointed Coroner to the district of Lothian. In 1363 he joined the escort which accompanied David II to England to negotiate a truce. In 1367 and in 1369 passports were issued to Sir John Edmonstone and others, to travel to England on the King's behalf. The truce concluded at Edinburgh Castle, on 20 July 1369, was signed by John de Edmondiston and other nobles.
In 1372 Edmonstone he travelled to England with twelve men, and in 1373 was sent as part of an embassy to Rome granted £406-13s-4d for its expenses.
A charter of Robert II, dated 31 January 1374, authorized Sir John to travel as one of his ambassadors to France. They carried his instructions to intercede with Charles V to influence the Pope and Cardinals on behalf of Margaret Logie in a suit to be brought before the papal court. Also they demanded reparation for attacks by Norman pirates on Scots traders. In 1381 a passport was issued to John de Edmonstone with 16 men and 16 horses, to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, while another for the following year permitted their return.
Sir John must have been a man of substance. He was granted a charter of the lands and barony of Boyne, in Banff, by David II in 1369, and some lands near Haddington, East Lothian by Robert II. Also he seems to have been a trader. It is recorded that Richard II of England allowed him to take 200 quarters of malt with his own vessels from a port on the coast of Lincolnshire to any port he pleases in Scotland.
The date of his death, and likewise the identity of his wife, are unknown, but records show that he was succeeded by his eldest son, also named John. Also according to Sir Archibald Edmonstone, 3rd Bt., the Archibald, who founded the family of Duntreath was probably his younger son. John Edmonstone the younger was a courtier like his father. He married Isabel, or Isabella, daughter of Robert II and widow of James, 2nd Earl of Douglas and Mar. The estate of Edenham, or Ednam, in Roxburghshire, was granted to them by Robert 11 in 1390.
Sir John by this marriage had one son David. An "agreement by way of indenture", dated Perth, 7 April 1410, between Sir John Edmonstone of that ilk and Davy Edmonstone, his son and heir, with Patrick Earl of Strathearn... of the lands and barony of Tillyallan in Clackmannashire, proves their acquisition of this property.
Sir David, according to the Ednam pedigree, married Agnes, daughter of Robert Maitland of Thirlestane. He must have died in the prime of life for, in 1426, there is an inquest serving James Edmonstone as heir to this father.
In 1430 James Edmonstone, while still a boy, was amongst the sons of the nobility who were knighted by James I of Scotland at Holyroodhouse during the celebrations which followed the christening of the King's twin infant sons.
Sir James married firstly Isabella, daughter of Sir John Forester by whom he had a son named John. Secondly he married Janet, daughter of Sir Alexander Napier by whom he had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret. The estates of Tillyallan, and of Boyne, in Banffshire where divided between them thus went out of the family.
Sir James was succeeded in the patrimonial estates of Edmonstone and Ednam by his son John. Subsequently the Edmonstones, styled of "that ilk" and "of Edenham" continued to use Edmonstone in Midlothian as their main residence until it was sold in 1624.
The family then moved to Edenham, or Ednam, in Roxburghshire, but this estate was sold by James Edmondstoune, last male heir of the senior line of the family, who died unmarried in 1772. It then changed hands several times until bought in 1827 by the 1st Earl of Dudley who took Ednam as his second title.
Sir James Edmondstoune, prior to selling Ednam, had purchased the estate of Cora on the Clyde. His sisters lived there until the death of the last in 1826, when she was reputedly over a hundred years old.
Edmonstones of Duntreath
Duntreath is known to have been part of the Lennox by the mid 14th century. A charter, dated 9 February 1408, made by Donald Earl of Lennox, granted the lands of Duntreath to his brother Murdoch. The document states that Donaldus de Lefnax living at Catter, near Buchanan, confirmed Murdacho de Lefnax, his brother, in the land of "Dumgoyak cum reddyng una cum monte que vocatur Duntreth," and other lands of Blargin and of Dumfyn in the Lennox, for the heritable reddendo of a pair of white spurs yearly.The word "monte" is taken to refer to what used to be known as "the Court Hill," now Park Hill, which rises on the east side of the Blane Valley opposite to Dumgoyak. The top has been levelled, possibly for a fort, or a "mons placiti" or Moot Hill where courts of justice were held. The feudal privileges attached to Duntreath, indicate its importance.
The Edmonstones of Duntreath descend from Archibald, believed to have been the second son of the first Sir John Edmonstone, and therefore brother of the second John, who married Isabella, daughter of Robert II. Isabella's brother, also named Robert, became Robert III in 1390, but because of physical and mental debility, he was supplanted as ruler. His heir the Duke of Rothesay, and his brother, the Duke of Albany were given control of the government.
In 1398 Queen Anabella, wife of Robert III, "instituted a great hastitudium of twelve knights, of which the chief was David Duke of Rothesay, on the north of Edinburgh". Then in the following year the King accepted the challenge of Robert Morley, an English knight, that he would take a golden cup from his table unless prevented by a Scottish knight. Morley was defeated in this purpose by James Douglas of Strabnock. Mortified he rode south to Berwick, where he engaged in single combat on the same day with two Scottish knights, one Hugo Wallace and the other Archibald Edmonstone. The Englishman "got the worst of it" and Archibald Edmonstone may have received his knighthood in reward.
In 1406 King Robert III was a desperate man. His eldest son, David, Duke of Rothesay, had almost certainly been murdered with his brother Albany's connivance, and now his surviving son James, a boy of twelve years old, was all that stood between Albany and the throne. King Robert, to save James, secretly made arrangements for him to go to France. Leaving Rothesay Castle on Bute, supposedly for St Andrews, to continue his education at the College, he was taken instead to North Berwick, and rowed out to the Bass Rock. There he was joined by an escort of men his father could trust, amongst them Sir Archibald Edmonstone. At last, after a month, a merchant ship the Maryenknyght of Danzig, her master a Captain Bereholt, with a cargo of wool and hides, sailed down from Leith and took James and his retinue aboard. It seemed that they had escaped but, on 22 March, as she rounded Flamborough Head, the ship was captured by a band of pirates led by Hugh-atte-Fen. They sailed to London where a delighted Henry IV rewarded them with the ship's cargo. Prince James was sent to the Tower of London, but the English, unwilling to provide for Scottish prisoners, apparently released his escort.
Robert III died of shock on news of his son's capture, and Albany became Regent during the young King's captivity which lasted for eighteen years. In I4II Sir Archibald Edmonstone was one of two visitors who carried back letters to Albany and the Scottish Estates, begging them to negotiate his release. King James I, as he now was, returned to Scotland in 1424. His uncle Albany was now dead, but by an Act of Parliament of March 1425, he tried and executed Albany's heir, Murdoch Duke of Albany, together with all but one of his sons and his aged father-in-law, the Earl of Lennox. He then distributed their forfeited lands to his supporters, who included William, son of Sir Archibald Edmonstone.
An entry in the Chamberlain's Rolls in the Compota Ballivorum ad extra, under the head of the Earldom of Lennox, dated 1434, states that the Bailiff of the Crown "non onerat se de fermis terrarum de Erlelevin, Drumfyn,, et Duntreyne,...quia Rex William de Edmonstone de eisdem."
Sir William Edmonstone, 1st of Duntreath, is styled of Culloden, lands near Inverness acquired from the Setons, a further indication of their relationship. In 1425 he married the Princess Mary, sister of James I and widow of the Earl of Angus, as her fourth husband. Although probably in her late thirties she had a son and a daughter. She is buried in Strathblane church.
On 20 July 1593 the Laird of Tullibardine hit William Edmondstone of Duntreath in the face with the hilt of his sword during a session of the Parliament in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, in the presence of James VI.