• General Notes

  DERVOGILLA, Surname Derivation
  
  Source: http://medievalscotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/women/dervorgilla.shtml)
  
  In the 13th century, the mother of John Balliol, King of Scotland, had this name. She "appears on her seal as Dervorgille (Macdonald, 1028). On the seal of her charter to Balliol College, Oxford, her name is given as Devorgulla. Fordun spells the name Darworgilla, and in a document of Edward III it appears as Dervorgoyle." (Black, s.n. DERVORGILLA)  She was the daughter of Alan of Galloway who was son to Roland (aka Lochlann), Lord of Galloway. Although she was clearly Scoto-Norman in culture (her mother was a daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, grandson of King David I of Scotland, and she was married to an Englishman) the "Scoto" part of that was equally clearly Gaelic. She may have been a Gaelic speaker herself, but even if not at least her father and/or grandfather was. The name was apparently popular among her female antecedents in this family. So at least a generation or two earlier this name was in use by Scottish Gaels, and her use of the name may itself also be an example of use of the name by Scottish Gaels. Dervorgilla died in 1290. (Ashley, 411 chart 23)
  
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  Souce: Dervorguilla of Galloway From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
  Dervorguilla of Galloway (c.1210 - January 28, 1290), was a 'lady of substance' during the 13th century, wife from 1223 of John, 5th Baron de Balliol, and mother of the future king John I of Scotland. The name Dervorguilla or Devorgilla was a Latinization of the Gaelic Dearbhfhorghaill (alternative spellings, Derborgaill or Dearbhorghil). She was a daughter and heiress of the Gaelic prince Alan, Lord of Galloway and his second wife Margaret of Huntingdon. Through her mother, she was a descendant of king David I of Scotland. Born in or around 1210, she was a granddaughter of Maud of Chester, and of David of Scotland, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, himself the youngest brother to two Kings of Scotland, Malcolm IV and William the Lion, Dervorguilla's mother Margaret being the couple's eldest daughter. As her father died in 1234 without a legitimate son (he had an illegitimate son named Thomas), according to both Anglo-Norman feudal laws and to ancient Gaelic customs, she was one of his heiresses, her two sisters Helen and Christina being older and therefore senior. This might be considered an unusual practice in England, but it was more common in Scotland and in Western feudal tradition. Because of this, Dervorguilla bequeathed lands in Galloway to her descendants, the Baliol and the Comyns. Dervorguilla's son John of Scotland was briefly a King of Scots too, known as Toom Tabard (Scots: 'puppet king' literally "empty coat").

Details of Devorgilla's family with Lord William Galloway Ball