General Notes

In the 3rd year of King William the Conqueror [1069], that monarch conferred the Earldom of Northumberland, vacant by the death of Earl Copsi, upon Robert Comyn, but the nomination accorded so little with the wishes of the inhabitants of the county that they at first resolved to abandon entirely their dwellings; being prevented doing so, however, by the inclemency of the season, it was then determined, at all hazards, to put the new earl to death. of this evil design his lordship had intimation, through Egelivine, bishop of Durham, but, disregarding the intelligence, he repaired to Durham with 700 soldiers and commenced a course of plunder and bloodshed, which rousing the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, the town was assaulted and carried by a multitude of country people, and the earl and all his troops, to a man, put to death. This occurrence took place in 1069, in a few months after his lordship's appointment to the earldom. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 131]

----------

The surname Cummings emerged as a notable Scottish Family name in the Country of Northumberland, where William the Conqueror allocated the Earldom of Northumberland to Robert de Comines, from Comminges in Normandy. The badge of the family is the Cumin Plant. However, Robert de Comines' rule in Northumberland was uneventful, his violence to the local people became intolerable and he was killed in 1069.

When Richard Comyn, his great-grandson, came to Scotland with King David, he married Hextilda of Tynedale, granddaughter of King Donald of Scotland.