General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> Earl of Menteith
Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith (d 1258), was the second son by his firstmarriage of William Comyn, earl of Buchan, and half-brother of AlexanderComyn, earl of Buchan. In 1221 he was at York at the marriage ofAlexander II with Joan of England. In 1223 he attended that king's court,and in 1227 witnessed several of his charters. In 1229 he seems to havegot possession of Badenoch, after his father's suppression of Gillescop'srevolt, as in his composition with Bishop Andrew of Moray he is plainlyrecognised as in full possession of that district. Comyn also gave themonks of Scone a yearly grant of a stone of wax or of four shillings.About 1230 he married one of the two daughters and coheiresses ofMaurice, earl of Menteith, and succeeded in obtaining that earldom. In1234 he made another composition with the Bishop of Moray, with referenceto his lands of Kincardine. In 1235 he was appointed to keep order inGalloway, and, soon after, his erection of two formidable castles in thatcountry and in Lothian were enough to provoke King Henry to a Scottishexpedition, but peace was soon made at York, to which Comyn was himself aparty. In 1244 he swore again to keep the terms of that treaty. Theaccession of the infant Alexander III gave the powerful house of Comynsupreme authority in Scotland. It was Menteith's influence that in 1249procured the young king's coronation, despite the sophistical objetionsof Alan Durward. In 1251 he succeeded in overcoming all his enemies, andfrom then to 1255 he was supreme ruler of Scotland. Fordun gives a blackaccount of his government, but the chronicler of Melrose and AndrewWyntoun apparently regard the Comyns as the leaders of the party opposedto the English influence. In 1255 Henry III appeared at Kelso and upsetthe rule of the Comyns; but in 1257 Menteith managed to steal the youngking from his bed at Kinross and convey him with the great seal toStirling. The support of the church further strengthened his hands,though Alan Durward, with England at his back, was still formidable. Atlast, in 1258, a compormise was agreed upon, and the consent of KingHenry obtained to a joint regency that included Menteith and Durward andthe other leaders of both parties. In the same year Menteith died, of afall from his horse according to Matthew Paris, but the later Scottishaccounts accuse his wife of poisoning him. But the anxiety of WalterStewart, who had married her younger sister, to obtain the earlsom, andthe indignation of the Scottish nobles at her hasty marriage with alow-born English knight, are enough to account for this accusation. Comynleft no direct heirs. HIs lands of Badenoch passed to his grand-nephew,John Comyn; but the efforts of William Comyn, another grand-nephew, toobtain the earldom of Menteith failed, and the dignity passed to theStewarts. Fordun describes Earl Walter as 'a man of foresight andshrewdness in council.' He was certainly the wealthiest and most powerfulScottish earl of his time. [Dictionary of National Biography II:919-920]