General Notes

SOURCES:  LDS Family History Library, ancestral file #    (familysearch.org)
AWTP:
"Williams/Rose Legacies"  Jane Williams Flank jwflank@@hotmail.com ( who has provided the following research notes at AWTP):

"Sir Neil Campbell, the next in succession, appears in a charter to the abbey of Cambuskenneth on October 17 1282 as 'Nigellus filius Colini Campbell.' He swore fealty to King Edward at Berwick, 28 August 1296, and on September 10 in the same year he is mentioned as one of the Barons of Argyll, and the King's bailie for Leghor (Lochow) and Ardescothyn (Ardskeodnish), which shows that these lands were then in the Crown, and not in full possession of the family. He was witness to a charter confirmed by King Edward I on 10 October 1296, but which must have been granted about 1290 by Richard de Burgo, Earl of Ulster, to John Stewart, who had married the Earl's sister Egidia, and is designed Sir Nicholas de Chambelle. He was one of the same Earl's knights, when he brought over a contingent from Ireland in 1303 to help King Edward, who granted him the ward and marriage of the two daughter of Andrew Crawford: and he obtained from the same King a grant, dated 13 February 1301-2, of the custody of the lands in Cumberland belonging to the heir of Sir Hubert de Multon, till the heir's majority, with his ward and marriage; also letters-patent empowering Margaret, Hubert's widow, to marry him, if she will; but by January 8. 1304, the King had taken back this gift inot his own hands, and not only so, but in the same year he gave a charter to John de Dovedale of 'Sir Nichol Cambel's lands in fee, and ward and marriage of his son and heir, as he is under age, which was confirmed at Westminster on October 24, 1305. No reason was given for this unusal procedure, but Sir Neil must have joined King Robert Bruce at the earliest opportunity, as on June 20, 1306, it is stated that the ward and marriage of Hubert de Multon's heir is in the King's gift, 'by reason of Sir Nigel Cambel, to whom the said custody was formerly granted, having betaken himself to Scotland against the King.' On August 15, 1306, 'le Roi granta a Mons John Dovedale les terres qui furent a Mons Nichol Cambel en Escoce.' He adhered to King Robert Bruce in prosperity and adversity, and fought by his side in almost every encounter, from the battle of Methven to that of Bannockburn. He was his envoy, together with John of Menteith, to Richard de Burgo, Earl of Ulster, who had been appointed Edward's commissioner to treat with Robert de Brus for terms of peace, for which he obtained a safe-conduct from Edward II 21 August 1309. After the battle of Bannockburn had decided the independence of Scotland, Sir Neil Campbell was one of the Commissioners sent to York, in September 1314, to negotiate a peace with the English. He was one of the great Barons in the Parliament that met at Ayr, 26 April 1315, when the succession to the crown of Scotland was settled. Sir Neil is said to have died before 1316.
His only recorded wife is Lady Mary Bruce, sister of King Robert; they and their son John received from the King a grant of the lands of David, Earl of Atholl. She survived Sir Neil, and married, in 1316, Sir Alexander Fraser, Great Chamberlain of Scotland. But his eldest son Colin at least must have been the child of a previous marriage. Lady Mary was in prison from 7 November 1306 to Michaelmas 1312. She is always called Maria de Brus, sister of Robert Brus; and there is no mention of her being already the wife of Sir Neil Campbell, as in the case of her sister Christina, widow of Sir Christopher Seton, yet in 1316 Sir Neil's eldest son Colin was of an age to accompany the King to Ireland. In February 1301-2, Margaret, widow of Hubert de Multon was empowered by charter, under the Great Seal of England, to marry Sir Nigel Cambel, and he must therefore have been free to marry at the time. Moreover, John, not Colin, receoved the grant of the lands and title of Atholl, and he is called the King's beloved nephew, while Colin is not so styled in any charter granted to him by King Robert. It is possible that Sir Neil did actually marry Margaret, widow of Hubert de Multon, and that Colin was her son.  [The Scots Peerage I:322-324]"
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"Ancestors of a 21st century British family" Richard Hodgson mail@@ancestorsearch.co.uk