General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> 1st\8Th Earl Of Angus
Upon the death of his father in 1254, Gilbert de Umfravill was committed to the guardianship of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in consideration of 10,000 marks paid by that nobleman to the king. This Gilbert attained majority in the 43rd Henry III [1259], and in six years subsequently we find him in arms with the barons, but he made his peace prior to the battle of Evesham, and obtained then some immunities from the crown. In the 20th Edward I [1292], he was governor of the castles of Dundee and Forfar, and the whole territory of Angus, in Scotland, and appears to have borne the title of Earl of Angus, in right of his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Comyn, Earl of Angus. He was summoned to parliament, however, subsequently, 24th June, 1295, as Baron Umfravill only, but in the 25th of Edward I [1297], and from that period to the 1st Edward II [1307], he had summons as "Gilberto de Umfravill, Comiti de Angos." This title the English lawyers refused to acknowledge (Angus not being within the kingdom of England) until he had openly produced the king's writ in public court, by which he was called to parliament, under the title of Earl of Angus. In the 27th Edward I [1297], his lordship was constituted one of the king's commissioners for manning and fortifying the castles within the realm of Scotland, and to appoint wardens of the Marches. His lordship was highly instrumental in fortifying the castles and strongholds in Scotland, and was the only man who refused to surrender the fortresses in his custody to the enemy. The next year he founded a chantry for two priests to celebrate divine service daily in the chapel of our lady, within the castle of Prudhoe. The earl m. Lady Agnes Comyn, dau. of Alexander, Earl of Buchan, d. in 1308, and was s. by his eldest surviving son, Robert de Umfraville, then thirty years of age. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 544, Umfraville, Barons Umfravill, Earls of Angus, and John Burke, History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. II, R. Bentley, London, 1834-1838, p. 191, Pickering, of Old Lodge]