Sir Alexander Lindsay of Crawford

Biography

Alexander Lindsay of Barnweill (died 1308 [(?)], Lord of Barnweill, Byres and Crawford, also known as Alexander de Lindsay, and as Sir Alexander Lindsay of Crawford, was a Scottish noble.

Alexander was the eldest son of Sir David Lindsay of Barnweill and Margaret de Lindsay. He swore fealty and homage to King Edward I of England on 28 July 1296 at Berwick.

On 9 July 1297, Alexander, together with Sir James Stewart, High Steward of Scotland, Sir John Stewart of Bonkyll, Sir Robert de Brus, jure uxoris Earl of Carrick and Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow capitulated at Irvine. [2] He was on the English side in the Bishop of Durham Antony Bek’s division during the Battle of Falkirk on 22 July 1298 that defeated the Scottish army.[3] For his services, he was granted the former Lindsay lands of Crawford that had been passed by marriage to the Pinkeneys.[3]

He was ordered in September 1305 to leave Scotland for six months for his participation in the uprising of Sir William Wallace and Sir Andrew Moray. He was also a supporter of Robert de Brus. Alexander was captured at the fall of Kildrummy Castle on 13 September 1306.[4] He was taken to England and held prisoner. Alexander was one of the leaders of the Scottish army that campaigned in Galloway in 1308. He was lastly summoned to the Scottish parliament in 1309, however apparently had died in 1308.[3]

Birth date estimates seen as 1258 and as 1267. Conflicting death dates reported: 1307; 1308; March 1312; before 10 December 1314.

Family

He married (Miss) Stewart, daughter of Alexander Stewart, 4th Great Steward.

From The Scots Peerage, Vol. 3. “Lindsay, Earl of Crawford.” Page 9. < Archive.Org >

The five children of Alexander Lindsay and his wife were:

1. Sir David de Lindsay, Lord Crawford, Custodian of Berwick & Edinburgh Castle+ d. 1355. Married Maria Abernethy, widow of Andrew de Leschelyn (Leslie) and daughter (co-heiress with her sister Margaret, Countess of Angus) of Sir Alexander de Abernethy.
2. Alexander,11 who was imprisoned at Carlisle, 1308-1314, became a knight banneret, and was ancestor, as alleged, of the Lindsays of Ormiston, afterwards represented by Cockburn of Langton.
3. Reginald, prisoner at Carlisle with his brother.
4. William, Rector of Ayr,1 and Chamberlain of Scotland in 1317, whose close connection with the house of Crawford2 suggests this affiliation. He died before 5 Kal. January 1339.
5. Beatrix, d. b 1352, married, first, to Sir Archibald Douglas, and was mother of the first Earl of Douglas ; 3 secondly, to Sir Robert Erskine of Erskine, Great Chamberlain of Scotland.4

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Notes

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lindsay-1321
Lindsay-1321 created 27 Oct 2013 | Last modified 22 Jul 2023

• His father died in Egypt during the Crusade of St Louis, and Alexander (who was not yet of age) succeeded him in 1279.[1]
• He became the ward of Sir John Comyn of Badenoch and Tynedale, whose mother Alicia may have been a Lindsay.[2]
• Alexander attended the parliament of Brigham in 1289 (as a baron)[3] and later was knighted by King Edward I.[1]
• When Bruce was forced to flee into the mountains with a small group of friends after the devastating loss at Methven, it was the earl of Atholl (the king's brother) and Sir Alexander Lindsay who were entrusted to lead the queen, the Lady Marjorie (Bruce's daughter), and the other women in the party safely across the mountains by horseback to the shelter of Kildrummy Castle.[5]
• In 1309 he was one of the signatories of a letter which was sent to Philippe IV of France from the parliament at St Andrews.[6]
• His unwavering support of Robert Bruce was no doubt strengthened by his marriage...his wife was thought to have been closely related to James the Steward, who was a prominent supporter of King Robert.[6]
• The Lord Lyon does not believe that the name of Sir Alexander's wife can be reliably confirmed,[1] and this position is universally upheld among historians, including the family historian, Lord Lindsay.
• Sir Alexander Lindsay was present at the parliament of 1308[1] and signed the letter to Philippe IV in 1309.[6]
• There is almost no mention of him after 1309, and he is thought to have died sometime before 10 December 1314.[6]
• He was not the Earl of Crawford. The Earldom of Crawford was created for Sir David Lindsay in 1398. (TSP, page 16: < Archive.Org >

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Origins

From The Scots Peerage, Vol. 3. “Lindsay, Earl of Crawford.” Page 8-9. < Archive.Org >

SIR DAVID DE LINDSAY, who acted as one of the Regents of Scotland in 1255,10 was High Chamberlain in 1256. He witnessed a confirmation charter of King Alexander in. to Balmerino as ' David de Lindesay, juniore.' n He joined the Crusade of St. Louis in 1268, and died in Egypt.12 By his wife, Margaret de Lindesay, probably daughter of Walter de Lindsay, Lord of Lamberton (see above, p. 5) he had issue : —

• 1. SIR ALEXANDER.
• 2. Sir William, Lord of Symington, who (circa 1310) founded masses at Deer for his two wives Alicia, and M[argaret] Oomyn, Countess of Buchan, and at Newbattle for his father and mother.1 Sir James de Lindesay, Lord of Crawford, succeeded to Symington,2 and claimed to be Lord of Buchan.
• 3. Sir Duncan, brother of Sir William, named c. 1310.

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References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Lindsay_of_Barnweill cites
   1. McAndrew, Bruce A. (2006). Scotland's Historic Heraldry. Boydell Press. ISBN 9781843832614. p. 92.
   2. Barron, Evan Macleod (1914). The Scottish war of independence; a critical study by Evan Macleod Barron. J. Nisbet. p. 30.
   3. McAndrew, Bruce A. (2006). Scotland's Historic Heraldry. Boydell Press. ISBN 9781843832614. p. 94.
   4. Barron, Evan Macleod (1914). The Scottish war of independence; a critical study by Evan Macleod Barron. J. Nisbet. p. 246.
   5. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. Vol. 1 (107th ed.). Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd. p. 951
2. Lindsay (Family) - Encyclopedia. < link > LINDSAY, the family name of the earls of Crawford. The family is one of great antiquity in Scotland, the earliest to settle in that country being Sir Walter de Lindesia, who attended David, earl of Huntingdon, afterwards King David I., in his colonization of the Lowlands early in the 12th century. The descendants of Sir Walter divided into three branches, one of which held the baronies of Lamberton in Scotland, and Kendal and Molesworth in England; another held Luffness and Crawford in Scotland and half Limesi in England; and a third held Breneville and Byres in Scotland and certain lands, not by baronial tenure, in England. The heads of all these branches sat as barons in the Scottish parliament for more than two hundred years before the elevation of the chief of the house to an earldom in 1398. The Lindsays held the great mountain district of Crawford in Clydesdale, from which the title of the earldom is derived, from the 12th century till the close of the 15th, when it passed to the Douglas earls of Angus. See Crawford, Earls Of. See A. W. C. Lindsay, afterwards earl of Crawford, Lives of the Lindsays, or a Memoir of the Houses of Crawford and Belcarres (3 vols., 1843 and 1858).
3. Lindsay, Alexander Crawford, Earl of Crawford. Lives of the Lindsays: Or, A Memoir of the Houses of Crawford and Balcarres, Volume 1. (J, Murray, 1858). Person # 25. Page 409-410. < GoogleBooks > X. That Sir Alexander de Lindsay of Luffness, Byres and Brenwevil acquired Crawford, not by descent, but by gift of the nation …. “ < GoogleBooks >.
4. https://www.thepeerage.com/p10950.htm#i109491 “Sir Alexander de Lindsay was the son of Sir David de Lindsay and Margaret (?)1 In 1244 he succeeded to lands in Northumberland granted to his father by Margaret, Countess of Pembroke.1 He lived at Crawford, ScotlandG.2 In 1308 he sat in Parliament [Scotland].” Cites:
   1. [S37] BP2003 volume 1, page 951. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37]
   2. [S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume IV, page 430. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
5. http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p121.htm#i... “Sir Alexander Lindsay b. 1267, d. after 1308.” cites:
   1. Unknown author, Burke's Peerage, 1938, p. 686.
   2. Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. II, p. 293.
   3. Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. III, p. 524.
   4. [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. I, p. 599-600.
   5. [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. III, p. 149.
   6. [S11597] Ancestry.com, Submitted by DONNRC.
6. https://www.clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info/genealogy/TNGWebsite/getpe... “Sir Alexander Lindsay of Crawford, born abt 1267, died 1307; Alt. death: aft. 1308. Married Mary Stewart.” Cites:
   1. [S474] Colquoun_Cunningham.ged, Jamie Vans.
   2. [S6] Stirnet Genealogy, Peter Barns-Graham.
   3. [S6] Stirnet Genealogy, Peter Barns-Graham, Lindsay01 (Reliability: 3). < Stirnet - ‘Lindsay01’ > (A) Sir David de Lindsay of Luffness, Regent, High Chamberlain (d 1268) m. Margaret de Lindsay (dau of Walter de Lindsay, Lord of Lamberton and Molesworth). (i) Sir Alexander de Lindsay of Crawford (d 1307) m. ?? Stewart (dau of Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland)
7. https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~hwbradley/genealogy/aqwg1788.htm#49482 “Sir Alexander de LINDSAY Knight [Parents] 1, 2 was born 1258 in Breneville, Ayrshire, Scotland. He died 3 Mar 1312 in Crawford, Lanarkshire, Scotland.” cites
   1. Paul, James Balfour, The Scots Peerage (Edinburgh: D. Douglas, 1904-14.), 3:9, Los Angeles Public Library, 929.72 P324.
   2. Linzee, John William, The Lindeseie and Limesi Families of Great Britain (Boston, Massachusetts: The Fort Hill Press, 1917.), pp. 285, 291-293, Family History Library, 929.242 L659L.
   3. Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office -- Edward II (Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1971.), 1:477, Family History Library, 942 N23gpc.
8. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lindsay-1321 “Sir Alexander Lindsay “Born about 1267 in Breneville, Ayrshire, Scotland, Died about 1314 at about age 47 in Crawford, Clydesdale, Lanarkshire, Scotland.” Cites:
   1. Paul, James Balfour. The Peerage of Scotland. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1906), vol. 3, p. 9 < Archive.Org >
   2. Cal. of Docs., ii.54, cited in: Paul, James Balfour. The Peerage of Scotland. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1906), vol. 3, p. 9. < Archive.Org >
   3. Acta Parl. Scot., I.85; Palgrave Docs.,284, cited in: Paul, James Balfour. The Peerage of Scotland. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1906), vol. 3, p. 9. < Archive.Org >
   4. Performance of Fealty and Homage to Edward I, Doc. 6/2/244 (IP, 162-3).
   5. Barrow, G.W.S. Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (1965), p. 207-208.
   6. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Lindsay family of Barnweill, Crawford, and Glenesk. Published online 23 Sep 2004, available by subscription. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/54260
   7. Moncreiffe, Sir Iain of that Ilk. The Highland Clans. London: Hutchinson Publishing Group (1967) rv. 1982, p. 112.
   8. Papal Letters, ii.241, cited in: Paul, James Balfour. The Scots Peerage. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1906), vol. 3, p. 10. < Archive.Org >
   9. Paul, James Balfour. The Scots Peerage. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1906), vol. 3, p. 11. < Archive.Org >
   10. Paul, James Balfour. The Scots Peerage. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1906), vol. 3, p. 10. < Archive.Org >
   11. See Also: Alexander Lindsay, Knight, PoMS no. 15326. < link >
9. Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Oct 28 2016, 17:40:29 UTC
10. < Stirnet - 'Lindsay01' > c. Sir William de Lindsay of Luffness (b c1182, a 1236) m. Avice de Lancaster (dau of Gilbert FitzReindfride)
    1. (1) Sir David de Lindsay of Luffness (a 1249) m. (c1220) ?? Crawford (dau of Sir John Crawford of Crawfordjohn)
       1. (A) Sir David de Lindsay of Luffness, Regent, High Chamberlain (d 1268) m. Margaret de Lindsay (dau of Walter de Lindsay, Lord of Lamberton and Molesworth) @@ above
          1. (a) Sir David de Lindsay of Crawford (d before 13.10.1357)§D m(1). (1324) Maria Abernethy (dau of Sir Alexander de Abernethy )
          2. (b) Sir Alexander de Lindsay possibly ancestor of Lindsay of Ormiston
          3. (c) Beatrix de Lindsay (d before 1352) - m1. Sir Archibald Douglas of Liddesdale, Cavers, etc. (Regent of Scotland, b c1297, d Halidon Hill 19.07.1333) -- m2. (after 07.1335) Sir Robert Erskine of that ilk (d 1385, Chamberlain, Ambassador) --
          4. (d)+ other issue - Reginald,
          5. William (d by 01.1339, rector of Ayr, Chamberlain of Scotland)
       2. (B) Sir John de Lindsay, Lord Chamberlain m. Dyonysia Beneyt (dau of Alexander Beneyt or Bene in Northumberland)
          1. (i) Sir Philip de Lindsay
          2. (ii) Sir Simon de Lindsay ancestor of Lindsays of Wanchopdale
11. http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTTISH%20NOBILITY%20UNTITLED.htm#... retrieved 22 September 2023