medieval-atlas/regional-and-local/446

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The Lords of Galloway Following the death in 1234 of Alan, last of the male line of the Lords of Galloway, the demesne estates of the Lordship were partitioned between his three daughters and their husbands (see family tree). This arrangement lasted only until 1247, when the death without direct heirs of the second heiress, Christina, led to the redistribution of her estates between the surviving sisters. The nature of this original partition is unclear, but it would seem that the senior heiress, Helen, had gained most of the family estates around Kirkcudbright, the core of the early Lordship. Dervorguilla's principal interests were focused on eastern Galloway, with Buittle in the Vrr Valley and a series of important estates lying in the Glenkens and Dee Valley areas falling to her lot. Outlying manors in wt;stern Galloway, remote from these main territorial blocks, may have pertained originally to Christina's portion, being redistributed to her surviving sisters after her death. The succession of heiresses to the de Quincy estates in 1264 saw a further subdivision of the Galloway demesne, with Helen's portion falling to the Comyn, earl of Buchan, husband of Helen's second daughter, succeeded in acquiring the largest share of the estates, including the key castle of Cruggleton. His dominant position in western Galloway was se cured by his acquisition of the office of sheriff of Wigtown, putting his family in general control of the country west of the Cree. The fragmentation of the de Quincy estates left the Balliols as the largest single landowning family in the Lordship, a position augmented by the exchange of land outwith Galloway for estates assigned originally to the other portioners. The pattern of estates shown on the map below is drawn from a number of unrelated sources, there being no single survey of the Lordship demesne until the mid-15th century. The principal source for the Balliollands is the series of documents in the Rotuli Scotiae relating to the ancestral lands of Edward Balliol, 'restored' to him by Edward III in 1334. For the de Quincy estates, the inquest into the lands of Helen de la Zouche, the youngest daughter of Helen de Quincy, held at Berwick in 1296, provided much information. The list, however, is incomplete due to the poverty of the sources. Certain estates, moreover, passed in and out of the lordly demesne, e.g. Lochkindeloch, which in 1273 became the principal endowment of Dervorguilla's abbey of Sweetheart, or Borgue (not shown on the map), which came into her possession in 1282 through the quit claim of the tenant. /" .... , I .... .... /" I .... .... , • Kells/Kenmure • Burned Island Troqueer b\ • Kirkpatrick Durham Crossmichael. Lochindeloch • • Buittle .Craighlaw Balmaghie· °Kelton Preston Milmain • • I I o 10 20 miles •° Demesne estates of the lords of Galloway, Balliol lands Demesne estates of the lords of Galloway, other than Balliol lands The lords of Galloway: demesne lands of the later thirteenth century Alan, lord of Galloway ,-____________-------.------~(~1)1 ""k2~)_______________, I I· I Helen m Roger de Quincy d 1264 Christina (d 1247) rn William, Dervorguilla rn John Balliol earl Albernarle . Margaret rn Williarn Ferrars, Isabella m Alexander Cornyn, Helen rn Alan la Zouche earl of Derby earl of Buchan .... The lords of Galloway: genealogy RO 446

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