Sir John Maxwell, Kt.

Lord of Caelaverock

Summoned to Parliament 1373

Present at coronation of Robert II

The progenitor of the Maxwell family was Undewyn, or Undwain, a Saxon lord, who lived in the area of Kelso by the River Tweed. Like our Fulbert, little is known of him - just than he was the father of Maccus from whom the family name of Maxwell derives. “Wael” is a pool or whirlpool and “Maccus Wael” referred to the site along the Tweed where they dwelled. Maccus is much better know than his father and was cited in various charters and donations such as the donation by David I of the lands of Melrose Abbey where he appears as “Maccus filius Undwain”. The Maxwell family was prominent in the Scottish court and sometime after 1200 Sir John de Maccuswell, grandson of Maccus, was granted the lands of Carlaverock in Nithsdale which in due course became the principal seat of the Maxwell family. In the 15th century the head of this branch was granted the title Lord Maxwell and in the 17th they were given the title Earl of Nithsdale - and there is a long and bloody history behind this occurrence. Thus the Maxwells of (Nether) Pollock and the Pollocks of that Ilk, of upper Pollock, were near neighbors in Renfrewshire and of equal stature as vassals to the Maxwells of Carlaverock. With this physical and social proximity it was inevitable that there would be strong ties, and at time strong rivalries, between these families over the centuries. It cannot be said that the relationship was always rosy - there were feuds and conflicts. In fact the lands of Polloks of that Ilk were confiscated by Robert the Bruce in 1314, because of their adherence to Baliol and support of Edward I, and assigned to Sir John Maxwell of Carlaverock. However these were restored in due course with the marriage of Robert de Polloc and Agnes, daughter of Sir John Maxwell of Carlaverock, sometime prior to 1372. The lineal descendants of Pollock-of-that Ilk until quite recently have held some portion of these lands. Later descendants of this line can thus claim both Fulbert and Maccus as ancestors. http://www.clanpollock.com/History/maxwell.html

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John's elder brother Sir Herbert swore fealty to Edward III of England Sept 1347, for whom he held Carlaverock; accordingly outlawed by the Scots.

John held Carlaverock on behalf of the Scots by April 1354; married Christian and died in or after April 1373. [Burke's Peerage]

SIR JOHN DE MAXWELL, probably brother of Herbert, was in possession in April 1354, and in the Scottish allegiance. He sat in the Parliament of Seotember 1357, and was one of the commissioners there appointed to deal respecting the ransom of David II. He was present at the Coronation of Robert II at Scone, 26 March 1371, and did homage to him the following day. On 18 September of that year he resigned his fee in favour of his son Robert, reserving the life-rent for himself and his wife Christian. He sat in the Parliament of April 1373, and his seal was affixed to the Act of Succession then passed. [Complete Peerage VIII:588, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

Sir John Maxwell, who succeeded to the estates of Maxwell, in the year 1353 or in the beginning of the year 1354, was probably the brother of Herbert who has now been noticed.

The land and tenement of Wester-Softlaw, in the shire of Roxburgh, which had been the property of Herbert of Maxwell, ninth Lord of Maxwell, were sold either by Herbert or by Sir John to John Sadler. Robert, the son of John Sadler, having on the death of his father, inherited them, granted these lands by charter to Roger of Suldton, with all the pertinents by which the husbandmen held them in the time of Herbert of Maxwell, lately Lord of Wester-Softlaw. Roger of Auldton and his heirs were by the charter to be free from the payment of the multure of the corn which should grow on the abovementioned tenement, and to have right to grind 'roum fre' at the mill of Maxwell after the corn of the Lord of Maxwell and after the corn which should be found in the hopper, for rendering annually a pair of gilt spurs to the lord in chief of that feu at the chief messuage, at the Feast of St John the Baptist, and twelve pennies sterling. The lord superior was Sir John Maxwell, and his chief messuage was the Castle of Maxwell. Among the witnesses were William Abbot of Kelso, William Abbot of Melrose, John Abbot of Stirling, Bernard of Hawden and John Hessewell. This charter Sir John of Maxwell, knight, and of that ilk, confirmed; and he appended his seal to the confirmation. He also granted to Roger of Auldton a remission of the annual rent of a pair of gilt spurs and of twelve pennies sterling, which were due to him from the foresaid land and tenement of Wester-Softlaw, and also full power of converting the said land and tenement to pious uses or perpetual alms.

In a Council held at Inverkeithing on 1st April 1354, confirmation was made by King David the Second - though he could not have been at the Council in person, as he was then a prisoner in the Tower of London - of the preceding confirmation and donation, which 'our beloved and faithful John of Maxwell, knight, made to our beloved Roger of Auldton of the land of Wester-Softlaw,' etc.

On the same day Roger of Auldton, having constituted a chantry of one priest to celebrate divine service for ever at the great altar in the Church of St James of Roxburgh, granted, for the sustentation thereof, a charter of his whole land and tenement of Wester-Softlaw, with all his rights attached thereto. This charter was also confirmed at Inverkeithing on that day.

In the year 1355, the Castle of Carlaverock was captured by Roger Kirkpatrick, and dismantled if not levelled with the ground. The circumstances connected with its capture at this time have not been recorded.

With some of the most public and important events of the period Sir John of Maxwell was associated. He was allied with William Lord of Douglas, Roger Kirkpatrick, and Robert, Steward of Scotland, who bravely and successfuly resisted Edward King of England, from whom they recovered Galloway, Nithsdale, and Annandale. When, by the intervention of the Pope, peace was at last concluded between England and Scotland, he took an active part in effecting it, and in obtaining the release of King David the Second, who, as has been already state, was taken prisoner at the battle of Durham, 17th October 1346, and imprisoned in the Tower of London, 2d January 1347. At different times treaties were proposed for King David's deliverance from his captivity in England, but it was not till the year 1357 that this was accomplished.

Sir John of Maxwell was a member of the Parliament held 26th September 1357, in which the terms proposed for the redemption of King David were agreed upon. At that Parliament the Three Estates respectively appointed special ambassadors, with full power and authority to enter into and confirm treaties made or to be made with the Council and plenipotentiaries of Edward the Third, King of England, in regard to the liberation of King David, and to engage to pay for his redemption to Edward, his heirs and successors, 100,000 merks sterling, and to make whatever agreements should be necessary for the security of the premises. The Commissioners appointed by the clergy were William, Bishop of St Andrews; Thomas, Bishop of Caithness; and Patrick, Bishop of Brechin, Chancellor of Scotland. By the barons, who included Sir John of Maxwell, knight, were appointed Patrick Earl of March; Thomas Earl of Angus; William Earl of Sutherland; Sir Thomas of Murray; Sir William of Livingston, and Sir Robert of Erskine, knights. The representatives of the burghs also chose eleven of their number as Commissioners.

The Commissioners met with those of Edward the Third, on the 3d of October, at Berwick-upon-Tweed, where they concluded a treaty. One hundred thousand merks were to be paid for the redemption of King David to Edward within ten years, at the rate of 10,000 merks each year, the first payment to be made at the Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist (24th June) thereafter; and a similar sum was to be paid at the same term in the succeeding years till the whole ransom was paid. In security for the payment twenty hostages, the heirs of the greatest families of Scotland, were to be delivered to the King of England, and three of the following Lords, namely, the Steward of Scotland, the Earls of March, Mar, Ross, Angus, Sutherland, Lord Douglas, and Thomas of Murray were to remain by turns in England until the entire ransom was liquidated. If the money stipulated was not forthcoming at the appointed terms, King David was to return to England and render himseld a prisoner, there to remain till all the arrears of his ramson were discharged.

For the welfare of himself and of Christian, his spouse, etc., John of Maxwell, Lord of that Ilk, granted to the Abbey of Kilwinning, in Cunninghame, Ayrshire, the patronage of the Kirk of Liberton and an acre of land adjoining, which the granter had perambulated in the presence of several persons, reserving the right of Sir Robert of Glene, rector of that kirk, until his renunciation thereof or his death. The charter is undated, but it was probably granted soon after the succession of Sir John, as another charter to the same monastery, by John Menteith, Lord of Arrany and Knapdale, is dated 12th October 1357, and both charters were confirmed by one charter of confirmation by King David the Second, in or about the thirty-fifth year of his reign, which was the year 1363.

King David the Second died in the Castle of Edinburgh, 22d February 1370-71, and was succeeded by King Robert the Second, his nephew.

Sir John of Maxwell was present at the coronation of Robert the Second, 26th March 1371, at Scone, the ceremony having been preformed by William Laundelys, Bishop of St Andrews, amidst a vast concourse of spectators, consisting of prelates, earls, barons, and many of the people who had been attracted to witness it, from all parts of the kingdom.

Sir John was one of that numerous body who, on the day after the coronation, assembled, in presence of the King, sitting on his royal seat upon the hill of Scone, as was the custom, and who made homage to him, and swore, each in succession, the oath of fidelity. As Robert was the first of the Stewart line who ascended the Scottish throne, a declaration was made on the same day of the legal right by virtue of which he had succeeded David the Second, King of Scotland, his uncle and predecessor, on the ground both of propinquity of blood and of the settlement contained in certain instruments made in the time of his grandfather, King Robert the Bruce, of famous memory, which were produced and publicly read.

On this occasion Sir John also bound himself, along with others, by solemn oath, to support the claims of John, the eldest son of Robert the Second, as the true heir and successor to the throne in the event of his surviving his father. After King Robert had made a declaration to that effect, each of the prelates, earls, lords, barons, and others present declared, with full voice, after the death of his father, should, as his lawful heir, if alive at the time, be King of Scotland, and promised, in good faith, and with hands lifted up to heaven in token of his sincerity, that he would hold him as his King and assist and defend him against all mortals.

To this Act, which is still extant, were attached the seals of fifty-one prelates, nobles, and barons.

The lands of Pencaitland, which had been acquired by Sir Herbert, fifth Lord of Maxwell, were sold by Sir John. He granted to Alexander Maitland his lands of Pencaitland, in the shire of Edinburgh, which had been resigned by Alice of Pencaitland, daughter and heiress of the deceased John of Pencaitland, her father, to be held for rendering to the granter and his heirs a silver penny. In the charter, which is without date, he is described 'John of Maxwell, knight, Lord of Carlaverock.' Among the witnesses were Sir William Waus, Sir Walter of Halyburton, Sir John of Preston, Sir Willima Baly, Sir David of Hanand, Sir John Herys, and Sir Robert of Levyngyston.

In the Register of Dryburgh the date assigned to the charter is circa 1330. But this is not quite correct; for at that time, and for a considerable number of years after, Sir Eustace was Lord of Carlaverock. Though the precise date cannot be fixed, yet, from the period when the witnesses to the charter flourished, there is no room for doubt that it was made by Sir John. One of them, Sir Walter of Halyburton, was taken prisoner at the battle of Durham in 1346, and obtained his liberty, with King David the Second, in the year 1357: he was High Sheriff of Berwick in the year 1364, and died about the year 1385. Another of the witnesses was Sir John of Preston, who was also taken prisoner at the battle of Durham, and for several years was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and who was one of the Commissioners appointed by the Parliament of Scotland for negtiating a peach with England in the year 1360. A third of them was Sir John Herys, who was a witness to and obtained charters between the years 1360 and 1369. A fourth was Sir Robert of Livingston, who was one of the Commissioners appointed in 1348 to treat with the English about the liberation of King David the Second.

Sir John and his successors retained the superiority of the lands of Pencaitland. At a later period, a dispute arose between Sir Herbert of Maxwell, knight, Lord of Carlaverock, and John the Sanceler (or Sinclair), Lord of Hyrdmanstoun, and tenant to the said Sir Herbert, of part of the lands of Pencaithland, as to Maxwell and Bekyrtoun lands in the town of Pencaitland. The dispute seems to have been as to how far the superiority of Sir Herbert in regard to these lands extended. In an agreement between Sir Herbert and John Sinclair, 19th January 1427, the former engaged to give an assize to the latter, in order to determine whether these lands ought of right to be held of the lords of Maxwell, as barons of Pencaitland, or were held any time of the said lords of Maxwwll, that they should so remain without any claim or question of the said John Sinclair, or of any in his name, for ever in time to come. On the 2d of June 1428, it was concluded by the assize appointed that Sir Herbert of Maxwell had more right to the two said tenandries of Maxwell land and Berkyrtoun land than the said John Sinclair, saving as much of Bekyrtounland as was held of the Hospitallers of Knights of St John.

On 18th September 1371, Sir John of Maxwell of Carlaverock, knight, resigned into the hands of King Robert the Second, before several nobles of the kingdom, at Kilwinning, all the lands which he held of him in chief in favour of Robert of Maxwell, his son and heir, reservings to himself the liferent of these lands, and to Christian, his wife, the terce thereof, in case she should survive him. In terms of this resignation a charter of these lands was given at Kilwinning, on the day after the resignation, to the said Robert of Maxwell, by Robert the Second, who designates him his beloved cousin.

From King Robert the Second Sir John of Maxwell obtained a charter of the lands of Softlaw, in the barony of Maxwell, in the county of Roxburgh, which had been forfeited by William Stewart, who had yeilded allegiance to Edward the Third, King of England.

To provide, in the event of the death of King Robert the Second, or of that of the Earl of Carrick, his eldest son, a prince of feeble constitution, who had no lawful children of his body till the year 378, against a disputed succession, from the intrigues of the English Court or from the ambition of some of King Robert's own sons, or sons-in-law, it was judged patriotic and necessary to fix by an Act of Parliament the succession to the Crown in his undoubted lawful heirs, according to their respective rights and the unalterable laws of the kingdom.

Sir John of Maxwell was a member of the Parliament or Grand Council of King Robert the Second, held at Scone on th 4th of April 1373, by which the succession to the Crown was thus settled. By that Parliament it was declared and ordained that King Robert's sons, begotten of his first and second wives, and the heirs-male of their bodies, should successively succeed to him in the kingdom, in the following order: 1. John Earl of Carrick and Steward of Scotland, his eldest son by his first wife, conformably to the declaration made in the last Parliament; 2. Robert Earl of Fife and Menteith, his second son by his first wife; 3. Alexander Lord of Badenoch (afterwards Earl of Buchan), his third son by the same wife; 4. David Earl of Strathern, his son begotten of his second wife; 5. Walter, son of King Robert, brother-german to the said David; and 6. In the event of the foresaid five brothers and the heirs-male descending from them failing, the true and lawful heirs of the blood and stock royal were to succeed to the Scottish throne.

This Statute having been ordained, Sir John of Maxwell, together with the prelates, earls, barons, etc., present, swore, touching the holy Gospels, that he would inviolably obwerve it for himself and for his heirs, and cause it to be observed by others, according to his ability, for ever. This was followed by the spectacle of the whole multitude of clergy and people, specially assembled in the church of Scone, before the great altar, expressing their consent and assent to the Statute, after it had been explained to them, by lifting up their hands. To this instrument the seal of Sir John of Maxwell was appended, along with the seals of the bishops and earls ad memoriam furturorum.

Sir John is said to have died at Carlaverock on 15th April 1373. He had by his wife Christian, whose surname is unknown, one son, Robert, who succeeded him. [The Book of Carlaverock I:112-118]

Sources:

  1. Type: Web Site

     Author: Jim Weber

     Title: The Phillips, Weber, Kirk & Staggs Famlies

     URL: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id

     Date: Sep 19, 2010

     Detail: Jim Weber cites numerous sources for his data. See his posting for details.

  2. Type: Web Site

     Author: Jane Williams Flank

     Title: Williams/Rose Legacies

     URL: http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jwflank&id

     Date: Jan 10, 2009 

• _______________
• 'John Maxwell
• 'M, d. circa 1347
• Father Sir Herbert Maxwell
• ' John Maxwell was born at of Carlaverock, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He died circa 1347.
• Family
• Children
  • ◦Sir John Maxwell, Lord Carlaverock+ d. 15 Apr 1373
  • ◦Elizabeth Maxwell+ d. b 1 Jan 1370
• http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p119.htm#i...
• ________________
• 'Sir John Maxwell of Carlaverock1
• M, #338260
• Last Edited=24 Feb 2009
• 'Child of Sir John Maxwell of Carlaverock
  • 1.Elizabeth Maxwell+1 d. b 1 Jan 1369/70
• Citations
• 1.[S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 1013. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.
• http://www.thepeerage.com/p33826.htm#i338260
• ______________________
• 'Maxwell history and genealogy, including the allied families of Alexander, Allen, Bachiler, Batterton, Beveridge, Blaine, Brewster, Brown, Callender, Campbell, Carey, Clark, Cowan, Fox, Dinwiddie, Dunn, Eylar, Garretson, Gentry, Guthrie, Houston, Howard, Howe, Hughes, Hussey, Irvine, Johnson, Kimes, McCullough, Moore, Pemberton, Rosenmüller, Smith, Stapp, Teter, Tilford, Uzzell, Vawter, Ver Planck, Walker, Wiley, Wilson ([c1916])
• http://www.archive.org/details/maxwellhistoryge00hous
• http://www.archive.org/stream/maxwellhistoryge00hous#page/9/mode/1up
• V-1. Sir Herbert de Maxwell, of Carlaverock, Mearns, and first of Pencaitland, 1276. Swore fealty to Edward I., 1296. He first uses the saltire in his arms. D. before 1312.
  • VI-2. John de Maxwell, of Pencaitland and Libberton. Swore fealty to Edward I. in 1296. D. before 1343. He had
    • VII-2. Eustace Maxwell, d.s.p.
    • 'VII-1. Sir John Maxwell, Knight, of Carlaverock, Mearns, Libberton, etc. Succeeded his uncle, Sir Eustace, and his cousin, Herbert. Taken prisoner at the battle of Durham, October 17, 1346. Knighted before 1354 and died after November, 1373. He had by his wife, Christian,
      • VIII-2. Herbert.
      • VIII-3. John.
      • VIII-4. Agnes.
      • VIII-1 : Sir Robert de Maxwell, of Carlaverock. Rebuilt Caerlaverock Castle. Letters of safe conduct to England, etc. D. intes., 1407-1413. Had.
• _____________________________

ACCORDING TO AT LEAST TWO OTHER SOURCES THE PARENTS FOR HUGH DACRE & ELIZABETH MAXWELL LISTED IN THIS SOURCE ARE NOT CORRECT.

• Hugh DACRE (4° B. Dacre of Gillesland)
• Born: ABT 1320 / ABT 1335, Gillesland, Northumberland, England
• Died: 24 Dec 1383
• Buried: Lanercost Priory, Cumberland, England
• Father: Thomas DACRE
• Mother: Catherine LUCY
• Married 1: Elizabeth MAXWELL (dau. of Alexander Maxwell)
• Children:
  • 1. William DACRE (5° B. Dacre of Gillesland)
• Married 2: Elizabeth ? (C. Atholl)
• http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/DACRE.htm#Hugh DACRE (4° B. Dacre of Gillesland)
• _________________

References

• Book of Carlaverock. Thank Volume 1 - Memoirs and plates. Page 582. link