Richard Comyn

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Richard Comyn (d. c 1179) was a Scottish noble, the son of William de Comyn (d. before 1140) , of Fonthill, Wiltshire, and Maud Basset. His father was among the Norman landowners who emigrated to Scotland by invitation of King David I of Scotland, who also held land in England as Earl of Huntingdon. This Comyn family were direct male descendants of Robert Comine, Earl of Northumbria. Richard is known to have had 3 brothers: William (d. 1142), Osbert (d. 1144) and Walter, who is mentioned in a monastic charter from of 1162 or earlier, from Hexham Abbey .

Richard was probably born between 1115 and 1123. In 1144 William Comyn gave him Northallerton Castle, which had had built a few years earlier. The following year, Richard was married to Hextilda, the daughter of Uchtred, Lord of Tynedale, and his wife Bethoc ingen Domnaill Bain, the daughter of King Donald III of Scotland.

In Scotland, he acquired the position of Justiciar of Lothian: he witnessed 6 charters for King Malcolm IV and 33 for King William I. He was captured with King William in 1174 and was a hostage for him in the Treaty of Falaise. He gave, with Hextida's consent, lands to the monks at Hexham, Kelso and Holyrood. He died between 1179 and 1182. Hextilda remarried to Máel Coluim, Earl of Atholl.

[edit] Children

Richard had four sons by Hextilda:

  • John, dead between 1152 and 1159, and buried at Kelso Abbey.
  • William, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan.
  • Odinel (also called Odo), a priest, witness to Richard's charters to religious houses in 1162 and 1166.
  • Simon, mentioned in the 1166 charter to the Augustinians in Holyrood.

and three daughters:

  • Idonea
  • Ada
  • Christien

His daughters were witnesses to a donation made by Máel Coluim, Earl of Atholl and their mother Hextilda to the Church of St Cuthbert in Durham.

[edit] References

  • Young, Alan, Robert the Bruce's Rivals: The Comyns, 1213-1314, (East Linton, 1997), pp15-19.
  • Family Genealogies website
  • CP I:504.
  • Surtees Society 2: 84-5.
  • Morton Cartulary.
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