John de Menteith
Sir John de Menteith (c. 1275 – c. 1323) was the Scottish traitor who betrayed William Wallace during the first of the Scottish Wars of Independence.
He was born to Mary, Countess of Menteith and her husband Walter "Bailloch" Stewart, Earl of Menteith jure uxoris. He and his older brother, Alexander, Earl of Menteith, replaced their paternal Stewart surname in favour of Menteith, which earned him the nickname Fause (False) Menteith. John possessed the land of Ruskie, Stirlingshire,
He was Governor of Dumbarton Castle, an appointment made by Edward I who was keen to secure the fortification as a major access route into Scotland by sea. Tradition has it that Menteith betrayed Sir William Wallace to English soldiers, which led to Wallace's death and his later nickname Fause Menteith ("Menteith the treacherous").
Wyntoun, whose "Metrical Chronicle" was written in 1418, says:
Tuk in Glasgow William Walays;
And sent hym until Ingland sune,
The English chronicler Piers Langtoft states that Menteith discovered the retreat of Wallace through the treacherous information of Jack Short, his servant, and that he came under cover of night and seized him in bed. A passage in the Scala Chronica, quoted by John Leland, notes, "William Wallace was taken of the Counte of Menteith, about Glasgow, and sent to King Edward, and after was hanged, drawn, and quartered at London."
Menteith married Helena[citation needed], daughter of Gartnait, Earl of Mar[citation needed], by whom he had two sons, Sir John de Menteith the younger and Walter, and one daughter known by name, Johanna. He was said to have had two other daughters.
See also
Sources
- Paul, James Balfour, The Scots Peerage, Vol. VI, (Edinburgh, 1909)