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 won earldom of Lennox, henceforth steadfastly adhered to the popular cause. In March 1308 Menteith was among the Scottish magnates who wrote to the king of France on behalf of the national cause (Acts Parl. Scotland, i. 13, 99). In 1309 he was sent with Sir Nigel Campbell to treat with, earl of Ulster [q. v.], for which purpose he received a safe-conduct, dated 21 Aug., from Edward II (Fœdera, ii. 85). His English lands were forfeited for his treason, and were either granted to royal servants or impoverished by heavy fines (Acts Parl. Scotland, i. 80, 138). In 1316 he was commissioned with Thomas Randolf to treat on behalf of Robert Bruce for a truce with the English (Fœdera, ii. 302). Menteith remained closely attached to the royal court, as is shown by the numerous charters he attested (Liber de Mailros, ii. 341, 351, 356; Liber Sancte Crucis, pp. 74, 90, 105, 365; Reg. Dunfermline, p. 229; Reg. de Kelso, p. 365). He was at the Arbroath parliament in April 1320, and signed the letter sent by the barons of Scotland to Pope John XXII (Acts Parl. Scotland, i. 15, 114; Liber Pluscarden, i. 202). He was then described as ‘guardian’ of the earldom of Menteith. He was one of the negotiators of the thirteen years' truce between Bruce and the English, signed on 30 May 1323 (Fœdera, ii. 521), and was immediately afterwards present at a Scottish council at Berwick in June (ib. ii. 524). The last recorded grants to him are in 1329, during the minority of King David Bruce (Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, i. 178, 180), one of whose charters he also attested. Later references to John of Menteith probably refer to a knight of the same name who was sheriff of Clackmannan in 1359 (ib. i. 570).



MENTEITH, MENTET, or MONTEITH, ROBERT (fl. 1621–1660), author of ‘Histoire des Troubles de la Grande Bretagne,’ represented himself in France as one of the Menteiths of Salmonet, descended from the Menteiths of Kerse, and more remotely from the ancient earls of Monteith. According to one account the designation of Salmonet was his own invention: ‘The fact was that his father was a mere fisherman or tacksman of fishings (user of a Salmon-net) on the Forth at Stirling’ (, Domestic Annals of Scotland, ii. 70). There was, however, at one time in Stirlingshire a place called Salmonet, with which his father, Alexander Menteith, a citizen of Edinburgh, may have had some connection. Robert was the third and youngest son. He was educated at the university of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.A. in 1621. Subsequently he became professor of philosophy in the protestant university of Saumur, where he remained four years. In 1629 he was nominated by two ministers of Edinburgh for the professorship of divinity in the university, but his nomination being strongly opposed by three other ministers as well as by the principal and regents, he was not appointed. Having obtained orders from Archbishop Spotiswood, he was in 1630 presented by Charles I to the kirk of Duddingston, and on the 20th he was admitted by warrant from Spotiswood by two or three ministers ‘without acquainting the Presbytery’ (, History, viii. 72). Having, however, been discovered in an illicit amour with Anna Hepburn, wife of Sir James Hamilton of Priestfield (, Staggering State of the Scots Statesmen, ed. 1872, p. 75), he fled the country, and on 7 Oct. 1633 was denounced a rebel. He himself attributed his retirement from Scotland to the action of the extreme presbyterian party on account of his episcopal leanings.

Menteith went to Paris, and having joined the catholic church obtained the favour of Cardinal Richelieu, and became secretary first to M. de la Port, grand prior of France, and after his death to de Retz, then coadjutor to the Archbishop of Paris, and afterwards cardinal. By de Retz he was made one of the canons of Notre-Dame. Michel de Marolles, who met him at court in 1641, refers to his gentle and agreeable personality and his witty conversation, and adds that never ‘was there a man more wise, or more disinterested, or more respected by the legitimate authorities’ (Mémoires, Amsterdam, 1755, i. 244). He expresses an equally high opinion of his learning and intellectual accomplishments, and makes special mention of the elegant French style of his writings. On the arrest of Cardinal de Retz in the Louvre in December 1652, Menteith was for some time sheltered by Michel de Marolles in his abbey of Baugerais in Touraine (ib. p. 367). He died some time before 13 Sept. 1660, when in the privilege for printing his ‘Histoire’ he is referred to as dead. He had two sons: William of Carruber and Rande-