Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 5.djvu/303

 MENTEITH. 301 of Sanquhar [S.], da. of Sir James Douolas, o£ Drumlaurig, by his second wife. Christian, da. of Joliu Montgomery, Master of Eglintouu. He d. probably in 1579 but certainly before Oct. 1587. His widow m. thirdly (— ) WaucuuPE, of Niddry. XVIII. 1580? 8. Jons (Graham), Earl of Mentteith [8.], only s. and h. ; served heir of his father, 29 Oct. 1587, being then a minor. He m. (contract 22 Oct. 1587) Mary, 3d da. of Sir Colin Campbell, of Gleu- orehy, by Catharine, da. of William (Rutiiven), Lonu RutUVEN [S.] He d. Dee. 1598. XIX. 1598. 7. William (Ghaham), Earl of Me.vteitlt [S.], s. and h. ; 6. 1589 ; served heir to his father, 7 Aug. ItilO, b.'iug tUeu of full age ; P.C. [S.], and, having ingratiated himself at Court, Lord Justice General [S.], 1028-33 ; au extra. Lord of Sesaiou, 1628-32, and Presideut of the Privy Council [S.], 1629-33. Being anxious to assert his hereditary right to the Earldom of Strathern [8.] as heir of liue(") to Prince David, son of King Robert II. [S.], he was on 25 May 1030, served heir of line to the said David, Earl of Strathern. Having renounced all claim to the lands belonging thereto, save the lands of Kilbride, he was on 31 July 1631. confirmed in that dignity by Royal charter " to him and his heirs male and of entail, directing that he and they should thereafter be styled EaRLS OF •Stuathkhn and Mentkitii " [S.]( b ) He is accordingly designed "EARL OF STRATHERN AND MENTEITH, LORD KINPONT AND K1LBRYDE "(<•') [S.], in a charter of the lands aud Barony of Airth, co. Stirling, dated 21 July 1032. This right, however, to the peerage of Strathern was very shortly afterwards taken from him by the Court of Session, which, on 22 -March 1633, set aside the retour of 25 Aug. 1630, on the [erroneous] ground that David, Kail of Strathern (to whom that retour has served him heir as ' abacas ataci "') had died without issue. The King accord- ingly revoked the lioyal charter, 31 July 1631, which confirmed the said Earldom of Strathern) and by patent 28 March 1633 (the warrant being dat. at Whitehall 21 Jan. preceding) erected the lands and Barony of Aiiith into an Earldom aud united it with the Earldom of MeNTEITH, declaring its precedency to be that which was due to that Earldom, therein defined as having been cr., 6 Sept. 142&,{?) anil (*) As such heir of line it was considered that a chum to the Crown was fore- shadowed, and. indeed, he was accused of having said that he had "the reddest blood in Scotland." It, also, is to be observed that in his renunciation of right to such ancestral lauds m the Crown had appropriated he reserved " the right aud dignity of blood pertaining to him as the heir of David, Earl of Strathern." The facts of the case were these : — By the death s.p.m. of Kiug James V. [S.] on 14 Dec 1512, the issue male of Kiug Robert II. [S.J became extinct. That King had procured an act of Pari, in 1373 entailing the Crown on his five surviving sons (the three elder by Elizabeth .Mure and the two younger by Eupliumia Ross) nominaCim (so that no question as the legitimacy of the elder sons would have any elt'ect) aud to their issue in tail male, failing which the remainder was to his heirs whomsoever. Mary, Queen of Scots accordingly succeeded in 1542 to the Crown as such heir. Had her cousin, John (Stewart), Duke of Albany [S.], lived but six or seven years longer (he d. in 1536) he, who was paternal grandson of King James II. [S.] (and not .Mary) would have succeeded to the Scotch Crown. The question of the legitimacy of the issue of King Robert by Elizabeth .Mure became of vital importance, only when his heir general had been to be ascertained. If the three elder sous were illegitimate, Queen Mary's claim, which was thro' one of them, was nowhere, and the heir of line of David, Earl of Strathern [S.] (the eldest son of King Robert, by Euphemia Ross), MM entitled to the throne. The then Earl of Menteith, who, in Dec 1542 was this heir, was, however, at that time (1542-43) a prisoner in England ami did not on his return, as neither did his son or grandson, take any Bteps to urge such claim, which was put forward by his great grandson, in 1630, nearly 90 years after it had accrued. (») " Hewlett," p. 71, &c, and Riddell's " Scotch Peerage Law " (1833), p. 33, &c. ( c ) Kiupout is in co. Linlithgow and Kilbvyde is in CO, Perth. ( d ) This date is, oddly enough, in error as to a year ; it should be 6 Sep. 1427. In right of this clause of precedency the Earl of Meuteith (who in the " Decreet of Hanking " had been ranked under the date of ] 400) was (subsequently) placed next Mow " Mar " and next above " Rothes " («!•. 1457) as appears in the records of Pari. 1039.