Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 5.djvu/63

 LENNOX. 61 VIII. 1373. 7. Margaret, sun jure Countess of Lennox [S. ], da. and h. She wi., about 135u, Walter nE Faslane, of Faslane, s. of Alan ile F., of tlie same. By a charter " which in one place terms Walter de Faslane Ihtminus de Lcrenax [and] ID another holds him to be Comes de Lcrenax," (*) the King in 1884 bestowed on him "the right of summoning to weapon — shawings, or mnsters."( a ) He and his wife resigned the Earldom before 1385 in favour of their eldest son as below. IX. 1385. 5. Dun-can, Earl op Lennox [S.], 1st s. and h.,( b ) by reason of his parent's resignation. He, who was b. about 1350, was in 1885 confirmed by the King in the Earldom, which, having no legit, male issue, he resigned and obtained a new grant thereof, 8 N>v. 1392, with rem. to himself and the heirs male of his bo ly whom failing, to Isabel, his da., and her husband, Murdoch STEWART, and the survivor of them and the heirs of their bodies, with rem. to his own right heirs. This entail was renewed in 1111. He d. s.p.m. legit.(°) 25 May 1425, aged about SO, being beheaded on the Castle Hill of Stirling (with his son ill law, the said Murdoch, then Duke of Albany [S.J, and others) for (presumably) high treason. ( d ) It is probable that. Ellen, Countess of Lennox, liviug iu 1434,( e ) was his widow. X. 1423, 9. Isabel, em }W6 Countess of Lennox [§."), 1st da. to and heir of line, who also by reason of the regrant of the Farldom 1459. in 1392 (above mentioned) was entitled to thnt dignity .(') She in. ,'settl. 17 Feb. 1391/2), Murdoch (Stkwaut), 2d Dik'k ok Alb vny [S.], who (together with her father) was beheaded 25 May 1425. She was kept a prisoner from that date and was living (as " Duchess of Albany and CnuPteu of Lennox," 18 May 1451, but if. s.p.s.(S) at Inchmurrin Castle, Loch Lomund. in 145S or 1459. «»**•♦ [From the date of the death of the Countess Isabel till ) 173 (whet! the Earldom was assumed by the family of Stuart of Darnley) no one appears to have borne the title ; it was not assumed by her bastard grandson, Andrew (Stewart), Lord Avandale [S.J, to whom, on 4 May 1471, the whole " comitatat " of Lennox had been granted for life and who lived till 1487 or 14S8. The heir general of Earl (») Wood's "Douglas' peerage." ( b ) The second son was named Alexander, and it was by virtue of " an alleged service in 1765 "and of a pretended [but " utterly unsupported "] male descent " from him that Alexander Lennox, by petition (referred to the Lords 15 March 1769), claimed the Earldom as heir male (collateral) of Duncan. Earl of Lennox (eldest br. of the claimant's said ancestor) " falsely and uiiblushinnly " setting forth " that the regulating charter was simply to Earl Duncan's Ittivs mule whatsoever," wdiereas *' the ultimate substitution " was " to the Earl's heirs ic/ittsoeccr." [" Jliddell," p. 651.] (°) Donald Lennox, one of his bastard sons, was ancestor in the male line of William Lennox, of Woodhead, who at a peerage election [S.Jin 1768 opposed the claim of Alexander Lennox to the Earldom (see noto " b " next above) as being " preferable heir male." ( d ) " What the crimes were for which he [the Regent Albany] and his aged father in law were put to death are unknown, no record existing to throw light on the subject— the charter of Hubert 111. preserved the Earldom. It does not appear of much moment which of the victims Buffered first ; if the Regent, then the succession to the Lennox title never opened to him, and the moment the breath passed from the body of the Earl the comitatus, jure tanguinit, rested in his da., Isabella, by force of the 'Royal Charter." See "Earldom of Lennox," No. 6, in Maidment's "Collectanea Oenealo/ica, 1883. (•) See " Rtddett," p. 652, note " i." ( f ) It appears to be owing to this regrant that the Earldom was not forfeited by the treason of the late holder. See note " d " next above. (Bj The two daughters (// indeed they ever existed) assigned to her iu Wood's " Dow/las " ami in Fraser's " Lennox " must have d. s.p. either before her or certainly before the succession opened to the issue of her younger sisters. Her four sons all d. before her, without legitimate issue, tho' one left several bastard sons.