Walter Comyn, Lord of Badenoch
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Walter Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1258) was the son of William Comyn, Justiciar of Scotia and Mormaer or Earl of Buchan by right of his second wife.
Life
Walter makes his first appearance in royal charters as early as 1211–1214. In 1220, he accompanied King Alexander II of Scotland during the latter's visit to York. He appears as "Lord of Badenoch" as early as 1229, after the defeat of the Meic Uilleim by his father.
Like his father, Walter was given the hand of an heiress, Isabella, Countess of Menteith.
By 1234, Isabella had inherited the Mormaerdom of Menteith, and so Walter became Mormaer or Earl of Menteith by right of his wife (jure uxoris). Template:Sfn Walter appears to have had a son named Henry who witnessed a charter, dated to 1250, of Maol Domhnaich, Mormaer of Lennox. His daughter Isabel was given in marriage to Gilchrist Mure.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Walter was one of the leading political figures in the Kingdom of Scotland, especially during the minority of King Alexander III, when, along with Alan Durward, he essentially ran the country. Template:Sfn He died suddenly in either the October or November 1258.
By this time, his son Henry must have been dead. Isabella remained countess until 1260–1261, when Walter Stewart, husband of Isabella's sister Mary, seized the province. As Walter had no surviving male children, the Lordship of Badenoch passed to Walter's nephew John. John was unable to inherit Menteith.
He is remembered primarily in the proverbial expression Walter of Guiyock's curse, encountered in Sir Walter Scott's Rob Roy, under the English and Lowland form of his name, Walter Cuming, where it appears in chapter 29: Template:Quote
The origin of this is related in Sir Walter Scott's note at that page: Template:Quote
An accident such as this was supposed to be a curse akin to that dealt upon Walter Cuming for his sins. It was thus that the expression originated.[1]
Notes
References
- Template:Cite DNB
- Paul, James Balfour, The Scots Peerage, Vol. VI, (Edinburgh, 1909)
- Young, Alan, Robert the Bruce's Rivals: The Comyns, 1213-1314, (East Linton, 1997)
- REDIRECT Template:S-end
- ↑ "Funk and Wagnall's New Standard Dictionary", The Standard Dictionary Company, London and New York, 1929