Noble Scots

To quote the immortal Bette Davis, “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.” It turns out some of my grandmother’s forebears didn’t merely react to history.

They made it.

Her first recorded family members are no more than vague shapes in a thick Scottish mist. During the Dark Ages, they were petty kings and lairds holding sway over portions of a divided land we wouldn’t recognize today. They were baptized by their relation St. Columba, “The Apostle to the Picts” and in a great hall’s flickering firelight listened to tales of Queen Medb, Niall of the Nine Hostages, and the warrior Pendragon .

Early in the 13^th century, a personality emerges. Sir David Graham of Dundaff was born in his father’s Ayrshire castle in 1210. He served as the sheriff of Berwickshire, obtained a charter for vast tracts of land from King Alexander III and acquired the property of Kincardine in Perthshire.

His heirs were similarly involved in their country’s politics. His son Sir John de Graham was killed in 1298, fighting alongside his close friend William Wallace in the Battle of Falkirk.

Sir John de Graham. Source: clan-graham-society.org 

Another son, Sir Patrick Graham of Kincardine, was more diplomatic. Back in 1281 he had been sent to negotiate the marriage of Prince Alexander of Scotland and Margaret of Flanders. He acknowledged Margaret, Maid of Norway, as heiress to the Scottish throne. In 1292 he swore fealty to England’s Edward I and agreed to the betrothal of the Maid to Edward’s heir, the future Edward II.

This situation seems very genteel, but it wasn’t. Seven-year-old Margaret died of “seasickness” on her bridal voyage and was buried at sea. The only certainty about the child’s fate was her being tossed overboard.

Sir Patrick was summoned to attend Edward I into France in 1294, and while engaged in this “honor”, became disenchanted with the English.

In 1296, he died in the Battle of Dunbar, defending King John Balliol against English invaders. He was considered one of the noblest and wisest of the Scottish barons, and even impressed Edward’s soldiers with his bravery and gallantry. 

Battle of Dunbar. Source: Pinterest