Alan of Galloway

Alan of Galloway (b. before 1199, d. 1234), also known as Alan fitz Roland, was a leading thirteenth-century Scottish magnate. As the hereditary Lord of Galloway and hereditary Constable of Scotland, Alan was one of the most influential magnates in the Irish Sea zone. He first appears in courtly circles in about 1200. After inheriting his father's possessions, and his mother's possessions almost almost two decades later, Alan was one of the most powerful magnates in the Kingdom of Scotland. He was one of John, King of England's advisors concerning Magna Carta, and later played a considerable part in Alexander II, King of Scotland's ambitions in violent aftermath of John's repudiation of the charter. Alan participated in the English colonisation of Ulster, simultaneously aiding the Scottish crown against rebel claimants in the region. He also entered into an inter-dynastic struggle for control of the Kingdom of the Isles, supporting one of his kinsman over another. Alan was the last legitimate ruler of Galloway descending from the dynasty of Fergus, Lord of Galloway.

Background

Alan was born sometime before 1199. He was the eldest son of Roland, Lord of Galloway (d. 1200), and his wife, Helen de Morville (d. 1217). His parent's were likely married before 1185, possibly at some point in the 1170s, since Roland was compelled to hand over three sons as hostages to Henry II, King of England in 1186. Roland and Helen had three sons, and two daughters. The name of one Alan's brothers is unknown, suggesting that he died young. The other, Thomas (d. 1231), became Earl of Atholl by right of his wife. One of Alan's sisters, Ada, married Walter Bisset, Lord of Aboyne. The other, Dervorguilla, married Nicholas de Stuteville, Lord of Liddel (d. 1233).

Alan's mother was the sister and heir of William de Morville, Lord of Lauderdale and Cunningham, Constable of Scotland (d. 1196). Alan's father was the eldest son of Uchtred, Lord of Galloway (d. 1174), son of Fergus, Lord of Galloway (d. 1161). The familial origins of Fergus are unknown.

Campaigns

In 1212 Alan responded to a summons from King John I of England by sending 1,000 troops to join the war against the Welsh. In this year he also sent one of his daughters to England as a hostage. She died in 1213 in the custody of her maternal uncle. Alan is listed as one of the 16 men who counseled King John regarding the Magna Carta.

Alan, like his forebears, maintained a carefully ambiguous relationship with both the English and Scottish states, acting as a vassal when it suited his purpose and as an independent monarch when he could get away with it. His considerable sea power allowed him to supply fleets and armies to aid the English King John in campaigns both in France and Ireland.

In 1225, Alan lent military aid to Ragnvald Godredsson, King of the Isles against Ragnvald's half-brother, Olaf. Sometime later, Alan's illegitimate son, Thomas, was married to Ragnvald's daughter. The marriage gave Alan a stake in the kingship, and it appears that Thomas was intended to succeed to the Kingship of the Isles. However, the marriage appears to have angered the Manx people, and Ragnvald was deposed from the kinship and replaced by Olaf in 1226. Ragnvald may well have gone into exile at Alan's court. In 1228, Alan and his brother, Thomas, and Ragnvald, attacked and devastated the Isle of Man, while Olaf was absent in the Hebrides.

Family

Alan was married three times. His first wife was a daughter of Roger de Lacy, Constable of Chester. His second marriage, which took place in 1209, was to Margaret (d. before 1228), eldest daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon (d. 1219). In about 1229, Alan married Rose (d. after 1237), daughter of Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster (d. 1242).

Alan had several children from his first two marriages, although only daughters reached adulthood. Helen, the daughter from his first marriage, married Roger de Quincy (d. 1264). At some point before 1234, Christiana, one of Alan's daughters from his second marriage, married William de Forz (d. 1260). Dervorguilla (d. 1290), a younger daughter from Alan's second marriage, married John de Balliol (d. 1268). Alan also had bastard son, Thomas, who survived into adulthood.

Death

Nineteenth-century depiction of an effigy, at Dundrennan Abbey, generally regarded as that of Alan.

Thomas, Alan's brother, died in 1231, possibly from injuries suffered in a tournament accident. Alan's death, about three years later in 1234, is recorded by the Annals of Ulster, the Chronicle of Melrose, and the Chronicle of Lanercost—the later which specifies the month February. Alan's body was interred at Dundrennan Abbey, where a particular effigy is generally identified as his. He was the last Gallovidian ruler in the legitimate, patrilineal line of Fergus. Alan's death brought an abrupt end to about half a century of stable Gallovidian rule under him and his father, and the lack of a legitimate male heir to succeed himself led to a sudden succession crisis.

At the time of his death, Alan's closest legitimate male heir was his brother's son, Patrick of Atholl (d. 1242), who was still a minor at the time of his father's death. Although Celtic practice did not bar Alan's illegitimate son, Thomas, from the succession of Galloway, according to feudal custom, Alan's nearest heirs were his three daughters.

Dundrennan Abbey, the site of Alan's internment, was founded by his paternal grandfather.

The Gallovidian succession crisis was seized upon by the Scots. The husbands of Alan's daughters were prominent men of Anglo-Norman descent, and the prospect to bring about the demise of Alan's former semi-autonomous lordship, through its division between such Anglo-Scottish noblemen, was an opportunity that Alexander could not pass up. The prospect of Alan's son succeeding to the lordship, however, threatened to reignite Gallovdian interests in the Isles, and could thus threaten the welfare of the Scottish realm. According to the Chronicle of Melrose, the Gallovidians appealed to Alexander to instead take lordship of Galloway into his own hands. It may have been more likely, however, that the people considered Alan's son as their true lord. Whatever the case, Alexander denied their request, quickly crushed a retaliatory Gallovidian uprising, and went ahead with the partitioning.

Alan's Irish lands were not inherited by his daughters. Forty years later the lands appear in the hands of the Bissets, although precisely how this came about is uncertain. Similarly, the succession of the Irish and Gallovidian lands of Alan's brother, Thomas, is uncertain. They should have passed to his son if he had not died on the eve of his inheritance (under suspicious circumstances, apparently at the hands of the Bissets).

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External links

• Alan, lord of Galloway (d.1234) @ People of Medieval Scotland, 1093–1314