The Red Book of Menteith [Memoirs of the Earls of Menteith, Followed by Correspondence and Charters] (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 edition. Excerpt: ... PREFATORY EXTRACTS FROM THE RED BOOK OF MENTEITH I. Vol. i. pp. lxxvii-lxxxii. "Since the foregoing and the Memoirs of the two Dukes of Albany were in type, there have been published two volumes of the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, extending over the period embraced in the lives of those two royal Dukes. In his prefaces to these valuable Rolls, the learned editor has done much to elucidate many historical, genealogical, and heraldic questions, particularly in his chapter on the 'Stewart Genealogy.' He has, however, failed to throw light on several points connected with Menteith, as to which we hope he will be pleased to receive a supplement to his information, as the result of our more extended investigations. "Robert Stewart, the third son of King Robert the Second, is stated to have been 'Earl of Menteith by marriage, and of Fife by inheritance from the Countess Isobel.'1 The latter part of the statement may admit of argument, for while in the indenture between the Countess Isobel and Robert, Earl of Menteith, in 1371, now for the first time correctly printed in the present work from the original indenture,2 in terms of which he obtained the Earldom of Fife, there is reference to a former entail of the lands, nothing is said of the dignity, and the presumption is that he was specially created Earl of Fife by his father. But, on the other hand, the statement that Sir Robert Stewart was, or became, Earl of Menteith ' by marriage' with Lady Margaret Graham, the daughter of Sir John Graham, is erroneous, as Sir Robert nowhere holds that dignity until after his father's accession. In 1364, three years after his marriage, he is styled in the Exchequer Rolls simply Robert Stewart of Menteith.3 The records of Parliament show that in 13674 and...