MUNRO, Robert 16th Baron of Foulis ^{1 2}

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  General Notes:

XVI. Robert Munro, Sixteenth Baron, who has a Royal charter under the Great Seal, dated in 1589, of the lands of Easter Fowlis, Daan, Inverlael, and others in the counties of Ross and Inverness, addressed to Roberto de Foulis, as registered in the public archives. This disproves the statement in the Coul MS. of his having been only a "fiar"\emdash a person in fee of an estate - and heir apparent of the barony, and that he predeceased his father by three months."

from History of the Munrros of Fowlis ¹

  Research Notes:

'SECOND' MARRIAGE

"Robert (Munro) was to have married, secondly, Eleanor Gordon, third daughter of John tenth Earl of Sutherland, by his second wife, Helenor Stewart, Dowager-Countess of Erroll, daughter of John third Earl of Lennox, grandfather of Lord Darnley. But Lady Eleanor died at Dornoch 'on the night before the day fixed for her marriage with the Laird of Fowlis ; and that day, which was thought to have been the day of marriage and of mirth, fell forth to be a day of mourning and of sorrow.' She cannot therefore be described as a wife, as she has been by certain genealogists. In some Peerages it is correctly stated that she died unmarried. Sir Robert Gordon, her nephew, makes the statement just quoted, and he could not have been mistaken about the contract of his aunt's marriage, or the peculiar circumstances connected with it. The deed is dated the 15th of April, 1579, and is preserved in the Sutherland charter chest."

from History of the Munros of Fowlis ¹

Robert married Marjory MACKENZIE, daughter of Kenneth MACKENZIE 10th of Kintail and Elizabeth STEWART, 11 July 1574 (charter).¹ (Marjory MACKENZIE was born about 1551 and died 1574(1575) ¹.)

  Marriage Notes:

"He (Robert Munro) married three times, first, Marjory, youngest daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie, X. of Kintail, by Lady Elizabeth Stewart, third daughter of John third Earl of Atholl, by his wife Lady Mary (see Note below) Campbell, third daughter of Archibald second Earl of Argyll, the marriage being confirmed by a charter granted under the Great Seal on the 11th of July, 1574, by 'Robert Munro of Fowlis to Marjory, sister to Colin Mackenzie of Kintail, of the lands of Meikle Findon,' in the Black Isle. Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail died on the 6th of June, 1568. The Lady of Fowlis died a few months after her marriage, without issue."

from History of the Munros of Fowlis

Note:

This is an error. Elizabeth Stewart's parents were John, 2nd Earl of Atholl and Janet Campbell. Janet's sister Mary married Sir James Stewart, Sheriff of
Bute and Captain of Rothesay Castle. ³

Robert next married Janet SINCLAIR, daughter of George SINCLAIR 4th Earl of Caithness and Elizabeth GRAHAM.^{1 2} (Janet SINCLAIR was born about 1553 and died 1582 or after ².)

  Marriage Notes:

"Fowlis married, secondly, soon after, in the same year (1579), Janet Sinclair, daughter of George fourteenth (error for 'fourth') Earl of Caithness, who died shortly after her marriage, also without issue."

from History of the Munros of Fowlis




"Douglas mentions Janet St. Clair, a daughter of this Earl, as third wife of Robert Munro of Foulis, said by him to have died without issue. In 1582 Janet Sinclair, Lady Foulis, had a Tack of the Parsonage of Spittal, which belonged to the Caithness family."

from Caithness Family History

Note:

See Research Notes for Robert Munro, Janet's husband, explaining why she is considered his second and not his third wife. ^{1 2}

Robert next married Elizabeth ROSE, daughter of Hugh ROSE 10th of Kilravock, 'The Black Baron' and Catherine FALCONER, in 1587.¹ (Elizabeth ROSE was born about 1556 and died by 1603 ⁴.)

  Marriage Notes:

"In 1587 he (Robert Munro) married, thirdly, Elizabeth, sixth daughter of Hugh Rose, X. of Kilravock (by his wife, Catherine, daughter of David Falconer of Halkerton), and widow of Walter Urquhart of Cromarty, to whom she was 'contracted' on the 31st of August, 1579, with a 'tocher of 2000 merks.' The contract with Urquhart also states that she is to be infeft in the liferent of the lands of Little Suddie ; the Sub-Chanter's croft within the Chanonry of Ross ; Wester Balblair ; Balakervie ; Kinbreachie ; nineteen roods of a field lying within the burgage of Rosemarkie ; and the wester oxgang of Little Rhynie, within the Abbey of Fearn. She was Walter Urquhart's second wife, and at his death, in November, 1586, there was no surviving issue. By Munro she had one child, a daughter Margaret, who married Robert Munro, III. of Assynt in Ross, with issue."

from The History of the Munros of Fowlis ¹