Matilda of Glencarnie ^{1 3}

   Another name for Matilda was CUMYN, Matilda 'Bigla', heiress of Glencherneck.²

   User ID: X929.

  General Notes:

"Passing from these to the testimony of authentic records, there is proof indeed of an alliance between the Grants and a descendant of the ancient family of Glencarnie, but divested of the many romantic accessories assigned by tradition. In the muniments of the Grant family, the first mention of Matilda of Glencarnie, the reputed heiress, is found m a precept from the Chancery of King James the First, bearing date 31st January 1434. This document narrates that the deceased Matilda of Glencarnie, mother of Duncan le Grant, died last vested as of fee in the fifth part of the barony of Ilotlies Wiseman, and Burnmukty [Barmuckity], the two Fochabers, a half of Surestown [Sheriffston], and an annualrent of two marks from the town of Thornhill, all in the sheriffdom of Elgin. In these lands and others the precept directs the Sheriff of Elgin to infeft Duncan le Grant as nearest and lawfid heir of Matilda his mother.

On 3d March 1469 another precept was issued by King James the Third, directing the Sheriffs of Inverness to infeft in the lands of Cunygais (Congash) Sir Duncan le Grant, knight, who had been duly retoured nearest and lawful heir to Gilbert of Glencarnie his grandfather. The retour itself, which is dated 7th February 1469, states that Gilbert of Glencarnie, grandfather of Sir Duncan Grant, had died about thirty years before, that is, about 1438."

from Chiefs of Grant




"Bigla appears to have held 'Freuchie' now Castle Grant, from an earlier period, and her son is styled of Freuchie in 1442. In her the line of Cumyn of Glencherneck appears to end."

from Bruces and Grants




"This lady is the 'Bigla Comyn' of tradition, and round her name various legends have gathered. But she was not a Comyn. She was descended from Gilbert, seventh son of Gilbert, third Earl of Strathearn .... who before 1232 had received the lands of Glencarnie from his father. Through Matilda, therefore, the Grants can claim direct descent from that Earl Malise of Strathearn who fought at the Battle of the Standard in 1138."

from Scots Peerage (vol 7) ²

Matilda married Sir John GRANT 'Ian Ruadh', Sheriff-Principal of Inverness after 1408.^{1 2} (Sir John GRANT 'Ian Ruadh', Sheriff-Principal of Inverness was born about 1380.)

  Marriage Notes:

"John Grant (Ian Ruadh), said to have been a knight and Sheriff of Inverness in 1434. He was most probably the husband of Matilda of Glencarnie, the daughter ofGilbert of Glencarnie. The date of Ian Ruadh Grant's death is uncertain, but Matilda of Glencarnie died before 31 January 1434, leaving issue"

from Scots Peerage (vol 7)




"Bigla, or Matilda Cumyn, daughter and heiress of Sir Gilbert Cumyn of Glencherneck, appears to have been the last of her name and line. Bigla married Sir John Grant, Sheriff-Principal of Inverness, whose date is proved by an inscription on the barrel of a musket amongst the arms at Castle Grant, 'Dominus Johannes Grant, miles, Vicecomes de Inverness,' anno 1434....."

".... when Robert Bruce's nephew Randolph was created Earl of Moray, he was called 'Chief of Clanallan,' and 'Kinchardine and Glencarnen' were specially named as part of the earldom - that is, the superiority of those districts; but their duchus or possession remained with the Cumyns, as we have seen, till Bigla's day, when Thomas Dunbar, Earl of Moray, promised them to Sir Alexander Cumyn of Altyre, with his sister Euffame, 'if he should be able to obtain them' which he was not. This was in 1408, we believe, before Bigla's marriage with Sir John Grant, to whom she brought the greater part, if not all his possessions on the Spey."

from Bruces and Cumyns




"The only evidence of a trustworthy nature for the name of the husband of Matilda is to be found in a MS. family history of the Mackintoshes, called the Kinrara MS., preserved by the Laird of Mackintosh. The MS. is thus described by a recent writer, who lays considerable weight upon the accuracy of its statements, and has used it largely in a work devoted to the history of the Mackintoshes. He states that the

'ms. History of the Mackintoshes, by Lachlan Mackintosh of Kinrara, . . .was written in Latin about the year 1670, and was partly founded on three earlier mss., the matter of which it embodied. These were, 1st, a history of the family from the Earl of Fife to Duncan, eleventh chief, who died in 1496, written by Ferquhard, twelfth chief, during his imprisonment at Dunbar for sixteen years before 1513; 2d, a similar history by Andrew MacPhail, parson of Croy, from the Earl of Fife to William, fifteenth chief, murdered in 1550; and 3d, a history by George Munro of Davochgartie, of Ferquhard, twelfth chief, and his three successors.'

In the notice of Malcolm, the tenth chief of Mackintosh, who is said to have died in 1457, the writer records that he had five daughters, and that of these,

'Muriel married John Mor Grant of Freuchie; Mora married Hucheon Rose of Kilravock; Janet married Patrick Mac Ian Roy, brother of Sir Duncan Grant,' etc. ,

thus implying that a John Roy Grant was the father both of Sir Duncan and Patrick.

Apart from tradition, this is all the testimony for the statement that John Grant Roy was the husband of Matilda of Glencarnie, and the father of Sir Duncan Grant. But if the information thus afforded be taken from the earliest MS., written before 1513, it may almost be considered contemporary history."

from Chiefs of Grant ^{1 2 4}