Chief Sir Alexander Menzies, Knight, of Menzies

SIr Alexander Menzies (otherwise Sir Alexander de Meyners) (1235 - 1320)

Sir Alexander Menzies is the son of Sir Robert Menzies (Otherwise Sir Robert de Meyners). Sir Alexander Menzies was a supporter of Robert I, King of Scots, 1306-29 Clan Menzies, pp. For an account of Sir Alexander see the Red and White Book of Menzies David Prentice Menzies, FSA. Scot., The Red and White Book of Menzies etc. (Glasgow, 1894), pp. 35-61

family

He married Giles Stewart, daughter of James Stewart, 5th Stewart of Scotland. They had 3 sons & 1 daughter:

* 1. Sir Robert the Menzies, Viscount Menzies, cousin to King Robert ll. Married Margaret de Oyth, and got with her the lands of Ceres, &c., and had three sons.

• 2. Sir Thomas of Garrioch.
• 3. Sir Alexander of Durrisdeer, who married his cousin, Giles Stewart, the daughter of Sir James Stewart, of Preston.
• 1. Annabella.

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biographical notes

From page 76 of The "Red and white" book of Menzies ... The history of Clan Menzies and its chiefs by Menzies, David Prentice Published 1894

Chief Earl Alexander the Meyeners, the 41st in descent from Maynus, 4th Baron of Menzies

Acknowledged as Earl Menzies in an Act of Parliament of Scotland, on the 29TH October 1312, at Inverness.

a.d. 1235-1320.

CHIEF SIR ALEXANDER THE MENZIES of Menzies, on the death of his father, Sir Robert the Menzies, in the year 1266, succeeded to the lands of that " Potent Chief," and the possessions of his ancestors. Scotland at that time was under a wise and prudent ruler, Alexander III., to whom his father was one of the regents during his minority, and also acted as one of the councillors and advisers in the affairs of State ; and, as the custom was, the king renewed the charters held by his father, Sir Robert, to him, and that through the representative of the Crown in Perthshire, the Earl of Athol. This charter practically confirms their having always held the Lands of Weem, Aberfeldy, etc., and is still in the possession of Sir Robert Menzies, Bart., in his Charter Room, at Castle Menzies ...

From page 60 - 61 of The "Red and white" book of Menzies ... The history of Clan Menzies and its chiefs by Menzies, David Prentice Published 1894

Chief Earl Alexander the Menzies, by his wife, Egidia Stewart (the sister of Walter, the Lord High Steward of Scotland, who married Marjory Bruce, the daughter of King Robert the Bruce), had three sons and one daughter.

(1st) Sir Robert Menzies, his successor as chief, and afterwards Viscount or Earl of Edinburgh.

(2nd) Sir Thomas of Menzies, who held the lands and barony of Garrioch, in Aberdeenshire, during his father's lifetime, and also the lands of "Umyne." He was one of the Scottish Barons who framed the letter to the Pope in 1320, to which he appended his seal.

(3rd) Sir Alexander of Menzies, who got the lands of Durrisdeer after his father's death restored to him by James Stewart, to whom in the first instance (on the death of the chief, Sir Alexander) they went, as recorded by Robertson's Index, No. 82, p. 1 3 — " To James Stewart, brother of Walter Stewart of Scotland, the lands of Dorisdeir, in the valley of the Xeith, which Alexander Meinzies resigned " by his death. Following which these lands were re-transferred to this 3rd son, Sir Alexander of Menzies, who had married Giles Stewart, daughter of this same Sir James Stewart, the brother of Walter the Lord High Steward, for which the young Sir Alexander Menzies got a charter, a copy of which — made in 1739 from the Register of the Great Seal, is No. 4 of the charters at Castle Menzies — records, " Charter by King Robert the Bruce to Alexander de Meyners, knight, and Giles Stewart, his spouse, of all and haill the Barony of Dorisder, with the pertinents : To be holden of his Majesty for service used and wont." No date, but must have been about 1323 to 1329.

From "Ancestors of a 21st century British family"

The name de MENZIES is of Norman origin, coming from the little village of Mesnieres-en-Bray in Normandy south from Dieppe to England where it was transformed into Manners, the surname of the Dukes of Rutland, although other early spellings in Scotland include Meyers, Mingies and Mengues.

The first recorded of that name in Scotland is, Sir Robert de MESNIERES/MEYERIS became Lord Chamberlain/Chancellor of Scotland to Alexander II in 1249 and was granted lands around Weem in Perthshire where Castle Menzies stands today.

Sir Robert's son, Sir Alexander de MEYNERS (MENZIES) held Weem, Aberfeldy and Fortingall in Atholl.

• page 356 of Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, 2011 by Douglas Richardson. "Giles de Burgh, married (as his 3rd wife) James [Stewart] (or James fitz Alexander), Knt., 5th Stewart of Scotland, son and heir of Alexander Stewart, Knt., 4th Stewart of Scotland, of Dundonlad. They had four sons, Andrew, Walter, Knt. [6th Steward of Scotland], John, Knt., and James, Knt., [of Durrisdeer], and one daughter, Giles (wife of Alexander de Meyners or Menzies, Knt.). ...."
• *http://www.thepeerage.com/p514.htm#i5139
  • Sir James Balfour Paul, The Scots Peerage: founded on Wood's edition of Sir Robert Douglas's The Peerage of Scotland (Edinburgh, Scotland: David Douglas, 1904), volume I, page 14.