Dervorgilla of Galloway, Lady Balliol

DERVORGUILLA OF GALLOWAY Lady of Balliol

Johannes de Balliolo . . . . . Deruogllla sponfa noflra (c. 1268) Johannis de Balliolo . . . . . Derwogilla sponfa noftra (1269) Dornogilla de Galwlthya domina de Balliolo filia et heres domini Alani de Galwithya quondam Scotorum conflabularij (c. 1270) Dervorgilla, daughter of the late Alan of Galloway (1273) Deruorgulla de Galwedia dna de Balliolo (1282) D. de Galwith Dna de Balliolo (1284) domina Dervorgoil, relicta domini Johannis de Balliol, . . . . . heres magnifici Alani, quondam domini Galwydiae (1290)

Evidence from the Chronicle of Melrose

1232: Anno Domini M.cc.xxxiij. . . . . . Alanus de Galweia dedit filiam fuam uxorem Johanni de Bailiol, et fororem fuam Waltero Bifeth. Melrose Chronica: 143

Evidence from the Chartulary of Dryburgh Abbey

                   1

c. 1268: Confirmatio capituli Sancti Andree super ecclesia de Laweder. . . . . . Johannes de Balliolo . . . . . Deruogllla sponfa noflra . . . . . Dryburgh Liber: charter number 11 on pp. 6-8

                   2

c. 1269: Resignatlo Johannis de Balliolo super ecclesia de Lawedre et super sex capellanis pro ecclesia de Lauder inveniendis. Omnibus Christi fidelibus hoc scriptum visuris vel audituris Johannes de Balliolo salutem • Noverit univerfitas vestra nos refignafle et quietum clamaffe pro nobis et Derwogilla sponfa noftra et pro heredibus noftris in perpetuum abbati et conventui de Dryburgh Premonftratenfis ordinis totum jus et clamium quod habuimus vel habere poterimus super jure patronatus ecclefie de Laweder Sancti Andree diocefis quantum ad nos pertinet . . . . . Dryburgh Liber: charter number 12 on p. 6

                   3

c. 1270: Confirmacio domlne de Balliolo super ecclefia de Laweder. Omnibus hoc fcriptum vifuris vel auditurls Dornogilla de Galwlthya domina de Balliolo filia et heres domini Alani de Galwithya quondam Scotorum conflabularij falutem in Domino. . . . . . Dryburgh Liber: charter number 13 on p. 9

Evidence from the Laing Charters

10 April 1273: Charter by which Dervorgilla, daughter of the late Alan of Galloway, in her widowhood, grants and confirms to God and the Church of St. Mary of Sweetheart, and the monks there of the Cistercian Order of the Convent of Dundrennan, for the abbey ('abachiam') to be built in honour of God and St. Mary the Virgin . . . . . Lain Charters: charter number 46 on pp. 13-4

Evidence from the Archives of Balliol College

                   1

22 August 1282 [octave of the Assumption of the Glorious Virgin Mary, in the year of Grace one thousand two hundred and eighty two]: Dervorguilla of Galloway, Lady of Balliol, to her beloved in Christ, Brother Hugh de Hertipoll, and Master William de Menyl, everlasting Salvation in the Lord. Desiring, with a mother's affection, to provide for the well-being of our sons and Scholars dwelling in Oxford, we will, ordain, and prescribe, that they do keep inviolate all that we hereinafter make known. . . . . . Given at Botel, in the octave of the Assumption of the Glorious Virgin Mary, in the year of Grace one thousand two hundred and eighty two. Early History of Balliol College: pp. 61-4. For English Translation see pp. 64-9]

                   2

Eighth day after Easter Sunday in 1284 [octave-day of Easter, in the year of our Lord twelve hundred and eighty-four]: Letter from Dervorguilla of Galloway, Lady of Balliol, to Friar Richard of Slikeburne. . . . . . Given at Fotheringay, on the octave-day of Easter, in the year of our Lord twelve hundred and eighty-four. Ibidem: pp. 71-2 For English translation see pp. 72-3

Evidence from the Chronicle of Lanercost

21 January 1290: ANNO DOMINI M.CC.XC. . . . . . In fefto Sanctae Agnetis [Jan. 21] fero tranfiit e feculo illuftris femina, domina Dervorgoil, relicta domini Johannis de Balliol, mulier magna opibus et preediis tam in Anglia quam in Scotia; fed multo major ingenuitate cordis, quippe que filia extitit et heres magnifici Alani, quondam domini Galwydiae. Tranfiit autem e feculo annofa apud Caftrum Bernardi, fepulta apud Duquer in Galwidia, coenobio Ciftercienfium, quod ipfa conftruxit et ditavit. Lanercost Chronicon: 134

Printed Evidence

1. Liber S. Marie de Dryburgh. Registrum Cartarum Abbacie Premonstratensis de Dryburgh. (Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh, MDCCCXLVII), 445 pp. including indices
2. Calendar of the Laing Charters, A.D. 854-1837, belonging to the University of Edinburgh. Edited by the Rev. John Anderson (James Thin, Edinburgh, 1899), 1053 pp. including indices
3. Early History of Balliol College, By Frances de Paravicina. (Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., London, 1891), 370 pp. including index
4. Chronicon de Lanercost M.CC.I.-MCCCXLVI. (Edinburgh Printing Company, Edinburgh, M.CCC.XXXIX.), 540 pp. plus indices

Genealogy

The Scots Peerage etc. Edited by Sir James Balfour Paul, Lord Lyon King of Arms. Volume IV (David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 142-3 for the family of Devorgilla of Galloway

Foundation of Balliol College

The Lady Dervorguilla of Galloway established Balliol College in Oxford in the 1260s or '70s. Her statutes for the new college were issued in 1282 at Buittle near Dalbeattie, the caput of the Lordship of Galloway Early History of Balliol College: p. 61 et seq.

Biographical Summary by Wikipedia

Dervorguilla of Galloway (c. 1210 – January 28, 1290) was a 'lady of substance' during the 13th century, wife from 1223 of John, 5th Baron de Balliol, and mother of the future king John I of Scotland. The name Dervorguilla or Devorgilla was a Latinization of the Gaelic Dearbhfhorghaill (alternative spellings, Derborgaill or Dearbhorghil). She was a daughter and heiress of the Gaelic prince Alan, Lord of Galloway and his second wife Margaret of Huntingdon.

Through her mother, she was a descendant of King David I of Scotland. Born in or around 1210, she was a granddaughter of Maud of Chester, and of David of Scotland, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, himself the youngest brother to two Kings of Scotland, Malcolm IV and William the Lion, Dervorguilla's mother Margaret being the couple's eldest daughter.

As her father died in 1234 without a legitimate son (he had an illegitimate son named Thomas), according to both Anglo-Norman feudal laws and to ancient Gaelic customs, she was one of his heiresses, her two sisters Helen and Christina being older and therefore senior. This might be considered an unusual practice in England, but it was more common in Scotland and in Western feudal tradition. Because of this, Dervorguilla bequeathed lands in Galloway to her descendants, the Baliol and the Comyns. Dervorguilla's son John of Scotland was briefly a King of Scots too, known as Toom Tabard (Scots: 'puppet king' literally "empty coat").

Life

The Balliol family into which Dervorguilla married was based at Barnard Castle in County Durham, England. Although the date of her birth is uncertain, her apparent age of 13 was by no means unusually early for betrothal and marriage at the time.

In 1263, her husband Sir John was required to make penance after a land dispute with Walter Kirkham, Bishop of Durham. Part of this took the very expensive form of founding a College for the poor at the University of Oxford. Sir John's own finances were less substantial than those of his wife, however, and long after his death it fell to Dervorguilla to confirm the foundation, with the blessing of the same Bishop as well as the University hierarchy. She established a permanent endowment for the College in 1282, as well as its first formal Statutes. The college still retains the name Balliol College, and the history students' society is called the Dervorguilla society. While a Requiem Mass in Latin was sung at Balliol for the 700th anniversary of her death, it is believed that this was sung as a one-off, rather than having been marked in previous centuries.

Dervorguilla founded a Cistercian Abbey 7 miles south of Dumfries in South West Scotland, in April 1273. It still stands as a picturesque ruin of red sandstone.

When Sir John died in 1269, Dervorguilla had his heart embalmed and kept in a casket of ivory bound with silver. The casket travelled with her for the rest of her life.

In her last years, the main line of the royal House of Scotland was threatened by a lack of male heirs, and Dervorguilla, who died just before the young heiress Margaret, the Maid of Norway, might, if she had outlived her, have been one of the claimants to her throne. Dervorguilla was buried beside her husband at New Abbey, which was christened 'Sweetheart Abbey', the name which it retains to this day. The depredations suffered by the Abbey in subsequent periods have caused both graves to be lost.

Successors

Dervorguilla and John de Balliol had issue:

• * Sir Hugh de Balliol, who died without issue before April 10, 1271.[1]
• * Alan de Balliol, who died without issue.[1]
• * Sir Alexander de Balliol, who died without issue before November 13, 1278.[1][2]
• * King John of Scotland, successful competitor for the Crown in 1292.[1]
• * Cecilia de Balliol, who died unmarried.[1]
• * Ada de Balliol, who married in 1266, William Lindsay, of Lamberton.[1][3]
• * Alianora de Balliol, who married John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch.[1][4]
• * Matilda (or Maud), who married Sir Bryan FitzAlan, Lord FitzAlan, of Bedale, Knt., (d. June 1, 1306),[5][6][7] who succeeded the Earl of Surrey as Guardian and Keeper of Scotland for Edward I of England.

Owing to the deaths of her elder two sons, both of whom were childless, Dervorguilla's third and youngest surviving son John of Scotland asserted a claim to the crown in 1290 when queen Margaret died. He won in arbitration against the rival Robert Bruce, 5th Lord of Annandale in 1292, and subsequently was king of Scotland for four years (1292-96).

Further Reading

Marjorie Drexler. 'Dervorguilla of Galloway.' Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society Vol.LXXIX (3rd series) 2005, pp.101-146. link

Note

Stirnet's "Galloway1" and "Vans1" pages do not mention a marriage between this Dervorgilla and John de Vaux of Dirleton.

https://balliolarchivist.wordpress.com/tag/dervorguilla/

Q&A pronunciation

Q: How do you pronounce Dervorguilla?

A: There are several spellings of this unusual Celtic name; the one above is used by the College and pronounced Der-vor-gilla – hard g as in the gills of a fish – with a slight emphasis on the ‘gil’. Here is Henry Savage on the matter – he was Master 165-72, and wrote the first known history of any college, the oddly titled Balliofergus, published in 1668:

– from Balliofergus, p.4.

He continues for another page and a half on principles of historic pronunciation in general…

The whole of Savage’s college history is online at http://www.flickr.com/photos/balliolarchivist/sets/72157625334030481