John Dunbar, 1st Earl of Moray

JOHN DUNBAR, EARL OF MORAY

The Scots Peerage VI: pp 298-301

Biograohical Summary by Darryl Lundy's Peerage

John de Dunbar, 1st Earl of Moray1 M, #108074, d. before 15 February 1392 Last Edited=17 Mar 2011 Consanguinity Index=0.2% John de Dunbar, 1st Earl of Moray was the son of Sir Patrick Dunbar and Isabel Randolph.2 He married Marjorie Stewart, daughter of Robert II Stewart, King of Scotland and Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan, after 11 July 1371, by dispensation.1 He died before 15 February 1392 at York, Yorkshire, England, from injuries sustained in a tournament where he was unhorsed by the Earl Marshal of England. 3 [Note] He was created 1st Earl of Moray [Scotland] on 9 March 1371/72.3 He fought in the Battle of Otterburn in 1388.3 Children of John de Dunbar, 1st Earl of Moray and Marjorie Stewart Thomas de Dunbar, 2nd Earl of Moray+1 d. bt 1415 - 1422 Alexander de Dunbar1 James de Dunbar1 d. 1390 Euphemia de Dunbar1

Citations [S11] Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 223. Hereinafter cited as Britain's Royal Families. [S37] BP2003 See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37] [S37] BP2003. [S37] Source: Darryl Lundy's Peerage

Note: This incident is said to have taken place in 1394, but this is a mistake, and the statements made as to the Earl's death are not borne out by the available evidence. The Scots Peerage VI: 300

John Dunbar, second son of Sir Patrick Dunbar and Isabella Randolph, younger sister of John Randolph, third Earl of Moray. The new Earl was thus a grandson of the famous Randolph, but the territory was lessened by the districts of Lochaber and Badenoch, with the castle and barony of Urquhart, being deducted from the original grant, as also the gift of the great customs. The earldom was granted to John Dunbar and Marjorie Stewart, and to the longer liver of them, and their heirs, whom failing, to George Dunbar, Earl of March, and his heirs whomsoever. Nothing is known of John Dunbar's history before the death of King David n., except a notice on 21 June 1370 which seems to imply that he had been one of an embassy to England, apparently as ' vallet ' or squire of Sir Robert Erskine. After the accession of King Robert II. he and Sir Robert, with others, opposed the Earl of Douglas in his claim to the crown and persuaded him to agree to the coronation of the new King. He swore to maintain the settlement made of the crown on the Stewart family in 1373. He had on 26 August 1375 a grant of the thanage of Kintore, and of other lands at a later date, in the beginning of the reign of King Robert in. He had also pensions of 100 from the customs of Elgin and Forres, and the same sum from Aberdeen. In December 1379 his merchants and retainers were accused of plundering a wrecked vessel, laden with Skoone herrings (probably from ' Schoueden ' in Holland), and the owners were allowed to plunder a Flemish vessel in turn. He had a safe-conduct to England 15 December 1381. He was one of the Commissioners named in the treaty with England and France 7 July 1384, and of the money brought by Sir John de Vienne from France the Earl received 1000 gold francs as his share. In the Parliament of April 1385 he complained of attacks and murder done on two of his vassals, a complaint which the Earl of Buchan was directed to inquire into, and to do justice. He was one of the Scottish nobles who took an active part against England, and a joint leader with the Earl of Douglas in the expedition which ended at Otterburn in August 1388. One chronicler says that the attack by Percy on the Scottish camp was so sudden that the Earl of Moray fought the greater part of the time without his helmet. He had a serious dispute with the Bishop of Moray, many complaints being made on both sides. The disputants appeared before the Regent Albany and others at Inverness 27 October 1389, and a decree was given settling the questions between them. He was present in January 1389-90 when his son undertook to defend the Bishop's territories, and on 13 August 1390 he and his brother-in-law, Alexander, Earl of Buchan, were specially forbidden to deal in anyway with the bishop's castle of Spynie. He was still at Elgin on 1 May 1390, a date which, connected with various safe-conducts to and from England, for dates running between 16 March 1389-90 and 13 June 1391, has an important bearing on the question of his death. It is usually stated that the Earl went to England to fight a duel with Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, Earl Marshal, whom he had challenged. It is then added that he was wounded, and died at York on his way home. This story is found in a MS. Appendix to Higden's Polychronicon and in Caxton's continuation of Higden, with variations. The earlier story is that on 28 May (year not stated) the Earl of Nottingham and the Earl of Moray ran courses with sharp lances, and because the former held himself so much better than the Scottish Earl, praise was awarded to him. This is a simple narrative, but Caxton's is fuller and less complimentary to Moray. He says the Earl of Moray challenged the Earl Marshal to joust with sharp spears. They ran together, but not their full courses, as the Scottish Earl was cast, bothe hors and man, and two of his ribs broken with the same fall, and so borne home in to his inne, and anon after was carried homeward in a littyer and at York he diet.' The incident is said to have taken place in 1394, but this is a mistake, and the statements made as to the Earl's death are not borne out by the available evidence. The Earl received a safe-conduct on 16 March 1389-90 to fight the Earl of Nottingham, the conduct to be valid between 15 April and 20 June 1390, but, as indicated, he did not leave Scotland before 1 May, when he was in Elgin. On 30 May 1390 he had similar letters permitting passage to and fro in England, and on that day, or a few days before, having ' lately come ' to England to joust with Nottingham, he received from King Richard 200 marks sterling in money and a silver cup and ewer with gilt cover, in all, the sum of 139, lls. Id. sterling, Sir David Lindsay, Sir William Dalziel, and other Scottish knights also receiving gifts. On 10 June 1390 he had a safe-conduct to go on pilgrimage to the shrine of St. John of Amiens, while, as stated, he is referred to on 13 August and 28 September as in Scotland. On 30 December same year he was apparently again in England, and on 13 June 1391 he had another safe conduct to go there. This is the last notice of him in life, and he was dead before 15 February 1391-92, when his son is styled Earl of Moray. He may have died at York, but the evidence that it was the result of wounds is insufficient. The Earl married (in terms of a dispensation dated 11 July 1370) Marjorie, a daughter of Robert, Earl of Strathearn, afterwards King Robert II., who survived him. She married, secondly, between 1391 and 1403, Sir Alexander Keith of Grandown, as appears from a Papal indult to him and her on 24 April 1403 to choose a confessor. She may have been the mother of Sir Alexander's daughter Christian, who married, about 1413, Sir Patrick Ogilvy (see title Airlie), but this is not certain. Her seal shows 'a lion rampant within a royal tressure.'
John, Earl of Moray, and his wife Marjorie had issue:
1. Thomas, who succeeded.
2. Alexander, who is first named on record on 21 September 1393, when his brother Earl Thomas, acting as his procurator, acknowledged on his behalf that he had no right or title to the Maison Dieu at Elgin, except by intrusion, his father, Earl John, having occupied the place violently. The Earl therefore resigned the house in the hands of the Bishop of Moray, who restored the former Master/ Nothing more is recorded of Alexander, save that he is said to have married Matilda, the heiress of James Fraser of Frendraught, and to have had issue, James Dunbar, who became fourth Earl of Moray.
3. James, aged 14 in 1404, who had a grant of the lands of the Precentory of Moray.
4. Euphemia, contracted, on 28 May 1408, by her brother Earl Thomas, to Alexander Gumming, ancestor of the family of Altyre.

Source: "The Scots Peerage" Vol 6, page 298.