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Contents 1 John the Scot (First Earl, Third Creation) 1.1 Summary 1.2 A well-connected Earl 1.3 Robin Hood's brother? 1.4 sources - John Scotus

[edit] John the Scot (First Earl, Third Creation)

(Kings: Henry III)

[edit] Summary

Another indirect claim and another possible poisoning.

• Parents: David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon by his wife Maud of Chester(1171-1233), daughter of Hugh de Kevelioc (Earl of Chester).
• Spouse: Elen ferch Llywelyn, daughter of Llywelyn the Great
• Children: none

[edit] A well-connected Earl

John of Scotland or John de Scotia (c. 1207 – 6 June 1237), sometimes known as "the Scot", was an Anglo-Scottish magnate, the son of David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon by his wife Maud of Chester(1171-1233), daughter of Hugh de Kevelioc (Earl of Chester). David of Scotland (c. 1144 – 17 June 1219) was the youngest surviving son of Henry of Scotland, so his paternal grandfather was David I of Scotland.

John married Elen ferch Llywelyn, daughter of Llywelyn the Great, in about 1222. The records of Llywelyn's family are confusing, and it is not certain which of his children were illegitimate, but Elen appears to have been his legitimate daughter by Joan, "Lady of Wales", herself illegitimate daughter of King John of England.

John became Earl of Huntingdon in 1219 on the death of his father, and later Earl of Chester in 1232 due to his connection to the previous earl, Ranulph de Blondeville, who was his mother's brother. The granting of the earldom of Chester to one of earl David Ceann mhor's sons was probably an attempt to reduce conflict on the Northern Marches of England.

There was some conflict over the succession but this was in the courts rather than on the battlefield. In proceedings headed, "Placita coram Domini Rege apud Westm: a die Paschæ in XV. dies." [22nd April, 1235.] it is recorded that:

• John, Earl of Chester and Huntingdon, was summoned to answer the complaint of Hugh de Albini, William, Earl of Ferrars, and Agnes his wife, and Hawise de Quency, Countess of Lincoln, that he had deforced them of their reasonable share of the inheritance of Ralph, formerly Earl of Chester, and of which Ralph had died seised in the county of Chester, taking into account the shares they as well as John had received in other parts of the same inheritance; and they say that the said Earl holds the capital messuage in Chester, and Hugh de Albini has Coventry, with other lands; William de Ferrars and Agnes his wife have Certeslegh (Chartley), with other lands; and Hawise de Quency has Bullingbrock, with other lands. And the Earl of Chester appeared by his attorney, and pleaded he ought not to answer to this plaint and summons, which referred to lands in Cheshire, because the King's writ did not run in Cheshire; and he asked that the King should maintain his liberties such as he and his ancestors had held, and that the said complainants should appear in the county of Chester, where he would do them full justice. The Earl of Ferrars and the other plaintiffs who are heirs and coparceners of the said inheritance pray the judgment of the King. The suit is respited to the morrow of St. John the Baptist, to be heard before the King.

The Earldom reverted to the Crown in on 6 June 1237 on the death of John the Scot (aged 30). It was annexed to the Crown in 1246 when the honour of Chester was bought from Ranulph's sisters by Henry III. Although the shadow of yet more treachery is suggested in Glover's "history and gazetteer of the county of Derby":

• In eight years after the death of earl Ranulph, expired his nephew, John the Scot, the last earl of Chester, without issue, poisoned by Helena his wife, the daughter of Llewellyn, prince of Wales. These unhappy espousals had been brought about by the policy of earl Ranulph, who by means of them secured certain present privileges, and expected that the regalities ofthat old British principality would one day be enjoyed by his sister's descendants. On the demise of earl John the Scot, the prerogatives of the palatinate were assumed by the crown, on the plea " tie tarn prteclara dotninatio inter colot Jiceminarum dividí contingeret." — " Lest it should happen that so illustrious a dominion should fall under the divided sway of the distaffs of women."

The poison story turns up again in the "Notitia cestriensis: or Historical notices of the diocese of Chester" which contains the footnote:

• John Scot (so called because a Scot by birth) was the last Earl of Chester and Huntingdon, and died June 7th, 1237, without issue male, having married Helen, daughter of Lewellin, Prince of Wales, by whom he was poisoned, according to the testimony of several ancient chroniclers.

King Henry III passed the Lordship of Chester, but not the title of Earl, to his son the Lord Edward in 1254, and as King Edward I he conferred the title and the lands of the Earldom first on son, Edward, the first English Prince of Wales. By that time the Earldom of Chester consisted of two counties: Cheshire and Flintshire.

Elen ferch Llywelyn re-married, her second husband being Sir Robert de Quincy. Their daughter, Hawise, was married to Baldwin Wake, Lord Wake of Lidel. Hawise and Baldwin’s granddaughter, the unfortunate Margaret Wake, was the mother of Joan of Kent, later Princess of Wales. Thus the blood of Llywelyn Fawr passed into the English royal family through Richard II - who was deposed in 1399 and briefly imprisoned at Chester Castle.

[edit] Robin Hood's brother?

John had an older brother, Robert Le Scot, who some believe to be the dispossessed title holder of the earldom of 'Huntington' upon which Anthony Munday (1560-1633) based his "Robin Hood" plays and forever connected the Robin Hood ballads with the earldom of Huntingdon. Note, there are a number of locations titled Huntingdon or Huntingdon, one is actually a place North of the city of York, the lands of which were owned largely by David I of Scotland who was John Le Scot's great grandfather. Others are at Huntington in Scotland, Huntington in Herefordshire and of course Huntingdon in today's Cambridgeshire. The story is discussed in more detail under Ranulf of Blundeville.

[edit] sources - John Scotus