We tend to cling to the very tiny fragment of information that says: "William Caldwell of that Ilk, Prebend of Glasgow ~ 1342 Entry of fee (Excheq Rolls) Chancellor of Scotland 1350-52"

This person is probably the highest ranking Caldwell known to us and thought by many to be our common ancestor even though he is a "deemed celibate" practising cleric of the Catholic Church.

Nothing more seems to be known of the man.

This was from four years after the defeat and capture of David II (Robert the Bruce's son) at the battle of Neville's Cross in 1346. Robert the Bruce had died in 1329.

When I read history I often look for persons who may have been "Caldwells in diguise" in those early days before the common use of surnames. It appears that the Caldwell family enjoyed the favour of the early Stewarts and may well have been involved in the Wars of Independence. But I have never found anyone who might pass for one of the Caldwell ancestors of that time.

Recently I have been reading the scholarly work of Geoffrey WS Barrow : "Robert Bruce & The Community of the realm of Scotland" 3rd ed 1988 Edinburgh University Press ISBN 0 85224 604 8 Pbk.

The author is a respected authority on Robert the Bruce.

As a long shot I might mention that when his well respected Chancellor Bernard died Walter of Twynholm took his place:

Background (from Barrow's work):

"In the Scottish Church during the war of independence this class of educated clergy was relatively small. Its members formed a close-knit, interconnected group, moving easily from diocese to diocese, often holding several offices simultaneously in different dioceses, exerting an influence out of all proportion to their numbers. Their common experience of long years of Study at one or more of the great continental universities must have given the graduates among them a genuine esprit de corps, perhaps a sense of superiority. They were familiar with Paris and Cologne, and there seems to have been a strong Scottish connexion with Bologna, the centre of legal studies. This connexion dated from long before the outbreak of the war with England and continued into the fourteenth century. Among Scottish clerks found at Bologna University in the late thirteenth century were Robert, bishop of Ross (Thomas of Dundee's predecessor), Hervey of Dundee, bishop-elect of Caithness, Ralph of Dundee, Master Michael of Dundee, Thomas of Dundee, bishop of Ross, Master Alpin, archdeacon of St Andrews, treasurer of Scotland under king John and almost certainly son of an earl of Strathearn, John of Berwick (parson cf Renfrew), William of Twynholm, and most famous of all, Master Baldred Bisset." Page 267-8

Note the well educated lawyer "William of Twynholm"

"... it was led by William de Soules and included Alexander Seton, the greatly trusted Robert Lauder and two clerks James Ben and Walter 'of Galloway' (i.e. Twynholm) who were to become respectively bishop of St Andrews and king's chancellor." page 240

"It was some compensation for all this English activity that in 1326 Bruce was able to renew formally the alliance with the king of France. The negotiations were conducted on the Scottish side by the earl of Moray, Master James Ben (Lamberton's successor in the see of St Andrews), Master Adam Murray and Master Walter of Twynholm (Abbot Bernard's successor as chancellor). Their mission to the French court resulted in the treaty of Corbeil (April 1326) whereby each country undertook to give military aid to the other against the king of England." Page 251

Twynholm is just west of Kirkcudbright near the Solway Firth. We know that Walter of Twynholm was the successor to Chancellor Bernard in Bruce's day and we know that William of Twynholm was a learned lawyer trained at Bologna and a member of a select band of Sottish clerics. He was possibly a relation of Walter. Walter was also a Stewart name and the Stewarts had land in Kirkcubright and were also beneficiaries of land taken form the Balliol's in Renfrew and King's Kyle. It is highly possible, but unproven of course, that William of Twynholm eventually became Chancellor in 1350. He had the credentials for the job. He was one of a small band of clerics with the correct education and the only one mentioned called "William". If by this stage he was in possession of the lands of Caldwell it is very possible that he had adopted the name "Caldwell" by that stage (even if he had not previously used the name at Twynholm).

This does tie itself into the Solway Firth legend. The "of Twynholm's" (or "of Galloway" as otherwise mentioned) were obviously an important family.

Another spelling of the name is "Twynam".

This is an interesting supposition and I hope it sends our "scouts" out into the research wilderness. It might not be true but all theories are worth some research to prove or disprove.

If William of Twynholm was the same person as William Caldwell the Scots Chancellor of 1350-52 and had been at Bologna in the "late thirteenth century" then he would have been an old man when he came to the Chancellorship and may well have died in office.

Barrow only talks generally about the legal education of Scots clerics at Bologna and says that it continued into the fourteeth century. I do not know eactly when William of Twynholm was at Bologna for his education.

The positive clues: the small band of educated clerics available after the Wars of Independence that are actually named and only one of them was a "William". The fanciful story about the "three brothers" locates them on a substantial estate near the Solway Firth and associates them with Annandale. Twynholm is near the Solway and at a strategic position on the main road from Dumfries into the Galloway region although still some distance from Annandale it has stronger associations with Annandale than Renfrew. There seems to be an indication that the "of Twynholm" family supported Balliol but switched their allegiance. This may be because they supported the Balliol family when they were the legitimate Kings of Scotland (as Wallace carefully did) but switched their allegiance to Bruce.

The Stewarts especially did well out of the confiscated Balliol lands in Renfrew and Ayrshire. It is not beyond possibility that the "of Twynholm" family acquired land in that area as well on the Stewart coat-tails.

Walter of Twynholm was Chancellor from about 1329 and obviously was regarded as an experienced negotiator for the Scottish Government. How he was related to William of Twynholm is not said - he may have been a younger brother or a nephew. The family must have been substantial and well connected to have had at least one Chancellor and one respected cleric educated in Law at Bologna. It would be easier for William to become Chancellor if a relative had earlier held the same post.

Negatives: no proof whatsover so this is speculation. If William of Twynholm was in Bologna before 1300 then he may well have been 70 years old or older by 1350. There is a chance that he may have been in Bologna after 1300 which makes it more of a possibility.

I am quite excited about this as I think there is enough smoke there for us to go looking for the fire. If we can make the connection it must be one of the biggest and best leads towards tracing the antiquity of the Caldwell family for many years.

"
Twynholm
Edward's army camped there for several days on the invasion of south west Scotland in the summer of 1300. Walter of Twynholm was a clerk and one of the leaders of the Scottish peace negotiations delegation at Newcastle around Christmas, 1319. Walter went on to become Bruce's chancellor by 1326."

"The Comyns were one of the most powerful noble families in Scotland, and during the disputed succession of 1291-92 for the Scottish throne, they supported the succession of John Balliol, who became king of Scots in 1292. Four years later in 1296, when Balliol issued his rally call to arms against his overlord, King Edward I of England, the Comyns and their supporters formed the backbone of his army. The Earl of Buchan, John Comyn, and his cousin, John Comyn elder of Badenoch, brother-in-law of John Balliol, were among the first to rally and call out their armed forces, which were assembled on 22nd March outside Selkirk from where they launched an attack on Carlisle. By the 5th of April, John Balliol had formally renounced his homage to Edward I, who in turn advanced into Scotland with an army and laid siege to Berwick Upon Tweed. After sacking the town and massacring the inhabitants, Edward I moved northward to Dunbar, where he routed the Scots. It can be inferred from the Ragman Roll, which lists the names of about fifteen hundred Scottish subjects, all secular and ecclesiastical landholders who rendered homage to Edward I at Berwick on 28th August 1296, that Macrath ap Molegan had been a Balliol-Comyn supporter. Macrath was one of twenty three men, several of them leading barons in the sheriffdom of Dumfries, who together made the long journey to Berwick and included, Sir Henry de Mundeville, Thomas de Coleville, Andrew de Charters, Mariot de Sutton, Patrick de Buittle, Dovenald Fitz Can, Walter de Twynholm, Thomas de Kirkconnel, Thomas de Bardonan, Robert de Moffat, and Gillemichael Mac Ethe, all of whom directly or indirectly appear to have been loyal to the cause of John Balliol.

On the 3rd September 1296, Edward I granted a writ addressed to the sheriff of Dumfries, ordering him to restore to ‘Makerathe Molgan’ his lands, probably confiscated earlier that year. Walter de Twynholm, Thomas de Kirkconnel, Thomas Durant, William Polmadoc and Euphemia, widow of William of Horndene, also had their lands restored on the same day. One wonders, if perhaps, these men had been implicated in the attack on the town of Carlisle, which was then under the control of Robert de Bruce, lord of Annandale."

Reference:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~alanmilliken/regarde_bien/1.html

In my self imposed quest to try and unearth the original William Caldwell of that Ilk, prebend of Glasgow and for a short time Chancellor of Scotland I have found another candidate. Also courtesy of Professor GWS Barrow and his useful book "Robert Bruce & The Community of The Realm of Scotland".

I am indebted to Professor Barrow's research and hope that my quotes are long enough to spark interest and short enough to be taken as aids in general research.

I ask for further debate on this subject and suggest that William of Eaglesham and William of Twynholm, at least contemporaries, may have been one and the same person:

Barrow mentions another learned cleric "William of Eaglesham", Eaglesham is close by Caldwell and also not far from Glasgow. So the general location of his name-ancestry is much closer than Twynholm near Kirkudbright on the Solway.

It is possible that several "of" names could be used for the same person as Barrow states elsewhwere "the king's chancellor Bernard, better known as Abbot Bernard of Arbroath, less well known as Abbot Bernard of Kilwinning, least well known of all as Bishop Bernard of Sodor and Man" (page 268).

"We know the identity of the man who was chiefly responsible for the impressive Scottish pleading at the papal court. Shortly after Whitsun (May 21st) 1301, a letter was addressed to Pope Boniface by John de Soules, Guardian of the kingdom of Scotland, by the counsel of the prelates, earls, barons and other nobles of the community of the realm, giving formal authority to a delegation composed of Master William Frere, archdeacon of Lothian and professor of canon law in the university of Paris, Master William of Eaglesham, doctor of canon law, and Master Baldred Bissett." (Page 118)

"Now in 1301 he took his place with Soules and Lamberton as one of the handful of key men who directed the national struggle. Indeed, the first of the only two documents which prove that Balmyle was chancellor shows him in the company of Bishop Lamberton and of two out of the three members of the delegation to Rome, Archdeacon Frere and William of Eaglesham." (Page 120)

"Balmyle, already a canon of Dunblane, was elected by a committee of the chapter which included Bruce's friend, Abbot Maurice of Inchaffray, and Master William of Eaglesham, one of Bishop Lamberton's men and the colleague of William Frere and Baldred Bisset in 1301." (Page 174)

" is lifted virtually verbatim from the brief prepared by Baldred Bisset in 1301. In that year one of Bisset's two colleagues pleading the Scots cause at the papal curia had been Mr. William of Eaglesham. In 1321 Mr. William was archdeacon of Lothian, in which office he had been succeeded between 1324 and 1327 by Mr. Alexander Kinninmonth who, as we shall see, was active in pleading the Scots cause at the papal curia in the summer of 1320. The connexion between these two, both trusted clerks of Bishop Lamberton, is seen also in the fact that in 1322 Kinninmonth succeeded Eaglesham in the Aberdeenshire parsonage of Kinkell. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that both were involved in preparing the Scottish brief for the Bamburgh peace talks. There are several telling echoes of the Declaration of Arbroath in the 1321 brief: the Scots have preserved their pristine liberty under 113 kings without subjection to any foreigner; at the hands of Edward I and his son they have suffered oppressions and tyrannical severity; it would be intolerable for the Scots to accept English overlordship so long as there was within their realm one man who would fight to the death for the liberty of the realm and the clergy; and in defending their independence the Scots might have to make the same sacrifices as the holy Maccabees. .... It would be hard to say whether the brief of 1321 literally echoes the letter of 1320 or whether both documents derive material from a common stock which the Scots intelligentsia had been building up for twenty or thirty years," (Page 241)

Note 32 Chapter 4
"32. Glasgow Registrum, no.239. Ibid., no.238, shows that Master William Lamberton, future bishop of St Andrews, Master Thomas of Dundee, future bishop of of Ross, and Master William of Eaglesham, future Scottish envoy to the papal curia in 1301, were also present at Scone at the time of King John's first Parliament."

Note 27 Chapter 14
"27. A laborious search of all the surviving record might throw some light on the question of which clergy were available to meet at Dundee on February 24th, 1310. Bishop Lamberton of St Andrews and his Official, Master William of Eaglesham, were evidently present at a justiciary court at Lindores on February 19th, 1310 (Lindores Liber, no. 10), and Bishop Lamberton held synods at St Andrews and (possibly) at Holyrood in this year (Raine, North Durham, Appendix, . no.489). Bishop Murray of Moray was at Elgin on March 23rd, 1310 (Moray Registrum, nos. 135-6)."

Also to recap re: "William of Twynholm"

" In the Scottish Church during the war of independence this class of iducated clergy was relatively small. Its members formed a close-knit, interconnected group, moving easily from diocese to diocese, often holding several offices simultaneously in different dioceses, exerting an influence out of all proportion to their numbers. Their common experience of long years of study at one or more of the great continental universities must have given the graduates among them a genuine esprit de corps ... there seems to have been a strong Scottish connexion with Bologna, the centre of legal studies. This connexion dated from long before the outbreak of the war with England and continued into the fourteenth century. Among Scottish clerks found at Bologna University in the late thirteenth century were ... William of Twynholm ..." (Pages 267-8)

Where or not it was the same person it still poses the problem that both William of Twynholm and William of Eaglesham would have been very old men by 1350.

I am posing this as a challenge for others to add to this research - please feel free to prove or disprove my theory.

I am hanging on the fact that it is stated that the educated clergy were a small select "band of brothers" and that William of Eaglesham's name crops up fairly regularly. He is closely associated with Alexander Kininmonth who Barrow thinks may have been the author of the "Declaration of Arbroath" We know that William Caldwell of that Ilk was Chancellor of Scotland and prebend of Glasgow and consequently of that clerical group. We know that the Caldwell's had a very large estate on the Ayrshire/Renfrew border and very close to Eaglesham. He was entrusted on several occasions with high level negotiations (as part of a small team).

William of Eaglesham must have been known as a very loyal and helpful supporter of the Bruce cause and might be given some recognition for this.

Most of the small band of clerical brothers might expect their names to crop up here and there due to their very paucity in numbers.

Walter of Twynholm, presumably a relation of William of Twynholm, was also a Chancellor of Scotland.

Consequently - we have small numbers, a limited number of "William's" to chose from, high service to the king that might bring royal favour and a connection to both the Solway and to the immediate area of Glasgow-Eaglesham-Caldwell.

Pity about the 1350 date

A little bit of smoke and not much fire, cheer me up and find some more information to stir in the pot

I have found this book by Barrow a very enjoyable read - I have read another pamphlett also written by Professor Barrow who appears to be a well-respected authority on Bruce and his times.

For your information - Eaglesham is a village just south of Glasgow and very close to the south west of East Kilbride and also just to the south east of Mearns and about 4 miles east as the crow flies from Caldwell.

At the height of the Mure property ownership in that area their land was said to extend as far as Mearns. However I doubt if it actually included Eaglesham.

Eaglesham was (at least later) part of the Montgomery desmesne and it is said that Sir Hugh Montgomery built Polnoon Castle at Eaglessham with the proceeds of Percy's ransom after Otterburn.

"In Cuninghame the de Morville family did not last very long. In 1196 an heiress was left, who conveyed the bailiery through marrlage to the Lord of Galloway, whence another heiress, Devorgilla, by her marriage in 1228 conveyed it to her husband John Balliol, so that it came in due course to the crown.

In the absence of any dominant local figure in the area after the extinction of the de Morvilles, a number of Cuninghame vassals rose to fill the vacuum. The family of Eglinton in the parish of Kilwinning acquired by inheritance the lands of Ardrossan and from David II other properties furth of Ayrshire. On the death of Sir Hew de Eglinton between 1376 and 1378 his estates passed to Sir John de Montgomerie of Eaglesham and Eastwood, who moved from Renfrewshire to make Eglinton the chief residence of the family." (pages 41 & 42)

AYRSHIRE the Story of a County by JOHN STRAWHORN
AYRSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 1975
Printed by T.M. Gemmell & Son Ltd., 100 High Street, Ayr

Here there are connections to the Lord of Galloway and it is noted that Barrow referred to Walter of Galloway, Chancellor as Walter of Twynholm near Kirkcudbright.

Sir Hew de Eglinton did not die until 1376 which was over 20 years after William Caldwell of that Ilk ceased to be Chancellor. Consequently there is every liklihood that the Montogomerie's were still very much in residence at Eaglesham before that time.

However there is a web of connections there including back to Galloway and right in the middle of it there is William of Eaglesham who may even have been a Montgomerie.

Perhaps he was as yet surname-less and when granted lands at Caldwell for loyal services to the crown took the title "of that Ilk" (meaning of the same name as the property) ie: William Caldwell of Caldwell.

In any case if it is the same person then he must have been in his seventies when he became Chancellor during David II's captivity in England.

Tom