Caldwell

The name Caldwell in Ireland is usually of Anglo origin having been brought to the country by settlers in the seventeenth century. It was also sometimes adopted by the native Gaelic O'hUarghuis Sept of County Tyrone and by the MacConluain Sept of County Cavan.

http://www.irishsurnames.com/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?name=caldwell&capname=Caldwell&letter=c&user=ISNS&item=ss

"Caldwell is an ancient Scottish name that was first used by the Strathclyde-Briton people of the Scottish/English Borderlands. It is a name for someone who lived in Renfrewshire."

http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/caldwell-coat-arms.htm

hi-ho, hi-ho - this is the first time I have seen this written independently of my thoughts!

Wonder where this little gem originally came from?

ARMS of James Stamford Caldwell
1787-1858
of Linley Wood, Talke, Staffordshire, England

Arms. Quarterly: 1st and 4th, per pale, sa. and vert, a stag's head, couped, arg.; in chief, three cold wells, ppr., for Caldwell; 2nd and 3rd, arg, two bars, az.; on a canton, gu., a gauntle, grasping a broken sword, ppr., hilt and pommel, gold for Stamford.
Crest. A lion, couchant, arg., gorged with two bars, the upper, sa., the lower vert, holding between the paws a cold well, ppr.
Motto. Niti Facere Experiri (Trusted to act with experience).

http://www.jjhc.info/caldwellstamford1858arms.htm

List of Lord Chancellors of Scotland
William Comyn (1133-1142)
William de Malvoisin, Bishop of Glasgow, St Andrew's (1199-1211)
Robert Kenleith, Abbot of Dunfermline (1249-1251)
Gamelin, Bishop of St Andrew’s (1251-1255)
Archibald, Bishop of Moray (1255)
Richard of Inverkeithing, Bishop of Dunkeld (1255-1257)
William Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow (1257-1274)
William Fraser, Bishop of St Andrew’s (1275-1282)
Alan of St Edmund, Bishop of Caithness (1282-1285)
Thomas Charteris (1285-1289)

Thomas of Hunsingore (1291-1295) [Barrow]
Alexander Kennedy (1296- ) [Barrow]
Nicholas Balmyle (1301- ) Bishop of Dunblane (1307-1319 died in office) [Barrow] (Also known as "Master Nicholas of St Andrews")
Bernard de Linton, Abbot of Arbroath (1308-1328) (Also known as Abbot of Kilwinning, Bishop of Sodor & Man 1328-1331)

Walter of Galloway (Twynholm)(1326 after Bernard - ) [Barrow] (Was Chancellor at treaty of Corbeil April 1326)

William Brisbane 1332 [?]

Thomas de Charteris (1342-1346)
William Caldwell (1349-1354) (or 1350-1352?)

William Lauder, Bishop of Glasgow (1423-1427)
John Cameron, Bishop of Glasgow (1427-1439)
Sir William Crichton (1439-1444)
James Kennedy, Bishop of St Andrew's (1444)
James Bruce, Bishop of Dunkeld (1444-1449)
Sir William Crichton (1449-1454)
William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney (1454-1456)
Andrew Stewart, 1st Lord Avandale (1460-1482)
Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll (1483-1488)
William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen (1488)
Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll (1488-1493)
Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus (1493-1498)
George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly (1498-1501)
James Stewart, Duke of Ross, Archbishop of St Andrew's (1502-1504)
Vacant
Alexander Stewart, Archbishop of St Andrew's (1510-1513)
James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, St Andrew's (1513-1526)
Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (1526-1528)
Gavin Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow (1528-1542)
Cardinal David Beaton, Archbishop of St Andrew's (1543-1546)
George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly (1546-1562)
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton (1563-1566)
George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly (1566-1567)
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton (1567-1572)
Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll (1572-1573)
John Lyon, 8th Lord Glamis (1573-1578)
John Stewart, 4th Earl of Atholl (1578-1579)
Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll (1579-1584)
James Stewart, Earl of Arran (1584-1585)
incomplete 1585-1587
Sir John Maitland (1587-1595)
incomplete 1595-1598
John Graham, 3rd Earl of Montrose (1598-1604)
Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline (1604-1622)
George Hay, 1st Earl of Kinnoull (1622-1634)
John Spottiswoode, Archbishop of St Andrews (1635-1638)
incomplete 1638-1641
John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudoun (1641-1661)
William Cunningham, 9th Earl of Glencairn (1661-1664)
incomplete 1664-1667
John Leslie, 1st Duke of Rothes (1667-1681)
George Gordon, 1st Earl of Aberdeen (1682-1684)
James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth (1684-1688)
John Hay, 1st Marquess of Tweeddale (1692-1696)
Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont (1696-1702)
James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Seafield(1702-1704)
John Hay, 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale (1704-1705)
James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Seafield (1705-1708)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2005

This list is from Wikipedia and I do think I can add to it - I am posting it for the purposes of research to show where William Caldwell fits into the list of Scotish Chancellors - I have some more information from GWS Barrow that may expand this list during the critical period of history.

Note that Chancellor Caldwell was in office about the time of the Black Death in Scotland and also during the reign of David II.

I chucked a little tantrum over having to wait patiently whilst some other fellow who had followed me into the shop but got the "boss'" ear and proceded to inspect about every spotting scope in the shop then left without buying.

Of course the assitant was not allowed to discount such precious material as I was looking at. The other fellow yacked on and on for about 45 minutes and then I did the deal in 5 minutes. I am an amiable person but I do get tense when tyre kickers tie up a shop and I am cooling my heels and in a hurry.

I know that it makes common sense to be polite with all customers, but being made to wait when you are a qualified serious buyer can be most irritating. There should be a special discount card for those that know what they want and don't waste assistants time. I suppose that is why internet discounters can stay in business - generally they don't have to put up with endless streams of those that still don't know what a megapixel is and have to have every "feature" explained to them.

Later ...

I don't set myself up as being especially important, I am a "common man" but I do get testy waiting especially when the guy I need to see is being held up by a time-wasting tyre-kicker. Boss-cocky at this dealership will not let his staff discount - so if you want to "deal" you have to see him. I am at odds - I believe in commercial courtesy but perhaps boss-cocky could have passed this guy on to another assistant to show him the ropes of all the spotting scopes when the assitant whispered that he needed to talk to me and saw me standing there.

All the more infuriating when the guy had arrived after me and sort of collared boss-cocky when I was making preliminary small talk with his assistant.

This is the second time this has happened: the last time I arrived simultaneously with another (obvious holidaymaker) and his wife in relaxed mode (I was a busy working man). When boss-cocky saw me he made a bee-line for me but "obviously holidaymaker" stepped up and said "I am here FIRST and I AM HERE to BUY a camera" (his emphasis). It didn't help that it was a saturday morning and I had come in on my motorbike and was dressed in leather jacket and carrying helmet. HE was in his best floral holiday shirt and VERY important! (Much more important than the biker who has more gear than the shop carries in stock). Being a polite sort of fellow I demurred .... (perhaps I should have said: "how much are you going to spend and how long will it take to spend it?").

Over an hour later and champing at the bit I was finally served. This obnoxious obviously holidaymaker had no idea what digital cameras were all about and had every camera in the showcase out like boxes in a shoe-shop. He had to have every microscopic detail explained to him from "where is the shutter?" down. He bought one eventually, but was in no hurry and haggled his discount .... I supposed it filled in his time on his wonderful holiday. I was not impressed. My purchase took 10 minutes and was worth 3 times his point and shoot.

Suppose it is no wonder I am starting to give the local shops a miss and buy direct - its cheaper that way and only just a little bit slower.

As far as I know the battery packs are still like hens teeth and twice as dear ....

I usually have an adverse reaction after buying some wunder-kind new piece of equipment and finding that it take a little while to master.

I thought I might just use the Metz slave flash to light up a scene then quickly remembered the 5D had no on-board flash to trigger it - bummer. I had sort of got used to setting the onboard flash to its lowest setting and merely using it as a trigger for the remote slave Metz. All simple and effective and no screwing and unscrewing etc.

I also messed up switching the 5D off the first time and one click up isn't off - is it?

The controls are very similar to the 10D and no doubt even closer to the 20D. So switching between the cameras is a "doddle". The bulk seems less due to the fact that the new-cam doesn't yet have a battery pack, so at the moment the 5D is a real flyweight by comparison.

Perhaps my technique is not good enough and I need the benefit of lower resolution as at the moment my FZ30 images suit me better than the 10D and so far the 5D has not eclipsed what I can do with the 10D.

and onwards ...

Had the 5D since last Saturday and have not really had a chance to take it for an outing. I have deleted almost all the images I have taken and have been quite disappointed so far. Only been taking duff shots of course so I shouldn't be expecting miracles.

Maybe the camera is faulty, most likely it is the photographer. Am looking forward to a bit of spare time so I can test it properly.

Later ....

I started on jpg and deleted most as duds thinking that the weather, poor light, lack of time had made them pretty ordinary. On Thursday it was wet and overcast but I had the day off so I managed to take some open air shots - they were better but I still didn't like them and almost wished I had brought my 10D along as a reference camera.

Then I took a couple of quick snapshots in raw and processed them with the supplied software - they were pretty good and the best I have so far form the new 14mm f2.8 - So raw is the go!

I got on to the dpreview site and asked a few questions - it seems that I am not the only one not satisfied with the jpg file performance. One thread though was dominated by what often happens on that site and not one of its nicest features: "If you buy an expensive camera like that you should only shoot raw so why worry if jpg is no good?" The worries of poor jpg perfomance are dismissed as being in the class: "real photographers only shot raw anyway".

Not furthering the debate much and no help whatsoever for this poor mortal who has been known to backslide from time to time into the iniquities of (ssssh ... jpg format).

Another thread was more sympathetic and the general consensus was that we all might have to fiddle around with the picture styles until we found one satisfactory. Please pardon me Mr Canon but isn't there something wrong when your users cannot get really good images with the standard settings? Do we pay all this moolah for an upmarket camera that will not produce stunning jpg out of the box?

I can accept that if you want la creme de la creme then you might really use raw - but Canon obviously intend to have a good deal of their target audience use jpg why otherwise would they put 6 different jpg size settings in their menu and fortify this with a trillion permutations of setting in their Picture Style modes?

The effect has been described sympathetically as "film like", generally soft and grainy. My beloved 85mm f1.2 runs very narrow dof indeed thereby losing much of the advantage of the large aperture and I am not happy with the gamut of colours captured.

I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with it until it produced some raw images "to die for" from a simple "snapshot" technique.

Will go out and give it an exercise in raw tomorrow, then try a few more jpg just to see if it is "just me" or "the camera".

Later still ...

Starting to get the "fix" on the pesky "Picture Styles" on the 5D. Canon pretty well decided to hand some ready-made styles to the user - nice perhaps to have an in-camera monochrome b+w with variations just in case you don't have some software with a desaturation tool. They also thought it would be nice to have all sorts of other presets and apparently there are more on the way.

They have a "nice" little print button on the camera so that you can print directly. All seems to be at the moronic-user level for such an expensive body! Even the pre-10D models don't have these "kiddy" touches - and I am supposing they are also lacking on the 20D and the 350D.

So what were they smoking when they dreamed this nonsense up?

If you are a big-boy and shoot raw then you can use their "Digital Photo Professional" software to make some nice touches that include emulating their in camera picture style presets. Their presets are fair enough when you start from raw and you can try them all non-destructively - it also gives you some powerful "levels" tools to adjust the image - nice software and it works well.

The bother starts when you shoot jpg with their standard setting - I don't like the result ex-camera and my software sort of tolerates it but it is stuck to a certain level by what the camera "gives" it and of course further editing tends to degrade the jpg image (we all know this).

Furthermore "Digital Photo Professional" is not nearly as helpful with a jpg image. Firstly you are stuck with the levels adjustments and you can make no changes under the raw tab (fairly logically) - the main point is that whatever Picture Style you shot with you have "got". No changing styles here non-destructively as with raw images - if you got it wrong when you clicked you have got it wrong baby! (Excuse the mangled English).

Jpg are still useful to me and the only way I think I can get round this is to shoot in neutral and do any adjustments in my favourite independent software.

This sort of in-camera "baby-help" should stay with the point-n-shoots. I still can't understand why Canon are bringing point-n-shoot "features" to a semi-pro camera. The marketing guys must have won an arm-wrestle with the technical department.

Of course I am probably regarded as a bit of a point-n-shoot myself because I even dare think of taking ANY jpg images.

Geroff - I have some nice homey jpg's, and I will some nicer ones when I apply some fancy "Picture Styles" right in my camera and print them using my dedicated print button :)

How about soome in-camera cropping Mr Canon - the 6D will do ... and perhaps a polaroid snap that comes out the top of the camera when you press a button ...

Personally I wish they had spent the research dollar that brought this about on an image stabilised sensor - now that would be an achievement - make all my EOS lenses stabilised!

The common to FZ1-FZ5-FZ20 batteries fit and work in the FZ30 despite being a slightly smaller size and slightly lower capacity (not much lower) So I can have spare batteries for the FZ30 out of my existing stock of batteries. As someone else on the net said "why bother" getting a new stock of batteries that will not retrofit when the old batteries work in the new gear?

The "old" charger fits and charges the "new" battery shape :)

Panasonic made a real clunker there - I don't know what they were thinking (Perhaps AUD$119 RRP for spare batteries :) One of my attractions to Canon gear is that from the Pro90 right through to the 5D I can draw on the same battery stock - even after being careful with what I buy I have a whole battery of chargers sitting in a "taxi-rank" in the study. Gerroff! There needs to be a "law" that makes these manufacturers have some sort of battery commonality. Most manufacturers have batteries in equivalent class to their opposition but carefully change the contact points so that onlt "their" batteries fit! Nothing new in this - they have been playing the "lens-mount" game for "ever".

Tom

This is a heavily cropped and much shrunk copy of an image taken recently with the FZ30 camera at full zoom. I think I can be pleased with the camera's performance.

I have had the FZ30 a few days now and although the wife inconsiderately managed to break her foot by missing the last step in the dark two steps up when she thought she was "down" I have managed to take a few photographs.

A DSLR el supremo it is not but it will satisfy all but the most discerning. If this camera had been available even 10 years ago it would have killed the SLR market outright IMHO.

I am a now-converted "Pano" fan and it will take a big shake up from Canon to get me back to their prosumers. This camera is everything that the Pro100 should have been.

The only remaining gripes are the fact that the relatively small sensor doesn't do "high ISO" terribly well and the rotating screen doesn't rotate n-way. The screen cannot face upwards when the camera is logically hanging down from your fingers in portrait mode.

You cannot use the flip lcd for framing portrait-mode because the screen will not fully rotate and even holding it "upside down"(hand underneath)and working the shutter with your thumb although possible is not satisfactory as the image is upside down.

It also had a right-side and a wrong-side when using it at an obtuse angle and trying to take an obtuse angle shot with the flip screen is an exercise in gymnastics. But these are small niggles.

Not having an "n-way" rotation is probably designed to prevent the well-known Pro90 problem of screwing off one of the connecting wires inside the lcd mount. The flip lcd looks and feels a cheaper type constrution than that on the Pro90 even if larger in size.

Panasonic obviously did not fit a directional sensor and wire in the screen to avoid reliability problems and then "hid" this by limiting the rotational ability of the screen itself. This is a major failing in an otherwise brilliantly conceived camera.

The Pro90 had 2.6 effective mp and 10x optical zoom. The FZ30 has 12x optical zoom with its 8 mp but if you are happy to "make do" with 3 mp you can have 19.1x optical - and it works! Golly-gosh this is almost a birder camera :) (You can even if a tele-attachment if you are so inclined - but personally if I wanted big-zoom I would just stick to a big lens on a DSLR)

Whilst the Pro90 was competent and slow the FZ30 has moveable focus points all over the place and high speed focus settings.

The focus and zoom controls are on the barrel and manual control is just like the "big-ones" and adjusted logically by back and front control wheels.

Auto focus, auto focus macro, manual focus, and auto with touch up macro - no problem. The standard setting magnifies the centre of the screen for fine manual focus setting and works "just a treat" as I have found - try doing that with your mirror set-up on your DSLR!

Zooming is lightning fast with manual control and as the index is marked you can pre-set the zoom if you now the length you are looking for. Internal zooming lens - yahoo (I like it).

Panasonic have worked out their controls and menus well and little touches like 2 custom white balances, two settable scene modes, continuous focus on or off, OIS continuous or at shutter press.

This is getting close to perfection in the carry-about camera class and will satisfy most general purpose duties and whilst it may still not satisfy the most fastidious we must all agree it is a real bargain at the price of much less than I paid for my last EOS lens.

Pro90 fans can safely upgrade now - the FZ30 has my recommendation.

PS takes good pictures as well :)

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

My thanks to David Caldwell of Manitoba for this little piece of humour that I am passing on:

A postal worker was sorting mail when he found a letter addressed to God in very shaky hand writing, he thought that he should at least read it.

It read:

"I am an 85 years old woman, living on my own. Yesterday someone stole my purse containing $100 which is all the money I have until my next pension cheque comes in. Next week is Xmas and I had invited three friends over for dinner. Without that money I canot buy food and I have no family to turn to, you are my only hope. Can you please help me?

Sincerely

Edna."

The postal worker was touched, he showed the letter to his co-workers and they all chipped in a dollar or two until they had $96. He sent it off to her.

One week later another letter arrived addressed to God in the same shaky hand writing. excitedly the postal workers all gathered round and read the letter.

"Dear God

Thank you so much for what you did for me. Because of your gift of love I was able to have my friends for a meal. I told them of your wonderful gift. By the way, there was $4 missing, probably those thieving b......ds at the post office.

love Edna"

Paranoia rules :)

This is a map of England in 1065 just before the Norman invasion - it shows the territories of the magnates of England at that time. I had hoped to show the area known as the "Honour of Huntingdon" This was an area that was originally the territory of Waltheof and later held by the Scots Royal family (on and off) as subjects of the English King. I could not find the map that specifically showed this area but the map below does show the boundaries of Waltheof's Earldom as the orange coloured area between the Earldom of Lanfric and that of Godwin to the south.

Why is this important to the Caldwell family?

Well, the English Caldwell family seem to have originated in this area and David I of Scotland was originally "Comes" of Southern Scotland (principally Strathclyde) before he succeeded his brother as King. He spent most of his life at the English Court and living on his estates on the Honour of Huntingdon.

David was a thoroughly modernised and "Norman-English" influenced Scot and was chiefly responsible for bringing up many Norman followers and retainers to settle and "Normanise" Southern Scotland. This suggests a frontier state dotted with new feudal Norman owners who set up strongppoints to overawe and dominate the existing smallholders in what was then a relatively sparsely populated area of under-worked farmland, bogs and moors.

"Comes" is a Roman term meaning "military ruler of a border provence". This suggests that Strathclyde although amalgamated by inheritance with the rest of Scotland, preferred to keep its independent and distinct way and that a strong hand was necessary to keep it part of the newly united country.