Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lennox, Malcolm
LENNOX, MALCOLM, fifth Earl of Lennox (1255?–1333), son of Malcolm, fourth earl, was born about 1255. In 1292 he succeeded to the earldom, and in that year he was one of the supporters of Robert Bruce (1210–1295) [q. v.] in his competition with Baliol. In 1296 he joined the army invading Cumberland, but swore fealty to Edward I on 7 July. On 24 May 1297 he was one of the nobles to whom letters were addressed by the king of England inviting him to join an English expedition to Flanders, but he seems to have remained in Scotland (cf. Rotuli Scotiæ, i. 50). In 1306 he was, like Gilbert de Haya [q. v.], a great supporter of Bruce, who exchanged half the lands of Leckie with him for an estate at Cardross. He received other charters, and in 1310 he was appointed hereditary sheriff of Clackmannanshire. He appears as a benefactor to the Cluniac abbey of Paisley in 1318. In 1320 he signed the letter to Pope John XXII asserting the ecclesiastical independence of Scotland. By the king's command in 1329 Lennox was excused from paying the tenth penny, and a present of wheat was made to his wife. Lennox died fighting bravely at the battle of Halidon Hill on 19 July 1333. His wife's name seems to have been Margaret, and by her he had two sons: Donald, who succeeded as sixth earl of Lennox, and Murdoch.
[Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, ed. Wood, ii. 80; Stephenson's Doc. illustr. of the Hist. of Scotland, ii. 66, 168; Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, i. cxxix, cxliv, 129, 132, 257; Fordun's Scotichronicon, ed. Hearne, p. 1000; Gordon's Eccles. Chron. of Scotland, Monasticon, p. 568.]