ABERGAVENNY COMPLETE PEERAGE 19
ABERDOUR
In 1351 Sir James Douglas had the grant of the Barony of Aberdour [S.], co. Fife, from his uncle William, sometime Earl of Atholl [S.], to whose barony of Dalkeith he suc. before 1369. His great grandson James, often regarded as Lord Dalkeith [S.], on 14 Mar. 1457/8 was cr. Earl of Morton [S.]. William, the 6th Earl had, 16 Mar. 1638, a very comprehensive Charter of the lands, Earldom, and Barony of Morton, with all his other lands, and "Aberdour was at the same time erected into a burgh of Barony and the title was altered to EARL OF MORTON AND LORD ABERDOUR."[1] Since that time the title of Lord Aberdour [S.] has been used as the courtesy title belonging to the eldest son of the Earl of Morton [S.]. See Morton, Earldom of [S.], cr. 1457/8.
i.e. "Aubigny, Dalkeith, Torboltoun, and Aberdour" Barony [S.] (Stuart), cr. 1581, with the Dukedom of Lennox [S.], which see; extinct 1672.
ABERGAVENNY
or (as it was at one time styled) BERGAVENNY
On account of the notoriety of this dignity, and to assist in forming a judgment as to how far the possession of the castle and demesne of Abergavenny could be supposed to constitute a Barony by tenure, a brief account is here given of its possessors previous to 1392, the date when the (then) possessor was first summoned as "de Bergavenny." Before the period when a writ of summons converted a Barony into a personal instead of a territorial dignity, the owner of this castle, &c. doubtless by its tenure possessed a Feudal Barony, which was, however, but one among very many others.[2]
| OWNERS of the LORDSHIP I. temp. Will. II. |
Hamelin de Ballon[3] received the lordship of Over Gwent, including the castle of Abergavenny,[4] from William Rufus.[5] He m. Agnes, and had two sons, |
- ↑ Reg. Mag. Sig., as quoted in the Scots Peerage, vol. vi. p. 375.
- ↑ The editor desires to express his obligation to G.W. Watson for having entirely rewritten the account of these early owners of the Castle, as also for many valuable corrections and additions to the accounts of the early Lords Bergavenny.
- ↑ For the earliest lords of Abergavenny see the paper on "The Family of Ballon," in J. H. Round's Studies in Peerage and Family History, pp. 189 et seq., where Dugdale's errors are corrected. It is there shown that Hamelin, who took his name from his birthplace, Ballon in Maine, received his lands in England from William Rufus. He founded a Priory at Abergavenny. V.G.
- ↑ The Castle "taketh his name from the river of Gevenny, whereon it is situate, and the British word Abber which signifieth a mouth," being built where the "Gevenny doth open itself to the end of the Uske." (Bird, A Treatise of the Nobilitie, enlarged by Serjeant Doderidge, 1642, p. 144.) V.G.
- ↑ It appears from some charters of St. Vincent at Le Mans, printed by Dom Martène (Amplissima Collectio, vol. i, 1724, c. 577–9), and analysed by J. H. Round (Documents etc., nos. 1045–8), that "vir quidam nobilis et prudentissimus Hamelinus de
