Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Menteith, John de
MENTEITH, Sir JOHN de (d. after 1329), Scottish knight, was the younger son of Walter Stewart, earl of Menteith, and of his wife, the daughter and heiress of William Comyn, earl of Menteith, whose marriage brought the Menteith earldom for a time into the house of Stewart (Douglas, Peerage of Scotland, p. 472, ed. 1764). His elder brother was Alexander, earl of Menteith (Fœdera, i. 872). He was involved with his brother in the resistance made by the Scots to Edward I's conquest of Scotland in 1296; but while the earl made his submission to the English king (Ragman Roll, p. 103, Bannatyne Club), John remained a prisoner in England until the next year. He was confined for thirteen days in Nottingham Castle, along with Edward Comyn of Kilbride, whence he was sent with an escort of fourteen men to join Edward I at Winchelsea (Stevenson, Doc. illustrating History of Scotland, ii. 136). In August Edward released Menteith from prison, on his taking oath and giving security to serve with the king against Philip of France (Fœdera, i. 872). He therefore in all probability took part in the campaign of 1297 in Flanders. His history during the next few years is a little puzzling. Late Scottish writers make him out to have joined in the revolt of Wallace and to have taken part in an incursion into Galloway in 1298, in which Wallace took the command (Relationes Arnaldi Blair, p. 5, ed. Edinburgh, 1758). The untrustworthy romance of Blind Harry lays stress on the fact that Menteith was the ‘gossip’ of Wallace (Henry the Minstrel, bk. xi. 1. 795 sq. ed. Jamieson), and makes Wallace repair to the Lennox early in his revolt, because Menteith was then captain of that district (ib. bk. viii. 1595). Moreover authentic documents show that a John of Menteith was ravaging the lands of Edward's partisans in Scotland in 1301, and was sent in 1303 to treat of peace with the English, but refrained from pressing his mission when he discovered the distressed condition to which Edward's Irish troops were reduced (Stevenson, ii. 437, 453). It seems most probable, considering the constant changes of front that took place among the Scottish nobles, that the John of Menteith who joined Wallace is identical with the John of Menteith pardoned in 1297, but the name is too common to make the identification quite certain. By 1303 the conquest of Scotland had nearly been completed by Edward, and Menteith, if he had held out so long, must again have submitted and been restored to Edward's favour, for on 20 March 1304 Edward, who was then at St. Andrews, appointed him warden of the castle, town, and sheriffdom of Dumbarton (ib. ii. 474). It was in this neighbourhood that William Wallace held out after all other resistance in Scotland had been stifled. But Wallace was now rather a fugitive than a belligerent, and great efforts were made to secure his capture. Blind Harry tells a long romance of a ‘plot’ entered into between Menteith and Aymer de Valence, Edward's general, to secure the person of the hero; but this is unhistorical (Henry the Minstrel, bk. xi.) At last one of Wallace's servants, Jack Short, whose brother Wallace had slain, seems to have betrayed him to Menteith, who apprehended him at Glasgow, whither he had gone to visit his mistress (Langtoft, ii. 362, Rolls Ser.; Robert of Brunne in Hearne's Langtoft, ii. 329; Fordun, i. 340; Wyntoun, ii. 370; Chron. de Lanercost, p. 203; Scalachronica, Maitland Club; Chron. de Melsa, ii. 275; Buik of the Croniclis of Scot. iii. 199). The Scottish writers denounce Menteith's capture of Wallace as an act of treachery (Fordun, i. 340; Henry the Minstrel, bk. xi. line 812), though it was only his duty as sheriff of Dumbarton to take proper steps to secure the fugitive's apprehension. His act, however, assumes a very grave complexion, if his recent alliance with Wallace could be regarded as certainly established. Lord Hailes (Annals of Scotland, i. 281) seeks to disprove any complicity of Menteith in the capture of Wallace, on the ground that it rests on the untrustworthy authority of Blind Harry; but there are many other better writers who closely connect Menteith with the event (see the note in Tytler, Hist. of Scotland, i. 384–387).
Menteith took his captive, loaded with chains, to London. A month after Wallace's death on the scaffold Menteith was nominated one of the representatives of the Scots barons in the parliament of both nations which assembled at London in September. He was chosen a substitute for the Earl of March [see under Dunbar, Agnes], who had not attended, and was put upon the Scottish council, which was appointed to assist John of Brittany, Edward's nephew, the new regent of Scotland, in the English interest (Palgrave, Doc. illustrating Hist. of Scotland, p. 293). He was further rewarded with a grant of lands valued at 100l. (ib. p. 295), and on 1 June Edward ordered that the earldom of Lennox should be conferred on him, while on 15 June he gave him his Dumbarton office for life (ib. p. 305). Before October Menteith received his final grants, and was despatched to Scotland on the king's business (Cal. Doc. Scotland, iv. 488, 489).
Neither the favour of Edward nor the odium which accrued to the betrayer of Wallace kept Menteith faithful to the English alliance. He was among the Scottish magnates whom Edward appealed to in December 1307 to join him in resisting the revolted Bruce (Fœdera, ii. 22). But he had already chosen his part, and, abandoning his newly won earldom of Lennox, henceforth steadfastly adhered to the popular cause. In March 1308 Menteith was among the Scottish magnates who wrote to the king of France on behalf of the national cause (Acts Parl. Scotland, i. 13, 99). In 1309 he was sent with Sir Nigel Campbell to treat with Richard de Burgh, earl of Ulster [q. v.], for which purpose he received a safe-conduct, dated 21 Aug., from Edward II (Fœdera, ii. 85). His English lands were forfeited for his treason, and were either granted to royal servants or impoverished by heavy fines (Acts Parl. Scotland, i. 80, 138). In 1316 he was commissioned with Thomas Randolf to treat on behalf of Robert Bruce for a truce with the English (Fœdera, ii. 302). Menteith remained closely attached to the royal court, as is shown by the numerous charters he attested (Liber de Mailros, ii. 341, 351, 356; Liber Sancte Crucis, pp. 74, 90, 105, 365; Reg. Dunfermline, p. 229; Reg. de Kelso, p. 365). He was at the Arbroath parliament in April 1320, and signed the letter sent by the barons of Scotland to Pope John XXII (Acts Parl. Scotland, i. 15, 114; Liber Pluscarden, i. 202). He was then described as ‘guardian’ of the earldom of Menteith. He was one of the negotiators of the thirteen years' truce between Bruce and the English, signed on 30 May 1323 (Fœdera, ii. 521), and was immediately afterwards present at a Scottish council at Berwick in June (ib. ii. 524). The last recorded grants to him are in 1329, during the minority of King David Bruce (Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, i. 178, 180), one of whose charters he also attested. Later references to John of Menteith probably refer to a knight of the same name who was sheriff of Clackmannan in 1359 (ib. i. 570).
[Cal. of Documents relating to Scotland, vols. ii. iii. iv.; Palgrave's Documents relating to Scotland; Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. i.; Stevenson's Documents illustrating the Hist. of Scotland; Rymer's Fœdera, Record ed.; Fordun, ed. Skene; Scalachronica (Maitland Club); Chron. de Lanercost (Bannatyne Club); Wallace Papers (Maitland Club); Henry the Minstrel's Wallace, ed. Jamieson, 1869; Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, 1764, p. 473; Anderson's Scottish Nation, iii. 148; Tytler's Hist. of Scotland, vol. i.]