Lordship of Galloway

Who rules

Name

Roland, Lochlann son of Uhtred (Lochlann mac Uchtraig)

Title

Lord of Galloway (in Gaelic sources ri Gall Gaidel, king of the Galwegians); constable of the king of Scots

Since

1185, after the death of his uncle Gille Brigte (1 January 1185); confirmed by Henry II at Carlisle in 1186

Born

Not pinned; an adult by 1174, so probably born in the 1140s or 1150s

Family

Eldest son of Uhtred, lord of eastern Galloway (killed 1174 by Gille Brigte's men), and Gunnhild, daughter of Waltheof of Allerdale; grandson of Fergus of Galloway. Wife: Helen (Elena) de Morville, heiress of the Morvilles of Cunningham and Lauderdale and of the constableship of Scotland. Children: Alan (the heir, adult), Thomas, a son who died young, Dervorguilla (wife of Nicholas de Stuteville) and Ada (later wife of Walter Bisset). Cousin and former rival: Duncan, lord of Carrick, son of Gille Brigte.

Confidence

high

In 1185 Roland attacked Gille Brigte's party, killed its leaders and seized all Galloway, building castles; Henry II brought an army to Carlisle in 1186 and Roland submitted, keeping Galloway while Duncan, Gille Brigte's son, received Carrick. In 1187 Roland led the royal army that killed Domnall MacWilliam at Mam Garvia near Dingwall. Since 1196 he is constable of Scotland through his wife. He dies at Northampton on 19 December 1200, during the journey for William's homage, while suing in John's court for his wife's English property.

Overlord

William, king of Scots, whose loyal vassal and constable Roland is. Henry II exacted homage in 1186; the English claim lapsed with the Quitclaim of 1189. Whithorn, Galloway's see, is a suffragan of York.

What the realm holds

• Galloway between the Nith and the Irish Sea: the Rhinns, the Machars and Farines (the later Wigtownshire), the Glenkens, Kirkcudbright and the Stewartry lands, Desnes Ioan between the Urr and the Nith
• Castles and seats: Kirkcudbright, Loch Fergus, Cruggleton in the Machars, Buittle on the Urr (thin), Threave island on the Dee (the lords' island seat, thin), and the castles he built in 1185 (sites not all pinned)
• Through his wife: Cunningham (Irvine, Largs), Lauderdale (Lauder), other Morville lands in Lothian (see Morville lands) and the constableship
• Lands in Cumberland inherited from his mother's family (thin)

How it was acquired

Hereditary in the line of Fergus (died 1161); Roland reunited Galloway by force in 1185.

Allies and rivals

Allies: King William; the Morville connection; Anglo-Norman settlers in eastern Galloway; the archbishop of York as Whithorn's metropolitan. Rivals: Duncan of Carrick (an uneasy peace since 1186; Duncan is close to John de Courcy in Ulster); the native lords displaced in 1185.

The realm that morning

Held whole by Roland. Galloway is at peace; Roland is old and preparing his son Alan for the succession and is chasing his wife's English inheritance.

Wealth

Cattle and horses (Galloway nags), hides, wool from the Cistercian granges of Dundrennan and Glenluce, salmon of the Nith, Urr and Cree, and the Solway trade with Cumberland and Ireland. No figures.

Military

The Galwegians: lightly armed infantry who served in the van of the Scottish host (as at the Standard in 1138), with spearmen and archers; Roland's own knights and his Anglo-Norman tenants; galleys on the Solway and the Irish Sea. No numbers.

Threats

• Roland's death and a succession quarrel
• Duncan of Carrick
• Native resentment of the incomers
• York's hold on Whithorn

Officers

Not pinned. The lord's household had a steward and chaplains; native kindred heads (cenn cineoil) answered for their kin; the bishop of Whithorn is John (bishop 1189-1209).

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 19 December 1200Roland dies at Northampton and is buried there; Alan succeeds as lord of Galloway and constable.Depends on: Roland going south with William for the homage at Lincoln Stopped by: Roland staying in Galloway, which only delays the death of an old man

Places of note

• Kirkcudbright: Seat of the lords of Galloway on the Dee estuary
• Cruggleton: Castle of the lords of Galloway on the Machars coast
• Whithorn: Cathedral priory and see of Galloway, under York
• Dundrennan Abbey: Cistercian abbey of the lords of Galloway

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Roland's career is well recorded by Roger of Howden and Benedict of Peterborough and in charters; Galloway's internal government and castles in 1200 are thin.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Melrose, Anonymous (monks of Melrose abbey) (about 1173 to 1270, in many hands; the 1200 entries are near contemporary). The main Scottish annal for the year, kept at a Cistercian house on the Tweed. Read online
• Chronicle of the Kings of Mann and the Isles, Anonymous (monks of Rushen abbey, Mann) (about 1257, with continuations to 1316). The only native record of the kingdom of Mann and the Hebrides. Read online
• Early Sources of Scottish History, Various; collected and translated by A. O. Anderson (sources of the 6th to 13th centuries; collection published 1922). The quickest way to every non-English witness to Scotland and the Isles in 1200, in translation and in date order: the Irish annals on the Isles and Galloway, Orkneyinga saga and the Norwegian sagas on Harald Maddadsson of Orkney and Caithness and his war with William the Lion, the Chronicle of Mann on Ragnall and the Hebrides, Melrose and Holyrood, and Scottish charters. Read online