Alwyn Mor MacMurdac , Earl of Lennox

Full View

Pedigree

Print

Extract GEDCOM

File Home

List of Individuals

List by Surname

Submitter Info

My GenCircles
Add to your favorites with the buttons below:

Please Help Support GenCircles!
You can support GenCircles just by giving Family Tree Legends a try! It helps pay for GenCircles and we think you'll love it! Come see the guided tour and learn more:
Click Here

About GenCircles
The GenCircles Promise
Privacy Policy
Link To Us

Lysell Family Tree
by Mike Lysell

Alwyn Mor MacMurdac , Earl of Lennox ¹

Birth:	About 1130 in Inchmurrin Isle, Loch Lomond, Dunbartonshire, Scotland ¹
Death:	About 1199 ²
Sex:	M
Father:	Muredach MacMaeldounagh b. About 1100 in Inchmurrin Isle, Loch Lomond, Dunbartonshire, Scotland
Mother:	Unknown MacAlwyn b. About 1100 in Scotland

Also Known As: Ailin Mor MacMurdac of Lennox ¹

Changed: 22 Oct 2004

Spouses & Children

Children:
Alwyn Og of Lennox b. About 1165 in Inchmurrin Isle, Loch Lomond, Dunbartonshire, Scotland

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Notes

Individual:

Lennox, Previous Creations: A shadow figure called Alwyn, possibly of Celtic origin, possibly of Saxon origin, possibly of both, may have become Earl of Lennox in the mid-12th century. He is also referred to in near-contemporary sources as Mormaer of a territory called Leamhan, from which the Levenax or Lennox is derived. Alwyn's son and grandson, respectively another Alwyn and Maldouen (cognate with Maldwyn), seem to have succeeded to the Earldom, the latter in about 1224. In a list of the seven Earldoms of Scotland which is thought to have represented the old Mormaerships, by now evolved into medieval titles of honour, and which dates from 1237, that of Lennox features. Yet it was missing from a somewhat later list, that of 1244, only to be reinstated in yet a third list, that of 1297. At the time of the earliest of these three lists it was surrendered by Maldouen, the 3rd Earl, to Alexander II for regrant. This was a common Scottish practice. [Burke's Peerage, p. 2402]

EARLDOM OF LENNOX [SCT]

I. 1. ALWYN is known to us as EARL of LENNOX [SCT] only by two charters of his son and grandson, successively Earls of Lennox[a], and as Mormaer of Leamhan (the Levenax, Lennox) through a Gaelic poem composed, as was customary, on his coming of age (b). Between 1178 and 1182 David of Scotland received from his brother, King William, a charter granting him the earldom of Levenaus. No record remains in which David uses that title; until 1198 he was heir apparent to the Crown of Scotland, and acted as such and not as one of the Earls; though he is often referred to as Earl David. [Complete Peerage VII:588-9, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

[a] Alwyn, Earl of Lennox, son and heir of Alwyn, Earl of Lennox, with consent of Maldouen, his son and heir, between 1208 and 1214 granted the church of Campsey, with the land he had given to that church at its dedication, to the see of Glasgow. At the same time the said Maldouen, as son and heir of Alwyn the younger, Earl of Lennox, son and heir of Alwyn the elder, Earl of Lennox, made a like grant, both being witnessed (among others) by Duuegall, son of the grantor Alwyn.

(b) This poem of 13 verses is printed as App vi in vol iii of Skene's "Celtic Scotland", and a translation of it. It is there attributed to Muredach Albanch, the Father of Scottish poetry, to whom ealier scholarship ascribed poems now known to have been written both before and centuries after his death. It is in the form of an address to the river Leven, and sets forth the legendary history of its acquiring the name. It describes Alwyn I as Alwyn the younger, Mormaer (literally Great Steward) of Leamhan (the Lennox), son of Mureadbach and the daughter of Alwyn:

"There has grown up to thee (the river Lennox), Alun oge (ie. the younger)
Son of Mureadbach of the smooth roads;
Splendid the colour of his pure fresh lands,
A scion of the wood of the first Aluin.

The Mormaer of Lemahan of the smooth cheek,
The worthy son of Ailin's daughter,
His white hand, his side, his foot,
Noble is thy spouse, O Leamhan!"

The old Celtic genalogy of Duncan, Earl of Lennox, who was executed 1425, shows him as son of Walter, son of Awley, son of Duncan, son of Awley the younger, son of Awley Mor, son of Ailin, son of Ailin Mor, son of Muredach, son of Maeldounagh - the Ailin Oge of the 12th century poem having in his turn become Ailin Mor, father of another Ailin (Og).

From Clan Lennox : LENNOX: Of local origin from the ancient earldom of that name which comprised most of Dunbartonshire and parts of western Stirlingshire. The 1st Earl of Lennox is thought to have been a 4th generation descendant of Ecgfrith of Northumbria whose son Arkil came north to the court of Malcolm III in the late 11th century. Arkil's grand-daughter married into the native Celtic stock and their son became the 1st Earl.

From My Clan : The ancient earldom which bore this name consisted of the whole of Dunbartonshire, as well as large parts of Renfrewshire, Stirlingshire and Perthshire. Leamhanach signified in Gaelic a smooth stream or perhaps place of the elm trees . From the ancient Celtic Mormaers of Levenax sprang the Earls of Lennox who were to become joined to the royal house of Stewart. The origins of the earldom, which was well established by the twelfth century, are disputed, but one theory asserts that a Saxon baron by the name of Arkyll received lands in Dunbartonshire and Stirlingshire from Malcolm III, and by his marriage to a Scottish heiress had a son, Alwyn, first Earl of Lennox. However, it is claimed by other historians that the earldom was conferred by William the Lion upon his brother, David, Earl of Huntingdon, and that the family of Lennox was not established until after William s reign.

Sources

Type: Web Site
Author: Jim Weber
Title: The Phillips, Weber, Kirk & Staggs Famlies
Date: Nov 16, 2004
Type: Web Site
Author: Robert Sewell
Title: Livingston of Callendar