Walter Bailloch

Walter Bailloch or Walter Bailloch Stewart (b. 1225 x 1230; d. 1293 x 1294), was third son of Walter Stewart, 3rd High Steward of Scotland, and Earl of Menteith "jure uxoris". His wife was Mary I, Countess of Menteith. Characteristically of the Stewart family by the 13th century, he was distinguished by the sobriquet "Bailloch" or "Balloch", a Gaelic nickname roughly translated as "the freckled".

He is said to have gone to Egypt under Louis IX of France, but there is no certain evidence of this. After the death of King Alexander II of Scotland he favoured the Durward faction, and by a stratagem in 1255 secured the persons of the young King and Queen, but he was not at this time admitted to a share in the government. It was about 1260, when the Countess Isabella and her husband were forced to renounce the earldom, that the King and barons of Scotland declared the lands and title to belong to the wife of William Stewart, and he was invested therein. He was certainly using the title "comes" (earl or mormaer) before April 17 1261, when he was witness to a grant to the Paisley Abbey.

In the following year Dughall MacSuibhne granted to the Earl the lands of Skipnish, Killislate, and others, being that part of Kintyre called South Knapdale and the parish of Kilcalmonell. Following on this, the Earl granted the church of Kilcalmonell to the monks of Paisley. He also made grants to Kilwinning Abbey of churches in Knapdale, which show that he had possession of North Knapdale also. About 1263 the Earl was Sheriff of Ayr, and aided in making preparations to repel the expected invasion of King Haakon IV of Norway. He is said to have taken part in the battle of Largs. The Earl was Sheriff of Dumbarton in 1271. On July 25 1281 he was one of the witnesses to and guarantors of the marriage contract of the Princess Margaret with Eirik II of Norway. In 1285 he and his Countess were again attacked by the rival claimants William Comyn and his wife, their claim having been in 1282 pressed upon King Alexander III of Scotland by the English King, and in a Parliament at Scone it was decided that the earldom should be divided into two portions.

One half was retained by Walter Stewart, with the title of Earl, he having the principal residence on the territory, and the other half was erected into a barony in favour of William Comyn and his wife. The component parts of the earldom which remained to Walter Stewart are not known. The death of King Alexander in 1286 threw the kingdom again into confusion, and during the rivalry which ensued between the parties of Bruce and Balliol, the Earl of Menteith supported the cause of Bruce. In 1289 he was present at Birgham, and approved of the marriage proposed between Prince Edward of England and the young Margaret, Maid of Norway as she was called, the heiress of the Scottish Crown.

Her unhappy death renewed the contest between Bruce and Balliol, and when it was proposed that the King of England should arbitrate, Menteith was one of those named by Bruce as his commissioners. He was present at Norham on November 20 1292 when the new king John Balliol swore fealty to Edward I of England. This is the last certain record of him, as although letters were addressed by the English King to Walter, Earl of Menteith, on June 29 1294, it is not clear that he was then alive. He may even have been dead by February 10 1293, when Balliol's Parliament directed the lands of Knapdale belonging to the Earl to be incorporated in the sheriffdom of Lorn under Alexander of Argyll.

The Countess Mary predeceased her husband, but at what date is not certain. Their tombstone is preserved in the Priory of Inchmahome, bearing the effigies of husband and wife, the former bearing on his shield the Stewart fess chequy with a label of five points, a device which also appears on his seal of arms in the Public Record Office, London. They had issue two sons named together by their father in a charter :

* Alexander, Earl of Menteith, who succeeded to the earldom.
* Sir John de Menteith, who has achieved an unenviable notoriety as the taker or betrayer of Sir William Wallace.

References

* Brown, Michael, "The Wars of Scotland, 1214-1371", (Edinburgh, 2004)
* Brydall, Robert, "Monumental Effigies of Scotland, from the Thirteenth Century to the Fifteenth Century", in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 29 (1894-95), figure 15, p. 353.
* Paul, James Balfour, "The Scots Peerage", Vol. VI, (Edinburgh, 1909)