Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

250
LENNOX.
of the Tweed, a mile below Coldstream, and was
destroyed by predatory incursion during- the Border
wars. The ruins of the church still exist; but
great part of the cemetery has been swept away by
the Tweed. The modern village bears the name of
New Lennel, and is inconsiderable in size. The
mansion-houses of Lennel and Hirsel are in the vici-
nity respectively of the ancient church and chapel
of the parish.
LENNOCK (The), a small stream in the parish
of Birnie, Morayshire, tributary to the Lossie.
LENNOX, the ancient county of Dumbarton,
comprehending the whole of the modern county and
a large part of Stirlingshire, and part of the counties
of Perth and Renfrew. The original name was
Zeven-ach, ' the field of the Leven,' and very appro-
priately designated the basin, not only of the river
Leven, but also of Loch-Lomond, anciently called
Loch-Leven. Levenachs, in the plural number,
come to be the name of all the extensive and con-
tiguous possessions of the powerful Earls of the soil;
and, being spelt and written Levenax, was easily and
naturally corrupted into Lennox. In the 13th cen-
tury, Lennox and the sheriffdom of Dumbarton ap-
pear to have been co-extensive ; but afterwards, in
consequence of great alterations and considerable
curtailments upon the sheriffdom, they ceased to be
identical. The origin of the earldom of Lennox is
obscure. Arkil, a Saxon, and a baron of Northum-
bria, who took refuge from the vengeance of the
Norman William, under the protection of Malcolm
Canmore, appears to have been the founder of the
original Lennox family. His son Alwyn seems to
have been the first Earl. But dying, when his son
and heir was a minor, early in the reign of William
the Lion, David, Earl of Huntingdon, received from
the king the earldom in ward, and appears to have
held it during a considerable period. Alwyn, the
2d Earl, recovered possession some time before
1199. Maldwen, the 3d Earl, obtained from Alex-
ander II., in 1238, a confirmatory charter of the
earldom as held by his father ; but was not allowed
the castle of Dumbarton, nor the lands, port, and
fisheries of Murrach. In 1284, Earl Malcolm con-
curred with the ' Magnates Scotiae,' in swearing to
acknowledge Margaret of Norway as heir-apparent
to Alexander the Third's throne; and, in 1290, he
appeared in the assembly of the states at Birgham,
and consented to the marriage of Margaret with the
son of Edward I. Next year, when Margaret's death
opened the competition for the Crown, Malcolm was
one of the nominees of Robert Bruce ; and resist-
ance to England becoming necessary, he, in 1296,
assembled his followers, and, with other Scottish
leaders, invaded Cumberland and assaulted Carlisle.
While Sir John Menteith, the faithless and inglori-
ous betrayer of the patriot Wallace, prostituted his
power as governor of Dumbarton-castle, and sheriff
of Dumbartonshire, in favour of Edward I., Malcolm
went boldly out, and achieved feats as a supporter of
Robert Bruce ; and he continued, after Bruce's death,
to maintain the independence of the kingdom, till, in
1333, he fell with hoary locks, but fighting like a
youthful warrior, at Halidon-hill. In 1424, after the
restoration of James I., Earl Duncan became involved
in the fate of his son-in-law, Murdoch, Duke of Al-
bany, the Regent ; and for some real or merely im-
puted crime, which no known history specifies, he
was, in May next year, along with the Duke and
two of the Duke's sons, beheaded at Stirling.
Though Duncan left, by his second marriage, a le-
gitimate son, called Donald of Lennox; yet his
daughter Isabella, Duchess of Albany, while obtain-
ing to regular entry to the earldom as heiress, ap-
pears to have enjoyed it during the reign of James
II. ; and she resided in the castle of Inchmurrin in
Loch-Lomond, the chief messuage of the earldom,
and there granted charters to vassals, as Countess of
Lennox, and made gifts of portions of the property
to religious establishments. After this lady's death
in 1459, a long contest took place for the earldom
between the heirs of her sisters, Elizabeth and Mar-
garet, the second and third daughters of Duncan,
whose priority of age was not ascertained by evi-
dence, or admitted of keen and plausible dispute.
The vast landed property of Lennox was dismem-
bered or cut into moieties; but the honours, the
superiority, and the principal messuage of the earl-
dom — the grand object of dispute — could be awarded
to only one part, and were not finally adjudged till
1493. Sir John Stewart of Darnley had married
Elizabeth ; and their grandson, besides being de-
clared heir to half the Lennox estate, became Lord
Darnley and Earl of Lennox. Sir Robert Menteith
of Rusky had married Margaret; and their moiety of
the Lennox estate, came, with the estate of Rusky,
to be divided, in the persons of their great grand-
daughters, the co-heiresses, between Sir John Hal-
dane of Gleneglis, who had married the elder, and
Sir John Napier of Merchieston, who had married
the younger. In 1471, the earldom being in the
king's hands by the non-entry of any heir was given,
during his life, to Andrew, Lord Avondale, the
chancellor. After the fall of James III., John Lord
Darnley appears to have been awarded the Lennox
honours by the new government; and, in 1488, he
sat as Earl of Lennox in the first parliament, and
received for himself and his son Matthew Stewart,
the ward and revenues of Dumbarton-castle, which
had been held by Lord Avondale. But only next
year he took arms against the young king, drew be-
sieging forces upon his fortresses both of Crookston
and Dumbarton, suffered a defeat or rather a night
surprise and rout at Tilly-moss, on the south side of
the Forth above Stirling, saw the castle of Dumbar-
ton, which was maintained by four of his sons, yield
to a vigorous siege of six weeks, headed by the king
and the ministers of state, and, after all, succeeded
in making his peace with government, and obtaining
a full pardon for himself and his followers. Matthew,
the next Earl, whose accession took place in 1494,
led the men of Lennox to the fatal field of Flodden,
where he and the Earl of Argyle commanded the
right wing of the Scottish army, and, with many of
their followers, were hewn down amid vain efforts
of valour. John, the son and successor of Matthew,
played an active part during the turbulent minority
of James V. In 1514, he, along with the Earl of
Glencairn, assailed the castle of Dumbarton during
a tempestuous night, and, breaking open the lower
gate, succeeded in taking it; in 1516, he was im-
prisoned by the Regent Albany, to compel him to
surrender the fortress as the key of the west, and
was obliged to comply ; and, in 1526, he assembled
a force of 10,000 men, and marched toward Edin-
burgh to the rescue of the young king from the
power of the Douglases. Matthew, the next Earl,
a very conspicuous figurant in history, obtained, in
1531, for 19 years, the tenure of the governorship
and revenues of Dumbarton-castle. Early in the
reign of Mary, some French ships arriving in the
Clyde with supplies for the queen, he, by artful per-
suasion, got the captains to land 30,000 crowns of
silver and a quantity of arms and ammunition in the
castle; and he immediately joined with other mal-
contents in an abortive but comprised aud pardoned
attempt to overthrow the government. In May and
June 1544, he secretly entered the service of Henry
VIII., engaging every effort to seize and deliver to
England the Scottish queen, the isle of Bute, and