Robert Keith Marischal of Scotland

• Preferred Name: Robert Keith Marischal of Scotland
  
• Gender: M
  
• FSID: L2YB-35V
  
• Death: 11 AUG 1332 in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland at LATI: N6.4 LONG: E3.4333 with note: Killed in the Battle of Dupplin Moor
  
• Birth: 1262 in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland at LATI: N7.537 LONG: E1.9959
  
• Burial: 1332 in Scotland
  
• MilitaryService: led the Scottish infantryBET 23 AND 24 JUN 1314 in Bannockburn, Stirlingshire, Scotland at LATI: N6.0833 LONG: E3.8833 with note: Sheriff of Aberdeen
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  Sir Robert de Keith, the eldest son, succeeded his father in the lands and office of Marischal of Scotland, and in the year 1294 he obtained from John Baliol a charter of confirmation of the lands of Keith and others in East Lothian, in which he is designed ' our Marischal.' He, as ' marescallus Scotise,' confirmed the lands of Johnston and others to the monastery of Soltre by a charter to which Sir Richard de Keth, Sir Philip de Keth, rector of the church of Biggar, his brother. Sir Adam de Keth, rector of Keith-Marischal, his uncle, and John de Keth, his son and heir, are witnesses, about the year 1290." Between that date and the year 1300 he granted to the monks of Kelso the right to build a mill on his lands of Keith-Hundeby." In August 1299 he was appointed Warden of the Forest of Selkirk, which post he held until the year 1300, when he was captured by the English and cast into prison at Carlisle, whence he was transferred to Nottingham and Bristol. On February 1303-4 he received notification of peace by royal messenger. He was liberated the same year, and dined with the Prince of Wales at Perth in February 1304. In 1304 he held the office of Sheriff of Aberdeen. In 1305 he was chosen one of the ten Scotsmen to represent Scotland in the English Parliament, and in that year he attended the Parliament held by Edward I at Westminster. On 26 October 1305 he was appointed by King Edward one of the four Deputy Wardens of Scotland, and in the same year he obtained the office of Justiciar of the country between the Forth and the Mountli, at a salary of 40 merks yearly. In July 1307 he was still in the service of the King of England. In September of that year he was ordered to aid against Bruce, but at Christmas 1308 he joined the cause of King Robert, and remained faithful to him during the remainder of his life.
  
  He did not therefore join Bruce until after the success of the King's arms at the battle of Inverurie, in May 1308, but in the year 1309 he received from him a grant of the forest of Kintore in the Garioch and the lands of Alnedan (now Aden) and Auchtidonald in Buchan. In the same year he was appointed Justiciar from the Forth to the Orkneys. His forfeited barony of Keith had been given by the King of England to Robert Hastang in 1311. He had command of the Scottish cavalry at the battle of Bannockburn, and by attacking the English bowmen in
  flank he caused the panic in the English army which resulted in its total defeat. In recognition of this and other services King Robert, at the Parliament held at Perth in 1320, bestowed upon him a large portion of the forfeited lands of the Comyns, Earls of Buchan, and thereafter the home of the Marischals, and the bulk of their estates, lay in the north and north-east of Scotland.
  
  From The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, Sir James Balfour Paul, Vol. VI (David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1909), pp. 30-31.
  
  === !#21-v8-p469/70*; !g son minor in 1335-3 ===
  !#21-v8-p469/70*; !g son minor in 1335-36; died> between Aug 1343 & Whitsuntide 1344;
  
  === 1252 ===
  1252
  
  === 1279 ===
  1279
  
  === Signatory of the Declaration of Arbroath ===
  Signatory of the Declaration of Arbroath (1320).
  
  === SIR ROBERT DE KEITH, in an undated chart ===
  SIR ROBERT DE KEITH, in an undated charter of about 1290, describes himself as Marescallus Scotie, and was designated Marescallus noster in the charter of Baliol. In 1300, when he was warden of Selkirk forest for the "rebels," he was captured by the English, and imprisoned successively at Carlisle, Nottingham and Bristol, it being thought dangerous to leave him, one of the worst enemies of the (English) King, so near the border. He "came to the King's peace," and returned to Scotland in 1303, serving as a knight in the army of the Prince of Wales. In 1304 he was sheriff of Aberdeen, and in the following year one of the io commissioners elected by the Scots who, with 22 Englishmen elected by the Parliament of 1305, agreed to the ordinances made by Edward I for the settlement of Scotland, under which Keith was appointed joint justice between the Forth and the Mounth, and later one of the four deputies of Sir John de Bretagne, the King's Lieutenant, pending the said John's arrival in Scotland. He was drawing his expenses in the English service in May 1307; in September and December of that year writs were addressed to him from the English chancery, and in May 1308 he was accepted as guarantor for the Bishop of St. Andrews; but the following Christmas he withdrew from his Enelish allegiance, and joined Bruce, remaining faithful to him and his son till the end of his life. As Marshal of Scotland he was one of the magnates who addressed the letter to Philip of France, 16 March 1308/9. He commanded the Scottish light cavalry at Bannockburn. He was one of the magnates whose seals were attached to the Letter of Independence (to the Pope), 6 April 1320, and was in that same month appointed a commissioner to treat with France. In 1324 he had from Robert I confirmation of the Marshalcy, as belonging to the lands of Keith. He was living in 1332, and was almost certainly the Sir Robert de Keith, Marshal of Scotland, who, with the Bishop of Moray, was authorising expenditure for the household of the young King David in France in 1337 and 1340, because his grandson, on whom the Marshalcy was entailed, was still under age in 1335-36. That being so, it was probably he who returned with David in 1341, and witnessed a charter of that King, 29 May 1342, as Robert de Keith, Marescallus noster Scotie. Between 1335 and 1343 he was sheriff of Aberdeen, presumably acting by deputy while in France. He appears to have died between August 1343 and Whitsuntide 1344. [Complete Peerage VIII:469-70]
  
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  Sir Robert de Keith, the eldest son, succeeded his father in the lands and office of Marischal of Scotland, and in the year 1294 he obtained from John Baliol a charter of confirmation of the lands of Keith and others in East Lothian, in which he is designed 'our Marischal.' He, as 'marescallus Scotiæ,' confirmed the lands of Johnston and others to the monaster of Soltre by a charter to which Sir Richard de Keth, Sir Philip de Keth, rector of the church of Biggar, his brother, Sir Adam de Keth, rector of Keith-Marischal, his uncle, and John de Keth, his son and heir, are witnesses, about the year 1290. Between that date and the year 1300 he granted to the monks of Kelso the right to build a mill on his lands of Keith-Hundeby. In August 1299 he was appointed Warden of the Forest of Selkirk, which post he held until the year 1300, when he was captured by the English and cast into prison at Carlisle, whence he was transferred to Nottingham and Bristo. On February 1303-4 he received notification of peace by royal messenger. He was liberated the same year, and dined with the Prince of Wales at Perth in February 1304. In 1304 he held the office of Sheriff of Aberdeen. In 1305 he was chosen one of the ten Scotsmen to represent Scotland in the English Parliament, and in that year he attended the Parliament held by Edward I at Westminster. On 26 October 1305 he was appointed by King Edward one of the four Deputy Wardens of Scotland, and in the same year he obtained the office of Justiciar of the country between the Forth and the Mounth, at a salary of 40 merks yearly. In July 1307 he was still in the service of the King of England. In September of that year he was ordered to aid against Bruce, but at Christmas 1308 he joined the cause of King Robert, and remained faithful to him during the remainder of his life.
  
  He did not therefore join Bruce until after the success of the King's arms at the battle of Inverurie, in May 1308, but in the year 1309 he received from him a grant of the forest of Kintore in the Garioch and the lands of Ainedan (now Aden) and Auchtidonald in Buchan. In the same year he was appointed Justiciar from the Forth to the Orkneys. His forfeited barony of Keith had been given by the King of England to Robert Hastang in 1311. He had command of the Scottish cavalry at the battle of Bannockburn, and by attacking the English bowmen in flank he caused the panic in the English army which resulted in its total defeat. In recognition of this and other services King Robert, at the Parliament held at Perth in 1320, bestowed upon him a large portion of the forfeited lands of the Comyns, Earl of Buchan, and thereafter the home of the Marischals, and the bulk of their estates, lay in the north and north-east of Scotland.
  
  He was one of the 'magnates Scotiæ,' who signed the Letter of Independence of Scotland to the Pope on 6 April 1320. In 1323 he was appointed one of the commissioners to treat with England, and on the conclusion of a truce was chosen one of the guarantors. In the year 1324 King Robert granted him a charter confirming to him and his heirs-male, whom failing, to his brother Edward and his heirs male, both of the body, and failing said heirs, then to Robert's nearest heirs-male, his possessions of the lands of Keith-Marischal, together with the office of Marschal of the Kingdom 'appertaining to the same lands,' also the lands of Keith-Sumon, Calbanestoun, Alnedan, with the new forest of Innerpeffin, four davachs of land in Strathbogie and the forest of Kintore. In 1326 he was appointed one of the royal procurators for concluding an alliance with King Charles of France. He is said by Boece to have been killed at the battle of Dupplin in 1332, but the contemporary historians, while they mention others of less note, are silent as to Sir Robert's death at Dupplin; and in recounting the taking of Perth, which occurred later, his grandson is neither styled 'knight' nor 'marischal.' The balance of evidence rather supports the view thath he survived the slaughter at Dupplin, and that it was he, and not his grandson of the same name, who aided the young King of Scotland to escape to France, and accompanied him there, in May 1334, and was in attendance at the Court held by the exiled King at Chateau Gaillard in Normandy. Taking the evidence above adduced as sufficient to establish the subsequent identity, he returned to Scotland with the King in June 1341, and on 21 February 1341-42 he witnessed a royal charter to the town of Aberdeen. His name appears frequently as Sheriff of Aberdeen between the years 1335 and 1342, but in the 'Chamberlain Rolls' it is stated that 'the heirs of Robert de Keth' usurped the office of Aberdeen for several years prior to 1345-46, this Robert being presumably Sir Robert's grandson above referred to.
  
  Sir Robert was killed at the batte of Durham 17 October 1346. He is said to have married Barbara Douglas, whose parentage has not been ascertained. [The Scots Peerage VI:30-33]
  
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  Sir Robert Keith, great marischal of Scotland, son of William de Keith, first appears as marischal in 1294, when he received a charter from King John Baliol of the lands of Keith. During the war which ensued on Baliol's dethronement, Keith, who had been appointed by the Scottish regents warden of the forest of Selkirk, was in 1300 captured by the English and imprisoned in the castle of Carlisle. Reported to Edward as 'one of his worst enemies' and 'of bad repute,' he was ordered to be removed to Nottingham Castle; but, on reaching York on his way thither, was sent to Bristol Caslte. In 1302 he was admitted to the king's peace, and returning to Scotland, is mentioned as dining with the Prince of Wales at Perth in February 1304. In the following year he was sent to the parliament at Westminster as one of the Scots commissioners for the settlement of the government of Scotland; Sir John de Bretagne, earl of Richmond, was then appointed the royal lieutenant in Scotland, and Keith one of his council, with the office of justiciar between the Forth and the Month, at a salary of forty merks yearly. Until the lieutenant was able to enter on his duties Keith was appointed one of the four wardens of Scotland, and he continued to act for the English king, and received various grants of money from him for his faithful services until the close of 1308. He then joined Robert Bruce, but subsequently to the battle of Inverurie, as the date of his desertion from the English is distinctly stated as Christmas 1308. In March following he united with other Scottish nobles in a letter to the king of France requesting his countenance in the assertion of the national independence. He received several charters of lands from Bruse, including one of the office of marischal of Scotland, and was appointed justiciar of Scotland from the Forth to the Orkneys. He had command of the Scottish horse at Bannockburn (24 June 1314), and so successfully attacked the English bowmen in flank as to completely rout them and materially aid the victory of Bruce. He signed the letter of independence to the pope in 1320, and was in 1326 appointed one of the Scots commissioners for concluding a treaty of alliance between Bruce and Charles IV of France, though he does not appear to have gone to France. He married, it is said, Barbara Douglas, and had a son, John, who dying before him, left a son Robert. Robe
  
  === TITLE: Marischal of Scotland DEATH CAUSE ===
  TITLE: Marischal of Scotland DEATH CAUSE: casualty of war

1. John de Keith Marshall of Scotland, b. 1294 in Buchan, Alba     d. 1324 in Forfar, Angushire, Scotland

• m. 1287