Biography

He is the first of his name to have borne the title of Earl of Menteith

Earl of Menteith

The Mormaer or Earl of Menteith was originally the ruler of the province of Menteith in the Middle Ages. The first mormaer is usually regarded as Gille Críst, simply because he is the earliest on record. The title was held in a continuous line from Gille Crist until Muireadhach IV , although the...

 in his own right. He was the only son of Sir Patrick Graham of Kincardine

Kincardine

Kincardine or Kincardine-on-Forth is a small town located on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, in Fife, Scotland. The town was given the status of a Burgh of barony in 1663. It was at one time a reasonably prosperous minor port...

. Patrick was the second son of Sir Patrick Graham, ancestor of the Earls and Dukes of Montrose

Duke of Montrose

The title of Duke of Montrose was created twice in the peerage of Scotland, firstly in 1488 for David Lindsay, 5th Earl of Crawford. It was forfeited and then returned, but only for the period of the holder's lifetime...

. They are believed to been direct descendants of the ill-famed John de Menteith

John de Menteith

Sir John de Menteith was a Scottish nobleman.He was born to Mary, Countess of Menteith and her husband Walter "Bailloch" Stewart, Earl of Menteith jure uxoris. He and his older brother, Alexander, Earl of Menteith, replaced their paternal Stewart surname in favour of Menteith, which earned him the...

, laird of Ruskie, younger son of countess Mairi of Menteith and her husband, the Stewart-cadet Baltair Bailloch, earl jure uxoris. The younger Sir Patrick married Euphemia Stewart, Countess Palatine of Strathearn

Euphemia Stewart, Countess of Strathearn

Euphemia Stewart was a medieval Scottish noblewoman, the daughter of David Stewart, Earl Palatine of Strathearn and Caithness. She succeeded to both her father's titles after his death between 1385 and 1389, probably March 1386....

, and became in her right Earl of Strathearn

Earl of Strathearn

The Mormaer of Strathearn or Earl of Strathearn was a provincial ruler in medieval Scotland. Of unknown origin, the mormaers are attested for the first time in a document perhaps dating to 1115. The first known mormaer, Maol Íosa I is mentioned by Ailred of Rievaulx as leading native Scots in the...

. Their son Malise, whose name was an anglicisation

Anglicisation

Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...

 of the Gaelic

Goidelic languages

The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...

 name Maol Íosa, was born about 1407, or perhaps later. During the earlier years of his life he bore the title Earl of Strathearn

Strathearn

Strathearn or Strath Earn is the strath of the River Earn, in Scotland. It extends from Loch Earn in Perth and Kinross to the River Tay....

, and as such was proposed as a hostage for King James I

James I of Scotland

James I, King of Scots , was the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline as youngest of three sons...

; he was named among those who welcomed King James at Durham

Durham

Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...

 in March 1424.

The King, however, took advantage of the Earl's minority, and deprived him of the earldom of Strathearn, making him Earl of Menteith

Menteith

Menteith or Monteith , a district of south Perthshire, Scotland, roughly comprises the territory between the Teith and the Forth. The region is named for the river Teith, but the exact sense is unclear, early forms including Meneted, Maneteth and Meneteth.First recorded as the Mormaerdom of...

 instead. The charter of the new earldom was dated September 6, 1427. The lands named in the grant to be part of the reshaped earldom, many of which can still be identified, indicate that he received the newly constituted earldom comprehended the whole of Aberfoyle

Aberfoyle

Aberfoyle is a village in the region of Stirling, Scotland, northwest of Glasgow.The town is situated on the River Forth at the base of Craigmore...

 parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 and a portion of that of Port of Menteith

Port of Menteith

Port of Menteith is a village and parish in the Stirling district of Scotland, the only significant settlement on the Lake of Menteith. It was established as a burgh of barony, then named simply Port, in 1457 by King James III of Scotland...

. But this was only the smaller half of the original earldom, the remainder being annexed to the Crown.

Two months after his receiving the above charter Earl Malise, in November 1427, entered England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 as a hostage

Hostage

A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...

 for King James I, and was confined in the castle of Pontefract

Pontefract

Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...

, whence he was not released until June 17, 1453. James, Lord Hamilton

James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton

James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton, 6th Lord of Cadzow was a Scottish nobleman, scholar and politician.-Early life:...

, who had married the Earl's sister, Euphemia Graham, widow of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas

Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas

Archibald Douglas was a Scottish nobleman and General, son of Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas and Margaret Stewart, eldest daughter of Robert III...

, was the chief agent in obtaining the release, and received a grant on 17 December 1453 of the lands in the lordship of Kinpont, West Lothian

West Lothian

West Lothian is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, North Lanarkshire, the Scottish Borders and South Lanarkshire....

. The Earl in the charter styles himself Earl of Menteith and Lord of Kinpont, the latter being a very early possession of the Graham family, which had descended to him through his father.

The Earl appears on various occasions in his place in Parliament

Parliament of Scotland

The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The unicameral parliament of Scotland is first found on record during the early 13th century, with the first meeting for which a primary source survives at...

, but little is known of his history except that he appears to have become involved in debt. He is said to have been present at the Battle of Sauchieburn

Battle of Sauchieburn

The Battle of Sauchieburn was fought on June 11, 1488, at the side of Sauchie Burn, a stream about two miles south of Stirling, Scotland. The battle was fought between as many as 30,000 troops of King James III of Scotland and some 18,000 troops raised by a group of dissident Scottish nobles...

 on June 11, 1488, and to have fought for the King ; but this is doubtful, as he must then have been above eighty years of age. In the retour of his grandson to the estates on 6 May 1493, Earl Malise is said to have died at the peace of King James IV of Scotland

James IV of Scotland

James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...

. The exact date of his death is not known, but he was dead before May 19, 1490, perhaps not very long before that date, when a gift was made to John Home of Earlston of the ward of the lands of Gilmerton, held of Malise, Earl of Menteith, and then in the King's hands by his decease.

The Earl was at least twice married. His first wife is said to have been Janet de Rochford. On April 19, 1471 Janet, Countess of Malise, Earl of Menteith, is held to be entitled to her terce

Terce

Terce, or Third Hour, is a fixed time of prayer of the Divine Office of almost all the Christian liturgies. It consists mainly of psalms and is said at 9 a.m. Its name comes from Latin and refers to the third hour of the day after dawn....

 from Kinpont, belonging to her son Patrick. She probably died not long afterwards, but this is uncertain. In 1490 the Countess of Menteith was named Marion, and she survived her husband, marrying John Drummond before May 17, 1491. She was still alive in 1530, dying between 28 April and 23 August in that year. The Earl had a great many children, but was succeeded by his grandson, Alexander Graham, 2nd Earl of Menteith.