Assassination of the Red Comyn. 263 



16th February, 100 S. 



Chairman — Mr James Barbour, Vice-President. 



I. — The Assassination of the Red Comyn. By DrCniNNOCK, 

 LL.D. 



The commonly recei\-ed accounts of the assassination of the 

 Red Comyn derived from Fordun and Barbour are recognised to 

 be largely mythical. They were written sixty or seventy years 

 after the event, and therefore do not possess the validity or 

 credibility of contemporary authorities. On investigation I find 

 that the most authentic account is given by Walter of Heming- 

 burgh, an historian who li\ed at the time when the event 

 occurred, and whose histor} is highly valued by students of that 

 period of British history. I have translated his account of the 

 murder of Comyn, and for the sake of verification I append the 

 extract in his own words. John Comyn the younger, generally 

 called the "Red Comyn,'" was the son of John Comyn of 

 Badenoch, generally called the "Black Comyn." The latter 

 was one of the claimants of the crown, basing his claim on 

 descent from Donald Bane, the younger son of King Dunf^an 

 and brother of Malcolm Kenmore, whom he succeeded as king. 

 The Black Comyn married Margery, eldest sister of King John 

 Balliol. By his mother, therefore, after John Balliol's own 

 family, young John Comyn had the best claim to the Scottish 

 crown. From the defeat of Wallace to his own death, the 

 Red Comyn was the most powerful man in Scotland. He was 

 appointed by the Scots after Falkirk the Guardian of the realm, 

 and for six years held his position, defeating his English rival, 

 John de Segrave, at the battle of Roslin, 26th February, 1303. 

 After Balliol's renunciation of the crown, John Comyn might 

 be considered the rightful heir, and Robert Bruce could not 

 obtain the crown unless he were removed. Whatever may he 

 thought of Comyn's desertion of the cause of independence, it 

 cannot be denied that he was a great man. I should like to 

 suggest that an inexpensive tablet might be placed in front of 

 the house nearest to the site of the murder, which however in- 

 excusable it may have in itself, was the cause of great good 

 to Scotland ; for it impelled Bruce to take the irrevocable step 

 of assuming the crown. 



