By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 379 
Barony of Methven! in Perthshire as an acknowledgment of ser- 
vices rendered to the Princess Margaret, afterwards his Queen. She 
together with her brother Edgar, ‘‘the Atheling,” were accompa- 
nied by him from Hungary, where they had both been born during 
the exile of their father Edward, the son of Edmund Ironside, and 
nephew of Edward the Confessor. To keep in remembrance their 
German origin, the Methuen family carry their arms blazoned on 
the breast of an imperial eagle. 
We soon find members of the Methuen family occupying high 
and honorable offices in Scotland. In the reign of Alexander II. 
(1214—1248) we find Galfred, William, and Robert, mentioned in 
such a way, and in conjunction with others of such exalted station, 
as implies the rank to which they had themselves attained. 
The immediate ancestor, however, of the family of which we, are 
speaking, was Parrick pe Meruven, who was the proprietor of the 
lands and barony of Methven, and lived in the reign of Alexander 
III. (c. 1260). His son, Sir Roger, is mentioned as a man of 
distinction in the reign of Robert Bruce. He was Lord of the 
same barony as his father, and, with many other Scotchmen of the 
first rank, was compelled to submit to Edward I. in 1296. 
Sir Roger was succeeded by his eldest son Paul, whom we meet 
with as one of the ambassadors extraordinary appointed to treat 
concerning a peace with England in 1363. A similar appointment 
was no long time afterwards filled by the grandson of this Paul, 
by name John de Methven, who was, in 1397, one of the ambassa- 
dors to the Court of England for negotiating affairs of state with 
that kingdom. It appears that the castle of Methven and part of 
the lands belonging to the Barony were acquired from this John, 
by the Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland during the imprison- 
ment of King James I. They afterwards fell to the Crown, where 
they remained for some years. In 1425 King James V. gave them 
’ Mevvin Castle, as it is now called, still stands at Huntingtower a village 
between Perth and Crieff. The name of this family is found written in various 
ways, Methven, Methwin, Methuen, &c. Paul, the first settler in Bradford, 
wrote his name in the second form; John, his son, preferred the first ; Sir Paul, 
his grandson, the well-known ambassador, adopted the third, which is now the 
usual mode of spelling the name. 
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