Walter Bailloch

The tomb effigies of Walter and his wife, Mary I, Countess of Menteith, at Inchmahome Priory in Menteith. The effigy of Walter and his wife, Mary I, Countess of Menteith. Walter Bailloch, also known as Walter Bailloch Stewart (1225/1230 – 1293/1294), was distinguished by the sobriquet Bailloch or Balloch, a Gaelic nickname roughly translated as "the Freckled". He was the Earl of Menteith jure uxoris.

Life Walter was a younger son of Walter Stewart, 3rd High Steward of Scotland, and his wife Bethóc or Beatrix Mac Gille Críst of Angus, daughter of Gilchrist, Earl of Angus, and wife Marjorie of Huntingdon, granddaughter of David I. In 1258–59, Walter accompanied Louis IX of France on his Crusade, according to tradition. About 1260, when Isabella, Countess of Menteith and her husband Walter Comyn, Lord of Badenoch were forced to leave Scotland, the magnates of Scotland arranged the marriage of her sister, Mary, Countess of Menteith, to Walter Stewart, who took possession of the lands and title, with questions of legal ownership being reserved. About 1263 the earl was Sheriff of Ayr, and aided in making preparations to repel the expected invasion of King Haakon IV of Norway. The earl was Sheriff of Dumbarton in 1271 until 1288. On 25 July 1281 he was one of the witnesses to and guarantors of the marriage contract of the Princess Margaret with Eirik II of Norway. He, Countess Mary, and a party of Scots barons traveled to Norway accompanying the princess and her dowry of fourteen thousand marks. In 1285 he and his Countess were again attacked by the rival claimants William Comyn and his wife Isabella, their claim having been in 1282 pressed upon King Alexander III of Scotland by the English King, and in a Parliament at Scone it was decided that the earldom should be divided into two portions.

Seal of Walter Stewart Earl of Menteith, 1292. A shield vearing a fess cheque, with a labe of five points as a difference. Above the shield is a crescent. On each side of the shield appear three projections resembling eagles' feet. "S' Walteri Senescalli Comt' de Menetet." One half was retained by Walter Stewart, with the title of earl, and the other half was erected into a barony for William, the son of John the Red Comyn, and his wife, a daughter of the elder countess by her first husband. Their tombstone is preserved in the Priory of Inchmahome, bearing the effigies of husband and wife, the former bearing on his shield the Stewart fess chequy with a label of five points, a device which also appears on his seal of arms in the Public Record Office, London.

Family In 1258 Walter married Mary I, Countess of Menteith. Walter, third son to the 3rd High Steward, took the name of Menteith after succeeding to the Earldom of Menteith in right of his wife, and differenced the Stewart arms by changing the fess to a bend and the Azure squares of the check to Sable. They had two sons as issue, both of whom assumed the surname Menteith and at least one daughter. Alexander, Earl of Menteith, who succeeded to the earldom. Sir John de Menteith, notorious as the betrayer of Sir William Wallace. Gilbert Drummond, who was granted the lands and church of Kilpatrick, as Gilbert de Drumund of Dumbarton appears on the Ragman Rolls of 1296 swearing fealty to Edward I of England Walter Drummond, Scottish Ambassador to England and Secretary to King Robert the Bruce Christian Drummond, who received grants of lands in Ardcurane from Maol Choluim I, Earl of Lennox Margaret Drummond, who received grants of lands in Ardcurane from Maol Choluim I, Earl of Lennox