Kilwinning Abbey
m. BEATRICE De BEAUCHAMP, daughter of Robert de Beauchamp, son of Hugh of Bedford.
d. 1162
Hugh may have been the son of Richard de Morville who witnessed charters by Richard de Redvers in the early 12th century. However, it seems more likely that Hugh came from Morville on the Cotentin Peninsula in northern France which was held by King David. This territory was given to David by King Henry I some time after 1106 and it was about this time that Hugh probably joined King David's household in France. David became Prince of the Cumbrians in 1113 after forcing his brother King Alexander to hand over this territory. David was able to achieve this with the help of his French followers.(1) Hugh was a witness to the Inquisitis Davidis in 1116.
In reward for his support King David arranged Hugh's marriage with Beatrice who brought with her the lands of Bozeat and Whissendine from King David's Huntingdon earldom. Hugh also received grants of land in Tweeddale, Lauderdale, the Lothians, Clydesdale and Cunningham, Ayrshire. After David took over northern England in 1136 Hugh was granted the lordship of Appleby in northern Westmorland.(2)
Hugh also held the hereditary office of Lord High Constable of the Kingdom after the death of Edward, Constable of Scotland in 1138.(3) In 1138 he was a witness of a charter from David I to the monks of Tynemouth.
Kilwinning Abbey
In 1140 Hugh founded the abbey of Kilwinning, Cunningham. About 1150 he founded Dryburgh abbey four miles from Melrose on the north bank of the Tweed. Hugh retired to Dryburgh as a canon shortly prior to his death in 1162.(4)
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Dryburgh Abbey
Many of Hugh's vassals came from England and from them sprang the families of Cunningham, Ross, Loudoun, St. Clair and Maitland. The barony of Kilmaurs was given to Warnebald the first of the Cunningham family, Earls of Glencairn between 1107 and 1124.
Issue-
Ref:
(1) David: The King Who Made Scotland- Richard Oram, Gloucester, 2004- pp. 59-63; Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom- A.A.M. Duncan, Edinburgh, 1975- pp. 134, 217-8, 223; Scottish Annals From English Chroniclers- A.O. Anderson, London, 1908- p. 193
(2) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography- Keith Stringer, Oxford University Press, 2004- article on Hugh de Morville; Beginnings of Military Feudalism and The Scots and the North of England- G.W.S. Barrow, in "The Kingdom of the Scots", Edinburgh, 2003- pp. 130-47, 250-78; Early Lords of Lauderdale- Keith Stringer, in "Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland", Edinburgh, 1985- pp. 44-71
(3) Early Scottish Charters- Sir Archibald Lawrie, Glasgow, 1905- p. 379
(4) The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries- D.E.R. Watt, N.F. Shead, Editors, in "The Scottish Record Society", Edinburgh- Vol. 24 (2001), p. 101; Early Lords of Lauderdale- Keith Stringer, in "Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland", Edinburgh, 1985- p. 46
"The Scottish Nation"- William Anderson, A. Fullarton & Co., Edinburgh, 1880
m. AVICIA De LANCASTER (d. 1191?), d. of William de Lancaster, Baron of Kendal.
d. 1189
Richard was the Lord of Cunningham, Lord High Constable of Scotland and principal minister of King William the Lion. In 1162 he confirmed a donation by Robert, son of Warnebald to the church of Sancta Maria at Kelso. He also granted a charter to James De Loudoun of the barony of Loudoun. Richard succeeded his father in his estates in Scotland as well as in Bozeat, Northamptonshire, and Rutland as well as several fees of the Honour of Huntingdon. About 1180 Richard, with his son William's consent, granted to the monks of Melrose Abbey the liberty to plow and sow the lands of Blanslie and the plain beyond the grove over to the Leader Water. The grant was confirmed by his son William.
Issue-
Ref:
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography- Keith Stringer, Oxford University Press, 2004- article on Hugh de Morville
"The Scottish Nation"- William Anderson, A. Fullarton & Co., Edinburgh, 1880