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Bertolf, earliest known ancestor of the Flemings of Biggar
(c1100 - c1171)
Basic information about this person: \click here\

Bertolf is the earliest known ancestor of the Fleming family in Scotland. No document written in his own name survives. He is known almost entirely through the records of his sons, who were identified in their charters as filio Bertolfi, “son of Bertolf”.

A Flemish settler

Bertolf was born around 1100. His name is Germanic and his descendants were known as Flandrensis or Flamang, “the Fleming”, which shows that the family came from Flanders, in what is now Belgium and northern France.

During the twelfth century the Scottish kings, beginning with David I, encouraged Flemish, Norman and English settlers to come north. The newcomers were granted land in return for military service and were valued for their skills as knights, administrators, merchants and wool traders. Bertolf appears to have been one of these settlers, and he most likely arrived in Scotland in the middle years of the century.

Known through his sons

Because medieval Scots did not yet use fixed surnames, Bertolf’s sons identified themselves by their father’s name. Four sons are known: Simon, Malcolm, Norman and Bartholomew. Malcolm son of Bertolf is regarded as the first of Leslie in Aberdeenshire and the founder of the Leslie family, while Bartholomew appears to have become a monk. Simon, who settled at Kennethmont near Leslie, carried on the line that would become the Flemings of Biggar.

The fact that his sons were well enough known to be identified simply as “son of Bertolf” suggests that Bertolf himself was a man of some standing. Bertolf died around 1171.

Legacy

Bertolf is the common ancestor of two Scottish families: the Leslies, through his son Malcolm, and the Flemings, through his son Simon. Within three generations his descendants were established in Lennox and Renfrewshire, and from them came the Flemings of Biggar and Cumbernauld, the Lords Fleming and the Earls of Wigtown.