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Sir Gilbert Fleming, 6th of Biggar
(c1265 - after 1322)
Basic information about this person: \click here\
Sir Gilbert Fleming, son of William Fleming, Steward of Lennox, founded the Biggar branch of the family through his marriage to the heiress of Biggar. He held the barony through the worst years of the wars with England, and by 1322 was presiding over his own baronial court.
Family background
Gilbert was born around 1265, a son of William Fleming, Constable of Dumbarton and later Steward of Lennox. His brother was Simon Fleming of Tranent, the father of Malcolm Fleming, 1st Earl of Wigtown. Gilbert was therefore the Earl’s uncle.
Marriage to the heiress of Biggar
Gilbert married Marjory, the heiress of Biggar in Lanarkshire. Through her he acquired the barony of Biggar, and he is counted as the sixth of Biggar. The marriage moved this branch of the family from Lennox to the upper Clyde valley, on the road between Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Borders. Biggar would remain a Fleming possession for more than four hundred years.
The English at Biggar
Biggar lay on one of the main routes used by English armies, and Gilbert’s lands suffered accordingly. In the autumn of 1310, from late September to the end of October, King Edward II of England encamped his army at Boghall, Biggar, during his campaign against Robert Bruce. An English army living off the land for a month would have been a heavy burden for the barony and its tenants.
Lord of Biggar
Gilbert’s authority as a baron is shown by a charter of 6 December 1322. In his full court at Biggar, William son of Baldwin of Edmonston resigned the lands of Edmonston into Gilbert’s hands, so that Gilbert could feu them to William Douglas, heir of Sir James Douglas of Lothian. Edmonston was held of the Flemings, so the transfer required Gilbert’s consent. Anyone who challenged it was to pay twenty marks to Glasgow Cathedral, twenty marks to Sir Gilbert and forty pounds to Douglas. Gilbert’s son Patrick was the first of the men who sealed the deed.
Family and legacy
Gilbert and Marjory had a son, Patrick Fleming, who succeeded him as 7th of Biggar, and a daughter, Margaret. Gilbert died some time after 1322. His nickname, “the Prosaic”, suggests a steady rather than spectacular career, but by securing Biggar he laid the foundation on which his descendants built. In 1382 his grandson Malcolm Fleming of Biggar became chief of the whole Fleming clan.