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Nicholas of Biggar, Sheriff of Lanark
(c1240 - before 1292)
Basic information about this person: \click here\
Nicholas of Biggar, the last male heir of Baldwin the Fleming, was Sheriff of Lanark and a supporter of Robert Bruce in the succession crisis that followed the death of Alexander III. He left two heiress daughters, and the marriage of one of them to Gilbert Fleming brought the barony of Biggar to the Flemings.
The lords of Biggar
Nicholas descended from Baldwin of Biggar, the Flemish knight who settled at Biggar around 1147 and became Sheriff of Lanark. Baldwin was succeeded by his son Waltheof, and Waltheof by his son Robert. In 1229 Robert’s son Hugh of Biggar, acting as patron of the church of Strathaven, conveyed lands south of the Avon to Lesmahagow Priory, and in 1240 King Alexander II confirmed the gift with Robert’s consent as overlord. Hugh’s son was Nicholas, born around 1240.
Sheriff of Lanark
By 1269 Nicholas was a knight, witnessing a deed that confirmed the Abbot of Kelso in his lands in the parish of Lesmahagow. In 1270, as Sheriff of Lanark, the office his ancestor Baldwin had held, he took part in the settlement by the Bishop of Glasgow of a dispute between the abbey and Simon Lockhart over the church of Symington. In 1273 he was again named in a charter confirming that settlement, and he was still sheriff around 1280.
The Maid of Norway
Late in the reign of Alexander III all three of the king’s children died, leaving his granddaughter Margaret, the Maid of Norway, as heir. After Alexander was killed in a fall from his horse in 1286, Scotland was ruled by six Guardians. Margaret’s father arranged her marriage to Edward of Caernarfon, heir of Edward I of England, on terms that would keep Scotland independent, and these were set out in the Treaty of Salisbury in November 1289. In March 1290 Nicholas set his seal to the Scottish assent to the treaty and the letter of Birgham to King Edward.
When the Maid of Norway died while en route to her coronation, the succession became contested. Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale and grandfather of the future King Robert I, was challenged by John Balliol and John Hastings. In April 1290, at Lochmaben, Nicholas agreed to support Bruce in suing Balliol and Hastings over lands in the Garioch. Nicholas was therefore working closely with Bruce at a pivotal moment in the Bruce quest for the crown, as were the Flemings of Fulwood and Barochan. Edward I, invited to arbitrate between the contenders, chose Balliol in 1292.
The heiresses of Biggar
Nicholas did not live to see the wars that followed. He died before 13 December 1292, leaving his widow Mary and two daughters, Marjory and Ada, but no son. The wardship of the heiresses, the right to arrange their marriages, was granted to Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow (who was one of Scotland's Guardians). Wishart was a strong supporter of the Bruce cause, and he approved the marriage of one of the sisters to Gilbert Fleming.
Because Nicholas left no son, his daughters inherited his estate jointly, and each share passed to their heirs. There is no record of Biggar being divided, which suggests that one sister died young and the whole inheritance passed to the other, Marjory. See Estate: Biggar.
Legacy
The seventeenth-century historian William Drummond believed that the Flemings descended in the male line from Baldwin of Biggar. Later historians showed that this could not be so, because Nicholas left only daughters, and because no member of Baldwin’s line ever used the surname Fleming. Although Baldwin and Nicholas were not the source of the Fleming name, they are ancestors of the Flemings of Biggar through Marjory, and through her of the Lords Fleming and the Earls of Wigtown.