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Person Info

• Name: William De COMYN, Chancellor
• Sex: M
• Death: After 1155 ^d


Parents:

• Father:
  
• (Unk) De COMYN

Family:
Bibliography

Sources for birth and parent Information

brother:

unk father of Richard COMYN [Ref: Round Comyn p108]

Sources with Inaccurate birth and parent Information

father:

Robert de COMYN (#14723) [Ref: Round Comyn p111 (Lyons pedigree)]

Sources for death Information

date:

occ 1155 [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p243]

Research Notes:
Chancellor to David I [Ref: Round Comyn p108, SP I p503 (but deleted by corr in IX p30)]
one time Chancellor to David I [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p243]

had been a clerk of Geoffrey, Bishop of Durham, before Geoffrey's accession to that see in 1133; William's first appearance as chancellor was about that time; Bishop Geoffrey, who had trained William, had been King Henry's chancellor since 1123 [Ref: Round Comyn p108]

1138: accompanied David to the 'Battle of the Standard'; William was captured and kept prisoner at Durham till released from captivity as a clerk by the Papal Legate [Ref: Round Comyn p109]

1140s: sought unsuccessfully to become Bishop of Durham [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p243]

1142: presented to the bishopric of Durham, but not getting the consent of the chapter he held it by force for more than three years, whenhis nephew William was slain in the struggle. This so much affected him that he entered into a compromise with his opponents and gave up the bishopric, while the castle and honours of Northallerton were granted to another nephew, and he himself retired to Scotland [Ref: SP I p503 (open to serious question-- deleted by corr in IX p30)]

Bishop Geoffrey died at Rogation-tide 1141, and William, supported by the Scottish king, obtained possession of the castle. With the help of certain barons of the see he set himself to obtain the bishopric, and would actually have been given the ring and staff by the empress on Midsummer Day in London, had not the rising of the citizens sent them forth in flight. Then, when the empress fled from Winchester, the peripatetic chancellor was again in flight and met his royal master, a fugative like himself, at Durham. David, on behalf of the empress, installed him there as custos, and thenceforth the troubles of the times enabled him to hold at least the temporalities of the see, not as Lyon states 'for more than three years' from 1142, but from 1141 to 1144. [Ref: Round Comyn p109]

The traditional origin of the Comyns given by Sir Robert Douglas and other writers, and followed in this article, seems open to serious question. All that can safely be said is probably this -- the first of the family known in Scotland was William the Chancellor. He had three nephews, sons of a brother whose name is uncertain: (1) William, (2) Richard, (3) Walter [Ref: SP I p504 (with corr in IX p30)]

Lyon's pedigree ..a very feast of errors... in the first place, why is Earl Robert made father to the chancellor? And why is he styled Robert de Comyn? The answer to the first appears to be that the alleged paternity is but an instance of the reprehensible practice, formerly common enough, of seeking a progenitor in any one of sufficient eminence whose name was or seemed to be that of the family into which he was pitchforked by the pedigree-maker. Orderic styled him 'Robert de Cuminis' while Symeon of Durham made him Robert 'cognomento Cumin' Why then style him 'de Comyn'?
The entire pedigree of three generations, marriages, and all, crumbles into dust. Whence then can it have been derived? We observe that it suspiciously resembles that which is given by Douglas [Ref: Round Comyn p111 (Lyons pedigree)]

1153: joined the household of Theobald archbishop of Canterbury, then joined that of Duke Henry [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p243]

1154-5: Sheriff of Worcestershire [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p243]



Pedigree of William De COMYN, Chancellor
 /-----(Unk) De COMYN
William De COMYN, Chancellor



Descendants of William De COMYN, Chancellor