Christopher Seton

Sir Christopher Seton (1278–1306), also known as Christopher de Seton, was a 13th-century Scottish noble. He was the brother-in-law of Robert the Bruce and executed in 1306.

Life

Greyfriars Church, Dumfries

Christopher Seton was the eldest son of Sir John de Seton of Skelton, Cumberland. His brothers were John and Humphrey de Seton. This branch of the Seton family had long served the Bruces in Yorkshire, Cumberland and Scotland. (No connection has as yet been discovered to Alexander Seton, Governor of Berwick).(Alexander was his Grandson)

In 1301, at the age of twenty-three, Christopher married Robert de Brus's sister Christian or Christina Bruce.

Seton was present on 10 February 1306 when Sir John Comyn of Badenoch was stabbed by Robert de Brus in Greyfriars Church, Dumfries.[1] As Sir Robert Comyn rushed to aid his nephew, Seton struck him down with a blow to the head.[2] A letter of excommunication was issued naming the Earl of Carrick and three other knights, Sir Alexander Lindsay, Sir Christopher and his brother John Seton as John Comyn's murderers.

Seton was also present at the coronation of his brother in-law King Robert I, King of Scots, at Scone on 25–26 March 1306.[1] Some accounts have him present at the Battle of Methven on 19 June 1306[3] but Duncan places him at Loch Doon Castle, an important castle for the Earls of Carrick and one of three that Robert tried to hang on to, but Loch Doon fell about 14 August.

Loch Doon Castle, Ayrshire, was besieged by the English and after the surrender of that castle by the Governor Sir Gilbert de Carrick, Christopher was hanged. His Cumberland estates, with the exception of his mother's dower, were given to Sir Robert de Clifford. A small chapel was raised by his wife Christian, at Dumfries to the memory of her husband in 1326.

References

  1. 1 2 Stevenson, T. G., The Scottish Journal of Topography, Antiquities, Traditions, Etc,, 1848
  2. ↑ Barrow, G. W. S., Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, Edinburgh University Press, 2005 ISBN 9780748620227
  3. ↑ Patterson, James. History of the county of Ayr, Vol. 1, 1847

Sources

  • Fiona Watson, "Bruce, Christian (d. 1356)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • The Bruce by John Barbour: An Edition with translation and notes by A.A.M. Duncan, Canongate Classics, 1997, p. 150.
  • Wikisource Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dumfries". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  • Wikisource Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Seton". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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