| Notes |
- Professor David Sellar describes the earliest Campbells as follows:
"The earliest Campbell of whose existence contemporary record survives is one Gillespic Campbell, whose name appears in 1263 in connection with the lands of Menstrie and Sauchie ... and again in 1266 as a witness to a charter granted at Stirling by King Alexander II (Exch. Rolls: ... Lindores liber 1841:8)"
"Next on record appears Gillespic's son Colin (otherwise Nicholas) who witnessed a charter c.1281 and thereafter figures quite prominently in Scottish affairs for some 15 years - for example, in 1291 he acted as one of the auditors of Bruce the Competitor (Lennox Cartularium 1833:21)."
"Next named in point of time is Colin's son Neill (otherwise Nigellus) who witnesses, in 1282, during his father's lifetime, a grant to the Abbey of Cambuskenneth, by Stirling (Cambuskenneth 1872:70). This is the Neill Campbell who later became one of King Robert Bruce's most constant supporters and intimate companions and who is described by Barrow as `one of that small band of noblemen without whose help in 1306 and 1307 Robert Bruce would hardly have survived, let alone recovered the kingdom' (Barrow 1965:406-7). He died about 1315."
"The relationship of these three men, Gillespic, Colin and Neill to each other is well vouched by the record evidence, and the descent of the later family of Argyll from them undoubted. Colin is usually taken to be - I believe rightly - the original Cailein Mor, from whom the style `MacCailein Mor' derives."
"More interesting is the account of Gillespic's marriage with `Efferic', daughter of Colin of Carrick. This has been generally disbelieved , the reason being, in the words of The Scots Peerage `there was no Colin of Carrick known to history' (Scots Peerage:I.319). A record of Colin of Carrick under that name there may not be, but a Nicholas of Carrick appears on record more than once, and this Nicholas, there can be no doubt, was a son of Duncan Earl of Carrick ... Chronologically Nicholas fits."
Sellar then goes on to clarify how Nicholas and Nigellus, used in turn for Colin and Neill in the latin of those early documents, had confused earlier writers. He then mentions Sir Neill's Campbell contemporaries on record including Sir Arthur, Neill's father's first cousin and the ancestor of the Campbells of Strachur, and Donald who he believes was Sir Neill's brother and certainly the ancestor of the Campbells of Loudoun.
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Nice Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilleasbaig_of_Menstrie
The name Gilleasbaig is a modernization of "Gilla Escoib" (with a variety of related spellings, such as Gille Escoib), and is often rendered as "Archibald" in English or occasionally "Gillespie" or Giilespic
Gilleasbaig of Menstrie, a Clackmannanshire baron who was the first attested man to bear the surname "Campbell". Clackmannanshire is a historic county, council area, registration county and Lieutenancy area in Scotland, bordering the council areas of Stirling, Fife, and Perth & Kinross and the historic counties of Perthshire, Stirlingshire and Fife.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clackmannanshire
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witnessed the charter dated 1266 under which Alexander III King of Scotland erected the Burgh of Newburgh. Here he inscribed his name Agillascopper Cambel. King Alexander III knighted Archibald Campbell in 1281.
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Abt 1215 - Aft 1281 (> 67 years)
[1] 