Thomas [Thomas of Galloway], earl of Atholl (d. 1231), magnate

Power and Patronage across the North Channel: Hugh de Lacy, St Andrews and the Anglo-Scottish Crisis of 1209

“…64 The Quitclaim of Canterbury (1189) brought an end to Galloway's status as a dependency of the English crown, initiated after the treaty of Falaise in 1174. 65 But by 1189×92, when the bull Cum universis recognised the Scottish church as a 'special daughter of the apostolic see', Whithorn was not among the nine Scottish bishoprics specified as directly subordinate to Rome. 66 Instead, the vacuum of ecclesiastical power left by the English crown in Galloway was filled by local lords.…”

“…69 This brings into view the lord of Galloway's marriage, before 1203, to a daughter or sister of Roger de Lacy, constable of Chester and consanguineus of Hugh II de Lacy. 70 As John de Courcy had courted Duncan fitz Gilbert as an ally in the Irish Sea world, might Hugh de Lacy have exploited his connections with the earl of Carrick's rival in the Galloway region? As constable of Scotland, Alan was perfectly placed to facilitate contact between de Lacy and the Scottish royal court.…”

“…The union probably resulted in Alan's estrangement from the king of Scots, as inferred from his absence from royal charters prior to his death in 1204, and there is nothing to show that the fitz Alans were brought in from the cold before the accession of Alexander II in 1214. 76 The fitz Alans' alliance with the earl of Carrick, John de Courcy's confederate, is unlikely to have been welcomed by Hugh de Lacy. A more likely intermediary between earl of Ulster and king of Scots was the bishop of St Andrews, William Malveisin (d. 1238).…”