Cumming

(Comyn,Cumin)
Courage

Cumming LO Tartan
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Cumming LO Tartan

Comines lies on the border between France and Belgium, and it is from here that the ancestors of the Cumming family are thought to have come. Arriving in Scotland during the reign of King David I, the Cumming family established themselves in the Borders. William de Comyn, the first to settle in Scotland, became Chancellor and his grand-daughter married the future King, Donald III.

The Cummings became the most powerful barons of Scotland acquiring lands in Speyside and Buchan. By the mid 13th C. they had three Earldoms: Menteith, Atholl and Buchan, and two members of the family, Alexander and John (Black) Comyn, were placed on the Council of the six Guardians of Scotland after the death of Alexander III. When Queen Margaret died there was no heir and so some of the six laid claim to the throne. The issue was resolved eventually when Robert the Bruce, soon to be Robert I, killed John (Red) Comyn at Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries. The fall of this family line, the Lords of Badenoch, removed much of the influence of this family name in Scotland.

The Cummings of Altyre hold the chiefship of the clan Cumming.


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