Sir John de Soules Knight

   Another name for John was Sir John Sollis Knight.

  Information about this person:

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
Richard Lovel married, before 1307, Muriel, daughter and heir of Sir John Soules, his first guardian by Hawise, sister of Sir James Fitz Alan, Steward of Scotland. She died in 1318 and Richard died 31 Jan 1350/1.

~Cokayne's The Complet Peerage, Vol. VIII, p. 206

• Background Information: From Electronic Scotland.
"Sir John Soulis were present in the meeting of the Estates of Scotland at Brigham, now Birgham, a village on the northern bank of the Tweed, when the proposal for a marriage between the heiress of Scotland and the prince of Wales was agreed to. Sir John de Soulis was one of the ambassadors to France to arrange the marriage of Joletta, daughter of the count de Dreux, with Alexander III. IN 1294, he again went to France, to negotiate the marriage of Edward Baliol with a daughter of Charles, brother of the French king. In 1299 he was appointed by John Baliol custos regni Scotiae, keeper of the Scottish kingdom. In 1300 he commanded at the siege of Stirling castle, which was surrendered to him by the English. In 1303 he was one of the Scots commissioners at Paris. At the capitulation of Strathurd, 9th Feb1304, he was excepted by Edward I. from the ignominious conditions imposed on the vanquished, and it was provided that he should remain in exile for two years. He joined Robert the Bruce, and for his services to that monarch, was rewarded with a grant of the baronies of Kirkandrews and Torthorwald, and the lands of Brettalach, Dumfries-shire. Accompanying Edward Bruce to Ireland, he was slain with him in battle near Dunkalk, 5th October, 1318."

• Background Information. ¹¹⁷⁷
Sir John de Soulis ambassador and soldier, second son of Nicholas de Soulis who died in 1264, and brother of Sir William de Soulis, justiciar of Lothian, belonged to an Anglo-Norman family which settled in Scotland under Malcolm III. As an official under the crown, he received on 5 Feb 1289 a fee of 20£. sterling from the chamberlain of Scotland. But he was also employed officially in England. In Feb 1292 he was custodian of the lands of Hugh Lovel, a tenant-in-chief of the king of England, and in March received from Edward I a writ of protection while staying beyond seas for a year.

On 14 Nov. Sir John Soulis, with William de Soulis, obtained of Edward a pardon for Richard de Soulis (possibly brothers) for causing Richard le Tayllur to be taken by force from England to Scotland. On 6 Nov. 1292 he, as one of the arbitrators in Edward I's judgment, assented to Balliol's claim to the Scottish crown. When Balliol in 1295 decided to defy Edward, he sent de Soulis and three others to negotiate a tresty with France, which began a long alliance between the two countries.

Sir John submitted to Edward I in 1296 with the rest, and witnessed a charter of that king at Northallerton on 10 Oct. But he did not keep his oath to Edward long. In 1299 he was appointed by John Balliol, who had escaped, co-guardian of the realm of Scotland with John Comyn the younger. Acting as if he were sole guardian, he sent envoys to Boniface VIII complaining of the English king. In the same year he went on an embassy to France, and in June, July, and August Edward commissioned ships to intercept Sir John and his companions on their return to Scotland.

On the night of 7-8 Sept. 1301 Soulis and Sir Ingram de Umfraville made a fruitless attack on Lochmahan Castle. The terms accepted by the Scots in 1304 included Soulis's banishment for two years. Soulis had crossed to France in 1303, and was still there in 1314. According to a charter of Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, Soulis died in France in or before 1321.

~From The Dictionary of National Biography , Vol. XVIII, Rhodes, p. 680 See Original for source notes.

John married Hawise Stewart, daughter of Alexander Stewart 4th High Steward of Schotland and Unknown.