Re: Balliol

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@quarterman.org>]

>...
>Balioll -  did his name then become the name of the College at Oxford?
>Or was that another Balioll - if so - who? This is truly minutia.

>From The Founders of Balliol College and their Families:

``The College was not founded by the John Balliol who was King of Scots
1292-1296, but by his father John Balliol, and was consolidated by the
latter's widow Dervorguilla of Galloway.

``John [de] Bal[l]iol, Founder of the College in about 1263, was the head of
a family which had been prominent land-owners in England and France for
several generations. Its principal base in England was Barnard Castle,
named after an earlier head of the family in England called Bernard
. In France the family's main home was at Bailleul-en-Vimeu in Picardy,
whence the name Bal[l]iol derives. There are several places called
Bailleul in France and Belgium; some of them are much more substantial
than Bailleul-en-Vimeu: they have nothing to do with the family of the
Founder or with John Balliol King of Scots, despite occasional assertions
to the contrary. In particular, the family of the Founder was not from
Normandy. Some of these other Bailleuls have also given rise to eponymous
families. 1

``The imposing ruins of Barnard Castle survive at the Teesdale town near
Durham which is also called Barnard Castle: they have been the subject
of detailed study and excavation.2

``The main Balliol castle in Picardy was on the high ground to the south
of Bailleul-en-Vimeu. No superstructure survives, but the massive
earthworks on which it stood can still be found in the dense Bois de
Bailleul (part of the Cha^teau Coquerel estate). An expedition partly
under the auspices of the College surveyed and studied the site 1923-5.3

``The claim of John Balliol King of Scots to the Crown of Scotland had
nothing to do with his father John Balliol Founder of the College,
but arose through Dervorguilla. She was a daughter of Alan, Lord of
Galloway, and Margaret, who was a daughter of David Earl of Huntingdon,
who was a grandson of King David I of Scotland. 4

``John Balliol Founder of the College died in 1268. The place of his
death is not known. His heart was removed, embalmed, and kept by his
widow Dervorguilla; it was buried with her at Sweetheart Abbey (which
she founded) near Dumfries, in 1290. The burial place of the rest of
the Founder's body is not known.''

 http://web.balliol.ox.ac.uk/official/history/founders/index.asp

John S. Quarterman <jsq@quarterman.org>
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