John de Menteith



Sir John de Menteith (c. 1275 – c. 1323) was a Scottish nobleman.

He was born to Mary, Countess of Menteith and her husband Walter "Bailloch" Stewart, Earl of Menteith jure uxoris. He and his older brother, Alexander, Earl of Menteith, replaced their paternal Stewart surname in favour of Menteith, which earned him the nickname Fause (False) Menteith. John possessed the land of Ruskie, Stirlingshire,

He was Governor of Dumbarton Castle, an appointment made by Edward I who was keen to secure the fortification as a major access route into Scotland by sea. Tradition has it that Menteith betrayed Sir William Wallace to English soldiers, which led to Wallace's death and his later nickname Fause Menteith ("Menteith the treacherous").

Wyntoun, whose "Metrical Chronicle" was written in 1418, says:

"Schyre Jhon of Menteith in tha days

Tuk in Glasgow William Walays;

And sent hym until Ingland sune,

There was he quartayrd and undone."

The English chronicler Piers Langtoft states that Menteith discovered the retreat of Wallace through the treacherous information of Jack Short, his servant, and that he came under cover of night and seized him in bed. A passage in the Scala Chronica, quoted by John Leland, notes, "William Wallace was taken of the Counte of Menteith, about Glasgow, and sent to King Edward, and after was hanged, drawn, and quartered at London."

Menteith married Helena, daughter of Gartnait, Earl of Mar, by whom he had two sons, Sir John de Menteith the younger and Walter, and one daughter known by name, Johanna. He was said to have had two other daughters.