Richard de Glasgu

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Biography

Richard de Glasgu (born probably c.1155–1175; living probably in the late twelfth century) was a Scottish merchant or trader admitted to the guild merchant of Dublin.

He is known from a single entry in the Dublin Guild Merchant Roll. The record identifies him with Glasgow and places him immediately beside another entrant, Robert de Glasgu. Both men were assessed eight shillings on admission.

The shared locative, identical entrance assessment and consecutive placement make a close association between Richard and Robert likely. They may have been relatives, trading partners, travelling companions or members of the same household. The roll does not state their relationship, and no parent, wife, child, occupation, property or later record has yet been securely identified for Richard.

Estimated Birth and Origins

No record states Richard’s age or date of birth.

The earliest portion of the guild roll is generally assigned to the later twelfth century. If Richard was an adult merchant when admitted, an estimated birth range of approximately 1155–1175 is reasonable. This is a research estimate rather than a documented date and should not be treated as precise.

Richard’s designation appears in Latin as:

de Glasgu

— “of” or “from Glasgow”.

The place index to the complete guild-roll edition identifies both Glasgu and Glascu with Glasgow, Scotland. It separately lists the contemporary forms used for Gloucester, including Glaucestra, Glocestria, Gloucestra and Glovernia. Richard’s locative should therefore not be interpreted as Gloucester.^[1]

The surviving record does not establish whether Richard:

• was born in Glasgow;
• had previously lived there;
• remained a burgess or property holder there;
• belonged to a family already using the locative as a surname;
• or was identified with Glasgow only after leaving the town.

Glasgow was formally developed as an episcopal burgh during the episcopate of Bishop Jocelin, probably between 1175 and 1178. If the conventional dating of Richard’s admission is broadly correct, he belonged to one of the earliest generations known to have carried a personal designation derived from the newly established burgh.^[2]

This context is suggestive but does not prove that Richard or his family participated in Glasgow’s original foundation.

Admission to the Dublin Guild Merchant

The complete Dublin Guild Merchant Roll records Richard on membrane 2 dorso, column B:

Ricardus de Glasgu 8 Sol.

— Richard de Glasgu, eight shillings.^[3]

The abbreviation Sol. represents solidi, shillings. The sum was the entrance money paid or payable on admission to the guild merchant.

The usual assessment in the earliest part of the roll was nine shillings, although the amount could vary considerably. Richard’s eight-shilling assessment was therefore slightly below the normal figure. The record gives no explanation for this reduction.^[4]

Richard was not simply named in a narrative, witness list or tax account. His entry formed part of the formal record of those admitted to Dublin’s merchant guild.

Guild membership indicates that he had a meaningful commercial connection with Dublin. It does not necessarily prove permanent residence, citizenship, ownership of urban property or involvement in any particular commodity.

Dating the Record

Richard’s admission cannot be assigned to an exact year.

The surviving roll contains forty-three membranes. Membranes 1–6 appear to have been joined together before being written, and the regularity of the script indicates that their contents were copied from an earlier source. Richard’s entry occurs within this copied section.^[4]

The early entries lack annual headings. The first surviving heading occurs on membrane 11, while regular yearly admission headings begin later. Entries from 1222/23 onwards can generally be dated more closely, but the names on the earliest membranes cannot be divided securely into individual admission years.

David Ditchburn described these earliest entries as belonging to the later twelfth century but noted that they were listed without differentiation by admission year.^[5]

Richard should therefore be described as active probably in the late twelfth century, rather than assigned a specific year such as 1190.

The copied nature of the section also limits what can be inferred from the sequence of names. Consecutive entries may preserve an earlier grouping, but they do not necessarily represent one admission ceremony, one date or one travelling party.

Association with Robert de Glasgu

Richard’s entry is followed immediately by:

Robertus de Glasgu 8 Sol.

The next recorded entrant is:

Robertus de Reinfrua 9 Sol.

— Robert of Renfrew, nine shillings.^[3]

The consecutive Glasgow entries are therefore:

Ricardus de Glasgu 8 Sol.
Robertus de Glasgu 8 Sol.

This is significant for several reasons:

• Richard and Robert used the same uncommon locative;
• their names were entered consecutively;
• each was assessed eight shillings;
• and both appear within a portion of the roll containing other western Scottish place-names.

The combination makes an association probable. It does not define the nature of that association.

The roll regularly used explicit relationship terms when they formed part of an entrant’s designation. The same membrane includes examples using:

• filius — son;
• frater — brother;
• gener — son-in-law;
• and other relational descriptions.

Richard and Robert are not called brothers, father and son or relatives. The absence of such wording does not rule out kinship, but it prevents a relationship from being asserted as fact.

The reasonable possibilities are that Richard and Robert were:

1. brothers or other relatives;

1. members of one merchant household;

1. business partners;

1. travelling companions;

1. immigrants from the same burgh;

1. or unrelated merchants independently identified with Glasgow.

No surviving evidence currently distinguishes between those possibilities.

Western Scottish Context

Richard and Robert were not isolated Scottish names in the early roll.

A few entries before Richard on the same column appears:

Phillippus de Irewine 8 Sol.

— Philip of Irvine, eight shillings.

Immediately after Richard and Robert appears Robert of Renfrew. On the preceding column of the same membrane is:

Alexander de Grenoc 9½ Sol.

— Alexander of Greenock, nine and a half shillings.^[3]

The digital place index identifies:

• Irewine with Irvine, Scotland;
• Reinfrua with Renfrew, Scotland;
• Grenoc with Greenock, Scotland;
• and Glasgu with Glasgow, Scotland.^[1]

This creates a notable concentration of names associated with the Clyde and south-western Scottish burghs.

The copied order cannot prove that these men travelled together, entered on the same day or belonged to an organised trading company. It does, however, place Richard within a wider pattern of western Scottish participation in Dublin commerce.

Ditchburn found that most identifiable Scottish guild entrants in the dated thirteenth-century portion of the roll came from western or south-western Scotland. He concluded that the cost of admission made it likely that these men were either Dublin residents or regular visitors rather than merchants who traded there only occasionally.^[5]

Richard may therefore have:

• settled in Dublin;
• maintained a regular trading presence there;
• acted through a local household or partnership;
• or travelled repeatedly between the Clyde and Ireland.

The record does not state which.

Nature of Richard’s Trade

Richard’s occupation is not recorded.

The roll sometimes identifies entrants as bakers, smiths, tailors, millers, merchants, clerks or members of other trades. Richard is given only his personal name and locative.

The wider evidence suggests that western Scottish merchants travelled to Ireland to obtain goods such as grain and wine and may have exported wool, fish or other Scottish produce in return. Ditchburn proposed grain, wine, wool and herring as likely elements of this commerce, while stressing that the guild records themselves do not state what the individual Scottish entrants traded.^[5]

It would therefore be reasonable to describe Richard generally as a merchant or trader. It would not be justified to identify him specifically as a:

• wool merchant;
• fish merchant;
• wine importer;
• shipowner;
• burgess of Glasgow;
• or resident merchant of Dublin.

Those remain possible but undocumented roles.

Possible Family Connections

Robert de Glasgu

Robert is Richard’s strongest possible personal connection.

Their consecutive admission and matching assessment support a close association, but no parentage or other relationship is recorded. Separate profiles should be maintained unless a source explicitly connects them.

Related profile: Robert de Glasgu, Dublin guild entrant

Alexander, son of Robert de Glascu

The dated admissions for 1238/39 contain:

Alexander filius Roberti de Glascu

— Alexander, son of Robert of Glasgow.^[6]

The earlier guild member Robert de Glasgu is a plausible candidate for Alexander’s father. If that identification were proved, Richard could potentially have been Alexander’s uncle, another relative or an associate of the family.

The later entry does not call the father a former guild member, “the aforesaid Robert” or the companion of Richard. The possible relationship chain:

Richard de Glasgu — possible relative or associate of Robert de Glasgu
Robert de Glasgu — possible father of Alexander
Alexander, son of Robert de Glascu — admitted 1238/39

is therefore a research hypothesis, not a pedigree.

Gilbert de Glascu

Another early entrant appears elsewhere in the undated portion of the roll:

Gilibertus de Glascu 8 Sil.

— Gilbert de Glascu, eight shillings.^[7]

Gilbert extends the evidence from one adjacent pair to a recurring Glasgow-associated presence within the guild. No relationship between Gilbert, Richard and Robert is stated.

They may represent one extended family or merchant network, repeated migration from Glasgow, or several unrelated merchants sharing the same place of origin.

Later Records and Identity Problems

No second secure record of Richard de Glasgu has yet been located.

He should not be identified without further evidence with:

• Richard of Glasgow, monk of Arbroath, recorded in 1312;
• any cleric merely serving in the diocese of Glasgow;
• a man called Richard whose record uses Glasguensis only as an institutional description;
• or another Richard connected with Glasgow but lacking the personal locative de Glasgu.

The interval between the probable late-twelfth-century guild entrant and the Arbroath monk of 1312 is too great for them to be the same person.

No known record supplies Richard with:

• parents;
• a wife;
• children;
• siblings;
• land;
• an occupation;
• a seal;
• a ship;
• a Dublin address;
• or a later date of activity.

Assessment of the Evidence

Secure conclusions

The surviving evidence securely establishes that:

1. A man called Richard de Glasgu was entered in the early portion of the Dublin Guild Merchant Roll.

1. The editors identify Glasgu with Glasgow, Scotland.

1. Richard was assessed eight shillings in connection with guild admission.

1. Robert de Glasgu appears immediately after him with the same assessment.

1. Richard belonged to a wider group of Scottish and western British entrants participating in Dublin’s merchant community.

Plausible conclusions

It is plausible that:

• Richard originated in or had lived in Glasgow;
• he was an adult merchant by the later twelfth century;
• he was a Dublin resident or regular visitor;
• he traded through the Clyde–Irish Sea route;
• and he had a close personal or commercial relationship with Robert de Glasgu.

These conclusions are reasonable interpretations rather than direct statements in the source.

Unproved conclusions

The evidence does not prove that:

• Richard and Robert were brothers;
• Richard belonged to a hereditary Glasgow family;
• Richard was a burgess of Glasgow;
• Richard permanently settled in Dublin;
• he traded any particular commodity;
• he was related to Gilbert de Glascu;
• or he was an uncle or other relative of Alexander, son of Robert de Glascu.

Research Notes

Estimated birth

A birth range of c.1155–1175 is based solely on the assumption that Richard was an adult when admitted to the guild during the later twelfth century.

If the early portion of the roll proves later than currently believed, the estimated birth range would also need to be revised.

Entrance assessment

Richard’s eight-shilling figure should be described as an entrance payment or assessment. The editorial note explains that the amounts may represent money paid or payable and that the reasons for variation from the usual nine-shilling sum are unknown.

The identical eight-shilling figures attached to Richard and Robert strengthen the possibility that their entries were handled together, but do not prove a shared household or family relationship.

Profile separation

Richard and Robert should remain separate profiles. A family relationship may be discussed in research notes but should not be entered as formal parentage or siblinghood without further evidence.

Research priorities

The most useful next searches are:

1. Examine the original membrane image for spacing, alterations, ink and palaeographical grouping around Richard and Robert.

1. Determine whether their eight-shilling assessments were entered by the same hand and at the same stage.

1. Search Dublin property, debt, court, customs and civic records for Ricardus de Glasgu and spelling variants.

1. Search for Richard using occupational or patronymic forms which may omit the Glasgow locative.

1. Reconstruct the neighbouring western Scottish entrants, particularly Robert de Glasgu, Robert de Reinfrua, Philip de Irewine and Alexander de Grenoc.

1. Search Glasgow cathedral and burgh material for a Richard who disappears from the local record around the probable period of the Dublin admission.

1. Test whether Robert de Glasgu can be identified as the father of Alexander admitted in 1238/39.

1. Search relational forms including frater, filius, nepos, gener, socius, heres and quondam.

1. Check surviving Dublin guild or civic seals, property rentals and merchant litigation for a Glasgow-associated household.

Sources

• Philomena Connolly and Geoffrey Martin, eds., The Dublin Guild Merchant Roll, c.1190–1265 (Dublin: Dublin Corporation, 1992).
• Patricia Becker, “An Analysis of the Dublin Guild Merchant Roll c.1190–1265” (M.Phil. thesis, Trinity College Dublin, 1996).
• David Ditchburn, “Saints and Silver: Scotland and Europe in the Age of Alexander II,” in Richard D. Oram, ed., The Reign of Alexander II, 1214–49 (Leiden: Brill, 2005), pp. 179–209.
• E. Patricia Dennison, “Burghs and Burgesses: A Time of Consolidation?”, in Richard D. Oram, ed., The Reign of Alexander II, 1214–49 (Leiden: Brill, 2005), pp. 253–83.
• Dublin City Library and Archive, digital transcript of the Dublin Guild Merchant Roll.
• Trinity College Dublin, Patricia Becker thesis and appendix.

Related Research

• Robert de Glasgu, Dublin guild entrant
• Glasgow Origins Research
• Glasgow Surname Origins
• Bearers of the de Glasgu name

Notes