Alexander de Glasgow is securely recorded as a royal escheator; his parentage is unknown. Alexander, son of Richard the messenger of Glasgow, is now the leading local identity candidate, while Alexander son of Robert in Dublin remains a weaker alternative. Neither record should be merged with the official.
Relationship labels belong to each link. Partners are not assumed to be parents of every child.
What would move the research forward
Evidence and next steps
Evidence highlighted in the case file
Bain, *Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland*, II, no. 409, p. 100, Internet Archive text, gives the old locator Chapter House (Scots Documents), Box 94, No. 5 and cross-references Stevenson I, p. 125. The 7 March 1289/90 receipt records Thomas de Clenhil, knight, receiving £6 13s. 4d. from Sir Alexander Balliol through Alexander, escheator south of the Forth, for a fee due at Pentecost 1288. Bain described the item as mutilated and without a seal.
The separate *Exchequer Rolls of Scotland*, I, p. 47, reads Alexandri de Glasgow and supports the name independently of the damaged receipt.
Alexander de Glasgow is securely recorded as a royal escheator; his parentage is unknown. Alexander, son of Richard the messenger of Glasgow, is now the leading local identity candidate, while Alexander son of Robert in Dublin remains a weaker alternative. Neither record should be merged with the official.
Ask TNA to convert the old Chapter House locator to a current reference using the date, recipient, payer, amount and old box number, then inspect the original name, endorsements and any additional identifying detail. Resolving Glasgu versus Bain's Glasfrith (?) would settle inclusion in the bearer register, not parentage by itself.
Escheator south of the Forth; 7 Mar 1289/90 receipt transmitted £6 13s. 4d. from Sir Alexander Balliol to Thomas de Clenhil
Mentioned person; role not specified
Southern Scotland
Bain's historical locator is Chapter House (Scots Documents), Box 94, No. 5. The fee was due at Pentecost 1288; the mutilated document had no seal. Identity with either 1283 Alexander is unproved.
Dated assessments, source transcriptions and earlier working notes remain available in full. Where those disagree, use the current conclusion above and inspect its reasoning.
Latest case researchThe current conclusion from the durable research case file.Updated
Current conclusion
record-medieval-1289-alexander-escheator
Alexander de Glasgow is securely recorded as a royal escheator; his parentage is unknown. Alexander, son of Richard the messenger of Glasgow, is now the leading local identity candidate, while Alexander son of Robert in Dublin remains a weaker alternative. Neither record should be merged with the official.
Life and record timelineChronological mapped occurrences and their underlying sources.1 record
1290
Escheator south of the Forth; 7 Mar 1289/90 receipt transmitted £6 13s. 4d. from Sir Alexander Balliol to Thomas de Clenhil
Bain's historical locator is Chapter House (Scots Documents), Box 94, No. 5. The fee was due at Pentecost 1288; the mutilated document had no seal. Identity with either 1283 Alexander is unproved.
Case-file source findingsSource extracts and analysis regenerated from findings.md.1 section(s)
Source findings
record-medieval-1289-alexander-escheator
Bain, *Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland*, II, no. 409, p. 100, Internet Archive text, gives the old locator Chapter House (Scots Documents), Box 94, No. 5 and cross-references Stevenson I, p. 125. The 7 March 1289/90 receipt records Thomas de Clenhil, knight, receiving £6 13s. 4d. from Sir Alexander Balliol through Alexander, escheator south of the Forth, for a fee due at Pentecost 1288. Bain described the item as mutilated and without a seal.
The separate *Exchequer Rolls of Scotland*, I, p. 47, reads Alexandri de Glasgow and supports the name independently of the damaged receipt.
Evidence assessmentWhat is supported, uncertain or disputed in the current case model.1 claim
1Derivative
Documented or strongly supported
Alexander de Glasgow was recorded in Southern Scotland (1290).
proved1 linked evidence item
Escheator south of the Forth; 7 Mar 1289/90 receipt transmitted £6 13s. 4d. from Sir Alexander Balliol to Thomas de Clenhil
Working hypotheses and conflicts
No claims in this category have been formally assessed.
Case-file assessments
Identity and relationship assessment
record-medieval-1289-alexander-escheator
The official's name and office are high confidence. Identity with Richard the messenger's son is possible/moderate; identity with the 1238/39 Dublin Alexander is possible but lower confidence. No father, spouse or child is established.
Research questionsOpen problems, missing bridges and the next records to inspect.0 open
No formal open question is recorded for this person.
Case-file priorities and cautions
Recommended next records
record-medieval-1289-alexander-escheator
Ask TNA to convert the old Chapter House locator to a current reference using the date, recipient, payer, amount and old box number, then inspect the original name, endorsements and any additional identifying detail. Resolving Glasgu versus Bain's Glasfrith (?) would settle inclusion in the bearer register, not parentage by itself.
Sources and provenanceStructured citations and source-quality classifications.1 source
Source or provenance: quality describes the record layer, not every conclusion drawn from it.
These child positions and checks are the subject details used to rank possible parents below.
Naming sequence used by the parentage model
Paternal grandfather positionNot identifiable from dated child profiles
Maternal grandfather positionNot identifiable from dated child profiles
Maternal grandmother positionNot identifiable from dated child profiles
Paternal grandmother positionNot identifiable from dated child profiles
Known-position checks: 0 support · 0 conflict. Ordinals retain unnamed children and recognise reused names.
Estimate and relationship notes
Estimated as age 18 at the earliest known adult record (1290).
Estimated from the earliest mapped residence record (1290).
Candidate comparisons and scoring
Relationship comparison
Potential parents or duplicates
Compare scored leads with the subject details above—not proof.
Higher-signal leadReview carefullyWeak lead
No named children are recoverable, so child-naming analysis cannot be run.
How parent leads are calculated
Automated leads use birth surnames—not married surnames—as parental eligibility, role-specific biological age limits, bounded and approximate-date uncertainty, household chronology, specific time-aware localities, mapped distance, tenancy succession, migration destinations and sex-aware Scottish naming positions across generations. People already attached as the subject's parents stay in the identity summary and are excluded from this alternative-candidate list, regardless of relationship confidence. The main calibration uses clues available on disconnected profiles; existing parent and sibling links are retained as comparison context rather than treated as transferable evidence. Common ordered names and grandparent-to-child echoes receive a small non-zero weight, so a John or James match can support several independent criteria without producing a lead alone. Rare names, repeated bearers and bundles across otherwise distinct branches receive substantially more weight according to catalogue frequency. An exact migration place is weighted by its rarity and repetition across both branches; a shared destination country is worth only one point. Extra weight is added only when at least three independent clue types converge: naming, locality, specific migration, household chronology or collateral networks. Sparse profiles retain a clearly labelled chronology-only fallback instead of disappearing. Countries, states, counties and research clusters do not count as a shared locality, and fallback, broad representative or kin-inferred coordinates are excluded from distance scoring. Shared descendant profiles are removed before branch-name comparison. A candidate already recorded as a parent-in-law is excluded. A confident or independently supported parent is treated as settled; uncertain and unassessed attachments remain open to alternative comparison. A different linked parent, an uncle/aunt or grandparent path, and a matching existing child profile prevent an alternative from being classified as a strong direct-parent lead until the underlying tree conflict or duplicate is resolved. Familiar forms such as Bessie are normalised. Surname remains an eligibility filter worth zero points.
Naming customs, shared farms and occupations are circumstantial. Children, spouses and collateral relatives may be missing, and tree-derived family networks are not independent evidence. Scores rank research leads; they do not prove parentage.
Dates are eligibility gates, not merely deductions: chronologically impossible people are excluded. Dates, places, spouses, parent certainty and children's profiles and names are then compared. A high score is a prompt to inspect records, not a merge recommendation.
Documentary subject
Canonical WikiTree Space page
This evidence is maintained on a supporting free-space page, not forced into a person profile.