Person:Robert Semple (35)

Robert de Sempill

• 1246 - Robert de Sempill of Eliotstoun (Book of Peerage #1, or P1), Chamberlain (steward) of Renfrewshire, witnessed a charter to the Paisley Abbey. [The location and timing of this record lead me to believe that the Semple's were Normandy Normans and not Norse Normans who settled in Northumbria, Orkney, and the Western coast of Scotland.]
• The Scots Peerage, Vol. 7, Page 526

1280 - Robert de Sempill, who was Steward or Chamberlain of the barony of Renfrew, and witnessed a charter of Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, about the year 1280, and before 1309 a grant by James, High Steward of Scotland. He left two sons:-

• Douglas, Robert, Sir, 1694-1770. The peerage of Scotland: containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom, ... collected from the public records, and ancient chartularies of this nation, ... Illustrated with copper-plates. Pages 616 to 620. (Online Source) – Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Text Creation Partnership [1]

II. ROBERT de SEMPILL, who was senescal or chamberlain of Renfrew, in the reign of King Alexander III.

He was witness in a charter of Malcolm earl of Lennox,* together with William Fleming, Maurice Buchanan, &c. about the year 1280.

He was witness also to a grant which James lord high steward of Scotland, grandfather of king Robert II. made to Stephen, son of Nicholaus, of these lands which formerly belonged to Patrick de Selvinland, lying near where the water of Grief runs into Clyde, &c.

He left issue two sons.

1. Robert, his heir.

2. Thomas de Sempill, a great patriot, and firm friend of King Robert Bruce, from whom he obtained a charter, under the great seal, of several lands in the tenement of Long-Niddery, then in the crown by the forfeiture of Nicholaus de Disponsa, &c.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

III. ROBERT de SEMPILL

1.   Paul, James Balfour. The Scots peerage: founded on Wood's edition of Sir Robert Douglas's ‘Peerage of Scotland’ containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom, with armorial illustrations. (Edinburgh: D. Douglas, 1904-1914)
   Vol. 7. Page 526.

   Robert de Sempill, who was Steward or Chamberlain of the barony of Renfrew, and witnessed a charter of Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, about the year 1280, and before 1309 a grant by James, High Steward of Scotland. He left two sons:-

2.   Semple, William Alexander. Genealogical History of the Family Semple: From 1214 to 1888. (Hartford, Connecticut: Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., 1888)
   Page 7.

   Robert de Semple, the first of the family of whom any record remains, lived in the reign of Alexander the Second, who ascended the throne in 1214, and in the reign of King Alexander the Third this Robert de Semple was Steward of the Barony of Renfrew, and witnessed a charter of Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, about 1280; also a grant of James, High Steward of Scotland. He left two sons who were great patriots and friends of Robert the Bruce.

3.   Patrick Hogue (Samples). The Samples / Semples Family
   Progenitors of the Sempill Family & Clan Sempill .