COMYN, knin'in. A family which rose to great power and eminence in Scotland after the Norman Conquest. The name is also spelled Comm.ll COM TICS, or Cumin.—Rotwarr DE COMYN, the founder of the family, was probably from Flanders, and followed William tile Conqueror to England. He was made Earl of Northumber land in 1068. in 1069 he was sent to reduce the provinces of the north. lie seized Durham. but the people rose against him, and he perished in the flames of the bishop's palace. The family became most prominent in the thirteenth ecn tury.—Wll.m.km CO M YN, \ VII0 died in 1233, ob tained the earldom of Buchan by marriage. WALTER. one of his sons by his first marriage, be came Earl of Monteith. After the accession of Alexander III of Scotland, Walter practically ruled the kingdom till 1255. Ile died in 1258.— ALEXANDER. Earl of Buchan, his half-brother, by marrying a daughter of the Earl of Winches ter, acquired, in 1270, the high office of Con stable of Scotland, with great estates in Gallo way, Fife, and the Lothians. lie was the most powerful noble in Scotland. until his death, in 1289. Within a quarter of a century, however, this great house suffered such utter misfortune that, in the words of a. contemporary chronicle, "there was no memorial left of it in the land.
save the orisons of the monks of Deer" (a trnm astery founded by William Comym Earl of Buchan, in 1219). The Comyns perished in the memorable revolution which placed Bruce on the throne of Scotland. Their chief, the Lord of Badenoch. was in 1291 an unsuccessful com petitor for the crown, as a descendant, through King Donald Bane, of the old Celtic dynasty. His son, Red COMYN was one of the three wardens of Scotland, and distinguished himself by his gallant resistance to the English. Re fell under Bruce's dagger, before the altar of the Franciscan Friars at Dumfries, in 1306; and his kindred went down, one after another, in the struggle to avenge him.—Jou N COMYN, Earl of Buchan, was defeated by Bruce in a pitched battle Dear Inrerury, in 1308, and his earldom was laid waste. Tie fled to England, and died in 1313, leaving no children. 'File possessions of the family. both in Scotland and England. were taken by the King. Consult Douglas, Peerage of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1764).
CON. An Italian preposition, meaning `with.' much used in musical terms. as eon spiri/o, con brio. The form col, a contraction of con and ii. means 'with the.'