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Clan Melville

Scottish clan

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 17, 2025
Entity authorityQ65070601 ↗
Source-derived summary

Clan Melville is a Lowland Scottish clan. The clan does not currently have a chief and is therefore considered an Armigerous clan registered with the Lyon Court.

History

The name is derived from the barony of Maleville, in the Pays de Caux region of Normandy, France. Guillaume de Malleville was a companion of William, Duke of Normandy, at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. During the reign of King David I of Scotland, the Melville family were granted lands in Midlothian, which the lands and barony were then named after them.

Castles

The following is a list of castles known to have been in the ownership of the family.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Clan Melville” as scottish clan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1066—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Clan, Melville and Scottish can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as scottish clan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q65070601. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1066.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Clan Melville”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Clan Melville primary sources, Clan Melville archive and Clan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Clan Melville”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Clan Melville” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.