Introduction
Sir John de Soules (or de Soulis or Soules) (died 1310) was Guardian of Scotland from 1301 to 1304, at a crucial period in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
Life
There were two distantly related contemporary Sir John de Soulis during this period:
Sir John de Soulis was the younger son of the Lord of Liddesdale and married to the daughter of the High Steward of Scotland. Sir John had previously protected Galloway from Sir Andrew Harclay, Earl of Carlisle and Warden of the English March. In 1301 after the resignations of Robert The Bruce and John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch he was appointed Guardian of Scotland. Sir John, the Guardian, seems more likely to have been the diplomat of the family, staying in exile and dying in France, John II being the soldier.
Sir John de Soulis II joined Robert the Bruce, and was rewarded with a grant of the baronies of Kirkandrews and Torthorwald, and the lands of Brettalach, Dumfriesshire. He accompanied Edward Bruce to Ireland and was slain with him in the Battle of Dundalk, 5 October 1318. His brother William de Soulis was given John's lands and appointed Butler of Scotland, whether he was filling his brother's shoes as Butler or not is not a known fact.