Tartan, Crest, and More

Duncan - Reid - Robertson

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Tartans, Crest, and More


*Family Tartans* A tartan is a specific woven pattern that often signifies a particular Scottish clan in the modern era. The pattern is made with alternating bands of colored (pre-dyed) threads woven as both warp and weft at right angles to each other. The resulting blocks of color repeat vertically and horizontally in a distinctive pattern of squares and lines known as a sett. Kilts almost always have tartans. Tartan is also known as plaid in North America, but in Scotland this word means a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder or blanket. For many centuries, the patterns were loosely associated with the weavers of a particular area, though it was common for highlanders to wear a number of different tartans at the same time. A 1587 charter granted to Hector Maclean of Duart requires feu duty on land paid as 60 ells of cloth of white, black and green colors. A witness of the 1689 Battle of Killiecrankie describes "McDonnell's men in their triple stripes". From 1725 the government force of the Highland Independent Companies introduced a standardized tartan chosen to avoid association with any particular clan and this was formalized when they became the Black Watch regiment in 1739. The most effective fighters for Jacobitism were the supporting Scottish clans, leading to an association of tartans with the Jacobite cause. Efforts to pacify the Highlands led to the 1746 Dress Act banning tartans with exemptions for the military and the gentry. Soon after the Act was repealed in 1782 Highland Societies of landowners were promoting "the general use of the ancient Highland dress". William Wilson & Sons of Bannockburn became the foremost weaving manufacturer around 1770 as suppliers of tartan to the military. Wilson corresponded with his agents in the highlands to get information and samples of cloth from the clan districts to enable him to reproduce "perfectly genuine patterns" and recorded over 200 setts by 1822, many of which were tentatively named. The Cockburn Collection of named samples made by Wilsons was put together between 1810 and 1820 and is now in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. At this time many setts were simply numbered, or given fanciful names such as the "Robin Hood" tartan. By the 19th century the Highland romantic revival inspired by James Macpherson's Ossian poems and the writings of Walter Scott led to wider interest, with clubs like the Celtic Society of Edinburgh welcoming Lowlanders. The pageantry invented for the 1822 visit of King George IV to Scotland brought a sudden demand for tartan cloth and made it the national dress of the whole of Scotland, with the invention of many new clan tartans to suit. Reprinted from Wikipedia

*Duncan*		*Reid*


*Robertson - Dress*		*Robertson - Hunter*

*Coat of Arms* A coat of arms or armorial bearings (often just arms for short) is, in European tradition, a simple colorful design belonging to a particular person and used by him or her in a wide variety of ways. Coats of arms have their origins in the designs used by medieval knights to make their armor and shield stand out in battle or tournaments and enable quick recognition by allies or spectators. The designs were used to decorate clothing worn over the knight's armor, from which we derive the term coat of arms. In addition to being painted on the shield, elements of a knight's coat of arms were used to decorate the helmet crest, pavilion, and banners used by knights. Contrary to popular belief, an individual (rather than a family) possesses a heraldic coat of arms. Coats of arms were passed from father to son as legal property, and were never used by more than a single individual at the same time. Other children in a family would use a form of their father's arms that were differenced with a change to a color or addition of a distinguishing charge. Reprinted from Wikipedia


Clan Badge Badges were common in the Middle Ages. They were used to display allegiance to a particular overlord and typically drew on some element of his coat of arms. They would be made of base metal and worn on the clothing of the followers of the person in question. This might be in battle or in other contexts where allegiance was displayed. Reprinted from Wikipedia
		*Clan Donnachaidh Badge* The strap and buckle is the sign of the clansman, and he demonstrates his membership of his Chief's clan by wearing his Chief's crest within it, where it would be wrong to wear the crest alone. A hand holding the crown of Scotland was a reward for .capturing one of the murderers of James I Motto: *Virtutis gloria merces -* Translated: Glory is the reward of valour

The Chief's Arms The Chief's Arms are strictly personal and are not the property of his family or Clan.
		Three wolves heads, cut off at the neck, in silver, armed with blue tongue. To represent the last three wolves killed in Scotland using just their Sgian Dubh (socking knife). The blue color of the tongues represent the fact that only a male can be Chieftain.	Struan has two mottos, one in a scroll above the crest ``Virtutis Gloria Merces" (Glory is the reward of valour), and the other below the compartment ``Garg'n Uair Dhuisgear" (Fierce when roused)
	The man in chains is a device bearing evidence to the fact that the fourth Chief captured one of the murderers of James I	Struan has on one side, a green serpent with a red ribbon around its neck, and on the other side, a silver dove with a blue beak and a blue hat trimmed with ermine on its head.	A hand holding the crown of Scotland was a reward for capturing one of the murderers of James I

The History of the Flags of Scotland

Saint Andrew
St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. Andrew was added to the communion of saints of the Pictish Church in the 8th century. It is said that around 832 AD, an army of allied Picts and Scots found themselves surrounded by a large force of Angles. As King Angus led the allies in prayer, a strange thing happened. The vision of a large white cross appeared against the light blue of the sky. The cross was taken as a representation of the X-shaped cross upon which St. Andrew had been martyred. King Angus vowed that if he were somehow to defeat the Angles, he would make St. Andrew the patron saint of Scotland. And the rest is history!

The Saltire
The Scottish National Flag – so named for the cross on which St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, was martyred. This flag is regarded as one of the oldest country flags still in existence.

The Lion Rampant Flag
King William I, the “Lion”, who lived from 1143 to 1214, adopted an identifying heraldic device showing the rampant lion, standing upright, with three paws extended. This became the royal coat of arms in Scotland. The Lion Rampant Flag belongs solely to the monarch, but may be displayed as a token of loyalty to the crown.

This site was last updated 02/16/12