Barons War - 28mm Scots Retinue

[EarlsyD]

Update time.

So i am in the process of building a spreadsheet with all the various Flemish immigrants to scotland in the 12th and 13th century and their respective links and couplings.

So far for the most part there are 3 groups that interest me.
1) Baldwin the Flemming of Biggar who settled in Lanarkshire and became sheriff of Lanark.
He brought with him several Flemings from the Pembroke region, Wizo, who settled Wiston, Tancred of Tankredston, Lambin the Fleming who founded Lambington, Robert the Fleming who settled Roberston, Huge de Paduinan who founded Houston (their is a common theme here ). They formed a strong feudal ring of about 10 miles in Lanarkshire with various castles. They were important to the king to oppress and subdue the existing scottish populous who had already revolted several times.

2) Theobald the Fleming, who was given land in Douglasdale, Lanarkshire. He was the father of William de Douglas 1st Lord of Douglas. There isnt a great deal about who accompanied them but Theobald is thought to have come from Yorkshire and be related to the house of Fleming that also held Lands in Yorkshire.

3) Freskin de Moravia, who settled in Moray and his daughter married William de Douglas and had many children that mostly became churchmen in Moray. As a result for a generation at the very least we have Douglas's bith in Moray and Lanarkshire.

These are not all of them. There is the Fitz Alans which rebranded as the Stewarts on account of their rank as stewards of scotland. The Cumins who became the Comyns and were the heriditary Chancellors. As well as the de Brus who settled in Annadale and several others. But I am chosing the above 3 groups to chose from. As these 3 seem to have had the most links with the Douglas's. The de Moravias were close on the maternal lines with the Douglas's with Margaret de Moravia marrying William Douglas. There was probably some previous link between the Moravia and the Douglas as well indicated by how similar the Murray and Douglas coats of arms are. Again through marriage Baldwin of Biggars Granddaughter (from his stepson John Crawford) married Archibald Douglas.

Anyway I did a model.
Sir Reginald Crawford or his father Huge Crawford depending how my timeline works out and who would be best age wise in 1215.

[Iain R]

More nice work! Amusingly, there's a lot of crossover between the families you're doing here, and the ones featured in my Largs 1263 project, albeit I'm probably representing the sons or even grandsons of your chaps...

The Houstons are a bit awkward; their own family vault shows two different arms, one with a fess chequey, one with a chevron chequey between the martlets (I suspect one might be a cadet branch of the main line), and the ragman roll records suggest the fess too, but also that the charges may be martlets, stars or horns (though this may be to do with the degradation of the seals after 700 odd years)



I was initially tempted go with the chevron, as you have, if nothing else to differentiate them further from the Stewarts (from whom the similarity of the arms would suggest some link or cadency), however the presence of the simpler fess in 1296 suggests this may be the older arms...

[EarlsyD]

I am struggling with the heradry if i am honest. It seems that while Europe was already getting accustomed to surnames and arms, scotland that had been quite backward by comparison was not so well bedecked. A large portion of what would soon form the backbone of the Scottish upper class were relocated Flemings and some already had arms, but lots did not or were simply called "unkmown de Fleming" not very helpful when trying to track offspring.

Still i have persisted! Found a useful map actually showing the Lanark region i have focused on, highlighted are the knights and Lords i have chosen.

[EarlsyD]

Thomas Thancard, 2nd Laird of Thankerton. Son of Thancard who settled in Lanarkshire at the Invitation of Baldwin of Biggar.

[EarlsyD]

Sir Walter de Wiston, 3rd Lord of Wiston, Grandson of the Flemish settler Wicius de Wiceston (Wizo) who along with the others came to Lanarkshire with Baldwin.

From what I have been reading the area all these men settled and setup their various settlements was previously unsettled and was the possession of the Crown of the Abbey of Kelso. The reason for this assumption comes from the fact that almost all the settlement and other names (such as hills with names, farmsteads, bridgeswith names, all the usual small stuff that grows up around urban areas) had Flemish names. Where as elsewhere in Scotland and indeed Lanarkshire that had been granted to immigrants still held Gealic or indeed Brytonic names they mist have had for hundreds of years. This lack of traditional names in the region suggests it had very little in the form of locals and inhabitants. These must also have been brought in or pushed in from other regions further tying their loyalty to the new men.

[EarlsyD]

Sir Robert of Roberston. Grandson of Robert the Fleming who settled in Lanarkshire with Baldwin of Biggar sometime 1150-1160.

[Legiox217]

Brilliant stuff brother. I love using vibrant tufts basing tufts like that, really adds interest.

[Iain R]

I think the idea that Scotland was somehow "backwards" when it came to heraldry is somewhat misplaced, particularly by the early 1200s.

While heraldry as we know it was definitely a Norman import under David I, it would certainly have been seized on by those of appropriate social standing, whether of Norman, Lothian, Celtic or Gaelic descent. The Western Isles, which resisted much Norman influence, still were populated by a warrior aristocracy who knew the value of personal display; there are several extant grave slabs of such men showing shields displaying distinct personal designs, albeit slightly different from the conventions of Norman-derived heraldry.

The sparsity of modern records for the arms many of the minor "parish gentry" of the period is probably less to do with them not existing, and more to do with the loss and destruction of records over several centuries of turmoil. Much of these would have been destroyed through castles falling to the English or being slighted on their recapture by the Scots during the WoI, during the Rough Wooing in the 1500s and later by Cromwell's forces. Even the Reformation would have contributed, with the destruction of many tombs and effigies which would have borne the arms of their occupants. Just because we now have records referring only to an "unknown Fleming" or similar doesn't mean at the time no one knew who the were or that they bore no arms.

Likewise I'd caution against taking much from any site trying to peddle "family crest" merchandise (there being no such thing in Scottish, or English, heraldry), which tend to just take the undifferenced arms of the armiger (many of which are comparitively modern) and call it done. The Roberston one being a good example; quartered arms don't really make an appearance until the middle of the 14th century, initially for the higher nobility showing the marriage between great dynasties, and one bearing a frogmouthed helm (a product of the 1500s) certainly wouldn't be seen in the early 1200s.

Please don't take this as intended as overly critical, far from it; I'm loving watching this project develop, and it's great to see someone else doing a Scottish retinue and falling down the research rabbit hole! Just some notes based on my own experience over the last 15 years or so jumping through the same hoops for various projects (don't get me started on the Douglases giving everyone the same name..!)

[EarlsyD]

I agree Iain i wasn't meaning Backwards more... new money. Lots still to establish and lots more that probably did exist lost to History.

I have been a busy of late so havnt done much. But i wasn't happy with My Crawford. After reading a bit more Sir Reginald of Crawford was the Sheriff of Ayr. While not a majorly lucrative position it didn't seem fitting to have other junior knights with no official postings with trappers and him with a bare horse. So I repurposed the Inglis knight (to late of a family for my time anyway) as the new Reginald Crawford. The other man now does duty as a man at arms / retainer.

Got some Ermine transfers from Victrix (LBMS) and used them and while not staked i do prefer them.

[anevilgiraffe]

I like your heather, where is that from?

[EarlsyD]

The heather is from a couple of Etsy Shops tajima1miniatures was the best one, I also got a few from model scenery supplies.

So I needed another Border family my wife is a Nixon but they are q later reiver family. But hey I did them anyway. Havn't done a lot of reading about them yet. Bought a boom though the steel bonnets by George Mcdonald Fraser so will read more when it comes through.

And because they are ficticious I also chose the first name, Walter Nixon, my wifes recently deceased Great-Uncle.

[Pattus Magnus]

Excellent figures! I have been thoroughly enjoying this thread and look forward to the updates.

[Iain R]

The Steel Bonnets is a fantastic book. Even after all these years, I'd argue it's still the seminal work on the subject.

If you want one that covers back to the earlier years of the Anglo-Scots border wars, I'd recommend John Sadler's Border Fury, another excellent work

[EarlsyD]

Cheers Iain, any recommendations for books on the early flemish settlers looking pre WoI?

[Hu Rhu]

Nice work and some great research to back the painting up. Well done.