A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF THE SUB-ORDINARIES.
RUTHERFORD of Hundelee, argent, an orle gules, voided or ; and in chief, three
martlets sable, as by Sir George Mackenzie ; and which are so illuminated in the
house of Falahall. The first of this family was Nicol Rutherford, who was a
brother's son of James Rutherford of that Ilk, and immediate elder brother to
Robert Rutherford of Hunthill and Chatto, in the reign of King James I. of Scot-
land. The family of Hundelee continued in a male descent till of late that it
ended in an heir female, that was' married to Sir James Ker of Crailing.
ROBERT RUTHERFORD of Fernilee, as descended of Hundelee, carries the same ;
and for crest, a horse-head and neck : motto, Sedulus & audax. Lyon Register,
and in the Plate of Achievements.
GEORGE RUTHERFORD of Fairnington, descended of Rutherford of that Ilk,
argent, an orle ingrailed gules, and in chief, three martlets sable ; crest, a martlet
sable : motto, Amico fidus ad aras. Lyon Register.
The surname of KNOX carries an orle, as in our old Books of Blazons. Severals of
this name are to be found witnesses in the reigns of Alexander II. and III. in the
charters to the Abbacy of Paisley ; the principal family of this name was Kivax of
that Ilk, frequently designed of Ranfurly, and Craigends, (for which see Crawfurd's
History of Renfrew) ; they carried gules, a falcon volant or, within an orle invected
on the outer side argent.
Font's Manuscript.
In our public records there is a charter of confirmation of King James III. oi:
a- resignation of the barony of Ranfurly and Grief-castle, by John Knox of Craigend,
in favour of Uchter Knox, about the year 1474. This family failed in the
person of Uchter Knox of Ranfurly, who had but one : daughter He sold the estate
of Ranfurly 166^, to William first Earl of Dundonald; of this family several eminent
persons in the Church descended, as the famous Mr John Knox, an eminent
instrument in our Reformation from Popery and Mr Andrew ; Knox, a younger
son of John Knox of Ranfurly, (and grand-uncle to Uchter Knox the last of the
family) who was minister at Paisley, and, for his learning and piety, was promoted
to the bishopric of the Isles, 1606 and in the ; year 1622,, he was translated to the
Episcopal See of Rapho, in the kingdom of Ireland ; and his son, Mr Thomas
Knox, a person of considerable learning and piety, was bishop of the Isles. As
for the Achievement of Knox of Ranfurly, see it cut in the Plate of Achievements,
at the desire and expence of John Knox, Apothecary in Strathaven.
THOMAS KNOX, Esq. in the kingdom of Ireland, lawful son to Thomas Knox,
descended of the family of Ranfurly, in the kingdom of Scotland, so recorded in
the Lyon Register, with his armorial bearing gules, a falcon volant, within an orle
waved on the outer side, and ingrailed on the inner side, argent ; crest, a falcon
perching, proper : motto, Moveo $3 proficior.
The surname of NORJE, parted per pale, argent and sable , an orle ingrailed on
both sides, and charged with four quarter-foils within a bordure, all counter-
changed of the same. Pont's Manuscript.
The orle, as I have said, being an inner bordure, is often surrounded with an
outer bordure, as by the surname of Renton.
The RENTONS of Billie in the Merse have charters of these lands, in the reign
of Alexander 111. from the Dunbars Earls of March, whose vassals and followers
they were, and as such, have carried arms in imitation of their patrons, but of
different tinctures, viz. azure, a lion rampant argent, within an orle ingrailed on
the inner side, and a bordure of the last, Plate VIII. fig. 9.
Sir James Balfour
blazons them azure, a lion rampant, within a bordure ingrailed argent, and voided
of the field, which is the same with the former; Workman, in his Blazons, says,
argent, a lion rampant azure, charged on the shoulder with a buckle or, within a
double bordure of the second.
When more than one orle are carried, ,they are called double orles, triple orles,
or triple bordures ; for which see Sylvester Petra Sancta, who gives us several
Spanish bearings of this sort, and says, " Insuper alii qui habent istum tractum
" (/. e. orle) tripartitum vel quadripartitum, ut in armis episcopi coenomanensis,
" qui portavit tractum triplicem de nigro, in campo aureo ;" and the same exam-
" a certain
ple Upton gives, as Mr Gibbon observes, Englished thus by Guillim ;
"
Bishop of Mentz bore a triple orle sable, in a field or."
As the orle is the diminutive of the bordure, so I find it has again other dimi-
nutives, as the essonier and tressure.