A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

193
OF THE SUB-ORDINARIES.
Science de la Noblesse, describes it thus
"
: Pairle est une fourche, ou un pal, qui
" muuvant du pied de 1'ecu, quand il est arrive au milieu, se divise en deux autres
"
parties egales, qui vont aboutir aux deux angles du chef. Ce nom vient du
"
Latin pergula, qui est propre de ces fourches, qui soutiennent les treilles." So
our author brings pairle from pergula,
the prop of an house, or rather a forked
stick, such as those used in churches of old, for hanging up of lamps and sacerdotal
vestments.
It is also taken by some for an episcopal pall, as that carried in the arms of the
Arch-Episcopal See of Canterbury. And again, by some for the letter Y, as in
the arms of the town of Yssdun in England, being the first
Guillim and others write.
letter of its name, as
Such a is
figure
carried with us
count and meaning
by the name of CUNNINGHAM, upon what ac-
is uncertain. Some allege (I think without ground) that it is
a cross fourchee, which one of the progenitors of the name took for his cognizance
when he went in crusade to the Holy Land. Sir James Dalrymple takes it for an
arch-episcopal pall used by the Cunninghams, whose first progenitor in Scotland,
was one of the four knights that murdered Thomas Becket, Archbishop of
Canterbury, and fled to Scotland. Neither of these two opinions seems to give
the true meaning and occasion of the bearing of that : figure It cannot be called a
cross-fourchee, crux furcata, as before, for it wants a traverse, which all crosses
have, and this being but one branch of cross fourchee, cannot be properly called a
cross : It may be more properly taken for an arch-episcopal pall, a badge of spi-
ritual jurisdiction, but very improperly to be used by the murderer of an archbishop,
which would be rather an abatement than a badge of honour. Besides, the matter
of fact is false, for the Cunninghams were in Scotland, and so named in the
reign of King David I. long before that murder, as is evident by the Chartulary of
the Abbacy of Kelso. Frederick Vanbassan, a Norwegian, and a very confident
genealogist, wrote a Manuscript (now in the Lawyer's Library)
of the rise of some
families with us, amongst whom is that of the Cunninghams, whose first progeni-
tor he calls Malcolm, the son of Friskine, who assisted Prince Malcolm, (afterwards
King, surnamed Canmore) to escape from Macbeth's tyranny ; and being
hotly pursued by the usurper's men, was forced at a place to hide his master by
forking straw or hay above him and ; after, upon that Prince's happy accession to
the crown, he rewarded his preserver Malcolm with' the thanedom of Cunningham,
from which he and his posterity have their surname, and took this figure to
represent the shake-fork with which he forked hay or straw above the Prince, to
perpetuate the happy deliverance their progenitor had th'e good fortune to give to
their Prince.
Sir George Mackenzie, in his Science of Heraldry, says, that this family took
their name from the country of Cunningham, and being, by office, Masters of the
King's Stables and Horses, took for their armorial figure, the instrument whereby
hay is thrown up to horses, which in blazon is called a shake-fork, being after the
same form with the pairle. In his Manuscript of Scots Families, he says, William
Cunningham was Master of Horses to King William, or had such like office,, and
was married to a daughter of Richard Morville, Constable of Scotland ; the seat of
which family was at Kilmaurs, in the country of Cunningham. Mr Crawford,
in his History of Renfrew, and Peerage of Scotland, says, the surname of Cunningham,
which properly signifies the King's habitation, has no doubt been taken
from the bailliary of Cunningham, in the shire of Ayr, the patrimony of the
Morvilles, formerly Constables of Scotland, to whom the Cunninghams of Kil-
maurs were vassals. The first of that family that he has met with upon record,
is, Robertas, JiUus Varnebaldi de Cunninghame, proprietor of Kilmaurs ; who, in
the reign oT King William the Lion, gave, in pure and perpetual alms to the
monks of the abbey of Kelso, the patronage of the church of Kilmaurs, " cum
" dimidia carrucata ternc addictam ecclesiam pertinen. pro salute animae suae,"
which is ratified by Richard Morville before the year 1189. He was succeeded by
his son Robert, and from him descended Sir William Cunningham of Kilmaurs,
knight, father of William, who succeeded, and of Thomas, first of the house of
Caprihgton, of whom came the Cunninghams of Leglan and Enterkine.