A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

.276
OF FOUR-FOOTED BEASTS.
DUNDAS of Breastmill, another cadet of Dundas of that Ilk, the arms of that
family,
'
within a bordure gobonated, gules and argent ; crest, a lion from the
shoulders, proper, issuing out of a bush of oak vert : motto, Essayez. Ibid.
The arms of MACDUFF, THANES and Earls of FIFE, most probably are originally in
imitation of the sovereign bearing, being of the same tinctures and figure, viz. or,
a lion rampant gules, armed and langued azure ; the double tressure being only
omitted, to distinguish those from the royal arms, to which they might have
gone as near as any family in the kingdom, having many privileges and honours,
anciently conferred upon them by our old kings, upon the account of alliance and
noble exploits. The family was early dignified with the title of Earl of Fife, by
King Malcolm III. as by our historians and genealogists, to whom I refer my
reader for the descent of the family, which continued one of the greatest in the
nation for many years, and ended in the reign of King David II. when Duncan
MacdufF Earl of Fife was killed at the battle of Durham, 1346, having daughters.
Isabel, who succeeded him in the privileges and honours of the earldom, married
first Sir William Ramsay, and afterwards Sir Thomas Bisset, but had no issue to
either of them. She therefore resigned the honours to Robert Earl of Monteith,
her brother-in-law, afterwards Duke of Albany : And so this noble family ended.
Sir George Mackenzie, in his Science of Heraldry, gives us a copy of one of the
seals of the MacdufFs Earls of Fife, being after an equestrian form, having the re-
presentation of a man in armour on horseback, with a capilon on his helmet, hanging
down to the horse-tail, and on the top of the helmet a demi-lion for crest ; in
his right hand a sword, and on his left arm a shield, charged with a lion rampant ;
and upon the caparisons of his horse are placed several little triangular shields,
each charged with a lion rampant.
There are four families of different surnames that pretend to be descended of
the Macduffs old Earls of Fife, viz. the Wemyss, M'Intosh, those of the surname of
Fife and Farquharson, who all carry or, a lion rampant gules, to hold forth their
descents. Of whom I shall give a short detail, as to their antiquities,
with the
blazon of their armorial achievements.
There is a strong tradition that the first of the family of WEMYSS of that Ilk
was a son of Macduff Thane of Fife, in the Usurpation of Macbeth ; who, having
hid himself from that tyrant's cruelty in Coves, in the east end of Fife, near
his own residence, from which he took the name Wemyss, the Irish word weimb
signifying a cove : And Sir Robert Sibbald, in his History of Fife, tells us, that
the family of Wemyss is descended of a younger son of the old Earls of Fife, and
took their names from the Coves upon the coast of Fife.
, The family of Wemyss is both ancient and honourable, as Sir George Mackenzie,
in his Manuscript, says, in the reign of King William, about the year 1165,
Johannes de Annestie, miles, gives a charter Johanni de Weems, IS Annabellee sponsa
sutz filia: meae of the lands Cambron, usque ad le Harla, inter terram Domini Mi-
chaelis de Weems IS Cambron. Those of the family of Wemyss were principal
sheriffs in Fife in the year 1239.
In the Chartulary of Dunfermline there is a precept directed Domino Davidi
de Weems, Vice-Cmniti de Fife, by William Earl of Ross, Justiciarius
ex parle bo-
reali marts Scoticani, anent the eighth part of the amerciament of the Justice ayres
of Fife, to be paid to the abbacy of Dunfermline, anno 1239; which is also in the
Karl of Haddington's Collections. Sir David Wemyss, and Sir Michael Scott,
knights, as our historians, and especially Buchanan, who calls them " Equites
1
Fifani illustres, &c summs prudentiae apud suos illis temporibus habiti," were
^cnt after the death of Alexander III. by the Estates of Scotland, to Norway, for
to bring home the deceased king's grand-daughter, Queen Margaret, who died
unluckily in her journey to Scotland. As for the descent of the honourable fa-
mily of Wemyss, I refer the reader to Sir Robert Sibbald's History of Fife, and to
Mr Crawfurd's Peerage. The family was honoured in the person of Sir James
Wemyss of that Ilk, with the title of Lord Wemyss of Elcho, by letters 1628 ;
and, in the year 1633, was advanced to the degree of Earl of Wemyss, Lord Elcho.
The heir-male and representer of this family is the present David Earl of Wemyss,
whose achievement is, quarterly, first and fourth or, a lion rampant gules, armed
and langued azure, for Wemyss ; second and third argent, a lion rampant sable,