A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF FOUR-FOOTED BEASTS. 3*3
Io way abovementiond, carries the arms of the family, and, for difference, charges
the bend with a boar's head couped or, for his diilerence, on account of his wife,
a daughter of Gordon of Cardiness ; with the crest and motto of the family of
Galloway. For which see Plate of Achievements.
These are the branches or cadets of the families of Gordon, whose arms I meet
with in our records ; and, as for these descended of Sutherland, I have mentioned
them before. So that I proceed to other principal families in the shire of
Berwick.
NISBF.T of that Ilk, argent, three boars' heads erased sable; crest, a boar passant
as in Plate of Achievements.
of the last : motto, / byde it ;
The surname is local all
(as our ancient
ones) from their lands of Nisbet in the
shire of Berwick, which were of an ancient denomination ; for, in the donation
of King Edgar, the son of Malcolm Canmore, (in whose reign
surnames came
first to be hereditary) to the Monks of Dunfermline, to pray for the soul of his
father, and for the health of his own, among other lands, he gives those of Nisbet,
at least the patronage of that church called East-Nisbet, (of late Elmbank) and
the teinds of Nisbet (afterwards called West-Nisbet). where the castle of Nisbet
stood, memorable in our histories for the fatal overthrow the English gave, by the
assistance of the then rebel the Earl of March, to
Lothians.
the flower of th youth of the
What I shall say of this ancient and honourable family, in is general, not without
documents, which are to be seen among the records of Durham, priory of
Coldingham, abbacy of Kelso, and other chartularies ; but, from the charterchest
of the family, which, I is suppose, in the custody of the present possessors
of these lands, I cannot vouch any thing, having never had access thereto.
In the reign of King David the I. Philip de Nesbytb is a witness to that king's
deed which he made to the religious at Coldingham, for prayers to be said for the
health of his soul.
In the reign of King Malcolm, Patrick Earl, one of the progenitors of the Earls
;>t" March and Dunbar, being designed in his charter, Patricias Comes, JiUus IVal-
devi C'jmitis, of the lands of Edrom, cum ejus capella & suis pertinentUs, qua du-
citur ad villain de Nisbet, to the Monks of Durham, to pray for the souls of King
Malcolm, his sons, Edgar, Alexander, and David, kings of Scotland, and for the
-oul of Earl Henry, and for the health of King Malcolm, as the custom then \va*;
in wrhich charter many witnesses are named, amongst whom are IVillielmus de Nes-
byth and Alanus de Swyntvun : The same charter is long afterwards confirmed by a
> harter of King Robert the I. and they are fully narrated, which may be seen in the
Collections of the Earl of Haddington in the Lawyers' Library.
Philip de Nisl-t is mentioned in the Bond of Submission given by the Baron* nt"
Scotland to King Edward the I. of England, in the year 1296. Prynne's History,
page 654, and there James and John Nisbets.
King Robert the Bruce grants a charter to Adam Nisbet of that Ilk of the lands
of Knocklies, faciendv regi seri'itium unius militis in communi exercitu. This Adam,
r another Adam Nisbet of that Ilk, his successor, flourished in the reign of David
the II. and made a very good figure in the southern parts, the borders of the
kingdom ; he is one of the barons mentioned in that deed, whereby Alexander
Lindsay of Ormiston makes over his estate to Johanna his daughter, married to
Alexander Cockburn, who were the predecessors of the present Adam Cockburn of
Ormiston. Adam Nisbet of that Ilk was succeeded by Philip Nisbet, whom I find
designed de eodem, in a charter of George de Dumbar Earl of March, to Henry de
Ogoul, of the lands of Popille in East-Lothian, of the date 1373, and he again
was succeeded by his son Adam, whom I find designed of West-Nisbet in a char-
ter of these lands in the year 1420 : It seems it was about that time when East-
Nisbet went off with a daughter of the family that was married to Chiniside of
that Ilk. The family was afterwards sometimes designed of West-Nisbet, and
sometimes of that Ilk ; for his grandson and successor is designed Nisbet de eodem,
in a charter which he gets from King James the IV. of the lands of Brighamsliiels,
to himself and his wife, Helen Rutherford, in the year 1506: His successor
was Alexander Nisbet of that Ilk : for John Nisbet of Dalziel gives a charter to
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