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A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

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OF FOUR-FOOTED BEASTS.<br />

RoiitRT DAVIDSON <strong>of</strong> Balgay, near Dundee, bears azure, OH a fesse between<br />

three pheons argent, a stag coucbunt gules, attired with ten tynes or ; crest, a fal-<br />

con's head couped, proper : mytto, / 'iget<br />

in cinere virtus.<br />

The name <strong>of</strong> HAK.THJLL, in England, bears argent, a hart lodged gules, on y<br />

mount in base.<br />

When deers, bucks, harts, &c. are running, they are said to be courant, or, iit<br />

green<br />

full course, as the surname <strong>of</strong> RAE bears argent, three roebucks in full cour^e.^v.<br />

The same is carried by Major Adam Rae; and, for crest, a buck standing at ga^e,<br />

proper, motto, In omnia us. prompt L. R.<br />

When these beasts <strong>of</strong> game are erect on their hinder feet, they are said to be<br />

springing<br />

or salient.<br />

The name <strong>of</strong> STRATHAI.LAN carries azure, a hart springing or. Og. MS.<br />

The name <strong>of</strong> GILSTAND in England, bears vert, a hart springing argent.<br />

The heads <strong>of</strong> these creatures are carried couped, erased, and frequently trunkrd<br />

or cabossed, as some say, which is the same.<br />

BALLENDEN <strong>of</strong> Auchinoule, bears gules, a buck's head couped between three<br />

cross croslets fitched or. Font's MS.<br />

Thomas Ballenden <strong>of</strong> Auchinoule, was Justice-Clerk and Director <strong>of</strong> the Chancery,<br />

anno 1541. Sir John, his son and heir, was also Justice-Clerk in the reign <strong>of</strong><br />

Cnieen Mary and King James VI. His son again was Sir Lewis, who was one<br />

<strong>of</strong> the Senators <strong>of</strong> the College <strong>of</strong> Justice, father <strong>of</strong> Sir James, who married a sister<br />

<strong>of</strong> the first Earl <strong>of</strong> Roxburgh, by whom he had<br />

Sir WILLIAM BALLENDEN <strong>of</strong> Broughton, Treasurer-Depute in the reign <strong>of</strong> King<br />

Charles II. and by that King created Lord Ballenden, anno 1661 ; he carried<br />

gules, a hart's head couped between three cross croslets,<br />

all within a double tres-<br />

sure, counter-flowered with ilower-de-luces or ; supporters, two women in rich ha-<br />

bits, representing peace and justice : motto, Sic itur ad astra.<br />

WILLIAM Lord BALLENDEN adopted John Ker, younger son <strong>of</strong> William Earl <strong>of</strong><br />

Roxburgh, and settled his estate upon him; and, in the year 1670, upon the death<br />

<strong>of</strong> William Lord Ballenden, Mr John took upon him the name and arms, and succeeded<br />

to the e.state and honours, and carried his coat <strong>of</strong> arms as is above blazoned ;<br />

and he again is succeeded by his son, the present Lord Ballenden, who does the<br />

As for the names <strong>of</strong> Ballenden and Bannantine, they seem to me to be one,<br />

though they have different bearings.<br />

I am <strong>of</strong> opinion that the hart's head, carried by the Ballendens <strong>of</strong> Broughton, is<br />

the armorial figure used by the abbacy <strong>of</strong> Holyroodhouse, and the baronies belonging<br />

thereto, such as the Canongate and Broughton ; and that figure, assumed by<br />

Ballenden, is upon account <strong>of</strong> the last barony which was in the possession <strong>of</strong> the<br />

family <strong>of</strong> Auchinoule, as soon as they became great, upon the Reformation.<br />

The story about the rise <strong>of</strong> these arms <strong>of</strong> Holyroodhouse is thus ;<br />

King David I. commonly called the Saint, being a-hunting on Holyrood-day,<br />

near to Edinburgh, there appeared a hart or a stag with a cross betwixt his horns,<br />

which run at the king so furiously, and dismounted him from his horse, that he<br />

was in hazard <strong>of</strong> being killed, if one <strong>of</strong> his attendants, Sir Gregan Crawfurd, had<br />

not interposed : The pious king, taking this as a repro<strong>of</strong> for hunting on such a<br />

holyday, erected a church on the place, called Holyroodhouse, monasterium sanctacrucis,<br />

in 1128, and the head <strong>of</strong> a stag, with a cross between his horns, became<br />

the badge <strong>of</strong> that abbacy and its baronies ; as also the armorial figures <strong>of</strong> Sir Gregan<br />

Crawfurd, and all his descendants, who carry argent, a stag's head erased with<br />

a cross croslet between his attires gules, to perpetuate the happy event in Sir Gre-<br />

gan's delivering King David ; so that he and his posterity laid aside their paternal<br />

bearing, gules, a fesse ermine, carried by another branch <strong>of</strong> the name, <strong>of</strong> which<br />

before.<br />

CRAWFURD <strong>of</strong> Kerse, as descended <strong>of</strong> Sir Gregan, carries- argent, a stag's head<br />

erased gules; and Crawfurd <strong>of</strong> Drumsoy bears the same.<br />

CRAWVURD <strong>of</strong> Comlarg carries argent, a stag's head erased .able, attired or,<br />

distilling drops <strong>of</strong> blood; crest, a dexter hand issuing out <strong>of</strong> a cloud, grasping a<br />

hart by the horns, and bearing him to the ground, all proper; with the motto.<br />

littuni te robore reddam. L. R.

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