A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF THE CHIEF OR CHEF. 60
thian, which he called after his own name. And Sir Robert Sibbald, in his Hisof
Fife, page 42. says, The chief of the 'family of Keith was, in the year 1010,
by Malcolm II. advanced to the hereditary dignity of Marischal of Scotland, for liis
eminent valour against the Danes, and got a barony in East Ixrthian, which was
called Keith after his name, and the isle of Inch-Keith in the Forth, likewise called
after his name. And Sir George Mackenzie, in his Science of Heraldry, gi\eus
the same account of the rise of the arms of Keith as ; also in his Manuscript of
Genealogies, amongst which is the genealogy of this noble family ; where he, by
charters, instructs, that this family was in possession of the office of High Manschal
of Scotland long before the reign of King Robert the Bruce. Afterwards it was un-
questionably hereditary in the family ; which was, by James II. dignified
with the
title of Earl of MARISCHAL, and the succeeding Earls in a lineal descent, heads of
that ancient and noble family, ever since have carried the above arms, (never mar-
shalled with any other), adorned with crown, helmet, and mantlings, befitting
their quality; and, on a wreath of their tinctures, and sometimes, in place of it, a
ducal coronet ; for crest, a hart's heart erased, proper, armed with ten tynes or;
supporters, two harts proper, armed as the crest : and for motto, Veritas vincit.
And behind the shield, two battons gules, seme of thistles, ensigned on the top with
imperial crowns placed saltier-ways, as badges of the office of High Marischal of
Scotland.
The blazons of the arms of several branches of this family will be found in the
end of this chapter.
Fig. 29. argent, a man's heart gules, ensigned with an imperial crowa proper, on
a chief azure, three stars of the first, now the paternal coat of the name of DOUGLAS.
The old arms of the family, before Douglas became a surname, were azure, three
stars argent, two and one. Some say, azure, three stars in chief; which were car-
ried by all the ancient branches of that family, of different designations, long before
Douglas became a surname to all the descendants.
The same arms were carried by the Scoti, a considerable family in Plaisance in
who were descended of one William, a son of one of the old ancestors of the
Italy ;
family of Douglas, who accompanied (with many other brave Scotsmen) William,
brother to Achaius, in an embassy to Charlemagne King of France ; and who
assisted that King in his wars in Italy. Some of those Scotsmen were founders
of great familes in Italy, amongst whom was this William (of the Douglases ancestors)
designed Scotus, of whom the Scoti in Plaisance. From other Scotsmen
also, -who settled there, came the Riarii Scoti in Bononia, Mariscoti in Mantua,
the Baroni Scoti in Florence, and the Paperoni Scoti in Rome ; all of which car-
ried the paternal arms of their respective families in Scotland, from whom they
f
u ere descended ; and by their arms they were known : For surnames were not in
use for a long time after, as John Leslie in his
"
History, Uti etiam, ante aliquot
'
saecula, alii Scoti, (fixis in Imbria ac Italia sedibus} clarissimarum familiarum
'
cognominibus oblivione deletis," &c. " Ex insignibus, tamen, qu