Clan Name - SETON
Clan Seton is a Scottish clan which does not currently have a chief, therefore it is considered an Armigerous clan. Origins of the clan Chalmers, in his work "Caledonia" asserted that the name, in Scotland, is derived from a member of a Norman family of Say that had received lands, in East Lothian, from David I., which became known as Say-toun. This statement is not supported on the Charter record and is generally discounted by modern genealogists. Sir James Balfour Paul notices a fragment of a manuscript held in the British Museum which relates to a younger son of the family holding Seton Hall in Cumberland arriving in Scotland with King Malcolm III., the father to David I.. This family is generally regarded as the source of the Scottish family of Seton. Seton Hall is in the parish of Hinderwell near Whitby, Yorshire. At the time of the last Seton it was part of the Barony of Stokeley in Yorkshire, held to William de Latimer. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book (relating to Yorkshire) as a manor, with a church. The name appears as a territorial surname c. 1086 and an Osbert de Seton held the lands between 1139 and 1148. The last Seton to hold Seton Hall, held as quarter of a knights fee, was [[Seton-13|Sir Christopher de Seton]], saviour of King Robert Bruce. When he was executed, in 1306, as a traitor (to England; he was fighting for Scotland) his lands were forfeit, although his mother was allowed to remain for her life. The Scottish family had become firmly established in East Lothian c. 1140, and an Alexander de Seaton appears in the Charter record c. 1150 as witness to a Charter of lands in Roxburghshire. The first Charter on record for the lands of Seaton, Winton and Winchelburgh appears as a confirmation to Philip de Seton, dated to between 1177 and 1185, where it is stated that they were his father's lands. Wars of Scottish Independence Sir Christopher Seton (d.1306), from the English line of Seton, married a sister of Robert the Bruce. In March, 1306 he was a witness at Bruce's coronation in Scone. Seton is also have said to have saved the king's life when he was unhorsed during the Battle of Methven in June, 1306. Seton was captured after the battle by the English and was executed in Dumfries as a traitor. He was the last of the main English family and the original lands of Seton forfeit. In 1320, Sir Alexander Seton, signed the Declaration of Arbroath, asserting Scottish independence. Sir Alexander Seton was later Governor of Berwick from 1327-1333, when the town surrendered to the English. The English had already hanged Seton's son, who they held as a hostage. Sir Alexander lost another son at the siege when he drowned while attempting to burn the English ships. His granddaughter, Margaret, who was abducted by Alan de Wyntoun (Winton), a paternal cadet of the Seton family, succeeded to the estates. Their son, William, assumed the Seton name and titles. 15th and 16th centuries William Seton, 1st Lord Seton attended the coronation of Robert II of Scotland. One of Lord Seton's sons, Alexander, was given the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of the deceased Sir Adam Gordon, Knight, Lord of Gordon. From this line come Earls and Marquesses of Huntly and Dukes of Gordon, the Earls of Sutherland after the year 1500, the Setons of Meldrum, Touch, Abercorn, Pitmedden and Mounie, and the Gordons of Gight, Letterfourie, Cluny, and many others. George Seton, 5th Lord of Seton, was a favourite of James IV of Scotland and died with him at the Battle of Flodden. The Setons were supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots and, in 1557, George Seton, 7th Lord of Seton, attended the queen's wedding to the Dauphin of Viennois. Seton then became her Privy Councillor, Master of the Household and a close personal friend. Seton helped the queen escape the night of the murder of her secretary, David Rizzio, first to Seton Castle in East Lothian and then to Dunbar. When the queen's husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was killed, she again turned to Seton for help and it was in Seton Castle that the marriage contract with James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell was sealed. In 1568, when the queen was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle, it was Seton, with 200 lancers, who aided her escape. After the queen was defeated at the Battle of Langside in 1568, Seton retired to Flanders, where he tried to enlist in foreign service. Two years later, he returned to Scotland and was one of the judges in the trial of the Earl of Morton, who was accused of complicity in the murder of Darnley. Seton was succeeded by his second son, Robert, who James VI of Scotland created Earl of Winton in 1600. 17th and 18th centuries The Earl of Winton's brother, Alexander Seton, was created Lord President of the Court of Session, which is Scotland's highest judicial office, and later Chancellor of Scotland. In 1606 Alexander Seton was created Earl of Dunfermline. The Setons were staunch Jacobites, and James Seton, 4th Earl of Dunfermline, forfeited his title for supporting John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee in 1689, as did George Seton, 5th Earl of Winton, after the Jacobite rising of 1715. Another branch of the clan, the Setons of Abercorn, were created Baronets of Nova Scotia in 1663. Sir Alexander Seton, 1st Baronet was appointed to the Supreme Court bench in 1677 and was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1684 Adapted from the Great Historical Families of Scotland (Electric Scotland): http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/families/setons.htm The Setons are among the most ancient and illustrious of the great houses of Scotland, and are proverbially said to have the reddest blood in the kingdom. In consequence of a remarkable number of other families of the highest rank having sprung from their main stock, the heads of the house are termed ‘Magnae Nobilitatis Domini;’ and from their intermarriage upon four different occasions with the royal family, they obtained the addition to their shield of the royal or double tressure. Their earliest motto, ‘Hazard yet forward,’ is descriptive of their military ardour and dauntless courage. They were conspicuous throughout their whole history for their loyalty and firm attachment to the Stewart dynasty, in whose cause they perilled and lost their titles and extensive estates. SECKER DE SEYE, son of Dugdale de Sey, by a daughter of De Quincy, Earl of Winchester, the founder of this illustrious family, was of Norman descent, like most of the progenitors of the other great houses of Scotland, and settled in Scotland in the days of David I., from whom he obtained a grant of lands in East Lothian, to which he gave his own name—Seytun, the dwelling of Sey. Note: This is now generally regarded as incorrect. His son, ALEXANDER DE SETUNE, or SETON, was proprietor of the estate of Winchburgh, in Linlithgowshire, as well as of Seton and Wintoun, in East Lothian, and his son, PHILIP DE SETUNE, received a grant of these lands from William the Lion in 1169. The fourth in descent from him was the noble patriot [[Seton-13|SIR CHRISTOPHER]], or CHRISTALL SEYTON, who married Lady Christian Bruce, sister of King Robert Bruce, and widow of Gratney, Earl of Mar. Note: This is incorrect; the father of Sir Christopher is well recorded as Sir John Seton of Seton, Yorkshire. The ‘Gallant Seton,’ as he is termed by the author of the Lord of the Isles, was one of the earliest and most strenuous supporters of his illustrious brother-in-law, and was present at his coronation at Scone, 27th of March, 1306. At the Battle of Methven, on the 13th of June following, Bruce, who had ventured his person in that conflict like a knight of romance, was unhorsed by Sir Philip Mowbray, but was remounted by Sir Christopher, who greatly signalised himself in the conflict by his personal valour. [Sir Christopher is said to have been a man of gigantic stature. His two-handed sword, measuring four feet nine inches, is in the possession of George Seton, Esq., of the Register Office, representative of the Setons of Cariston.] He made his escape from that fatal field, and shut himself up in Lochdoon Castle, in Ayrshire, where he was betrayed to the English, through means (according to Barbour) of one Macnab, ‘a disciple of Judas,’ in whom the unfortunate knight reposed entire confidence. Sir Christopher was conveyed to Dumfries, where he was tried, condemned, and executed; and his brother John shared the same fate at Newcastle. Another, named [[Seton-206|ALEXANDER SETON]], succeeded to the estates of the family, and adhered to their patriotic principles, for his name is appended, along with those of other leading nobles, to the famous letter to the Pope, in 1320, asserting the independence of Scotland. He was rewarded by King Robert Bruce with liberal grants of land, including the manor of Tranent, forfeited by the powerful family of De Quincy, Earls of Winchester and High Constables of Scotland, from whom, as we have seen, he was descended in the female line. This Sir Alexander has been immortalised in the pages of Sir Walter Scott for the conspicuous part which he took in the defence of his country against the invasion of the English after the death of Robert Bruce. He was Governor of the town of Berwick when it was besieged by Edward III. of England in 1333. Though the garrison was neither numerous nor well appointed they made a gallant defence, and succeeded in sinking and destroying by fire a great part of the English fleet. The siege was then converted into a blockade, and as the supplies at length began to fail and starvation was imminent, the Governor agreed to capitulate by a certain day unless succours were received before that time, and gave hostages, among whom was his own son, Thomas, for the fulfilment of these stipulations. Before the appointed period expired, Sir William Keith and some other knights, with a body of Scottish soldiers, succeeded in throwing themselves into the town. The main body of the Scottish army, however, after a fruitless attempt to provoke the English to quit their lines and give them battle, marched into Northumberland, and Edward then peremptorily insisted that the town should be surrendered. The besieged refused to comply with this demand, asserting that they had received succours both of men and provisions. The vindictive and cruel monarch, enraged at this refusal, caused Thomas Seton—a tall and good-looking youth, like all his race [The Setons have from the earliest times been noted for their lofty stature. ‘Tall and proud, like the Setons,’ was long a common saying in Scotland.]—to be hanged before the gate of the town; so near, it is said, that the unhappy father could witness the execution from the walls. The other two sons (he actually had three other sons) of Sir Alexander Seton both fell in their country’s cause—one in opposing the landing of Edward Baliol, near Kinghorn, 6th August, 1332; the other was drowned in an attempt to destroy the English fleet at Berwick, in sight of his father, in July, 1333. Sir Alexander sought refuge from his sorrows and troubles in a hospital of the order of St. John of Jerusalem (is a falacy; he was a Prior of the Order and Master of Tiophichen), and his daughter Margaret became the heiress of his extensive estates. She married (she was actually abducted, ravished and kidnapped, then married) ALAN DE WYNTOUN, who is believed to have been a cadet of her own family, for Philip Seton obtained a charter of the lands of Wyntoun from William the Lion. This marriage led to a sanguinary contest with rival and disappointed suitors, called ‘the Wyntoun’s war,’ which, according to Wyntoun, the metrical chronicler (and likely relative), caused more than a hundred ploughs to be laid aside from labour. Alan de Wyntoun died in the Holy Land, leaving a daughter, who became Countess of Dunbar, and had an only son, SIR WILLIAM SETON, of whom it is recorded that ‘he was the first creatit and made lord in the Parliament, and he and his posteritie to have ane voit yairin, and be callit Lordis.’ (which is not correct; he was always ever known as Lord of Seton and a Baron, it will be his great grandson [[Seton-163|George]] that is raised as Lord Seton) The younger son of this powerful baron married the heiress of the great family of GORDON, and became the progenitor of the Dukes of Gordon and Marquises of Huntly, as well as of the Setons of Touch, hereditary armour-bearers to the King; the Setons of Meldrum, of Abercorn, of Pitmedden, [Colonel Seton, of the 74th Highlanders, whose heroic conduct at the shipwreck of the Birkenhead, where he perished, excited universal admiration, was a cadet of the Pitmedden family.] and other branches of the house. He fought with the hereditary valour of the Setons at the memorable battle of Harlaw in 1411, and in the wars in France in 1421. The Official Seton Family Website: http://www2.thesetonfamily.com:8080/ Arms: The arms of the family of Seton are not recorded in the Lyon Register. They appear in history as: Sir Alexander de Seton, c. 1216, bore on his seal three crescents, with a label of three points, clearly a son. Sir Alexander Seton, who signed the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, bore three crescents on a bend. His seal is still intact. Sir Alexander de Seton, in 1337, has the three crescents within the double tressure. Sir William de Seton, depicted on Armorial de Gelre, c, 1360, appears as D'or, à trois croissants de gueules, dans un double trêcheur fleuronné et contre-fleuronné du même. These arms are shown on this page. George Seton, 2nd Lord Seton, c. 1451, bore quarterly: 1st and 4th, three crescents without the tressure, 2nd and 3rd, three garbs for Buchan (although noticed on some sources as Comyn it was Buchan, his wife was daughter to the Earl of Buchan; Comyns had adopted the arms (three garbs) when they held Buchan). 1st Earl of Winton, bore the same coat as above but on one seal the 1st and 4th quarters have the tressure, while on another the tressure surrounds the four quarters. Sir David Lindsay blazons the arms of Lord Seton as 1st and 4th, or, three crescents within a royal tressure gules; 2nd and 3rd, azure, three garbs or. ---- Crest: The Armorial de Gelre provides an antelope's (or possibly goat) head ermine for the Seton crest, and William de Seton in 1384 bore a ram's head on his seal. The second Lord Seton bore two spears erect on a chapeau. Later, the crest became a dragon vert spouting fire, wings elevated, charged with a star or (sometimes argent). Supporters: The 2nd Lord Seton bore two lions rampant guardant: but the ordinary supporters were two mertricks (or foxes) collared and chained or, the collars charged with three crescents gules. Motto: Nisbet provides that the old motto of the family was "Invia virtuti via nulla" and places it in the compartment below the shield. Across the supporters was placed a scroll with the following quotation from Horace: "Intaminatis fulget honoribus". Commonly noticed as "Hazard yet forward" of more simply "Yet Forward". Slogan: Hazard yet forward Region: Lowlands District: East Lothian Plant badge: Yew Names associated with the clan: Confusion regarding arms |