| Clan Blackadder | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Motto | Courage Helps Fortune | ||
| Profile | |||
| Region | Scottish Lowlands | ||
| District | Fife and Berwick-upon-Tweed | ||
 | |||
| Clan Blackadder no longer has a chief, and is an armigerous clan | |||
| Historic seat | Old Tulliallan Castle, Kincardine, Fife | ||
| |||
Clan Blackadder is a Scottish clan. [ citation needed ] The clan historically held lands near the Anglo-Scottish border.
Today Clan Blackadder does not have a chief recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, therefore the clan has no standing under Scots Law. Clan Blackadder is considered an armigerous clan, meaning that it is considered to have had at one time a chief who possessed the chiefly arms, however no one at present is in possession of such arms. The arms of Blackadder of that Ilk are blazoned as: Azure, on a chevron Argent three roses Gules . [1]
The clan name is a territorial name derived from the lands of Blackadder in Berwickshire. The lands, in turn, are named after the Blackadder Water, a river which is part of the River Tweed system, and which runs through the Scottish Borders. The name Blackadder is derived from the Old English awedur which means "running water" or "stream". George Fraser Black states that in 1426, Blakadir de Eodem (of that Ilk) held the lands in the earldom of March. [1] Early bearers of the surname are Adam of Blacathathir in 1477, Robert Blackader in the 15th century, and Charles Blakater in 1486. [2]
According to a 1942 book on the Berwickshire dialect, the name was then pronounced ble-ke-TAR. [3]
A junior branch moved to Tulliallan in Fife and included Robert Blackadder, bishop and then in 1492 the first Archbishop of Glasgow, who added the eponymous crypt and aisle in Glasgow Cathedral. [4] [5] The archbishop died while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1508. The Fife branch were supporters of Clan Douglas. In 1471 the archbishop was also made Abbot of Melrose, not far from the main Blackadder lands.
Sir John Blackadder of Tullialan was made a baronet in 1626. The title was allowed to lapse with his death, although the celebrated covenanting preacher John Blackadder (1622–1685) was legally the heir. The preacher's son Colonel John Blackadder later became governor of Stirling Castle. [6]
The Blackadders of that Ilk were Border Reivers , involved in the deadly raids and feuds along the Anglo–Scottish border during the 15th and 16th centuries. Their base by the Blackadder Water was near Berwick-upon-Tweed, a town that changed hands 13 times between England and Scotland in the period 1147–1482.
The family gained lands from James II of Scotland in reward for their deeds in repelling in English raids. In 1518 the family lost their Border lands by the forced marriages of the two heiresses of Robert Blackadder of that Ilk to the neighbouring Clan Home (pronounced "Hume"). This process became known as "the fraud of the Homes". According to the 19th-century historian William Anderson, the marriages were achieved in the following way. [1]
Andrew Blackadder followed the standard of Douglas at Flodden in 1513 and was slain along with two hundred gentlemen of that name on that disastrous field leaving a widow and two daughters, Beatrix and Margaret, who at the time were mere children. From the unprotected state of Robert’s daughters, the Homes of Wedderburn formed a design of seizing the lands of Blackadder. They began by cutting off all within their reach whose affinity was dreaded as an hereditary obstacle. They attacked Robert Blackadder, the Prior of Coldingham, and assassinated him. His brother, the Dean of Dunblane, shared the same fate. Various others were dispatched in like manner. They now assaulted the Castle of Blackadder where the widow and her two young daughters resided. The garrison refused to surrender but the Homes succeeded in obtaining possession of the fortress, seized the widow and her children, compelling them into forced marriages. The two daughters were contracted to younger sons, John and Robert Home in 1518, and, as they were only in their eighth year, they were confined in the Castle of Blackadder until they came of age. [7]
This process was challenged by a Blackadder kinsman, Sir John Blackadder who held the lands of Tulliallan. He attempted to gain assistance from the Parliament, and also attempted to use force to regain the former Blackadder possessions. In March 1531, he was beheaded for the murder of the Abbot of Culross, in the dispute. Sir John Blackadder was succeeded by his brother Patrick, who also took action to regain the lands from the Homes. Anderson's version of events has Patrick ambushed and murdered by the Homes, while he was attempting to meet them and resolve the dispute.
By 1567 the dispute had died down, as the Tulliallan branch and the Homes of Wedderburn were allies of Mary, Queen of Scots on the losing side in the important Battle of Carberry Hill. After the battle Mary abdicated as queen. [8]
Subsequently, the Blackadders relinquished their claim to the Border lands, and in 1671 Sir John Home was created Baronet of Blackadder. [1] Some members of the clan continued to farm their lands as tenants of the Homes, and the last family burials at Edrom kirk were made in the 1980s. [9]
William Francis Blackadder played in the Scottish rugby team in 1938, and was awarded the DSO and OBE as an RAF ace in World War II. [10]
The former Royal Burgh of Lauder is a town in the Scottish Borders in the historic county of Berwickshire. On the Southern Upland Way, the burgh lies 27 miles (43 km) southeast of Edinburgh, on the western edge of the Lammermuir Hills.
Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell was Lord High Admiral of Scotland. He rose to political prominence after supporting James IV against his father, and was proxy at the King's marriage.
Sir Robert Lauder of the Bass was a Scottish knight, armiger, and Governor of the Castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed. He was also a member of the old Scottish Parliament. The Lauders held the feudal barony of The Bass, East Lothian, Edrington Castle and lands in the parish of Mordington, Berwickshire, Tyninghame in Haddingtonshire, and numerous other estates and properties elsewhere in Scotland.
Clan Nesbitt is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Borders that is recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms.
Clan Dunbar is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.
Clan Home is a Scottish clan. It held immense power for much of the Middle Ages and dominated the eastern Scottish Borders. It produced no fewer than eight Wardens of the Eastern March – more than any other family.
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Lamberton is a hilly, former landed estate in Berwickshire, Scotland, its eastern boundary being the North Sea. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Berwick-upon-Tweed, on the Great North Road.
Edrington is a medieval estate occupying the lower part of Mordington parish in Berwickshire, Scottish Borders, Scotland, five miles (8.0 km) west of Berwick-upon-Tweed. From probably the 14th century, if not earlier, a castle occupied the steep hill above the mill of the same name on the Whiteadder Water. The castle ruin is still marked on today's Ordnance Survey maps, and still appears in locality references in The Berwickshire News. The principal farm of the estate is Edrington Mains.
Clan Swinton is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.
Allanton is a small village in the Scottish Borders region of Scotland. Historically part of Berwickshire, for many years it was part of the estate of Blackadder House, which was demolished around 1925.
Clan Wedderburn is a Lowland Scottish clan.
Robert Lauder of The Bass was an important noble in Haddingtonshire, the Merse, and Fife. Stodart remarks that "to 1600 the barons of the Bass sat in almost every parliament". He was a firm supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots whom he accompanied to Carberry Hill on 14 June 1567, and fought for at the battle of Langside.
Tulliallan was an estate in Perthshire, Scotland, near to Kincardine, and a parish. The Blackadder lairds of Tulliallan, a branch of the Blackadder border clan, wielded considerable power in the 15th and 16th centuries. The modern Tulliallan Castle is relatively recent, built in 1812-1820 and now the home of the Scottish Police College
There have been five baronetcies created for persons with the surname Home, four in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Only one creation is extant as of 2008.
The Blackadder Baronetcy, of Tulliallan in the County of Perth, was a title in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. It was created on 28 July 1626 for John Blackadder. He was a profligate spender, and impoverished the estates and title, eventually moving to the continent and dying in America. He married Christian Graham, a daughter of John Graham, 6th Earl of Menteith and had issue, but owing to the bankruptcy of the honour it was never claimed and the title remained dormant after Sir John's death. The celebrated covenanting preacher John Blackadder was legally the heir, but did not claim the title. The preacher's son Colonel John Blackadder later became governor of Stirling Castle.
Clan Pringle is a Lowland clan from the Scottish Borders.
Blackadder House was an estate and stately house near the village of Allanton, in Berwickshire, Scotland. It was built on the site of the earlier Blackadder Castle. The house was vandalised by troops in World War I. Since there was no money to repair it, the house was demolished around 1925.
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Alison Douglas (1480–1530) was a Landowner born in Eskdale.