Clan Anstruther is a

Scottish clan A Scottish clan (from Scottish Gaelic , literally 'children', more broadly 'kindred') is a kinship group among the Scottish people. Clans give a sense of shared heritage and descent to members, and in modern times have an official structure r ...

History

Origin of name

The clan originated from the town of

Anstruther Anstruther ( ; ) is a coastal town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester, which are divided by a st ...

, which was adopted as a familial name. The name is Gaelic in origin: "an" (the) + "sruthair" (little stream).

Origins of the clan

Alexander I of Scotland granted the lands of Anstruther to William de Candela in the early 12th century. There are a number of suggested origins for William but research points to the

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is known that

William I of England William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was ...

sought assistance from William, Count of Candela, who sent his son. It is likely that this son was William de Candela, who received the grant of land from Alexander. William de Candela's son, also William, was a benefactor to the monks of

Balmerino Abbey Balmerino Abbey, or St Edward's Abbey, in Balmerino, Fife, Scotland, was a Cistercians, Cistercian monastery which has been ruinous since the 16th century. History It was founded from 1227 to 1229 by monks from Melrose Abbey with the patronag ...

. The site now occupied by the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther was a gift from William. The next generation of the family, Henry, no longer styled himself, de Candela, being described as 'Henricus de Aynstrother dominus ejusdem' in a charter confirming grants of land to Balmerino Abbey. Henry Anstruther accompanied

Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), also known as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. He is widely recognized as the most distinguished of the Direct Capetians. Following the death of his father, Louis VI ...

to the

crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

and swore fealty to King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

in 1292 and again in 1296.

15th and 16th centuries

In 1483, Andrew Anstruther of Anstruther confirmed the right to a barony and fought against the English at the

Battle of Flodden The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton or Brainston Moor was fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland and resulted in an English victory ...

in 1513 during the

Anglo-Scottish Wars The Anglo-Scottish Wars comprise the various battles which continued to be fought between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland from the time of the Wars of Independence in the early 14th century through to the latter years of the ...

. Andrew Anstruther married Christina Sandilands who was descended from Princess Jean or Joanna, daughter of

Robert II of Scotland Robert II (2 March 1316 – 19 April 1390) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scots from 1371 to his death in 1390. The son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, and Marjorie Bruce, Marjorie, daughter of King Robert the Bruce, h ...

. His second son, David, fought at the

Battle of Pavia The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–1526 between the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg Empire of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, Holy Roman Empero ...

in 1520 in the service of

Francis I of France Francis I (; ; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father-in-law Louis&nbs ...

in the French Scots Regiment. This line ended with the death of the last Baron d'Anstrude in 1928. Andrew's great-great-grandson, Sir James Anstruther was chosen as a companion to the young

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

, who appointed him Hereditary Grand Carver, a title still held by the head of the family today. In 1595 he became Master of the Household.

17th century and the Civil War

William, the elder son of Sir James Anstruther, accompanied Sir James to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

following the

Union of the Crowns The Union of the Crowns (; ) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas diplomacy) of the two separate realms under a single ...

in 1603 where he was made a Knight of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

. Sir James's second son, Sir Robert, served as a diplomat for both James I and Charles I. Sir Phillip Anstruther, the second son of Sir Robert fought as a

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

during the civil war, and received Charles II at Dreel Castle after his coronation at Scone in 1651. Phillip Anstruther was later taken prisoner after the

Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1642 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...

in 1651. He was excluded from

Cromwell's Act of Grace Cromwell's Act of Grace, or more formally the Act of Pardon and Grace to the People of Scotland, was an Act of the Parliament of England that declared that the people of Scotland (with certain exceptions) were pardoned for any crimes they migh ...

and his estates were confiscated. They were restored to him after the restoration of the monarchy by Charles II. Phillip's brother Sir Alexander Anstruther married the Hon. Jean Leslie, daughter of the General

David Leslie, Lord Newark David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark ( – ) was a Scottish military officer and peer. During the Thirty Years' War, he joined in the Swedish Army in 1630 and served under Alexander Leslie. Returning to Scotland in the final days of the Bishops' War ...

Clan chief

The Chief of Clan Anstruther is Tobias Alexander Campbell Anstruther of that Ilk and of Balcaskie, younger son of Sir Ian Anstruther.

Clan castles

The clan chief's

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

remains at Balcaskie in

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

which was probably built in around 1670 by

Sir William Bruce Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet (c. 1630 – 1710), was a Scottish gentleman-architect, "the effective founder of classical architecture in Scotland," as Howard Colvin observes.Colvin, p.172–176 As a key figure in introducing the Pa ...

. Airdrie House and Newark Castle in Fife also belong to the Anstruthers.

Clan profile

* Arms: ''Argent, three piles issuing from the chief sable'' * Crest: Two arms in armour holding a pole-axe with both hands gauntleted Proper * Motto: ''Periissem ni periissem ''(I would have perished had I not persisted)

References

External links

External link: Electric Scotland – Anstruther
{{Scottish clans Fife