THE BOTHWELL COAT OF ARMS
By Kearney Bothwell
One of the first things many people look for when they start researching their genealogy is the "Family Coat of Arms."
For those researching the Bothwell surname, the good news is that several variants of Bothwell arms have been used in Scotland at least as far back as 1522.
However, Scottish law recognizes arms as the personal, heritable, property of the individual -- known as the armiger -- who registered them. While arms can be inherited through the male line, they can belong to only one person at a time. Other members of the family are permitted to use the arms only if they make a change in the design and register the changed design in their own names. So, under Scottish law there is no such thing as a "Family Coat of Arms."
BACKGROUND
The coat of arms as we know it today grew out of a military necessity that became apparent in the 11th or 12th century with the development of armor, especially the helmet, which made it more difficult to identify individuals during combat.
In an early version of the modern military’s "Identification Friend or Foe" system, individual warriors began painting colorful, easily recognized designs on their shields. These designs later were incorporated in cloth garments, such as vests, capes, or surcoats worn over armor - and it is from surcoat that the term "coat of arms" is derived.
For the first several hundred years, anyone — noble, gentry, knight, or even peasant — could design and use a coat of arms. There were no rules or regulations governing the right to bear arms, just conventions that evolved from use. Arbitration or existing laws were used to resolve disputes when individuals turned up with identical or nearly identical designs. There weren’t even any registers or armorial rolls to catalogue designs until the early 1300s.
SCOTTISH REGULATION OF HERALDRY
Efforts to regulate heraldry in Scotland date back to 1318 with the creation of the first known officer of arms, the predecessor of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms. But it wasn’t until 1672 that the Scottish Parliament enacted a law establishing the "Public Register of All Armorial Bearings of Scotland," creating the Lyon Court and giving the Lord Lyon judicial authority to regulate all heraldry in Scotland. The law also required that arms had to be registered to have any legal standing in Scotland. To encourage registration of existing arms, registration fees were waived for the first five years, until 1677.
Scotland is one of the few countries in the world where heraldry is still protected by laws that are actively enforced, making Scottish heraldry one of the most tightly controlled in the world today.
While the laws of Scotland don't apply in the United States or anywhere else outside Scotland, it still would be wrong to misrepresent the arms of a long-dead Bothwell as our "Family Coat of Arms." Especially since there is no evidence of a genealogical link through the male line between any Bothwell alive today and any of those who legitimately had the right to use a Bothwell coat of arms.
EARLIEST BOTHWELL ARMS
The earliest example of a Bothwell coat of arms predates the Lyon Register by 150 years. It appears in an armorial seal used by Francis Bothwell in 1522 when he was a baillie (magistrate) of Edinburgh. It is described in William Rae MacDonald’s "Scottish Armorial Seals" (Edinburgh, 1904) as "on a chevron between three slipped trefoils, a star." This refers to a shield and design like that in the left part of the logo at the top of this page.
According to MacDonald, two of Francis’s three sons used the same or similar designs. Two versions are listed for the eldest son, David.
 Fig. 1. The seal of Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney and Shetland |
One design is "on a chevron between three trefoils slipped in chief and another flanked by two stars, a star." No date was cited, but it may be assumed this was the seal used while Francis was alive as the second design listed for David was identical to Francis’ and described David as "son and heir of Master Francis Bothwell, burgess of Edinburgh." It is likely that David assumed his father’s arms on the death of Francis in Dec. of 1535 or January of 1536.
There is no mention of a seal used by the second son, William, who died around 1552, but MacDonald reports the third son, Adam Bothwell, used the "on a chevron between three slipped trefoils, a star" design in 1557 as Canon of Glasgow and again in 1565/6 and 1573/4 as Bishop of Orkney and Shetland and in 1591 as Commendator of Holyroodhouse.
Fig. 2. Blowup of the arms portion of the seal. |
The earliest illustration I’ve found of a Bothwell seal or coat of arms is Bishop Bothwell’s seal (Fig. 1) from Rev. J.B. Craven's "History of the Church in Orkney: 1568-1662" published in 1897. The difference from the design of Francis is shown in Fig. 2 in which it is clear that "long crosses" were substituted for the slipped trefoils. However, since descriptions of his seal from both before his consecration as bishop and after his joining of the reformation indicate his seal used trefoils rather than crosses, it is likely the substitution was an error on the part of the artist who drew the illustration used in Rev. Craven's book.
Adam Bothwell's arms incorporating the original design of trefoils (Fig. 3) is carved in stone on the bishop's memorial plaque at Holyroodhouse Abbey, where he was interned in the Chapel Royale in 1593. The arms include the motto: OBDURANDUM ADVERSUS URGENCIA, which has been translated variously as either "Not Yielding to Provocations" or "Resolute against Oppression."
 Fig. 3: The arms of Bishop Adam Bothwell on his memorial at Holyroodhouse Abbey where the bishop is buried. Photo courtesy Richard Huseth. |
The first Bothwell coat of arms for which a blazon (a written description describing design and colors) exists is that of John Bothwell, eldest son of the bishop (Fig. 4). John was made a hereditary peer on 20 Dec. 1607 and given the title of Lord Holyroodhouse. (Holyroodhouse Abbey is adjacent to Holyrood Palace, the royal palace in Edinburgh.) Along with the title, the lands and baronies of Dunrod, Meikle and Little Kirklands in the Stewarty of Kirkcudbright, the monastery of Holyroodhouse, and Alhammer or Whitekirk in the county of Haddington were created into a free temporal lordship for him and his male heirs, or the male heirs of his father, or his "heirs and assigns whatsoever."
Fig. 4. The arms of John Bothwell, Lord Holyroodhouse, as described in Burke's General Armory. In this rendering, the helm and mantling appear wrong. The helm of a Scottish Peer normally would be silver garnished with gold and with gold grilles (usually five). Also, the crest appears to be improperly anchored to the helm - there should be a gold and blue ribbon wreath on top of the helm to hold the crest in place. |
The blazon for Lord Holyroodhouse is one of two listings for coats of arms of Bothwells listed in Burke's "General Armory." It is described as: "Azure on a chevron between three trefoils slipped or, a crescent gules. Crest: A naked boy pulling down on top of a green pine tree proper. Supporters: Dexter, a spaniel collared gules, Sinister, a goshawk proper, beaked jessed and belled or. Motto: Obdura adversus urgentia."
(In the blazon, azure stands for blue, or is gold, gules is red, proper means natural colors, dexter is right, sinister is left. "Beaked jessed and belled or" means the hawk's beak and the bell tied to his legs are gold and it has leather ties on its legs.
Burke's second listing for Bothwell follows the Lord Holyroodhouse listing: "Bothwell (Foord): Same as above without the crescent." I have not been able to find any other information about this entry or family.
Another of Burke's publications, "Extinct Peerage," lists the blazon for Lord Holyroodhouse as: "Azure a chevron between three trefoils slipped or." No mention of the crescent.
The title Lord Holyroodhouse, and the right to bear the coat of arms, has been vacant since the death of John's only son, John, who died in 1637 or 1638 without a male heir.
A PRETENDER TO THE TITLE?
However, according to both "Scots Peerage," (ed. Sir James Balfour Paul, vol. IV [1907]) and Alexander Nisbet's "A System of Heraldry" (Edinburgh, 1722), a claimant to the title appeared almost 70 years later in Glencross, near Edinburgh (note: Nisbet says Glencross, "Scots Peerage" says Glencorse). Nisbet reported that Alexander Bothwell, "serves himself heir before the Sheriffs of Edinburgh, the 4th of February, 1704," to the title of Lord Holyroodhouse. He claimed to be descended from Richard Bothwell, Provost of Edinburgh, the second son of Francis and elder brother of Bishop Adam Bothwell (If this were correct, it would have made him a second cousin twice removed from John Bothwell, 2nd Lord Holyroodhouse).
However, the claim was not acted upon by parliament because of errors in the genealogy (Francis’s second son was William, parson of Ashkirk, who died without issue). Alexander's version of the Bothwell arms (Fig. 5) were described by Nisbett as:
"Azure, on a cheveron between three trefoils slipped Or. Crest: a naked boy pulling down the top of a pine tree. Supporters: Dexter, a spaniel dog collared Gules, Sinister, A goshawk proper, jessed, beaked & belled Or. Motto: "Obdurandum adversus urgentia,"
 Fig. 5. A scan of the drawing from Nisbets of the armorial bearing, which is the arms with the supporters, helmet, mantling, crest, and motto. I am working on obtaining a color version of this drawing. |
Nisbett noted that Lord Holyroodhouse had charged the arms with a crescent Guiles and also made reference to the Bothwell of Ford coat of arms: "Bothwell of Ford carried the foresaid arms, without the crescent and exterior ornaments; which may be seen illuminated in the House of Falahall."
Although his claim had not been recognized, Alexander called himself Baron Holyroodhouse and used the arms until his death in 1727. His eldest son, Henry, then assumed the title and, on Feb. 8, 1734, using a revised pedigree, presented a petition to the king formally claiming the title. According to "Scots Peerage," Henry claimed descent from William Bothwell, second son of Bishop Adam Bothwell (which would have made him a first cousin thrice removed from John Bothwell 2nd Lord Holyroodhouse). However, William was Adam’s fifth son and died without issue (Adam’s second son was Francis). The king turned the petition over the House of Lords on March 20, 1734, but the Lords didn’t act on the petition before Henry died in 1735.
According to "The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant" by George Edward Cokayne, remained dormant after Henry's death, "not being assumed by any of the five of his eight sons who lived to Man's estate." Only one of the sons, Robert, the 7th, produced an heir, Margaret, but no male heir.
A FRENCH CONNECTION?
Since this was first written in 2001, a possible French connection has come to light.
Fig. 6. The seal of Robert Cupif, bishop of Leon 1639-1646 and bishop of Fraud 1648-1659. |
A researcher in France, Jean Michael Nelly, sent in the seal (left) of Robert Cupif, born in 1607 in Anjou in Brittany to a family of Scottish ancestry. He was bishop of Leon 1639 to 1646 and bishop of Fraud 1648-1659. Bishop Cupif may have been descended from Jacques Cupif, who is believed to have been a member of the Scots Guard of the French king Charles VII in 1450. Although France and Scotland had long been allies against the English and Scots had been used as royal bodyguards since the time of Charles V, it wasn't until the reignof Charles VII that La Garde Ecossaise was formally created. The Scots Guards remained a tradition in the French king's household until the 18th Century and again after the restoration of the French monarchy after the Revolution.
Is this family in some way related to the Bothwell family of Scotland? Impossible to say at this point, but the similarity of the arms is intriguing. Certainly more research is warranted.
SUMMARY
Searches of various surviving registers of arms or armorial rolls that predate the beginning of the Lyon Register have not turned up any Bothwell arms other than those described here. And to the best of my knowledge, no Bothwell arms was ever registered with the Lord Lyon — a fact that supports the conclusion that the male lines of those who could legitimately claim the title and arms of Lord Holyroodhouse have died out.
Whether the claims of Alexander Bothwell and his son, Henry, ever had any merit also remains a moot point as their version of the arms they used lacked legal standing because they were not registered with the Lord Lyon. Even if they had registered the arms, it does not appear that any male lines of these families survived to the present.
All of which means that even though there are any number of people willing to provide "Your Family Coat of Arms" on plaques or coffee cups, or even painted on velvet for anywhere from $39.95 to several hundreds of dollars, none of us has the right to claim or use these arms. Using a coat of arms granted to someone else is usurping arms; making up your own arms is using bogus arms.
However, you could always petition the Lord Lyon for a grant of arms in your own right. This is a relatively simple legal practice, although it isn’t cheap. The fee in 2007 was £1,914 (about $3,725) for a new grant of Armorial Bearings, including shield, crest and motto, together with supporters, although supporters normally are granted only to peers, clan chiefs and persons of the rank of Knight Grand Cross or higher or to companies established by Royal Charter or an Act of Parliament. Rematriculation of a previously recorded Armorial Bearing, including shield, crest and supporters — provided you can prove descent from the original owner — was only £777 or a little over $1,500. Without the supporters, rematriculation is only £501 or about $975.
There are other organizations that can also register a coat of arms, including the American College of Heraldry, which charges $325.
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Richard Huseth, François Velde of the website Heraldica, James Dempster FSA Scot, Derek Howard, John W. Bothwell, and many others for their help, advice, and contributions.
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All original content in this document is copyright 2005-2009 by Kearney Bothwell. unless otherwise noted. It may be freely copied or distributed to others for research purposes as long as this copyright notice is included. Any other reproduction or republication, including posting on the internet, is prohibited without express written permission of Kearney Bothwell.