|
Armstrong Family History
Although there is more than one story
about the origins of the Armstrongs, perhaps one of the
most widely accepted is the saga of Siward, The
Viking, also know as Siward Fairbairn of the
Strong Arm. Siward was the son of a Danish King
and lived in England from about 995 till his death in
1056. In those days, the ruler of any small territory was
a king, so exactly where his father, Hringo,
King of Upland, also known as Earl Beorn,
would fall on the yardstick of earthly royalty is not
clear; however, at the very least, he would be considered
of noble birth.
Whether Siward was born in England is
also not known for certain. However, he was the first
to carry the name of Armstrong and was listed in
the History of England as having earned the right to the
title of Earl of Northumbria (Northumberland)
having been conferred the title by Edward the
Confessor.
Siward, the Fairbairn,
was said to be of giant-like stature and a strong man,
blue-eyed, very fair with light hair and beard. The
legend goes that Siward took ship and sailed with 50 of
his men from Danemark, arriving
at what is today called the Shetland Islands, where he is
said to have encountered a dragon which he slew in single
combat. Dragons, as most of us know, are mythical
creatures which the dictionary states were first defined
as a large serpent. He apparently got a kick out of
killing serpents, as he put out to sea again and finally
landed in Northumbria where he began looking for another
one to fight with. Here he met an old man who he thought
was his god, Odin, who told him he had
already killed the dragon and for him, Siward, to sail
southward to the mouth of the Thames river which could
bring him to the wealthy city of London (one would think
that there would have been plenty of serpents there). The
old man then gave him a standard (flag) to carry which
signified The Raven of Earthly Terror (Edgar Allen
Poe must have read about our ancestor!). He was received
by Edward the Confessor, the King of England,
with much ceremony and was made many promises if he would
stay with the King and help him fight to retain his
kingship.
The following story about Siward has
endured. One day, as he was leaving the court after an
audience with King Edward, he was confronted by Tostig,
Earl of Huntington, on a bridge, who insulted
him by throwing dirt upon him. Siward took no offense at
the time, but on confronting him on his return on the
same bridge, the story goes that he decapitated Earl
Tostig and carried his head back to the King. The King,
being suitably impressed by this brawny warrior with
violent tendencies, wisely awarded Siward the Earldom of
Huntington in addition to Northumbria.
As Siward's reputation as a brave and
valiant knight continued to increase, so also did the
Kingdom of Edward continued to be visited by other Danes
who held him and his people in much less esteem than did
our good Siward. In fact, they became an ever-growing
nuisance-- arriving by ship and plundering the eastern
coast of England. As the most of the havoc they created
was located in Westmoreland, Cumberland and Northumbria
Counties, some wise soul counseled the King to put Siward
in charge of defending this area. While perhaps properly
descriptive if not overly flattering, it was reportedly
stated that it was best that the little devil should
be first exposed to the great devil.
Siward governed in peace the territory
of Northumbria which extended from the Humber River to
the Tweed River on the border of Scotland,
and was greatly respected and loved by the Northumbrians
who were chiefly of Danish extraction (better a Danish
devil than an English saint?). He orchestrated several
forays from Northumbria to the north and was successful
in putting all territory under the command of the King of
England.
The surname of Siward was Beorn (meaning
bear) and relates to the Nordic legends of the Fairy
Bear or Fay Bairn, from which the Border name of
Fairbairn, originated. The name was applied to the
stories of Siward and his father and were called the
Fairy Bear Stories.
Siward had a sister (who's name is not
known) who married Duncan, the King
of Scotland from 1034-1040 AD.
Prior to his death in 1056, Siward
supported his nephew Malcolm, the
rightful heir, against Shakespeare's famous King
Macbeth of Scotland who had killed Malcolm's
father King Duncan.
By 1070, the Battle of Hastings
(1066) was over and England had been conquered
by William of Normandy. Malcolm III had
been on the Scottish throne since the death of Macbeth in
1057 and Siward has been dead since 1056. His first son, Osberne
Bulax, was killed in the battle of Macbeth in 1054,
some say by the hand of Macbeth, himself. Osberne
is also said to have married the daughter of Lady
Godiva. Siward's second son, Waltheof
(which means forest thief - nice name!) is alternately in
and out of favor with William the Conqueror. For example,
his wife, Juditha, is a niece of William
and in 1069 we find that King William restored the
earldom of Northumbria to Waltheof. However, in 1076 he
was betrayed by King William and brought to the outskirts
of Westminster where he was beheaded.
Osberne Bulax had two
sons named Siward Barn the Red and Siward Barn
the White (Fairbeorn). Not much is known of
Siward the Red, but it is known that Siward Barn the
White became a refugee and fled to Scotland with many
other men of distinguished renown including Edgar,
the Atheling, the rightful King of England.
Waltheof left no male descendant.
However, Matilda (called Maude), his
daughter (after her first husband died) married King
David I, the son of King Malcolm of Scotland and
his wife Margaret, who was the sister of
Edgar the Atheling mentioned above. Both the Scottish and
English royalty have descended from Waltheof to the
present day.
Malcolm III, the 85th
King of Scotland greeted Siward Barn the White (his
cousin) with great kindness, and together they fought
against William the Conqueror, driving him out of
Northumbria. An interesting story apparently involves
Siward the White Fairbeorn during a battle against
England. During this battle, King Malcolm's horse was
killed under him partially crippling him and young Siward
fought his way to the King's side. Passing his left arm
around the King's body under his arms, he reportedly
fought his way with a great Sword through the enemy to a
place of safety. For his courageous act he was knighted
by the King, given land and a castle on the Scottish
border, and from that time on was referred to as the Sword of the Strong Arm
(or Armstrong). This was
how he and his descendants came to inherit the lands of Mangerton
in Liddesdale.
These lands, known as the Debateable
Land, were disputed for centuries by both
Scotland and England. As time went on they were protected
by neither nation and, as the Armstrongs were of
both Anglo and Danish descent, they were
entirely different from the Celtic Clans of Northern
Scotland. As a result of blood ties and loyalties not
unlike those of the Mafia in Sicily some centuries later,
these Clans avenged blood for blood for centuries. In
this environment it is not hard to understand how a
reputation for plundering, bloodshed, and violence came
to be tied to these marauders of the border lands.
Little is said about the Armstrongs
after the building of the Mangerton Tower, probably in
1135. Apparently no Chief was immediately recognized
until 1300 when Alexander became the first Lord
of Mangerton. Stories abound of the enmity
between the Armstrongs and their neighbors the Lords
of Soulis. For example, Alexander, the second
Lord of Mangerton, was treacherously killed by William,
Lord Soulis, after being invited to a feast at his castle.
The Armstrong Clan flourished, however, and by the early
1500s, the Laird of Mangerton was able to gather 3,000
mounted fighters. One Scottish king said that while there
were Armstrong and Elliots on the Border, Scotland was
safe. The Armstrongs were ambassadors, earls,
knights, farmers and above all, fighters. For
example, Gilbert Armstrong, third son of
Alexander, the second Lord of Mangerton, a distinguished
clergyman and diplomat was the Canon of Moray
from 1361 to 1375. In 1363 he served as a Commissioner to
England for the ransom of King David II of
Scotland who was held as a prisoner in England. In all
there were ten Lords of Mangerton from Alexander through Archibald
Armstrong who was denounced as a rebel in 1603,
deprived of his lands in 1610, and executed at Edinburgh.
What happened to change our fortunes so
greatly? James IV of Scotland was on
good terms with the Scottish Border chiefs and he
regularly visited and was entertained by them. His son,
James V of Scotland, on the other hand, ruled by decree
from distant Edinburgh and did little to protect his
Border subjects or support them against repeated English
incursions. In fact, in 1530, James V, with
some 8000 men at arms surged into the borderlands and the
betrayal of the Armstrongs began. Johnnie
Armstrong, Laird of Gilknockie, was a much
beloved and highly respected member of the Armstrong
Clan, who James V invited to parlay. Accepting the King's
invitation, he and 50 of his men went to meet with the
King in good faith. Instead, they were seized and
summarily executed. This incendiary act outraged the
Armstrongs and their allies and set the Borders ablaze
with rage and indignation-- increasing the violence and
bloodshed it was intended to suppress. At the prodding of
the King, the Church also entered the fray and the
Armstrong's and other Border reivers were cursed by the
Church excommunicated enmasse. The Armstrongs, with other
Borderers, were thus left to their own devices so far as
mutual self-defense was concerned.
Receiving neither aid nor comfort from
the Scottish or from the English Crowns, the Armstrongs
and other Border clans were forced to become makers of
their own laws and protection. After Edward I of
England slaughtered thousand of Scots at Berwick, self-defense
and preservation became their paramount endeavor. The
Borderers were forced to become the best in what had
become a profession - a greater thief (raider) did
never ride was one complimentary description of an
Armstrong, Jock O'Syde, in Liddesdale.
They would raid by night and attend Carlisle Market by
day, greeted by all who knew them. Unable to do more than
bare subsistence farming, the cupboard was frequently
bare. When the lady of the house served her Laird a pair
of spurs on a plate, this meant it was time to ride and
raid the other side of the Border yet again.
The bloodshed and violence continued.
In 1603, Elizabeth I died and James
VI of Scotland (James I of England) was declared
her heir. After a splendid coronation at Westminister
Abbey, James settled down to life at the English
Court. One of his highest priorities was the suppression
of the Border families like the Armstrongs, as he was
afraid that their incursions would make him unpopular in
England. As a result, he established powerful landlords
in the Debateable Land around Liddesdale and Eskdale, and
appointed Sir William Cranston to put to
death all within two miles of the Border. A large number
of Armstrong reivers were tortured and hung at the Market
Cross in Edinburgh, at Carlisle and no doubt on a number
of local gibbets. The last Armstrong raid of any
importance took place in 1611 and for it, Lance
Armstrong of Whithaugh - along with others - was
executed a year later. Cranston generated the first
forced migrations to Ireland and the subsequent Undertaking
of the Plantation of Ulster in 1608. In the 18th century,
farms were merged and more migrations followed.
The Armstrong lands of Mangerton passed
into the hands of the Buccleuchs. Many members of the
once powerful Armstrong Clan were shipped off to Ireland,
including Johnnie Armstrong's grandson, William who
settled in Fermanagh. Thus, many who had survived found
themselves on the Solway shore waiting for emigrant ships
to take them from an inhospitable homeland. Homeless,
leaderless, and sometimes penniless, they went westward to Ireland and
North America, and south
to Australia and New Zealand in search of new beginnings.
Perhaps the most famous descendent of the Fermanagh
Armstrongs was Neil Armstrong, the
American astronaut and the first human to set foot on the
moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.
The dissolution and dispersal of the
Armstrongs followed some two hundred years of Border
brigandage and treachery, ending in the depopulated areas
and vast estates of the present day Whithaugh, Mangerton
and Gilknockie, which had at one time been the Clan's
greatest strongholds. A proud and courageous family had
been reduced to a smattering of broken men. The
Armstrongs have been scattered and now have neither chief
nor recognized leader. However, as individuals the
Armstrongs have survived and have lived up to their clan
motto of "Invictus Maneo" or "We
Remain Unvanquished."
Note: The above material was found
at this site on the net:
The Origins of the
Armstrong Family
|
Scroll Down - There is More!
and/or