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Clan Sutherland (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

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Sutherland

Gaelic Name: Sutherlarach

Clan Crest: A cat-a-mountain sejant rampant, Proper

Clan Motto: Sans Peur (Without Fear)

Clan Badge: Cotton Sedge

Lands: Sutherland

Clan Chief: Alistair Charles St.Clair Sutherland, 25th Earl of Sutherland

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Sutherland Clan History

The Earldom of Sutherland is said to be the oldest in the United Kingdom.

The Sutherland clan takes its name from the Norsemen who conquered much of the Scottish mainland north of Inverness and named it Sudrland. The family is thought to be of Flemish descent, descended from Freskin, an ancestor of the Murrays of Atholl. During the Norman conquests, Freskin, a Norman knight, moved north. The Norman knights were brought into King David I of Scotland's court to help pacify the more unruly parts of his kingdom.

Freskin first settled in West Lothian, but he was later granted lands in the Pictish kingdom of Moireabh (Moray). Through careful intermarriage with the house of Moray, the Freskins expanded their power base and eventually took complete control. Freskin's descendants adopted the surname 'de Moravia' (Moravia in old Norman French). Hugh de Moravia, his grandson, was granted lands in Sutherland and was given the title "Lord de Sudreland."

It's perplexing why an area so far north is called "Sutherland" or "lands to the south." The Vikings who had settled in the northern islands of Orkney and Shetland gave the area this name. So the Normans (men from the north - ancient Vikings who had settled in Northern France) came from the south and established the land of the south in the far north of Scotland!

Hugh's brother William founded Clan Murray.

Hugh's eldest son, William de Moravia, was titled '1st Earl of Sutherland,' and the clan was known as 'Sutherland' from then on.

The 3rd Earl of Moravia fought alongside Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Kenneth, the 4th Earl, was killed in the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, a crushing defeat for the Scots. The 5th Earl, William, married Margaret, the daughter of Robert the Bruce and the sister of David II of Scotland, strengthening the clan's ties to the Scottish throne. This alliance did not always work out, and William was captured alongside the King in 1345 at the Battle of Neville's Cross. Both were imprisoned in England for ten years. After being designated heir before Robert Stewart became King Robert II in 1371, the Earl's son John narrowly missed out on becoming king.

The Earls of Sutherland did not get along well with their neighboring clans. The Sinclairs of Cathness, as well as the MacKays and MacLeods of the west, all clashed at some point. During a botched attempt to settle their differences, Nicholas Sutherland of Duffus - a branch off the main Sutherland Clan - murdered the chief of clan MacKay at Dingwall Castle. The Mackays exacted their vengeance by torching Dornoch Cathedral and hanging a number of Sutherland men in the town square. The feud eventually led to the 5th Earl's death at the hands of the MacKays in 1370.

In 1431, a Murray and Sutherland army clashed with the Mackays at Drumnacoub, on the slopes of Ben Loyal near Tongue. In 1480, John MacDonald, Earl of Ross, invaded Sutherland, but was repulsed by a force of Sutherland and Murray warriors. William Sutherland, 4th Laird of Duffus, was among the many Scottish nobles who died fighting at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.

When the 10th Countess of Sutherland married Adam Gordon, son of Gordon of Huntly, in 1517, the Sutherland and Gordon Clans came together in a less warlike manner. Alexander Gordon, their son, inherited the earldom and became chief of Sutherland. This did not sit well with the MacKays, who took up arms against the Gordons and fought them at the Battle of Torran Dubh in Rogart, near Sutherland, later that year. As a result, MacKay was defeated. That wasn't the end of the conflict, as the countess's own brother made a bid for the chiefship. Adam Gordon saw him off at the battle of Alltachuillain, and he was killed in the process.

John Gordon, the 11th Earl of Sutherland, led his clan against the English at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh. This was the final pitched battle between Scotland and England before the crowns were united, and it was part of Henry VIII's 'Rough Wooing' of Scotland. The four-century-long feud with the MacKays came to an end in 1555 with the battle of Garbharry in Berriedale. In 1586, they joined forces to battle the neighboring clan Gunn at Leckmain, cementing their newfound kinship with the MacKays.

Sutherland's focus shifted to the Clan Sinclair, who besieged Girnigoe Castle in 1588. In 1590, George Sinclair, 5th Earl Caithness, retaliated by invading Sutherland lands and fighting the clan at Clynetradwell near Brora.

The Sutherland and Gordon clans began to disagree on religious grounds in the 17th century. The Gordons were devout Catholics, while the Sutherlands had converted to Protestantism. This was yet another example of the religious schism that afflicted everyone in Scotland during this difficult time. The 14th Earl fought against the Royalists at the Battle of Aldearn, which was won by the Royalists, and later joined clans Munro and Ross against James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, during his campaign. At the battle of Carbissale, the Sutherlands won at home.

A group of Scottish nobles led by Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, attempted to depose King James VII in 1685. The rising served as a diversionary tactic, allowing the Duke of Monmouth to march on London. After the king's conversion to Roman Catholicism, this Protestant force turned against him. The Sutherlands, led by John Gordon the 16th Earl, were ardent Protestants, but they despised Campbell more than they despised Catholics, so they joined the fight against the Earl of Argyll.

During the 1715 Jacobite Rising, normal service was resumed, and the 16th Earl took up arms on King George I's side, defending Inverness Castle from the Jacobites. Sutherland men fought on the Government side again at the battle of Glenshiel in 1719, which effectively ended this chapter of the Jacobite rising. At this time, John Gordon, the 16th Earl, officially changed his name to Sutherland and was recognized by the Lord Lyon as chief in the name and arms of Sutherland.

When Charles Edward Stuart arrived in Scotland to launch the 1745 Jacobite uprising, the Sutherlands supported the government once more. The Jacobites, led by George MacKenzie, Earl of Cromartie, took Dunrobin Castle, Sutherland's clan seat at Golspie; the chief narrowly escaped by leaving through a back door and sailing for Aberdeen. He regrouped and faced Mackenzie's men at Littleferry, but despite this, perhaps because of the clan's brief ally against the Campbells, or perhaps simply because of the British government's mistrust of the highlanders, the government still suspected them of being Jacobites - a ridiculous position to take.

William Sutherland, the 18th Earl, died in 1766, leaving an only daughter, Elizabeth. George Sutherland of Forse, a direct male descendant of the original de Moravia Earls, challenged her right to inherit the titles. Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun also threw his hat in the ring, resulting in a three-way fight. In 1771, the case was heard in the House of Lords and resolved in Elizabeth's favor.

Perhaps the fate of the Highlands would have been different if Elizabeth had married George Leveson Gower, Marquess of Stafford, who became the first Duke of Sutherland in 1833. Sutherland knew nothing about the duties of a clan chief and cared even less. He cleared the Sutherland lands ruthlessly and aggressively, aided by his notorious henchman Patrick Sellar. They cast a black shadow on the landscape that is still visible today.

When the 5th Duke died, the chiefship and Ealrdom were passed to a female for the first time, his niece Elizabeth the 24th Countess. Alistair, the 25th Earl of Sutherland, succeeded Elizabeth when she died in 2019.

Sutherland Places & People

Clan Sutherland Locations

Sutherland's Dunrobin Castle, near Golspie.

Tongue House was built in 1678 and was owned by the Countess of Sutherland.

Sutherland Clan People

Kenneth Sutherland is an actor.

Lord Duffus was his title. He joined the Jacobite rising in 1715 and forfeited all his estates. He left Scotland to become an admiral in the Russian navy before marrying into Swedish nobility. A portrait of him hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and it is thought to be one of the earliest depictions of a Scotsman in a kilt.

Sutherland, John

Sutherland's old name, which had been dropped by the family, was reinstated. He was Lord Lieutenant for the north of Scotland and the Islands in 1715. He was in charge of defending Inverness against the Jacobites.

George Granville.

Leveson-Gower married into the Sutherland family and became the first Duke of Sutherland in 1833. He was a forward-thinking planner and reformer. He financed industries such as distilleries, but he lost a lot of money in these ventures. He evicted the pastoral residents of the hills and glens and relocated them to modern housing on the coast. Many accuse him of abandoning the customary obligations of a chief to his clan.

The third Duke of Sutherland

He spent nearly a quarter-million pounds on the construction of a Highland railway, as well as on his own private line from Golspie to Helmsdale.

Sutherland Tartans

Sutherland Contemporary

Sutherland Ancient Sutherland

Weathered Sutherland

Sutherland Municipal District

Sutherland Crest & Coats of Arms

Clan Sutherland Crest:

Crest Description: A sejant rampant cat-a-mountain, Proper

Coats of Arms of Sutherland:

A word about Coats of Arms:

A coat of arms is granted to an individual under Scottish heraldic law (with the exception of civic or corporate arms). A 'family coat of arms' does not exist. With the exceptions noted above, the arms depicted below are personal arms. Only the person who has been granted these weapons has the right to use them.

Arms of the Earl of Sutherland

The Sutherland Arms

Paul's Fraternity FSA Andrew Sutherland

Gules with three mullets Or, a battleaxe blade downwards in bend Proper, shaft Sable, on a chief of the Last; a bordure indented Argent, charged in centre chief with a crescent of the First.

The arms are set on an argent Maltese Cross (denoting a Knight of Justice in the Order of Malta), which is interlaced with a Rosary (denoting Solemn or Perpetual Vows as a Knight of Justice).

Matriculation: February 18, 1999 (Lyon Register LXXXll, 52).

David Waterton-Anderson created the rendering of the Arms shown here.