Clan Hamilton
Motto: Through; never behind
Crest: An oak tree in a coronet
Territory: Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire, Scotland
The earliest written history of Clan Hamilton comes from the monk, Friar Mark. Sir Gilbert Hamilton had been one of the seven Scottish knights who formed the royal bodyguard at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. The good monk wrote "For true service and great manhood in slaying the Great Lieutenant of England upon Kinneil Muir, the Scottish King Robert The Bruce gave all the lands of Kinneil to Sir Gilbert Hamilton." In that way, the family acquired the estate high above the Forth from which the ruins of the Palace of Kinneil still command magnificent views across the river to the shores of Fife and the Ochil Hills beyond. The Bruce also granted the Hamilton family their coat of arms of "three cinquefoils on a bloody ground." It was also Hamilton senior who was chosen to give the oration at the burial of The Bruce in Dunfermline Abbey in 1329. The Hamiltons built a tall thick stone walled peel tower high above the rocky ravine of the Gil Burn, where it crashes down the hillside to join the River Forth. This was an excellent defensive site and parts of the ancient fortification with its narrow arrow slit windows and gun ports still dominate the scene above the burn. They also built Castle Cadzow just to the south of Hamilton, the town that grew up nearby and bears the family name. James of Cadzow became the first Lord Hamilton in 1445. The second Lord James, Earl of Arran, had the reputation of being the best archer on foot or on horse in the whole of Scotland and kept a famous stud of horses at Kinneil, where King James IV paid a royal visit to the stables in 1508. Lord James found himself at the center of turmoil when, at the death of King James IV, he was appointed Regent of Scotland to care for the infant King James V. He had to fight off the rival Douglas claim for supremacy over the young monarch. Lord James died in 1529, and was succeeded by his son, the second Earl of Arran, who was still a minor. Under the guidance of his uncle, the young boy began the construction of Hamilton Palace. The young Earl was also the great grandson of King James II, and following the death of King James V after the Battle of Solway Moss in 1542, he was no less than heir presumptive to the Scottish throne. As such, he was appointed regent to the little week old Mary Queen of Scots, when she came to the throne in December of that year. The Earl and the Hamilton family were heavily involved in the political intrigue of the times in his own unsuccessful quest to hold the Scottish throne. In 1651, the Dutchess Anna Hamilton married William, the eldest son of the first Marquis of Douglas, thus introducing the Douglas name, which from then on became so associated with that of Hamilton. Together they managed the Hamilton estates and especially their coal pits and salt pans, and again found royal favor. In September, 1660, the king bestowed upon Douglas the titles of Duke of Hamilton, Marquis of Clydesdale, Earl of Arran, Lanark and Selkirk and a year later, the Dutchess received from the king a regrant of the lands and baronies of Hamilton, Kinneil and all of the family's other Scottish possessions including those on the Isle of Arran. In 1941, Hitler's deputy, Rudolph Hess, flew to Scotland to meet Alfred Douglas, the 13th Duke of Hamilton, in the belief that he was sufficiently powerful to intervene with Sir Winston Churchill to end the hostilities. Hess was captured before he could meet the Duke of Hamilton.