The Armstrong Clan Society
Dedicated to the Armstrongs, Crosiers, Fairbairns, Grosiers, Nixons and those interested in these surnames.
One Hundred Thousand Welcomes!
The Armstrong Clan Society has been organized to:
1) Seek friendship and unity among Armstrongs and associated families.
2) Provide for the preservation of Armstrong artifacts unique to the family and to maintain a library.
3) Serve as a genealogical and historical recorder of the membership,
4) Provide quarterly news, Armstrong history and genealogy via The Armstrong Chronicles,
5) Establish geographic membership representation.
Membership
All Armstrongs, Croziers, Fairbairns, Groziers and Nixons, regardless of spelling, and their descendants, are eligible for full membership in The Society. All others interested in furthering the goals of The Society may become associate members. In the United States and Canada, dues are $25 per year, including two adults and all minor children. In all other countries dues are $35 per year, payable in US funds.
You can click here to download a membership application
Lord Lyon, King of Arms, Recognizes an Honorable Company
On September 24, 1984 the Lord Lyon, King of Arms granted warrant to the Lyon clerk to matriculate in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland in the name of Armstrong Clan Society, Inc. "acting world-wide and in particular within the United States of America" to further the interests of the Armstrong family. Matriculated in the 8th day of February 1985 in the 110th page of the 62nd volume of the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland.
The
Hanging of Johnnie Armstrong
It's easy to romanticize the history of Border reivers who
controlled the border area between Scotland and England. For about 300
years, they raided and robbed with high efficiency. They were armed with
cold steel and the tools of arson. Riding families like the Armstrongs
accepted the very difficult life with cold steel courage and a fiery
resolve for victory at all costs.
The Armstrongs were one of the most famous families of reivers.
By the 16th century, our clan was at the height of its power. Led by men
nicknamed, “Sim the Laird, III ", Will and Johnnie
Armstrong of Gilnockie. They could put 3,000 horsemen on the filed of
battle. Often they defied the Scottish and English authorities alike. Their base of
operations was the treacherous boggy waste land of Liddesdale, now part
of modern Dumfrieshire.
The Armstrongs of Gilnockie area maintained their own force of
men of
and controlled a tower on the River Esk near the current village of
Hallows. To poets who composed the border ballads, the most written
about was the
romantic outlaw Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie.
Johnnie Armstrong was first and foremost a reiver, an Armstrong second, and a Scottish loyalty was third. He levied blackmail from the residents of towns and villages throughout the West and Middle Marches on both side of the border, either. His reivers earned a formidable and fearsome reputation. They did not hesitate to burn people alive in their own homes if they didn't come up the required blackmail (protection) money. This the origin of the practice of blackmail still in use by organized crime and some governments.
At this time, Robert, the 5th Lord Maxwell, was Scottish West
March Warden. The six Marches consisted of three on the Scottish side of
the border and three on the English. The Marches were established by Scot
land and England to supervise the unruly border areas.
Each March was run by a separate warden appointed by royal command. Both
countries agreed to deny refuge to outlaws and rebels. Unfortunately, this
agreement did not work very well.
Maxwell, was one of Scotland's great feudal barons. He was in an
long lasting feud with the Johnstone Clan. Maxwell had engaged the Armstrongs as
extra troops the fight the Johnstones. He subsequently owed the Armstrongs
protection. Although responsible for keeping the reivers under control,
Maxwell "looked the other way" when the Armstrongs and their allies, the Nixons, Elliots and Crosiers, went looting and raping
on the borders. The Armstrongs of Liddesdale truly operated outside the law.
In 1528, William, Lord Dacre, became the new Warden of the English
West March. Dacre decided to make a name for himself by taking on the
Armstrongs. He covertly raised a force of 2000 riders. His plan
was to take Johnnie Armstrong, Sim the Laird, and their followers by
surprise. The Armstrongs received a tip from English friends and had
time to ready a defense. Lord Dacre's men were severely decimated in the
engagement and hastily retreated.
Lord Dacre was a
determined warrior, however. He returned with a reinforced force armed
with artillery. He blew Armstrong's tower on the River Esk to
pieces. While Lord Dacre was at the Esk in Scotland, the Armstrongs were
raiding the English town of Netherby including a mill that belonged to Dacre.
Angered by this raid, the English warden declared all-out
effort
against the Armstrongs. He made several attempts to invade their
territory. He banned the Armstrongs from Carlisle. Reivers only burned and looted by night.
During the day, reivers liked to visit Carlisle to visit the local markets and drink
at the inns.
This ban upset the Armstrongs, Subsequently relations between
Lord Dacre and the Liddesdale Armstrongs worsened throughout 1528.
Numerous raids were launched from the Scottish side, and were quickly avenged by
an attack on Liddesdale or the Debatable Land.
The situation degraded until young King James
V of Scotland, escaped the control of the Douglas faction at the royal
court. At that time King James, at the age of 17, decided to deal with the Armstrong
leaders in a dishonorable way. He promised to "proceed to end the sharpe
sand rygorouse
punyssching of all transgressione upon the bordouris."
As words failed, the Liddesdale reivers went on the rampage. King
James V summoned to Edinburgh all the Border nobility responsible for law and order
and imprisoned the lot. The Earls of Hume,
Maxwell, Johnstone, Bucc1euch and Bothwell spent time in the King's dank
dungeons to "get their attention" and demonstrate the kings seriousness.
King James Vs' massive army was too powerful for the bold fellows
of Liddesdale. Johnnie Armstrong analyzed the situation and and
determined the best path to follow. Johnnie and his
followers traveled to Carlenrig, near Teviothead, to pay homage to the
king and acknowledge his authority. Legend has it that they entered
James' camp unarmed expecting safe conduct
and the king's pardon.
Johnnie Armstrong and his men were a arrogant, flamboyant band of
brothers. Dressed in their best finery, they appeared to be flaunting
the wealth obtained by reiving. King James V lost his teenage temper when he met Johnnie Armstrong face to
face. Legend reports that he cried out "What wants this knave that a
King should have, but the sword of honor and the crown!"
One point of view is that the Armstrongs chose to wear their best
finery in order to honor the King. Regardless, James V was outraged by
what he believed to be a blatant display of wealth.
He ordered his troops to surround the Armstrongs. Realizing that their
lives were in
danger, Johnnie made a series of offers to his monarch. Legend has it
that, among the offers was a
promise that he would bring the King the head of any Englishman, of any
rank from a duke downward, dead or alive, at any appointed time, day or
night.
King James V had already made up his mind. The Armstrongs were to be used a scapegoat for the Borderlands, their fate to be warning to the reivers that the King agents were, from now onward, to rule the Borders.
Now the story becomes mostly
legend. Before being hanged from the nearest tree, Johnnie is reported to
have stated proudly, "I am but a fool to seek grace at a grace less
face. But had I known, sir, that you would have taken my life this day, I
should have lived on the Borders in spite of King Harry [the English
monarch] and you both, for I know King Harry would down weigh my best
horse with gold to know that I were condemned to die this day." The
tree is reputed to have shriveled and died a short time thereafter because
of the great injustice he had suffered.
Johnnie Armstrong's hanging was the beginning of the reivers' long goodnight
(end). But
little pity should be spared for Johnnie Armstrong. Colorful and
charismatic as he may have been, he and his men at arms were
blackmailers, murderers and thieves. It took an equally ruthless Stewart
monarch to break the power of the Border reivers and pave the way for the
union of Scotland and England in the next century.
(Editor) King James V was the
father of Mary Queen of Scotts whose son became
King James VI of Scotland and was to become King James I of the United
Kingdoms of Scotland and England (The United Kingdom / Great Britain). He authorized the version of the Holy Bible that carries his name
and is still in use to this
day.
Left: A stone in the graveyard opposite Carlenrig Church marks the traditional spot where Johnnie Armstrong and his men were hung.
Right:
A pillar marks the site of Gilnockie
Castle, built by Johnnie Armstrong.
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Updated 10 Feb 2011