The Armstrong Clan Society

Dedicated to the Armstrongs, Crosiers, Fairbairns, Grosiers, Nixons and those interested in these surnames

The Armstrong Clan Society offers you 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 in PDF format and view more membership information. Any questions? Email Peter Armstrong at parmstrong2@sc.rr.com or mail  to Peter A. Armstrong 128 Essex Dr Summerville, SC 29485

Siward, MacBeth, and Shakespeare

By Bill Armstrong, Webmaster

From Scottish Battles by John Sadler

     The following is an account of the 11^th centaury Scotland events as recorded in history and as portrayed by William Shakespeare in his 16^th centaury play Macbeth. It involves Siward the elder, possibly the first Armstrong, MacBeth, Malcolm, Duncan and others mentioned in Shakespeare’s play.

     By the 1040s the authority of the Scottish crown was well established, although not very secure or universally accepted. The Scottish King ruled through his nobles or ‘mormaers’, baron-like men who managed their individual areas, collected the crown’s and their own taxes and as well as providing justice as the crown’s agent.

      During this time, the way a new Scottish king was chosen was based on an old Gaelic custom of election from  a group or 'derbfine'’. Included in the derbfine might be a claimant from a family whose grandfather was a king. Obviously this system could lead to bitter and violent feuds. When more than one lineage of royalty was claimed, succession was often decided on the battlefields. Once successful, a new ruler, could feel justified in murdering any potential rivals.

     King Malcolm of Scotland had no immediate male heirs. He intended for his grandson, Duncan, to succeed him. An obvious male challenger was  murdered, but not before he fathered a daughter whose second marriage was to MacBeth.  MacBeth was of royal blood and the mormaer of Moray. Duncan, who succeeded his grandfather in 1034, was not, as Shakespeare portrays, an old and wise king, but a young and rather foolish one, whose six year reign was characterized by rash and spectacularly unsuccessful military adventures. Finally, and in open field, he was slain by MacBeth not brutally murdered as in the play. MacBeth, a tyrant according to Shakespeare, ruled well for seventeen years and felt sufficiently secure during that time to undertake a pilgrimage to Rome.

Before his death, Duncan had been a victim of a resurgence of Northumbrian power under the formidable Siward. Siward was a Danish freebooter who won the title of Earl in 1041, by ceding control of Cumbria. Duncan's death created an opportunity for Siward as his young sons fled to England (although Siward the Younger appears in Shakespeare’s play). First, he championed the Duncan's brother Maldred.  Maldred’s foray into Lothian in 1045 was sponsored by Siward.  During this action, Maldred was slain and now Siward had to wait until Malcolm, Duncan's illegitimate son, came of age. Malcolm had spent most of his formative years in the court of English King Edward the Confessor. The king supported Malcolm’s bid for power in Scotland by allowing him a force of the Kings own men.

In 1052, Malcolm’s allies first invaded Scotland. In a series of hard fought campaigns they pushed MacBeth’s forces beyond the River Tay.  At the start of the 1054 campaigning season (around April), Malcolm’s forces, who had apparently mustered south of the Tay, crossed the river and defeated the Scots at the battle of the Seven Sleepers (Seven Hills). MacBeth was not totally defeated. The ageing Siward retired south­ward and died in 1055.  Meanwhile, Malcolm remained on the offensive in Scotland. In 1057 Malcolm’s forces, after a flanking march through the hills, cornered MacBeth at the battle of Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire. MacBeth  was apparently accompanied by only his household warriors.  Despite being outnumbered the Malcolm's forces, MacBeth is said to have attacked, and fell gloriously with his followers around him.  In addition to the fame, or infamy, conferred by Shakespeare, MacBeth is credited as being the first Scottish ruler to import Norman fighters, as mercenaries.