Clan Stewart

Crest & Motto

Clan Stewart crest 3D model — Virescit Vulnere Virtus motto — STL file for 3D printing or CNC carving The Stewart clansman’s crest shows a pelican feeding her young, with the motto Virescit Vulnere Virtus — “courage grows strong at a wound”.

History

The Stewarts take their name from an office rather than a place: Walter fitz Alan, a Breton-descended knight, was appointed High Steward of Scotland by King David I in the 12th century, and the hereditary office became the family surname. Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward, married Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert the Bruce — and their son became King Robert II in 1371, founding the royal House of Stewart, which ruled Scotland (and from 1603, England and Ireland) until 1714. Because the senior line merged with the Crown, Clan Stewart is unusual: a network of major branches — Appin, Atholl, Balquhidder, Bute, Galloway — rather than a single chiefly house.

The West Highland branch shown on our clan map is the Stewarts of Appin, on the Argyll coast between Loch Creran and Ballachulish. Founded around 1463 by Dugald Stewart, grandson of a Stewart Lord of Lorn, the Appin Stewarts secured their lands at the Battle of Stalc in 1468 and fortified Castle Stalker on its islet in Loch Laich.

The Appin Stewarts were among the most steadfast Jacobite clans, fighting for Montrose in the 1640s and in both the 1715 and 1745 risings. At Culloden the Appin Regiment lost 92 killed and 65 wounded from about 300 men. The forfeited Appin lands then produced the infamous Appin Murder of 1752 — the shooting of government factor Colin Campbell of Glenure, and the hanging of the almost certainly innocent James of the Glen — immortalised in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped. Stewart and Stuart are today among the most common Scottish surnames worldwide.

Clan Chief

Clan Stewart as a whole has no chief recognised by the Lord Lyon — the hereditary High Stewardship is held by the heir to the throne. The West Highland branch, Clan Stewart of Appin, is led by Andrew Francis Stewart, 17th of Appin. (The Appin branch bears its own motto, “Quhidder Will ȝie” — the pelican crest on this page is the badge of Clan Stewart generally.)