History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 56

Flemish families separated by the events of 1066 and subsequent years, making lives
wholly apart for themselves in a Scotland divided from Flanders by an absolute gap in
both time and distance, still possess armorial devices identical with those borne by
men in Flanders often of the same name. The Scottish families of Flemish origin listed
below are by no means the whole of the Flemish contingent that went north at David
I’s request.

BAIRD
The Baird (originally’ Baard) family are first quoted as of Loftus, Yorkshire. About 1200
Richard Bard in Scotland confirmed gifts made by his father, also Richard, to
Lesmahagow Priory, Lanarkshire, an action for which he had to have the consent of
his lord, Robert of Biggar, grandson of the Sheriff of Lanarkshire, Baldwin the Fleming.
There can be little doubt that the Baards, or Bairds, shared Baldwin’s nationality. Their
arms show, in the colours of Boulogne, one of the emblems of Guines.

BALLIOL
A number of llth- and l2th-century charters survive, signed by members of the Bailleul
family, which give conclusive proof that their home at the relevant dates was Bailleul
near Hazebrouck in the present-day’ Nord department of France, but then, of course,
in Flanders. It appears certain that Guy de Bailleul was present at the Battle of
Hastings. The date when the English Balliols first acquired lands in Scotland is
obscure. But that they had an interest in the Christian advancement of Scotland is
shown by the gift Bernard de Balliol made to the abbey of Kelso in the year 1153, of a
fishery in the river Tweed at Wudehorn. Although they chose wives from leading
Flemish families, their changes of heraldic symbols (often acquired through such
marriages) tend to suggest that the Balliols themselves were not of the aid
Charlemagnic nobility - an important factor when judging the lack of support John
Balliol received from fellow Flemings when he was trying to acquire for himself and his
heirs the crown of Scotland.

BRUCE
That Brix, in the hinterland behind Cherbourg (the place in Normandy from which the
Bruce family supposedly took its llth-century’ surname) should have been called after
a follower of the first Duke Robert is not impossible. The old stronghold is said to have
been given to Robert de Brus’s kinsman, Adam - father, brother or son - who built his
castle there, perhaps after the family had come to Normandy in the retinue of Matilda
of Flanders, the Conqueror’s bride. The first arms borne in England by the Bruce
family - the azure lion of Louvain - shout as loudly as anything could of their
connection not only with Flanders but with Queen Maud’s grandfather, Count Lambert
of Lens, who was the heir of his mother, Maud de Louvain. Maud de Louvain, who
married Count Eustace I of Boulogne was the granddaughter of Count Lambert I of
Louvain. Her cousin Henry’s grandson, Joscelyn, through whom the “comté” of
Louvain descended after the failure of the senior line, followed Robert de Brus in
bringing the blue lion to England. Robert (later “de Bruis”) must have been a younger
grandson of Count Lambert I and therefore a first cousin of Maud de Louvain. When
Joscelyn de Louvain came to England in the mid 12th century’ to marry the heiress of
the Percys, it was natural for Robert de Brus to yield up the azure lion to him as the
senior representative here of the family, and Robert adopted the device thereafter
associated with Bruce - the saltire.

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