coatofarms

Mackenzie of Applecross coat of arms

 

 

 

This Mackenzie of Applecross coat of arms was officially recorded in 1756 during the time of John Mackenzie, the 5th Mackenzie laird of Applecross. It is not known if it was in use for a long time before it was recorded, or if it was only created at that date. In heraldic terminology it is described thus:

‘Quarterly, 1st and 4th, azure a stag's head caboshed or; 2nd and 3rd, argent, a lion rampant gules’  (Burke's General Armory, 1884)

i.e. Split into quarters, top left (1st) and bottom right (4th) quarters are blue (azure) with a stag’s head (caboshed means not showing any of the neck or shoulders) coloured gold (or); top right and bottom left are white or silver (argent) with a lion standing upright (rampant), coloured red (gules).

In 1884 it was further recorded that the coat of arms now had a border of gold ‘in consequence of two descents through females’.

The Stag’s Head (Cabar Feidh)

The stag’s head (in Gaelic Cabar Feidh) represents the Mackenzies. The Mackenzies are said to have been granted the right to have the stag’s head for their coat of arms in the early thirteenth century after Colin Mackenzie of Kintail saved King Alexander of Scotland from a wounded stag while hunting in the Royal Forest of Mar.

Benjamin West, 1786 (National Galleries of Scotland)

 

The Lion Rampant

The lion rampant is more of a mystery. It has been used by various families whose common origins are said to lie in the Kingdom of Scottish Dalriada which held Argyllshire during the Dark Ages.

It has been suggested that the lion originated with the Royal Line of Dalriada and that when Kenneth MacAlpine became the first King of Scotland in 843 AD the lion rampant became the arms of the Kings of Scotland. It is used by several families in Scotland.

 

Quartering

The 'quartering' of coats of arms, in other words splitting the shield into four quarters, usually represents a dynastic marriage. In this case it would mean that a Mackenzie, represented by the stag’s head, had married the female heiress of a family whose coat of arms was a red lion rampant on a silver background. However, in the West Highlands 'quartering' was used almost as a matter of course by the major clans, without any dynastic marriage having taken place. Family coats of arms in this area typically contain one or more of four symbols - the lion rampant (Dalriada Royal family), the galley (said to represent Norse Royal power), the hand (the ancient heraldic device of the O'Neills, once High-Kings of Ireland), and the salmon (origin unknown but perhaps pagan).

                                         

Those who use the lion rampant include various descendants of the MacDonalds, Lords of the Isles, but interestingly the Earls of Ross also use three lions rampant in their arms. It is tempting to suggest that Mackenzie of Applecross used the lion rampant because the original Earl of Ross was traditionally said to have come from Applecross. However this is unlikely as Iain Molach of Applecross in his genealogy of the Mackenzies written in the seventeenth century makes no such claim, which would suggested that the Mackenzies did not know of the tradition.

Earl of Ross

More information on West Highland heraldry can be found at the Heraldry Society of Scotland website.

 

Crest

A crest is a heraldic device originally borne on top of a helmet, particularly in tournaments, but latterly used to decorate signet rings, cutlery, plate, crockery etc, as a mark of ownership by a family.

The Mackenzie of Applecross crest is described:

A lion couchant, guardant, proper

Couchant - lying down; guardant - facing front; proper - in its natural colour.

with mottoes above and below:-

Insult me not

Fide parta, fide aucta

(conceived in faith, by faith achieved)

Alan Gillies 2007