Scotland & the Maxwell Family

Seat of the Clan - Caerlaverock Castle:

Caerlaverock Castle is the historic seat of Clan Maxwell and it is located on the most southern coast of Scotland, just 7 miles South-East of Dumfries. The original castle was built in the 13th Century, it has suffered many sieges over time and was re-built on a number of occasions. The Maxwells held Caerlaverock castle from the 13th Century when it was built, until the 17th Century when they abandoned the castle. Caerlaverock was besieged by Edward I in 1300 and held by the English until 1312 when the keeper switched allegiance to the Robert the Bruce. The English laid siege again to reclaim the castle, but failed to take it. Later the keeper, Sir Eustace Maxwell, was ordered by Robert the Bruce to dismantle it to prevent any future use by the English. You can read more about the castle below.

The Maxwell - History :

The name Maxwell originates from Maccus, a Norse chief and son of Undweyn, who gave his name to Maccuswell, a pool of the river Tweed near Kelso bridge. A grandson of Maccus, John Maxwell, became chamberlain of Scotland before dying in 1241, to be succeeded by his brother Aylmer. From Aylmer sprang many branches of the family throughout the south-west of Scotland. Sir Herbert Maxwell appears on the Ragman Rolls of 1296, swearing fealty to Edward I of England. Sir Herbert de Maxwell of Maxwell, Caerlaverock and Mearns was in the camp of John Balliol who was his overlord in the Southwest. He was also Judiciary of Galloway and also the Sheriff of Dumfries. These positions enriched Herbert’s power but pulled him in two opposing directions during the wars of independence. John Balliol became the puppet King of Scots in 1292 under the control of Edward I, but went to war with the English in 1295. The rebellion was quickly dealt with by the English king.

In 1300 Edward I's English army besieged Caerlaverock with an overwhelming force, Lord Maxwell was not in the castle at the time. You can read more details of the siege in the Caerlaverock Castle section. Herbert's son, Eustace Maxwell would later hold Caerlaverock Castle as a vassal of the English, however he later followed Robert the Bruce to the Battle of Bannockburn. When under English control the castle surrended to Edward de Brus (King Robert's brother) in 1312. The Battle of Bannockburn was on the 23rd and 24th June 1314, it was a victory of the army of the King of Scots Robert the Bruce over the army of King Edward II of England.

Sir John Maxwell was with King David at his defeat at Nevilles Cross in October 1346 and was taken prisoner with his king. He died in captivity within the year and his son Sir Herbert became Lord of Maxwell. Herbert was restored to Caerlaverock by the English king in 1347 having first sworn fealty. In 1353 William, Lord Douglas invaded Galloway and crushed the Balliol supporters finally. Sir Herbert quickly reversed his loyalty to the captive King David and died a few weeks later. He was succeeded by his brother Sir John and the Maxwell Lords were ever loyal to the line of Bruce thereafter. The Balliols then disappear from history and the Douglas family became the principle power in the south-west with the Maxwell family supporting them.

Archibald Douglas the Grim, a son of the good Sir James Douglas was conferred in the Lordship of Galloway when Robert II mounted the throne in 1371. Under Archibald, Sir John’s son Robert Maxwell became, Steward of Kirkcudbright and with Archibald and the Earl of Douglas threw the English out of Annandale in February 1384. The English army returned to Scotland later that year under John of Gaunt and burnt Edinburgh and other towns on the Eastern border. But a huge army under Douglas countered and burnt Carlisle and Durham, two cities of greater value than all those in Scotland. Sir Robert Maxwell rebuilt Caerlaverock and fortified it against reprisal attacks but the English were on the run and the Scots under the Douglas’s raided into England on a regular basis despoiling the land and returning with a great wealth of booty. It was a dangerous time but the Lords of Maxwell gained greatly under their warlike overlords.

Sir Robert's son, Sir Herbert, the succeeding clan chief was knighted by James I for his services to the crown and was created Lord Maxwell in about 1440. He took a seat as a Lord of Parliament. A branch of the clan, the Maxwells of Monreith descend from his second son and they were later created baronets in 1681.

John Maxwel, the 4th Lord Maxwell inherited his grandfather's lands at Carnsalloch on 8 May 1485 and was served heir to his father in the lands of Maxwell on 29 April 1486. In 1486 he was also appointed Warden of the West Marches and on October 1488 he attended the first Parliament of James IV. The most notorious incident of Maxwell's life was his violent assault on 30 July 1508 on Robert Crichton, 2nd Lord Crichton of Sanquhar outside the court-house in Dumfries, where Crichton was holding assizes. The Maxwells and Crichtons had long competed for influence in Nithsdale and, accompanied by William Douglas of Drumlanrig, Maxwell led a considerable force into the town from the south. It appears that Maxwell went largely unpunished for his part in the episode. In 1513, John, the fourth Lord Maxwell fell with three of his brothers along with King James IV at Flodden.

The 4th Lord Maxwell was succeeded by his eldest son Robert who grew to become one of the most prominent and able men of his age. In 1526 the Maxwells supported Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus at the Battle of Melrose where they defeated the forces of Sir Walter Scott. He certainly stood high in the esteem of King James V, he was on the Royal Council and was created an Extraordinary Lord of the Session in 1532. In 1536, he was appointed a member of the Council of Regency, and in the following year he was one of the Ambassadors to the French court who negotiated the marriage of James to Mary of Guise and for whom he espoused as proxy. It was this Lord Maxwell who introduced and secured the bill in the Scottish parliament of 1542 that gave the Scottish people the right to possess and read the Bible in the common tongue. In 1542 Lord Maxwell was captured at the Battle of Solway Moss and along with other nobles was sent to the Tower of London, they were released the next day to billeted houses. After the death of the King James V the English King Henry VIII allowed then to return to Scotland on payment of a ransom and entering into a bond to aid the King to the scheme to marry Prince Edward to the young queen Mary Stuart. On the last day of October 1543 Maxwell and Somerville were captured by John Hamilton, the Abbot of Paisley, while proceeding with letters to Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassilis and William Cunningham, 4th Earl of Glencairn, Maxwell being sent to the castle of Edinburgh. On obtaining his liberty he joined Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox in Glasgow Castle, and was taken prisoner at its capture during the battle of Glasgow, 1 April 1544. He was released on 3 May 1544, on the approach of the English fleet to Leith roads, in case his friends or followers should ally with the English.

Having now raised the suspicions of Henry as to his fidelity, he was taken prisoner and sent to the Tower of London again. He then offered to serve under the Earl of Hertford, with a red cross on his armour as a symbol of his devotion to England, but in August 1545 he remained imprisoned at Pontefract Castle, in October 1545 he was allowed to return to Scotland, on delivering Caerlaverock Castle into English keeping. Early in November his castles were captured by Beaton, and he was conveyed a prisoner to Dumfries but having affirmed that he had made terms with Henry in fear of his life and on 12 January 1546 received a remission and was at the same time made chief justice of Annandale. On 3 June 1546 he was appointed warden of the west marches. He died on 9 July of the same year.

John Maxwell, the seventh Lord Maxwell was a devout Catholic throughout the Scottish Reformation and he was linked to a number of plots to restore Mary, Queen of Scots to the throne. After Mary was executed in 1587 and after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Lord Maxwell continued to correspond with Philip II of Spain trying to gain support for a Catholic revolution. However Maxwell was killed in 1593 in a feud with the Clan Johnstone of Lockerbie (Battle of Dryfe Sands). The feud continued and the next Lord Maxwell shot Sir James Johnstone. Maxwell's brother, Robert, succeeded to the Maxwell title and was created Earl of Nithsdale in 1620.

During the 17th century Lord Maxwell was also feuding with the powerful Clan Douglas over the Earldom of Morton, which he regarded as his inheritance. For this quarrel he was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle in 1607. After escaping, he shot Sir James in the back during a meeting held "under trust", and he fled to France. He was convicted of treason in his absence and sentenced to death. He returned to Scotland in 1612 and was arrested, he was beheaded at Edinburgh on 21 May 1613.

During the 18th century and Jacobite risings, the fifth Earl of Nithsdale was a staunch Jacobite and was captured at the Battle of Preston during the Jacobite rising of 1715. He was sentenced to death and imprisoned in the Tower of London. However with the assistance of his wife Winifred, he disguised himself as a serving woman and the couple fled to Rome where they remained in exile. This was the only entirely successful escape from the Tower. He died in exile at the Jacobean court in Rome in 1744. His only son was restored to the now heavily indebted estates, but not the dignities. When he died without male heirs in 1776, the chiefdom passed via the Maxwells of Breconside to a distant cousin, George Maxwell of Carruchan, whose line died out with his grandson William in 1863. Since then the Maxwells have remained a family without a chief.

Calderwood Castle , East Kilbride, Scotland. The castle was situated near the banks of the Rotten Calder Water in what is now Calderglen Country Park. Most likely constructed in the early to mid fifteenth century by the Maxwell family, the original peel tower collapsed in 1773. It was replaced by an extension to a large 18th-century country house called Calderwood House, which has itself since been demolished along with a later 1840s Gothic Revival addition.

Merkland Cross, Dumfries. The Master of Maxwell was murdered on this spot in 1484. Two outlawed Scots, Alexander, Duke of Albany, and James, Earl of Douglas, having mustered a mounted force of some 500 men, crossed the border riding for Lochmaben for the purpose of pillaging the countryside. A reinforcement of royal troops prevented a rout. The master of Maxwell had led his men into a fray and they were in the forefront when the English finally broke through near the Kirtle Water. John Maxwell had been wounded in the fighting. He dismounted, and leaning against his sword, watched the end of the battle. While he watched, a man approached and stabbed him in the back and he died before he could be helped.

Threave Castle, Castle Douglas, Dumfriesshire. Built in the 1370s by Archibald the Grim, it was a stronghold of the "Black Douglases", Earls of Douglas and Lords of Galloway, until their fall in 1455. For part of this time, the castle and the lordship of Galloway were controlled by Princess Margaret, daughter of King Robert III and widow of the 4th Earl. In 1449 Threave was regained by the 8th earl, Scotland's most powerful magnate, who controlled extensive lands and numerous castles. The excessive power of the Black Douglas lords led to their overthrow by King James II in 1455, after which Threave was besieged and captured by the King's men and it became a royal castle, and in the 16th century hereditary responsibility for Threave was given to the Lords Maxwell. It was briefly held by the English in the 1540s, but did not see serious action until the Bishops' Wars, when in 1640 a royalist garrison was besieged by a force of Covenanters. Partially dismantled, the castle remained largely unused until given into state care in 1913.

Monreith Tower, Whithorn, Wigtownshire. This was owned by the Maxwells. A memorial to the author Gavin Maxwell is situated overlooking Monreith Bay.

Myreton Castle, Port William, Wigtownshire. Acquired by the Maxwells of Monreith from the McCullochs in 1685. The last McCulloch to occupy Myrton Castle was Sir Godfrey McCulloch, who was convicted of murder and guillotined, before his execution he sold his barony to Sir William Maxwell of Monreith. The castle is now in ruins.

Pollok House, Glasgow. Built for Sir John Maxwell in 1752, it was designed by William Adam and finished by his sons, it was presented to the City of Glasgow by the Stirling-Maxwell Family in 1967. Pollok House, the seat of the Maxwell Baronets of Pollok, is now of international importance, as it houses the world-famous Burrell Collection in its grounds. The Burrell Collection is an art collection which was steadily acquired over many years by Sir William Burrell. Sir Burrell then gifted the collection to the City of Glasgow in 1944.

Newark Castle, Port Glasgow. Newark Castle, Port Glasgow. The castle was built in 1478 by George Maxwell when he inherited the Barony of Finlanstone (Finlaystone) in the parish of Kilmacolm. In the late 16th century the castle was inherited by Sir Patrick Maxwell, a powerful friend of king James VI of Scotland. In 1597 Sir Patrick expanded the building. In 1668 the Glasgow authorities purchased 18 acres (7 hectares) of land around Newark Castle from Sir George Maxwell who was then the laird, and developed the harbour into what they called "Port Glasgow". The last Maxwell died in 1694 and the castle has had a series of non-resident owners.

Haggs Castle, Govan, Renfrewshire. The carved stone above the door records that Haggs was built in 1585 by Sir John Maxwell of Pollok and his wife Margaret Conyngham (Cunningham). It was built to replace the Maxwell's former residence, the Laigh Castle, a 14th-century building which stood to the west. Although built as the Maxwell's main residence, it was later used as a jointure house or dower house, being occupied by the lord's widow. The Maxwells, a covenanting family, were fined for nonconformist activities, although the change of government resulting from the revolution of 1688 saved them from paying up. In 1753 Haggs in turn was replaced as a residence and abandoned when Pollok House was completed. It is now back in private hands.

An initial parley took place between the two sides, the constable Walter Benechafe looking to seek terms for the defending garrison, the current lord Maxwell was not currently in the castle at that time. Edward refused terms as he was in such a good position and the siege began. The castle was bombarded by Edward's giant siege machines (trebuchets), launching missiles into the castle and after a day and half of bombardment the castle surrendered. Whether the occupants were treated well depends on the source, the Caerlaverock poem states that Edward's respect had been won and he granted the garrison 'life and limb' and they all received a new robe. Other sources say that some were imprisoned in Northern England and many others simply hanged. In the end the castle proved no match for Edward's army and siege machines. There was a very detailed accounts made of the siege - you can see a copy of the Roll of Karlaverock at https://fourteenthcenturyfiend.com/2017/02/03/the-siege-of-caerlaverock-castle-a-heralds-eye-witness-account/ . There is also poem originally written in French, thought to be written by a Franciscan friar, you can see a copy of this at https://deremilitari.org/2013/03/walter-of-exeter-siege-of-carlaverock/ .

In 1312 the castle was subsequently restored to Sir Eustace Maxwell, Sir Herbert's son who initially supported the Scottish King John Balliol who was controlled by the English. In 1312 Lord Maxwell was receiving an allowance from Edward II of £20 to upkeep the castle and keeping it secure. Later he would transfer his adherence to Robert Bruce. When under English control the castle surrended to Edward de Brus (King Robert's brother) in 1312, the Bruce army was building support at the time and Edward II was busy dealing with his troublesome barons in England.

Another re-build occurred in 1370 and was over-looked by the second Lord of Maxwell, Robert, although lasting longer than the first castle this too was damaged in 1593 after the feud between the Maxwell's and the Johnstone's. These two families were the most powerful in the South-West of Scotland at the time and feud had been on-going for over a century before it eventually came to a head. The conflict resulted in the death of John Maxwell, 8th Lord, John Maxwell, 9th Lord and Sir James Johnstone, Chief of Clan Johnstone with the remains of Caerlaverock Castle left in the hands of the Johnstone family. Robert Maxwell, younger brother of the 9th Lord, eventually recovered it in 1617 and the castle was once again re-built in 1634.

It seems the biggest siege was saved until last, as in 1640 Caerlaverock Castle was destroyed for the final time in the longest battle seen on the grounds. Robert Maxwell, as well as his 200 men, were barricaded into the castle by the Covenanters for 13 weeks before Maxwell surrendered. The Covenanters were the people who had signed the National Covenant, the opposition of Stuart Kings involvement in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. After this final battle, the castle was left to Maxwell's son but it had been destroyed to such an extent that it could never be used for defence purposes again.

Caerlaverock Castle is extremely unique in terms of its architecture compared to other Scottish Castles, the building has a triangular shape and is almost completely surrounded by a moat. It defended the south western approach to Scotland for centeries. It was besieged, captured, recaptured, won and lost again and again in the endless border conflicts between the English and Scots.

The Tartan :

Borderers, as in the Maxwells (and the Kirks) would probably have been inclined towards weraring trews (trousers), but a kilt is not out of the question.

After the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, to help break the clan system that dominated in the highlands the British government passed the Act of Proscription which forbade the wearing of any chequered cloth (tartan) in Scotland. The tartan was woven and worn in the highlands but rarely worn by folk south of the highland line. The Act was repealed in 1782 although the highlanders did not go back to wearing tartan immediately due to the impoverished position of the highland population.

When King George IV visited Scotland in 1822, he announced that he would wear a tartan kilt at a party at Holyrood House and largely through the efforts of Sir Walter Scott the assembled guests each wore tartan kilts in various patterns.

During the proscription, a myth grew up that each highland family and clan had their own particular tartan pattern or ‘sett’. In reality most tartan before the proscription was what ever the weaver chose to make and had no particular design.

Then along cam the Sobieski Stuart brothers (real names - John and Charles Hay Allan). From a hunting lodge on Lord Lovat's estate they researched Highland history. They became the source of the ancient weaves to the 'lost' clan setts culminating in their publishing Vestiarium Scoticum in 1842. The book was claimed to be copy of a medieval manuscript discovered by the brothers which listed the setts of Scottish families. The book listed some seventy tartans, one of which was the tartan now commonly called Maxwell or sometimes Red Maxwell. The pattern of the tartan is determined by the thread count or sett. For Maxwell (Red) the sett is:- red 6, green 4, red 56, black 12, red 8, green 32, red 6, the sett then reverses.

Modern research shows that some fifty of the tartans in Vestiarium Scoticum were invented by the brothers and that the Maxwell tartan was one of their creations. This is clearly because the Maxwell family were a lowlander family with no connections to the highlands where tartan apparel was worn. Nonetheless at the time of publication of Vestiarium Scoticum, Scotland was hungry for all thing Scottish and the tartans were quickly adopted and worn by the named families.

The most common reason for a clan to have two different tartans was to have one as a dress tartan of bright colours and another as a hunting tartan of dull, earthy colours so as not to frighten the game whilst out hunting. The two variants of the Maxwell tartan both developed in the last thirty years were both designed to be a hunting sett. The first attempt was to switch the red and green, thus producing a green based tartan with a red over-stripe. However the effect is rather garish and the sett, now called Reversed Maxwell, is not popular.

In the early 1970's, Mervin (Scotty) Maxwell, founder and Chieftain of the Clan Maxwell Society of the United States of America had another go at a hunting sett. With the assistance of Kinloch Anderson, a firm of tartan merchants from Edinburgh, Scotty tried substituting olive green and mulberry for the red and green and produced a pleasing new sett, now called the Hunting Maxwell

** Most of the above data is taken & adapted from the sources below. Please visit to learn more on the Maxwell Family :-

clanmaxwellsociety.com/brief_history.php

www.scotsconnection.com/clan_crests/maxwell.htm

clanmaxwellsociety.com/forms/Clan_Maxwell_history.pdf

www.scotlandshop.com/tartan-finder/maxwell#

www.scotlandshop.com/tartanblog/happened-maxwells-caerlaverock-castle

www.clanmaxwellsociety.com/

www.scotland-inverness.co.uk/Chatelaine/CAERLAVEROCK.HTM

www.patricialovett.com/the-siege-of-caerlaverock/

www.maxwellsociety.com/History/Lordsmaxwell.htm

en.wikipedia.org/wiki

https://www.traquair.co.uk/bed-breakfast/

https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails?ref=2003

Books : Robert the Bruce and the Struggle for Scottish Independence : by Robert Maxwell

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