Clan Haig
Encyclopedia
Origins
The name 'HaigHaig
-Places:* Haig Avenue, football stadium in Southport, England* Haig, British Columbia, settlement in British Columbia, Canada* Haig Point Club, private community on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina...
' comes from the Norman
Norman language
Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
name 'de Haga'. There were theories that the Haigs were of Pictish descent but this has been discounted. A charter signed in 1162 to Dryburgh Abbey
Dryburgh Abbey
Dryburgh Abbey, near Dryburgh on the banks of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, was nominally founded on 10 November 1150 in an agreement between Hugh de Morville, Lord of Lauderdale and Constable of Scotland, and the Premonstratensian canons regular from Alnwick Abbey in Northumberland...
bears the name 'Petrus de Haga, proprietor of the lands and barony of Bemersyde'. He was later charged by Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II was King of Scots from1214 to his death.-Early life:...
with the murder of the Earl of Atholl
Earl of Atholl
The Mormaer of Earl of Atholl refers to a medieval comital lordship straddling the highland province of Atholl , now in northern Perthshire. Atholl is a special Mormaerdom, because a King of Atholl is reported from the Pictish period. The only other two Pictish kingdoms to be known from...
at Haddington
Haddington, East Lothian
The Royal Burgh of Haddington is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the main administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian, which was known officially as Haddingtonshire before 1921. It lies about east of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is Anglo-Saxon, dating from the 6th...
in 1192. The Barons of Bemersyde rapidly gained a position of some influence in the area and its not surprising to see their signature among the other Scottish nobles on the Ragman Rolls
Ragman Rolls
Ragman Rolls refers to the collection of instruments by which the nobility and gentry of Scotland subscribed allegiance to King Edward I of England, during the time between the Conference of Norham in May 1291 and the final award in favor of Baliol in November 1292; and again in 1296...
in 1296. Like so many others who signed this document swearing fealty to Edward I of England
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
they were soon to join the cause of Scottish Independence
Scottish independence
Scottish independence is a political ambition of political parties, advocacy groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and become an independent sovereign state, separate from England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
.
Wars of Scottish Independence
In the late 13th century and early 14th century during the Wars of Scottish IndependenceWars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the independent Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries....
the Clan Haig fought alongside William Wallace
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....
against the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge
Battle of Stirling Bridge
The Battle of Stirling Bridge was a battle of the First War of Scottish Independence. On 11 September 1297, the forces of Andrew Moray and William Wallace defeated the combined English forces of John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and Hugh de Cressingham near Stirling, on the River Forth.-The main...
in 1296. The sixth Laird continued this loyalty to the Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
cause by fighting alongside Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn
Battle of Bannockburn
The Battle of Bannockburn was a significant Scottish victory in the Wars of Scottish Independence...
at the age of only seventeen. He continued to support Scottish independence
Scottish independence
Scottish independence is a political ambition of political parties, advocacy groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and become an independent sovereign state, separate from England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
, falling at the Battle of Halidon Hill
Battle of Halidon Hill
The Battle of Halidon Hill was fought during the Second War of Scottish Independence. Scottish forces under Sir Archibald Douglas were heavily defeated on unfavourable terrain while trying to relieve Berwick-upon-Tweed.-The Disinherited:...
in 1333.
15th century & clan conflicts
Chief Gilbert Haig opposed the powerful Clan DouglasClan Douglas
Clan Douglas is an ancient Scottish kindred from the Scottish Lowlands taking its name from Douglas, South Lanarkshire, and thence spreading through the Scottish Borderland, Angus, Lothian and beyond. The clan does not currently have a chief, therefore it is considered an armigerous clan.The...
. Gilbert's son James supported King James III of Scotland
James III of Scotland
James III was King of Scots from 1460 to 1488. James was an unpopular and ineffective monarch owing to an unwillingness to administer justice fairly, a policy of pursuing alliance with the Kingdom of England, and a disastrous relationship with nearly all his extended family.His reputation as the...
. After the King was murdered in 1488 he fled into hiding before making peace with King James IV of Scotland
James IV of Scotland
James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...
.
16th century & Anglo-Scottish Wars
During the Anglo-Scottish WarsAnglo-Scottish Wars
The Anglo-Scottish Wars were a series of wars fought between England and Scotland during the sixteenth century.After the Wars of Scottish Independence, England and Scotland had fought several times during the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In most cases, one country had attempted to...
, chief William Haig led the Clan Haig at the Battle of Flodden Field
Battle of Flodden Field
The Battle of Flodden or Flodden Field or occasionally Battle of Branxton was fought in the county of Northumberland in northern England on 9 September 1513, between an invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by the Earl of Surrey...
, where he was killed in 1513.
His son, the 14th Laird of Bemerside was able to effect some revenge for his father's death when he captured Lord Evers, an English commander at the Battle of Ancrum Moor
Battle of Ancrum Moor
The Battle of Ancrum Moor was fought during the War of the Rough Wooing in 1545. The Scottish victory put a temporary end to English depredations in the Scottish border and lowlands.-Background :...
in 1544. Evers later died at Bemerside and was buried at Melrose Abbey
Melrose Abbey
Melrose Abbey is a Gothic-style abbey in Melrose, Scotland. It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks, on the request of King David I of Scotland. It was headed by the Abbot or Commendator of Melrose. Today the abbey is maintained by Historic Scotland...
.
17th century
Chief William Haig, the 19th Laird was the King's Solicitor for Scotland during the reigns of James VI and Charles I of EnglandCharles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. The twenty-first Laird, Anthony Haig was persecuted for his membership of the Society of Friends and suffered a long period of imprisonment.
Four sons of the chief were killed while fighting in the service of the King of Bohemia between 1629 and 1630.
19th century
In the nineteenth century the line of succession looked to be in danger when the succession fell to three unmarried daughters. However they signed a deed before their death that transferred the succession to a cousin; Colonel Arthur Balfour Haig, a descendant of the seventeenth Laird. Their cousin became the twenty eighth laird.Tower of Bemersyde
The ancestral seat of the Haigs, Bemersyde HouseBemersyde House
Bemersyde House is a historic house in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, formerly in Berwickshire.The nearest towns are Newtown St. Boswells, Melrose, and Dryburgh. The William Wallace Statue, Bemersyde is on the Bemersyde Estate...
was originally built in 1535 when its principal purpose was defense. It was improved in 1690 when large windows and fireplaces were introduced. The house was extended in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1960 further alterations were carried out by George Haig, 2nd Earl Haig
George Haig, 2nd Earl Haig
George Alexander Eugene Douglas Haig, 2nd Earl Haig OBE KStJ RSA DL succeeded to the Earldom of Haig on 29 January 1928, at the age of nine, upon the death of his father, Field Marshal the 1st Earl Haig. Until then he was styled Viscount Dawick...
to improve the overall design and proportions of the house.
The lands of Bemersyde have stayed in the possession of the Haig
Haig
-Places:* Haig Avenue, football stadium in Southport, England* Haig, British Columbia, settlement in British Columbia, Canada* Haig Point Club, private community on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina...
family for eight hundred years, a fact predicted in the thirteenth century by Thomas the Rhymer, who said 'Tyde what may, what’er betyde, Haig shall be Haig of Bemersyde’.
Clan chief
The current chief of Clan Haig is Alexander Haig, 3rd Earl HaigEarl Haig
Earl Haig is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. During the World War I, he was Commander of the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium...
(b. 1961), grandson of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig
Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, KT, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCIE, ADC, was a British senior officer during World War I. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force from 1915 to the end of the War...
of First World War fame.