Clan Gordon (continued...)

Always a warrior Clan within a very warlike nation, the Gordons were involved in most of Scotland's conflicts - and more than a few of their own! As a result of their vigorous involvements, many of the Chiefs died in battle or lost their heads on the execution block. Nor were the Gordon women to be taken lightly.

In 1550, the Chief of the Macintosh Clan, their main rival and enemy, visited Huntly Castle. When the Gordon Chief's wife berated him, he jokingly put his neck upon the kitchen chopping block, declaring that he was now at her mercy, whereupon she snatched up a cleaver and neatly beheaded him. Gordon military tradition continued with the formation in 1794 of the Gordon Highlanders regiment, which has served Britain with such distinction ever since. General Gordon, added to this tradition when he took part in the small British force that destroyed a large Chinese army and occupied Peking. He was later killed at Khartoum. Perhaps more outstanding was Patrick Gordon who left Scotland to become a mercenary, joined the Russian army in 1661 and rose to the rank of general, rear admiral, and chief military adviser to Tsar Peter 1.

Clan Gordon - MyClan.com

The Gordons are one of the great families of the north-east of Scotland, and their surname has many suggested meanings, although the family originally were almost certainly of Anglo–Norman descent.

The first certain record of the name places the family in the Borders during the reigns of Malcolm IV and William the Lion. Richard de Gordon appears in numerous charters, and probably died around 1200. Sir Adam de Gordon was one of the wardens of the marches in 1300, and in 1305 was appointed one of the commissioners to negotiate with Edward I seeking settlement to the competition for the crown of Scotland. He became a staunch supporter of Robert the Bruce, and was one of the ambassadors sent to Rome to petition the pope to remove the excommunication which had been placed on Bruce after his murder of John Comyn. For his services the king granted to Gordon the lands of Strathbogie, which had been confiscated from the Earl of Atholl for treason.

In 1436 Sir Alexander Gordon was created Lord Gordon, and his son was raised to the title of Earl of Huntly. The family became embroiled in the deadly battle for power between the king and the Douglases. Huntly was for the king, but when he moved his forces south, the Earl of Moray, kinsman and ally of the Douglases, devastated the Gordon lands and burned Huntly Castle. The Gordons were recalled and soon defeated their enemies. After the fall of the Douglases, the power of the Gordons grew unchallenged. Their control over their lands was almost regal, and the chiefs are to this day fondly referred to as ‘Cock o’ the North’. A grand new castle at Huntly rose from the ruins of the old, and it soon rivalled any of the great houses of the realm. In 1496 Huntly Castle hosted the marriage of the pretender, Perkin Warbeck, believed at the time to be one of the missing sons of Edward IV (the ‘princes in the tower’), to Lady Catherine Gordon.

Robert Gordon of Straloch - 1580

His family was closely associated with the branch of the Gordons who were titled the Earls of Huntly. He was educated at the University of Aberdeen and later went to Paris to study. After marrying Katherine Irvine in 1608, he purchased an estate in Straloch, Aberdeenshire, where he founded the family that was known as the "Gordons of Straloch." Later he also acquired an estate in nearby Pitlurg after the death of his older brother, John, who had no children. During most of his life he was involved in various affairs of state, and after his death in 1661 he was described as "one of the most worthy and learned Gentlemen of our Nation."

He is best known as an accomplished cartographer, whose works are even today displayed in the National Library of Scotland. Along with his son James, the parson of Rothiemay, he verified and revised the maps that went into the Scottish section of Blaeu’s atlas which was published in 1654, one of the first attempts at an accurate world atlas.