Article
Ruthven
Motto: Deid schaw
The name Ruthven derives from the old barony of the name in Angus. Swan, son of Thor, held land in Perthshire, and between 1211 and 1214 he granted to the monks of Scone the lands of Abednepobbel by the same limits as Robert the chaplain held them, and also a toft in Tubermore. This Swan, who appears to have been the first to assume the territorial designation of de Ruthven, also held the land of Crawford in Clydesdale, with William de Lindsay as his vassal.
Sir Walter Ruthven swore fealty to Edward I of England in 1291 and 1296. However in 1292 he had led thirty men to help William Wallace at the siege of Perth. Ruthven was also with Christopher Seaton when Jedburgh was reclaimed from the English.
In 1313 Perth was recaptured and Robert the Bruce appointed Sir William Ruthven to be sheriff of the royal burgh, which was then called St Johnston.
In 1556 Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven and his son, William, were among the co-conspirators of Lord Darnley when Mary, Queen of Scot's favorite David Rizzio was killed in her presence at Holyrood Palace. Both Ruthvens fled to England when abandoned by Darnley. William returned and succeeded to the family title having received a royal pardon.
After the failure of the treasonable Ruthven or Gowrie Conspiracy of 1600 the name was decreed out of existence. However, by 1614, an Act was passed rescinding this.
In 1651, Sir Thomas Ruthven, who descended from the second Lord Ruthven partly restored the family's reputation when he was raised in the peerage as Lord Ruthven of Freeland.
Choose from one of the Ruthven tartans listed below:
