Old family; or, The Setons of Scotland and America

20 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.
some years the peaceful invasion of Anglo-Normans under his.
brother and successor, David I. Then they came to the
number of at least a thousand, to whom the king distributed
lands which they settled with their followers. The particular
cause of de Say's establishing himself in Scotland thus early
was a dispute between a baron and his suzerain, something
quite common in that turbulent age. Robert Fitz-Picot was
Baron of Brunne, in Cambridgeshire, in ic86, where "the
moat of his castle and a few other traces of the building yet
remain." His oldest son, Robert Fitz-Picot, the viscount,
forfeited the barony for rebellion against King Henry I., who
granted it to Pain Peverell, said to be the husband of Robert's
sister. " A younger brother of Robert, Saher de Say, took
refuge in Scotland and obtained grants from Alexander I.,
named after him Say-ton. From him descended the Lords
Sey-ton or Seton, Earls of Winton," etc. (Cleveland, Battle
Abbey Roll.) The same account is given in Chalmers's Cale-
donia ; and the Irish genealogist and writer, Sir Bernard Burke,
says : ' ' The first of the great house of Seton established in
North Britain was Secher de Say, who had a grant of lands in
East Lothian, which being called ' Saytun ' (the dwelling of
Say), gave rise to a name and family which became pre-emi-
nently distinguished in the annals of Scotland." In Fran-
cisque Michel's Ecossais en France et Franc.ais en Ecosse, " the
Setons who derive from the Norman family of Say ' ' are men-
tioned among the most important Scotch families of Anglo-
Norman origin. Saher de Say would probably travel north with
the usual retinue of a knight at that period, which consisted of
one or two men-at-arms, clad in mail like their leader, and
mounted, and several archers on toot. The Scottish Court
had favored men of Norman race ever since the reign of
Malcolm III., or Canmore, when their influence first began to
spread through Scotland the feudal usages and civilization of
the Continent. The knight or baron, having got his grant