Stirlings of Keir

14 SIR WILLIAM DE STKIVEL1NG, 1270-1295.
has a shield of arms — on a chief three huckles, supported by two lions, as
appears from the annexed woodcut.
Jehan de Striveline, chevalier, bears the
same coat as already shown. Johannes /i^^^X^\^^^^\
de Strivelyn bears six mullets, three,
two, and one, as appears from the an-
nexed woodcut. The latter was Sir
John Striveline of Moray, chief of the family of Snive-
ling, which settled in Moray. Alexander de Striveling acquired lands there
before 1234, by marriage with a daughter of Freskin de Kerdale, a near rela-
tive of the great family of de Moravia, 1 and Sir John was probably the son of
that marriage. The mullets borne by him were the arms of the Moray family,
and either through the intermarriage of his father, or from his being a vassal
of that family,- he had assumed the mullets as arms of alliance or dependence.
The origin of the Buckles, which have for so long a period been the chief
Stirling arms, has not been ascertained. Buckles, clasps, and rings in
heraldry, ' represent power and authority in the bearers, as also an acknow-
' ledgment of a dependence of sovereign powers ; for such things were of
' old ordinary gifts of superiors, as badges of fidelity and firmness.' 2 Bunkle
of that ilk, an old family in Berwickshire, carried on a Bend three buckles.
Through intermarriage, the Darnley or Lennox Stewarts quartered these
Buckles with their own arms. It is possible, that one of the early Stirling's,
who settled in the border counties, may have intermarried with the Bunkles,
and thus acquired the Buckles in the same manner as the Stewarts. The
Buckles are the well-known badge of the Leslie family, and though the
Stirlings acquired Keir from them, it is certain that they did not then assume
the Buckles, for it can be shown that they carried them two centuries at least
before their acquisition of Keir.
It is worthy of notice, that the ancient family of Calder carried Buckles ; 3
and the present Earl of Cawdor, as representing them, quarters the Buckles
with his own Campbell coat. It is possible, that Cawder in Lanarkshire may
have belonged to a family of that name before it was granted by William the
Lion to the Bishop of Glasgow ; and that Alexander Striveling, on his acquir-
1 Cliartulary of Moray, No. 86. 2 Nisbet, i. 401. 3 Laing's Seals, p. 31, No. ISO.