New Spalding Club > House of Gordon > Gordons under arms

GORDONS UNDER ARMS — CONTINENT. 42 I
Elder son of Armand Claude, 1678; i>. 1637; plenipotentiary to the
Duke of Savoy, making the Treaty by which the latter agreed to furnish 6000
men to France and to maintain the tranquillity of Italy ; created, for this
service, Count of Gordon and Governor of Guise; also created by James II.,
"Lord James Gordon, baron of Franker" (? Franqu&res, near Caen, or
Francieres, near Abbeville), " peer of Scotland" {ibid., 127, which states,
p. 42, that Sir John, 827, first cousin of Armand James's great-grandfather
was " knight of Deskford and Franker"). The patent, dated Dublin, 1690,
Apr. 15, and printed ibid. (p. 129), says: —
When Our affairs required him in Ireland to extinguish the flame of civil war, which
broke out into open rebellion, he suffered himself to be withdrawn from France, and the war
daily increasing, he expressed a great desire and readiness to discharge the employment of a
soldier. But when We understood that he had also a genius capable of managing political
affairs, We sent him into France, with full commi.ssion to treat of the most important concerns
in the administration of that kingdom ; he has approved himself with very great praise, and
has given signal instances of his ability in negotiations, as of military valour.
John Gordon, writing, 1756, Aug. 7, to Lord (Kenmure ?), says — " Gordon
of Frankair in Normandie is certainly from the family of Huntly ". He ;);.
(i) Mary Ann, dau. of Hugh Coussin of Senevile, Comptroller of the King of
France's household, by whom he had George, 1713; and (2) Angelica, dau. of
Sir John de Fontenoy, major gen. in the French service, "by his lady Bar-
bara, dau. of Maximilien of Frankestein, a sovereign prince of Germany," by
whom he had Andrew, 1674; he also had a natural son, John, 1766; d. 1720,
Dec, in his 83rd year; btir. in the choir of the church of St. Lewis, in the
Isle of Paris (C. A. Gordon's Concise History, 128).
1680- Arthur. " Believed to have served under Gustavus Adolphus.
A Swedish decoration is preserved in the family as an heirloom. It is a
small profile bust of that monarch in gold and enamel. There is only one
similar jewel in Scotland, in the possession of Mr. Hope Vera, of Blackwood,
and it is extremely rare even in Sweden" (Mrs. Gordon's jfoliii Gordon, of
Pitlurg and Parkhill, 1886 ed., p. xxi). As Arthur was born in 1625 and
Gustavus was killed in 1632, it is difficult to understand how he could have
served under that monarch ; but he may have been in the Swedish service.
Eighth son of Robert, of Straloch (1580-1661), the geographer; b. 1625,
Apr. 5, at Straloch; admitted advocate, Edinburgh, "under ye usurpers," and
readmitted, i66i,June 19; but settled in Aberdeen before 1668; in. Isobel,
dau. of Thomas Menzies, of Balgownie, and had Robert (1668-1731), founder
of Gordon's Hospital, now College, Aberdeen (Robert Anderson's History of
Robert Gordon s Hospital, 2) ; d. 1680, Mar. 31, at Aberdeen.
1681- Bertram. 1199, Apr. 6, shot Richard I. of England, who was