| Clan Blair | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Blar (meaning field or plain) | |||
 Crest: For Blair of Blair: a stag lodged, proper For Blair of Balthayock: a dove, wings apart | |||
| Motto | Amo Probos (Love the virtuous) Virtute tutus (Protected by virtue) | ||
| Profile | |||
| District | Ayrshire andBlairgowrie | ||
| Animal | Stag and dove | ||
 | |||
| Clan Blair no longer has a chief, and is anarmigerous clan | |||
| Seat | Ayrshire andBlairgowrie | ||
| |||
Clan Blair is a LowlandScottish clan.
Blair as a place name is found in over two hundred localities throughout Scotland. Blair as a surname in Scotland is first recorded in the early 1200s with two main families – Blair of Blair (also known as Blair of that Ilk) from Ayrshire, and Blair of Balthayock fromPerthshire, with no known evidence of a common ancestor.[1]
The records of the monastery ofKilwinning apparently show that the Barony of Blair was conferred upon a Norman, Jean Francois, byKing William I of Scots (1165–1214). It is generally accepted that John Francis de Blair’s grandson, William de Blair, married one of the daughters ofKing John of England.
Alexander de Blare was mentioned as witnessing an agreement between the burgh of Irvine and Brice de Eglunstone in 1205. Alexander was probably of the Barony of Blair in Ayrshire, granted by King William "the Lion".[2]
William de Blare was knighted byKing Alexander II and was made Steward ofFife in 1235.[3]
Sir Bryce de Blare was knighted byKing Alexander III. He eventually supportedWilliam Wallace and was executed by the English at theBarns of Ayr Massacre in 1296. His nephew, Roger de Blare, was knighted byRobert the Bruce after theBattle of Bannockburn in 1314.[4]
This Blair family can trace its ancestry back to Stephen de Blair, who held lands in the Parish of Blair in Gowrie, now named Blairgowrie. He also witnessed a charter on the lands of Balgillo, Angus, by Dovenald the Abbot of Brechin to the monastery atArbroath between 1204 and 1211.[5]
These Blairs have several cadet branches:
These two families long contested to be recognised for chieftanship of the entire Blair clan untilKing James VI affirmed in 1658 that "The eldest male of either of the two Families would have precedency over the younger to the Chieftainship". The significance of this suggests that members of these two family groups had frequent interchange with each other and recognized some form of kinship, whether secular or by blood ties.[7]
The following properties are associated with both Blair families:[8]
