 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
The Rattray Coat of Arms The following is an attempt to explain the various components of the Rattray coat of arms. A Flaming Heart on a Star above a Crest-coronet “Crest - Issuant from a crest-coronet (as Chief of the Name and Arms of Rattray) a star or and thereon a flaming heart” [Bernard Burke, 1969, Burke’s Landed Gentry]. “As for the flaming heart, perhaps it was acquired in the Crusades. I think most likely Alanus went on one of the Crusades” [James Silvester Rattray in 9 Feb 1996 letter to Charles Bird]. The moon stones in the Rattray banner are also reputed to have been brought home from a Crusade. As Alanus lived from 1165-1210, he could not have taken part in the The First Crusade which occurred from 1096-1099 or the Second from 1147-1149, but he could have been in the Third which occurred from 1189-1192 and in which King Richard I the Lion-hearted, of England, took part. The heart in red represents life, or a living heart. From that heart proceeds a golden flame, meaning aspiration or desire, and under these is a bright silver or golden star (argent or orr).
“Above the shield and beneath the helm is set the cap of maintenance gu. doubled erm. of a Scottish Feudal Baron” [Bernard Burke 1969, Burke’s Landed Gentry].
The presence of three “golden cross-crosslets on a blue field on the shield indicates the Rattrays to have probably been either a branch of the ancient Celtic dynastic earls of Mar, whose territory is only separated from the Rattray country by Glenshee, or else closely related to them at the dawn of heraldry” [Iain Moncreiffe, 1967, The Highland Clans, Barrie & Rockliff, London]. “Az. three cross-crosslets fitchee or” [Bernard Burke 1969, Burke’s Landed Gentry]. “Sir Thomas Rattray de eodem married Christian of Aberbothrie about 1230. At this wedding the Earl of Mar, the Earl of Buchan and the Abbot of Arbroath were the witnesses. The service was taken by the Bishop. It was therefore an important wedding. We cannot say exactly what relation, if any, the Earl of Mar was to Sir Thomas, yet he presumably didn’t take the trouble to attend the wedding and act as a witness for no reason.” “I would guess that the Rattray arms were derivative of the Mar arms.” [James Silvester Rattray in 9 Feb 1996 letter to Charles Bird]. The Motto “Super sidera votum” is the Rattray motto or legend. It can be translated as “Our hopes are beyond the stars” or “My hope or desire is beyond the stars”. “There is a legend of how we got our motto. In 300 A.D. when Constantine the Great the Roman Emperor was visiting York and a Rattray the son of the ‘Noble Lady of York’ was his page. In the field of battle Constantine had a vision when he saw in the sky a fiery cross with the words ‘Ex Hoc Victoria Signo’ or ‘By this sign thou shall conquer’ (Victory by this sign). Constantine turned to his page who encouraged him with the words ‘Super Sidera Votum’ or ‘Our hopes are beyond the stars’. Constantine is said to have given his page this as his motto. Some branches of the family have taken ‘Ex Hoc Victoria Signo’ as their motto.” [Clan Rattray Society Journal 1, 1993, p. 5]. Two Serpents as Supporters A serpent appears of each side of the shield in earlier versions of the coat of arms. They represent the heraldic “beast” of the Rattrays. No other Scottish Clan uses a snake as a heraldic “beast”. Reference to the snake is found in the snake shaped mound upon which the original Rattray Castle stood. If you look carefully at pictures of the mound you can see that it resembles a snake with a very large head. This mound was almost certainly occupied from early Iron Age times. According to historical accounts, Rattray was associated with a form of Serpent worship during Pictish times. This most likely does not mean they literally worshipped serpents, but that rather the serpent was an important Pictish symbol. The Picts used a wide range of symbolic depictions of animals, some of which are clearly recognisable as animals they were likely to have been in regular contact with, and others were likely to have a mythical basis.
|