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Setons on the Net Clan Seton Discussion Area Clan Seton Contacts |
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Setons on the Net Clan Seton Discussion Area Clan Seton Contacts |
Of the Seton family The Great Historic Families Of Scotland says: 'The Setons are among the most illustrious of the great houses of Scotland, conspicuous throughout their whole history for their loyalty and firm attachment to the Stewart dynasty, in whose cause they perilled and lost their titles and extensive estates.' The family's founder, Seier de Seton (or de Lens), had been granted lands in East Lothian to which he gave his own name. His son, Walter de Seton (also called Dougall), married Janet de Quincy, hieress of that once powerful family, and gained the lands of Tranent bordering his own. He also acquired the lands of Wynchburgh, West Lothian. The family continued to marry into powerful alliances and later Sir Christopher Seton (Sir Chrystell) married Christian Bruce, sister of Robert the Bruce. After his legendary support of his brother-in-law he was captured by the English, taken to London, then executed at Dumfries. One of his brothers, Sir John Seton, shared the same fate. Alexander Seton, Sir Christophers son, survived the wars of independence to be a signatory of the Arbroath Declaration. He also was a recipient of King Robert's gratitude towards the family: the existing Seton lands were enlarged by means of adding those confiscated from anglo-supporters, and a large stretch of East Lothian coastline became Seton territory.
The family continued to play a distinguished and colourful part in the developing history of Scotland, marrying into other noble Scots-Flemish families and from time to time into the fringes of royalty. One interesting member of the main line was the fourth Lord Seton, who was one of James IV's Renaissance men par excellence. Towards the end of the fifteenth century he endowed a collegiate church in the small town that bears his name with support for a provost, six prebendaries, two choir boys and a clerk. He was an early scientist and is described as 'meikle given to leichery [medicine, not lustfulness], and as cunning in divers science as in music, theology, and astronomy'. In addition to his talent for learning he had a tremendous taste for extravagance, building houses as well as his church. As well, he spent vast sums of money on buying a great ship called the Eagle, for the sole purpose of conducting a personal vendetta against some Danish privateers who had plundered him on one of his many visits to France.
George, sixth Lord Seton, was twice married. His second wife, Marie Pyeris (pronounced Pee-yair-ee), was one of the ladies-in-waiting who had accompanied Mary of Guise from France on her marriage to King James V. The family of Guise, influential in France, was also a descendant of those once prominent Flemish-Boulognaise. His daughter by this second marriage was the famed Mary Seton, one of the four Mary's of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. He was succeeded by his son, George, who was to play a distinguished part in the Queen's affairs.
George, seventh Lord Seton, was one of the commisioners appointed to attend the young Mary Stuart's marriage to the Dauphin of France in 1557. He remained faithful to the old Catholic religion, but not without interest in the reformation; as a young man he had been following the progress of the new religion and even attended a sermon by John Willock, from the preachers deathbed. However his remaining within the Church of Rome kept him inside the close party of the Queen. In 1559 he held the office of Provost of Edinburgh, and after the Queen's return from France, he was appointed Grand Master of the Royal Household. It was at the home of the Seton family that Queen Mary spent some of the crucial moments of her short and troubled reign.
The seventh Lord was to the fore in most of the events during Mary Stuart's reign: in March 1566 she rode to Seton after the murder of her Italian secretary, David Riccio (Rizzio); the following year again she was at Seton after the murder of her 2nd husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (they having spent their honeymoon at Seton); and he was instrumental in arranging her escape from captivity at Lochleven Castle in 1568, where he waited on the shore and escorted the Queen to safety at his nearby castle of Niddry with two hundred mounted lances. Following the defeat of the Queen's forces at the battle of Langside, his titles and estates forfeit, he went into exile in Flanders. He returned sometime after her imprisonment (having come close to being imprisoned himself for trying to bring aid from Flanders) and was restored by James VI, spending the remainder of his days as ambassador to France.
The Seton family was again at the cause of the Stuarts, playing a part in the rescue of Queen Mary's son, the then young James VI, from captivity at the hands of the Douglas family. They were also instrumental in the negotiations for James VI's ascendency to the English throne. The Eighth Lord Seton was duly created First Earl of Winton by King James VI in 1600, and his brother Alexander rose to be Chancellor of Scotland and Earl of Dunfermline. The family also supported Kings Charles I and Charles II.
As fervent supporters of the Stuart dynasty, it is no surprise that they took to the Jacobite causes, and were attainted and forfeit of their lands and titles. It was to this end that they climaxed their extraordinary history.
The Seton family's chief residence was at the splendid Palace of Seton. It had stood on the lands named after the family since before the time David I. The lands of Seton took their name from the estates which were formally held in England; principally Seaton-Staithes, Yorkshire. The old Palace of Seton had endured much destruction and rebuilding over the centuries, being much destroyed because of its proximity on the main invasion route from England. It had however kept its original layout and French styling throughout its existence. The original plan was based around a triangular (actually a quadrangle) courtyard, described late in the seventeeth century as follows:
'The house consisted of two large fronts of freestone, and in the middle is a triangular court. The front to the south east hath a very noble apartment of a Hall, a Drawing Room, a handsome Parlour, Bedchamber, Dressing Room and closet. This apartment seems to have been built in the reign of Mary Queen of Scots; for on the ceiling of the Great Hall are plastered the Arms of Scotland, with the Arms of France on one hand…the front to the North seems to be a much older building than this. The apartments of the state are on the second story, and very spacious; three great rooms, at least forty feet high, which they say were finely furnished, ever since Mary Queen of Scots, on her return from France, kept her apartments there.'The renderings of the Old Palace were made in 1790 just prior to it's being demolished by the York Buildings Co. These are the only drawings of the Palace of Seton. Front of Palace; Back of Palace
The current Seton House, constructed 1790 by Alexander MacKenzie, has nothing in common with its predessesor, having not been constructed by a member of the family, nor designed by a relative (the property was forfeit after the 1715 rebellion, when the family lost all its lands and titles). The sole remaining fragments of the Palace being only the barrel-vaulted ground floor and pieces of the foundation.
There were many plendid Seton residences, among which were: Niddry Castle, Wynchburgh; Winton House, Pencaitland; Greenknowe Tower, East Lothian; Pinkie House, Mid-Lothian; Fyvie Castle, Aberdeen; Garleton Castle (now ruined), East Lothian; Barnes Castle (formerly ruined, now completely altered), East Lothian; Falside Castle (restored and altered), East Lothian; Mounie Castle, Aberdeen; and Pittmedden Castle and Gardens, Aberdeen.
Kenneth R. Seton, 1996.
(Excerps taken from 'Mary Stuart's Scotland', by David and Judy Steel, 1987.)
Thanks to Kenneth R. Seton for providing information and graphics for this area.
