Clan Lennox

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Scotland Project > Scottish Clans > Clan Lennox

Contents 1 Welcome to Clan Lennox 1.1 Team Goals 1.2 Team To Do List 1.3 Clan History 1.4 Clan Castles 1.5 Sources

Welcome to Clan Lennox

Clan LennoxTeam
Team Leader	TBA
Team Members	J Salsbery

Clan Chief: Edward J.H. Lennox of that Ilk and Woodhead, Chief of the Name and Arms of Lennox.

Crest: Two broadswords in saltire behind a swan's head and neck all Proper.

Motto: I'll defend

Slogan/War Cry:

Region:

Historic Seat: Lennox Castle

Arms: Argent, a saltire between four roses Gules

Plant Badge: A rose slipped Gules

Pipe music:

Gaelic name: Leven-ach means a smooth stream

Team Goals

The focus of this team's work is to identify, improve and maintain profiles associated with the Lairds and Chiefs of Clan Lennox together with members bearing the name Lennox, the related families and those recognised as septs of Clan Lennox.

Team To Do List

This list will be developed by the Team. If you are working on a specific task, please list it here:

• promoting the entries of those bearing the name Lennox on Wikitree.
• ensuring entries appearing on Wikitree are as accurate as possible, correcting mistakes once spotted.
• encouraging interest in and study of Clan Lennox.

Clan History

Clan Lennox is a Lowland Scottish clan. Clan Lennox has its origins in the ancient Earls of Lennox who controlled Dunbartonshire and parts of Renfrewshire, Stirlingshire and Perthshire in Scotland beginning in the 12th Century. For centuries, the earls were involved in politics – and intrigue – and were often in the middle of struggles for power and wealth.

The origins of the earldom, that had been established by the twelfth century, are disputed. One theory is that a Saxon baron named Arkyll received from Malcolm III of Scotland lands in Dumbartonshire and Stirlingshire. Also that Arkyll married a Scottish heiress and had a son who was Ailín I, Earl of Lennox. Other historians have said that the earldom of Lennox was conferred to David, Earl of Huntington from his older brother, William the Lion and that the Lennox family was not established until after the reign of William.

By the end of the thirteenth century, the Earls of Lennox were among the most powerful nobles in Scotland. Malcolm, 5th Earl of Lennox supported Robert the Bruce's claim to the Scottish Crown. The Celtic earls of Lennox commanded the Vale of Leven between the 12th and 15th centuries.

Perhaps the most significant historical family relationship was that Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox, was the grandfather of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. (James’s father, Henry Stewart, titled Lord Darnley, and husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, was in line to inherit the earldom, but was murdered in Edinburgh in 1567.) King James was the first of the line of Stewart kings reigning over a united monarchy of England and Scotland (and Ireland) for much of the 17th Century.

Clan Castles

Castles that have belonged to the Clan Lennox have included amongst others:

# Antermony Castle, near Milton of Campsie, is the site of a castle that was originally held by the Flemmings but later passed to the Lennox family.

# Balcorrach Castle, near Milngavie, Dunbartonshire is the site of a castle that was held by a branch of the Lennox family who descended from Donald, son of Duncan, 8th Earl of Lennox.

# Balloch Castle, in Dumbartonshire, was held by the original Earls of Lennox until 1425 when it passed to the Stewarts of Darnley who were made Earls of Lennox.

# Woodhead Castle, near Milngavie, Dunbartonshire, was held by the Lennox of Balcorrach branch of the clan in 1572. Woodhead Castle was left a ruin when nearby Lennox Castle was built in 1840. The latter was sold to the city of Glasgow in 1927 and the family moved to England.

Sources

• Clan Lennox
• Wikipedia, Clan Lennox
• Electric Scotland, Lennox
• Scottish Clans, Lennox