Clan Campbell Enewsletter August 2012

Clan Campbell eNewsletter August 2012

THIS CASTLE HATH A PLEASANT SEAT” Led by our guide, David McNicoll, and our personal piper supplied by the Dowager Countess Cawdor, a raingear-toting, bedraggled gaggle of Campbells walked under the stately trees up the avenue to Cawdor Castle, a 14th century Campbell stronghold in Nairnshire in the northeast of Scotland. The weather was cool during our trip, and although it often rained, we saw everything. And whenever the sun came out, it was glorious. Good kilt weather!

The Scottish title of the Earl Cawdor of Castlemartin in the Co. of Pembroke (Wales) is “thane,” an ancient equivalent of feudal baron. (The word derives from thegn, which is a Norse title meaning a trusted servant of the king. In ancient Scotland there were 63 thanedoms.) In old Scotland a thane was often the head of a clan as well as a district administrator with power of life and death, and answerable only to God and the King. Colin Vaughan Campbell, the present 7th Earl Cawdor is the 25th Thane of Cawdor. Lord Cawdor is an architect by profession and manages the Cawdor Estates; his stepmother the Dowager Countess happened to be on hand at the time of our visit and several members of the Campbell group had a chance to meet her. She is normally in residence at Cawdor from October to May when the castle is closed to visitors. A best-selling but largely unflattering book A CHARMED LIFE: GROWING UP IN MACBETH’S CASTLE by Liza Campbell (Lady Elizabeth Campbell, older sister of the earl) tells the story of the Cawdor family in recent years.

The original castle was a rectangular tower entered by a high door with a turnpike stairs, but later an outer bailey was added complete with drawbridge and portcullis (as seen below). The site of the castle combines firm soil on high ground with a permanent source of water, as an aquifer passes below the castle and continually replenishes the well. In legend the castle was erected, according to the advice given in a dream, at the place where a donkey laden with all the wealth of the thane should sit down. This was under a legendary hawthorn tree (actually a holly tree), the trunk of which (dated to 1372 by its rings) is preserved in the basement of the castle keep. The name Cawdor/Calder/Kauder means “woodland stream”—and the burn of Cawdor flows amidst the bracken at the back of the Wild Garden.

Muriel Cawdor or Calder (d. 1575), posthumous daughter of the 8th Thane, was given in wardship to the 2nd Earl of Argyll, who then had her kidnapped at age 12 and married in 1510 to his third son Sir John Campbell. Thus the 9th Thaness of Cawdor is the ancestress of the Campbells of Cawdor. John Campbell, 18th Thane of Cawdor (d. 1821) was made 1st Baron of Cawdor and his son John Frederick, the 19th Thane (d. 1860) was created Earl. The Cawdor Campbells also maintained lands in Argyll, including the island of Islay, which they sold to a family member in 1726, using the money to improve their Welsh properties.

At the rise of Jacobitism in the 17th cent., the Cawdors (who were tainted with support for the exiled Stuarts) left the Highlands and lived in peace in their properties in Wales acquired by marriage. For many years the Cawdors lived on their fertile, productive Welsh estates, while for more than 100 years elderly relatives and factors managed remote Cawdor Castle and its lands for them. One of the benefits of the absence of the thanes was the total preservation of the castle, which had developed over a 600-period largely as a fortress and was not subjected to neo-Gothic fluff. Another was the perfection of three wonderful, meticulously-tended gardens which we experienced in gorgeous sunshine! The Dowager Countess Cawdor is an enthusiastic collector of contemporary art and her collection has melded with the traditional family portraits and landscape/seascapes to create a non-museum interior at Cawdor. In the next JOURNAL Ed Cattell describes the amazing fountain the Dowager Countess has created in her Flower Garden, using old slates from the roof. (Two different castle scenes at left)

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CHANGING OF THE GUARD Former Trustee Jack Campbell reports that longtime Pennsylvania Commissioner Ed Moore died June 13. We are grateful for his years of service. A successor has not yet been named, and we hope someone will now step up. Ed has tried very hard to recruit. Without a new PA Commissioner there may not be a presence at Ligonier. A CCSNA member in western PA is urgently needed!

Region 12 Commissioner Debra Kohl has decided to resign by the end of the year. A successor is being sought. Her family members Dean and Donna Cart and Michael and Jake Campbell have also decided that they should step down as well. They have all been very active in staffing the many events in Florida, especially the Ormond and Ocala Games, and we thank them for their work and perseverance.

In the meantime, we have two new Deputy Commissioners for Region 7, a new State Commissioner for North Carolina, and a potential new New Jersey Commissioner. If there are any changes to be made in your regions, states, area, please let Randy Seale know. The JOURNAL directory is updated just before each new deadline. Next deadline will be November 1, 2012. Keep those games reports coming! [email protected]

Annual General Meeting August 22-26, Missoula, MT By now everyone knows that the next meeting of the CCS(NA) Executive Committee, the CCEF Board of Directors, and the Commissioners will occur at the AGM in Missoula. The September 2012 eNewsletter will have a full report on the business discussed and actions taken. Trustee Eric Campbell is our host.

Will there be a CCEF trip to Scotland in the “Year of Bannockburn”—the 700 anniversary of the battle in 1314 in which Robert the Bruce “King of Scots” (that is, of the Scottish people) defeated the forces of King Edward II of England at Bannockburn? If you are interested, let me know. [email protected] The Bannockburn visitor’s center is currently undergoing as major transformation in preparation for the Gathering.

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The Fifth Earl of Argyll held the title “Master of the Royal Household” which is still held by His Grace the 13th Duke of Argyll. During Royal Week in Edinburgh each July and on other ceremonial occasions, the duke must be in attendance on Her Majesty. This mannequin of the earl comes from the display of the “Honours of Scotland” (The Crown Jewels) and the “Stone of Destiny” in the Jewel House in Edinburgh Castle. When the duke is not using his staff of office, the silver lion headed baton of the Master of the Royal Household is on display in the staircase cabinet, along with coronets and coronation robes, at Inveraray Castle.

How to Address the Duke of Argyll and other Peers of the Realm

The question of etiquette in speaking to members of the British nobility can be addressed in the context of our own chief’s family and those of the other Campbell peers. The 13th Duke of Argyll belongs to the highest rank of the British peerage which consists of five grades: dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons. (In Scotland some holders of the rank of marquess are spelled marquis but are still pronounced MAR kwess and not mar KEY.) Our chief holds 29 titles in all, but the one he most appreciates is “MacCailein Mor” (Son of Big Colin)’ his address as chief of Clan Campbell. As the political role of the hereditary peerage has declined, the duke more appreciates his position as head of a worldwide family.

The basic title in Britain after the Norman conquest in 1066 was “earl.” William the Conqueror wanted to conform that Anglo-Saxon-derived title to the continental title “count” but English tradition partially prevailed. (That is why an earl’s wife is a “countess” and the district of an earl is a “county.”) Barons, viscounts, earls, and marquesses are addressed by the title “My lord” or “Your lordship” in speaking. Only dukes and their wives and mothers (duchesses) have the privilege of being addressed “Your Grace.” In all cases, the title of address should be used only at the beginning of a conversation. The duke of Argyll may afterwards be called “sir,” “duke,” or “Argyll.” In writing, a marquess or marquis is addressed as (e.g.) “The Most Honorable, the Marquis of Lorne,” while earls, viscounts and barons are (e.g.) “The Right Honorable the Earl Cawdor.” In Great Britain titles are only titles of honor not land, so a British duke has a dukedom not a territorial duchy and an earl receives an earldom, not a territorial county.

The eldest son of a peer is able to use as a courtesy title the second title of his father. As the 13th Duke of Argyll’s second title is “Marquis of Lorne” this is the courtesy title used by his eldest son, Archie (seen at left with his brother Rory). (The eldest son of the Marquis of Lorne would be called “The Earl of Campbell,” which is the family’s senior earldom. While using these titles, the son and grandson of the duke remain officially commoners.) The younger brother of the Marquis of Lorne is Lord Rory Campbell. Their sister is Lady Charlotte Mary Campbell (seen below with her father). These younger siblings are officially called “Lord Rory” and “Lady Charlotte.” NOTE: Eldest sons of marquesses and earls also use their father’s second title, e.g . in Earl Cawdor’s case, we have the courtesy title for his eldest son James, Viscount Emlyn. The Earl of Loudoun’s is Lord Mauchline. But,(and here it is tricky) while the second or other sons of a marquess would be Lord X + family name, the second or other sons of an earl, viscount or baron are merely “The Honorable.” The daughter of a marquess or earl is called Lady X + family name. Daughters of viscounts and barons are merely “The Honorable.” Thus for Downton Abbey fans we have Lady Mary Crowley, the daughter of the Earl of Grantham. (Note Lady Mary not Lady Crowley. And her sisters Lady Edith and Lady Sibyl.) For Brideshead Revisited fans we have the Marquess of Marchmain (family name Flyte), his eldest son the Earl of Brideshead, his second son Lord Sebastian Flyte, and his daughters Lady Julia Flyte and Lady Cordelia Flyte. If a peer’s daughter marries a commoner, she keeps the title “Lady X” even when she takes her husband’s surname. Thus, in Downton Abbey, when Lady Sibyl married the chauffeur Tom Branson she became Lady Sibyl Branson.

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