Swan the Viking Ruyhven

The Scottish Clan Ruthven
Below Clan Tartan & Coat of Arms

The first record of the Swan family was in 1100, when Swein (Sven) Ulfkillson, was a witness in King Edgar's charter granting Swintun to the monks of St. Cuthbert. Swein was a notorious Viking who preyed off the Scottish Coastline for a number of years; his brother is said to be Gunni who started the Gunn Clan in Caithness. When Swein finally retired to the lands near Perth he ruled the general area until his son Thor became Laird. Thor held the lands of Traukernaut, the church of which was granted to the monks of Holyrood. Swan, son of Thor, held lands in Perthshire, and between 1211 and 1214, granted to the monks of Scone the lands of Ahednepobbel, and also a toft in Tubermore. Swan also held the lands of Crawford in Clydesdale with William de Lindsay as his vassal. Swan was the ancestor of Ruthven, a Scottish Clan, the name coming about as a territorial designation, the Swans of Ruthven. Burke's Peerage reminds us that the Ruthvens were a violent family.

Sir William Ruthven was made 1st Lord Ruthven in 1488. His grandson, who married the heiress of the Haliburtons of Dirleton in East Lothian, was chosen Provost of Perth by Royal Command in 1528. Patrick Ruthven was one of the lords involved with the murder of David Rizzio, secretary to Mary Queen of Scots. David's son was rewarded for services to King James VI by being created the 1st Earl of Gowrie. In the Ruthven Raid he kidnapped the young King and held him prisoner for ten months. The King, escaped and the Earl of Gowrie was executed in 1584. The 2nd Earl of Cowrie inherited at the age of eleven. He was killed in Perth with his brother for supposedly attempting to kill the King in the Gowrie Conspiracy, but the information surrounding this event is highly suspect. The name of Ruthven was outlawed for forty years until the King of Sweden intervened to allow a Ruthven of Ballindean to use the name in 1639. The Act of Proscription was reversed in 1641. Sir Thomas Ruthven was created Baron Ruthven of Freeland in 1651.

The Ruthven Raid 1582. In 1581, Esme Stewart was created Earl of Lennox. He was in support of Queen Mary and acknowledged Catholic concerns at a time when the Reformation was well established in Scotland. The Presbyterians believed Lennox to be an agent for the Counter-Reformation and a Catholic spy. Although both the King and Lennox had declared themselves for the Reformation, rulings made and appointments given by James, particularly those overturning General Assembly proceedings, had the Presbyterians convinced he was being influenced by Lennox. William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, was the head of Scotland's militant Presbyterians. Such was their fear of Lennox being near the King that they staged a coup. While the King was hunting in Atholl in August 1582, he was abducted by Gowrie and imprisoned in his House of Ruthven until, the next morning, he signed a document proclaiming himself to be quite free and that Lennox was to he banished from Scotland. Gowrie led a new government which gave the Presbyterians ruling powers, all the while keeping James their captive. Lennox, who had moved back to France, died in 1583. Then in June that year the young King escaped from his imprisonment. Cowrie was charged with treason and had his head cut off.