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Hardie
The Hardie family
is accounted for in the Surname lists of 3 major Scottish Clans
Farquharson, MacDuff,
MacKintosh and it is also referenced on the Clan
Chattan site. This interconnection is not suprising, when you
consider the origins of these clans
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According
to an old Genealogical Manuscript, the MacDuffs were Mormaers
of Moray during the era of the Pictish Kings, and were also
prominent in Fife and Fothriff. The first official Record of
the Thanes of Fife was in the year 838 A.D. about the time that
Kenneth MacAlpine had united the two warring nations under one
rule in the name of Scotland. He appointed Fifus Duffus, or
Duff of Fifeshire Governor of Fifeshire. The McDuffs were still
Thanes of Fife when MacBeth slew King Duncan in 1039. They were
driven into exile joining Malcolm, the young son of King Duncan,
in England. The Thane returned to slay MacBeth. The MacDuff
Clan spawned both the MacKintosh and the Shaw Clan. |
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The
MacKintosh Clan was formed by Shaw Macduff, son of the Earl
of Fife, when he was appointed Keeper of the Royal Castle of
Inverness around 1163. The MacKintosh chiefs have been leaders
of Clan Chattan since 1291. |
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The
Clan Farquharson to traces it origins back to Shaw Macduff.
It was formed by Farquhar Shaw, fourth son of Alexander "Ciar"
Mackintosh of Rothiemurchus, 5th Chief of Clan Shaw, who came
to be called Farquharson. A grant of arms made by Lord Lyon
in 1697. In the 1700s the daughter of the head of the Farquharson
clan married the head of the MacKintosh clan. |
Surname
Meanings
There
are a number of different ideas as to the origins of the name Hardie.
The two main schools of thought on the origin of the name, one schools
puts it as being a stand alone name of Teutonic Origin - with two
potential sources. The other suggests more celtic derivations. The
three options are outlined below:
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One
comes from the French nickname for a brave or foolhardy man
- “hardi” meaning brave or bold, given to Scottish mercenaries
fighting for the French. These Norman Hardies came to Scotland
following the Norman Invasion in 1066. The Norman Hardies spelled
their name "Hardi”; settlers in England adopted the Anglicized
"Hardy" while those in Scotland adopted the Celtic "Hardie".
There are instances of the use of this surname, (spelt with
a y) as early as 1296. |
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The
other suggests that the Hardies were Norse who came directly
to England as part of the continual Viking raids. This latter
theory is supported by The Chronicles of Clan Hardi, a book
by Kenneth Ray Hardy of Virginia Beach, Virginia. This identifies
the name as originating in the second century A.D. when the
Hord tribe and one of its clans, Hard, moved under pressure
from the Roman invaders from the valley of the Weser river to
the Hardanger Fjord on the west coast of Norway. In the ninth
and tenth centuries these Viking tribes raided the Saxon tribes
of Britain, giving them a new word for a band of unruly armed
men, a “hord.” They were also among the Norse who raided, and
then occupied, the Norman coast of France. The earliest written
record of the clan Hard occurs in a saga from the ninth century,
and the clan was well entrenched in East Anglia by the tenth
century. The Old Norse letter “d” is a unique feature of the
clan name, and in transliteration to English has created some
confusing variations on the names of descendants of the clan.
Evidently members of the clan spread widely throughout Europe,
a factor that explains Hardies in Burgundy and Normandy. The
French word “hardi” may have come from this clan, rather than
the reverse. Canute the Great, king of England in the early
eleventh century, is even identified as a member of the Clan.This
is one William Hardy a land owner in Lanarkshire who is recorded
on the Ragman Rolls of Edward I of England after his invasion
of Scotland in 1296. |
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The
celtic explanation is that MacHardie - common in Aberdeenshire
- was shortened to Hardie after some time around the 1700s or
after 1745 to avoid reprisals, or as part of the Highland Clearances.
In this instance, the name originates with Mac C(h)ardiadh,
'son of the sloe', from the older G. cardi. (The "h" is intrusive,
and silent in the vernacular). It is suggested that the name
came from Pictish Gartnaigh, pronounced Gratney, a well known
name of old in Mar. (There was an Earl of Mar called Gartney
or Gratney about 1300). He thinks it was developed to MacCarday,
and ultimately before 1587 to MacHardy. There appear to have
been two main branches - the Machardies of Strathdon who followed
the Mackintoshes Clan and - the Machardies of Braemar who followed
the Farquharsons. The notation of Hardies in both of these clan
registers would indicate this is a valid interpretation. The
Surnames of Scotland, Their Origin Meaning, and History, by
George F. Black, Ph.D., Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations,
The New York Public Library, 1962. ISBN 0-87104-172-3. |
Surname
Stories
Many
legends assert that the family are sprung from the Macleod clan.
One story as to the origin, is outlined in "The Braemar Highlands".
In this
story set in 1080 or there abouts, a young man named McLeod killed
one of the Kings Malcolms hounds, and was condemned to death. The
young mans wife begged for mercy, and what ensued was a very William
Tell episode where McLeod would be spared his life if he could shoot
a mark off his childs head with an arrow. The child was place on
the other side of the River Dee. McLeod took two arrows upon taking
aim his body shook very hard and he turned to the king, who stood
near, and said. 'This is hard'. The king did not relent, and he
returned to his stance. He let the arrow fly. It struck the mark,
and a cry of wonder and triumph rolled through the crowd. The king
approached McLeod, and, after confirming his pardon, inquired why
he, so sure of hand and keen of sight, had asked for two arrows?
McLeod replied, "Because had I missed the mark, or hurt my wife
or child, I was determined not to miss you .' "The king grew pale,
undecided what to do, eventually he again approached McLeod and
with kindly voice and manner told him he would receive him into
his bodyguard, and that he would be well provided for. McLeod replied,
"Never,After the painful proof to which you have just put my heart,
I could never love you enough to serve you faithfully.' The king
in amazement responded , 'Thou art a Hardy ! and as Hardy thou art,
so Hardy thou shalt be'. McLeod went under the name of Hardy, and
his descendants were termed the MacHardys, Mac being the Gaelic
word for son."The Braemar Highlands: their Tales,
Traditions, and History, by Elizabeth Taylor. Nimmo, 1869, pp.99-103"
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Another
story is told of a gentleman of French origin who waited upon
waited upon his Majesty John, King of France and David King
of Scots, when they were prisoners in England. Edward III
of England coming to visit the royal prisoners, ordered his
cupbearer to fill a glass of wine, and give it to the most
worthy monarch. He gave it to the Scots monarch, for which
the French King's servant gave him a box on the ear; - the
king reproved him, saying "Tout Hardi". From this the gentleman
got his name. He returned to Scotland with King David Bruce
and his majesty gave him the lands of Corgarff, by charters
and letters patent, under the royal seal, in 1388. His decedents
call themselves MacHardy ie Hardys son; but there are some
near Gordon castle, on the Spey, who call themselves Hardie.
It is
this line which was given a coat of arms and the badge left
Gules,
a dexter hand couped fesse ways, grasping a dagger, argent,
point downward, between two mullets
or
crest
a mullet of the third with the motto "Tout Hardi".
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