R-ZP78

A number of people have come to believe that a Rutherford male had a family connection to William Wallace. These people use the poem written about William Wallace by 'Blind Harry' as evidence for this. I was curious about the poem and this connection so researched into it, the following is what I have discovered so far.

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People's claim

In K. Rutherford Davis' book "The Rutherfords in Britain - A History and Guide" he puts together what most people believe (page 9 & 10). He states "...Sir Nicholas ... Moreover his wife Marjorie was a near relation of Marion Braidfoot, heiress of Lamington and Wallace's wife, for Blind Harry mentions Thomas Halliday's 'twa gud sonnis, Wallas and Rudyrfurd':

        Thom Hailday thai men ge gydyt rycht,

        Off Anadderdail he had thaim led that nycht,

        His twa gud sonnis, Wallas and Rudyrfurd

The natural inference from the phrase is that Rutherford's wife was Halliday's daughter, which cannot however apply literally to Wallace; ..." Halliday was a son of one of Wallace's half-sisters.

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NOTE: There are some people that say it is a Robert not a Nicholas Rutherford that is married to near relation of Wallace's wife.

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The Poem

I went searching for a copy of Blind Harry's poem - when I saw the whole page the above verse is from something struck me. The Wallas in this verse was different to everywhere else it is written in the poem (I will admit I have not read the whole entire poem, however in all the pages I have looked at Wallace is only ever spelt was an 's' in this verse.

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put in page of poem

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This oddity got me thinking so I went looking for an original version of the poem. I located a copy (as close to original as possible) that is held in the Scottish Museum. When you look at the relevant verse it is written differently. It is written as:

        Thom Hailday thai men ge gydyt rycht,

        Off Anadderdail he had thaim led that nycht,

        His twa gud sonnis, Ihonstoun and Rudyrfurd

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put in page of poem

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I found that in the 1700s a 'new' print of Blind Harry's poem was done and in this version it had changed to Wallas.

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put in page of poem

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There have been a couple of studies into this close to original version and they have drawn the conclusion that in this line 'Ihonstoun' and 'Rudyrfurd' are location names, not names/surnames of two men.

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put in information from the studies

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Conclusions

At the time of William Wallace the 'de Soulis' family held the Rutherford lands in Roxburgh, Scotland amongst their vast land holdings. Also Sir John de Soulis and Sir John de Graham fought with William Wallace. At this time John also had a brother Nicholas de Soulis (who was the one who had inherited all the lands including Rutherford from their father) and another brother called Thomas. On another note the de Soulis and de Graham were related and had been allies for a long time.

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I have tried to research the owners of the Rutherford land, Sir John de Johnstone, Marion and Thom Halliday to try and discover who actually married whom. What I have located so far is that Thomas did have two daughters and one son (a Thomas) and that Thomas is a nephew to Wallace via his mother who is a half-sister of Wallace.

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put in 'family tree' of info found

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I have also come across this entry (see below) from the book 'Sir William Wallace' by A.F. Murison (1900):

"According to Harry's narrative, Wallace found some of his most active and trustworthy allies, especially in his earlier career, among his own relatives. This is at least extremely probable. Sir Richard Wallace of Riccarton gives him shelter and provision, and sends him his three sons, of whom Adam, the eldest, distinguishes himself conspicuously. The priests of Dunipace and Kuspindie we have already met. Wallace of Auchincruive, 'his cousin,' provides supplies for the outlaw of Laglane Wood and his single 'child.' Edward Little is Wallace's 'sister's son.' Tom Halliday, too, is Wallace's 'nephew' —his 'sib sister's son'; and Halliday's eldest daughter is the wife of Wallace's great lieutenant, Sir John the Graham; while his second daughter is the wife of Johnstone, 'a man of good degree,' installed as castellan of Lochmaben, the first castle that Wallace attempted to hold permanently. Young Auchinleck of Gilbank becomes Wallace's 'eyme' or 'uncle,' by marriage. Kirkpatrick is 'of kin,' and to 'Wallace' mother near.' And Kneland (or Cleland) and William Crawford are both designated his 'cousins'; Kneland, indeed, his 'near cousin.' The family tree must have thrown out shoots in many directions, and more likely than not Harry may be substantially right."

Source: https://www.electricscotland.com/history/wallace2.htm

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