General Notes

Ruthvens were a pretty violent lot.  As you might expect from the beginning with a (Swedish) Viking pirate.  Sven pirated off the east cost of Scotland.  He settled down in what was the St. Andrews/Perth area and dispatched the natives for tresspassing on their own land.  Sven wasn't clealy a born again Christian. He named his son Thor, after a Norse god, from whom we have the day, Thurs-day.  Certainly the later "Christian" Ruthvens didn't behave much better.  Thor inturn had three sons, who took yje name of Ruthven.  The name "Ros/rot-fen" means "red fen or "red swamp).  Another theory is that it means "Ros/rot-sven (redswede) from the similar Norse men believed to have been the "Rus" (the Reds), founders of Russia in the 8th/9th century