General Notes

REFN: 2756AN
REFN: P2757
The traditional account of the beginnings, in the Tenth Century, o f the
historic Hous of Hay, among whose descendants may be numbered a PresiDe nt
of the United States (the surname, Hayes, derived from the older form),
is as follows.
The Scottish Army, led by King Kenneth III, were engaged in bat tle with
the Danish invaders of their land, the place of this encounter being in
Perthshire, near Loncarty. Douglas, the celebrated Cronicler of
Scotlan d's noble families, says: "The Scotch at first gave way, and fled
through a n arrow pass, where they were stopped by a countryman of great
strength and cou rage, and his two sons, with no other weapons than the
yokes of their ploughs ; upbraiding the fugitives for their cowardice, he
succeeded in rallying Them ; the battle was renewed, and the Danes totally
discomfited. It is said that after the victory was obtained, the old man
lying on the ground, woulded and fatigued, cried, 'Hay, Hay,' which word
became the surname of his posterity; the King, as a reward of the signal
service, gave him as much land in the Car se of Gowrie, as a falcon should
flly over before it settled; and a falcon be ing accordingly let off, flew
over an extent of land six miles in length, aft erwards called Errol, and
lighted on a stone, still call Falconstone; the Kin g also assigned three
shields or escutcheons for the arms of the family, to i ntimate that the
father and the two sons, had been the three fortunate shield s of
Scotland."
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/i/l/Lynn-P-Wils on/
The ancestor of the Scottish Hay family, William De La Haie, came to
Sco tland in the reign of David I and became butler to both Malcolm IV and
Willia m the Lion. His place of origin was named La Haie, near Loos in
west Flanders whose lords served the castellans of Lille; their device
was exactly like th at of the Scottish Hay. The first castellans of Lille
descended from the nobl e Fleming, Saswalo of Phalempin. Their charter
surname, De Insula, appears ma ny times in British history and Roger de
Insula was the ancestor of the lords Lyle in Scotland. One of his
grandsons married Matilda of Wavrin whose famil y was also of Lille and
who could trace their descent from Charlemagne by sev eral lines.
http://amg1.net/flemfam.htm
"The Hays are amongst the oldest and most illustrious of the historic
families of Scotland, but their real origin has been obscured by a
fabulous traditionary story which would still appear t o be held for
gospel truth in the northern district of Aberdeenshire, as vari ous
allusions were made to it on the banners and triumphal arches displayed
when the eldest so of the present Earl [1890's] came of age, as well as
in t he speeches delivered on that occasion. It is said that in the reign
of Kenne th III, the Danes invaded Scotland, and encountered a Scottish
army commanded by their king at Luncarty, near Perth. The battle was long
and fiercely cont ested, but at length the two wings of the Scotish forces
were compelled to gi ve way. As they were flying from the field, pursued
by the victorious Danes, a husbandman named Hay, who happened, along with
his two sons, to be at work in a neighbouring field, armed only with the
yokes of their ploughs, statione d themselves in a narrow pass through
which the fugitives were hurrying, comp elled them to halt in their
flight, restored the battle, and gained a complet e victory. "sone after,'
says Hector Boece, 'ane counsal was sat at Scone in the quhilk Hay and
his sons were maid nobil and doted for their singular virt ew provin in
this field, with sundray lands to sustane thair estait. It is sa id that
he askit fra the King certaine lands liand betwixt Tay and Arole, and gas
als mekil thairof, as ane falcon flew of ane man's hand or scho lichtit.
The falcom flew to ane tower, four miles fra Dunde, called Rosse, and
lich tit on ane stant quhilk is yet callit the Falcon