Herries

This family is said to descend from the Counts of Vendome in France, who bore three hedgehogs (in French ‘herissons’) on their shield of arms. Chambers suggests that the Scottish Herries could also be a branch of the Anglo–Norman family of Heriz, from Wyverton in Nottinghamshire, who first came to Scotland during the reign of David II. William de Heriz witnessed several charters before 1152. Nigel de Heris had lands in Ettrick during the reign of Alexander II. William de Herris swore fealty to Edward I of England and appears on the Ragman Roll of 1296 for his lands in Dumfriesshire. Sir Herbert Herries of Terregles was arrested with Murdoch, Duke of Albany, in 1425, and after his later release sat as one of the duke’s jurors. He accompanied Princess Margaret of Scotland when she went to France in 1436 to marry the heir to the French throne. His brother, John Herries, fell foul of a dispute with the powerful Douglases, and he was seized and hanged by the Earl of Douglas. Sir Herbert Herries of Terregles, great-great-grandson of the first Sir Herbert, was created a Lord of Parliament with the title of ‘Lord Herries’ in 1489. His son, Andrew, the second Lord Herries, was slain along with many others of the nobility at the ill-fated Battle of Flodden in 1513. When William, the third Lord, died in 1543, the title passed to his daughter, Agnes, who married Sir John Maxwell, a younger son of Robert, Lord Maxwell. The original title, created in 1489, was destined to heirs general, and therefore permitted succession through the female line. The Maxwells, who in 1667 succeeded to the title of ‘Earl of Nithsdale’, thereafter quartered the arms of Herries with their own.