A memory of honour
The heritage of office and arms
The Orders of the House do not arise from nothing: they are rooted in a long memory of honour. The lordship of Slains was born in 1314, when Sir Gilbert Hay received from Robert the Bruce, after Bannockburn, the Barony of Slains and the hereditary office of Lord High Constable of Scotland. That office made the Constable the supreme commander of the Scottish army, second only to the king, and gave him precedence above all titles of Scotland, save the royal family.
Born under David I, first held by the Comyn and then transferred to the Hay by Bruce, the Constable presided over the High Court of Constabulary — jurisdiction over riots, disorders and bloodshed within four miles of the king, the Council or Parliament — and commanded the Doorward Guard of Partizans, reputed the oldest bodyguard in Great Britain. The Act of Union of 1707 reduced its powers to a ceremonial office. It is from this tradition of service, guard and justice that the Orders draw their spirit.
To this office answers a living heraldic tradition. The Earls of Erroll hold the privilege of appointing a Slains Pursuivant of Arms, a private pursuivant — testimony to the deep rooting of the name of Slains in Scottish heraldry. The House stands within this inheritance of arms and patent: each distinction of its Orders is sealed and recorded according to the forms of a codified ceremonial.
