Clan Spens
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Clan Spens or Spence is a Lowland Scottish clan.
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[edit] History
[edit] Origins of the Clan
The name Spens or Spence means 'custodian' or 'dispenser' of the larder, possibaly derived from Old French. The principle Scottish family of Clan Spens descend from one of the ancient Earls of Fife. Roger ‘dispensator’ witnessed a deed recording the transfer of lands near Dallas in Inverness-shire in 1232. John Spens is listed as baillie of Irvine in 1260. In the year 1300 Henry de Spens of Lathallan, Fife died. Henry Spens witnessed a charter by Robert, Earl of Fife, in 1390, and it was in that ancient earldom that the family was to prosper. Henry de Spens of Lathallan swore fealty to Edward I of England, and his name appears on the Ragman Rolls of 1296. He died around 1300, when his son, Thomas, succeeded. He is mentioned in two charters of King Robert the Bruce. The lands were later made into a barony in 1430.
[edit] 15th Century
By the early fifteenth century, the family had risen to considerable prominence, which entitled John Spens of Lathallan to sit in the Parliament called by King James I of Scotland at Perth in 1434. John married Isabel, daughter of Sir John Wemyss of Clan Wemyss, and had three sons. Patrick, the youngest, was a member of the Guard of Scots, Archers sent by King James II of Scotland to King Charles VII of France in 1450. He settled in France, and his descendents were the prominent family of Spens-Destinot de Lanere. The ‘Garde Ecossaise’, as they were later known, were to become the personal bodyguard of the French kings until the revolution of 1789.
Thomas, the second son, entered the Church and rose to high office. He was appointed Bishop of Galloway and later Lord Privy Seal, a post he held until 1470. He was translated to the bishopric of Aberdeen in 1459, and being considered a clever and shrewd negotiator, he was regularly employed on state business. In 1449 he was sent to conclude a marriage contract between the heir to the Duke of Savoy and Arabella, sister of James II. Two years later he was sent as ambassador to negotiate a truce with England. He died in Edinburgh in 1480, and his tomb is in the splendid chapel of Roslin.
[edit] 16th Century & Mary, Queen of Scots
During the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, the loyalties of the family were divided. Sir John Spence of Condie was Lord Advocate, but adhered to the reformed Church. When commanded by the queen to prosecute the reformer, John Knox, for alleged treason, he did so with no great zeal, and Knox was acquitted. David Spens of Wormieston, however, was a loyal subject of Mary, and was denounced as a rebel by the Parliament summoned by Regent Lennox in August 1571. David was one of the ringleaders of the attempt to seize Lennox at Stirling in September of that year, and he was given the task of taking the regent personally to hold as hostage. According to one narrative, Spens followed his orders to keep Lennox secure so literally that when some of the conspirators decided to kill the regent, Spens stopped a pistol shot by throwing himself in front of his prisoner. Tragically, when supporters of Lennox came to his rescue, they killed Spens on the spot, despite the regent’s attempts to save his unlikely saviour. However, the family were later reconciled to King James VI of Scotland, who sent Sir James Spens of Wormieston as ambassador to Sweden, where a branch of the family settled, rising high in the Swedish nobility as Counts Spens.
[edit] 18th to 20th Centuries
Dr Nathaniel Spens (1728-1815), second son of the 15th Laird of Lathallan bought back Craigsanquhar, Fife (which belonged to the family from 1385 to 1524) in 1792 His descendant, Sir Patrick Spens (1885-1973), was created 1st Lord Spens of Blairsanquhar, Fife, in 1959.
Dr Nathaniel Spens of Craigsanquhar in Fife was also the president of the Royal College of Physicians in 1794. He was a prominent member of the Royal Company of Archers (the monarch’s bodyguard in Scotland) and a famous portrait of him hangs in Archers’ Hall in Edinburgh. One of his descendants, Sir William Spens, was vice-chancellor of Cambridge University from 1931 to 1933. Another kinsman, John Spens, WS, is the Albany Herald to the Court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms.
