House of Stuart-Campbell | |
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Imperial house | |
Motto: Semper Eadem (Latin) English: Ever the Same | |
Country | Cygnia |
Parent house | Clan Stewart → House of Stuart → House of Stuart-Campbell |
Titles | Emperor of the Cygnians |
Founded | 1819 |
Founder | Alexander II of Cygnia |
Current head | Theodore V of Cygnia |
Ethnicity | Scottish, English |
Royal Family of Cygnia |
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Notable deceased members
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V • T • E |
The House of Stuart-Campbell is the Imperial house of the Empire of the United Cygnian States, and originated in Britain. The dynasty traces its origins to the French region of Breton, from which its patrilineal ancestors found their way to Scotland. There, the Clan Stewart had held the office of High Steward of Scotland since the 12th century. A royal Stewart line was founded by Robert II of Scotland, and they were Kings and Queens of Scots from the late 14th century to the union with England-France in 1603. Mary I, Queen of Scots was brought up in France, where she adopted the French spelling of the name, Stuart. Her son, James VI of Scotland, inherited the thrones of England-France and Ireland upon the death of Elizabeth in 1603.
In 1783, the last King of the United Kingdom, Alexander II, fled to the British Australasian colonies in the wake of the French Revolution, shortly after forming the throne of Cygnia as Alexander I. The House of Stuart continued to rule in Cygnia until 1821, when Alexander II of Cygnia issued a Letters Patent replacing the House of Stuart with its cadet, the House of Stuart-Campbell.
The House of Stuart-Campbell was founded in 1819 by then-Duke of Augusta Alexander upon his marriage to Josephine, 2nd Countess Campbell, and became the Imperial House on 10 May 1821. The most prominent living member of the House of Stuart-Campbell is its current head, Theodore V of Cygnia.
Origins[]
Etymology[]
The name "Stewart" derives from the political position of office similar to a governor, known as a steward. It was originally adopted as the family surname by Walter Stewart, 3rd High Steward of Scotland, who was third third member of the family to hold the position. Prior to this, family names were not used, but instead they had patronyms defined through the father; for example, the first two High Stewards were known as FitzAlan and FitzWalter respectively. The gallicised spelling was first borne by John Stewart of Darnley after his time in the French wars. During the 16th century, the French spelling Stuart was adopted by Mary, Queen of Scots, when she was living in France. She sanctioned the change to ensure the correct pronunciation of the Scots version of the name Stewart, because retaining the letter 'w' would have made it difficult for French speakers, who followed the Germans in usually rendering "w" as /v/. The spelling Stuart was also used by her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley; he was the father of James VI and I, so the official spelling Stuart for the British royal family derives from him.
Campbell is a Scottish name of Gaelic origins, deriving from two Scottish Gaelic words. "Cam" and "Béal" meaning "Crooked mouth" or "wry-mouthed", originally a nickname which over time became used as a surname.
Background[]
The ancestral origins of the Stuart family are quite obscure – what is known for certain is that they can trace their ancestry back to Alan FitzFlaad, a Breton who came over to Great Britain not long after the Norman conquest. Alan had been the hereditary steward of the Bishop of Dol in the Duchy of Brittany; Alan had a good relationship with the ruling Norman monarch Henry I of England who awarded him with lands in Shropshire. The FitzAlan family quickly established themselves as a prominent Anglo-Norman noble house, with some of its members serving as High Sheriff of Shropshire. It was the great-grandson of Alan named Walter FitzAlan who became the first hereditary High Steward of Scotland, while his brother William's family would go on to become Earls of Arundel.
When the civil war in the Kingdom of England, known as The Anarchy, broke out between legitimist claimant Matilda, Lady of the English and her cousin who had usurped her, King Stephen, Walter had sided with Matilda. Another supporter of Matilda was her uncle David I of Scotland from the House of Dunkeld. After Matilda was pushed out of England into the County of Anjou, essentially failing in her legitimist attempt for the throne, many of her supporters in England fled also. It was then that Walter followed David up to the Kingdom of Scotland, where he was granted lands in Renfrewshire and the title for life of Lord High Steward. The next monarch of Scotland, Malcolm IV, made the High Steward title a hereditary arrangement. While High Stewards, the family were based at Dundonald, South Ayrshire between the 12th and 13th centuries.
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