coat of arms of the Russell of that Ilk, Chief of Clan Russell, ref: The general armory. being: Ar. a chev. bewt. three pewits sa. .NB Scottish surnames: a contribution to genealogy 1866 By James Paterson, notes a diferent version for the arms of Russell of that Ilk, as ar. a lyon gu. two crescents sa. in chief, James Paterson thinks this incorect and points out that Balfour, Lord Lyon King of Arms, MSS notes that in 1630 the arms of that Ilk were "Argent, a chevron between three greinplouers sable.". Note also that the Slains armorial of 1565 (one of Scotland's oldest surviving armorial collections) gives for Russell: "Ar., a chevron Gu. between three powts Sa.". myclan.com seems to conclude that Powts may be tadpoles (see http://www.heraldryclipart.com/dp.html Powts at heraldryclipart.com) [see version: ]. There may be an error from the editors of the Errol roll translating either powt from a badly written pewit or the general armory incorectly thinking powt was pewit, the last scenario seems the least likely as the general armory goes on to list verious branches with pewits, and these branches are not given in the Slains armorial and so must indicate other sources. It should be noted that the version given by Balfour with "greinplouers" seems to discout tapoles as the word "greinplouers" would be Old English for Green Plover, another name for a pewit (see encyclopedia.farlex.com). Another point of interest is that ar. lyon rampart gu on a chief sa. three escallopes of the first is the English Russell arms (Duke of Bedford, see general armory) and that the version James Paterson notes as: ar. a lyon gu. two crescents sa. in chief, has a close similarity to this none Scottish family.
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