The Scots fought fiercely and sent King Edward fleeing over the border for his native soil. The family clan of the Hamilton 's were greatly rewarded for their service to Bruce and were given lands in Lanarkshire and the Lothian's, some of which had been taken from the Comyns. These lands included the place called Cadzow which was later to become the town of Hamilton .
The Bruce family and the Hamilton 's were to continue the closeness which had developed between them. Sir Walter Hamilton's son Sir David Hamilton was captured by the English after the battle of Neville's crossing in the year 1346 but he was in good company as the son of Bruce also called David the second being captured at the same time. Both were held until heavy ransoms had been paid to free them.
The families were to be tied even closer together by marriage. In the year of 1474 James the first lord Hamilton married Princess Mary, daughter of James the Third.
Mary gave birth to a son who would be created second Earl of Arran. This son would be heir to the throne of James the third and Mary, Queen of Scots.
Hamilton was made Regent of Scotland while the young Mary was still a child. He wanted to protect his claim to the throne so decided that his son would be better married to Mary when the time came. As the well known Burns saying goes ‘the best laid plans of mice and men' after all his scheming and plotting, Mary, married another, the heir to the French throne.
The fourth earl of Arran became chancellor of Scotland and Keeper of the both the hugely strategic castles in the realm, Edinburgh and Stirling . He was made Marques in the year 1599 and his brother became lord paisley in 1587 (later Lord Abercorn)
Into the seventeenth century and the Hamilton Family can seem to do no wrong.
The third marque was a great supporter of Charles the first and he was rewarded in the usual way in 1643 he was made a Duke which elevated Hamilton to the Premier peer in Scotland . Hamilton castle had to be demolished due to subsidence, so a new place was required as the family Seat
The fourteenth duke of Hamilton inherited his famous families sense of adventure and in the year1933 piloted the first ever aircraft over the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest .
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