Twenty generations ago and you're back in the 14th century. The French nobility is being defeated at Courtrai, William Wallace is being betrayed, Robert the Bruce is crushing the English cavalry at Bannockburn, The Declaration of Arbroath is being penned, Scottish blood is being shed, Scottish victories are being won, Scottish history is being written .......... Johnston ancestors were there. This is the history of Clan Johnston.

The Place
The Johnstons were at one time the most powerful of the Border clans.  They originally settled and occupied Annandale, near Dumfries, and have held extensive holdings in the western marches for over 600 years.  Sir John Johnstone, Knight of the county of Dumfries, swore fealty to Edward I of England in the Ragman Roll of 1296.

Adam Johnstone, was Laird of Johnstone before 1413, and took part in the Battle of Sark in 1488. His son sided with James II in his struggle with the Douglases. He was rewarded with a grant to the lands Buittle and Sannoch near Threave Castle, formerly part of the Douglas lands of Galloway.  Adams eldest son, John, was the progenitor of the Annandale or main branch of the family, while another son Mathew, was ancestor of the Westerhall branch.  Lochwood Castle is the seat of Johnston.

The Name
Clan Johnston consists of at least two distinct groups, those of Annandale in Dumfries and Galloway, and those of Caskieben in Aberdeenshire, as well as Johnston(e)s who cannot easily be classified as either, such as those who took their name from the former name of Perth (St. Johnstoun) or other places called Johnston or Johnstone.

A wee word aboot pronunciation and spelling: In Scotland, generally the name is pronounced "Johnston", no matter how it is spelled; native border Scots often pronounce it "Jawnson." Those from North America, however, tend to pronounce Johnstone as "Johnstoan" and Johnston as "Johnston" suggesting two different names. There is only one name, one clan, and one great history.

The Head of the House of Johnston of Caskieben spells his name "Johnston" while the present, Chief of the Clan spells his name "Johnstone," Either spelling is used by Annandale or Caskieben clansmen.

In the Beginning
The derivation of the name is Anglo-Saxon and means "John's settlement" The first known Johnston was Gilbert, the son of John, who received use of a small parcel of land in southern Annandale from William Bruce, Lord of Annandale, between 1195 and 1214. Gilbert soon was knighted and witnessed various charters as Sir Gilbert de Joneston. Later Johnston lairds fought the English at the Battle of Solway in 1378 and the Battle of Otterbourne in 1388.

The Johnstons of Annandale were the most fearless receivers of the Scottish West March of the Borders. Scotland’s Western Border was defended from foreign invasion and alien rule by clansmen who proudly bore the name Johnston, Johnstone, Johnstoun, Jhonstowne, or Joniston. They fought on a cruel and harsh frontier. Centuries of border warfare, in which the Scots frequently lost all their possessions to the English, left the border warriors less interested in growing crops and instead, developed the prized military skills of guerilla warfare. The borderers raided the English and traitorous neighboring clans to replenish the cattle and horses which had been stolen from them. The Johnstons were outstanding horsemen and, dressed in a steel helmet (tin bunnet) and reinforced leather jacket (jack), with a lengthy lance, cutting sword and set of pistols, a Johnston clansman was well tailored for the environment.

Royal Blood
On 25 March 1306 Robert de Brus, Earl of Annandale, and ancestor of the Johnston, was crowned King of Scots at Scone in the presence of four bishops, five earls and the people of the land by the Countess of Buchan. The King of Scots became King Robert I and in 1314 he killed Henry de Bohun at the commencement of the Battle of Bannockburn.  This famous victory by the Noble Johnston led to the finest day in Scottish independence, 6 April 1320: The Declaration of Arbroath. An extract from this historic document reads…

"…for so long as a hundred of us are left alive, we will yield in no least way to English dominion. We fight not for glory nor for wealth nor honours; but only and alone we fight for freedom, which no good man surrenders but with his life."

This letter was from Scottish barons to Pope John XXII, affirming their determination to maintain Scottish independence and support King Robert I unless he showed signs of yielding. Four hundred and fifty years later there were echoes of the Arbroath Declaration in the American Declaration of Independence in 1776. Once again Johnston led the way!

Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, died at Cardross Castle 7 June 1329.

The Lands and Peoples
Border lairds lived in stark, square stone peel towers, three or four stories tall, surmounted with battlements and built on near inaccessible ground. The principal stronghold of the Johnstons was Lochwood Tower, a massive, L-shaped fortress surrounded by forest and marsh. The Johnstons rose to prominence and power by assisting the King in crushing the Douglas rebellion 1455. The Black Douglases virtually controlled southern Scotland and were perceived as a serious threat to the Stewart dynasty. The Johnstons fought the Black Douglases at Arkinholm in Dumfriesshire and participated in the King's siege of Threave Castle in Kirkudbright. The Douglases were attainted, their estates forfeited, and King James II rewarded his supporter, including the Johnstons, with grants of former Douglas lands. Johnston clansmen then spread throughout upper Annandale and into Lanarkshire. In 1542 Queen Mary of Guise erected the lands of the Laird of Johnston into a free barony.

During the sixteenth century the Johnstons and the Maxwells competed for dominance in the Scottish West March. Johnston and Maxwell chiefs each served at various times as Wardens of the Scottish West March. Their respective clans continued a deadly blood feud for almost a century. In late 1593 John, seventh Lord Maxwell, Earl of Morton, sometime collaborator with the Spanish armada and Warden of the Scottish West March, assembled 2,000 armed horsemen and, displaying the King's banner, invaded the mountainous district of Annandale, land of the Johnstons. Whatever the official reason, Lord Maxwell's personal intention was once and for all to destroy his family's ancient enemies and rivals for power in southwestern Scotland.

Sir James Johnstone of Dunskellie, Chief of the Johnstones, received advance warning of the approaching army and realized that his clan would soon have a desperate fight for continued existence. He summoned help from the Grahams, Scotts, Carrutherses, Irvings, Elliots and others, and quickly raised a defensive force of perhaps 800. Among those who came to the aid of the clan was the Chief's eleven-year-old kinsman, Robert Johnstoe of Raecleuch. Lord Maxwell had offered his followers a reward for the head or hand of the Laird of Johnston, and Sir James in turn offered his followers a reward for the head or hand of Lord Maxwell.

As the battle raged, and in the midst of carnage Lord Maxwell foresaw his folly of attacking Johnston and offered to surrender, but the Johnstons, unwilling to yield to a treacherous terrorist cut off his outstretched arm and slew him as he deserved. It is said that the Laird of Johnston affixed the head and right hand of the villainous Maxwell to the battlements of Lochwood Tower as bloody trophies of the Johnstons' overwhelming victory at the Battle of Dryfe Sands.

In 1608 a meeting was arranged for a reconciliation of Sir James Johnston of Dunskellie and the new Lord Maxwell, son of the chief who was killed at the Battle of Dryfe Sands. Precautions were taken for each to bring only one attendant. During the interview, Lord Maxwell suddenly drew a pistol from under his cloak and with cowardice shot the heroic Johnston chief in the back with two bullets, that he had previously rubbed in poison, mortally wounding the refined campaigner. After escaping to France, Lord Maxwell was finally apprehended and publicly beheaded in Edinburgh for his "murder under trust" of Sir James Johnston of Dunskellie. Can a Maxwell ever be trusted!

When King James VI of Scotland also took on the throne of England in 1603, the border frontier became the heart of a new united kingdom. In the King’s proclamation of 1605 he forbade borderers, "except nobles and gentlemen unsuspected of felony or theft," from carrying "jacks, spears, lances, swords, daggers, steel caps, hackbuts, pistols, platesleaves, and suchlike." It also forbade the owning of any horse above the value of 30 Scottish pounds. The government, now in England, deported or executed many Johnstons. The border frontier ceased to continue within a few short years.

In 1633 at the coronation of King Charles I in Scotland, James Johnstone, son of Sir James Johnston of Dunskellie, was created a first lord of Parliament with the designation of Lord Johnston of Lochwood. In 1643 he became Earl of Hartfell, Lord Johnston of Lochwood, Moffatdale and Evandale. During the religious wars the Earl joined the Covenanters, but later supported the royalist cause under Montrose. The Covenantor army captured the Earl at Philliphaugh in 1645 and condemned him to death, but later commuted the punishment to a fine of 100,000 pounds Scots. During the Commonwealth, the Earl of Hartfell and his son were imprisoned in Edinburgh, Dumbarton and St. Andrew’s castles. Upon the Restoration, King Charles II rewarded James, the second Earl of Hartfell, for loyalty with a crown charter to the Earldom of Annandale.

William Johnston, the second Earl of Annandale, participated in a Jacobite plot as a youth, but eventually regained the favor of King William I and became an Extraordinary Lord of Session, Lord of the Treasury, Lord of the Privy Counsel, Knight of the Thistle, Joint Secretary of State for Scotland, Keeper of the Great Seal, and Privy Counselor.

In 1701 the King made William the Marquis of Annandale in recognition of his service. His oldest surviving son, James, the second Marquis of Annandale, died unmarried in Naples in 1730. The first Marquis's posthumous son, George, was the third Marquis and when he died unmarried in 1792 the titles became dormant.

Today
In 1983, after a lapse of nearly two centuries, the Lord Lyon King of Arms officially recognized Major Percy Wentworth Hope Johnstone of Annandale and of that Ilk, hereditary Keeper of Lochmaben Castle and a descendant of the daughter of the first Marquis of Annandale, as Chief of Clan Johnstone. Upon Major Hope Johnstone's death later that year, his son Patrick Andrew Wentworth Hope Johnstone succeeded as Chief. In 1985 the House of Lords recognized the Chief's claim to the long-dormant titles of Earl of Annandale and Hartfell. The Chief resides with his wife, Countess Susan Josephine Ross Hope Johnstone at Raehills on their Annandale estate. They have a son, Lord David Johnstone, and a daughter, Lady Julia Johnstone.

Chronology of 13th and 14th Centuries

o 1274 - Birth of Robert Bruce on 11 July.
o 1286 - Death of Alexander III. Election of guardians. The Turnberry Bond.
o 1289 - Treaty of Salisbury.
o 1290 - Treaty of Birgham. Death of Maid of Norway. Edward I invited to arbitrate.
o 1291 - Edward I accepted as superior lord of Scotland.
o 1292 - Balliol crowned and renders homage. Edward I repudiates Treaty of Birgham.
o 1293 - King John (Balliol) summoned before English Parliament and convicted of contumacy.
o 1294 - War between Edward I and Philip IV of France. Welsh revolt.
o 1295 - King John replaced by Council of Twelve. Treaty between France & Scotland. Bruce's grandfather dies.
o 1296 - Outbreak of war between England & Scotland. Sack of Berwick. King John abdicates. The Ragman Roll.Freeholders pay homage to Edward I.
o 1297 - Insurrection. Andrew Moray, William Wallace. Capitulation of Irvine. Battle of Stirling Bridge. Andrew Moray dies of wounds.
o 1298 - Wallace knighted and appointed guardian. Edward I invades Scotland. Battle of Falkirk. Bruce & Comyn appointed guardians.
o 1299 - Lamberton third guardian. Scots take Stirling Castle.
o 1300 - Bruce resigns guardianship. Replaced by de Umfraville. English invasion. Truce.
o 1301 - Soulis appointed sole guardian. English invasion.
o 1302 - Truce. Bruce submits to Edward I. Marries Elizabeth de Burgh.
o 1303 - Battle of Roslin. Peace treaty between France & England, excluding Scots.
o 1304 - Bruce's father dies. Comyn surrenders. Bond between Bruce & Lamber ton. Stirling captured by Edward I.
o 1305 - Wallace captured and executed. New ordinance for government of Scotland.
o 1306 - Death of Comyn. Douglas joins Bruce. Bruce crowned at Scone: defeated at battles of Methven and Dalry: escapes to Dunvarty and then to Rathlin. His brother Nigel captured at Kildrummy Castle and executed. His wife, sisters and daughter captured at Tain.
o 1307 - Bruce lands at Turnberry. Guerrilla war in southwest Scotland. His brothers Alexander and Thomas captured in Galloway and executed. Bruce defeats English at Glen Trool and Loudon Hill. Rising in Moray. Edward I dies. Bruce moves north, falls ill.
o 1308 - Battle of Inverurie. 'Herschip' of Buchan. Battle of Brander. Earl of Ross submits to Bruce.
o 1309 - St. Andrews parliament. Scotland north of the Tay under Bruce's control.
o 1310 - Edward II invades Scotland.
o 1311 - Bruce raids northern England.
o 1312 - Bruce raids northern England again. Treaty of Inverness between Scotland & Norway.
o 1313 - Bruce captures Perth. Reconquers southwest Scotland and Isle of Man.
o 1314 - Douglas captures Roxborough. Randolph captures Edinburgh. Battle of Bannockburn.
o 1315 - Act of Succession. Marriage of Princess Marjorie. Edward Bruce invades Ireland.
o 1316 - Edward Bruce crowned King of Ireland. Death of Princess Marjorie.
o 1316 - Bruce campaigns in Ireland.
o 1318 - Berwick taken by Scots. Edward Bruce slain in Ireland. Succession to Scottish throne by Robert Stewart.
o 1319 - Edward II besieges Berwick. Randolph & Douglas invade England. 'The Chapter of Myton'. Two-year truce.
o 1320 - The Declaration of Arbroath. Soulis's conspiracy.
o 1322 - Edward II's last invasion of Scotland. Bruce raids England. Defeats Edward II at Old Byland, Yorkshire.
o 1323 - Harclay attempts peace treaty. Executed by Edward II. Official negotiations lead to thirteen-year truce.
o 1324 - Pope recognizes Bruce as King of Scotland. Queen Elizabeth gives birth to male heir.
o 1326 - Treaty of Corbeil between France & Scotland. Succession to Scottish throne settled on David Bruce.
o 1327 - Deposition of Edward II. Truce broken. Edward III advances on Scotland. Bruce invades Northumberland.
o 1328 - Treaty of Edinburgh. Marriage of David Bruce to Edward III's sister Joan.
o 1329 - Death of Bruce, 7 June.