Setwart question

[Dirk Skene]

The answer may be obvious to everybody but me. You lads may laugh. But I am going to ask anyway. What's up with the Stewart tartans? What exactly is the history of the common red "Royal Stewart?" What about the Navy & Black Stewart patterns? Is this a clan tartan? Is it a fashion tartan? I like the patterns & am going to buy the Royal Stewart soon. I just want to know a little back ground. :confused:

[switchblade5984]

The answer may be obvious to everybody but me. You lads may laugh. But I am going to ask anyway. What's up with the Stewart tartans? What exactly is the history of the common red "Royal Stewart?" What about the Navy & Black Stewart patterns? Is this a clan tartan? Is it a fashion tartan? I like the patterns & am going to buy the Royal Stewart soon. I just want to know a little back ground. :confused:

Wiki!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Stewart_Tartan

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Very briefly...

As you have obvioulsy discovered, there are a large number of Stewart/Stuart tartans. This gives rise to confusion among many people who find out they have ties to that clan and want to wear a tartan... "Why so many?" they ask, "and which one should I wear?"

My normal response is to go through most of the commonly available Stewart tartans in my swatch books and just give some basic guidelines.

The first thing to remember is that if a tartan is called Stewart "of" something, then it is indended to represent a particular branch of the clan, be it Stewart of Appin, Stewart of Atholl, Stuart of Bute, etc. If you know you descend from one of those branches, then by all means feel free to wear that tartan. Most people, I woudl hazard to say, cannot say for certain if their family comes from a particular line or not, so they are interested in wearing a tartan that would represent the whole clan.

The Hunting Stewart tartan is not really a clan tartan per se, but a general use tartan. It's always been considered a universal tartan, though no one really seems certain why that may be so. Obviously it is used a lot by Stewarts because of the name, but it's also used by many non-Stewarts who want a general use tartan.

Use of the Royal Stewart tartan is a matter of controversy to some. Depending on whom you ask, you will get a variety of opinion about it (which is really all it is). Some regard it as strictly the propery of the Royal family, and not to be used by anyone else. If this were the case, mind you, the tartan should be very hard to find, like the Balmoral tartan. Instead, you see it used constantly on shortbread tins, wrapping paper, pajamas, flannel shirts, caps, and kilts!

I've heard some posit that because it is the tartan of the Royalty, then any subject of the British monarchy can wear it, to show their allegiance to the Royal family. I'm not so sure of that, but in any case it is a tartan with a long history, a long association to the Royal family, and one that is in such universal usage now that it operates as a general use tartan, regardless of its origins.

There are many variations of the Royal Stewart tartan, precisely because it is so popular. Usually these are created by simple color changes. And so you have Dress Stewart, Black Stewart, Blue Stewart, Blue Dress Stewart, and on and on.... Because these are based on the Royal Stewart tartan, they also tend to be used a lot for general use.

Like the Hunting Stewart, the Royal Stewart and its variants are used a lot by the Stewart clan, but also used so much outside the clan that they can be considered general wear.

So for those looking for a tartan that represents the entire clan Stewart, I reccomend the Old Stewart tartan. It represents the entire clan, and has never been used as a general use tartan. Wearing it identifies you as a Stewart, with no confusion.

Aye,
Matt

[Blu (Ontario)]

The balck and blue Stewart tartans are really quite striking. Even though they may be now considered "general use" tartans by many, I've never been personally comfortable with the idea of wearing them. When the "Xmarks" tartan came along, that became my generic wear kilt.

If I have any ties to the Stewart clan... it is without doubt extremely remote.

.

[macwilkin]

Thread moved to heraldry & tartans section. Please post all tartan-related questions here.

Regards,

Todd

[McClef]

It's likely that the Royal Stewart is the most famous of all tartans yet not one you see the Royal Family themselves using very much, if at all.

Of course they have very little Stewart blood in any case, I would hate to work out the percentage but it's pretty infinitesimal by the time you work them back to James I and VI and then through the Hanoverian and other German bloodlines.