C1910 Scottish Badge For Clan Douglas With Belted & Winged Heart Of Bruce Brooch

Description

Circa 1910 or 1920 Scottish Badge For Clan Douglas With Belted & Winged Heart Of Bruce Brooch. Condition is preowned or used. The badge is in silver-plated cast brass with a T pin and simple C catch.
VINTAGE: Circa 1910s-1920s.
SIZE: Approximately 1-3/4" in height and 1-1/2" in width.
MATERIALS / CONSTRUCTION: Silver-plated cast brass.
ATTACHMENT: Horizontal T-style pin with C catch.
MARKINGS: None.
ARTIFACT: This is a circa 1910s or 1920s Scottish badge for Clan Douglas. It shows a belted "Heart of (Robert the) Bruce", crowned and winged, with the motto "Forward" above. Why the heart of the famed King figures so prominently in the design of this clan's badge is told by a tale from the time of the Crusaders. Upon his death in 1329, Bruce requested that his heart be transported to the Holy Land by Douglas to atone for Bruce's murder of John III Comyn two dozen years earlier at the Church of the Greyfriars. In 1330, opportunity knocked when Sir Douglas was asked to move men thence to aid King Alfonso of Castile against the Moors. Douglas fell during battle at Teba, Spain, perhaps the result of a bit of treachery, and the heart of the Bruce was returned to Scotland for interment. Douglas' heart made it home to the Kirk of St. Bride yet his boiled bones have yet to be located.