Affleck

The Afflecks do not have a Scottish territorial association with the Lindsay family; their link goes further back to Flanders.  During the reign of David I a young man of the name Affleck arrived in Scotland from Flanders, and was given lands and a charter by the king to build a castle at Monikie in Forfarshire. The castle he built is still there, modernised in the 15th century, about eight kilometres from the coast and still known as Affleck Castle. His arms were argent, three bars sable - the tinctures of the Flemish family of Alost in the pattern of Oudenarde. A descendant of his sought an official position with the Lindsay family, and became armour-bearer to the Earl of Crawford, just as his ancestor was flag-bearer to Count Baldwin II of Alost on the First Crusade.

There is little evidence to support any Scots Gaelic derivation of the name Affleck from achadh-laec 'field of flat stones'. Some writers such as William Anderson in The Scottish Nation, describe such a definition as "simply absurd".

There are several Afflecks of interest.  Lord Auchinleck, the father of James Boswell, took his title from the family estate in Ayrshire.  There was a Patrick de Aghleke in Lanarkshire in 1296.  Auchinleck barely survives as a surname in Scotland, although it is remembered as that of a famous World War II general.  Affleck, appears mainly in the Borders and Aberdeenshire.  There are villages of Affleck in Lanarkshire and near Dundee. James MacVicar Affleck of Edinghame, a surgeon on the island of Jamaica, quartered his arms with those of MacVicar in Dec 1777. The Affleck of Edinghame arms illustrate a silver shield with three black bars and a red bordure.

Compiled and illustrated by Chris Lindesay, FSA Scot, heraldist and genealogist