Descendants
of
ALEXANDER, GEORGE, DAVID, JOHN, and WILLIAM WISE [WYSE]
of
Kincardineshire, Scotland
(Last Updated: Saturday April 26, 2008)
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Scottish Anglo-Saxon Wysse Arms
ARMS: Sable (black), one chevron Argent (silver), with three Estoiles (bursting and pulsating stars), each with eight waving rays and astride d'chevronel Argent. Crest of single fortification (fort, castle, or tower) with three battlements on the Helm Argent. Family Motto: "Sapit Qui Deo Sapit" (He is wise who is wise of God)
These Arms were recorded for WYSMAN and WYSEMAN in Angus and Moray, Scotland in 1232 A.D. and 1385 A.D.; for WYSE in Moray, Scotland 1381 A.D., in Caithness, Scotland 1382 A.D., and in and around Edinbrough, Scotland 1385 A.D. These Arms were displayed on a common sable escutcheon (shield) of the Norman style borne by Anglo-Saxons named WYSSE, WYSE, WISE, and WYSEMAN in Scotland. These Arms were also displayed circa 800 A.D. on the targes (round shields) of the now obsolete Scottish WYS clan and septs in Argyleshire, Lanarkshire, Stirlingshire, Fifeshire, The Royal Burgh of Edinbrough, Dundee, and Angus, Scotland.
The original grantee of these Arms and his descendants served their Saxon and Norman Kings and Nobles, and most likely were East Anglo-Saxon warriors and mercenaries who fought the pre-medieval and medieval northern wars of Essex and York in England, and border wars along the England-Scotland border -- at least three centuries before and three centuries after the 1066 A.D. Norman Conquest of England. This Scottish variant of the Wise family Arms most likely promulgated up to medieval times from prominent Eastern Anglo-Saxon chieftains and warriors from the ancient Saxon Kingdoms, and/or from those who fled or migrated and settled in the ancient Essex, Middlesex, and Sussex areas of what is now present-day England. Our Wysse ancestors (i.e., Saxons, Jutes, and Angles) are descendants of those who sailed the North Sea from Scandinavia, starting about the mid-400s A.D., and by circa 500 A.D. founded Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms and sub-Kingdoms in Kent and Gewissae in eastern Britannia (England).
In common is that the WYSSE/WYSE and WYSEMAN Anglo-Saxons of Scotland used the same family motto "He is wise who is wise of God" and near identical Arms emblazoned with charges in numbers of three, throughout the eastern English/Scottish border, Mid-Lothian Scotland (lower S.E. Scotland), and in Greston, York (Northumbria) and Essex, England.
Below is an earlier and similar version of the Scottish WYSSE, WYSE, and WYSEMAN Arms -- as recorded in York (Kingdom of Northumbria) and Essex, England. It slightly differs with charges of three mounted knight's Pheons (lance points/covers) in lieu of Estoiles (bursting and pulsating stars). It is apparent that these English (York and Essex) Arms pre-date the Arms borne by the Scottish feudal WYSE and WYSEMAN knights and their clan, and may very well be the original family Arms granted to the feudal knight of Greston, who displayed his Arms on a black escutcheon (shield), with a single white chevron, a crest of a fortification with three battlements, and the exact same WYSE family motto as used in Scotland:
Anglo-Saxon Wyse and Wyseman Arms of Essex & York, England
Should there be an earlier variants of the WYSSE or WYSEMAN Arms than those found for the pre-500 A.D. eastern Anglo-Saxon (Jute) Kingdoms and tribes of Gewissae, Hwicce, Isle of Thane, Kent, and Sussex, they have not yet been found -- and a record most likely does not prevail today. Speculation at this writing is that all WYSE/WYSEMAN (WISE/WISEMAN) progeny found in eastern and southern England and Scotland are connected to the Arms shown above. Later variations of the above Arms were granted in southern England after 1100 A.D. to families who trace descent from the WYSE/WISE families of Devonshire, England (mentioned below).
Bearers of the Scottish version of these Arms were sanctioned in Scotland by descendants of the Saxon warrior OLIVER WYS [WYSMAN, GEWISS, GWISS] the Senior, originally of Essex (Kingdom of the eastern Anglo-Saxons), whose three prominent descendant Houses of WYSE/WISE prevailed and later became distinct (circa 1100 A.D.) in the Sydenham, Totness, and Cuddleston parishes of Devonshire, Wessex (Kingdom of the western Anglo-Saxons), England. An example of the family's migration throughout England is that all the descendants of the famous High Sheriff of Devon, Sir Thomas Wise, KB, MP (d.1629), of Mount Wise, Plymouth, England link to the WYSE House of Sydenham, of Devonshire, Wessex, England. Another example is that the prominent WISE/WYSE families of Waterford, Ireland and France, are descendants of the warrior knight Sir Andrew Wyse (b. circa 1140), of York and Devonshire, England. Sir Andrew Wyse was born in Greston, York, Kingdom of Northumbria (England), was of the WYSE family branch that established the Wise House of Greston in Devonshire, England, participated in the infamous 1171 A.D. invasion of Ireland by the Earl of Pembroke Richard de Clare (Strongbow), and was granted lands in County Waterford, Ireland for his wartime services. Also, and because of the use of the single chevron in their Arms, there appears to be WYSSE family connections, loyalties, and military services to the noble English-Scottish THORNTON families of east Newton, north Yorkshire, England, and Berkshire and The Mains of Thornton, at Coventh (now Laurencekirk), in old Kincardineshire, Scotland.
[A new and re-drawn English/Devonshire WYSE/WYSE blazons to be inserted here.]
[PLEASE NOTE: When the new drawings are completed, additional and near-identical Arms of the three prominent Devonshire Houses of WYSE/WISE they will be inserted here. These new and additional shield blazons are near-identical to those shown above, except they have three chevrons, ermine (instead of one chevron, argent), have differences in charges, i.e., the helms and crests are different, and use the family motto: "Sapere Aude" (Dare to be Wise). Almost all descendants in southern England, Ireland, and France, including the English Accomacke County, Virginia WISEs are linked to one of the three Devonshire, England Houses of WYSE/WISE. I could insert what I now have on file for these families, but in my opinion every drawing I have (so far) on these additional Devonshire WYSE/WISE blazons are incomplete and/or incorrectly drawn.]
The ancient English and Scottish WYSEMAN and WYSE surname, and its variants, are known to have derived from the ancient Jute names and surnames of Gewiss, Gwiss, Guisse, Gviss, Vis, Viss, Vice, Weis, Weisa, Weiss, Wis, Wiss, Wys, Wysman, Wyt, Wythe, Wyz, and Wyza. From all that's known at this time the surname in England, Scotland, and Ireland originated in the ancient Scandinavian and pagan Kingdoms of Saxony, Jutland, Anglia, and Sweden. Moreover, over the centuries those identified with this name and its variants propagated throughout Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany, northern Europe, England, Scotland, and Ireland. Also interesting is that Scandinavian mythology and legend avows that medieval descendants bearing the name WYSEMAN and its shortened variant WYSSE and WYSE trace back to the ancient Jute Kings Gewiss (aka: Guise), Wyt (aka: Wyth, Wythe), and Woden (aka: Wodan, Oden, Odin) -- who according to Scandinavian mythology, legend, and genealogy descend from vanquished families of Trojan warriors who fled, fought, and migrated across to northern Europe after the Trojan Wars circa 1300-1200 B.C., i.e., from the destroyed Kingdom of Troy, to the Kingdom of Thrace (European Turkey and northern Bulgaria), across northern Germania (N. Europe), and founded tribes within the Teutonic tribal Kingdoms and sub-Kingdoms of ancient Saxony, Jutland, Anglia, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, etc., with some minor Saxon tribes inhabiting in what we now know as Belgium, Bavaria, Luxemburg, Austria, and Germany.
NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE
I'm sorry, but the descendant list previously published on this page since 1998 has become hopelessly outdated, almost tripled in size, and is now too large to re-publish on this site. For those who desire more detailed and comprehensive information on our Scottish bloodline, I highly recommend procuring a copy of my published book, which contains over 10,000 entries on our ancestors, their children, their descendants, and allied families. I had 150 high quality books printed, of which 38 copies are still available for purchase. This is a quality book that I've spent over 28 years compiling for the information of our families. I am selling them on a non-profit basis, i.e., my actual cost plus mailing charges. If you are interested, a more detailed description of our family book is contained in the following announcement:
"Announcing the publication and limited availability of the new book “Seeds of a Saxon, William Wise (1744-1816) of Bulloch County, Georgia, Ancestors, Descendants, and Allied Family Members,” Family Heritage Publishers, SLC, 585 pages, 2005, as compiled, edited and privately published by John F. Wise, et al.
This book is a comprehensive family research tool, and it identifies 13 generations of nearly 10,000 related individuals of the South Carolina “Scottish” Wyse/Wise family -- whose descendant William Wise (1744-1816) settled and populated “Buelahland” Georgia since the end of the American Revolutionary War. In addition to a short surname and ancient Saxon history, an image and description of our Wysse “Scottish” Arms (i.e., Coat of Arms) and family motto, the book identifies our family’s oldest known “Wysse” ancestors found in medieval records of Coventh (Laurencekirk), Arbuthnott and Maryculter, Kincardineshire, Scotland (now part of southern Aberdeen) ... whose descendant immigrated to the Pee Dee River “Scots” Settlement area within the Charleston District, English Province of South Carolina (location now in Marion County) ... and our Scottish ancestor's southward migration to the colonial Newberry/Edgefield and Barnwell Districts of “lower” South Carolina.
Focus of the book is on the descendants of our antecedent William Wise (1744-1816) who moved to locations near and in Statesboro, Bulloch County, Georgia. The book is designed for family researchers, has a quality hard cover, is large sized, i.e., 8.5 x 11 x 1-5/8 inches, has 585 pages, is indexed, and weighs 4.1 pounds. This book will make a great addition to every descendant and allied family's library."
Non-profit book cost is $55.00 USD, plus $5.00 for boxing and UPS shipping & handling. Your complete postal address (no P.O. Box numbers) is required for proper delivery. Please mail your order and payment (check) to:
John F. Wise
116 W. Vanderbilt Loop
Montgomery, Alabama 36109-3234
Telephone: (334) 271-5115