The Barons of the Bachuil
While the origins of the allodial Barons of the Bachuil will undoubtedly be of some interest to all historians, especially those who have studied the later years of feudalism in Scotland, the family’s privilege that immediately captures the attention of heraldry students is the unusual chapeau above the baronial arms.
To Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, Lord Lyon King of Arms 1945-69, we owe the present code that categorises armorially Scotland’s feudal barons ~

“Gules doubled Ermine, Barons heretofore in possession of their fief or jurisdiction ; Azure doubled Ermine, Barons in respect of being Chiefs of Baronial Houses who no longer possess the fief or baronial jurisdiction. The ermine doubling is altered to contre-ermine in the case of Barons of ‘Argyll and the Isles’ or in any of the old Earldoms, and Representatives of such no longer in possession of the fief or jurisdiction at the time of applying for the chapeau receive the cap azure .......”

But the Keeper of the Bachuil, the pastoral staff of St Moluag, is the Hereditary Abbot of Lismore, the Baron a Bachuil, and as such is categorised as a “Baron by the Grace of God”, an allodial baron, and the Lord Lyon has confirmed to him a Chapeau Gules doubled Vair, as may be seen between the shield and the helm in this recently painted achievement.
FREE
Barons of the Bachuil PDF file
The origins of the allodial Barons of the Bachuil have been described by Niall Livingstone of Bachuil, yr, in a PDF file, accessible from here, that requires Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 or later to read it.
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