Arms of Gavin Dunbar

My family's home was built in 1519 by Gavin Dunbar, bishop of Aberdeen. The house is called "Chaplains' Court" because initially it housed the vicars choral. Dunbar's coat of arms is inscribed over the front door.

The following house-blessing comes from somewhere in ancient Summeria, around 1000 BC:

Health, arming, sealing

And guarding may be for this house, dwelling, homestead

And building of D'NYO, RW'Y and DWM', sons of MHLPT'. Bound and sealed are

The signs which I, D'ONYO son of MHLPT', verily conquered and excommunicated. By the three

Primeval mysteries which the beginning raised up. May it be cast down against the throne of bronze and shining lead

By the bidding of the soul which is from the lineage of a harlot, which is from the lineage of the wife of

A man. Rest from the devils. Binding from the demons. Sealing from the lilitu. Charming from the wrathful amulet-spirits.

The place where the name of Manda δ-Haiia is commemorated. May you be bound, driven away, expelled and annulled from this body,

Spirit and soul, from his wife together with his male and female offspring, from his lineage and his coition, from his pillow and his bed.

Bound and sealed by the finger-nail of OYS4R, by the fingernail of OYS4R. The demon is pressed down upon every inhabited district of the earth. Bound and sealed by the signet-ring of bronze,

Iron and lead. Life is victorious over all these practices.

(This blessing was inscribed upon a metal spiral. That is why the inner lines are short, and the outer ones longer. The translator gave a talk to the Moulton Society and the Leys School, Cambridge, England some time around 1990–1992. When I discover more, I will update this web page. )

The arms of Gavin Dunbar