The Stewart Tartans

[Alan H]

Lordy, but there's a mess of them.

How about the permutations of the Royal Stewart subset? There's what's called the "Black Stewart" or "Mourning Stewart". I"ve seen a dark Stewart where the "backround color" is a dark navy blue. Then there's a "Gray Stewart" which I happen to really like. And of course the "Dress Stewart" in red with a white 'background".

Thing is, that's just the permutations on the well-known red-striped Stewart. There are variations on variations.

Why so many? What's the background behind the "Black Stewart", "Navy Blue Stewart" and "Gray Stewart"? Are these just variations made up by the weaving companies to increase the breadth of their offerings or is there some actual historical background, here?

**probably not a lot of history here because the Bonnie Prince lost out and his Cardinal brother died without male issue long, long BEFORE textile companies started associating clans and tartans.**