Duart Castle Cemetery, Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland, Part V, May 2014

Scottish Myths & Legends

DIRLETON CASTLE – EAST LOTHIAN – SCOTLAND

Clan MacLean on History visit by Lochbuie on the Isle of Mull, Scotland

Clan MacLean

Clan MacLean (/mækˈleɪn/ (listen); Scottish Gaelic: Clann MhicIllEathain [ˈkʰl̪ˠãũn̪ˠ vĩçˈkʲiʎɛhɛn]) is a Highlands Scottish clan. They are one of the oldest clans in the Highlands and owned large tracts of land in Argyll as well as the Inner Hebrides. Many early MacLeans became famous for their honour, strength and courage in battle. They were involved in clan skirmishes with the Mackinnons, Camerons, MacDonalds and Campbells, as well as all of the Jacobite risings.

History

Origins of the Clan

There are several different origins for the surname MacLean, however, the clan surname is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic MacGilleEathain. This was the patronymic form of the personal name meaning “servant of (Saint) John“.^[3] Or the “son of the servant of Saint John.^[4] The clan’s rise to power began in 852 with a Papal Bull of Charter & Protection for the Iona Abbey, issued by Pope Leo IV. While marriages with clan MacDonald in the late 1200s, clan Bruce in 1300s, clan MacKenzie in the 1400s brought the clan MacLean into the Scottish royal sphere.

Gillean of the Battleaxe

The founder of the clan was a Scottish warlord descended from the royal Cenél Loairn named Gillean of the Battle Axe . The stories of Gillean being descended from the FitzGerald dynasty are fictitious, as the FitzGeralds are of Cambro-Norman descent and the Macleans are of Gaelic descent, having been in Scotland since the Dalriadic migration from northeastern Ulster in the earlier centuries C.E. Gillean’s great-grandfather was Old Dugald of Scone, born ca. 1050 during the reign of King Macbeth of the House of Moray, the principal royal line of the Cenél Loairn. He was a Judex (judge) and Councillor to King David of Scots. Gillean fought at the Battle of Largs in 1263 during the Scottish-Norwegian War where the Scottish were victorious.

Gillean’s son Malise mac Gilleain (from the Gaelic Maoliosa “Servant of Jesus”) was thought by some to have taken the name Gillemor in 1263 and is also said to have led his followers at the Battle of Largs in 1263. He wrote his name as “Gillemor Mcilyn (“son of Gillean”), County of Perth” on the third Ragman Rolls of 1296, swearing fealty to Edward I of England.

Gillean’s great-great-grandson was Iain Dhu Maclean who settled on the Isle of Mull. One of his sons was Lachainn Lubanach (Lachlan) who was the progenitor of the Macleans of Duart and the other son was Eachainn Reafanach (Hector) who was the progenitor of the Clan Maclaine of Lochbuie. The Macleans of Duart married into the family of John of Islay, Lord of the Isles (chief of Clan Donald). By the end of the 15th century the Macleans owned the isles Mull, Tiree, Islay, Jura, Knapdale as well as Morvern in Argyll and Lochaber in mainland Scotland.

Wars of Scottish Independence

“Mac Lean” illustration by R. R. McIan, from James Logan’s The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, 1845

The Clan MacLean are said to have fought in support of Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

The Early MacLeans at Duart

By the 14th century, the Clan MacLean had become a dominant force in the Western Isles. In about 1364 Lachlan Lùbanach MacLean (1325-1405) of Duart, 5th Chief, solidified the MacLean alliance with the Macdonalds through marriage.

His bride, Mary Macdonald, was not only the daughter of John Macdonald, first Lord of the Isles, but also the granddaughter of Robert II, King of Scots. The families were close enough related that the approval of the church was sought. The papal dispensation issued by Pope Urban V on May 3 of 1367 approving the already consummated marriage is the first mention of a MacLean in any official records.. The papal dispensation blessed the marriage retroactively as insurance that it could not be annulled for political purposes.

Mary’s marriage dowry included Duart Castle and much of Mull. Lachlan Lùbanach also was granted the hereditary position of Lieutenant-General of the Isles. He was the recognized as the superior MacLean on Mull by the Lord of the Isles. Hector (1328-1407), his younger brother, was in the late 1300s given Lochbuie by the Lord of the Isles.

Fifteenth century and clan conflicts

During the 14th and 15th century many battles were fought between the Clan Maclean and Clan Mackinnon.

In 1411 the Clan MacLean fought as Highlanders at the Battle of Harlaw near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire on 24 July 1411 against an Army of Scottish Lowlanders. Their enemy was the forces of the Duke of Albany and Earl of Mar. The MacLeans were led by “Red Hector of the Battles”, the 6th Chief, who engaged in single combat with the chief of Clan Irvine, known as “Sir Alexander de Irwine”. After a legendary struggle both died of the wounds inflicted upon each other.

The Battle of Corpach took place in 1439. It was fought between the Clan Maclean and the Clan Cameron. In 1484 the Clan MacLean fought at the Battle of Bloody Bay on the side of the Lord of the Isles, chief of Clan Donald.

In 1493 the Lordship of the Isles was abolished and Duart and Lochbuie MacLeans held their lands by charter directly from the king, thus Lochbuie became an clan independent of Duart^.

Sixteenth century and the Anglo-Scottish Wars

In 1513 During the Anglo-Scottish Wars, Lachlan Maclean of Duart was killed at the Battle of Flodden. The clan extended its influence to other Hebridean islands such as Tiree and Islay and onto the mainland. In 1560 the Clan MacLean, joined by their allies the Clan Mackay and Clan MacLeod became part of the Gallowglass, who were ferocious mercenaries of Norse-Gaelic descent who served in Ireland for King Shane O’Neill.

The rising power of the Clan Campbell during the sixteenth century brought them into opposition with the Macleans. Several marriages were arranged between Macleans and Campbells to avoid feuding, however one of these went badly wrong when chief Lachlan Maclean married Lady Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of the Earl of Argyll, chief of Clan Campbell. The match was not a happy one and Maclean took drastic action by marooning his wife on a rock in the sea, leaving her to drown.^[4] However she was rescued by some passing fishermen who took her back to her kin and Maclean was later killed by her brother in Edinburgh in 1523.

The Battle of the Western Isles was fought in 1586, on the island of Jura, between the Clan MacDonald of Sleat and the Clan MacLean. In 1588 the Clan MacLean attempted to capture Mingarry Castle seat of the chief of the Clan MacDonald of Ardnamurchan, using Spanish mercenaries from the San Juan de Sicilia.

One thing that did unite the Macleans and the Campbells was their Protestant faith as well as their dislike for the MacDonalds.

 Sir Lachland Maclean harried the MacDonalds of Islay causing so much carnage that both he and the MacDonald chief were declared outlaws in 1594 by the Privy Council. However Lachlan redeemed himself when in the same year he fought for the king at the Battle of Glenlivet, on the side of the Earl of Argyll and Clan Campbell, against the Earl of Huntly and Clan Gordon.

Sir Lachlan Mor MacLean

The Battle of Traigh Ghruinneart took place on 5 August 1598. It was fought between the Clan Donald and Clan Maclean on the Isle of Islay. Chief Sir Lachlan Mor Maclean was killed. 

After Sir Lachlan MacLean’s death in 1598, his sons took revenge on his suspected murderers, the MacDonalds, by carrying out a massacre of the people of Islay which lasted for three days. After obtaining “Letters of Fire and Sword” he was assisted in this by the MacLeods, MacNeils,and Camerons.

The quarrel between the MacLeans and the Macdonalds of Islay and Kintyre was, at the outset, merely a dispute as to the right of occupancy of the crown lands called the Rinns of Islay, but it soon involved these tribes in a long and bloody feud, and eventually led to the near destruction of them both. The Macleans, who were in possession, claimed to hold the lands in dispute as tenants of the crown, but the privy council decided that Macdonald of Islay was really the crown tenant.

Seventeenth century and Civil War

The charge of the Macleans at Kilsyth

On 3 September 1631 Sir Lachlan Maclean created a Baronet of Nova Scotia. Later during the Scottish Civil War he was devoted to Charles I of England and called out his clan to fight for James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose who was the king’s captain general. 

The Clan Maclean fought as royalists at the Battle of Inverlochy (1645), Battle of Auldearn and Battle of Kilsyth, alongside men from Clan MacDonald, and other allies from Ireland raised by Alasdair MacColla. Their enemy was the Scottish Argyll government forces of Clan Campbell, led by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll. Through cunning tactics the Royalist force of 1500 MacDonalds and MacLeans defeated the Argyll Campbell force of 3000.

In 1647 the MacLean’s Duart Castle was attacked and laid siege to by the Argyll government troops of Clan Campbell, but they were defeated and driven off by the royalist troops of Clan Maclean. The Battle of Inverkeithing took place in 1651 where Sir Hector Maclean, 18th chief was killed.

Archibald Campbell the 9th Earl, son of the Marquess of Argyll, invaded the Clan Maclean lands on the Isle of Mull and garrisoned Duart Castle in 1678. The Campbells had control of Duart and most of the Maclean estates by 1679. When the Stuarts again called for support the Macleans hurried to their standard and Sir John Maclean, fifth Baronet fought at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689,  in support of John Graham, 1st Viscount of Dundee.

Eighteenth century and the Jacobite risings

The Clan MacLean supported the Jacobite rising of 1715 and their chief, Sir Hector MacLean, was created Lord Maclean in the Jacobite peerage in 1716. However, the chief was exiled to France, where he founded, and was the first Grand Master of, the Grand Lodge of Freemasons in Paris. 

General Wade‘s report on the Highlands in 1724, estimated the clan strength at 150 men. Hector returned for the Jacobite rising of 1745 but was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London until 1747. He died in 1750 in Rome. During the rising of 1745 the clan had been led by Maclean of Drimmin who was killed at the Battle of Culloden. Duart Castle then fell into ruin.

After the defeat of the Jacobites, the MacLeans then served Great Britain with distinction. From that time onwards, all of the chiefs have been soldiers. Sir Fitzroy MacLean, the tenth Baronet, fought at the Battle of Sevastopol.

Allan MacLean of Torloisk fought at the Battle of Culloden. He later commanded the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) in the Battle of Quebec.

Allan McLane served in the American Revolution.

Castles

Duart Castle, historic seat of the chiefs of the Clan Maclean

New Breachacha Castle (left) and Old Breachacha Castle (right), both once held by the Macleans

Castles that have been held by the Clan MacLean have included amongst others:

• Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull is the historic seat of the chiefs of the Clan Maclean. The castle is perched on a rock guarding the Sound of Mull. Dating from the thirteenth century it consists of a strong curtain wall as well as a substantial tower or keep that was added in about 1390.
• There are also later ranges that were built within the courtyard. Duart Castle was abandoned after the Jacobite rising of 1745 and it then became derelict and roofless. However, in 1911 it was acquired by Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 10th Baronet, chief of Clan Maclean who restored it. The castle is still owned by the Macleans of Duart although they now live in Perthshire. The castle is open to the public in the summer. The exterior of Duart Castle was used in the film “Entrapment” with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery, whose mother, Euphemia McBain “Effie” – née McLean – was a Maclean.
• Ardgour House, near Corran, was originally held by the MacDonalds but passed to the Macleans of Ardgour in the fifteenth century.
• This branch of the Clan Maclean were known as the Clan Tearlach. Ewan Maclean, 2nd of Ardgour was killed at the Battle of Bloody Bay in about 1482. They followed James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, but Allen, the seventh lord was pardoned. The Ardgour Macleans did not take part in the Jacobite risings and now live at Salachan at Ardgour.
• Aros Castle on the Isle of Mull, Argyll was originally built by the Clan MacDougall, was then held by the Clan Donald, Lord of the Isles before passing to the Macleans after 1493.
• Aros Castle, Glengarrisdale, on the island of Jura, was held by the Macleans who came into possession of the north part of Jura. The southern part of Jura was originally held by the MacDonalds but by 1620 had passed to the Clan Campbell who complained that they were being harassed by the Macleans. This resulted in a battle in 1647 when the Campbells surprised the Macleans at Glen Garrisdale and killed many of them. There is a tradition that the severed head and two limb bones of one of the Macleans adorned a cairn near MacLean’s Skull Cave. The castle was still in use when in 1690 the Campbell constable took action against the Macleans who had not taken the Oath of Allegiance to William of Orange.
• Breachacha Castle, on the island of Coll, was held by the MacDonalds, then the Clan MacNeil and then by the Macleans. In 1431 it was seized by Maclean of Coll, but they feuded with the Macleans of Duart, who in 1578 captured the castle. In 1679 Donald Maclean of Coll garrisoned it against the Clan Campbell chief, the Earl of Argyll. New Breachacha Castle was built nearby in 1750 and the old castle then became ruinous. Dr Johnston and Boswell visited the castle in 1773. In 1886 the old castle had passed to the Stewarts of Glenbuchie but it was bought by a descendant of the Macleans in 1965.
• Cairnburgh Castle, Treshnish Isles, Argyll, was originally held by the MacDougalls, then the MacDonalds and then by the Macleans of Duart. 
• One story is that the chief MacLean of Duart imprisoned the chief of the Clan Maclaine of Lochbuie in the castle to prevent him producing an heir and that Maclanie’s only female companion was an old, not overly pleasing woman, whom he made pregnant. Maclaine was murdered but the woman escaped giving birth to a son who recovered Lochbuie.
•  In 1504 James IV of Scotland had the castle besieged when it was held by Lachlan MacLean.
•  In 1647 the castle surrendered to the Covenanter General, David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark, and in the 1650s many of the books and records that had been rescued from Iona were destroyed in a siege by Oliver Cromwell’s forces. The castle held out against attacks by the Campbells in 1679 but was surrendered in 1692. The castle was garrisoned during both the Jacobite rising of 1715 and 1745.
• Caisteal nan Con, (castle of dogs) near Lochaline, was held by the MacLeans of Duart and is said to have been used as a hunting lodge by those occupying Aros Castle.
• Caisteal nan Con, Isle of Torsa, originally held by the Campbells, then the MacDougalls and then the Macleans. It was probably also a hunting lodge.
• Castle Loch Heylipol, Tiree, was originally held by the MacDonalds and then by the Macleans, who were besieged in it by the Campbells in 1678–79.
• Castle Spioradain, near Inverness, site of a castle formerly on an island that was held by the Macleans of Dochgarroch in around 1420. The name means castle of spirits and the story goes that during a feud between the Macleans and the Clan Cameron, several Camerons were executed and their bodies were hung from the walls. The ghosts of the dead are said to have terrorised the castle and the area. The site was destroyed when the Caledonian Canal was built and human bones were found.
• Dochgarroch, near Inverness, site of a castle held from the sixteenth century by the MacLeans who were known as the Clan Tearlach and who were allied to the Chattan Confederation. This clan of Macleans fought as Jacobites at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689 and the Battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715. This line now live near Glen Urquhart and also near Edinburgh.
• Drimnin Castle, near Lochline, Highland, site of a castle held by the Macleans of Coll in the sixteenth century, but was demolished in the 1830s.
• Maclean of Drimin led the clan during the Jacobite rising of 1745 and he was killed at the Battle of Culloden.
• Dun Chonnuill Castle, on one of the Garvellachs, Argyll, is a ruinous castle that was originally held by the MacDougalls, then the MacDonalds and then by the Macleans who now live at Strachur House in Argyll and are hereditary keepers and captains of Dunconnel.
• Eilean Amalaig Castle, Isle of Mull, is where the Macleans of Duart marshaled their birlinns or galleys.
• Glensanda Castle, near Lochaline is a ruinous castle that was originally held by the MacMasters but passed to the Macleans in the fifteenth century.
• Gorm Castle or Loch Gorm Castle on the Isle of Islay was originally held by the MacDonalds and then briefly by the Macleans. The castle and island later passed to the Campbells and was still in use in 1745, but is now very ruinous.
• Kinlochaline Castle, near Lochaline, was originally held by the Clan MacInnes but passed to the Macleans after the MacInnes chief was murdered along with his sons by the Clan Mackinnon.
• Strachur Castle in Argyll was later replaced by Strachur House and is now occupied by the Macleans of Dunconnel, heredary keepers of Dun Chonnuill Castle. They were made Baronets in 1957.
• Tarbert Castle, Tarbert, Argyll and Bute, although a royal castle the lands were held by the Clan MacAlister and then by the Macleans.
• Torloisk House, on the Isle of Mull, Argyll was held by the Macleans of Torloisk.

Clan Chiefs

Main article: Chiefs of Clan Maclean

Chief

• Sir Lachlan Hector Charles Maclean of Duart and Morvern Bt, CVO, Deputy Lieutenant of Argyll and Bute, 28th Clan Chief and 12th Baronet of Morvern

Chieftains

• Robin Maclean of Ardgour
• The Very Rev Canon Allan M. Maclean of Dochgarroch
• Sir Charles Edward Maclean of Dunconnel Bt, 2nd Baronet of Strachur and Glensluain, Baron Strachur, and 16th Hereditary Keeper and Captain of Dunconnel in the Isles of The Sea
• Nicolas Maclean of Pennycross
• Richard Compton Maclean of Torloisk
• Malcolm Fraser Maclean of Kingairloch

Septs

Septs are family names associated with a particular clan. Other family names associated with the clan include Auchaneson, Beath, Beaton, Black, Clanachan, Dowart, Dowie, Duart, Duie, Garvie, Gillan, Gillon, Gilzean, Hoey, Huie, Lane, Lean, Leitch, MacBeath, MacBeth, MacBheath, MacCormick, MacEachan, Macfadin, MacFadyen, Macfadzean, Macfergan, Macgeachan, MacGilvra, Macildowie, Macilduy, Macilvera, MacKlin, MacLergain, Maclergan, MacPhaiden, MacRankin, MacVeagh, MacVey, Paden, Patten, Rankin, and Rankine.^[15]

Clan profile

Sean Connery wearing a kilt with the Clan MacLean hunting tartan, his mother was a MacLean

Symbols

Members of Clan Maclean show their allegiance to their clan and their chief by wearing a crest badge with bears the heraldic crest and heraldic motto of the clan chief. The blazon of the heraldic crest within a clan members crest badge is A tower embattled Argent. The heraldic motto upon the crest badge is VIRTUE MINE HONOUR.

Long before crest badges were used by members of clans, it is said that plants were used as badges. These clan badges consisted of plants and were worn in bonnets in addition to being used as a banner and attached to a pole or spear. The clan badge attributed to Clan Maclean is Crowberry.

There are two slogans attributed to Clan Maclean. Slogans, are sometimes said to be war cries, other times they are said to be rallying points for the clan. Slogans used by clans generally appear as a second motto within the chiefs arms. Slogans of Clan Maclean include: Bàs no Beatha (from Scottish Gaelic: “Death or life”) and Fear eile airson Eachann (from Scottish Gaelic: “Another for Hector”).

My Maternal 6th. Great Scottish Grandfather, Hugh “Hew” MacLean

Name: Hugh MacLean (aka Hew and Heugh McLean), son of Alexander MacLean and Mary Campbell

Born: 1699 in Tyree, Argyll, Scotland.

Note: found no death records for anyone in Rothsay, Bute Scotland FHL film. Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950 about Hugh Mclean Name: Hugh Mclean Gender: Male Baptism Date: 16 Apr 1699 Baptism Place: , Tyree, Argyll, Scotland Father: Alexander Mclean Mother: Mary Mclean FHL Film Number: 304660 Reference ID: – 2:15D235F

Christened: 16 April 1699 in Tyree, Argyll, Scotland.

Married: Margaret Campbell on 8 February 1724 in Barr by Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland.

Margaret was born 1701 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, daughter of Alexander Campbell and Isobell Hutson.

She was christened 9 April 1701 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. 

They had one daughter, that I have records for, Catharine MacLean, my 5th. great maternal  grandmother.

Source Date

 

8 February 1724

Source Title Marriage record

 

Heugh McLinch, “Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910”

Web Page

 

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTKR-18Z

Where the Record Is Found (Citation)

 

“Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTKR-18Z : 11 February 2020), Heugh McLinch, 1724.

They emigrated from Scotland in 1740 to New York. Hugh and Margaret (Campbell) MacLean both died in New York.  Hugh and Margaret appeared in the 1790 U.S. Census for Champlain, Clinton, New York, USA.

Boat on Lake Champlain, Clinton, New York, USA

Hugh died after 1790 Census in Champlain, Clinton, New York, USA, and Margaret died after the 1800 U.S. Census. Hugh was not listed in the 1800 Census but Margaret (Campbell) MacLean was.

Forest in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950 about Hugh Mclean
Name: Hugh Mclean
Gender: Male
Baptism Date: 16 Apr 1699
Baptism Place: , Tyree, Argyll, Scotland
Father: Alexander Mclean
Mother: Mary Mclean
FHL Film Number: 304660
Reference ID: – 2:15D235F

Births & Baptisms

You searched for: Surname: “McLean”; Surname Option: Fuzzy; Forename: “Hugh”; Forename Option: Traditional Soundex; Sex: “Any”; Date From: 01 January 1690; Date To: 31 December 1700; County: ARGYLL;

Data Image Extract
1 16/04/1699 MCLEAN HUGH ALEXANDER MCLEAN/MARY MCLEAN FRCH2V1P92 M TYREE – CHURCH RECORDS /ARGYLL 551/0C 0010 0000

Duart Castle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Duart Castle, Isle of Mull
Duart Castle
Clan Maclean \ M aclaine  e
Branc hes Maclean of Duart · Maclean of Coll · Maclean of ArdgourLands Ardgour · Coll · CastlesDuart Castle · Glensanda Castle SeptsBeath · Beaton · Black · Garvie · Lean · MacBeath · MacBheath · Mac Beth · MacEachan · Macilduy · MacLaine · McLean · MacLergain · Maclergan · MacRankin · MacVeagh · MacVey · Rankin

Duart Castle or Caisteal Dhubhairt in Scottish Gaelic is a castle on the Isle of Mull, off the west coast of Scotland, within the council area of Argyll and Bute. The castle dates back to the 13th century and was the seat of Clan MacLean.

History

In 1350 Lachlan Lubanach Maclean of Duart, the 5th Clan Chief, married Mary, daughter of the John of Islay, Lord of the Isles and she was given Duart as her dowry.

In 1647, Duart Castle was attacked and laid siege to by the Argyll government troops of Clan Campbell, but they were defeated and driven off by the Royalist troops of Clan MacLean.

In September 1653, a Cromwellian task force of six ships anchored off the castle, but the MacLeans had already fled to Tiree. A storm blew up on the 13 September and three ships were lost, including HMS Swan.

In 1678, Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, son of the Marquess of Argyll, successfully invaded the Clan MacLean lands on the Isle of Mull and Sir John MacLean, 4th Baronet fled the castle and withdrew to Cairnbulg Castle, and afterward to Kintail under the protection of the Earl of Seaforth.

In 1691, Duart Castle was surrendered by Sir John MacLean, 4th Baronet to Argyll. The Campbell clan kept a garrison there, but soon after the that defeat, the Campbells also demolished the stone house of Torloisk, and after loading the furnishings, the door and window sills, joists and slates from the house aboard a galley, they carried away their loot. The stones from the walls they scattered over the moor. Donald MacLean, 5th Laird of Torloisk used some of the stones to build a cottage for his family close to the site of the castle . In 1751, the castle was abandoned.

Descendants of Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll sold the castle in 1801, to MacQuarrie, who in turn parted with it to Campbell of Possil, (who kept it as a ruin within the grounds of his own estate to the north, Torosay Castle), who later on sold the Torosay Estate to A. C. Guthrie in 1865, and on September 11, 1911, the ruin was separated from the rest of the Torosay Estate and was bought by Sir Fitzroy Donald MacLean, the 26th Chief of the Clan MacLean and restored.

Trivia:  The castle was used as a location in the 1999 film Entrapment, starring Sean Connery (who has MacLean ancestry on his mother’s side) and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The castle also features prominently in the 1971 film When Eight Bells Toll, starring Anthony Hopkins.  It is also the setting for the base of Buffy Summers in the first half of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight.

References: “MacLean”. Electric Scotland. http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/m/maclean2.html. Retrieved 2007-08-26. “The castle dates from the thirteenth century, and was repaired and enlarged by Hector Mor MacLean, who was Lord of Duart from 1523 till 1568. In 1691, it was besieged by Argyll, and Sir John MacLean, the chief of that time, was forced to surrender it. After that date, though occasionally occupied by troops, the stronghold gradually fell to ruins, and the Duart properties passed to other hands till Sir Fitzroy repurchased Duart itself in 1912.”Duart Castle”. Duart Castle. http://www.duartcastle.com/castle/castle_briefhistory.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

“In 1350, Lachlan Lubanach, the 5th Chief, married Mary MacDonald, the daughter of the Lord of the Isles and she was given Duart as her dowry.”
MacLean, John Patterson (1889). A History of the Clan MacLean from Its First Settlement at Duard Castle, in the Isle of Mull, to the Present Period: Including a Genealogical Account of Some of the Principal Families Together with Their Heraldry, Legends, Superstitions, Etc.. R. Clarke & Company. http://books.google.com/books?id=tQs2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA224&dq=%22Laird+of+Brolas%22&ei=b4ikS aD5JJHIM5uWrb8B.

“The MacLeans, not yet recovered from the disastrous effects of the battle of Inverkeithing, were upon this occasion illy prepared to resist the invasion of such a force. The Campbells landed in Mull in three different places, without opposition, the inhabitants contenting themselves with removing into the mountains and fastnesses of the island for protection, with their cattle. The young chief, to shield him from personal harm, was sent to the castle of Cairnbulg, and afterward to Kintail under the care of the Earl of Seaforth.”

 Fryer, Mary Beacock, Allan Maclean, Jacobite General: The life of an eighteenth century career soldier, Dundurn Press, Toronto, 1987, p.16

“Sir Fitzroy MacLean”. The Times. November 23, 1936. http://www.hussards-photos.com/UK/UK_Yeomanry_WestKent_CPA1.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.

“Sir Fitzroy Donald MacLean, Bt., who died yesterday at Duart Castle, Isle of Mull, at the age of 101, Chief of his Clan and a Crimean veteran, was one of the best known of the “grand old men” of Scotland. When a boy in his early teens he was taken by his father to see the ruins of Duart Castle, burnt to the ground two centuries before, and then made a vow to restore it to its former glory. The vow was redeemed in 1912, when the yellow banner of the Chief of the Clan once more floated over the castle walls amid the rejoicings of the chieftains and clansmen from all parts of the world. …”MacLean, John Patterson (1912). Renaissance of the clan MacLean. http://books.google.com/books?id=7881AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA46&lpg=PA45&ots=5DdotsKzOG&dq=%22

Sir+John+Maclean%22&output=text#c_top. “… who in turn parted with it to Campbell of Possil, who later on sold it to A. C. Guthrie in 1865, and on September 11, 1911, it was sold to the present chief of MacLean, the official announcement having been made by MacIlleathan, himself, before the annual meeting of the Clan MacLean Association, held in Glasgow, on the evening of October 25, 1911. But the public journals had taken it up before, and the news rapidly spread to every place where the English language was spoken. Letters of warm-hearted congratulations were sent to the Chief from all quarters, and the event awakened a responsive enthusiasm in the hearts of the clansmen.”

death and second marriage info, Ancestry.com

The name MacLean is derived from the Gaelic “mac gille Eoin” – son of the servant of John. The spelling “MacLaine” is perhaps a better guide to how it should be pronounced. In its early days, the clan was known as Clan Gillean (which gave rise to the surname Gilzean, more often found in the Lowlands). “Gillean of the Battleaxe” is said to be the founder of the clan and he fought at the Battle of Largs against the Vikings in 1263.

His great-great-grandson settled in Mull and in 1390, Donald, Lord of the Isles gave land to his two brothers-in-law, thus starting the two main branches of the clan – MacLean of Duart and MacLaine of Lochbuie (both on the island of Mull where the name is still frequently found). The clan extended its influence to other Hebridean islands such as Tiree and Islay and onto the mainland.

“Red Hector of the Battles” from Duart fought for the MacDonald Lord of the Isles at the Battle of Harlaw in 1411 and Lachlan of Duart was killed at the Battle of Flodden. Sir Lachlan MacLean was made a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1631 and he brought his clan to support the Marquis of Montrose campaign on behalf of King Charles I. The clan was often in conflict with the Campbells and in 1679 the Campbells gained possession of Duart when the MacLeans fell into debt. The MacLeans rose in support of the Jacobite Uprising in both 1715 and 1745 – the clan chief was killed at the Battle of Culloden. Castle Duart, the traditional home of the MacLeans, fell into ruins but was restored early in the 20th century by Sir Fitzroy Donald MacLean and is once again the seat of the clan chief.
Igi Lists the children. source: SharonMcLean1, 25 July 2019

Duart Castle – The Full Story

The Isle of Mull’s best-known historical attraction and one of the most spectacular castles in all of Scotland, here is a review of the excellent Duart Castle.

Drone footage of the exterior shows off its dramatic placement facing out menacingly into the Sound of Mull and we talk through its origins and history in depth.

#DuartCastle #Scotland #Outlander #castles #drone

Visit the Scotlanders website: https://www.thescotlanders.com/

Follow the Scotlanders on Twitter: https://twitter.com/scotlanders

Visit Neil’s website: https://travelswithakilt.com

Follow Neil on Twitter: https://twitter.com/travelwithakilt

Visit David’s website: http://castlehunter.scot

Follow David on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCastleHunter

LAST OF THE MOHICANS – THE GAEL – Royal Scots Dragoon

My Maternal 33rd. Great Irish Grandfather, Eochaid IX Feidhlioch MacFionn, Ri na h’Eireann, 93rd. King of Ireland

Ireland’s Counties and Provinces

Name: Eochaidh Feidhlioch MacFionn, Rí na h’Éireann 
Gender: Male
Birth: circa 60 B.C.
Ireland
Death: 142 B.C. (66-74) 
Tara, Meath, Ireland
Place of Burial: Irlanda (Ireland)
Immediate Family:
Son of Finn MacFionlogha, King in Ireland {Legendary} and Benia ingen Crimthainn

Husband of Cloth Fionn ingen Echdach

Father of Bres, Nár and Lothar Findemna mac Echdach; Clothra . ingen Echach; Maedhb ingen Echdach, Queen of Connaught; Mugain Aitinchairchech ingen Echdach; Derbriu . mac Echdach and 2 others

Brother of Ailill Angubae and Eochu Airem mac Fionn, Rí na h’Éireann

Added by: Mike Simpson on August 21, 2007
Managed by: Esther ROWE Irish and 68 others
Curated by: Erin Spiceland

Saint-Patrick’s-Church-Tara-Meath-Ireland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eochu or Eochaid Feidlech (“the enduring”), son of Finn, was, according to medieval Irish legends and historical traditions, a High King of Ireland. He is best known as the father of the legendary queen Medb of Connacht.
According to the 12th century Lebor Gabála Érenn, he took power when he defeated the previous High King, Fachtna Fáthach, in the Battle of Leitir Rúaid. The Middle Irish saga Cath Leitrech Ruibhe tells the story of this battle. While Fachtna Fáthach was away from Tara on a visit to Ulster, Eochu, then king of Connacht, raised an army, had the provincial kings killed and took hostages from Tara. When news reached Fachtna at Emain Macha, he raised an army of Ulstermen and gave battle at Leitir Rúaid in the Corann (modern County Sligo), but was defeated and beheaded by Eochu. Eochaid Sálbuide, the king of Ulster, was also killed. Fergus mac Róich covered the Ulster army’s retreat, and Eochu marched to Tara.
Various Middle Irish tales give him a large family. His wife was Cloithfinn, and they had six daughters, Derbriu, Eile, Mugain, Eithne, Clothru and Medb, and four sons, a set of triplets known as the three findemna, and Conall Anglondach. Derbriu was the lover of Aengus of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Her mother-in-law, Garbdalb, turned six men into pigs for the crime of eating nuts from her grove, and Derbriu protected them for a year until they were killed by Medb. When Conchobar mac Nessa became king of Ulster, Eochu gave four of his daughters, Mugain, Eithne, Clothru and Medb, to him in marriage in compensation for the death of his supposed father, Fachtna Fáthach. Eithne bore him a son, Furbaide, who was born by posthumous caesarian section after Medb drowned her.

Clothru, according to one tradition, bore him his eldest son Cormac Cond Longas, although other traditions make him the son of Conchobar by his own mother, Ness. Medb bore Conchobar a son called Amalgad, but later left him, and Eochu set her up as queen of Connacht. Some time after that, Eochu held an assembly at Tara, which both Conchobar and Medb attended. The morning after the assembly, Conchobar followed Medb down to the river Boyne where she had gone to bathe, and raped her. Eochu made war against Conchobar on the Boyne, but was defeated.

The three findemna tried to overthrow their father in the Battle of Druimm Criaich. The night before the battle, their sister Clothru, afraid that they would die without an heir, seduced all three of them, and the future High King Lugaid Riab nDerg, was conceived. The next day they were killed, and their father, seeing their severed heads, swore that no son should directly succeed his father to the High Kingship of Ireland.

He ruled for twelve years, and died of natural causes at Tara, succeeded by his brother Eochu Airem. The Lebor Gabála synchronises his reign with the dictatorship of Julius Caesar (48-44 BC). The chronology of Geoffrey Keating’s Foras Feasa ar Éireann dates his reign to 94-82 BC, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 143-131 BC.
Preceded by:
Fachtna Fáthach High King of Ireland
LGE 1st century BC
FFE 94-82 BC
AFM 143-131 BC Succeeded by
Eochaid Airem

Tara, County Meath, Ireland

Charleville Castle, Tullamore, Offaly, Ireland

My Maternal 32nd. Irish Great Grandfather, Bress Nar Lothar, High King of Ireland

Beautiful Road and Trees, Ireland

 

Name: Bres, Nár and Lothar Findemna MacEchdach, High King of Ireland
Birth: circa 0132 B.C. in Leinster, Ireland

Leinster, Ireland Leinster – (/ˈlɛnstər/ — Irish: Laighin / Cúige Laighean — pronounced [ˈl̪ˠaːjɪnʲ] / [ˈkuːɟə ˈl̪ˠaːjɪnˠ]) is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. … However, the province is an officially recognized subdivision of Ireland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leinster

Death:
circa 0150 B.C. in Tara, Offaly, Ireland

At the center of Ireland riddled with ancient history, castles, ghosts and religious history, there’s a wealth to be discovered in County Offaly. The land-locked county of Offaly is one of most historic in Ireland. Middling in size and population, it is often overlooked. The only unique statistic it bears is that it is the furthest county from the sea. But Offaly is one of Ireland’s most traditional counties. It was, after all, final resting place of High Kings of Ireland.

Place of Burial: 0150 B.C. in Offaly County, Ireland

Charleville_Castle_Offaly_Ireland

Immediate Family:
Son of Eochaidh Feidlioch mac Fionn, Rí na h’Éireann and Cloth Fionn ingen Echdach

Husband of Clothra . ingen Echach

Father of Lughaidh Sriabh-n Dearg MacFindemna, Rí na h’Éireann {Legendary}

Brother of Clothra . ingen Echach; Maedhb ingen Echdach, Queen of Connaught; Mugain Aitinchairchech ingen Echdach; Derbriu . MacEchdach; Eile . MacEchdach and 1 other

Added by: Ricardo Alejandro Seminario Leòn on December 10, 2007
Managed by: Victar and 60 others
Curated by:
Erin Spiceland   Website: geni.com

Ireland’s Counties and Provinces

History

In Irish mythology the three Findemna of Finn Eamna (variously interpreted as “fair triplets” or “three fair ones of Emain Macha”) were three sons of the High King of Ireland, Eochaid Feidlech. Their names were Bres, Nár and Lothar.

They conspired to overthrow their father. The day before meeting him in battle they were visited by their sister, Clothra, who tried in vain to dissuade them from this course of action. They were childless, so for fear that they might die without an heir Clothra took all three of them to bed, conceiving Lugaid Riab nDerg, son of the three Findemna.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Findemna

Ireland’s Counties and Provinces

My Maternal 31st. Irish Great Grandfather, Lugaid Riab n Derg, High King of Ireland

Irish Mansions, Dalriada, Ireland

Name: Lugaid Riab nDerg

Ulster Cycle king and foster-brother (sometimes foster-son) of Cúchulainn, best remembered for his tragic marriage to Derbforgaill of Lochlainn. Although she was smitten with Cúchulainn, he could not marry her as he had inadvertently tasted her blood while sucking out a stone that had penetrated her womb. He passed her along to Lugaid Riab nDerg, and the two of them were quite happily married. Derbforgaill suffered a grotesque death, however. Court women goaded her into a test of sexual allure by seeing which woman could send her urine furthest through a pillar of snow; when she won, they jealously mutilated and killed her. On his return Cúchulainn slaughtered 150 of the courtly women, but Lugaid died of grief or shock.
Incest is a frequent motif in Lugaid Riab nDerg’s story. He was begotten when his mother Clothra lay with her three brothers, Finn Emna [the three Finns of Emain]. Later Lugaid lay with his mother Clothra to produce Crimthann Nia Náir. This incest may explain his sobriquet. Some texts describe his body as divided by two red lines, separating his head from his shoulders and cutting his trunk at the belt, reflecting the contributions of his three fathers. A prosaic but common alternative is that the red stripes were battle scars.
Modern commentators have argued that Lugaid Riab nDerg was invented to fill out the cast of the Ulster Cycle, aspects of his character being borrowed from other Lugaids. Most specious is his kingship, as he never appears to rule. The Annals record that he was killed by Three Red Heads of Leinster, an apparent contrivance to counter the three Finns [white, fair] who fathered him. See LUGAID MAC CASRUBAE.
http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100118298

Conception

He was conceived of incest. The night before the three findemna, Bres, Nár and Lothar, made war for the High Kingship against their father in the Battle of Druimm Criaich, their sister Clothru, concerned that her brothers could die without heirs, seduced all three of them, and a son, Lugaid, was conceived. His epithet came from two red stripes around his neck and waist, dividing him into three: above the neck he resembled Nár; from the neck to the waist he resembled Bres; and from the waist down he resembled Lothar. Incest features further in Lugaid’s story: he slept with Clothru himself, conceiving Crimthann Nia Náir.

Rise to power

The Lebor Gabála Érenn says he came to power after a five-year interregnum following the death of Conaire Mór (six years according to the Annals of the Four Masters). His foster-father, the Ulster hero Cúchulainn, split the Lia Fáil (coronation stone at Tara which roared when the rightful king stood or sat on it) with his sword when it failed to roar under Lugaid. It never roared again except under Conn of the Hundred Battles.

Conflicts

The wizard of Ethne, daughter of Eochaid Feidlech, prophesied that the son of Ethne’s sister Clothru would kill her (Ethne). Therefore Ethne fled to Cruachan in the East to give birth to her son, but Lugaid chased her there and drowned her; he then cut her son, Furbaide Fer-benn (described as having two horns on his temples) from her womb. Later at the age of 17 Furbaide sought revenge against Lugaid for his mother’s death, and killed Clothru, for which Lugaid killed Furbaide on a mountain top called Sliab Uillean. Certain elements of this story bear a resemblance to the prophecy of Lugh Lamhfhada, son of Ethniu, who was predicted to kill his grandfather Balor of the Evil-Eye.

Marriage

His wife was Derbforgaill, a daughter of the king of Lochlann (Scandinavia), who had fallen in love with Cúchulainn from afar and come to Ireland with a handmaiden in the form of a pair of swans, linked by a golden chain, to seek him out. Cúchulainn and Lugaid were at Loch Cuan (Strangford Lough) and saw them fly past. Cúchulainn, at Lugaid’s urging, shot a slingstone which hit Derbforgaill, penetrating her womb, and the two women fell on the beach in human form. Cúchulainn saved Derbforgaill’s life by sucking the stone from her side, and she declared her love for him, but because he had sucked her side he could not marry her – evidently he had violated some geis or taboo. Instead he gave her to Lugaid. They married, and she bore him children.

Deaths of Derbforgaill and Lugaid

One day in deep winter, the men of Ulster made pillars of snow, and the women competed to see who could urinate the deepest into the pillar and prove herself the most desirable to men. Derbforgaill’s urine reached the ground, and the other women, out of jealousy, attacked and mutilated her, gouging out her eyes and cutting off her nose, ears, and hair. Lugaid noticed that the snow on the roof of her house had not melted, and realised she was close to death. He and Cúchulainn rushed to the house, but Derbforgaill died shortly after they arrived, and Lugaid died of grief. Cúchulainn avenged them by demolishing the house the women were inside, killing 150 of them.

Alternatives

For Lugaid Réoderg, an alternative tradition exists that he met his death at the hands of the Trí Rúadchinn Laigen, the “Three Reds of the Laigin” also involved in the death of Conaire Mór. Lucius Gwynn suggested that what may have happened is an earlier King of Tara known as Lugaid Réoderg may have become confused with a separate and minor character from the Ulster Cycle associated with Cúchulainn. T. F. O’Rahilly, on the other hand, believed the epithet Riab nDerg to simply be a corruption of the earlier Réoderg, meaning something like “of the red sky”, and does not believe them to be distinct legendary figures (see below). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugaid_Riab_nDerg

Ulster County, Ireland Coastline

My Maternal 30th. Great Irish Grandfather, Crimthann Nia Náir

Ireland-road-trees

Crimthann Nia Náir

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crimthann Nia Náir (nephew of Nár), son of Lugaid Riab nDerg, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. Lugaid is said to have fathered him on his own mother, Clothru, daughter of Eochu Feidlech. Clothru was thus both his mother and his grandmother.

The Lebor Gabála Érenn says he overthrew the High King Conchobar Abradruad, but does not say he became High King himself – Conchobar was succeeded by Cairbre Cinnchait.Geoffrey Keating and the Annals of the Four Masters agree that Crimthann succeeded Conchobar as High King and ruled for sixteen years. He is said to have gone on a voyage with his aunt Nár, a fairy woman, for a month and a fortnight, and returned with treasures including a gilded chariot, a golden fidchell board, a gold-embroidered cloak, a sword inlaid with gold serpents, a silver-embossedshield, a spear and a sling which never missed their mark, and two greyhounds with a silver chain between them. Soon after he returned he fell from his horse and died at Howth.

Keating says he was succeeded by his son Feradach Finnfechtnach, the Annals of the Four Masters by Cairbre Cinnchait. The Lebor Gabála places him in the reign of the Roman emperorVespasian (AD 69–79). The chronology of Keating’s Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 12 BC – AD 5, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 8 BC – AD 9.

Ireland Counties

Crimthann Nia Náir, son of Lugaid Riab nDerg, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. Lugaid is said to have fathered him on his own mother, Clothru, daughter of Eochu Feidlech. Clothru was thus both his mother and his grandmother.Wikipedia

Died: 9 AD, Howth, Dublin, Ireland

Parents: Lugaid Riab nDerg

Children: Feradach Finnfechtnach

Grandchild: Fíachu Finnolach

Great grandchild: Túathal Techtmar

Cliffs-of-Moher-Ireland

My Maternal 5th. Great Scottish Grandmother, Catherine MacLean (Linderman)

Rothesay-Argyll-Bute, Scotland

Name: Catherine MacLean (Linderman), my maternal 5th. great grandmother.  Emigrated from Rothesay, Argyll and Bute, Scotland before 1743 to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, British Colonial America. She and my maternal 5th. great grandfther, Johann Jacob Linderman, helped to build these United States. He served in the American Revolutionary War from 1775-1783 in Pennslyvania, British Colonial America. Catherine as his wife, deserves mention also, because she suffered along with her husband, and birthed thirteen children for him. They survived in a harse wilderness. 

Born: 1724 in Rothesay, Argyll and Bute, Scotland

Christened: 2 April 1724 in Jura, Argyll, Scotland 

She married my maternal 5th. great grandfather, Johann Jacob Linderman in 1743 in Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, British Colonial America.

Lancaster County, Farmland, Pennsylvania, British Colonial America

Children: (13) Elizabeth “Bette” (Bentzel), Cornelius, Cornelia (twin of Cornelius), Peter, Johannes “John”, Jacob, Henrik, David, Sarah “Sallie” (Young), Ezekiel (my maternal 4th. great grandfather) , Catherine (Morton), Jason, and Mary “Polly” (Osmun) Linderman.

Died: 9 Nov. 1792 in Montgomery, Orange, New York, United States

Buried: 10 Nov. 1792 in GERMANTOWN CEMETERY, Montgomery, Orange, New York, USA 

Germantown Cemetery Memorial

(site of the Hebron Lutheran Church and Burial Ground (Harrison Meeting). Log church built by Palatine Germans. Destroyed prior to American Revolution. Among those buried here are members of the Bookstaver, Miller, Mould, Risely, Shafer, Smith, and Youngblood families. “These were the people who conquered a virgin wilderness and gave their lives to establish our great nation and the town of Montgomery.” Most stones are unmarked)

Rothesay, Argyll and Bute, Scotland

Rothesay, royal burgh, coastal resort, and chief town of the island of Bute, Argyll and Bute council area, historic county of Buteshire, Scotland, lying on the island’s eastern coast near the entrance to the Firth of Clyde. In the centre of the town are the ruins of an 11th-century castle. Rothesay was made a royal burgh by Robert III of Scotland, who in 1398 designated his eldest son, David, duke of Rothesay, a title that became the highest Scottish title of the heir apparent to the throne of the United Kingdom. The Rothesay cotton-spinning mill, first of its kind to be erected in Scotland, used waterpower from nearby Loch Fad. Tourism is the most important economic activity. The sheltered bay is a centre for pleasure cruises.  Rothesay, Scotland source: Britannica

My Maternal 9th. Great Grandfather, Sir Lachlan MacLean, 17th. Chief of Clan MacLean, 1st. Baronet of Morvern

Sir Lachlan Maclean 17th Chief and 1st Baronet

Biography: 1 – In 1649, Maclean of Dronart in Mull married his sister Fingala to Maclean of Coll, with a hundred and eighty kine; and stipulated, that if she became a widow 2 – Sir Lachlan Maclean, 1st Baronet of Morvern, (circa 1600-1649) the 17th Clan Chief of Clan Maclean.

Lachlan was granted his Baronet title by Charles I and he became the Clan Chief on the death of his brother in 1626. He fought as a Royalist under James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms at the Battle of Inverlochy, Battle of Auldearn and Battle of Kilsyth.

He was the second son of Hector Og Maclean, 15th Clan Chief.

His mother was the daughter of Colin Mackenzie of Kintail.

He became Clan Chief at the death of his brother in 1626. He was originally contacted by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll at the beginning of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1644–1651), but he sided with the Royalists.

The evening before the Battle of Inverlochy he met with Montrose in Lochaber. [He was] present at the battle accompanied with 30 men only. After which coming home he raised his whole Clan, and joined Montrose immediately after the Battle of Alford, and continued with him till after the Battle of Kilsyth. When coming home he and the brave Alasdair MacColla defeated a party of Argyle’s consisting of seven hundred men at Laggan mor in Lorn, they having but about two hundred, the rest of their men being severed from them by the darkness of the preceding night. He made ready a second time for joining Montrose, and, after he began his march, he was acquainted that the King had ordered Montrose to disband his Army. Upon [which] Maclean kept himself quietly at home.

Sometime after Sir David Leslie coming to the Island of Mull with a strong party of horse and foot obliged him to deliver eight Irish gentlemen, who sheltered themselves with him. Seven of whom were executed at Aros, the eighth making his escape by the swiftness of his horse. Sir Lachlan Maclean was married to Mary MacLeod, the second daughter of Sir Roderick Macleod of Macleod, 15th Chief, by whom he had two sons and three daughters. source: Wikipedia

Name: Sir Lachlan MacLean 17th. Clan Chief of MacLean, 1st. Baronet of Morvern

Birth: about 1600 on Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland

Married: in 1622 to Margaret MacLeod in Argyll, Scotland

Children: (10)

Isabel, Mary, Marian, Hector, Isabel, Marian, Neil Og, Charles, Allan, and Mary MacLean  

Death: 18 April 1649 on Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland

Burial: April 1649 Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland

Sir Lachlan Maclean

17th Chief, 1st Baronet of Morvern, 13th Laird of Duart

• Seventeenth Chief
• Sir Lachlan Maclean, Bt
• Member of parliament
• 1 st Baronet. Created Baronet in 1631 by Charles I in 1631 which began a century of loyalty to the House of Stewart which was to result in the Macleans losing all their lands
• Fought as a royalist under Montrose at the Battles of Inverlochy, Auldearn and Kilsyth.
• Sir Lachlan joined Montrose and his Highland Army but when General Leslie invaded Mull in 1647, he was unable to hold Duart Castle against him.
• Died 1649, 18 APR at Duart Castle
• Became the seventeenth Maclean Chief in 1626 ^{[A History p160]}
• Succeeded his brother, Hector Mór (sixteenth chief) ^{[A History p160]}
• First Baronet ^{[A History p160]}
• The clan had been at peace and were very loyal at the time Sir Lachlan became chief ^{[A History p160]}
• Sir Lachlan’s first visit to court was in 1631. While there (on 03 SEP 1631) he was made a baronet of Nova Scotia by the title of ‘Sir Lachlan Maclean of Morvern’ with remainder to his heirs male whatsoever. Charles I’s reception made such an impact on Sir Lachlan that he never wavered in his allegiance to the king even when it became detrimental to his clan. ^{[A History p163]}
• Sir Lachlan had the favor of King Charles I ^{[A History p161]} Charles I was ultimately beheaded as a tyrant, murderer, and enemy of the nation ^{[A History p165]}
• Even Archibald Campbell, 8th Earl of Argyle and later Marquis of Argyle, could not challenge him militarily or at the court of Charles I. ^{[A History p161]} Campbell was a cunning and devious foe. Brown (author of History of the Highland Clans) said of Campbell, “There is nothing in his conduct which can be justified by the impartial historian. Duplicity, cunning, cowardice, and avarice, were his character traits. His zeal for religion and the covenant was a mere pretence to enable him to obtain that ascendency among the covenanters which he acquired, and his affected patriotism was regulated entirely by his personal interests.” ^{[Highland Clans p93]}
• While Charles I was in Edinburgh in 1641, Archibald Campbell made a great show of declaring fealty while he was secretly plotting against Charles I. Sir Lachlan was the first Campbell approached, but was not persuaded to join Campbell’s plot; a decision that saved Maclean lands and title. Archibald Campbell, desperate to control the actions of the island chiefs, repeated attempted to reconcile, but Sir Lachlan declined all communication. Archibald Campbell determined that Sir Lachlan’s refusal would result in an attempt to thwart any uprising against Charles I, and thus focused his hostility on Sir Lachlan. ^{[A History p165]} Three years later, Archibald Campbell would openly become one Charles I’s most avowed enemies. ^{[A History p166]}
• Sir Lachlan fought alongside Montrose’s forces for the crown at the Battle of Inverlochy. They arrived a day before the battle because Archibald Campbell’s forces prevented them from using roads in Argyle, so they had to march through the country. Montrose thanked Sir Lachlan. ^{[A History p167]}
• Archibald Campbell fled the Battle of Inverlochy in a rowboat to his galley and watched the destruction of the 4,000 strong army he raised. ^{[A History p167]} Montrose had only 3 killed and a number wounded, while Campbell had 1,500 killed and over 1,000 taken prisoner. ^{[A History p168]}
• Maclean and Sir Alexander MacDonald cleared the country of Argyle of any remaining enemy while Montrose resumed his march toward Inverness. The win at Inverlochy rallied the island chiefs and more joined Montrose. His forces reached 6,000. The Maclean forces rejoined Montrose after the Battle of Alford. ^{[A History p168]}
• The Macleans laid waste to Campbell’s territory including the parishes of Muchort and Dollar; and burnt Castle Campbell in requital of similar actions by Campbell. ^{[A History p169]}
• Lead Macleans at the Battle of Kilsyth – “Captain of Cairnburg” said Montross to Maclean of Treshnish, “in sending you upon this service, I feel it my duty to tell you that the post I assign you is of such importance as to require all your courage and tact to overcome your danger.” Maclean of Treshnish replied, “Danger! my lord, the more dangerous the more honorable: call it desperate, so is my resolution.” Seeing Maclean of Treshnish’s dire task and the bravery with which he pursued it, Sir Lachlan charged in to fight alongside him and his men striped to the shirt and followed. ^{[A History p171]}
• After the uprising of the Covenanters, Archibald Campbell’s forces swept through Mull and seiged Duart Castle. Sir Lachlan’s son was captured while at an academy and Campbell threatened to kill the boy if Duart was not surrendered. Sir Lachlan’s position was defenseless and he surrendered Duart under the best conditions he could negotiate–conditions which were disregarded by Leslie under Campbell’s authority. ^{[A History p175]}
• During the war, Sir Lachlan neglected to pay the public dues (taxes) he owed, expecting that his support of the crown would provide remunerations for arming and sustaining an army of more than 1,000 men to support Montrose. ^{[A History p175]}
• Archibald Campbell finally found his chance to take his revenge for not supporting his uprising against Charles I. Campbell had long wanted the Maclean lands, and his devious plan to take them was vengeful. First, Campbell, purchased the all debts (public and private) of the Macleans, and found opportunities to trump up false debts where he could. In all Campbell levied a claim of ￡30,000 against Sir Lachlan. Second, Campbell brought collection proceedings against Sir Lachlan. Using the influence he exerted on the exchequer, Campbell was able to push the proceedings through before Sir Lachlan even knew Campbell had purchased his debts. Third, Campbell prevented Sir Lachlan from appealing the proceedings with the Committee of Estates in Edinburgh by issuing under his own authority a writ of attachment (arrest warrant) against Sir Lachlan. Sir Lachlan was arrested in Inverary on his way to Edinburgh and thrown into Campbell’s castle prison at Carrick for a year. Near death, and at the advice of his friends, Sir Lachlan signed the bond acknowledging the debt as Campbell prepared it on the condition that he would be released. Sir Lachlan returned to Duart and expired shortly thereafter. ^{[A History p176]}
• Died on 18 APRIL 1648 ^{[A History p176]}
• Married to Mary MacLeod ^{[A History p176]}
• Had 3 daughters (Isabella, Mary, and Marian) and 2 sons (Hector and Allan) ^{[A History p176]}

Works Cited

Browne, James. A History of the Highlands and of the Highland Clans. Vol. II. London: A. Fullarton and, 1862.
MacLean, J. P. A History of the Clan MacLean from Its First Settlement at Duard Castle, in the Isle of Mull, to the Present Period. Cincinnati: R. Clarke, 1889. 

http://macleanhistory.org/chiefs/sir-lachlan-maclean-17th-chief/

My Maternal 28th. Great Grandfather, Feradach Finnfechtnach, High King of Ireland

Feradach Finnfechtnach (modern spelling: Fearadhach Fionnfeachtnach– “fair-blessed”), son of Crimthann Nia Náir, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. There is some disagreement in the sources over his position in the traditional sequence of High Kings. The Lebor Gabála Érenn and the Annals of the Four Masters agree that he came to power after the death of Cairbre Cinnchait. The Annals say that when Cairbre overthrew his father, his mother, Baine, daughter of the king of Alba, was pregnant with him, but this would make him less than five years old when he came to the throne: it is likely this is a doublet of a similar story told of the later High King Tuathal Techtmar. The Annals also add that Ireland was fertile during his reign, contrasting it with the barren reign of the usurper Cairbre. Geoffrey Keating has Feradach succeed his father Crimthann, placing Cairbre’s reign later. Keating relates that the judge Morann mac Máin (who in the Lebor Gabála and the Annals is the son of Cairbre and his wife Mani) lived in Feradach’s time. Morann owned the id Morainn (Morann’s collar or torc) which would contract around the neck of a judge who made an unjust judgement until he made a just one, or of a witness who made a false testimony until he told the truth.  Feradach ruled for twenty years according to the Lebor Gabála and Keating, twenty-two according to the Annals, before dying a natural death at Liathdroim, an ancient name for the Hill of Tara. In all sources he was succeeded by Fíatach Finn. The Lebor Gabála synchronises his reign with that of the Roman emperor Domitian (AD 81–96) and the death of Pope Clement I (AD 99). The chronology of Keating’s Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to AD 5–25, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to AD 14–36.

The High Kings of Ireland (Irish: Ard-Rí na hÉireann Irish pronunciation: [ˈa:ɾˠd̪ˠˌɾˠiː n̪ˠə ˈheːrʲən̪ˠ]) were sometimes historical and sometimes legendary figures who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over the whole of Ireland.

Medieval and early modern Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of High Kings, ruling from the Hill of Tara over a hierarchy of lesser kings, stretching back thousands of years. Modern historians believe this scheme is artificial, constructed in the 8th century from the various genealogical traditions of politically powerful groups, and intended to justify the current status of those groups by projecting it back into the remote past.

The concept of national kingship is first articulated in the 7th century, but only became a political reality in the Viking Age, and even then not a consistent one. While the High Kings’ degree of control varied, Ireland was never ruled by them as a politically unified state, as the High King was conceived of as an overlord exercising suzerainty over, and receiving tribute from, the independent kingdoms beneath him. ^{pp. 40–47 source: Wikipedia}

My Maternal 28th. Great Grandfather, Ferchar Abraruadih, Ireland

Mansions in Dalriada, Ireland

Name: Ferchar Abraruadih
Gender: Male
Birth: about 1045 in Dalriada, Ireland
Immediate Family: Son of Feradach Finn
Father of Old Dugald of Scone

County Cork, Ireland Coastline

Ulster County, Ireland Coastline

My Maternal 27th. Great Grandfather, Dugald Dubhghail, of Scone

Old Dugald, of Scone Dubhghail –

Name: Dugald Dubhghail, of Scone
Birth:	circa 1080 Argyll, Taynuilt, Argyll
Death:	circa 1120 (42-58) Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland
Immediate Family:	Son of Ferchar Abraruadih Father of Raing (Raingee) –

Note: There are possible 4 generations missing Mocche Mache  (b. 985-1045) Ceallie (b. before 1045) Cruinne Saund-hill Scannie http://mclainfamilyvashti.blogspot.co.uk/

Scone Palace, Scone, Scotland

My Maternal 26th. Great Grandfather, (Raing) Raingee MacLean, of Lorn

Castle Stalker the Lynn of Lorn Lismore and the mountains of Morvern

Raing (Raingee) MacLean, of Lorn 

Gender:	Male
Birth:	circa 1070 Lorn, Scotland
Immediate Family:	Son of Old Dugald of Scone Father of Cuduilig, Abbot of Lismore “Steadfast Dog” –
Died:  Added by:	after 1090 Scotland Michael Steven Strong, on August 5, 2009
Managed by:	Levaughn Virgoe (Juell), Michael Steven Strong, Susan Muir and David McLain Source: Geni Website

Clan MacLean (/mækˈleɪn/ ( listen); Scottish Gaelic: Clann MhicIllEathain [ˈkʰl̪ˠãũn̪ˠ vĩçˈkʲiʎɛhɛn]) is a Highland Scottish clan. They are one of the oldest clans in the Highlands and owned large tracts of land in Argyll as well as the Inner Hebrides.

Many early MacLeans became famous for their honour, strength and courage in battle. They were involved in clan skirmishes with the Mackinnons, Camerons, MacDonalds and Campbells, as well as all of the Jacobite risings. The Clan Maclean can with some certainty trace their origin back to old Dougall of Scone who lived about 1100 AD.

Old Dougall had a son, Raing or Raingee, who, in turn had three sons; Cucatha, or Dog of Battle; Cuisdhe, or Dog of Peace; and Cuduilig, or Dog of Hunting. Cucatha was said to have been the progenitor of Clan Concatha of Lennox, from which the Coquhouns may have descended. Cusidhe was said to have founded Clan Cuithe in Fife, while Cuduilig became the Lay-Abbot of the Monastery of Lismore in Argyll.

He is the ancestors of the Macleans and the Rankins. Cuduilig had a son named Niall, who had a son called Maolsuthain according to The History of Clan Maclean by J.P Maclean, but this individual is missing from the account of the Maclean genealogy in The Clan Gillian.

Each agree, however, that Rath, or Macrath, was next in this line and that he was the father of Gille-Eoin, the founder of Clan Maclean. Gillle means youth or servant in Gaelic, while Eoin is a form of John. Thus GilleEoin means a servant or person dedicated to the Apostle John. Gille-Eoin was contracted in time to Gill’Eoin and then to Gilleoin and Gillean. The proper pronunciation is Gillane and not Gill-e-un.

The power of the chiefs of Clan Maclean was derived from their marriage connection with the Lords of the Isles, for whom they often acted as chamberlains of their households and as their chief lieutenants. They loyally supported the Lordship of the Isles until it was dissolved in 1493, when they became an independent clan. Since the Clan Donald also broke up into separate clans at this same time, the Macleans became the most powerful island clan. source: Wikipedia

Scone Palace, Scone, Scotland

Scone (/ˈskuːn/ ( listen)) (Scottish Gaelic: Sgàin; Scots: Scuin) is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The medieval village of Scone, which grew up around the monastery and royal residence, was abandoned in the early 19th century when the residents were removed and a new palace was built on the site by the Earl of Mansfield. Hence the modern village of Scone, and the medieval village of Old Scone, can often be distinguished.

Both sites lie in the historical province of Gowrie, as well as the old county of Perthshire. Old Scone was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Alba (Scotland). In the Middle Ages it was an important royal centre, used as a royal residence and as the coronation site of the kingdom’s monarchs. Around the royal site grew the town of Perth and the Abbey of Scone.

Clans of Scotland Map

My Maternal 23rd. Great Grandfather, Maol-sruthain MacLean, Scotland

Name: Maol-sruthain MacLean, son of Neill MacLean and unknown wife

 

Birth: 1125 in the Hebrides, Scotland

Married: about 1196 to Unknown

Children: (1)

MacRath MacLean

Death: ???? in Scotland

Buried: ???? in Scotland

My Maternal 21st. Great Grandfather, Gilleain na Tuaighe MacLean, 1st. Chief of Clan MacLean

Name: Gilleain Na Tuaighe MacLean, 1st. Chief Clan MacLean, “Gilleain of the Battleaxe”, son of MacRath MacLean and Marguerite Mariotte

 

Birth: 1196 in Argyll, Scotland

Married: before 1220 in Scotland to Unknown 

Death: 1281 in Scotland

Burial: 1281 in Scotland

Note: 

Gillean of the Battle Axe, or Gilleain na Tuaighe in Scottish Gaelic, (flourished 1250’s) is the eponymous ancestor of Clan Maclean and Clan Maclaine of Lochbuie. He is considered the 1st chief of Clan Maclean.

Gilleain flourished around the year 1250. He was known as Gilleain na Tuaighe, from his carrying, as his ordinary weapon and constant companion, a battle axe. He was a man of mark and distinction.

The following anecdote is related of him, which probably accounts for the origin of the Maclean crest, which consists of a battle-ax between a laurel and cypress branch, and is still used on the coat of-arms: “He was on one occasion engaged, with other lovers of the chase, in a stag-hunt on the mountain of Bein ‘tsheata, and having wandered from the rest of the party in pursuit of game, the mountain became suddenly covered with a heavy mist, and he lost his way.

For three days he wandered about, unable to recover his route, and on the fourth, exhausted by fatigue, he entered a cranberry bush, where, fixing the handle of his battle axe in the earth, he laid himself down. On the evening of the same day his friends discovered the head of the battle-ax above the bush, and found its owner, with his arms round the handle, stretched, in a state of insensibility, on the ground.”

Gillean of the Battle Axe had three sons: Malise mac Gilleain, 2nd Clan Chief; Bristi mac Gilleain; and Gillebride mac Gilleain.

Source: John Patterson MacLean (1889) A History of the Clan MacLean from Its First Settlement at Duard Castle, in the Isle of Mull, to the Present Period: Including a Genealogical Account of Some of the Principal Families Together with Their Heraldry, Legends, Superstitions, etc.

Edited for Wikipedia by Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) and loaded here on September 30, 2009.

Gillean of the Battle Axe The clan Gillean of the Macleans is a clan included by Mr Skene under the head of Moray. The origin of the clan has been much disputed; according to Buchanan and other authorities it is of Norman or Italian origin, descended from the Fitzgeralds of Ireland. “Speed and other English historians derive the genealogy of the Fitzgeralds from Seignior Giralde, a principal officer under William the Conqueror”.

Their progenitor, however, according to Celtic tradition, was one Gillean or Gill-eoin, a name signifying the young man, or the servant or follower of John, who lived so early as the beginning of the 5th century. He was called Gillean-na-Tuardhe, i.e. Gillean with the axe, from the dexterous manner in which he wielded that weapon in battle, and his descendants bear a battle-axe in their crest.

According to a history of the clan MacLean published in 1838 by “a Sennachie”, the clan is traced up to Fergus I of Scotland, and from him back to an Aonghus Turmhi Teamhrach, “an ancient monarch of Ireland”. As to which of these account of the origin of the clan is correct, we shall not pretend to decide. The clan can have no reason to be ashamed of either.

The MacLeans have been located in Mull since the 14th century. According to Mr Skene, they appear originally to have belonged to Moray. He says, – “The two oldest genealogyies of the MacLeans, of which one is the production of the Beatons, who were hereditary sennachies of the family, concur in deriving the clan Gille-eon from the same race from whom the clans belonging to the great Moray tribe are brought by the MS of 1450.

Of this clan the oldest seat seems to have been the district of Lorn, as they first appear in subjection to the Lords of the Lorn; and their situation being thus between the Camerons and Macnachtans, who were undisputed branches of the Moray tribe, there can be little doubt that the MacLeans belonged to that tribe also.

As their oldest seat was thus in Argyle, while they are unquestionably a part of the tribe of Moray, we may infer that they were one of those clans transplanted from North Moray by Malcolm IV, and it is not unlikely that Glen Urquhart was their original residence, as that district is said to have been in the possession of the MacLeans when the Bissets came in”.

The first of the name on record, Gillean, lived in the reign of Alexander III (1249-1286), and fought against the Norsemen at the Battle of Largs. In the Ragman’s Roll we find Gilliemore Macilean described as del Counte de Perth, among those who swore fealty to Edward I in 1296. As the county of Perth at that period included Lorn, it is probable that he was the son of the above Gillean.

In the reign of Robert the Bruce mention is made of three brothers, John, NIgel, and Dofuall, termed Macgillean of filii Gilean, who appear to have been sons of Gilliemore, for we find John afterwards designated Macgilliemore. The latter fought under Bruce at Bannockburn. A dispute having arisen with the Lord of Lorn, the brothers left him and took refuge in the Isles. Between them and the MacKinnons, upon whose lands they appear to have encroached, a bitter feud took place, which led to a most daring act on the part of the chief of the MacLeans.

When following, with the chief of the MacKinnons, the galley of the Lord of the Isles, he attacked the former and slew him, and immediately after, afraid of his vengeance, he seized the MacDonald himself, and carried him prisoner to Icolmkill, where Maclena detained him until he agreed to vow friendship to the MacLeans, “upon certain stones where men were used to make solemn vows in those superstitious times”, and granted them the lands in Mull which they have ever since possessed.

John Gilliemore, surnamed Dhu from his dark complexion, appears to have settled in Mull about the year 1330. He died in the reign of Robert II, leaving two sons, Lachlan Lubanach, ancestor of the MacLeans of Dowart, and Eachann or Hector Reganach, of the MacLeans of Lochbuy.

Lachlan, the elder son, married in 1366, Margaret, daughter of John I, Lord of the Isles, by his wife, the princess Margaret Stewart, and had a son Hector, which became a favourite name among the MacLeans, as Kenneth was among the MacKenzies, Evan among the Camerons, and Hugh among the MacKays.

Both Lachlan and his son, Hector, received extensive grants of land from John, the father-in-law of the former, and his successor, Donald.

Altogether, their possessions consisted of the isles of Mull, Tiree, and Coll, with Morvern on the mainland, Kingerloach and Ardgour; and the clan Gillean became one of the most important and powerful of the vassal tribes of the Lord of the Isles.

Lachlan’s son, Hector, called Eachann Ruadh nan Cath, that is, Red Hector of the Battles, commanded as lieutenant-general under his uncle, Donald, at the Battle of Harlaw in 1411, when he and Sir Alexander Irving of Drum, seeking out each other by their amorial bearings, encountered hand to hand and slew each other; in commemoration of which circumstance, we are told, the Dowart and Drum families were long accustomed to exchange swords. Red Hector of the Battles married a daughter of the Earl of Douglas.

His eldest son was taken prisoner at the Battle of Harlaw, and detained in captivity a long time by the Earl of Mar. His brother John, at the head of the MacLeans, was in the expedition of Donald Balloch, cousin of the Lord of the Isles, in 1431, when the Islesmen ravaged Lochaber, and were encountered at Inverlochy, near Fort William, by the royal forces under the Earls of Caithness and Mar, whom they defeated.

In the dissensions which arose between John, the last Lord of the Isles, and his turbulent son, Angus, who, with the island chiefs descended from the original family, complained that his father had made improvident grants of lands to the MacLeans and other tribes, Hector MacLean, chief of the clan, and great-grandson of Red Hector of the Battles, took part with the former, and commanded his fleet at the battle of Bloody Bay in 1480, where he was taken prisoner. This Hector was chief of his tribe at the date of the forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles in 1493, when the clan Gillean, or clan Lean as it came to be called, was divided into four independent branches, viz, the Macleans of Dowart, the Macleans of Lochbuy, the Macleans of Coll, and the Macleans of Ardgour.

Lachlan MacLean was chief of Dowart in 1502, and he and his kinsman, MacLean of Lochbuy, were among the leading men of the Western Isles whom that energetic monarch, James IV, entered into correspondence with, for the purpose of breaking up the confederacy of the Islanders. Nevertheless, on the breaking out of the insurrection under Donald Dubh, in 1503, they were both implicated in it.

Lachlan MacLean was forfeited with Cameron of Lochiel, while MacLean of Lochbuy and several others were summoned before parliament, to answer for their treasonable support given to the rebels.

In 1505 MacLean of Dowart abandoned the cause of Donald Dubh and submitted to the government; his example was followed by MacLean of Lochbuy and other chiefs; and this had the effect, soon after, of putting an end to the rebellion.

Lachlan MacLean of Dowart was killed at Flodden. His successor, of the same name, was one of the principle supporters of Sir Donald MacDonald of Lochalsh, when, in November 1513, he brought forward his claims to the lordship of the Isles.

In 1523 a feud of a most implacable character broke out between the MacLeans and the Campbells, arising out of an occurrence connected with the “lady’s rock”, mentioned in our account of the Campbells.

In 1529, however, the MacLeans joined the Clan donald of Islay against the Earl of Argyll, and ravaged with fire and sword the lands of Roseneath, Craignish, and others belonging to the Campbells, killing many of the inhabitants.

The Campbells, on their part, retaliated by laying waste great portion of the isles of Mull and Tiree and the lands of Morvern, belonging to the MacLeans.

In May 1530, MacLean of Dowart and Alexander of Islay made their personal submission to the sovereign at Stirling, and, with the other rebel island chiefs who followed their example, were pardoned, upon giving security for their after obedience.

In 1545, MacLean of Dowart acted a very prominent part in the intrigues with England, in furtherance of the project of Henry VIII, to force the Scottish nation to consent to a marriage between Prince Edward and the young Queen Mary. He and MacLean of Lochbuy were among the barons of the Isles who accompanied Donald Dubh to Ireland, and at the command of the Earl of Lennox, claiming to be regent of Scotland, swore allegiance to the king of England.

The subsequent clan history consists chiefly of a record of feuds in which the Dowart MacLeans were engaged with the MacLeans of Coll, and the MacDonalds of Kintyre. The dispute with the former arose from Dowart, who was generally recognised as the head of the Clan Lean, insisting on being followed as chief by MacLean of Coll, and the latter, who held his lands direct from the crown, declining to acknowledge him as such, on the ground that being a free baron, he owed no service but to his sovereign as his feudal superior.

In consequence of this refusal, Dowart, in the year 1561, caused Coll’s lands to be ravaged, and his tenants to be imprisoned. With some difficulty, and after the lapse of several years, Coll succeeded in bringing his case before the privy council, who ordered Dowart to make reparation to him for the injury done to his property and tenants, and likewise to refrain from molesting him in future. But on a renewal of the feud some years after, MacLeans of Coll were expelled from that island by the young laird of Dowart.

The quarrel between the MacLeans and the MacDonalds of Islay and Kintyre was, at the outset, merely a dispute as to the right of occupancy of the crown lands called the Rhinns of Isla, but it soon involved these tribes in a long and bloody feud, and eventually led to the destruction nearly of them both. The MacLeans, who were in possession, claimed to hold the lands in dispute as tenants of the crown, but the privy council decided that MacDonald of Islay was really the crown tenant.

Lachlan MacLean of Dowart, called Lachlan Mor, was chief of the MacLeans in 1678. Under him the feud with the MacDonalds assumed a most sanguinary and relentless character.

The mutual ravages committed by the hostile clans, in which the kindred and vassal tribes on both sides were involved, and the effects of which were felt throughout the whole of the Hebrides, attracted, in 1589, the serious attention of the king and council, and for the purpose of putting an end to them, the rival chiefs, with MacDonald of Sleat, on receiving remission, under the privy seal, for all the crimes committed by them, were induced to proceed to Edinburgh. On their arrival, they were committed prisoners to the castle, and, after some time, MacLean and Angus MacDonald were brought to trial, in spite of the remissions granted to them; one of the principal charges against them being their treasonable hiring of Spanish and English soldiers to fight in their private quarrels.

Both chiefs submitted themselves to the king’s mercy, and placed their lives and lands at his disposal. On payment each of a small fine they were allowed to return to the Isles, MacDonald of Sleat being released at the same time. Besides certain conditions being imposed upon them, they were taken bound to return to their confinement in the castle of Edinburgh, whenever they should be summoned, on twenty days warning. Not fulfilling the conditions, they were, on 14th July 1593, cited to appear before the privy council, and as they disobeyed the summons, both Lachlan Mor and Angus MacDonald were, in 1594, forfeited by parliament.

At the battle of Glenlivat, in that year, fought between the Catholic Earls of Huntly, Angusm and Errol, on the one side, and the king’s forces, under the Earl of Argyll, on the other, Lachlan Mor, at the head of the MacLeans, particularly distinguished himself. Argyll lost the battle, but, says Mr Gregory, “the conduct of Lachlan MacLean of Dowart, who was one of Argyll’s officers, in this action, would, if imitated by the other leaders, have converted the defeat into a victory”.

In 1596 Lachlan Mor repaired to court, and on making his submission to the king, the act of forfeiture was removed. He also received from the crown a lease of the Rhinns of Islay, so long in dispute between him and MacDonald of Dunyveg. While thus at the head of favour, however, his unjust and oppressive conduct to the family of the MacLeans of Coll, whose castle and island he had seized some years before, on the death of Hector MacLean, proprietor thereof, was brought before the privy council by Lachlan MacLean, then of Coll, Hector’s son, and the same year he was ordered to deliver up not only the castle of Coll, but all his own castles and strongholds, to the lieutenant of the Isles, on twenty-four hours warning, also, to restore to Coll, within thirty days, all the lands of which he had deprived him, under a penalty of 10,000 marks.

In 1598, Lachlan Mor, with the view of expelling the MacDonalds from Islay, levied his vassals and proceeded to that island, and after an ineffectual attempt at an adjustment of their differences, was encountered, on 5th August, at the head of Lochgreinord, by Sir James MacDonald, son of Angus, at the head of his clan, when the MacLeans were defeated, and their chief killed, with 80 of his principal men and 200 common soldiers. Lachlan Barrach MacLean, a son of Sir Lachlan, was dangerously wounded, but escaped.

Hector MacLean, the son and successor of Sir Lachlan, at the head of a numerous force, afterwards invaded Islay, and attacked and defeated the MacDonalds at a place called Bern Bige, and then ravaged the whole island.

In the conditions imposed upon the chiefs for the pacification of the Isles in 1616, we find that MacLean of Dowart was not to use in his house more than four tun of wine, and Coll and Lochbuy one tun each.

Sir Lachlan MacLean of Morvern, a younger brother of Hector MacLean of Dowart, was in 1631 created a baronet of Nova Scotia by Charles I, and on the death of his elder brother he succeeded to the estate of Dowart.

In the civil wars the MacLeans took arm under Montrose, and fought valiantly for the royal cause. At the battle of Inverlochy, 2 February 1645, Sir Lachlan commanded his clan. He engaged in the subsequent battles of the royalist general.

Sir Hector MacLean, his son, with 800 of his followers, was at the battle of Inverkeithing, 20th July 1651, when the royalists were opposed to the troops of Oliver Cromwell. On this occasion an instance of devoted attachment to the chief was shown on the part of the MacLeans. In the heat of the battle, Sir Hector was covered from the enemy’s attacks by seven brothers of his clan, all whom successively sacrificed their lives in his defence. Each brother, as he fell, exclaimed, “Fear eile air son Eachainn”, ‘Another for Eachann’, or Hector, and a fresh one stepping in, answered “Bas air son Eachainn”, ‘Death for Eachann’.

The former phrase, says General Stewart, has continued ever since to be a proverb or watchword, when a man encounters any sudden danger that requires instant succor. Sir Hector, however, was left among the slain, with about 500 of his followers.

The Dowart estates had become deeply involved in debt, and the Marquis of Argyll, by purchasing them up, had acquired a claim against the lands of MacLean, which ultimately led to the greater portion of them becoming the property of that accumulating family.

In 1704, after the execution of the marquis, payment was insisted upon by his son, the earl. The tutor of MacLean, the chief, his nephew, being a minor, evaded the demand for a considerable time, and at length showed a disposition to resist it by force. Argyll had recourse to legal proceedings, and supported by a body of 2,000 Campbells, he crossed into Mull, where he took possession of the castle of Dowart, and placed a garrison in it.

The MacLeans, however, refused to pay their rents to the earl, and in consequence he prepared for a second invasion of Mull. To resist it, the MacDonalds came to the aid of the MacLeans, but Argyll’s ships were driven back by a storm, when he applied to government, and even went to London, to ask assistance from the king. Lord MacDonald and other friends of the MacLeans foiled him, and laid a statement of the dispute before Charles, who, in February 1676, remitted the matter to three lords of the Scottish privy council. No decision,however, was come to by them, and Argyll was allowed to take possession of the island of Mull without resistance in 1680.

At the battle of Killiecrankie, Sir John MacLean, with his regiment, was placed on Dundee’s right, and among the troops on his left was a battalion under Sir Alexander MacLean. The MacLeans were amongst the Highlanders surprised and defeated at Cromdale in 1690.

In the rebellion of 1715, the MacLeans ranged themselves under the standard of the Earl of Mar, and were present at the battle of Sheriffmuir. For his share in the insurrection Sir John MacLean, the chief, was forfeited, but the estates were afterwards restored to the family.

On the breaking out of the rebellion of 1745 Sir John’s son, Sir Hector MacLean, the fifth baronet, was apprehended, with his servant, at Edinburgh, and conveyed to London. He was set at liberty in June 1747.

At Culloden, however, 500 of his clan fought for Prince Charles, under MacLean of Drimnin, who was slain while leading them on. Sir Hector died, unmarried, at Paris, in 1750, when the title devolved upon his third cousin, the remainder being to heirs male whatsoever.

This third cousin, Sir Allan MacLean, was great-grandson of Donald MacLean of Brolas, eldest son, by his second marriage, of Hector MacLean of Dowart, the father of the first baronet. Sir Allan married Anne, daughter of Hector MacLean of Coll, and had three daughters, the eldest of whom, Maria, became the wife of MacLean of Kinlochaline, and the second, Sibella, of MacLean of Inverscadell.

In 1773, when Johnson and Boswell visited the Hebrides, Sir Allan was chief of the clan. He resided at that time on Inchkenneth, one of his smaller islands, in the district of Mull, where he entertained his visitors very hospitably.

From the following anecdote told by Boswell, it would appear that the feeling of devotion to the chief had survived the abolition act of 1747.

“The Macinnises are said to be a branch of the clan of MacLean. Sir Allam had been told that one of the name had refused to send him some rum, at which the knight was in great indignation. ‘You rascal!’, said he, ‘don’t you know that I can hang you, if I please? Refuse to send rum to me, you rascal! Don’t you know that if I order you to go and cut a man’s throat, you are to do it?’ ‘Yes, an’t please your honour, and my own too, and hang myself too!’ The poor fellow denied that he had refused to send the rum. His making these professions was not merely a pretence in prescence of his chief, for after he and I were out of Sir Allan’s hearing, he told me, ‘Had he sent his dog for the rum, I would have given it: I would cut my bones for him’. Sir Allan, by the way of upbraiding the fellow, said, ‘I believe you are a Campbell!”.

Dying without make issue in 1783, Sir Allan was succeeded by his kinsman, Sir Hector, 7th baronet; on whose death, Nov.2d, 1818, his brother, Lieutenant-general Sir Fitzroy Jefferies Grafton MacLean of Morvern, and Donald MacLean of the chancery bar.

Sir Charles, 9th baronet, married a daughter of the Hon and Rev Jacob Marsham, uncle of the Earl of Romney, and has issue, a son, Fitzroy Donald, major 13th dragoons, and four daughters, one of whom, Louisa, became the wife of Hon Ralph Pelham Neville, son of the Earl of Abergavenny.

The first of the Lochbuy branch of the MacLeans was Hector Reganach, brother of Lachlan Lubanach above mentioned. He had a son named John, or Murchard, whose great-grandson, John Og MacLean of Lochbuy, received from King James IV, several charters of the lands and baronies which had been held by his progenitors. He was killed, with his two eldest sons, in a family feud with the MacLeans of Dowart.

His only surviving son, Murdoch, was obliged, in consequence of the same feud, to retire to Ireland, where he married a daughter of the Earl of Antrim. By the mediation of his father-in-law, his differences with Dowart were satisfactorily adjusted, and he returned to the isles, where he spent his latter years in peace. The house of Lochbuy has always maintained that of the two brothers, Lachlan Lubanach and Hector Reganach, the latter was the senior, and that, consequently, the chiefship of the MacLeans is vested in its head; “but this”, says Mr Gregory, “is a point on which there is no certain evidence”. The whole clan, at different periods, have followed the head of both families to the field, and fought under their command. The Lochbuy family now spells its name Maclaine.

The Coll branch of the MacLeans, like that of Dowart, descended from Lachlan Lubanach, said to have been grandfather of the fourth laird of Dowart and first laird of Coll, who were brothers.

John MacLean, surnamed Garbh, son of Lachlan of Dowart, obtained the isle of Coll and the lands of Quinish in Mull from Alexander, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles, and afterwards, on the forfeiture of Cameron, the lands of Loachiel. The latter grant engendered, as we have seen, a deadly feud between the Camerons and the MacLeans.

At one time the son and successor of John Garbh occupied Lochiel by force, but was killed in a conflict with the Camerons at Corpach, in the reign of James III. His infant son would also have been put to death, had the boy not been saved by the Macgillonies or Macalonichs, a tribe of Lochaber that generally followed the clan Cameron.

This youth, subsequently known as John Abrach MacLean of Coll, was the representative of the family in 1493, and from him was adopted the patronymic appellation of MacLean Abrach, by which the lairds of Coll were ever after distinguished.

The tradition concerning this heir of Coll is thus related by Dr Johnson, in his Tour to the Hebrides: – “On the wall of old Coll Castle was, not long ago, a stone with an inscription, importing, ‘That if any man of the clan of Macalonich shall appear before the castle, though he come at midnight with a man’s head in his hand, he shall there find safety and protection against all but the king”. This is an old Highland treaty made upon a memorable occasion. MacLean, the son of John Garbh, had obtained, it is said, from James II, a grant of the lands of Lochiel. Forfeited estates were not in those days quietly resigned: MacLean, therefore, went with an armed force to seize his new possessions, and, I know not for what reason, took his wife with him.

The Camerons rose in defense of their chief, and a battle was fought at the head of Lochness, near the place where Fort Augustus now stands, in which Lochiel obtained the victory, and MacLean, with his followers, was defeated and destroyed. The lady fell into the hands of the conquerors, and being pregnant, was placed in the custody of Macalonich, one of a tribe or family branched from Cameron, with orders, if she brought a boy, to destroy him, if a girl, to spare her.

Macalonich’s wife had a girl about the same time at which Lady M’Lean brought a boy; and Macalonich, with more generosity to his captive than fidelity to his trust, contrived that the children should be changed. MacLean in time recovered his original patrimony, and in gratitude to his friend, made his castle a place of refuge to any of the clan that should think himself in danger; and MacLean took upon himself and his posterity the care of educating the heir of Macalonich. The power of protection subsists no longer; but MacLean of Coll now educates the heir of Macalonich”.

The account of the conversion of the simple islanders of Coll from Poery to Protestantism is curious. The laird had imbibed the principles of the Reformation, but found his people reluctant to abandon the religion of their fathers. To compel them to do so, he took his station one Sunday in the path which led to the Roman Catholic church, and as his clansmen approached he drove them back with his cane. They at once made their way to the Protestant place of worship, and from this persuasive mode of conversion his vassals ever after called it the religion of the gold-headed stick.

Lachlan, the seventh proprietor of Coll, went over to Holland with some of his own men, in the reign of Charles II, and obtained the command of a company in General Mackay’s regiment, in the service of the Prince of Orange. He afterwards returned to Scotland, and was drowned in the water of Lochy, in Lochaber in 1687.

Colonel Hugh MacLean, London, the last laird of Coll, of that name, was the 15th in regular descent from John Garbh, son of Lauchlan Lubanach.

The Ardgour branch of the MacLeans, which held its lands directly from the Lord of the Isles, is descended from Donald, another son of Lachlan, third laird of Dowart. The estate of Ardgour, which is in Argyleshire, had previously belonged to a different tribe (the MacMasters), but it was conferred upon Donald, either by Alexander, Earl of Ross, or by his son and successor, John.

In 1463, Ewen or Eugene, son of Donald, held the office of seneschal of the household to the latter earl; and in 1493, Lachlan Macewen MacLean was laird of Ardgour. Alexander MacLean, Esq, the present laird of Ardgour, is the 14th from father to son.

During the 17th and 18th centuries the MacLeans of Lochbuy, Coll, and Ardgour, more fortunate than the Dowart branch of the clan, contrived to preserve their estates nearly entire, although compelled by the Marquis of Argyll to renounce their holdings in capite of the crown, and to become vassals of that nobleman. They continued zealous partizans of the Stuarts, in whose cause they suffered severely.

From Lachlan Og MacLean, a younger son of Lacglan Mor of Dowart, sprung the family of Torloisk in Mull.

Of the numerous flourishing cadets of the different branches, the principal were the MacLeans of Kinlichaline, Ardtornish, and Drimnin, descended from the family of Dowart; of Tapul and Scallasdale, in the island of Mull, from that of Lochbuy; of Isle of Muck, from that of Coll; of Borrera, in North Uist and Treshinish, from that of Ardgour.

The family of Borrera are represented by Donald MacLean, Esq, and General Archibald MacLean. From the Isle of Muck and Treshinish MacLeans is descended A.C. MacLean, Esq of Haremere Hall, Sussex.

The MacLeans of Pennycross, island of Mull, represented by Alexander MacLean, Esq, derives from John Dubh, the first of MacLean of Morvern. General Allan MacLean of Pennycross, colonel of the 13th light dragoons, charged with them at Waterloo.

The force of the MacLeans was at one time 800; in 1745 it was 500.

Another account of the Clan:

BADGE: Cuilfhionn (ilex aquifolium) Holly.

SLOGAN: Bas no Beatha, and Fear eil’ air son Eachainn Ruaidh.

PIBR0CH: Caismeachd Eachuin mhic Aluin an sop.

MacLean

THERE are various legends of the origin of the Clan MacLean—that its ancestor was a hero of the days of Fergus II., that he was a brother of Fitzgerald, the traditional progenitor of Clan MacKenzie, and that the race was one of the tribes driven out of Moray by Malcolm IV. in the year 1161.

As a matter of fact, however, from its earliest days the Clan MacLean has been associated with the island of Mull. Its progenitor is said to have been a noted warrior who flourished early in the thirteenth century. The story runs that one day, hunting on Ben Talla, he lost his way in a fog. Some days later his companions found him in the last stage of exhaustion lying beside his battle-axe, which he had stuck into the ground near a cranberry bush to attract attention. From this he became known as Gilleain na Tuaighe, the Lad of the Battle-Axe. With his redoubtable weapon this chief played a distinguished part at the battle of Largs.

Among the notables set down in the Ragman’s Roll, who did homage to Edward I. of England in 1296, appears ” Gilliemoire Mackilyn,” otherwise Gilliemoire MacGilleain or Gilmory MacLean. The son of this Gilmory, Eoin Dubh, appears in charters of the time of David II. about 1330, as possessor of lands in Mull. This Eoin Dubh, or John the Black, had two sons, Lachian Lubanach and Hector Reaganach. The former of these was ancestor of the MacLeans of Duart, and the latter of the MacLaines of Lochbuie, and it has been a matter of dispute which of the two was the elder son. The brothers lived in the time of Robert II., and at first appear to have been followers of MacDougall of Lorn. Some trouble having arisen, however, they cast in their lot with MacDonald of the Isles.

Lachlan Lubanach became steward to the Lord of the Isles, married his daughter Mary in 1366, and in 1390 received from him charters of Duart, Brolas, and other lands in Mull. These charters brought the MacLeans into collision with the MacKinnons previously settled in the island, but, backed by the powerful alliance with the great house of the Isles, the fortunes of the MacLeans never went back.

When Donald of the Isles marched across Scotland in 1411 to enforce his wife’s claim to the great northern earldom of Ross, the second-in-command of his army was his nephew, Lachlan Lubanach’s son, Eachuin ruadh nan cath, Red Hector of the Battles. In the great conflict at Harlaw in which the campaign ended, the MacLean Chief engaged in a hand to hand encounter with Irvine of Drum, a powerful Deeside baron. After a terrific combat the two fell dead together, and in token of that circumstance, for centuries the chiefs of the two families when they met were accustomed to exchange swords.

Meanwhile Red Hector’s cousin Charles, son of Hector Reganach, settled in Glen Urquhart on Loch Ness, where he founded Clann Tchearlaich of Glen Urquhart and Dochgarroch, otherwise known as the “MacLeans of the North,” a sept which joined the Clan Chattan confederacy about the year 1460. Besides these MacLeans of the North there were, before the end of that century, four powerful families of the clan.

Descended from Lachlan Lubanach were the MacLeans of Duart, the MacLeans of Ardgour, and the MacLeans of Coll, while descended from Hector Reganach were the MacLeans of Lochbuie.

The forfeiture of the last Lord of the Isles, who died in 1493, seems to have affected the fortunes of the MacLeans very little. The event made them independent of the MacDonalds, and at the battle of the Bloody Bay near Tobermory in 1484 the royal fleet was led by the galley of MacLean of Ardgour. The battle went against him and Ardgour was made prisoner, his life being spared only on the good-humoured plea of MacDonald of Moidart that if he were slain there would be no one left for the Moidart men to fight with.

Meanwhile the son of Hector of the Battles, Lachlan Bromach of Duart, married Janet, daughter of Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar, leader of the royal army which opposed Donald of the Isles at Harlaw, and which suffered defeat at the hands of Donald Balloch and the Islesmen at Inverlochy. The earl was the natural son of the Earl of Buchan, otherwise known as the Wolf of Badenoch, son of King Robert II., so that, although under the baton sinister, the MacLeans inherited the blood of the Royal House of Stewart.

It was the grandson of this pair, Hector Odhar MacJean of Duart, who led the clan at the battle of Flodden in 1513. It is said he fell in an attempt to save the life of James IV by throwing his body between the king and the English bowmen.

The son of this hero remains notorious in Island history for a very different act. For a second wife Lachlan Cattenach MacLean had married Elizabeth, daughter of the second Earl of Argyll. The marriage was not a success, and by way of getting rid of her he exposed the lady on a tidal rock in the Sound of Mull, expecting that nothing more would be heard of her. But, attracted by her shrieks, some fishermen rescued her, and on MacLean making his way to Inveraray to intimate his sad loss, he was to his horror confronted with his wife. The incident has been made the subject of poems by Joanna Bailie, Thomas Campbell, and Sir Walter Scott. MacLean fled to Edinburgh, but was followed there and stabbed in bed by the brother of the injured lady, Sir John Campbell of Cawdor. The event took place in the year 1523.

This chief’s younger son was that Alan nan Sop, or Alan of the Wisp, whose story will be found in the account of Clan MacQuarrie, who as a freebooter became notorious for his use of the wisp in setting fire to the places he plundered, and who finally made conquest of Torloisk in the west of Mull, and founded the family of the MacLeans of Torloisk.

Alan nan Sop’s elder brother, Hector Mor, carried on the line of Duart. He married a daughter of Alexander MacDonald of Islay, but this connection did not prevent differences arising between the MacDonalds and MacLeans, regarding which a bloody feud was carried on between the years 1585 and 1598, “to the destruction of well near all their country.”

Hector Og, the son of Hector Mor, married in 1557, the Lady Janet Campbell, daughter of Archibald, fourth Earl of Argyll, and as the Campbells had for nearly three centuries been striving to supplant the MacDonalds as the most powerful family in the West, it may be understood that this alliance was not likely to discourage differences between these MacDonalds and the MacLeans.

Hector Og’s son, Sir Lachlan Mor MacLean of Duart, was a gallant and distinguished chief. He married a daughter of the sixth Earl of Glencairn, and in 1594 fought under his kinsman, the young seventh Earl of Argyll, in the disastrous battle against Huntly and Errol at Glenlivet. It was the policy of that Earl to sow strife among neighbouring clans, and then avail himself of their differences and weakened state for his own aggrandisement. In this way he incited the MacNabs and MacGregors to attack their neighbours, then with letters of fire and sword proceeded to seize their lands. Whether or not Argyll was at the bottom of the strife, the feud between the MacLeans and MacDonalds came to a head in 1598.

The immediate issue was the possession of certain lands on Loch Gruinart in Islay. Before setting sail with a strong force to seize these lands, it is said that Sir Lachlan consulted a famous witch as to his prospects of success. The witch told him that he must not land in Islay on a Thursday, and must not drink out of the Tobar Neill Neonaich, Strange Neil’s Well. Unfortunately, being caught in a storm, he was forced to land on just that day of the week, and being thirsty he drank from a spring near the spot, which turned out to be just that well. The tragic issue was helped by another act of Sir Lachlan Mor himself. Just before the battle a dwarf from Jura offered his services to the MacLean Chief and was scornfully rejected. Burning with indignation the dwarf, Dubh-sith, offered his services to the opposite side, and received a hearty welcome.

In the battle which ensued, being unable to fight on equal terms, the Dubh-sith climbed into a tree. Presently he saw, as Sir Lachlan climbed a knoll, the joints of his armour open, and instantly letting fly an arrow, he slew the chief. This battle of the Rhinns of Islay ended the feud, as along with their chief the MacLeans lost eighty gentlemen and two hundred other clansmen.

Sir Lachlan’s elder son, still another Hector Og, married a daughter of the eleventh chief of Kintail, and their son Lachlan was the first baronet of Duart. By a second marriage, with a daughter of Sir Archibald Acheson of Gosford, he had another son, Donald of Brolas, whose son Lauchlan became M.P. for Argyllshire, and whose descendants were to inherit the chiefship as sixth and successive baronets.

Sir Lachlan MacLean was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, with the designation “of Morvern,” by Charles I. in 1632, and from that time onward, through the Civil War and all the troubles of the Stewarts, the MacLeans remained strong and faithful supporters of the Jacobite cause. Sir Lachlan himself joined the Marquess of Montrose, led his clan at Inverlochy, where he helped to win that signal victory over the Marquess of Argyll, and took part in the arduous campaign and battles which followed.

Two years after his death, his son, Sir Hector MacLean, fell fighting in the cause of Charles II at Inverkeithing. It was after the defeat of the army of the Covenant by Cromwell at Dunbar. The Scottish forces fell back on Stirling, and to prevent them drawing supplies from Fife, Cromwell sent a force of four thousand men under General Lambert across the Forth at Queensferry. To encounter this force the Scots sent Holborn of Menstrie with twelve hundred horse and fifteen hundred infantry, and an encounter took place at Inverkeithing on Sunday, 20th July.

At the beginning of the battle Holborn, who was both a coward and a traitor, fled with his cavalry, and the little force of infantry under Sir Hector Roy MacLean of Duart and Sir George Buchanan, chief of his clan, were shortly hemmed round and cut to pieces. The English made a continuous series of attacks on the spot where Sir Hector stood, severely wounded but still encouraging his men.

The clansmen who survived, flocked round their chief, and again and again, as an attack was aimed at him, another and another gentleman of the clan sprang in front of him with the cry ” Fear eil’ air son Eachuinn ! “—” Another for Hector! ” to be cut down in turn. When no fewer than eight gentlemen of the name of MacLean had given their lives in this way Sir Hector himself fell, covered with wounds.

As the ballad has it: Sir Hector Roy, the stout MacLean, Fouflt one to ten, but all in vain His broad claymore unsheathing. Himself lay dead, ‘mid heaps of slain, For Charles at Inverkeithing.

It is from this incident that the clan derives one of its slogans, “Another for Hector! ” The proceeding was used with telling effect by Sir Walter Scott as a feature of the combat on the North Inch, in his romance, “The Fair Maid of Perth.”

Sir John MacLean, the fourth baronet, led his clan under Viscount Dundee in the cause of the Stewarts at the battle of Killiecrankie, and also, twenty-six years later, under the futile Earl of Mar at the battle of Sheriffmuir.

His son, Sir Hector, the fifth baronet, was arrested in Edinburgh in 1745, on suspicion of being in the French service, and of enlisting men in the Jacobite Cause. He was confined in the Tower of London for two years, till liberated by the Act of Grace in 1747.

Meanwhile the clan was led throughout the campaign by MacLean of Druimnin, and fought, five hundred strong, at Culloden, where at least one of the mounded trenches among the heather may be seen at the present day marked with the name “MacLean.”

Sir Hector died unmarried at Rome in 1750, and the chief-ship, baronetcy, and estates then went to the great-grandson of Donald MacLean of Brolas, half-brother of the first baronet.

Sir Allan died in 1783, also without male issue, and was succeeded in turn by two grandsons of the second son of Donald of Brolas. The latter of these, Sir Fitzroy Jeffreys Grafton MacLean, was colonel of the 45th regiment, and a lieutenant-general, and was present at the capture of the West Indian islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

His grandson is the present chief, Sir Fitzroy Donald MacLean, Bait., K.C.B. Born in 1835 Sir Fitzroy served, as a young man, in Bulgaria and the Crimea, and was present at the battle of the Alma and the siege of Sebastopol. Through lack of food and shelter he fell into dysentery and fever, and would have died had he not been discovered by a friend of his father, who carried him on board his ship. He lost a son in the South African War.

One of the most memorable days of his life was when he returned to Mull in August, 1912, and took possession of the ancient seat of his family, Duart Castle, amid the acclamation’s of MacLean clansmen from all parts of the world, and unfurled his banner from the ramparts. The castle dates from the thirteenth century, and was repaired and enlarged by Hector Mor MacLean, who was Lord of Duart from 1523 till 1568.

In 1691 it was besieged by Argyll, and Sir John MacLean, the chief of that time, was forced to surrender it. After that date, though occasionally occupied by troops, the stronghold gradually fell to ruins, and the Duart properties passed to other hands till Sir Fitzroy repurchased Duart itself in 1912.

Septs of the MacLeans of Duart: Beath, Beaton, Black, Lean, Bowie, MacBheath, MacBeath, Macilduy, MacBeth, MacRankin, MacLergain, MacVey, MacVeagh, Rankin.

Septs of the MacLeans of Lochbuy: MacCormick, MacFadyen, MacFadzean, MacGilvra, Macilvora.

Another account of the clan…

Duart Castle overlooking the Sound of Mull was built in the 13th century and given to Lachlan MacLean after he married Mary MacDonald, daughter of the Lord of the Isles, along with other lands in Mull. Today the 27th clan chief, Lord MacLean, a life peer, Lord Chamberlain to Her Majesty’s Household, and, from 1959 to 1975, Chief Scout of the Commonwealth, still resides there.

His grandfather, Sir Fitzroy MacLean, who lived to be 101 years old, bought back and restored the ancient ruins in 1912.

The MacLeans of Duart had held the earlier office of Chamberlain to the Lord of the Isles, a title which was confirmed by the crown in 1495 even after the Lordship was abolished.

The clan MacLean’s extensive lands included the islands of Mull, Tiree, Coll and Islay, as well as mainland Morvern and Lochaber. As the clan expanded, it split into a number of different branches, including the MacLeans of Coll and the MacLeans of Ardgour  source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillean_of_the_Battle_Axe

My Maternal 17th. Great Grandfather, Malcolm MacLean, 3rd. Chief of Clan MacLean

Maolcaluim mac Giliosa, 3rd. Chief of Clan MacLean

Gender:	Male
Birth:	1242 Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland
Death:	1320 Scotland
Immediate Family:	Son of Malise mac Gilleain, 2nd Chief of Clan Maclean and nn Leche Husband of Rioghnach nic Gamail Father of John (Ian) Dubh MacGillean, 4th Chief; Neil Maclean and Donald Maclean Half brother of Milmore Maclean
Added by:	John MacLean on March 28, 2008
Managed by:	Richard Arthur Norton and 10 others

sources:

http://www.thepeerage.com/p50586.htm#i505855

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Maclean,_3rd_Chief

Maolcaluim mac Giliosa  Gilliecallum 

Malcolm Maclean or Maolcaluim mac Giliosa in Scottish Gaelic (flourished 1310 to 1320), was the 3rd Chief of Clan Maclean. Malcolm’s name has been written Maol-Calum and Gille-Calum, which means Servant of Columba. He became the Chief of Clan Maclean on the death of his father in 1300. He was succeeded by John Dubh Maclean, 4th Clan Chief, his youngest son, because the law of primogeniture did not apply in Scotland yet.  He died around 1320.

He fought in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

Child of Gilliecallum and Rioghnach of  Carrick

John ‘Dubh’ MacLean, 1st. of Duart, 4th. Clan Chief of MacLean

Malcolm MacLean or Maolcaluim mac Giliosa in Scottish Gaelic (flourished 1310 to 1320), was the 3rd. Chief of Clan MacLean. Malcolm’s name has been written Maol-Calum and Gille-Calum, which means Servant of Columba. He became the Chief of Clan MacLean on the death of his father in 1300. He was succeeded by John Dubh MacLean, 4th. Clan Chief, his youngest son, because the law of primogeniture did not apply in Scotland yet.  source: https://geni.com

My Maternal 7th. Great Scottish Grandmother, Mary Campbell (MacLean)

Embed from Getty Images

Name: Mary Campbell, daughter of Donald Campbell and Mary Scott of Killenalin, Ballinaby, Argyll, Scotland

Siblings: Malcolm and John Campbell

Born: 1665 in Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland

Married: 1684 to Alexander MacLean in Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland

Children: (10)

Mary Veronica MacLean  1685–Deceased   L64M-T78

Alan MacLean  1708–Deceased  •  M2VQ-J52

Robert MacLean  1690–1754  •  M2VQ-D32 ​

Joseph MacLean   1692–1808  •  M2VQ-D3Q ​

Daniel MacLean   1694–Deceased  •  M2VQ-D95​​

Charles MacLean  1696–Deceased  •  K454-STG ​

Hugh MacLean  1699–1790  •  LHXM-KZX ​

William MacCLean  1702–1785  •  LDQX-YDF ​

Alen Alexander MacLean  1703–1754  •  L6G3-6VD

​

Thomas MacLean  1708–Deceased  •  M2VQ-DQG

​

Died: 1742 on Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland

Buried: 1742 on Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland

Duart Castle, Isle of Mull, Scotland

My Maternal 7th. Great Scottish Grandfather, Sir Alexander MacLean, Knight

Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland

Name: Sir Alexander MacLean, Knight, (aka McLean), son of Sir Allan MacLean, 3rd. Baronet of Morven, 19th. Clan Chief of Clan MacLean,  and Juliana “Giles” MacLeod, of Clan MacLeod.

Birth: 1670 on Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland

Published information: birth-name: Alexander Maclean
Published information: birth: 1674; Isle of Mull, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
Published information: death: 1736; County Tyrone, Ireland
Published information: clan-name: Maclean or MacClean or Maclaine;
Published information: birth-name: Alexander McClean
Published information: male
Published information: birth: about 1674; Isle of Mull, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
Published information: death: about 1736; County Tyrone, Ireland

Married: about 1684 on Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland to Mary Campbell, daughter of Donald Campbell, and Mary Scott, of Killenalin.

 

Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute.  source: Wikipedia

Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland

Alexander MacLean

Gender:	Male
Birth:	1670 Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland
Death:	1736 (72-73) Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland (exiled to Ulster after losing Jacobite War in 1719
Immediate Family:	Son of Allan MacLean, 3rd Baronet, 19th Clan Chief and Juliana MacLeod of MacLeod Brother of Sir John MacLean of Morven, 4th Baronet, 20th Clan Chief of Clan MacLean
Added by:	Gerene Mae Jensen Mason on May 25, 2016
Managed by: Source:	Gerene Mae Jensen Mason geni.com

Children: (10) Mary, Allen, Robert, Daniel, Hugh, Joseph, Thomas, Alan Alexander, William, and Colin MacLean

 

Northern Ireland is one of the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom (together with England, Scotland and Wales). Northern Ireland, is of fairly recent origin, coming out of the partition of the island of Ireland in 1921. Northern Ireland was retained as part of the UK, and the rest of Ireland, became an independent state, and was known as the Irish Free State in 1922, and after 1949, the Republic of Ireland. The official language is English.

Murlough Bay, Ulster, Northern Ireland

 

Death: 1736 in Ulster, Ireland (age 66)

Exiled to Ulster after losing Jacobite War in 1715

 

Burial: 1736 in Ulster, Ireland

 

County Tyrone, Ireland

 

 

 

County Tyrone, Ireland. This is the real countryside of Northern Ireland: Tyrone is teaming with lush fields and picturesque rivers.

 

 

My Maternal 5th. Great Scottish Grandmother, Catherine MacLean (Linderman)

Isle of Islay, Argyll, Scotland

 Name Hew Mclean
Gender Male
Wife Margrat Campbell
Daughter Catharine Mclean
Other information in the record of
from Scotland Births and Baptisms
Name Catharine Mclean
Gender Female
Christening Date 02 Apr 1724
Christening Place JURA, ARGYLL, SCOTLAND
Father’s Name Hew Mclean
Mother’s Name Margrat Campbell
Citing this Record
“Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XYCL-M4R : 2 January 2015), Hew Mclean in entry for Catharine Mclean, 02 Apr 1724; citing JURA,ARGYLL,SCOTLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 1,041,078

Name: Catherine MacLean (Linderman), daughter of Hugh (Hew) MacLean and Mary Campbell of Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland.

Born: 1724 in Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland.

Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland

ROTHESAY
Once a very popular Victorian seaside resort thanks to its mild climate and proximity to Glasgow, the town of Rothesay is the capital of Bute. Still a bustling town today. King Robert III granted Rothesay the status of royal burgh and Prince Charles, as eldest son of the current monarch, is the current Duke of Rothesay. The town of Rothesay Listeni/ˈrɒθ.si/ (Scottish Gaelic: Baile Bhòid) is the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in the council area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It can be reached by ferry from Wemyss Bay which offers an onward rail link to Glasgow. At the centre of the town is Rothesay Castle, a ruined castle which dates back to the 13th century, and which is unique in Scotland for its circular plan. Rothesay lies along the coast of the Firth of Clyde.

Christened: 2 April 1724 in Jura, Argyll, Scotland.

Wife of Johann Jacob Linderman. Married 1743 in Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA.

Children: (13)

Elisabeth “Bette” (Bentzel), Cornelius, Cornelia, Jacob, Peter, Johannes “John”, Henrik “Henry”, David, Sarah “Sallie” Margaret (Young), Jason, Ezekiel, Mary “Polly” (Osmun), and Catharine (Morton) Linderman. They were all born in Montgomery, Orange County, New York, USA.

Bodines Bridge, Montgomery, Orange, New York, USA

Family links:
Spouse:
Johann Jacob Linderman (1720 – 1792)

Children: (13)

Elizabeth “Bette” Linderman (Bentzel) (1754-1845)

Cornelius Linderman Sr. (1756-1848)

Cornelia Linderman (1756-1756)

Peter Linderman (1757-1848)

Johannes “John” Linderman (1758-1843)

Jacob Linderman Jr. (1760-1816)

David Linderman (1762-1840)

Heinrich “Henry” Linderman (1764-1844)

Sarah “Sallie” Margaret Linderman (Young) (1766-1838)

Ezekiel Linderman (1768 – 1850)

Jason Linderman (1772-1872)

Mary “Polly” Linderman (Osmun) (1773-1850)

Catherine Linderman (Morton) (1784-1862)

                                                         Lismore Island, Scotland

Death: Nov. 9, 1792  in Montgomery, Orange, New York, USA 

Burial: 10 Nov. 1792 Germantown Cemetery Montgomery Orange County New York, USA

Created by: Texas Tudors Record added: Nov 23, 2012 Find A Grave Memorial# 101185441

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=101185441

http://www.scotland-info.co.uk/bute.htm

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