History of the MacGregors

By Peter John Lawrie

This book covers aspects of the history of the Clan Gregor in the Highlands of Scotland from its origin to the Last Jacobite Rising of 1745-6. The proscription of the Clan Gregor by the Crown is unique in Scotland. From 1603 until 1774, (except for 1661 to 1689) it was illegal in Scotland to be called Gregor or MacGregor. Between 1603 and 1611 at least 80 of the clan were legally executed. It is impossible to determine how many others died in the hills. The terms of the proscription forgave anyone who killed a MacGregor and indeed rewarded the killer with the possessions of his victim.The proscription came about after a fifty year war with and entirely caused by the Clan Campbell. Following the Battle of Glen Fruin in February 1603, King James VI issued orders that the “detestable race of Clangregour be extirpat and utterlie ruttit out”.
An account of the chiefs follows the early history of the Clan, Due to its circumstances, the clan frequently came to the attention of the state, so that much of the book is about conflict, especially the one-sided Battle of Glen Fruin where just two MacGregors died in a victory in which 140 of their enemies lost their lives. Strangely, as the proscription was imposed by a Stewart monarch, the descendants of the survivors would go on to support the Stewart dynasty during the Wars of Covenant and civil wars from 1638 to 1660 and in every Jacobite Rising, 1689, 1715, 1719 and 1745-46.
Despite the intention of King James that the race should be “extirpat”, there are very many MacGregors living on every continent today. It is to be hoped that some of them may find this study of value.
Since 1995, the author has been Vice-chairman of the Clan Gregor Society and editor of the Society Newsletter. For the avoidance of doubt, the opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Clan Gregor Society
The following chapters are the result of many years of study. Most have been published online on my personal glendiscovery website. I have been encouraged to take a few of the chapters most relevant to the Clan Gregor and edit them into a book under my own name, rather than that of the Clan Gregor Society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter John Lawrie
• Release date: Oct 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463554494

Peter John Lawrie

Peter grew up in Inverness, the Highland capital. He studied Science and Scottish History at the University of St Andrews. World famous as the home of golf, St Andrews is also home to Scotland's oldest University, founded in 1411. Peter took a part-time degree in Humanities with History at the Open University during the 1990s. This course included 'Modern Scottish History since 1707' and 'Family and Community History', which allowed the use of the substantial documentary sources collected over the years on some of his family origins in the Highlands. He then joined the Masters degree course run by the History department of the University of Dundee and graduated in 2003 with an MPhil for a dissertation on the Clan Gregor between 1583 and 1611. In 2004 he gained a certificate in Scottish Field Archaeology at the University of Glasgow and is a member of the Association of Certified Field Archaeologists. For many years he has been a member of the Scottish Genealogy Society, the Scottish History Society and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.Peter's interest in genealogy led to him joining the Clan Gregor Society, where he has been, for many years, Vice-Chairman of Council and editor of the Society's Newsletter. He has written a number of papers for the Society including 'the early history of the Clan Gregor' and 'The Clan Gregor in the 1745 rising'. The MacGregor connection comes through his father's mother. After many years of genealogical research he is confident of his descent from Gregor ghlun dubh MacGregor of Glengyle, nephew of Rob Roy MacGregor. He is equally as proud of his descent from many other Highland clans. Peter has been involved in the MacGregor DNA project through FamilyTreeDNA of Arizona. As the Y-chromosome carries the family tree interest of DNA, Peter's nearest male MacGregor relative took the test, confirming his shared DNA with the Clan chief, Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor. A fascinating journey of discovery is in its early stages with the DNA project, illustrating both the genetic diversity within the clan, and the relationship of the leading families of Clan Gregor to other clans of Dalriadic origin.Future historical novels are being considered which deal with the lives of Gregor Roy MacGregor, executed in 1571 and Alasdair Roy MacGregor, his son and successor as Clan Chief, who was executed in 1604 after the Battle of Glen Fruin.

Book preview

I should also mention the History of the Clan Gregor, by Amelia Murray MacGregor (1899 and 1902). I have quoted extensively from this, especially in support of the genealogies. However, in many ways this was a deeply flawed work as it makes a determined attempt to promote the the current line of Clan Chiefs, descended from Donnchadh Ladasach as being the principal lineage in earlier times, unfairly deprived by the Campbells. As I mention in my chapter on The Chiefs of Clan Gregor, there have been four breaks in patrilinear succession of the chiefs and the numbering of the chiefs is also questioned. The present chief, Sir Malcolm, describes himself as the 24th, but in my view he is the 26th. However, over the years there has been grumbling over the actual right of his line to be the chiefs. I do not agree with this. Sir Malcolm’s ancestor John Murray was elected chief in 1787 by a considerable number of MacGregor men, and his son, Sir Evan MacGregor Murray, secured the approval of around 2200 MacGregors in 1822 to finally put the matter to rest. The position of their descendants as chiefs is fully supported by the Lyon Court. Like other Scots in the late 18th century, John Murray and his brothers had obtained wealth for themselves during service in India. The ‘grumbles’ concern the ancestry of John Murray and the bias towards his family as published in The History of the Clan Gregor. For his services to the East India Company, John Murray obtained in 1795 the hereditary peerage title of Sir John Murray of Lanrick and, in 1822, Evan Murray secured the title ‘MacGregor of MacGregor’. John Murray and his cousin Duncan provided the chapter on the MacGregors in Douglas’s Baronage of Scotland, which was finally published in 1798. As I discuss in my chapter on The Bogus Baronage much of their contribution was fictional and, indeed, fantasy. Later Sir John commissioned the Rev. MacGregor-Stirling and Professor Donald Gregory to conduct deep and meticulous research in to the surviving state records and the archives of certain landed families such as Menzies of Weem and Colquhoun of Luss. Their research notes in manuscript form are held in the Stirling District Archives office under the title The Chartulary of Clan Gregor. The research was not published during the lifetime of Sir John or his son Sir Evan, but their descendant Lady Amelia did finally publish them at the end of the century. It was unfortunate that Amelia chose to incorporate much of the Baronage account along with the research of MacGregor-Stirling and Gregory.

This book covers aspects of the history of the Clan Gregor from its origin to the Last Jacobite Rising of 1745-6. The proscription of the Clan Gregor by the Crown is unique in Scotland. From 1603 until 1774, (except for 1661 to 1689) it was illegal in Scotland to be called Gregor or MacGregor. Between 1603 and 1611 at least 80 of the clan died, either through summary execution or following a form of legal trial, of which the result was rarely in doubt. It is impossible to determine how many others died in the hills. The terms of the proscription in 1611 and 1633 forgave anyone who killed a MacGregor and indeed rewarded the killer with the possessions of their victim. The proscription came about after a 50 year war with and entirely caused by the Clan Campbell. Following the Battle of Glen Fruin in February 1603, King James VI issued orders that the detestable race of Clangregour be extirpat and utterlie ruttit out.

An account of the chiefs follows the early history of the Clan, Due to its circumstances, the clan frequently came to the attention of the state, so that much of the book is about conflict, especially the one-sided Battle of Glen Fruin where just two MacGregors died in a victory in which 140 of their enemies lost their lives.

Strangely, as the proscription was imposed by a Stewart monarch, the descendants of the survivors would go on to support the Stewart dynasty during the Wars of Covenant and civil wars from 1638 to 1660 and in every Jacobite Rising, 1689, 1715, 1719 and 1745-46.

Despite the intention of King James that the race should be extirpat, there are very many MacGregors living on every continent today. It is to be hoped that some of them may find this study of value.

Since 1995, the author has been Vice-chairman of the Clan Gregor Society and editor of the Society Newsletter. For the avoidance of doubt, the opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Clan Gregor Society

The following chapters are the result of many years of study. Most have been published online on my personal website at www.glendiscovery.com I have been encouraged to take a few of the chapters most relevant to the Clan Gregor and edit them into a book under my own name, rather than that of the Clan Gregor Society.

Kinship, Landholding and Crime has been taken from the dissertation I submitted for the degree of MPhil at Dundee University in 1998.

The later chapters consider the involvement of MacGregors in the conflicts during the period from 1638 to 1746, particularly Montrose’s Royalist uprising against the Covenant; Resistance to the Commonwealth 1651-1660; and the Jacobite Risings of 1689, 1715, 1719 and 1745.

The Early History of Clan Gregor

Clan Gregor has many aliases. The reason for this is rooted in the turbulent history of Highland Scotland and the peculiar problems of Clan Gregor from its beginning to the early seventeenth century. Much of this chapter has been summarized from the unpublished 1989 PhD thesis of Dr Martin MacGregor, [1] Dr MacGregor presents some ideas about our early relationship with the Campbells that are not to be found in any published sources.

Clan or Clann is the Gaelic word for a family or, to be more precise, a kindred sharing a common descent. Clan names may be frozen patronymics: Mac Griogair means son of Gregor. Others derive from descriptive features of the eponym, such as Campbell – cam beul meaning squint or wry mouth. The Campbells belong to the Mac Cailein Mor branch of the kindred of Diarmaid o Duibhne. Others are derived from occupations, such as Macintyre, Mac an t-saoir, son of the wright. Kin-based clans developed as a means of controlling land and allocating resources. Their growth and eventual decline were related to the strength or, more particularly, the weakness of government. Formation and dissolution was a dynamic process. Highland Clanship came out of a fusion between Celtic tribalism and Norman feudalism during the 12th and 13th centuries.

Dr MacGregor suggests that the personal name Gregor may originate from one of several Pope Gregories. There was an 11th century Irish cult of Gilla-Griguir or devotee of Gregory. 12th and 13th century bishops of Moray, Dunkeld, Ross and Brechin all bore the name and it was common among Norman families in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Clan Gregor has a tradition, embodied in our slogan – ‘S Rioghal mo dhream – ‘Royal is my race’. Clan Gregor is the principal kindred of Clan Alpin, which has been traditionally derived from the ninth century King Kenneth MacAlpin. Kenneth united the Picts and the Scots into one nation known as Alba, (pronounced A-la-pa). Clan Gregor was once claimed to derive from King Giric, a nephew of Kenneth, who ruled 878 to 889, possibly because the name appears to sound like Gregor. Dr MacGregor states that this is a myth first documented in the late 15th century. (I have seen a beautifully illuminated document demonstrating the genealogy of the Campbells from Adam and Eve! I suspect that they probably traced their descent from Cain rather than Abel.)

A brief note of explanation: Scottish landed gentry are normally designated as name of place-name. Thus: MacGregor of Glen Strae or Cailean liath Campbell of Glen Orchy. It is correct to refer to the person by the name of his estate, thus: Glenstrae, or Glenorchy. Here the place-names will be written as Glen Strae. When the full designation is given it is MacGregor of Glen Strae. However, when the abbreviated form for the name of the person is used it will always be the single word Glenstrae or Glenorchy.

Dr MacGregor suggests that Clan Gregor probably derive from a 13th century kindred called Clann Ailpein, who may have been a client kindred of the ruling MacDougall kindred of Lorn. As part of the Comyn faction, the MacDougalls were opposed to Robert the Bruce. King Robert suffered a serious defeat at the hands of John of Lorn at Dalrigh, near Tyndrum in 1306. Later, in 1308, the King revenged himself on the MacDougalls at the Battle of the Pass of Brander. The rise of the Campbells dates from the generosity of King Robert to Niall Campbell of Lochawe at the expense of the MacDougalls. Eoin of Glen Orchy, as a client of the Lorn kindred, was allied with Wallace and captured in battle against the English in 1296. His daughter Mariota married the Campbell laird of Innis Chonnail. This marriage was the basis of the charter to Glen Orchy given to the Campbells by David II in 1358. The younger brother of Eoin of Glen Orchy was Griogair, the effective starting point of the Clan Gregor lineage at the head of Loch Awe after 1300.

The rev. Gillies [2] discussed 17th century bonds of friendship between the then chiefs of MacNab and MacGregor. These refer to their common descent from two brothers. The MacNabs were the Clann an Aba or family of the Abbot of Glen Dochart. The relationship was probably common descent from the leading kindred of Clann Ailpein. Dr MacGregor is quite correctly cautious with the surviving genealogies, which often show contradictions and sometimes outright fabrications.

Can we take at face value the genealogical descent of the Clan Gregor as given in the book of the Dean of Lismore? [3] At page 137 of the MacLauchlan edition of 1862 is the poem by Duncan MacDougall Maoil - Some historians have taken this as descent from the 9th century King Alpin, father of Kenneth MacAlpin who united the Picts and the Scots in 843. Unless a number of generations have been omitted this seems barely credible and has been discounted by modern scholars - but this may be changing. Here is the patrilinear descent suggested by the poem.

The Dean's 16th century genealogy

Alpin (Ailpin)

Kennan (Connan)

Hugh of Glen Orchy (Aodha Urchadhaigh)

Gillelan (Giolla Fhaolain)

Duncan (Donnchadh)

Duncan the small (Donnchadh beag)

Malcolm

John the lucky or learned

Gregor

John (Eoin cam)

Black John (Eoin dubh)

Malcolm

Patrick

Here is the full modern English text from the Book of the Dean of Lismore, of The history of the secret origin of John MacPatrick by Sir Duncan MacDougal Maoil MacGregor father of the Dean of Lismore

What belongs to his race is not feeble,

The bearing of that race we love,

Seldom of a feeble race it is,

Among the Gael of purest fame,

That inquiry of their origin is made,

By the men who read in books

Firm the belief to them and me,

During the evening time so dark

That in the blood of noble kings

Were the rights of true ClanGregor

Now that I'm by thy green dwelling,

Listen John to thy family story.

A root of the very root are we

Of famous kings of noble story.

Know that Patrick was thy Father,

Malcolm father was to Patrick.

Son of Black John, not black his breast,

Him who feasts and chariots owned.

Another John was Black John's father,

Son of Gregor, son of John the lucky.

Three they were of liberal heart,

Three beneficent to the Church.

The father to that learned John,

Was Malcom who his wealth ne'er hid,

Son of Duncan surly and small,

Whose standard never took reproach.

His father was another Duncan,

Son of Gillelan of the ambush,

Noble he was, giving to friends,

Son of the famous Hugh from Urquhay.

Kennan of the pointed spear,

Of Hugh from Urquhay was the father.

From Alpin of stately mien and fierce,

Mighty king of weighty blows.

This is the fourth account that's given

Of thee who art the heir of Patrick.

Remember well thy backbone line,

Down from Alpin, heir of Dougal

Twenty and one besides thyself,

John the black not black in heart.

Thy genealogy leads us truly

To the prosperous Fergus McErc.

Of thy race which wastes not like froth,

Six generations wore the crown.

Forty Kings there were and three,

Their blood and origin are known.

Three there were north and three to the south,

After the time of Malcom Kenmore.

Ten of the race did wear the crown,

From the time of Malcom up to Alpin.

From Alpin upwards we do find

Fourteen kings till we reach Fergus.

Such is thy genealogy

To Fergus, son of Ere the prosperous.

How many are there of thy race

Must there have been from thee to Fergus.

Noble the races mix with thy blood,

Such as we now we cannot number.

The Schools would weary with our tale

Numbering the kings from whom thou 'rt sprung.

The blood of Arthur is in thy bosom

Precious is that which fills thy veins ;

The blood of Cuan, the blood of Conn,

Two wise men, glory of the race.

The blood of Grant in thy apple-red cheek,

The blood of Neil the fierce and mighty.

Fierce and gentle, at all times,

Is the story of the royal race.

Part way through the poem (highlighted above) is the following: Down from Alpin, heir of Dougal, Twenty and one besides thyself.

On page 127 of the Dean of Lismore’s Book (McLauchlan and Skene) we see the following:

Eoin Mac Phadruig,

mhic Mhaoilcholuim,

mhic Eoin duibh,

mhic Eoin,

mhic Grigoir,

mhic Eoin,

mhic Mhaolcholuim,

mhic Dhonchaidh bhig,

mhic Dhonchaidh a Sraileadh,

mhic Ghillfhaolain,

mhic Aoidh Urchaidh,

mhic Coinnich,

mhic Alpain ;

agus an Coinneach sin b'e ardrigh Albain gu deimhin 's an uair sin ;

agus an t-Eoin so an t-aon duine deug o'n Choinneach so a dubhairt mi.

Agus Donnchadh daoroglach Mac Dhughaill,

mhic Eoin Riabhaich, do sgriobh so leabhraibh seanachaidh nan righ ;

agus ro dheanadh Anno Domini Millesimo Quingentesimo duodecimo.

[An entry dated 1512.]

The English translation of his name being:

John son of Patrick,

son of Malcolm,

son of Black John,

son of John,

son of Gregor,

son of John,

son of Malcolm,

son of Duncan,

son of Duncan,

son of Gillelan,

son of Hugh,

son of Kennan.

Down from Alpin, heir of Dougal there are twenty and one besides thyself.

I am grateful to Dr Ronnie Black for suggesting that, for completeness, I should also include the genealogy of the MacGregors from the MS 1467. [4] It is apparent that there are discrepancies highlighted by Martin MacGregor in the later names, so I have modified the list, indicating the changes in italics. I have also used Dr Black’s modernizing of the names.

Patrick

[MS 1467 has Malcolm, son of Patrick instead of Patrick d 1461, Malcolm d.1440]

Malcolm

John dow [MS 1467 combines ‘John dow’ and ‘John cam’ into a single entry of John]

John cam

Gregor

Duncan [ this may be Dhonchaidh bhig, probable father (or grandfather?) of John of Glenorchy in the Ragman roll who is omitted. John’s daughter Mariota carried the lands to the Campbells. John’s brother Gregor, as eponym of the MacGregors, is next in this list. Again, the previous entry, Malcolm, and Duncan have possibly been transposed. In addition, the Dean’s list has Dhonchaidh bhig, and Dhonchaidh a Sraileadh. Have these also been combined into one?]

Maol colaim

[From this point on there is no correspondence]

Gille Criost

Fearchar

Muireadhach

Ainnreas

Cormac

Airbheartach

Fearadhach

Fearchar Fada

Fearadhach Fionn

If Gregor was born around 1300 and Fearchar Fada can be identified with Ferchar Fota  the probable king of the Cenél Loairn of Dál Riata, who died c. 697, ten generations is insufficient to cover 600 years, there are clearly many generations missing from the list.

For a deeper analysis of the different genealogies and discrepancies, I suggest consulting Martin’s analysis in his thesis which is online at the Edinburgh University website.

Neil and Matt MacGregor have been investigating the origins of Clan Gregor using an ever-increasing body of DNA evidence. They now feel that there is enough evidence to ask, How potentially accurate is the claim within the poem that 21 generations were known to have occurred between John McPatrick and Kenneth McAlpine? Are the numbers a good or consistent claim or are they purely hypothetical with little evidence to support the claim?

Assuming John McPatrick was born in 1440 and Kenneth Alpin, the first king of unified Scotland, was born ~810, we have a time period of 630 years. A calculation of Time to common ancestor uses a generation period of 30 years as the mean generation gap. (Calculation: 630÷21= 30). Therefore, the time frame using the currently accepted generation time appears to be quite an accurate representation of the number of generations claimed by the poem. Does this simply prove that Sir Duncan MacDougal Maoil, an educated cleric, could do the arithmetic? Or could there be real substance in the claims? Neil & Matt have been comparing DNA samples from other clans deriving from Argyll who also claim a Dalriadic descent such as the MacKinnons and MacNabs, Science may be supporting the traditional tales of descent. However, the names in the lists cannot be otherwise corroborated. They may be genuine survivals from the oral tradition of the Highland seannachies, or late medieval fables.

Were the kindred which became Clan Gregor were some sort of Royal guard or keepers of the strategic passes? The Greek noun Gregorios means ‘Watchman’. ‘Gregor’ could even be a word-play on the role of the kindred. It may be conjectural but a glance at a topological map of the western Highlands shows just how important the MacGregor glens were. Dalmally is near the eastern end of the Pass of Brander controlling access to Lorn. From the south come roads from Kintyre along the east of Loch Awe and from Loch Fyne through Glen Aray. Glens Lochy, Orchy and Strae are all eastward routes into the Central Highlands. Watchmen in Glen Strae can also guard potential routes into Glen Etive. Based on map evidence alone it is likely that the Dalriadic kingdom and later the Lordship of Lorn would place border guards in these glens. The MacDougall kindred descend from the eldest son of Somhairle or Somerled who created the Lordship of the Isles. Somerled was in turn descended from the Kings of Dalriada, Erin and Denmark.

So why did clans develop in Scotland and persist in the Highlands long after kin-based tribes disappeared in most of the rest of Europe? Please forgive a digression into the early history of Scotland before I return to Clan Gregor.

The Picts are said by historians to have practised matrilinear succession. Analysis of the kinglists appears to suggest that succession to Kingship was not from father to son, but within a kinship group known as a derbfine. The most suitable king would be chosen from among eligible adult males in the ruling kindred. Descent through the female line was possible. Thus, the King’s sister’s son might be preferred to the King’s son. When the Scots King Kenneth MacAlpin, became king of the united Picts and Scots, it was because by birth he was also a member of the Pictish ruling kindred. The genealogical tree of the Scottish Kings from Alpin to Robert I, makes it very apparent that the succession rarely followed from father to son until David I. During the lifetime of a ruler it was the custom to appoint a successor known as the tanist. The practise of tanistry can be shown to have continued among some Highland clans up to the 18th century.

Feudalism is important to the study of the Clanship because it is fundamentally opposite to the Celtic kin-based system of Land Holding. Feudalism is based on land whereas kindreds are about people. At the top of the pyramid, Elizabeth Windsor is the Queen of England but not Queen of Scotland, instead she is Queen of Scots. Celtic kingship came from the regional tribes headed by sub-Kings or Mormaers at the head of their own kindreds, which in turn helped to select the Ard Righ or High King from the ruling kindred. Alexander II & III were particularly important in fusing kin-based and feudal authority, so that in the 13th century when most heads of kindred were also feudal lords, there was a relatively stable and decentralised structure, with relatively weak kings. The later Stewart kings attempted to change this relationship in order to strengthen their authority. By creating feudal lordships which ignored or cut across kin loyalties, their actions often created instability and conflict.

In the Celtic system land was regarded as the duthchas or birthright of the kindred and could not be personal property, in the sense that buildings, clothes or weapons were. Kinsmen were supported as befitted their station from the lands of the kindred and in turn were expected to work and defend the duthchas. Leadership of a kin-based society was hereditary though not necessarily patrilinear. As well as true kinsmen in the kindred there would also be unrelated servants. In a non-cash economy the Chiefs consumed their surplus income by feasting and gifts. Feasting meant inviting the principal members of the kindred, the duine uasal, or the "gentlemen of the clan, who were usually trained fighting men rather than farmers, to consume the rental. Gifts were also important in binding chief and kinsmen. In return, the chief expected to receive military support and labour.

K J Grant [5] wrote "One of the reasons genealogy was so important is the Gaelic concept of dùthchas. Dùthchas—defined as place of origin, homeland; heredity, heritage––referred to the collective heritage of a clan or kin group, and stood in contrast to the concept of oighreachd—estate or inheritance––which referred to an individual’s inheritance or ownership. Thus the ownership of land could be claimed as dùthchas of a clan or group that felt that its ownership of the land stemmed from generations of working it, or as oighreachd by another group or an individual whose rights derived from legal acquisition or inheritance."

The feudal system has a totally different underlying philosophy. All lands were regarded as the property of the King who granted them by charter to his tenants-in-chief, personally, in return for their fealty and service. They could sub-infeudate parts of their holdings to their vassals who might do the same in turn to their dependants. Thus, apart from the king, everyone in a feudal society had a superior on whom they depended and may, apart from the lowest level, have had vassals who depended on them. Feudal tenure involved service by the vassal to the superior, which could take the form of military service, labour or specified rental. The tenure could be for a fixed term, the life of the grantee, or in perpetuity to the vassal and his heirs. Any superior, subject to his obligation to his own superior could dispose of his possessions at any time. A superior could re-grant a feudal fief to anyone he chose, irrespective of kinship. The vassals often had little say in this. Feudalism in France and England developed into a form with strong central authority by the fourteenth century. In Germany, central authority was so weak that the Empire dissolved into separate principalities. The Scottish situation was in between. Scotland remained united and absorbed the Viking lands but with weak central authority.

In 1066 William the Bastard, (he was illegitimate and he was called this in his own time - but only behind his back), Duke of Normandy and the 'Conqueror' of England dispossessed almost all the Saxon lords of England and granted out the entire realm to his supporters under feudal tenure. In Scotland, feudalism was only introduced gradually by the Margaret-sons. Norman knights rarely acquired their lands in Scotland by expropriation but usually by marriage to suitable heiresses. Many modern ‘Scots’ names, such as Menzies, Gordon, Cumming and Bruce are Norman in origin. Military service and heritable feudal jurisdiction were only finally abolished after 1746. Rentals in kind and labour service had been almost entirely transmuted into cash by 1800. However, the legal language of land tenure in Scotland remained a matter of superiors and vassals until legislation by the reconvened Parliament of Scotland after 1999.

From the 13th century the legal basis of the ownership of land in the whole of Scotland was completely feudal. However old tenurial practices and beliefs survived. North of the Highland line, roughly from Stonehaven to Dumbarton and where the Gaelic language remained dominant, the older idea of kin-based land holding persisted into the 18th century. The expression ‘kindly rooms’, or a ‘kindness’ to land, does not mean tenure out of the goodness of heart of the landlord, but the right of members of the kindred to land sufficient to support them and their dependants. It is important to note that the Gaelic Highlanders often continued to support the chiefs of their kindred even when they lived on the feudal lands of other lords.

One obvious way of demonstrating the difference between the Scottish and English systems is to look at the surnames of the modern population. The majority of the names of people with Scottish descent are personal, and refer back to the founder or name-father of the kindred. For example: MacGregor, Davidson and Fraser. In England the majority are territorial, that is they have the name of the village or estate where their ancestor lived such as Honeycombe or Wilton. Another major group of English names derive from the trade of the ancestor when surnames became fixed, such as Cooper or Wright. Such surnames are also found in Scotland, but to a lesser extent, (although, today, ‘Smith’ is our most common surname). Clearly there would be Smiths, Coopers and Wrights in every community, so these names do not imply common ancestry. In England and France society was stratified between an exclusive feudal elite, that married within itself and the lower orders. In Scotland, although the social structure was just as stratified, lowland families and highland clans were more inclusive rather than exclusive. Younger sons of the elite tended to marry into the name rather than among their peers. Nor should we ignore the illegitimate offspring that were usually acknowledged and provided for within the kindred. The Glen Orchy Campbells produced lots of bastards in the 16th century!

Clan formation began with the eponym or ‘name-father’ who had control of resources, principally land. The chief might allocate parts of his domain to his sons, usually in a way that did not alienate their lands from the total. Brothers, cousins and other members of the name-father’s lineage, as well as non-related dependants, might be involved in maintaining the growing kindred. Successful kindreds extended their holdings through the generations, thus creating further opportunities for cadet branches to form. As the supply of land was fixed, the process proceeded in successful clans at the expense of less successful lineages. As in the game of ‘snakes and ladders’, losing the favour of the monarch or a defeat by another kindred could reverse the growth or even end the existence of a lineage. The practical difference between clanship in the Highlands and land-holding systems elsewhere lies in the survival in clanship of the old Celtic ideas of kin-based relationships, whether real or imagined.

The map shows the lordships of the central Highlands as they were about 1400. Note in particular the Earldoms of Atholl, Strathearn, Menteith and Lennox. To the west is the Lordship of the Isles. Lorn was the truncated remains of the MacDougall lands. The white area was largely crown lands, church property and smaller territories, including at this time those held by the growing power of the Campbells.

Kin-based land-holding was once common throughout Scotland. The pursuit of power by the great lowland kindreds such as Douglas or Hamilton led to the blood-feuds of the 16th century. In the 17th century the lowland kindreds changed into land-owning aristocratic families on the English pattern. Perhaps due to language division, some Highland clans retained their archaic forms into the 18th century. Highland clans were by no means uniform in structure.

In his 2016 thesis, [6] Kevin Grant succinctly described pre-18th century Highland communities. "The communities of the Gàidhealtachd were part of a clan society in which all social classes were bound to each other by mutual ties of obligation and responsibility". At the bottom of this society were the cottars: landless labourers. Often itinerant, they were not tied to the land and would have had few possessions. Above them were the ordinary farmers of the bailtean, tenants and sub-tenants, undertaking subsistence agriculture and using cattle and dairy products to pay rent or for export. The tacksmen, or fir baile, were drawn from the nobility of the clan and sub-rented their land to the tenants and sub-tenants. In exchange, tenants would pay rent to the tacksmen, usually in kind rather than in cash. The tacksman held the rental of his land, his tack, from the chief or higher nobility of the clan and, in return, paid rental to the chief and was responsible for providing man-power, drawn from his tenantry, during times of conflict. The chiefs supported a retinue of professionals such as warriors, doctors, musicians, poets, and lawyers, offering traditional hospitality, and supporting the whole of society in times of the failure of crops, other economic stresses, or conflict."

By the 18th century, the relationship between the clan elite and those working the land was moving away from this traditional model, a process that had begun as early as the start of the 17th century (Dodgshon 1998; MacInnes 1996). Increasingly, many of the elite sought to monetise rents which had previously been paid in kind. Over time, chiefs came to see their lands more as legally-owned estates than as feudal holdings governed by traditional hereditary rights.

Despite the certainty of the clan maps in tartan shops, territories were dynamic over time. It is difficult to classify them. At one end of the continuum were the great feudal territorial magnates holding most of their lands directly from the Crown. These included Earldoms and later Duchies, such as: Campbells of Argyll, Murrays of Atholl and Gordons of Huntly. At times the government granted powers of regality to these lords, handing over total control of all the land and people within their jurisdiction. These magnates were part of the machinery of power in Scotland, sharing the great offices of State between them. Their territories had grown well beyond their original boundaries and included numerous subordinate groups. Such vassal clans or septs could be the followers of distant cousins of the Chief or of formerly independent kindreds that had become wholly dependent upon them.

Then we have the aggregate clans. The Cumming chiefs are known to have renamed their servants by ‘baptising’ them as ‘Cummings of the hen-stone’. The Camerons, although themselves nominally vassals of the Gordons, often gave leases only to tenants who adopted their name. Frasers of Lovat in the 16th century are recorded as giving a boll of meal to men taking their name. Cumming and Fraser are, of course, Norman names in origin.

Next to these were the lesser feudal barons and lairds who still possessed their own charter lands usually as tenants-in-chief of the crown. Their followers were more feudal vassals of the laird than clansmen although some of them may also have been his kin. These were more prevalent on lands around the periphery of the Highlands and often Norman in origin. The Brodies and Roses in the North East may be given as examples.

Kindreds whose chief possessed his oighreachd lands by heritable charter are probably the closest to the romantic idea of clanship, The people on his land considered themselves as his kin and for the most part they were, even if the relationship was distant. Their dùthchas coincided with his oighreachd. Their septs and cadet branches were usually formed by descent from scions of the family.

More common was the situation of clans, such as Clan Gregor, whose chief might have a charter or lease to some but not all of the lands on which his followers lived, as a vassal of a greater lord. Some of the clansmen who gave their calp to their chief lived on the lands of other lords to whom they were unrelated and gave only limited or no allegiance.

Another group, sometimes known as ‘broken clans’, may have lost or had never possessed legal title to the lands they occupied. If asked by what right they held their lands, the reply might be: ‘by the sword’. Their chiefs retained followers who gave him their calp, but they had no feudal rights. As almost all of the Highlands was the feudal possession of some lord or other, the existence of broken men could be a source of great trouble. Such kindreds were on the point of disappearance with their members drifting into the allegiance of more powerful chiefs. Otherwise, without land, they had little choice but to resort to theft and raids on their neighbours in order to survive. Indeed, territorial magnates frequently made use of such people in order to foment trouble for their rivals.

Duncan Campbell, in Lairds of Glen Lyon, [7] repeated Donald Gregory’s assertion that Clan Gregor were the remnants of a large kindred that had been defeated and dispossessed during the wars of Independence and had been scattered across Perthshire. There is no documentary evidence to support this claim. The alternative put forward by Dr Martin MacGregor is that the clan descends solely from a kindred dependant on the MacDougalls of Lorn before the Wars of Independence (1296-1328) and based around the northern edge of Loch Awe.. Could it be possible that all MacGregors descend from a single individual in the 14th century? Society was overwhelmingly rural with relatively static technology and agriculture. The survival of kindreds depended on the produce of the land that they could hold and use. Less fortunate people may have been attracted by relative security and put to work as servants in return for food and shelter. People deprived of the necessities of life are less able to pass on their genes. Recent work on DNA has demonstrated that a substantial number of MacGregors do relate to the chief, others may descend from ancestors who were members of our precursor kindred before 1300. There are also a significant number (but much less than in clans such as the Campbells) who descend from 'part-takers' on the territory of the clan and may have only far distant kin relationship with the rest of the clan. Throughout history there have been NPEs (Non parental events).

If we assume an average generation of 25 years and a family size of 6, allowing for daughters and child-hood mortality leaving 2 sons surviving to marry and procreate. Starting in 1325, by 1550 there could be 512 adult male descendants and, if unchecked, a million by 1825! The possibility of such growth depended on the ability to colonise and control the resources of new lands which is what seems to have occurred for the descendants of Gregor at least until 1550, so it may be credible that the MacGregor chief could have called out 200 fighting men, many of them kin to him, in 1550. Including their families, such a kinship group could have numbered more than a thousand.

To put this in context, the total population of Scotland in 1550 has been estimated at three-quarters of a million, evenly split between north and south, with less than 10% in urban settlements. The area from Rannoch to Aberfoyle and from Dalmally to Comrie is 3600 sq. km, or 4.7% of Scotland. Crudely, this is two thirds of the pre-1975 county of Perth, omitting Atholl and the area around Perth itself. The total population is unlikely to have exceeded twenty five thousand. The military strength of Clan Gregor would therefore be very significant in this area. Of course, the equipage and maintenance of fighting men was a significant cost. Not only were weapons and equipment expensive, the men had to be available whenever required. This meant that the task of providing food and accommodation fell on others. The statutes of Iona in 1609 were largely aimed at reducing the ability of Clan chiefs to maintain fighting men, described by King James VI as ‘sorners and idle beggars’.

The raw materials of the historian are written records, perhaps enriched by other verifiable sources. The historian is very suspicious of legend and tradition, but the Celtic peoples placed great store on the oral tradition, with songs and stories, genealogies and legends being recited around the fire. Sadly the social changes of the 18th and 19th centuries resulted in most of this corpus being lost forever. Our own James MacGregor, Dean of Lismore, who lived at Fortingall in the 16th century, recorded some of these stories and legends and his manuscript contains some of the oldest surviving Gaelic poetry.

Much Highland history is gleaned from the contents of the charter chest. The successful Highland chief carefully guarded his bonds and charters. There was no Scottish Record Office to keep a copy. The Campbell chiefs knew the value of their sheepskins. When they captured their neighbour’s house the contents of the charter chest was often the first objective. Only the winner in this struggle wrote the history. When James V made his visitations around the Highlands, he demanded that the chiefs showed their charters. Without them their lands might be regranted to another.

In a true feudal system, vassals give their service in exchange for access to land and the protection of a lord. In 1547 the Scottish parliament introduce feu-ferme whereby the service element could be eliminated. A heritable tenure of land could be established in exchange for a grassum or entry payment and annual feu-duty. Two features of clanship are fundamental to understanding the story of Clan Gregor. Bonds of Manrent were personal service agreements between a lord and his vassal, which were not necessarily based on land. In exchange for the protection of the lord, the vassal obliged himself to provide specified military or other service to the lord. Manrent bonds often vested ultimate control of a vassal’s possessions in the lord. Vassals often gave their manrent to the lord on whose lands they lived. Therefore, where the right of the superior to those lands was dubious, the existence of bonds of manrent could be claimed as proof of those rights. Manrent could be transferred, as in 1550 the Earl of Argyll transferred Glenstrae’s service from Cawdor to Glenorchy. Cailean liath (Cailean liath Campbell, laird of Glenorchy) issued a considerable number of bonds of manrent in order to consolidate his hold on the territories he obtained in Breadalbane. Most of these bonds are documented in the Black Book of Taymouth.[8]

Another feature of clanship was calp, which might not necessarily be given to the Superior on whose land the vassal lived. This relationship was more personal than manrent. Strictly speaking, calp was the right of the chief, on the death of a clansman, to receive his best cow. A chief who had accepted the calp of his kinsman or duin’uasal was obliged to support him, right or wrong. Just as the duin’uasal was obliged to fight the chief’s battles, whether right or wrong. The important difference about calp was that it was the clansman’s to give rather than the chief’s to grant. Unlike the vassal, the clansman had a choice – he could move and offer his calp and support to another chief. In the recent debate about Scotland’s constitutional position in the United Kingdom, the principle was argued that sovereignty in Scotland comes up from the people. In England, sovereignty comes down from the Crown, since 1688, expressed as the Crown in Parliament. The distinction between legally recognized feudal obligations and the duty of supporting kin was fundamental to understanding the problems faced by Clan Gregor in the 16th century. The bonds of manrent issued by Cailean liath to various MacGregors during the 1550s often stipulated that they renounce their calp to MacGregor of Glenstrae, the clan chief.

Between 1328 and 1603, the central government of Scotland was often weak. It might have been better for Scotland if the old Pictish method of succession to the strongest candidate in the derbfine had been in use rather than primogeniture. Instead, we had weak kings in Robert II and III and a minority before the reign of almost every one of the James’s and Mary. During these times lords tried to increase their power at the expense of the Crown and their rivals. A strong right hand was necessary to hold what one had and weakness was ruthlessly exploited. Of necessity the government delegated legal authority to the great magnates and as far as Clan Gregor was concerned that usually meant Campbell regality. Indeed, from 1528 the Earl of Argyll was hereditary Lord Justice General. Hame’s hamely, quo the de’il when he found himself in the Court of Session. However, Dr Martin MacGregor’s thesis, drawn from the records of the Argyll and Breadalbane estates and state papers, shows a complex situation at odds with the myth of permanent conflict between MacGregor and Campbell.

Local legal authority was vested in heritable feudal baronies. The holder of a feudal barony was quite distinct from the rank of Baron in the Peerage, although he might also have been a Peerage Baron or Earl. Such jurisdiction might include the right of ‘pit and gallows’. His expenses could be recouped (and more) by fines. When the lands of a laird coincided with his baronial jurisdiction then the system was as good as could be devised, subject to his abilities. However, when his jurisdiction included the lands of other lairds, with whom he may have been at feud, then the temptation to abuse the rights of office must have been great. Crown lands usually had their jurisdiction vested in a hereditary baillie. The lairds of Glen Orchy were granted the Crown Bailliary of much of the central zone lands. They used this jurisdiction to help their friends, damage their enemies and above all, extend their possessions.

At the start of the 14th century, the chief of the kindred that was to become Clan Gregor held the lordship of Glen Orchy. A 1358 charter showed that the superiority of Glen Orchy had passed into the hands of a Campbell heir. The lands of Glen Orchy, Glen Lochy and Glen Strae were the principal places occupied by the clan before 1437 with little documentary evidence of settlement elsewhere. The key centres of the kindred were Diseart Chonain or Dalmally, Stronmilchan and Achallader.

Scotland had been devastated by a generation of war between 1296 and 1328. In particular the MacDougalls and their allies in and around Lorn were much reduced in status following their defeat at Brander in 1308. The climate deteriorated during the early 14th century and then, in mid-century, came the bubonic plague called the Black Death, during which more than a third of the population may have died. Càrn nam Marbh or cairn of the dead at Fortingall is still pointed out in tourist guides. Perhaps the Glen Lyon people were badly hit by plague. On the evidence of their growth in numbers, the Glen Orchy kindred may have escaped lightly. Thus an opportunity may have been created for early expansion through Auch Glen into Glen Lyon. Duncan Campbell in Lairds of Glen Lyon, mentions a legendary plague that destroyed almost the entire population. He placed this plague in the time of the Columban Saint Eonan and stated that MacDougalls from Lorn later repopulated the glen. However, as the MacDougall kindred did not exist until the 13th century, it seems a safe assumption that the legend refers to the plague of 1350. In 1372 David II granted Glen Lyon to John MacDougall of Lorn. His daughter and heiress married John Stewart who may have been the laird of Glen Lyon called Iain Dubh nan lann or Black John of the spears. A daughter of the last Stewart lord of Lorn married a Campbell from whom came the Campbell lairds in the early 16th century. It is possible that the grant of 1372 followed actual settlement of MacDougall kindred after 1350. A MacGregor lineage had acquired the Deanery of Lismore at Fortingall by 1406 and the first documentary evidence of MacGregor settlement in Glen Lyon is later than that. Lacking evidence of earlier settlement, this is merely speculation. However, from the early part of the 15th century, Glen Lyon became the main expansion route eastwards for Clan Gregor.

Until the late 14th century,