Chapter IV (1)

Robertsons or Clan Donnachie--Macfarlanes--Campbells of Argyll and
offshoots--Royal Marriage--Campbells of Breadalbane--Macarthur
Campbells of Strachur--Campbells of Cawdor, Aberuchill,
Ardnamurchan, Auchinbreck, Ardkinglass, Barcaldine, Dunstaffnage,
Monzie--The Macleods of Lewis and Harris--Macleods of Rasay.

ROBERTSON.

Besides the clans already noticed, there are other two which, according to Skene, are set down by the genealogists as having originally belonged to the Gallgael or Celts of the Western Isles; these are the Robertsons or clan Donnachie, and the Macfarlanes.

Tradition claims for the clan Donnachie a descent from the great sept of the Macdonalds, their remote ancestor being said to have been Duncan (hence the name _Donnachie_) the Fat, son of Angus Mor, Lord of the Isles, in the reign of William the Lion. Smibert thinks this is certainly the most feasible account of their origin. Skene, however, endeavours to trace their descent from Duncan, King of Scotland, eldest son of Malcolm III., their immediate ancestor, according to him, having been Conan, second son of Henry, fourth and last of the ancient Celtic Earls of Athole. This Conan, it is said, received from his father, in the reign of Alexander II., the lands of Generochy, afterwards called Strowan, in Gaelic _Struthan_--that is, streamy. Conan’s great-grandson, Andrew, was styled of Athole, _de Atholia_, which was the uniform designation of the family, indicative, Mr Skene thinks, of their descent from the ancient Earls of Athole. According to the same authority, it was from Andrew’s son, Duncan, that the clan derived their distinctive appellation of the clan _Donnachie_, or children of Duncan. Duncan is said to have been twice married, and acquired by both marriages considerable territory in the district of Rannoch. By his first wife he had a son, Robert de Atholia.

As it is well known that Mr Skene’s Celtic prejudices are very strong, and as his derivation of the Robertsons from Duncan, king of Scotland, is to a great extent conjectural, it is only fair to give the other side of the question, viz., the probability of their derivation from the Celts of the Western Isles. We shall take the liberty of quoting here Mr Smibert’s judicious and acute remarks on this point. “There unquestionably exist doubts about the derivation of the Robertsons from the Macdonalds; but the fact of their acquiring large possessions at so early a period in Athole, seems to be decisive of their descent from some great and strong house among the Western Celts. And what house was more able so to endow its scions than that of Somerled, whose heads were the kings of the west of Scotland? The Somerled or Macdonald power, moreover, extended into Athole beyond all question; and, indeed, it may be said to have been almost the sole power which could so have planted there one of its offshoots, apart from the regal authority. Accordingly, though Duncan may not have been the son of Angus Mor (Macdonald), a natural son of the Lord of the Isles, as has been commonly averred, it by no means follows that the family were not of the Macdonald race. The proof may be difficult, but probability must be accepted in its stead. An opposite course has been too long followed on all sides. Why should men conceal from themselves the plain fact that the times under consideration were barbarous, and that their annals were necessarily left to us, not by the pen of the accurate historian, but by the dealers in song and tradition?”

Referring to the stress laid by Mr Skene upon the designation _de Atholia_, which was uniformly assumed by the Robertsons, Mr Smibert remarks,--“In the first place, the designation _De Atholia_ can really be held to prove nothing, since, as in the case of _De Insulis_, such phrases often pointed to mere residence, and were especially used in reference to large districts. A gentleman ‘of Athole’ is not necessarily connected with the Duke; and, as we now use such phrases without any meaning of that kind, much more natural was the custom of old, when general localities alone were known generally. In the second place, are the Robertsons made more purely Gaelic, for such is partly the object in the view of Mr Skene, by being traced to the ancient Athole house? That the first lords of the line were Celts may be admitted; but heiresses again and again interrupted the male succession. While one wedded a certain Thomas of London, another found a mate in a person named David de Hastings. These strictly English names speak for themselves; and it was by the Hastings marriage, which took place shortly after the year 1200, that the first house of Athole was continued. It is clear, therefore, that the supposition of the descent of the Robertsons from the first lords of Athole leaves them still of largely mingled blood--Norman, Saxon, and Gaelic. Such is the result, even when the conjecture is admitted.

“As a Lowland neighbourhood gave to the race of Robert, son of Duncan, the name of Robertson, so would it also intermingle their race and blood with those of the Lowlanders.”[172]

It is from the grandson of Robert of Athole, also named Robert, that the clan Donnachie derive their name of Robertson. This Robert was noted for his predatory incursions into the Lowlands, and is historically known as the chief who arrested and delivered up to the vengeance of the government Robert Graham and the Master of Athole, two of the murderers of James I., for which he was rewarded with a crown charter, dated in 1451, erecting his whole lands into a free barony. He also received the honourable augmentation to his arms of a naked man manacled under the achievement, with the motto, _Virtutis gloria merces_. He was mortally wounded in the head near the village of Auchtergaven, in a conflict with Robert Forrester of Torwood, with whom he had a dispute regarding the lands of Little Dunkeld. Binding up his head with a white cloth, he rode to Perth, and obtained from the king a new grant of the lands of Strowan. On his return home, he died of his wounds. He had three sons, Alexander, Robert, and Patrick. Robert, the second son, was the ancestor of the Earls of Portmore, a title now extinct.

The eldest son, Alexander, was twice married, his sons becoming progenitors of various families of Robertsons. He died in, or shortly prior to, 1507, and was succeeded by his grandson, William. This chief had some dispute with the Earl of Athole concerning the marches of their estates, and was killed by a party of the earl’s followers, in 1530. Taking advantage of a wadset or mortgage which he held over the lands of Strowan, the earl seized nearly the half of the family estate, which the Robertsons could never again recover. William’s son, Robert, had two sons--William, who died without issue, and Donald, who succeeded him.

Donald’s grandson, 11th laird of Strowan, died in 1636, leaving an infant son, Alexander, in whose minority the government of the clan devolved upon his uncle, Donald. Devoted to the cause of Charles I., the latter raised a regiment of his name and followers, and was with the Marquis of Montrose in all his battles. After the Restoration, the king settled a pension upon him.

His nephew, Alexander Robertson of Strowan, was twice married. By his second wife, Marion, daughter of General Baillie of Letham, he had two sons and one daughter, and died in 1688. Duncan, the second son by the second marriage, served in Russia, with distinction, under Peter the Great.

Alexander, the elder son of the second marriage, was the celebrated Jacobite chief and poet. Born about 1670, he was destined for the church, and sent to the university of St Andrews; but his father and brother by the first marriage dying within a few months of each other, he succeeded to the family estate and the chiefship in 1688. Soon after, he joined the Viscount Dundee, when he appeared in arms in the Highlands for the cause of King James; but though he does not appear to have been at Killiecrankie, and was still under age, he was, for his share in this rising, attainted by a decreet of parliament in absence in 1690, and his estates forfeited to the crown. He retired, in consequence, to the court of the exiled monarch at St Germains, where he lived for several years, and served one or two campaigns in the French army. In 1703, Queen Anne granted him a remission, when he returned to Scotland, and resided unmolested on his estates, but neglecting to get the remission passed the seals, the forfeiture of 1690 was never legally repealed. With about 500 of his clan he joined the Earl of Mar in 1715, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Sheriffmuir, but rescued. Soon after, however, he fell into the hands of a party of soldiers in the Highlands, and was ordered to be conducted to Edinburgh; but, with the assistance of his sister, he contrived to escape on the way, when he again took refuge in France. In 1723, the estate of Strowan was granted by the government to Margaret, the chief’s sister, by a charter under the great seal, and in 1726 she disponed the same in trust for the behoof of her brother, substituting, in the event of his death without lawful heirs of his body, Duncan, son of Alexander Robertson of Drumachune, her father’s cousin, and the next lawful heir male of the family. Margaret died unmarried in 1727. Her brother had returned to Scotland the previous year, and obtaining in 1731 a remission for his life, took possession of his estate. In 1745 he once more “marshalled his clan” in behalf of the Stuarts, but his age preventing him from personally taking any active part in the rebellion, his name was passed over in the list of proscriptions that followed. He died in his own house of Carie, in Rannoch, April 18, 1749, in his 81st year, without lawful issue, and in him ended the direct male line. A volume of his poems was published after his death. An edition was reprinted at Edinburgh in 1785, 12mo, containing also the “History and Martial Achievements of the Robertsons of Strowan.” He is said to have formed the prototype of the Baron of Bradwardine in “Waverley.”

The portion of the original estate of Strowan which remained devolved upon Duncan Robertson of Drumachune, a property which his great-grandfather, Duncan _Mor_ (who died in 1687), brother of Donald the tutor, had acquired from the Athole family. As, however, his name was not included in the last act of indemnity passed by the government, he was dispossessed of the estate in 1752, when he and his family retired to France. His son, Colonel Alexander Robertson, obtained a restitution of Strowan in 1784, and died, unmarried, in 1822. Duncan _Mor’s_ second son, Donald, had a son, called Robert _Bane_, whose grandson, Alexander Robertson, now succeeded to the estate.

The son of the latter, Major-general George Duncan Robertson of Strowan, C.B., passed upwards of thirty years in active service, and received the cross of the Imperial Austrian order of Leopold. He was succeeded by his son, George Duncan Robertson, born 26th July 1816, at one time an officer in the 42d Highlanders.

The force which the Robertsons could bring into the field was estimated at 800 in 1715, and 700 in 1745.

Of the branches of the family, the Robertsons of Lude, in Blair-Athole, are the oldest, being of contemporary antiquity to that of Strowan.

Patrick de Atholia, eldest son of the second marriage of Duncan de Atholia, received from his father, at his death, about 1358, the lands of Lude. He is mentioned in 1391, by Wyntoun (Book ii. p. 367) as one of the chieftains and leaders of the clan. He had, with a daughter, married to Donald, son of Farquhar, ancestor of the Farquharsons of Invercauld, two sons, Donald and Alexander. The latter, known by the name of _Rua_ or Red, from the colour of his hair, acquired the estate of Straloch, for which he had a charter from James II. in 1451, and was ancestor of the Robertsons of Straloch, Perthshire. His descendants were called the Barons Rua. The last of the Barons _Rua_, or _Red_, was Alexander Robertson of Straloch, who died about the end of the last century, leaving an only son, John, who adopted the old family _soubriquet_, and called himself Reid (probably hoping to be recognised as the chief of the Reids). John Reid entered the army, where he rose to the rank of General, and died in 1803, leaving the reversion of his fortune (amounting to about £70,000) for the endowment of a chair of music, and other purposes, in the University of Edinburgh. This ancient family is represented by Sir Archibald Ava Campbell, Bart.

Donald, the elder son, succeeded his father. He resigned his lands of Lude into the king’s hand on February 7, 1447, but died before he could receive his infeftment. He had two sons: John, who got the charter under the great seal, dated March 31, 1448, erecting the lands of Lude into a barony, proceeding on his father’s resignation; and Donald, who got as his patrimony the lands of Strathgarry. This branch of Lude ended in an heiress, who married an illegitimate son of Stewart of Invermeath. About 1700, Strathgarry was sold to another family of the name of Stewart.

The Robertsons of Inshes, Inverness-shire, are descended from Duncan, second son of Duncan _de Atholia, dominus de Ranagh_, above mentioned.

The Robertsons of Kindeace descend from William Robertson, third son of John, ancestor of the Robertsons of the Inshes, by his wife, a daughter of Fearn of Pitcullen. He obtained from his father, in patrimony, several lands about Inverness, and having acquired great riches as a merchant, purchased, in 1615, the lands of Orkney, Nairnshire, and in 1639, those of Kindeace, Ross-shire; the latter becoming the chief title of the family.

The Robertsons of Kinlochmoidart, Inverness-shire, are descended from John Robertson of Muirton, Elginshire, second son of Alexander Robertson of Strowan, by his wife, Lady Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Athole.

The fifth in succession, the Rev. William Robertson, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, was father of Principal Robertson, and of Mary, who married the Rev. James Syme, and had an only child, Eleonora, mother of Henry, Lord Brougham. The Principal had three sons and two daughters.

MACFARLANE.

Of the clan Macfarlane, Mr Skene gives the best account, and we shall therefore take the liberty of availing ourselves of his researches. According to him, with the exception of the clan Donnachie, the clan Parlan or Pharlan is the only one, the descent of which from the ancient earls of the district where their possessions were situated, may be established by the authority of a charter. It appears, indeed, that the ancestor of this clan was Gilchrist, the brother of Maldowen or Malduin, the third Earl of Lennox. This is proved by a charter of Maldowen, still extant, by which he gives to his brother Gilchrist a grant “de terris de superiori Arrochar de Luss;” and these lands, which continued in possession of the clan until the death of the last chief, have at all times constituted their principal inheritance.

But although the descent of the clan from the Earls of Lennox be thus established, the origin of their ancestors is by no means so easily settled. Of all the native earls of Scotland, those of this district alone have had a foreign origin assigned to them, though, apparently, without any sufficient reason. The first Earl of Lennox who appears on record is _Aluin comes de Levenox_, who lived in the early part of the 13th century; and there is some reason to believe that from this Aluin the later Earls of Lennox were descended. It is, no doubt, impossible to determine now who this Aluin really was; but, in the absence of direct authority, we gather from tradition that the heads of the family of Lennox, before being raised to the peerage, were hereditary seneschals of Strathearn, and bailies of the Abthanery of Dull, in Athole. Aluin was succeeded by a son of the same name, who is frequently mentioned in the chartularies of Lennox and Paisley, and who died before the year 1225. In Donald, the sixth earl, the male branch of the family became extinct. Margaret, the daughter of Donald, married Walter de Fassalane, the heir male of the family; but this alliance failed to accomplish the objects intended by it, or, in other words, to preserve the honours and power of the house of Lennox. Their son Duncan, the eighth earl, had no male issue; and his eldest daughter Isabella, having married Sir Murdoch Stuart, the eldest son of the Regent, he and his family became involved in the ruin which overwhelmed the unfortunate house of Albany. At the death of Isabella, in 1460, the earldom was claimed by three families; but that of Stewart of Darnley eventually overcame all opposition, and acquired the title and estates of Lennox. Their accession took place in the year 1488; upon which the clans that had been formerly united with the earls of the old stock separated themselves, and became independent.

Of these clans the principal was that of the Macfarlanes, the descendants, as has already been stated, of Gilchrist, a younger brother of Maldowen, Earl of Lennox. In the Lennox charters, several of which he appears to have subscribed as a witness, this Gilchrist is generally designated as _frater comitis_, or brother of the earl. His son Duncan also obtained a charter of his lands from the Earl of Lennox, and appears in the Ragman’s roll under the title of “Duncan Macgilchrist de Levenaghes.” From a grandson of this Duncan, who was called in Gaelic _Parlan_, or Bartholomew, the clan appears to have taken the surname of _Macfarlane_; indeed the connection of Parlan both with Duncan and with Gilchrist is clearly established by a charter granted to Malcolm Macfarlane, the son of Parlan, confirming to him the lands of Arrochar and others; and hence Malcolm may be considered as the real founder of the clan. He was succeeded by his son Duncan, who obtained from the Earl of Lennox a charter of the lands of Arrochar as ample in its provisions as any that had been granted to his predecessors; and married a daughter of Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow, as appears from a charter of confirmation granted in his favour by Duncan, Earl of Lennox. Not long after his death, however, the ancient line of the Earls of Lennox became extinct; and the Macfarlanes having claimed the earldom as heirs male, offered a strenuous opposition to the superior pretensions of the feudal heirs. Their resistance, however, proved alike unsuccessful and disastrous. The family of the chief perished in defence of what they believed to be their just rights; the clan also suffered severely, and of those who survived the struggle, the greater part took refuge in remote parts of the country. Their destruction, indeed, would have been inevitable, but for the opportune support given by a gentleman of the clan to the Darnley family. This was Andrew Macfarlane, who, having married the daughter of John Stewart, Lord Darnley and Earl of Lennox, to whom his assistance had been of great moment at a time of difficulty, saved the rest of the clan, and recovered the greater part of their hereditary possessions. The fortunate individual in question, however, though the good genius of the race, does not appear to have possessed any other title to the chiefship than what he derived from his position, and the circumstance of his being the only person in a condition to afford them protection; in fact, the clan refused him the title of chief, which they appear to have considered as incommunicable, except in the right line; and his son, Sir John Macfarlane, accordingly contented himself with assuming the secondary or subordinate designation of captain of the clan.

From this time, the Macfarlanes appear to have on all occasions supported the Earls of Lennox of the Stewart race, and to have also followed their banner in the field. For several generations, however, their history as a clan is almost an entire blank; indeed, they appear to have merged into mere retainers of the powerful family, under whose protection they enjoyed undisturbed possession of their hereditary domains. But in the sixteenth century Duncan Macfarlane of Macfarlane appears as a steady supporter of Matthew, Earl of Lennox. At the head of three hundred men of his own name, he joined Lennox and Glencairn in 1544, and was present with his followers at the battle of Glasgow-Muir, where he shared the defeat of the party he supported. He was also involved in the forfeiture which followed; but having powerful friends, his property was, through their intercession, restored, and he obtained a remission under the privy seal. The loss of this battle forced Lennox to retire to England; whence, having married a niece of Henry VIII., he soon afterwards returned with a considerable force which the English monarch had placed under his command. The chief of Macfarlane durst not venture to join Lennox in person, being probably restrained by the terror of another forfeiture; but, acting on the usual Scottish policy of that time, he sent his relative, Walter Macfarlane of Tarbet, with four hundred men, to reinforce his friend and patron; and this body, according to Holinshed, did most excellent service, acting at once as light troops and as guides to the main body. Duncan, however, did not always conduct himself with equal caution; for he is said to have fallen in the fatal battle of Pinkie, in 1547, on which occasion also a great number of his clan perished.

Andrew, the son of Duncan, as bold, active, and adventurous as his sire, engaged in the civil wars of the period, and, what is more remarkable, took a prominent part on the side of the Regent Murray; thus acting in opposition to almost all the other Highland chiefs, who were warmly attached to the cause of the queen. He was present at the battle of Langside with a body of his followers, and there “stood the Regent’s part in great stead;” for, in the hottest of the fight, he came up with three hundred of his friends and countrymen, and falling fiercely on the flank of the queen’s army, threw them into irretrievable disorder, and thus mainly contributed to decide the fortune of the day. The clan boast of having taken at this battle three of Queen Mary’s standards, which, they say, were preserved for a long time in the family. Macfarlane’s reward was not such as afforded any great cause for admiring the munificence of the Regent; but that his vanity at least might he conciliated, Murray bestowed upon him the crest of a demi-savage _proper_, holding in his dexter hand a sheaf of arrows, and pointing with his sinister to an imperial crown, _or_, with the motto, _This I’ll defend_. Of the son of this chief nothing is known; but his grandson, Walter Macfarlane, returning to the natural feelings of a Highlander, proved himself as sturdy a champion of the royal party as his grandfather had been an uncompromising opponent and enemy. During Cromwell’s time, he was twice besieged in his own house, and his castle of Inveruglas was afterwards burned down by the English. But nothing could shake his fidelity to his party. Though his personal losses in adhering to the royal cause were of a much more substantial kind than his grandfather’s reward in opposing it, yet his zeal was not cooled by adversity, nor his ardour abated by the vengeance which it drew down on his head.

Although a small clan, the Macfarlanes were as turbulent and predatory in their way as their neighbours the Macgregors. By the Act of the Estates of 1587 they were declared to be one of the clans for whom the chief was made responsible; by another act passed in 1594, they were denounced as being in the habit of committing theft, robbery, and oppression; and in July 1624 many of the clan were tried and convicted of theft and robbery. Some of them were punished, some pardoned; while others were removed to the highlands of Aberdeenshire, and to Strathaven in Banffshire, where they assumed the names of Stewart, M’Caudy, Greisock, M’James, and M’Innes.

Of one eminent member of the clan, the following notice is taken by Mr Skene in his work on the Highlands of Scotland. He says, “It is impossible to conclude this sketch of the history of the Macfarlanes without alluding to the eminent antiquary, Walter Macfarlane of that ilk, who is as celebrated among historians as the indefatigable collector of the ancient records of the country, as his ancestors had been among the other Highland chiefs for their prowess in the field. The family itself, however, is now nearly extinct, after having held their original lands for a period of six hundred years.”

Of the lairds of Macfarlane there have been no fewer than twenty-three. The last of them went to North America in the early part of the 18th century. A branch of the family settled in Ireland in the reign of James VII., and the headship of the clan is claimed by its representative, Macfarlane of Hunstown House, in the county of Dublin. The descendants of the ancient chiefs cannot now be traced, and the lands once possessed by them have passed into other hands.

Under the head of Garmoran, Mr Skene, following the genealogists, includes two western clans, viz., those of Campbell and Macleod. We shall, however, depart from Mr Skene’s order, and notice these two important clans here, while treating of the clans of the western coasts and isles. Mr Skene,[173] on very shadowy grounds, endeavours to make out that there must have been an ancient earldom of Garmoran, situated between north and south Argyle, and including, besides the districts of Knoydart, Morar, Arisaig, and Moydart (forming a late lordship of Garmoran), the districts of Glenelg, Ardnamurchan, and Morvern. He allows, however, that “at no period embraced by the records do we discover Garmoran as an efficient earldom.” As to this, Mr E. W. Robertson[174] remarks that “the same objection may be raised against the earldom of Garmoran which is urged against the earldom of the Merns, the total silence of history respecting it.”

ARGYLL CAMPBELL.

The name CAMPBELL is undoubtedly one of considerable antiquity, and the clan has for long been one of the most numerous and powerful in the Highlands, although many families have adopted the name who have no connection with the Campbells proper by blood or descent. The Argyll family became latterly so powerful, that many smaller clans were absorbed in it voluntarily or compulsorily, and assumed in course of time its peculiar designation. The origin of the name, as well as of the founder of the family, remains still a matter of the greatest doubt. The attempt to deduce the family from the half-mythical King Arthur, of course, is mere trifling.

The name is by some stated to have been derived from a Norman knight, named de Campo Bello, who came to England with William the Conqueror. As respects the latter part of the statement, it is to be observed that in the list of all the knights who composed the army of the Conqueror on the occasion of his invasion of England, and which is known by the name of the Roll of Battle-Abbey, the name of Campo Bello is not to be found. But it does not follow, as recent writers have assumed, that a knight of that name may not have come over to England at a later period, either of his reign or that of his successors.

It has been alleged, in opposition to this account, that in the oldest form of writing the name, it is spelled Cambel or Kambel, and it is so found in many ancient documents; but these were written by parties not acquainted with the individuals whose name they record, as in the manuscript account of the battle of Halidon Hill, by an unknown English writer, preserved in the British Museum; in the Ragman’s Roll, which was compiled by an English clerk, and in Wyntoun’s Chronicle. There is no evidence, however, that at any period it was written by any of the family otherwise than as _Campbell_, notwithstanding the extraordinary diversity that occurs in the spelling of other names by their holders, as shown by Lord Lindsay in the account of his clan; and the invariable employment of the letter _p_ by the Campbells themselves would be of itself a strong argument for the southern origin of the name, did there not exist, in the record of the parliament of Robert Bruce held in 1320, the name of the then head of the family, entered as Sir Nigel de Campo Bello.

The writers, however, who attempt to sustain the fabulous tales of the sennachies, assign a very different origin to the name. It is personal, say they, “like that of some others of the Highland clans, being composed of the words _cam_, bent or arched, and _beul_, mouth; this having been the most prominent feature of the great ancestor of the clan, Diarmid O’Dubin or O’Duin, a brave warrior celebrated in traditional story, who was contemporary with the heroes of Ossian. In the Gaelic language his descendants are called Siol Diarmid, the offspring or race of Diarmid.”

Besides the manifest improbability of this origin on other grounds, two considerations may be adverted to, each of them conclusive:--

First, It is known to all who have examined ancient genealogies, that among the Celtic races personal distinctives never have become hereditary. Malcolm _Canmore_, Donald _Bane_, Rob _Roy_, or Evan _Dhu_, were, with many other names, distinctive of personal qualities, but none of them descended, or could do so, to the children of those who acquired them.

Secondly, It is no less clear that, until after what is called the Saxon Conquest had been completely effected, no hereditary surnames were in use among the Celts of Scotland, nor by the chiefs of Norwegian descent who governed in Argyll and the Isles. This circumstance is pointed out by Tytler in his remarks upon the early population of Scotland, in the second volume of the History of Scotland. The domestic slaves attached to the possessions of the church and of the barons have their genealogies engrossed in ancient charters of conveyances and confirmation copied by him. The names are all Celtic, but in no one instance does the son, even when bearing a second or distinctive name, follow that of his father.

Skene, who maintains the purely native origin of the Campbell, does so in the following remarks:--

“We have shown it to be invariably the case, that when a clan claims a foreign origin, and accounts for their possession of the chiefship and property of the clan by a marriage with the heiress of the old proprietors, they can be proved to be in reality a cadet of that older house who had usurped the chiefship, while their claim to the chiefship is disputed by an acknowledged descendant of that older house. To this rule the Campbells are no exceptions, for while the tale upon which they found a Norman descent is exactly parallel to those of the other clans in the same situation, the most ancient manuscript genealogies deduce them in the male line from that very family of O’Duin, whose heiress they are said to have married, and the Macarthur Campbells, of Strachur, the acknowledged descendants of the older house, they have at all times disputed the chiefship with the Argyll family. Judging from analogy, we are compelled to admit that the Campbells of Strachur must formerly have been chiefs of the clan, and that the usual causes in such cases have operated to reduce the Strachur family, and to place that of Argyll in that situation, and this is confirmed by the early history of the clan.”

We shall take the liberty of quoting here some ingenious speculations on the origin of the name and the founder of the clan, from the pen of a gentleman, a member of the clan, who, for several years, has devoted his leisure to the investigation of the subject, and has placed the results of his researches at our disposal. He declares that the name itself is the most inflexible name in Scotland. In all old documents, he says, in which it occurs, either written by a Campbell, or under his direction, it is spelled always Campbell, or Campo-Bello; and its southern origin he believes is past question. It has always seemed to him to have been the name of some Roman, who, after his countrymen retired from Britain, had settled among the Britons of Strath-Clyde. “I am not one,” he continues, “of those who suppose that the fortunes of Campbell depended entirely on the patrimony of his wife. As a family who had been long in the country, the chief of the name (it is improbable that he was then the sole owner of that name, although his family is alone known to history), as a soldier, high in his sovereign’s favour, was likely to have possessed lands in Argyle before his marriage took place. Men of mark were then necessary to keep these rather wild and outlandish districts in subjection, and only men high in royal favour were likely to have that trust,--a trust likely to be so well rewarded, that its holder would be an eligible match for the heiress of Paul In-Sporran.

“It is also quite likely that Eva O’Duin was a king’s ward, and on that account her hand would be in the king’s gift; and who so likely to receive it as a trusted knight, connected with the district, and one whose loyalty was unquestioned?

“Again, we put little stress on the Celtic origin of the name,--from the crooked mouth of the first chief, as if from _cam_, bent or crooked, and _beul_, mouth. No doubt this etymology is purely fanciful, and may have been invented by some one anxious to prove the purely Celtic origin of the family; but this seems really unnecessary, as a Celtic residence, Celtic alliances, and Celtic associations for nearly 800 years, is a Celtic antiquity in an almost unbroken line such as few families are able to boast of; indeed, no clan can boast of purer Celtic blood than the Campbells, and their present chief.”

The conclusion which, we think, any unprejudiced reader must come to, is, that the question of the origin of the Campbells cannot, until further light be thrown upon it, be determined with certainty at the present day. It is possible that the story of the genealogists may be true; they declare that the predecessors of the Argyll[175] family, on the female side, were possessors of Lochow or Lochawe in Argyleshire, as early as 404 A.D. Of this, however, there is no proof worthy of the name. The first of the race, who comes prominently into notice is one Archibald (also called Gillespie) Campbell, as likely as not, we think, to be a gentleman of Anglo-Norman lineage, who lived in the 11th century. He acquired the lordship of Lochow, or Lochawe, by marriage with Eva, daughter and heiress of Paul O’Duin, Lord of Lochow, denominated Paul Insporran, from his being the king’s treasurer. Another Gillespic is the first of the house mentioned in authentic history, his name occurring as a witness of the charter of the lands of the burgh of Newburgh by Alexander III. in 1246.

Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow, the real founder of the family, sixth in descent from the first Gillespic, distinguished himself by his warlike actions, and was knighted by King Alexander the Third in 1280. He added largely to his estates, and on account of his great prowess he obtained the surname of Mohr or More (“great”); from him the chief of the Argyll family is in Gaelic styled Mac Chaillan More.[176]

Sir Colin Campbell had a quarrel with a powerful neighbour of his, the Lord of Lorn, and after he had defeated him, pursuing the victory too eagerly, was slain (in 1294) at a place called the String of Cowal, where a great obelisk was erected over his grave. This is said to have occasioned bitter feuds betwixt the houses of Lochow and Lorn for a long period of years, which were put an end to by the marriage of the daughter of the Celtic proprietor of Lorn, with John Stewart of Innermeath about 1386. Sir Colin married a lady of the name of Sinclair, by whom he had five sons.

Sir Niel Campbell of Lochow, his eldest son, swore fealty to Edward the First, but afterwards joined Robert the Bruce, and fought by his side in almost every encounter, from the defeat at Methven to the victory at Bannockburn. King Robert rewarded his services by giving him his sister, the Lady Mary Bruce, in marriage, and conferring on him the lands forfeited by the Earl of Athole. His next brother Donald was the progenitor of the Campbells of Loudon. By his wife Sir Niel had three sons,--Sir Colin; John, created Earl of Athole, upon the forfeiture of David de Strathbogie, the eleventh earl; and Dugal.

Sir Colin, the eldest son, obtained a charter from his uncle, King Robert Bruce, of the lands of Lochow and Artornish, dated at Arbroath, 10th February 1316, in which he is designated _Colinus filius Nigelli Cambel, militis_. As a reward for assisting the Steward of Scotland in 1334 in the recovery of the castle of Dunoon, in Cowal, Sir Colin was made hereditary governor of the castle, and had the grant of certain lands for the support of his dignity. Sir Colin died about 1340. By his wife, a daughter of the house of Lennox, he had three sons and a daughter.

The eldest son, Sir Gillespic or Archibald, who added largely to the family possessions, was twice married, and had three sons, Duncan, Colin, and David, and a daughter, married to Duncan Macfarlane of Arrochar. Colin, the second son, was designed of Ardkinglass, and of his family, the Campbells of Ardentinny, Dunoon, Carrick, Skipnish, Blythswood, Shawfield, Rachan, Auchwillan, and Dergachie are branches.

Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochow, the eldest son, was one of the hostages in 1424, under the name of Duncan, Lord of Argyll, for the payment of the sum of forty thousand pounds (equivalent to four hundred thousand pounds of our money), for the expense of King James the First’s maintenance during his long imprisonment in England, when Sir Duncan was found to be worth fifteen hundred merks a-year. He was the first of the family to assume the designation of Argyll. By King James he was appointed one of his privy council, and constituted his justiciary and lieutenant within the shire of Argyll. He became a lord of parliament in 1445, under the title of Lord Campbell. He died in 1453, and was buried at Kilmun. He married, first, Marjory or Mariota Stewart, daughter of Robert Duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, by whom he had three sons,--Celestine, who died before him; Archibald, who also predeceased him, but left a son; and Colin, who was the first of Glenorchy, and ancestor of the Breadalbane family. Sir Duncan married, secondly, Margaret, daughter of Sir John Stewart of Blackhall and Auchingown, natural son of Robert the Third, by whom also he had three sons, namely, Duncan, who, according to Crawford, was the ancestor of the house of Auchinbreck, of whom are the Campbells of Glencardel, Glensaddel, Kildurkland, Kilmorie, Wester Keams, Kilberry, and Dana; Niel, progenitor, according to Crawford, of the Campbells of Ellengreig and Ormadale; and Arthur or Archibald, ancestor of the Campbells of Ottar, now extinct. According to some authorities, the Campbells of Auchinbreck and their cadets, also Ellengrieg and Ormadale, descend from this the youngest son, and not from his brothers.

The first Lord Campbell was succeeded by his grandson Colin, the son of his second son Archibald. He acquired part of the lordship of Campbell in the parish of Dollar,[177] by marrying the eldest of the three daughters of John Stewart, third Lord of Lorn and Innermeath. He did not, as is generally stated, acquire by this marriage any part of the lordship of Lorn (which passed to Walter, brother of John, the fourth Lord Innermeath, and heir of entail), but obtained that lordship by exchanging the lands of Baldunning and Innerdunning, &c., in Perthshire, with the said Walter. In 1457 he was created Earl of Argyll. In 1470 he was created baron of Lorn, and in 1481 he received a grant of many lands in Knapdale, along with the keeping of Castle Sweyn, which had previously been held by the Lord of the Isles. He died in 1493.

By Isabel Stewart, his wife, eldest daughter of John, Lord of Lorn, the first Earl of Argyll had two sons and seven daughters. Archibald, his elder son, became second earl, and Thomas, the younger, was the ancestor of the Campbells of Lundie, in Forfarshire. Another daughter was married to Torquil Macleod of the Lewis.

Archibald, second Earl of Argyll, succeeded his father in 1493. In 1499 he and others received a commission from the king to let on lease, for the term of three years, the entire lordship of the Isles as possessed by the last lord, both in the Isles and on the mainland, excepting only the island of Isla, and the lands of North and South Kintyre. He also received a commission of lieutenancy, with the fullest powers, over the lordship of the Isles; and, some months later, was appointed keeper of the castle of Tarbert, and bailie and governor of the king’s lands in Knapdale. From this period the great power formerly enjoyed by the Earls of Ross, Lords of the Isles, was transferred to the Earls of Argyll and Huntly; the former having the chief rule in the south isles and adjacent coasts. At the fatal battle of Flodden, 9th September 1513, his lordship and his brother-in-law, the Earl of Lennox, commanded the right wing of the royal army, and with King James the Fourth, were both killed. By his wife, Lady Elizabeth Stewart, eldest daughter of John, first Earl of Lennox, he had four sons and five daughters. His eldest son, Colin, was the third Earl of Argyll. Archibald, his second son, had a charter of the lands of Skipnish, and the keeping of the castle thereof, 13th August 1511. His family ended in an heir-female in the reign of Mary. Sir John Campbell, the third son, at first styled of Lorn, and afterwards of Calder, married Muriella, daughter and heiress of Sir John Calder of Calder, now Cawdor, near Nairn.

According to tradition, she was captured in childhood by Sir John Campbell and a party of the Campbells, while out with her nurse near Calder castle. Her uncles pursued and overtook the division of the Campbells to whose care she had been intrusted, and would have rescued her but for the presence of mind of Campbell of Inverliver, who, seeing their approach, inverted a large camp kettle as if to conceal her, and commanding his seven sons to defend it to the death, hurried on with his prize. The young men were all slain, and when the Calders lifted up the kettle, no Muriel was there. Meanwhile so much time had been gained that farther pursuit was useless. The nurse, just before the child was seized, bit off a joint of her little finger, in order to mark her identity--a precaution which seems to have been necessary, from Campbell of Auchinbreck’s reply to one who, in the midst of their congratulations on arriving safely in Argyll with their charge, asked what was to be done should the child die before she was marriageable? “She can never die,” said he, “as long as a red-haired lassie can be found on either side of Lochawe!” It would appear that the heiress of the Calders had red hair.

Colin Campbell, the third Earl of Argyll, was, immediately after his accession to the earldom, appointed by the council to assemble an army and proceed against Lauchlan Maclean of Dowart, and other Highland chieftains, who had broken out into insurrection, and proclaimed Sir Donald of Lochalsh Lord of the Isles. Owing to the powerful influence of Argyll, the insurgents submitted to the regent, after strong measures had been adopted against them. In 1517 Sir Donald of Lochalsh again appeared in arms, but being deserted by his principal leaders, he effected his escape. Soon after, on his petition, he received a commission of lieutenancy over all the Isles and adjacent mainland.

For some years the Isles had continued at peace, and Argyll employed this interval in extending his influence among the chiefs, and in promoting the aggrandisement of his family and clan, being assisted thereto by his brothers, Sir John Campbell of Calder, so designed after his marriage with the heiress, and Archibald Campbell of Skipnish. The former was particularly active. In 1527 an event occurred, which forms the groundwork of Joanna Baillie’s celebrated tragedy of “The Family Legend.” It is thus related by Gregory:--“Lauchlan Cattanach Maclean of Dowart had married Lady Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of Archibald, second Earl of Argyll, and, either from the circumstance of their union being unfruitful, or more probably owing to some domestic quarrels, he determined to get rid of his wife. Some accounts say that she had twice attempted her husband’s life; but, whatever the cause may have been, Maclean, following the advice of two of his vassals, who exercised a considerable influence over him from the tie of fosterage, caused his lady to be exposed on a rock, which was only visible at low water, intending that she should be swept away by the return of the tide. This rock lies between the island of Lismore and the coast of Mull, and is still known by the name of the ‘Lady’s Rock.’ From this perilous situation the intended victim was rescued by a boat accidentally passing, and conveyed to her brother’s house. Her relations, although much exasperated against Maclean, smothered their resentment for a time, but only to break out afterwards with greater violence; for the laird of Dowart being in Edinburgh, was surprised when in bed, and assassinated by Sir John Campbell of Calder, the lady’s brother. The Macleans instantly took arms to revenge the death of their chief, and the Campbells were not slow in preparing to follow up the feud; but the government interfered, and, for the present, an appeal to arms was avoided.”[178]

On the escape of the king, then in his seventeenth year, from the power of the Douglases, in May 1528, Argyll was one of the first to join his majesty at Stirling. Argyll afterwards received an ample confirmation of the hereditary sheriffship of Argyleshire and of the offices of justiciary of Scotland and master of the household, by which these offices became hereditary in his family. He had the commission of justice-general of Scotland renewed 25th October 1529. He died in 1530.

By his countess, Lady Jane Gordon, eldest daughter of Alexander, third Earl of Huntly, the third Earl of Argyll had three sons and a daughter. His sons were, Archibald, fourth Earl of Argyll; John, ancestor of the Campbells of Lochnell, of which house the Campbells of Balerno and Stonefield are cadets; and Alexander, dean of Moray.

Archibald, the fourth Earl of Argyll, was, on his accession to the title in 1530, appointed to all the offices held by the two preceding earls. A suspicion being entertained by some of the members of the privy council, which is said to have been shared in by the king himself, that many of the disturbances in the Isles were secretly fomented by the Argyll family, that they might obtain possession of the estates forfeited by the chiefs thus driven into rebellion, and an opportunity soon presenting itself, the king eagerly availed himself of it, to curb the increasing power of the Earl of Argyll in that remote portion of the kingdom. Alexander of Isla, being summoned to answer certain charges of Argyll, made his appearance at once, and gave in to the council a written statement, in which, among other things, he stated that the disturbed state of the Isles was mainly caused by the late Earl of Argyll and his brothers, Sir John Campbell of Calder, and Archibald Campbell of Skipnish. The king made such an examination into the complaints of the islanders as satisfied him that the family of Argyll had been acting more for their own benefit than for the welfare of the country, and the earl was summoned before his sovereign, to give an account of the duties and rental of the Isles received by him, the result of which was that James committed him to prison soon after his arrival at court. He was soon liberated, but James was so much displeased with his conduct that he deprived him of the offices he still held in the Isles, some of which were bestowed on Alexander of Isla, whom he had accused. After the death of James the Fifth he appears to have regained his authority over the Isles. He was the first of the Scotch nobles who embraced the principles of the Reformation, and employed as his domestic chaplain Mr John Douglas, a converted Carmelite friar, who preached publicly in his house. The Archbishop of St Andrews, in a letter to the earl, endeavoured to induce him to dismiss Douglas, and return to the Romish church, but in vain, and on his death-bed he recommended the support of the new doctrines, and the suppression of Popish superstitions, to his son. He died in August 1558. He was twice married. By his first wife, Lady Helen Hamilton, eldest daughter of James, first Earl of Arran, he had a son, Archibald, fifth Earl of Argyll. His second wife was Lady Mary Graham, only daughter of William, third Earl of Menteith, by whom he had Colin, sixth earl, and two daughters.

Archibald, fifth Earl of Argyll, was educated under the direction of Mr John Douglas, his father’s domestic chaplain, and the first Protestant Archbishop of St Andrews, and distinguished himself as one of the most able among the Lords of the Congregation. In the transactions of their times the earl and his successors took prominent parts; but as these are matters of public history, and as so much the history of the Highlands, in which the Argylls took a prominent part, has been already given in the former part of this work, we shall confine our attention here to what belongs to the history of the family and clan.

The earl had married Jean, natural daughter of King James the Fifth by Elizabeth daughter of John, Lord Carmichael, but he does not seem to have lived on very happy terms with her, as we find that John Knox, at the request of Queen Mary, endeavoured, on more occasions than one, to reconcile them after some domestic quarrels.[179] Her majesty passed the summer of 1563 at the earl’s house in Argyleshire, in the amusement of deer-hunting.

Argyll died on the 12th of September 1575, aged about 43. His countess, Queen Mary’s half-sister, having died without issue, was buried in the royal vault in the abbey of Holyrood-house; and he married, a second time, Lady Johanna or Joneta Cunningham, second daughter of Alexander, fifth Earl of Glencairn, but as she also had no children, he was succeeded in his estates and title by his brother.

On the 28th of January 1581, with the king and many of the nobility, the sixth earl subscribed a second Confession of Faith. He died in October 1584, after a long illness. He married, first, Janet, eldest daughter of Henry, first Lord Methven, without issue; secondly, Lady Agnes Keith, eldest daughter of William, fourth Earl Marischal, widow of the Regent Moray, by whom he had two sons, Archibald, seventh Earl of Argyll, and the Hon. Sir Colin Campbell of Lundie, created a baronet in 1627.

In 1594, although then only eighteen, the seventh Earl of Argyll was appointed king’s lieutenant against the popish Earls of Huntly and Errol, who had raised a rebellion. In 1599, when measures were in progress for bringing the chiefs of the isles under subjection to the king, the Earl of Argyll and his kinsman, John Campbell of Calder, were accused of having secretly used their influence to prevent Sir James Macdonald of Dunyveg and his clan from being reconciled to the government. The frequent insurrections which occurred in the South Isles in the first fifteen years of the seventeenth century have also been imputed by Mr Gregory to Argyll and the Campbells, for their own purposes. The proceedings of these clans were so violent and illegal, that the king became highly incensed against the Clandonald, and finding, or supposing he had a right to dispose of their possessions both in Kintyre and Isla, he made a grant of them to the Earl of Argyll and the Campbells. This gave rise to a number of bloody conflicts between the Campbells and the Clandonald, in the years 1614, 1615, and 1616, which ended in the ruin of the latter, and for the details of which, and the intrigues and proceedings of the Earl of Argyll to possess himself of the lands of that clan, reference may be made to the part of the General History pertaining to this period.