Clan MacLean

Clan MacLean

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

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Crest: A tower embattled Argent
Motto: Virtue Mine Honour (My Virtues are my Honour)
Plant Badge: Crowberry or Holly
Region: Highlands
District: Inner Hebrides
Seat: Duart Castle
Chief: Lachlan Hector Charles Maclean of Duart and Morven, 12th Baronet of Morvern

Clan Relationships

Branches

Maclean of Duart (chiefs)
Maclean of Ardgour (senior cadets)
Maclean of Torloisk
MacLean of Coll
MacLean of Dochgarroch (Clan Tearlach)

Septs

Beath, Beaton, Black, Garvie, Lean, MacBeath, MacBheath, MacBeth, MacClean, MacEachan, Macilduy, McCaldon, McLean, McLane, MacLergain, Maclergan, MacRankin, MacVeagh, MacVeigh, MacVey, Rankin, Maclin, Macklin

Allied Clans

MacLaine of Lochbuie,
MacLeod, Chattan (for the MacLeans of Dochgarroch)

Rival Clans

Donald, Campbell, Cameron, Irvine

Clan Tartans

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Clan History

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

Gillean of the Battleaxe

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

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

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

Wars of Scottish Independence

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

14th Century Clan Conflicts

By the 14th century, the Clan MacLean had become a dominant force in the Western Isles. In about 1364 Lachlan Lùbanach MacLean (1325-1405) of Duart, 5th Chief, solidified the MacLean alliance with the Macdonalds through marriage. His bride, Mary Macdonald, was not only the daughter of John Macdonald, first Lord of the Isles, but also the granddaughter of Robert II, King of Scots. The families were close enough related that the approval of the church was sought. The papal dispensation issued by Pope Urban V on 3 May of 1367 approving the already consummated marriage is the first mention of a MacLean in any official records.. The papal dispensation blessed the marriage retroactively as insurance that it could not be annulled for political purposes. Mary's marriage dowry included Duart Castle and much of Mull. Lachlan Lùbanach also was granted the hereditary position of Lieutenant-General of the Isles. He was the recognized as the superior MacLean on Mull by the Lord of the Isles. Hector (1328-1407), his younger brother, was in the late 1300s given Lochbuie by the Lord of the Isles.

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15th Century and Clan Conflicts

During the 14th and 15th century many battles were fought between the Clan MacLean and Clan MacKinnon.

Battle of Harlaw

In 1411, Clan MacLean fought with Donald Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, to claim the earldom of Ross, which was his by right of his wife, Mariota Leslie, countess of Ross. Robert Stewart, the ambitious the Duke of Albany, had denied Donald's claim because he wanted Ross for himself. (The young King of Scots, James I, was being held prisoner of the English king, Henry IV, and Albany did nothing to seek his release.) The Battle of Harlaw took place near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire on 24 July 1411 against an mounted army of knights led by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar. The MacLeans were led by Hector Roy Maclean, "Red Hector of the Battles", the 6th Chief, and nephew of Donald Macdonald. Hector commanded the right flank of Donald Macdonald's army. Hector engaged in single combat with the chief of Clan Irvine, Sir Alexander Irvine. After a legendary struggle both died of the wounds inflicted upon each other.

Origins of the MacLeans of the North

Tearlach MacLean, eldest son of Hector Maclean, 1st of Lochbuie, brother of Lachlan Maclean, 1st of Duart. Tearlach was part of the vanguard but following this battle, he sought protection within the Clan Chattan Federation. His son Hector subsequently married a daughter of the Chief of the Mackintoshes. Despite the active support of Clan Chattan, these Macleans lost ownership of Urquhart Castle by 1509, and settled nearby at Dochgarroch, though they still managed to lease much of Urquhart. In 1609 Alexander Maclean of Dochgarroch signed the Clan Chattan Bond.

Battle of Corpach

The Battle of Corpach took place in 1439. It was fought between the Clan Maclean and the Clan Cameron.

Battle of Bloody Bay

In 1484 the Clan MacLean fought at the Battle of Bloody Bay on the side of the Lord of the Isles, chief of Clan Donald.

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

16th Century and the Anglo-Scottish Wars

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

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

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

One thing that did unite the Macleans and the Campbells was their Protestant faith as well as their dislike for the MacDonalds. Sir Lachland Maclean harried the MacDonalds of Islay causing so much carnage that both he and the MacDonald chief were declared outlaws in 1594 by the Privy Council. However Lachlan redeemed himself when in the same year he fought for the king at the Battle of Glenlivet, on the side of the Earl of Argyll and Clan Campbell, against the Earl of Huntly and Clan Gordon.

Sir Lachlan Mor MacLean

The Battle of Traigh Ghruinneart took place on 5 August 1598. It was fought between the Clan Donald and Clan Maclean on the Isle of Islay. Chief Sir Lachlan Mor Maclean was killed. After Sir Lachlan MacLean's death in 1598, his sons took revenge on his suspected murderers, the MacDonalds, by carrying out a massacre of the people of Islay which lasted for three days. After obtaining "Letters of Fire and Sword" he was assisted in this by the MacLeods, MacNeils,and Camerons. The quarrel between the MacLeans and the Macdonalds of Islay and Kintyre was, at the outset, merely a dispute as to the right of occupancy of the crown lands called the Rinns of Islay, but it soon involved these tribes in a long and bloody feud, and eventually led to the near destruction of them both. The Macleans, who were in possession, claimed to hold the lands in dispute as tenants of the crown, but the privy council decided that Macdonald of Islay was really the crown tenant.

17th Century and Civil War

On 3 September 1631 Sir Lachlan Maclean created a Baronet of Nova Scotia. Later during the Scottish Civil War he was devoted to Charles I of England and called out his clan to fight for James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose who was the king's captain general. The Clan Maclean fought as royalists at the Battle of Inverlochy (1645), Battle of Auldearn and Battle of Kilsyth, alongside men from Clan MacDonald, and other allies from Ireland raised by Alasdair MacColla. Their enemy was the Scottish Argyll government forces of Clan Campbell, led by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll. Through cunning tactics the Royalist force of 1500 MacDonalds and MacLeans defeated the Argyll Campbell force of 3000.

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

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

18th Century and Jacobite Risings

The Clan Maclean supported the Jacobite rising of 1715 and their chief, Sir Hector Maclean, was created Lord Maclean in the Jacobite peerage in 1716. However, the chief was exiled to France, where he founded, and was the first Grand Master of, the Grand Lodge of Freemasons in Paris. General Wade's report on the Highlands in 1724, estimated the clan strength at 150 men. Hector returned for the Jacobite rising of 1745 but was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London until 1747. He died in 1750 in Rome. During the rising of 1745 the clan had been led by Maclean of Drimmin who was killed at the Battle of Culloden. Duart Castle then fell into ruin.

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

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

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