| Clan MacLellan | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mac-a-ghille-dhiolan – (son of the bastard) [1] | |||
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| Motto | Think On Sapit Qui Reputat Superba Frango | ||
| Profile | |||
| Region | Galloway | ||
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| Clan MacLellan has no chief, and is an armigerous clan | |||
| The 10th Lord Kirkcudbright | |||
| Historic seat | MacLellan's Castle | ||
| Last Chief | The Rt. Hon. Camden Gray Maclellan | ||
| Died | 1832 | ||
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The Clan MacLellan is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands. [2] [3] [4] The clan does not currently have a chief therefore it is considered an Armigerous clan. [2]
The name MacLellan is derived from Mac-a-ghille-dhiolan [1] which means son of the bastard, and appears originally in the 1273 charter for Sweetheart Abbey as McGillolane. [6] The leadership of the clan can be traced back to Cane McGillolane, a knight in the service of John Balliol in the later thirteenth century. Cane was the son of Thomas of Galloway, [7] [8] who was the illegitimate son of Alan of Galloway. Cane's son, Donald Mac Cane (The Lord Donald) resided on Threave Island [9] until he was removed by Edward Bruce. Donald was then replaced with the new Lord of Galloway, the Black Douglas, igniting a feud that lasted for well over a century. Threave Island was a residence for the prior Lords of Galloway, including Fergus and Cane's grandfather, Alan. [10] Donald's son, Gillebertus MacLelan Galvediensis [11] was Captain of Clenconnan [12] and was Bishop of Sodor and Man. [3] Lord Gilbert's brother was Cuthbert of Galloway. [13] [14]
During the Wars of Scottish Independence, McGillolanes backed their cousin John Balliol. In 1305, Patrick M'Lolan was recorded capturing Dumfries Castle from The Bruce. After Balliol was deposed at the hands of Edward I, MacLellans still opposed Bruce, helping to re-capture Dumfries Castle following the murder of the rival claimant Sir John Comyn. [15] With Balliol ascended to the throne of Scotland, M'Lolanes could take their rightful place as Lords of Galloway. Under Bruce, that title would fall to Douglas.
After maintaining forlorn support for the house of Baliol into the mid-fourteenth century, the MacLellans were ushered back into service of the Scottish crown under David II. So successful was their reintegration that during the early 15th century there were reputedly no fewer than fourteen knights in Galloway of the name MacLellan. [2] One of these, Sir Alexander MacLellan was cited by the sixteenth-century historian David Hume of Godscroft (drawing on the monastic Book of Pluscarden) as the Scotsman who slew the duke of Clarence while fighting in French service at the Battle of Baugé in 1421. In 1451, The Tutor of Bomby, [16] Sir Patrick Maclellan, Sheriff of Galloway clashed repeatedly with William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas over outbreaks of lawlessness committed by the earl's retainers. These conflicts culminated when MacLellan rejected Douglas's appeal to join an aristocratic conspiracy against King James II. Douglas captured the sheriff and imprisoned him in Threave Castle. MacLellan's uncle, Sir Andrew Gray of Foulis held high royal office and sent his son, Sir Patrick Gray, into Galloway, with letters from the crown ordering Douglas to release his prisoner. However, Douglas had MacLellan murdered when presented with the royal warrant, whilst he entertained his guest at dinner. [2] Patrick Gray escaped from the castle, and his vow of revenge was realized in brutal form when he stood at the forefront of the loyalist nobles who assassinated the earl of Douglas in front of the king at Stirling in February 1452. Local tradition holds that the MacLellans themselves used the celebrated Scottish cannon Mons Meg to batter down Threave Castle in retribution for the murder of their chief. [2] The MacLellan's use of the Mons-Meg cannon against Douglas became symbolized in an additional crest with A Mortar-Piece and the motto Superba frango which translates to I humble proud things. [17]
As the feud escalated n the following generation, the MacLellan estates were forfeited after repeated raids on the Kirkcudbrightshire lands of the Clan Douglas. [2] However, James II restored the family to their lands when Sir William MacLellan, son of Sir Patrick captured the leader of a band of gypsies who had been terrorizing the district. [2] William carried the head of the brigand to the king on the point of his sword. [2] The story is one explanation for the MacLellan clan crest, however a Moors' head has also been considered as an allusion to the Crusades [2] or potentially connected to the similar, prior Lords of Bomby's crest, The Adairs. These events established the MacLellans as a bastion of support for the Stewart crown in a region prone to lawlessness and aristocratic powerplay. Their affiliation was confirmed in 1488 when Sir Thomas MacLellan supported James III against the rebellion that ended in the death of the king after the Battle of Sauchieburn. With most of the magnates of the south-west and the borders fighting in support of the insurrection, MacLellan's residence was burned to the ground after the monarch's defeat. [18]
The family suffered severely during the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the reigns of James IV and James V. Sir William Maclellan of Bombie was knighted by King James IV of Scotland but was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513 fighting for the king. [19] [2] William's son, Thomas, was killed in Edinburgh at the door of St Giles' Cathedral by Gordon of Lochinvar in 1526. [2] Thomas's younger brother, William Maclellan of Nunton presided over the family as Tutor of Bombie while Thomas's son was in infancy, and mobilised the successful defence of Kirkcudbright against English besiegers in 1547. The younger Thomas Maclellan was killed in the same year at the Battle of Pinkie. In the following generation, Sir Thomas Maclellan of Bombie fought for Mary, Queen of Scots at the Battle of Langside, and prospered subsequently under her son James VI. [20] He served as Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the king, and as provost of Kirkcudbright, constructing MacLellan's Castle as a fashionable gentleman's residence overseeing the town.
Sir Robert MacLellan, was a courtier both to James VI and Charles I. [2] In 1633 he was raised to the peerage as Lord Kirkcudbright. [2] During the Scottish Civil War the third Lord was such a zealous royalist that he incurred enormous debts in the king’s cause. [2] As a result, the estates were completely ruined. [2]
There were two claimants to the chief's title at the beginning of the 18th century and the dispute was finally settled by the House of Lords in 1761. [2] However, the title became dormant again when the tenth Lord died in Bruges in 1832. [2]
MacLellan's Castle, found in Kirkcudbright in south-west Scotland was the seat of the chief of Clan MacLellan. The castle's beginnings lie in the Reformation of 1560 which led to the abandonment of the Convent of Greyfriars which had stood on the site since 1449. The materials used to build the castle were taken from Lochfergus in Bomby in 1582 from a castle previously owned by the Lords of Galloway and where John M'Lelan of Lochfergus is mentioned in 1448. [21]
There are concentrations of MacLellans found in the Western Isles on Uist. The surname borne by these MacLellans is represented by the Gaelic Mac Gille Fhialain, instead of the usual form Mac Gille Fhaolain borne by other MacLellans. [22] [note 1] The Uist MacLellans were once known collectively as Na Faolanaich. The North Uist MacLellans are also known as Clann Iain Mhóir, after Iain Mór (John Mor MacLellan), a seventeenth-century ancestor. It is possible that this family descends from South Uist MacLellans who migrated to North Uist. [22]
Castle Douglas is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the lieutenancy area of Kirkcudbrightshire, in the eastern part of Galloway, between the towns of Dalbeattie and Gatehouse of Fleet. It is in the ecclesiastical parish of Kelton.
Kirkcudbrightshire, or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975, the area has formed part of Dumfries and Galloway for local government purposes. Kirkcudbrightshire continues to be used as a registration county for land registration. A lower-tier district called Stewartry covered the majority of the historic county from 1975 to 1996. The area of Stewartry district is still used as a lieutenancy area. Dumfries and Galloway Council also has a Stewartry area committee.
Robert Maclellan, 1st Lord Kirkcudbright was Provost of Kirkcudbright in 1607 and was best known for his riotous behavior..
Lord Kirkcudbright was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created for Sir Robert Maclellan of Bombie on a 1633 royal visit to Scotland by King Charles I of England. Maclellan had already been created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1631.
Patrick Maclellan of Bombie Sheriff of Galloway, then the head of his family, the Clan MacLellan, and a staunch royalist declined an invitation to join William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas, along with the Earls of Ross and Crawford and Ormond in a powerful alliance against the young King James II of Scotland.
Threave Castle is situated on an island in the River Dee, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) west of Castle Douglas in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland.
Archibald Douglas, Earl of Douglas and Wigtown, Lord of Galloway, Douglas and Bothwell, called Archibald the Grim or Black Archibald, was a late medieval Scottish nobleman. Archibald was the bastard son of Sir James "the Black" Douglas, Robert I's trusted lieutenant, and an unknown mother. A first cousin of William 1st Earl of Douglas, he inherited the earldom of Douglas and its entailed estates as the third earl following the death without legitimate issue of James 2nd Earl of Douglas at the Battle of Otterburn.
MacLellan's Castle in the town of Kirkcudbright, in Galloway, Scotland, was built in the late 16th century. It stands in the centre of Kirkcudbright, on the south side of the River Dee which flows into the Solway Firth. The L-plan castle was the residence of the MacLellan family from whom it derived its name. The family sold the castle in 1752, and from 1782 to 1912 it was held by the Earls of Selkirk. Today, the site is curated by Historic Environment Scotland.
Sir Thomas Maclellan was Provost of Kirkcudbright and father of Robert Maclellan, 1st Lord Kirkcudbright. He was responsible for the construction of MacLellan's Castle in the town.
The origins of Clan MacCulloch are unknown, but there is a consensus that the family was one of the most ancient families of Galloway, Scotland, and a leading medieval family in that region. Despite the obscurity of the early history of the clan, the history and genealogies of the family are well documented in Walter Jameson McCulloch's History of the Galloway Families of McCulloch, which provides extensive footnotes for original Scottish charters, correspondence, and other primary source documentation. The latter provides family history for the following lines: Myretoun, Ardwell, Killasser, Torhouse, Drummorrell, Inshanks and Mule, Torhousekie, Cardiness, Barholm, Kirkclaugh, Auchengool, and Ardwall.
Clan MacDowall or MacDouall is a Lowlands Scottish clan.
MacLellan, McLellan, or variants thereof, is a surname of Scottish origin, some of whom emigrated to Ireland. The name is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic Mac Gille Fhaolain, and the Irish Gaelic Mac Giolla Fhaoláin, which meant "son of the servant of (Saint) Faolán". The personal name, Faolán, is thought to be a diminutive of faol, meaning "wolf" or "little wolf".
Black Morrow, also known as Black Murray and Outlaw Murray, is the name given to a late 15th century Scottish outlaw. A popular ballad makes the bandit as living in Ettrick Forest, while a recorded oral tradition, a wood in Kirkcudbrightshire. In the tradition, the outlaw is described as a Romani or Scottish Traveller, Moor, a Saracen or, more commonly, an Irishman or from Ireland. The folklorist David MacRitchie took a strong interest in the ethnicity of the outlaw because of his dark skin, and the story is commonly quoted in modern Afrocentrist literature. Others however have disputed whether the bandit was dark skinned, or a "Blackimore".
Tomás mac Ailein, sometimes known as Thomas of Galloway, was an illegitimate son of Alan of Galloway, Constable of Scotland and the last Mac Fearghusa Lord of Galloway. After the death of his father, who left no legitimate sons, King Alexander II of Scotland planned to divide the lordship between the husbands of Alan's three daughters.
Bombie may refer to:
Clan Mackie is a Lowland Scottish clan. The clan does not have a chief recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms therefore the clan has no standing under Scots Law. Clan Mackie is considered an armigerous clan, meaning that it is considered to have had at one time a recognised chief, or a chief who possessed the chiefly arms of the name; however, no one at present is in possession of such arms.
Events from the year 1597 in the Kingdom of Scotland.
The Sheriff of Dumfries and Galloway, was historically the royal official responsible for enforcing law and order in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Prior to 1748 most sheriffdoms were held on a hereditary basis. From that date, following the Jacobite uprising of 1745, the hereditary sheriffs were replaced by salaried sheriff-deputes, qualified advocates who were members of the Scottish Bar.
Sir William MacLellan, son of Patrick MacLellan of Bombie and Margaret Of Lennox was the Husband of Lady Marion Carlyle.
Sir Samuel McClellan, MacClellan or McLellan was a Scottish cloth merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1708 to 1709. He served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1706 to 1708.
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