The forfeiture of the last Lord of the Isles, and the annexation of a great part of his territories to the crown, finally brought the whole clans of the Highlands and Islands into direct subjection to the royal authority, but the removal of the old hereditary rulers of the provinces, and the substitution of a central authority which could make itself but little felt beyond the Highland Line, left the clans without any practical control, and the sixteenth century is mainly characterised by internal conflicts between the clans themselves, which increased the power of some, and broke up the solidarity of others, and by the gradual advance in influence and extent of territory in Argyllshire of the Campbells, whose astuteness and foresight led them to a uniform support of the royal authority, while the Mackenzies acquired a hardly less influential position in Ross-shire.^[457]

From the early part of the fifteenth century, when Donald of the Isles had invaded the Low Country at the head of a Highland army of ten thousand men, till the outbreak of the civil war in the reign of Charles the First, the clans had never broken through the barriers which separated them from the Lowlands in the form of one united army; and it was not till Montrose raised the Highland clans to make a diversion in favour of the king in the north that their power as a united people was at all recognised. The rapid and brilliant campaigns of Montrose showed what the clans were capable of effecting when brought together and skilfully handled, though opposed by all the power and influence of Gillespie Gruamach, the Earl of Argyll and head of the Campbells. The normal relation of the Highlanders and Lowlanders to each other is graphically put by one of the greatest of modern writers, who was thoroughly acquainted with the subject, when he says, ‘The inhabitants of the Lowlands were indeed aware that there existed, in the extremity of the island, amid wilder mountains and broader lakes than their own, tribes of men called clans, living each under the rule of their own chief, wearing a peculiar dress, speaking an unknown language, and going armed even in the most ordinary and peaceable vocations. The more southern counties saw specimens of these men following the droves of cattle which were the sole exportable commodity of their country, plaided, bonneted, belted, and brogued, and driving their bullocks, as Virgil is said to have spread his manure, with an air of great dignity and consequence.^[458] To their nearer Lowland neighbours they were known by more fierce and frequent causes of acquaintance; by the forays which they made upon the inhabitants of the plains, and the tribute, or protection-money, which they exacted from those whose possessions they spared.’^[459]

Repeated attempts were made by the kings to control the turbulence of the clans, and to bring them under more complete subjection to the government, but it was not till the reign of James that a serious effort was made by Parliament to effect this, when three very important Acts were passed, which put us in possession of detailed information as to the number and names of the clans at the time. In 1587 an Act was passed ‘for the quieting and keeping in obedience of the disorderit subjectis inhabitants of the Borders, Highlands and Isles.’ It is unnecessary to enter into any detail as to the description given in this Act of the state of these parts of the country, which is sufficiently highly coloured, and of the remedies proposed by the statute; but annexed to it are two rolls—one ‘of the names of the Landlords and Baillies of lands dwelling on the Borders and in the Highlands where broken men has dwelt and presently dwells;’ and the other, ‘of the Clans that have Captains, Chiefs, and Chieftains, on whom they depend ofttimes against the will of their Landlords, as well on the Borders as the Highlands, and of some special persons of branches of the said clans.’^[460] Here the landlord or feudal overlord is distinguished from the captain, chief, and chieftain, or tribal head of the clan, both characters being sometimes united in the same person, and at other times vested in different persons. Neither are the titles of captain, chief, and chieftain synonymous. The captain was the person who actually led the clan, whether representing the founder of the clan in the male line or not, while the chief was the Ceanncine, or hereditary head of the tribe, who possessed that character, and the chieftain, the Ceanntighe, or head of a subordinate sept. The chief was usually also the captain, but when he was either set aside from incapacity, or the pre-eminent military and administrative talents of a member of the clan led to the tribe taking the unusual course of adopting him to be their leader, as better able to protect them, he was simply termed Captain of the Clan, and the position and title usually remained with his descendants, especially if he had obtained a feudal title to the lands.^[461] The whole of the clan, however, seldom acquiesced in the adoption of a leader separate from the hereditary chief, and in every clan where the actual head of it bore the title of Captain we find a controversy as to the right to the chiefship, and a part of the clan holding off from the rest.^[462]

Another statute was passed in 1594 ‘for punishment of thift, reif, oppression, and sorning.’^[463] It contains within it a list of clans and surnames inhabiting the Highlands and Isles, and likewise a list of broken men of surnames inhabiting the sheriffdoms of Argyll, Bute, Dumbarton, Stirling, Perth, Forfar, Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, Forres, Nairn, Inverness, and Cromarty; and stewartries of Stratherne and Menteith. These lists of clans and broken men, with a list furnished by MacVureach of the clans who joined Montrose, gives us a tolerably complete view of the state of the Highland clans at the time, and they may be thus stated, following the order of the districts which they inhabited.

The Highland district of the earldom of Lennox was occupied by the Clan Pharlane, undoubted descendants of the old earls of Lennox. The clan takes its name from Parlane or Bartholomew, a great-grandson of Gilchrist, third son of Alain, earl of Lennox, and the steps of the pedigree rest upon charter evidence. Next to them were the Clan Gregor, on the east side of Lochlomond and around Loch Katrine. In Balquhidder we find the Clan Labhran or Lauren, and in Atholl the clan possessing the largest territory was the Clan Donnachie, whose descent from Duncan, son of Andrew de Atholia, likewise rests upon charter evidence, and whose name of De Atholia sufficiently indicates that they were the male representatives of the old earls of Atholl. With Glenshee and Glenisla is connected a clan called the Clan M‘Thomas. Crossing the Mounth we find the Highland districts of Mar and Buchan occupied by the Clan Chattan, who likewise, with their branches and dependent septs, extended over Strathdearn, Strathnairn, and Badenoch, into the district of Lochaber. In Ross-shire were the Clan Andres or Rosses and the Clan Kenneth or Mackenzies, and in the Highland districts of Sutherland and Caithness, forming the north-west corner of Scotland, were the Clan Morgan or Mackays and the Clan Gunn. The clans which occupied the principal position in the great district of Argyll and the Isles were the different clans into which the descendants of the powerful Lords of the Isles and Knights of Argyll broke up on the termination of the main line. There were the Clann Dubhgal or Macdougalls of Lorne, descended from Dubhgal, the eldest son of Somerled; the Clandonald descended from Domnall, son of Reginald or Ranald, his second son; and this great sept was again broken up into six clans. These were the Clandonald north and south, that is, the Clan Hustain or MacDonalds of Slate, and the Clan Eoin Mor or MacConnells of Isla and Kintyre, descended from Donald, eldest son of John, Lord of the Isles, by the king’s daughter, and from Eoin Mor, his second son, respectively. From Ranald, son of Alaster, his third son, sprang the Clanranald of Lochaber, or Macdonalds of Keppoch. From Eoin Sprangaigh and Alaster Og, sons of Angus Mor, came the Clan Ian or MacIans of Ardnamurchan, and the Clan Alaster or MacAlasters of Loup in Kintyre. The most important clans after the Macdonalds were, in Argyll, the Clan O’Duibhn or Campbells, whose original seat was the district of Lochow and Ardskeodnich, and who succeeded to their power. In the Isles the Clan Leod or Macleods of Dunvegan and Glenelg, and those of Lewis, descended from two brothers, were the most powerful; and next them the Clan Gilleoin or Macleans of Dowart and Lochbowie, and the Clan Neill or Macneills of Gigha and of Barra, and here we see the oldest cadets occupying quite as prominent a position as the main line. The other clans of Argyll and the Isles were, in Cowall, the Clan Lachlan, and the Clan Ladmann or Lamont, and between Loch Fine and Lochow the Clan Neachtan or MacNaughtons; while Glenorchy was the original seat of the Clan Gregor, and in Lochaber the Clanchamron, or Camerons of Lochiel, had their home. In Lochaber and Colonsay were the Clan Dubhsithé or Macduffies, and in Mull and Skye the Clan Fingaine or Mackinnons and the Clan Guaire or Macquarries.

This word Clann signifies simply children or descendants, and the clan name thus implies that the members of it are or were supposed to be descended from a common ancestor or eponymus, and they were distinguished from each other by their patronymics, the use of surnames in the proper sense of the term being unknown among them. These patronymics, in the case of the Ceannciné or chief and the Ceanntighs or heads of the smaller septs, indicated their descent from the founder of the race or sept; those of the members of it who were of the kin of the chief or chieftain showed the personal relation; while the commonalty of the clan simple used a derivative form of the name of the clan, implying merely that they belonged to it. This system is quaintly described by John Elder, clerk, in his letter to King Henry the Eighth in 1542 or 1543. He says—‘Now and pleas your excellent Majestie, the said people which inhabitede Scotland afore the incummyng of the said Albanactus (as I have said), being valiant, stronge, and couragious, although they were savage and wilde, had strange names, as Morrdhow .i. Mordachus; Gillicallum .i. Malcolmus; Donyll \.i. Donaldus, and so fourth. Then their sonnis followinge theame in manheid and valianntnes, called theameselves after this manner of wyse, leaving their proper names unexpressede, Makconyll .i. filius Donaldi; Makgillecallum .i. filius Malcolmi, etc., and so they have contenewide unto this daye.’^[464] Thus the head of the whole Clan Donald was simply Macdonald, the chief of the Clan Ranald of Glengarry, Macmhicalastair, the captain of Clan Ranald, Macmhicalain, and one of the commonalty simply Domnaillach or a Macdonald. Besides the clans the statutes distinguish what they term surnames. There were in Lennox, Buchanans, M‘Cawlis or Macaulays, and Galbraiths; Grahames in Monteith; Stewarts in Atholl, Lorne, and Balquhidder; Menzieses, Fergusons, Spaldings, and MacIntoshes in Atholl; Farquharsons in Braemar; MacPhersons in Strathnairn; Grants in Strathspey; Frasers in the Aird; Rosses and Monros in Ross; and Neilsons in Sutherland. These surnames were of three kinds. There were first names which had a Gaelic form, as Macaulay and Macpherson; or the English equivalent of a Gaelic form, as Farquharson, Ferguson, etc.; secondly, those who had assumed a territorial name, or whose name bore that appearance, as the Buchanans, who likewise bore the name of Macaustelan, and took the former designation from their lands, Grants, Rosses, and Monroes; and thirdly, those which were foreign names and of foreign descent, but who had become so assimilated to the Gaelic people as to be identified with them in language, custom, and spirit of clanship, as the Stewarts, Frasers, Menzieses, Spaldings, etc., who had been long settled in the Highlands.

The system of nomenclature, therefore, which characterised the clans and the surnames of Gaelic origin was one entirely based upon the personal name, and was in no respect territorial; but we find, on examination, that the personal names used by the Gaelic people were of different kinds, and constituted upon different principles. The earliest personal names used by the different branches of the Celtic people appear to have been formed in the same manner, and resemble each other in their structure. On analysing those both of the Cymric and the Gaelic people, we can see that they are compounded of two monosyllables, a certain number of which is used to form the first half of the name and a different set of monosyllables annexed as a termination, and these are combined with each other in every variety of form. The initial syllables are more numerous than the terminal, and it will only be necessary to specify a few to illustrate the formation of these names. Thus in Welsh, Ael, Aer, Arth, Cad, and Cyn are common initial syllables; and Teyrn, March, Gwyr, and Gwys common terminations. These form in combination the names Aelgyvarch, Cadvarch, Cynvarch, Aerdeyrn, Cyndeyrn, Arthwyl, Cynwys, etc. So in Gaelic Aen, Art, Con, Dun, Dubh, Fear, Fin, and Gorm are common initial syllables; and Gal^[465] and Gus, common terminations, and from them are formed Aengal, Artgal, Congal, Dungal, Dubhgal, Feargal, Fingal, Gormgal, and Aengus, Congus, Feargus, etc. Similar forms existed among the Pictish names, as in Ungust, Urgust, Urgart, Dergart, Gartnaidh, etc.; and besides the Pictish forms which are analogous to the Irish, we find such Pictish names as Neachtain, Fingaine, etc., occurring in the Highland Genealogies.

The introduction of Christianity among these Gaelic tribes added another class of names to these older forms. These were formed by prefixing the words Maol, that is, bald in the sense of tonsured, and Giolla, or servant, first to the words Iosa or Jesus, Criosd or Christ, Faidh the prophet, Easpuig the bishop; as in Maoliosa or Giolliosa, servant of Jesus, Maolanfhaidh or Gillanfhaidh, servant of the prophet, Giollachriosd, servant of Christ, and Gilleaspuig, servant of the bishop: and secondly, to the names of the founders and patron saints of the churches, as in Maolcoluim or Giollacoluim, servant of St. Columba; Maolbride or Giollabride, servant of St. Bridget; Giollachattan, servant of St. Cathan; Gillanaemh, servant of the saints; Giollaeoin, servant of St. John, etc. In these latter names, when combined with the word Clan or Mac, if they commence with a consonant, the prefix Giolla is usually omitted, as in Clanchattan, MacCallum, etc.; but if they commence with a vowel, they form that numerous class of names in which Mac is followed by the letter L. Thus MacGiollaeoin becomes Maclean; MacGiolla Adomnan, MacLennan, etc. The conquest of the Western Isles, and the frequent occupation of parts of the mainland by the Norwegians and Danes, and the intermarriages between them, added to these forms, after the ninth century, Norwegian and Danish names, such as Godfred, Harald, Ragnall, Somarled, etc., which became Gofraidh, Aralt, Ranald, Somhairle, in the Highland Genealogies. It must not, however, be overlooked that the Norwegians frequently gave to Gaelic names a Norwegian form significant in their own language, as Dungadr for Donnachaidh, Griotgardr for Gregair, Melkolfr for Maolcoluim, etc.

In considering the genealogies of the Highland clans we must bear in mind that in the early state of the tribal organisation the pedigree of the sept or clan, and of each member of the tribe, had a very important meaning. Their rights were derived through the common ancestor, and their relation to him, and through him to each other, indicated their position in the succession, as well as their place in the allocation of the tribe land. In such a state of society the pedigree occupied the same position as the title-deed in the feudal system, and the Sennachies were as much the custodiers of the rights of families as the mere panegyrists of the clan. As long as the Gaelic tribes and the governing and dominant race were of the same lineage, and regulated by the same laws, this system must have remained unaltered; but when the kingdom was formed by a combination of different races, and the influential class consisted of a feudal nobility, while the laws of the country were based upon feudal principles, the position of the Gaelic tribes must have been that of a people possessing a customary law, and an unrecognised social system opposed to the law acted upon by the governing authority, and the latter must always have prevailed in the long-run. When the conflict of these laws in regulating succession, and the frequent insurrections of the Gaelic population, with the confiscations which followed upon them, led to the breaking up of the Gaelic tribes, and to the severance of those ties which bound the septs or clans which had been developed within the tribe to each other, the pedigree would cease to be of value as between clan and clan. The competition between rival interests and rival races would lead to the gratification of vanity becoming the ruling motive, in order to maintain a quasi superiority, and likewise, when the exigencies of their position required it, to a falsification and imposture in order to enable the clans to maintain their ground in a field of competition regulated by feudal principles. The pedigrees must then have been greatly influenced by those into competition with whom the clan families were thrown, and by the interests affected in consequence; and when the governing class belonged to a kindred but different race with a different nationality and nomenclature, there must always have been a tendency to assimilate their own traditions to those of the ruling powers. Till the ninth century the Highland tribes and the ruling powers were of the same race. During the two succeeding centuries these tribes appear to have remained intact, while the dominating race and the clergy were of a kindred race though of a different name and nationality, and the name of Scotia became transferred from Ireland to Scotland. Feudalism then commenced, and spread over the country, and the reigns of the kings of the second Scottish dynasty from the accession of David the First to the death of Alexander the Third was the period of the breaking up of the tribes, and the complete establishment of the clan system; and this likewise was the period of the manipulation of the Chronicles, and the gradual formation of that spurious system of national history which, originating in the ecclesiastical pretensions of St. Andrews, was developed during the great controversy regarding the independence of Scotland, and based upon a Scottish nationality and the supposed colonisation of the country long before the Christian era by Scota and her Scottish descendants, till it was finally reduced to a system by John of Fordun. Its leading features were the colonisation of the Highlands by Scots in the third century before Christ, their conversion in the second century by the relics of St. Andrew, the occupation of the mountain region of the north by the Picts entirely ignored, and that people relegated to the plains of the Lowlands, when they were finally exterminated by the Scots in the ninth century.

It is hardly to be expected that the clans should not have claimed their share in these legendary glories, or that they should have lost the wish to maintain a separate descent with the gradual disappearance of its tradition, and thus this new and preponderating influence would naturally produce the first great change in the clan pedigrees. This change is very clearly exposed in the remarkable letter already quoted of John Elder, clerk, a Reddeshanke, to King Henry the Eighth. In that letter he thus gives the origin of ‘the Yrische Lords of Scotland, commonly called the Reddshanckes, and by historiographers, Picts.’ ‘Scotland,’ he says, ‘before the incoming of Albanactus, Brutus’s second son, was inhabited, as we read in ancient Yrische stories, with giants and wild people, without order, civility, or manners, and speaks none other language but Yrishe, and was then called Eyryn veagg, that is to say, Little Irland, and the people were callit Eyrynghe, that is to say, Irland men. But after the incoming of Albanactus, in reducing them to order and civility they changed the foresaid name Eyryn veagg, and called it Albon, and their owne names also and called them Albonyghe; which two Yrische wordes, Albon, that is to say Scotland, and Albonyghe, that is to say Scottish men, be derived from Albanactus, our first governor and king.’ At the time John Elder wrote, Yrishe, afterwards corrupted into Erse, was currently used for Gaelic; and deducting the nonsense about Eyryn veagg, which seems a fancy of his own, this is the legendary story contained in our earliest documents before the Chronicles were tampered with; but then he gave in to say, ‘which derivation the papistical cursed spirituality of Scotland will not hear in no manner of wise, nor confess that ever such a king, named Albanactus, reigned there. The which derivation all the Yrische men of Scotland, which be the ancient stock, cannot nor will not deny.’ ‘But our said bishops,’ he adds, ‘deriveth Scotland and themselves from a certain lady named Scota, which came out of Egypt, a miraculous hot country, to recreate herself amongst them in the cold air of Scotland, which they cannot affirm by no probable ancient author.’^[466]

The clans, however, were soon after thrown into rapidly-increasing contact with those of Ireland, a people possessing similar pedigrees, and Sennachies surpassing those of Scotland in information and acquirements. The native Sennachies by degrees fell into the background, and the clans began to take their Sennachies from the rival race. The first connection between them which had this effect, was the marriage of Angus, Lord of the Isles, who assisted Bruce in his struggle for the crown, with the daughter of O’Kane, Lord of Fermanagh, and widow of the great O’Neill. During the two following centuries septs of the Highland clans were employed as auxiliaries by the great northern Lords of Ireland, under the name of Galloglach or foreign soldiers, commonly called Galloglasses. There is ample evidence that during this period a great proportion of the Highland Sennachies were Irish, and that all reverted to Ireland for instruction in their art. It could hardly have been otherwise than that, with the disappearance of the old Highland pedigrees, every presumption and analogy would have driven these Sennachies to the better-preserved Irish pedigrees, to replace what had been lost by connecting them more directly with the Irish tribes, and thus the second great change in the character of their pedigree would be produced. For the clan genealogies at this time we must therefore refer to the Irish MSS., and they are in fact the oldest pedigrees which have been preserved. The MS. collections in which we find them are, first, the Book of Ballimote compiled in the year 1383, the Book of Lecain compiled in 1407, and a MS. belonging to the Faculty of Advocates bearing the date 1467, but the genealogies in which are obviously derived from the same source as those in the Book of Ballimote.^[467] To these may be added a few genealogies in other MSS., and those preserved by MacVurich in the Book of Clan Ranald.

In these MSS. we find detailed pedigrees of most of the clans enumerated in the Acts of Parliament of 1587 and 1594, and of several clans not there mentioned, as well as of some of the surnames. The later portion of these pedigrees, as far back as the eponymus or common ancestor from which the clan takes its name, are in general tolerably well vouched, and may be held to be authentic. The older part of the pedigree will be found to be partly historical and partly mythic. So far as these links in the genealogic chain connect the clans with each other within what may be termed the historic period, the pedigree may be genuine; but the links which connect them with the mythic genealogies of the elaborate system of early Irish history, when analysed, prove to be entirely artificial and untrustworthy. In examining the nature of these pedigrees it will be convenient to group them according to their supposed connection with the legendary races of early Irish history.^[468]

The first group consists of the Clan Cailin or Campbells, and the Clan Leod or MacLeods, who are brought from a mythic personage, viz., Fergus Leith Derg, son of Nemedh, who led a colony of Nemedians from Ireland to Scotland. This Nemedian colony belongs to the older legendary history of Scotland before the Chronicles were corrupted, and may therefore indicate these clans as forming part of the older inhabitants of the districts they occupy. On examining the genealogy of the Campbells we may consider it as authentic as far back as Duncan, son of Gilleaspic, son of Gillacolum, son of Duibne, who is certainly the Duncan M‘Duibhn mentioned in one of the Argyll charters as possessing Lochow and Ardskeodnich, and who was contemporary with Alexander the Second. As the Campbells were undoubtedly known in Gaelic as the Clan O’Duibne,^[469] the genealogy as far back as that eponymus of the race is probably authentic; but as soon as we pass that link we find ourselves in contact with Arthur and Uthyr Pendragon, and the other heroes of the Arthurian legend. With the Macleods we cannot proceed so far back, as Leod, the eponymus of the clan, cannot be placed earlier than the middle of the thirteenth century; and as soon as we pass these links in the chain of his pedigree, which have Gaelic names, we plunge into a confused list of names, partly Gaelic and partly of Norwegian and Danish kings of the Isles, with which they are mixed up, till we reach the mythic Fergus Leith Derg, whose grandson bears the Norwegian name of Arailt or Harald, centuries before the Norwegians made their appearance in the Isles. The earlier portion then of these two genealogies is obviously artificial.

The next group consists of the supposed descendants of Colla Uais, son of Eochaidh Doimlein, king of Ireland, and comprised the clans descended from Somerled, the petty king of the great district of Argyll in the reign of Malcolm the Fourth. These genealogies, as far back as their great ancestor Somerled, are undoubtedly authentic. His father Gillabride, and his grandfather Gillaadomnan, both purely Gaelic forms, rest on the authority of the Irish Annals, and Imergi, the grandfather of the latter, is probably the Jehmarc, who appears as a Celtic petty king in the year 1031. Beyond this we have no fixed date, but between him and Colla Uais, whose death is placed at 323, we have only seven names given for a period of 700 years, or one hundred years to a generation, which is impossible, and betrays the artificial character of this part of the pedigree.

The third group consists of clans supposed to be descended from the Hy Neill or race of Neill naoi giallach, king of Ireland, which brings us nearer historical times. They consist of the Lamonds, the Clan Lachlan, the MacEwens of Otter, and a Clan Somairle which has not been identified. These clans are all taken back to a certain Aoda Alain, termed Buirche, son of Anrotan, son of Aodha Atlamuin, ancestors of the O’Neills. From Aoda’s son Gillacrist the Clan Lachlan came, and from another son Duinsleibe the Lamonds, MacEwens, and Clan Somairle. The genealogy of the Lamonds is authentic as far back as Fearchar, the son of Duinsleibe, but Ferchar’s son and grandson are mentioned in a charter in 1246,^[470] while the death of Aodha Alain is recorded in 1047, and thus only three generations are placed in two centuries. This derivation too involves the difficulty of supposing that Cowall was peopled from Ireland in the eleventh century, a colony of which there is not a trace in history; but as these clans are locally grouped together we may accept the genealogies as indicating that they had a common origin.

The fourth group consists of the old earls of Lennox and Mar, said to be descended from Maine Leamna and Cairbre Cruithneach, sons of Corc, son of Lughaigh, king of Munster; but the artificial character of this descent is here very apparent, for Ailin, the first earl of Lennox, who lived in the beginning of the thirteenth century, is made the great-grandson of Maine Leamna, whose father was a contemporary of Saint Patrick in the fifth century.

The rest of the Highland clans, whose genealogies are to be found in the Irish MSS., are all brought from the Dalriadic Scots. These clans are mainly connected with the province of Moray and Ross, and thus we have the great anomaly presented to us that the clans forming the great bulk of the inhabitants of Argyll and the Isles—such as the Campbells and Macleods, the great race of the Macdougalls of Lorn, and the Macdonalds of the Isles and Kintyre, and the MacLachlans and Lamonds of Cowall—are not connected by their genealogies with the Dalriadic colony, but this origin is reserved for the more eastern clans of the central Highlands. There is too the further anomaly that these clans are not deduced from the tribe of Gabhran, which furnished kings to Dalriada, and from which the Scottish dynasty founded by Kenneth MacAlpin probably sprang, but from the tribe of Lorn, which furnished two kings only to Dalriada, and only came to the front to be immediately annihilated by the Pictish monarch in 736, and then disappear entirely from history. The links in the chain of ancestry which connect these clans with the tribe of Lorn, however, present the same features of artificial construction which characterise the other. In examining these we must group them in four classes. First, those brought from Fearchar Fada, king of Dalriada, of the tribe of Lorn, who died in 697. These are first the Mormaers of Moray. This genealogy is probably correct enough up to Ruadhri, who is made son of Airceallach, son of Ferchar; but allowing the usual average of thirty years to a generation, Ruadhri flourished about the year 840, that is, was contemporary with Kenneth MacAlpin, while the death of his supposed father Airceallach, by whom Ainbhcellach is probably meant, is recorded in 719. Then follows the genealogy of the MacNaughtons, whose eponymus Neachtain Mor is made the son of Domnall Duinn, son of Fearchar Fada; but Neachtain Mor cannot be placed earlier than the beginning of the ninth century, and he too must have been contemporary with Kenneth MacAlpin, while his supposed grandfather died in 697. This is followed by the genealogy of the Clan Chattan, and here the anomaly is still greater, for Gillachattan, the eponymus of the race, must have flourished in the eleventh century, but between him and Fearchar Fada are only four links during three centuries and a half. Of these links the father Gallbrait and the grandfather Diarmada, called the Fearleighinn or Lector, are probably historical. Along with these the Clan Cameron are placed, though their genealogy does not show the connection with the Dalriads. They were undoubtedly a kindred tribe with the Clan Chattan.

The next group is connected with a Fearchar Abraruadh son of Feradach Finn, and therefore a brother of Fearchar Fada, but unknown to history, and the only genealogy preserved is that of the Clan Gillaeoin or Macleans. This genealogy is given with so much minuteness up to a certain Sean Dubhgal Sgoinne, or Old Dugald of Scone, and the ecclesiastical character of the upper links are so obvious, that it is difficult to avoid regarding it as so far trustworthy. This Dubhgal has a son Raingce; and he has three sons—Cuduilig, abbot of Leasamor, that is, lay abbot of the monastery of Lismore in Argyllshire, from whom descended Gillaeoin, the eponymus of the clan; Cuchatha, from whom sprang the Clan Chonchatha, in the district of Lennox, by whom possibly the Colquhouns are meant; and Cusithe, from whom came the Clan Consithe of Fife, which has not been identified. According to the usual calculation, old Dugald of Scone must have flourished about 1100, and in a perambulation of the lands of Kyrknesse and Lochow, in the district of Fortrenn, not long after that date, we find the arbiters were Constantine earl of Fife, Magnus Judex or Mormaer in Scotland, Dufgal, son of Mocche, who was aged, just, and venerable (senex, justus, et venerabilis), and Meldoinneth son of Machedath, a good and discreet judge (judex bonus et discretus).^[471] It can hardly be doubted that this Dufgal senex is the Sean Dubhgal of Scone of the pedigree, but in that genealogy he is made the son not of Mocche but of Fearchar Abraruadh, who must be placed four centuries earlier.

The next group is brought from Domnaill Duinn, son of Fearadhach Finn, and consists of the Clan Labhran, or Maclarens, and the Clan Aidh. The Clan Labhran are deduced from an abbot of Achtus, by which no doubt Achtow in Balquhidder, where this clan had its seat, is meant, and his pedigree is deduced from Domnall Og, son of Domnall Duinn. According to the usual computation, Domnall Oig must be placed in the ninth century, thus contemporary with Kenneth MacAlpin, while his father is made brother of Fearchar Fada, who died in 697. The same remark applies to the genealogy of the clan Aidh. They cannot be identified with any modern clan, but a Gillamithil, son of Aidh, the eponymus of the clan, falls about the same time with Gillemychel M‘Ath, father of Duncan, who, in 1232, excambs a davach of land in Strathardel, called Petcarene, with the bishop of Moray for the lands of Dolays Michel in Strathspey.^[472]

The remaining genealogies in these MSS. have one common feature, that the genealogy of each of the clans contains in it the name of Cormac, son of Airbertach, but he is differently connected with the line of Lorn, and is placed in many of the genealogies at a different period. They may be thus grouped. The first consists of the Clan Andres or Rosses, the Clan Cainig or Mackenzies, and the Clan Matgamma or Mathesons. These are all brought from a common ancestor, Gilleoin na hairde or Gilleon of the Aird, by which, no doubt, the mountainous region in the centre of Ross-shire, the old name of which was Airdross, or the Aird of Ross, is meant. The Rosses and Mathesons are brought from his son Cristin, and the Mackenzies from another son, Gilleon Og, father of Cainig or Kenneth, the eponymus of the clan. Gilleon na hAirde is made grandson of Loarn, son of Fearchar, son of Cormac mac Airbertach, and the usual calculation would place Cormac in the tenth century; but his father Airbertach is made son of Feradach, and brother of Fearchar Fada, who died in 697. To this group may be added the Clan Duibsithe or Macduffys of Lochaber and Colonsay, who are brought from Fearchar, son of Cormac; but the connecting links are shorter and bring him down to two centuries later. The Macnabs are likewise brought from Loarn, son of Fearchar, son of Cormac, which would relegate him also to the tenth century; but in this genealogy, instead of placing Cormac in immediate connection with Fearadach, he is made son of Erc, son of Domnaill Duinn, son of Fearchar Abraruadh, thus corresponding more with the early part of the genealogy of the Clan Labhran and Clan Aidh. The Clan Gregor is likewise brought from Cormac by a son Ainnrias or Andrew, and by this genealogy he is placed in the twelfth century, and is made son of Fearchar Oig, son of Fearchar Fada, who died in 697. The last group consists of the Clan Guaire or Macquarrys, the Clan Fingaine or Mackinnons, the Clan Gillamhaol or Macmillans, and the Clan Gillaagamnan or Maclennans, descended respectively from four sons of Cormac—Guaire, Fingaine, Gillcrist called Gillamhaol, and Gillaagamnan. By these genealogies Cormac is brought down a century later, and this is probably his true date, and as an ancestor of these clans he is also probably an historical personage, for in the genealogy of the Clan Gillamhaol it is added that his father Airbertach possessed twelve tribes or septs (Treabh) among the Norwegians—viz., in Greagraidhe of the warriors, commonly called Mull, and in Tiree, and in Craobhinis, by which Iona is meant, while it is in Mull and the neighbouring islands that the Maclennans and Macquarrys had their possessions; but in these genealogies Airbertach is made son of Murcertach, son of Fearchar Og, and between the latter and Fearchar Fada, the names of Macbeth and his father Finnlaoch, which really belong to the genealogy of the Mormaers of Moray, are introduced.