|
The Mackintoshes and Clan
Chattan. By A. M. Mackintosh, pp. xxiv, 566. Printed for the author,
1903.
The history of the
Mackintoshes is important, even apart from other reasons, on account of
their central position in the Highlands, and their close association for
centuries with the town of Inverness. Like that of most of the clans,
their origin is shrouded in much obscurity, but the author of this
volume has spared no pains to make his information as interesting and
reliable as possible. As early as 1880 he published a book on the same
subject. This second edition is intended to represent the results of
wider research and fuller knowledge. Favourably situated as the author
has been for the purpose, he has endeavoured, as he tells, us, to
present a correct history of the Clan Chattan generally, and of its
component septs in particular. To this end he has carefully piloted his
way (by the help of record and documentary evidence alone, disregarding
or not insisting on the delusive lights of tradition, taking for granted
no statements of family historians as to ancient events, and avoiding
all temptation to speculations or guesses of his own, or to 'writing for
writing’s sake.’
There have been two views
taken of the origin of the Clan Mackintosh. According to the one,
supported by a MS. of date 1467, the family can be traced to the
Dalriadic kings; according to the other, founded on the Kinrara MS.,
which was completed about the year 1679, they are descended from the
ancient Earls of Fife. For reasons assigned, Mr. Mackintosh follows the
latter document as his chief authority for the earlier period. It is a
family history written in English by Lachlan Mackintosh of Kinrara,
brother of the 18th chief, and afterwards abbreviated and translated
into Latin. This Lachlan quotes from three older MSS. which are now no
longer extant. One of these was the work of Ferquhard, 12th chief;
another, that of Andrew Macphail, parson of Croy; and the third was
written by George Munro of Davochgartie.
Briefly, the account in
the Kinrara MS. is, that Shaw, second son of Duncan, 3rd Earl of Fife,
came to the north with King Malcolm IV. in 1163, to suppress a rebellion
of the men of Moray; and that as a reward for his services he was made
keeper or constable of the royal castle of Inverness, and received
possession of the lands of Petty and Breachley, with the forest of
Stratheme (Strathdearn). The name Mackintosh is said to mean ‘son of the
thane,’ and this Shaw Macduff was the first to bear it, because his
father, though an earl, was commonly called Toshachy that is, ‘thane.'
The first mention of the
name in its present form, which the author of the book under review
could find as unmistakably applied to one of the Clan Chattan occurs in
the case of Malcolm Mackintosh in 1428. Another Angus Mackintosh figures
in the Exchequer Rolls of Aberdeen as early as 1412-13, but the author
cannot say whether he belonged to the clan or not.
Though there is no extant
proof that the Mackintoshes occupied the above-mentioned lands in the
twelfth century, they are found there as king’s tenants in the
fifteenth—the earliest period for which records of these lands are
available. If the Kinrara MS. is correct in stating that their founder
was keeper of the castle of Inverness* the connection of the family with
that town is coeval with their residence in the north, and indeed with
their existence under the name they now bear.
With regard to the
headship of the Clan Chattan, over which the Macphersons and the
Mackintoshes have long been at feud, each sept claiming the right for
its own chief, Mr. Mackintosh remarks: ‘Those who have carefully and
impartially followed me so far, must admit, I venture to think, that
although the Macphersons of Cluny may possibly be the lineal
representatives of the heads of the old or pre-historic Clan Chattan,
the right to the headship of the clan as it has existed during its
historical period belongs solely to the chiefs of Mackintosh, who
possess it by the consent of the majority of the clan—of the whole, down
to the latter half of the seventeenth century and during part of the
eighteenth century—and by continual usage for a period of nearly six
hundred years, not to speak of the authority of King and Government at
various periods. The position as regards the alleged original right is
not so satisfactory, but although there is absolutely no evidence either
in favour or against that right, I have perhaps succeeded in showing at
least that—supposing the story of the marriage of Eva to be true in the
main—neither Macpherson of Cluny nor any one else is in a position to
furnish a better title than that of Mackintosh to the chiefship of Clan
Chattan.
Yet with every good
intention, Mr. Mackintosh need hardly expect to find that he has closed
a controversy in which the traditions and sentiments of the rival clans
mingle so freely.
On the famous clan battle
at Perth in 1396 he has an interesting chapter, in which he deals at
some length with the various historical references to that event.
Discussing the old puzzle as to which were the clans involved—the
Clahynnhe Qwhewyl and Clachiny-ha mentioned by Wyntoun—he inclines to
the opinion that they were the Clan Chattan and the Clan Cameron, among
the former of whom were some Mackintoshes.
How soon even more modem
facts and events get wrapped in obscurity may be gathered, by the way,
from another reference in this book. It concerns the parentage of so
noted a man as James Macpherson of Ossianic fame. In a paper of 1797
quoted in Glimpses of Church and Social Life in the Highlands, he is
said to have been the son of ‘Andrew Macpherson, son to Ewan Macpherson,
brother to the then Macpherson of Cluny,’ but, remarks Mr. Mackintosh,
nothing appears in the genealogy of the Cluny family to warrant that
statement.
On some points, as might
be expected, the author differs in his opinions from those of well-known
writers such as Dr. Skene and Sir Walter Scott, and he is emphatic in
assuring us that the Lady Mackintosh of the ’Forty-Five’ was not such a
forward Amazon as she has been depicted by English scribes. His work, on
the whole, is a valuable addition to the Clan histories, and Mr.
Mackintosh deserves great credit for his zeal and patient endeavour to
make it as complete as possible. It may be added that the book closes
with a short account of the heraldry of Clan Chattan.
Magnus Maclean.
We've also obtained the books...
DUNACHTON, PAST AND PRESENT
EPISODES IN THE
HISTORY OF THE MACKINTOSHES
BY CHARLES FRASER-MAOKINTOSH, F.S.A.,Scot.
Historical Memoirs of the House and Clan of Mackintosh and Clan Chattan
By Alexander Mackintosh Shaw |
