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Clan MacKinnon

AUDENTES FORTUNA JUVAT


Clan MacKinnon are a Highland clan, most commonly associated with the Isles of Mull and Skye in the Hebrides. Originating from the ancient kingdom of Dál Riata, and one of the seven clans in the family of Siol Alpin, the MacKinnons were rumoured to have served the Lord of the Isles.

The MacKinnons were known to have been of some substantial power - they fought with neighbouring clans during the Thirty Years War, and supported the Jacobite uprising in the 18th century. They were stripped of many of their clan lands after the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

The MacKinnon clan motto is "Audentes Fortuna Juvat" (Fortune favours the bold) and the clan crest is a boar's head.

Scottish History

of Clan MacKinnon


The western mists

Tradition traces the Clan MacKinnon back to Fingon (the fair-born) but when and where did he live? Possibly in Arran, Kintyre or Mull. He is said to have been the grandson of Gregor and the great-grandson of Kenneth MacAlpin, but there is no documentary evidence.

Another history places Gregor as one of King Alpin’s sons, younger brother to Kenneth MacAlpin and Donald, and describes Findanus, Gregor’s grandson, as the progenitor of the Clan MacKinnon, ‘sons of Fingon of Findanus’. This puts Fingon at least four generations after King Alpin, who died in battle in 839 AD.

John Prebble, the noted historian and writer, mentions Grigor only in passing, as ‘joint usurper with Eocha’ in 878-89. The Edinburgh History gives the crown in these years to Eochaid, jointly with Giric, who was Donald’s son and therefore Kenneth MacAlpin’s nephew. We must assume that Giric is another version of the name Gregor. Neither mentions Fingon nor Findanus.

Kenneth MacAlpin was succeeded first by his brother Donald and then by his sons Constantine and Aodh. It was by killing Aodh that Gregor obtained the crown. After Gregor’s death at Dundurn in Perthshire, the crown passed back and forth between the descendants of Constantine and Aodh for four generations.

Gregor’s family were not included in this arrangement and it may have been prudent for them to withdraw westward, to Arran and Kintyre, then northwards to Mull, and ally themselves to Norse settlers in the Isles.

Such an alliance is indicated by the tradition that Findanus, who had land on Mull, acquired Dun Haakon (later Dunakin and now Castle Maiol) by marriage to a Norse princess around 900. If Findanus was the grandson of Gregor, he would have been in his prime, say, 50 years after Gregor’s rule, ie about 930, which is reasonable agreement. Fingon may have been another version of the name Findanus, or his son. There was an Abbot of Iona called Fingon in 966, which would be about right for Findanus’s son.

Dun Haakon was a broch, a round, double walled dry-stone tower, on the coast of Skye overlooking the 600m wide entrance to Loch Alsh. Tolls were levied on passing shipping, enforced by a chain, or, more likely, a boom of tree-trunks connected by chains, across the narrows.

The prosperous years

There were MacKinnons on Arran in the early 14th century, for they and the MacDonalds welcomed Robert the Bruce while he was a fugitive from the kinsmen of the murdered Comyn and the forces of Edward I of England. After the death of Edward I, Bruce defeated Edward II at Bannockburn in 1314, where MacDonalds, and almost certainly MacKinnons with them, served in Bruce’s own division. In reward, the MacKinnons received land in Strathardale on Skye (now Strathaird) and the castle of Dun Ringill. The clan prospered there until 1745, and the chiefs styled themselves ‘of Strathardale’.

The MacKinnons still held land in Mishnish, the northernmost tip of Mull. There is also a ‘MacKinnon’s Cave’ further south in Mull, at the foot of Glen Seilisdeir. The hold-ings of Ewan MacKinnon in Mishnish and Strathardle were later confirmed by charter of James V, in 1542.

Fingal, the Gaelic warrior god, is said to have dined at the large block of stone at the entrance to MacKinnon’s Cave. The cave turns sharply after a short distance so that the depths cannot be seen and are totally dark.

The tale is told on Mull that some local people wanted to know how far it ran. They sent in a piper, thinking that the sound of the pipes would come to the surface through fissures in the rock, and they could trace its extent. But the piper was attacked by the resident banshee and, although he piped boldly as he retreated, the banshee overcame him. His dog escaped, less most of its hair.

Branches of the clan held various offices by heredity, such as Master of the Household to the Lord of the Isles and custodians of standard weights and measures, Standard Bearer to the MacDonalds of Sleat, or Abbot of Iona. A hereditary abbacy seems strange to us, but could then occur in several ways. Celibacy was not so rigorously observed, nor was Inheritance necessarily by direct descent. Like the Crown, Inheritances may have passed by arrangement to nephews or other close relations. Also, some abbacies were laicised, that is, held for profit or prestige by someone not in holy orders. One Abbot of Iona, also named Fingon, and his brother Neil, were involved in a rebellion against the Lord of the Isles. This failed, and Neil was put to death. John MacKinnon was the last of the clan to be Abbot of Iona. In 1510, James IV petitioned the Pope to transfer the abbacy to George Hepburn, his favoured Bishop of the Isles.

The MacKinnons were normally loyal to the MacDonalds and the MacLeods; most disputes were against the MacLeans. In one incident, it is said that MacLeans seized some MacKinnon land in Mull while the chief was on Skye. On his return, the MacKinnons pursued them to their hall at Ledaig on the mainland, only to find them snoring drunkenly. Perhaps seeking to end, rather than exacerbate the feud, MacKinnon had his men cut fir trees, the clan badge, and plant them all round the hall. To emphasize the point, he left a naked sword against the tree before the door. The MacLeans took the hint.

The MacKinnons of Strathardle occasionally found it expeditious to enter into formal alliances with other clans. There are bonds of manrent with MacNab of Bowaine in 1606 and with MacGregor of MacGregor in 1671. Manrent meant exactly what it says; the parties could call upon each other in person for assistance.

For example, the wording of a bond between Lord Kennedy, Sir Alexander Boyd and Lord Fleming says that they and their ‘kyn, friendis and men’ would band together ‘in all thair caussis and querell, leifull and honest, aganis al maner of persones, thair allegiance til our soveran lord alanerly outan’ (the only exception).

The king probably insisted on the last phrase, and in some circumstances prohibited such alliances, suspecting conspiracy, no doubt. Bonds of manrent were particularly popular in uncertain times, such as during the minority of a young successor to the throne.

The clans of the Isles valued their independence, and were prepared to pledge themselves to the Lord of the Isles in defending it. In Loch Finlaggan on Islay are two islands, on one of which the Lords of the Isles were ceremonially proclaimed. The other was known as the ‘Isle of Counsel’, and here the Lord and chiefs, including those of MacKinnon, met, together with the Bishop of the Isles and the Abbot of Iona (depending on the allegiance of those worthies). Their independence was maintained by juggling the balance of power between the Scottish kings, rival clans, the Norse, and sometimes the English. The Scottish kings, unable to control the highlands and islands, had to delegate their authority to local barons; when these became over-ambitious, or the king’s hand too heavy, swords were drawn.

James IV, exasperated by the depredations, of the Islesmen, annexed the Isles (on paper, at least) in 1493. The opportunity to turn the tables came in 1545, when the Earl of Hertford was terrorising the Borders in an attempt to force the betrothal of the three-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots to Edward, son of Henry VIII of England. The clans of the Isles, including MacKinnon of Strathardle, were prepared to join the disaffected Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox, whom Henry had rather prematurely appointed Governor of Scotland, in an insurrection.

This insurrection was rather ineffectual, and by the turn of the century James IV was attempting to subdue the Isles again. In 1608 his envoys, Lord Ochiltree and Bishop Andrew Knox, induced the chiefs, including Lachlan MacKinnon of the Ilk, to board their ship in the Sound of Mull. They were then seized and imprisoned. Bishop Knox met these chiefs again the following year on Iona, when they pledged themselves to the ‘Statutes of Icolmkill (or Iona)’. These were partly strategic arms limitation; the size of the chief’s retinue was limited; firearms were prohibited; bards (and their rousing tales of glory) were suppressed. There were also civil matters concerning the church, inns and alcohol control.

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Family History Mini Book


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112 Clan MacKinnon

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The Crests

of Clan MacKinnon

Clan MacKinnon
Clan MacKinnon
Clan MacKinnon
Clan MacKinnon
Clan MacKinnon

67 Clan MacKinnon

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Divisions

of MacKinnon

Love

Spellings

of MacKinnon

MacInnon
MacKinney
MacKinning
MacKinven
Kinney
Kinnie
Kinnon
MacCannan
MacCannon
MacKeenan
MacKinin
MacKinna
MacKinnen
MacKinoun
MacKiynnan
Makenone
Makfingane
Makfingoun
Makkynine
Makkynnon
Kackinvan

177 Clan MacKinnon

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