Monks and massacres

In Gaelic the name Maclennan is rendered as ‘MacGille Finnan’ which means ‘the son of the follower of St. Finnan.’

Who exactly this refers to has now been lost in the distant past; and the history of this clan is made even more complex by the fact that until as late as 1976 there had not been a recognised chief for more than 300 years.

Part of the reason for the lack of a detailed historical record stems from the sheer necessity of survival for a small group on the fringes of Highland society who had to ally themselves with more powerful neighbours simply to retain any form of independence in the feudal war zone of medieval clan society.

Thus the story of the Maclennans is inextricably linked with those of their neighbouring comrades like the Macraes and the MacKenzies.

The first known Maclennans initially settled around Kintail and were related to the Logans who also held lands in Easter Ross, though the latter were to become more prominent in the Central Lowlands as Barons of Restalrig near the Port of Leith.

In fact some historians claim that the Maclennans were actually just a branch of the Logans and that their name was not properly adopted in its present form until the fifteenth century.

According to this version of the family’s origins, Gillegorm Logan led his clansmen towards Inverness to continue a typical Highland blood feud against the Frasers.

Gillegorm was ambushed at Kessock, a hamlet two miles north west of Inverness, and he and most of his followers were brutally slain. In those days taking prisoners was seen as a sign of weakness.

However, the Frasers did capture alive Logan’s pregnant wife, intending either to kill the child when born or perhaps raise him as a fosterling, a common Highland method of gaining influence over a rival clan.

The son was eventually allowed to be born but was so deformed that he was placed with the monks at Beauly where he quietly studied, entering the church when he reached maturity.

However, he blithely disregarded the decree of Pope Innocent III enforcing celibacy on the priesthood, preferring to follow the older, more relaxed Celtic practices.

He could not have been that ugly in his adulthood for he married and had several sturdy sons.

He took the name ‘Gille Finnan’ and his family honoured his memory by adopting this new name.

Regardless of the authenticity of this tradition, the heraldry of the chief does proclaim the link between the Logans and the Maclennans.

Each bears the heart and passion nails which refer to the pilgrimage of Sir Robert and Walter Logan who accompanied the embalmed heart of Robert the Bruce, kept in a silver casket, which was meant to end up in the Holy Land.

But, along with their leader, Sir James Douglas (popularly known as ‘the Black Douglas’), they were diverted in Spain by a crusade involving the local Christian knights against the ‘heathen’ Moors.

Douglas was killed at the battle of Teba and the knights returned home to Scotland where Bruce’s heart was eventually buried in the grounds of Melrose Abbey in the Borders.

The Maclennan shield also alludes to their close connection with the Mackenzies whose banner was the ‘caber-feidh’, so called because of the deer’s head in the centre.

Along with the Macraes, the Maclennans remained for centuries the staunchest supporters of the Mackenzies; and at one time were custodians of their mighty fortress at Eilean Donan on its rocky islet at the entrance to Loch Duich in scenic Wester Ross.

It was in the service of the Mackenzie chieftain that the Maclennans came to prominence.

The Marquis of Montrose had rallied many Highland clans to the Royalist banner in 1645: but he was equally opposed by many others, including the Covenanting Earl of Seaforth, at that time chief of the Mackenzies.

The men of Kintail, led by the Maclennan chief, Ruaridh, a red-bearded giant who towered well over six feet, followed Lord Seaforth’s standard.

The Covenanters fought Montrose at Auldearn, two miles south east of Nairn, on May 9th, 1645.

Montrose was heavily outnumbered but used his tactical genius to deceive his enemies, massing his banners to confuse them with regards to the strength and positioning of his forces.

His ruse succeeded and the Covenanters massed for a full frontal assault which gave Montrose the opportunity to outflank them and turn the battle in his favour.

The Maclennans had been sent an order to withdraw but in the chaos of the battle it was never delivered; so Ruaridh and his clansmen bravely if vainly fought on to the last, defending their banner. They were eventually decimated by the Gordon cavalry.

Highlands vs islands

The Maclennans also were allies with the Mackenzies in their seemingly interminable, centuries-old feuding with the Lords of the Isles.

This was a Highland versus Island dispute over territory and power, resulting in numerous battles and atrocities being committed by both sides along Scotland’s rugged north-western coastline.

On one occasion, in the fifteenth century, the MacDonalds of the Isles with an army of more than three thousand rampaging clansmen invaded the mainland fiefdoms of the MacLennans, MacKenzies and Macraes.

They went on to attack Inverness, plundered much of the north-east then retraced their steps back through Strathconnon, putting many who crossed their path to the sword.

They arrived at last at a church which they set on fire, even though terrified old men, women and children were cowering inside, having taken shelter there in the mistaken belief that they would be safe. They were all brutally burned to death.

This dreadful massacre proved the final straw for the Highland confederation of clans who, the following day, though outnumbered, clashed with the invading MacDonalds in a bloody encounter that became known as the Battle of the Parks.

The Highlanders, numbering only around 600, attacked first and then immediately retreated in a favourite ploy aimed at entrapment.

The scheme worked and the MacDonalds heedlessly chased after them and within minutes literally became bogged down in a marshy wasteland.

At this point Maclennan archers, hidden among bushes in the flanks, fired off a withering fusillade and the arrows sliced devastatingly into the ranks of the islanders who collapsed mortally wounded in droves.

Their allies the Mackenzies then turned in their seemingly headlong retreat and stormed back into the fray.

There was brutal hand-to-hand fighting as scarlet claymores sliced through the air and the normally tranquil countryside echoed with the screams of the dying and the angry shouts of the victors.

As the sun began to set on the grim scene, the MacDonalds took to their heels back to their fastnesses in the west.

This battle weakened the power of the island raiders but strengthened that of the mainland clans, including the Maclennans, who vowed loyalty to the Crown.

The King and his Highland allies had similar interests – the destruction of the MacDonalds’ brutal rule in the Western Isles.

This was accomplished in 1493 when the Lordship of the Isles was forfeited; and thereafter the Maclennans and their allies were adept at intervening in island disputes and seizing land weakened by internal dissension or outside pressure.

Thus property owned by the MacLeods on Lewis was seized, as were lucrative estates on other islands.

The Maclennans were active in the Jacobite Rebellions supporting the Stuart cause, most notably during the summer of 1719 when a large Spanish fleet set sail for Scotland but was scattered and wrecked during a severe freak storm among the savage rocks of the west coast.

A group of several hundred Maclennans had mustered to meet up with these foreign troops; so when two of the ships actually managed to get through with the MacKenzie chief, the Earl of Seaforth, on board the first, the Maclennans were there to form a welcoming party when they landed at Eilean Donan Castle.

Meanwhile, a force of 1,000 infantry was on the march from Inverness to intercept the ill-fated uprising.

The Jacobites took up a strong position at the head of Loch Duich, eight miles south-east of Kyle of Lochalsh.

The rocks, high ground and entrenchments suited the Highlanders whereas the advancing redcoats were apprehensive and cautious, being in the midst of hostile territory.

Both sides were evenly matched but the morale of the rebels seems to have been a lot lower than their opponents.

The redcoats had four light bronze mortars which should not have been enough to sway the day but the Spaniards, like the government troops, were also trapped on foreign soil and their hearts did not seem to be in the fight.

The redcoats’ commander, General Wightman, a veteran of the earlier Jacobite defeat at Sheriffmuir in 1715, fought an impeccable action, though he was helped by the lack of determination on the part of his opponents.

After ordering a charge uphill against his foes, he lost no more than 21 men killed and 121 wounded.

The Jacobite losses were similar but many of them decided discretion was the better part of valour and took to their heels, shamefully leaving their Spanish allies to their fate.

Bewildered and disheartened, the Spanish eventually flung down their muskets in disgust.

As Wightman drily remarked, “Every-one else took the road he liked best.”

Seaforth, badly wounded, had to flee to the Continent with a price on his head.

Meanwhile, Eilean Donan was blown up and demolished by the victorious government forces, determined to destroy the rebels’ stronghold once and for all.

This most romantic of Scottish castles was not fully restored until the twentieth century.

The Spanish captives were moved under armed escort to Inverness and then to Edinburgh. Their condition aroused much sympathy; and, finally, after just a few months in captivity, they were allowed to sail home again.

Their only memorial is a corrie far up the hill in the Pass of Strachell that overlooked the fight in Glen Shiel which is now known as the ‘Bealach na Spainnteach’ or ‘the Spaniards’ Pass’.

Following this dismal rebellion, the lands of the Maclennans were garrisoned by government troops to keep the restless natives under control.

It was to be another 26 years before the Stuarts made another doomed attempt to regain the British throne.

The Maclennan clansmen were among those who rallied to Bonnie Prince Charlie’s flag at Glenfinnan in 1745 and accompanied him on his triumphal march into Edinburgh.

They were also in the leading ranks of the charging Highlanders who disturbed the morning slumbers of General Cope’s government troops when they came rampaging out of the dawn mists at Prestonpans.

The Maclennans went on all the way south to Derby and remained loyal in the ranks when the Young Pretender’s gradually disintegrating force fought their opponents to an indecisive halt at Falkirk.

There were also MacLennans mown down by ‘Butcher’ Cumberland’s artillery on Drummossie Moor, better known to posterity as the battle of Culloden, which proved yet another defeat for the Jacobite cause, this time a final one.