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Clan MacNab

LET ALL FEAR BE ABSENT


The name MacNab comes from the Gaelic "Mac An Aba", meaning "child of the abbot". The progenitor of the clan is widely claimed ot be Abraruadh, the Abbot of Glen Dochart and Strathearn, and allegedly a son of Kenneth MacAlpin, the first King of Scots. The earliest reference to the clan is from records dating to 1124.

The MacNab clan motto is "Timor Omnis Abesto" (Let fear be far from all) and the clan crest is a savage's head.

Scottish History

of Clan MacNab


War and betrayal

The MacNabs have won fame out of all proportion to their size as a clan.

They were responsible for one of the most daring incidents in the history of clan warfare; they produced perhaps the most colourful chief ever seen in the Highlands; and they were involved in a famous, not to say notorious, attempt to reproduce the old feudal system in the New World of the Canadian wilderness.

The homeland for the Clan MacNab is centred on the small Perthshire town of Killin and stretches from there up Glen Dochart and along the south side of Loch Tay. But the great symbol of the MacNab’s identity, the one territory to survive all the clan’s startling vicissitudes, is the small island of Inchbuie on the River Dochart, the beautiful, yellow isle of Scots pine beeches and sycamores where the chiefs and their kinsmen have been buried since the name and race of MacNab was formed.

This means since the 12th or 13th century, for at about that time lived the son of the Abbot MacAnaba who gave his title to the clan. This does not imply that the race springs illegitimately from a clerical indiscretion.

The abbots of the old Celtic church were secular and hereditary great lords rather than cloistered celibates, leaders of their people in war as often as in prayer. The MacNabs’ originators were Abbots of St. Fillan’s monastery near Loch Earn and were probably more junior members of the MacGregor family since we know that in 1140 Sir John MacGregor was Abbot of St. Fillan’s and that the MacNabs are part of the great Gaelic breed descended from the ancient Princes of Dalriada and Ulster of which the MacGregors are the main modern stem.

St. Fillan himself, who died in 703, was a Prince of this Royal house; and the importance of the blood is confirmed by the fact that, when the MacNabs held the diocese, it was equal with the neighbouring Earldoms of Atholl and Monteith and was therefore second in rank only to the Royal blood of Scotland itself; and so, when the Celtic Church was reformed in the Roman model and the MacNabs chose to become out and out secular lords rather than retire into monasteries, it was natural that they should be granted the Barony of Glen Dochart created for them from their own monastery clans.

This happened at the time of the death of Alexander the Third in 1286, an event which precipitated the War of Independence with England and brought the MacNabs their firstserious setback

The two main claims to the throne came from the Balliols of Galloway and the Bruces of Annandale. The Bruces were backed by most of southern Scotland and the Central Highlands, the Balliols supported by the East Coast and Western clans. The MacNabs automatically followed the MacDougalls of Lorne into the Balliol camp and this meant into the English camp. Both Edward I and his son tried to use the Balliols to exert their own authority over Scotland. Because of this, many of the MacNabs’ enemies tried to represent them as traitors, forgetting that Scotland was genuinely split over the succession.

Whatever the rights and wrongs, the MacNabs certainly suffered by choosing what turned out to be the losing side. Though MacDougall defeated Robert Bruce at Dalrigg, the allies of the English went down with them at Bannockburn.

And the MacNabs were soon deprived of their land and driven back onto Inchbuie, then, as later, their very last resort in time of trouble.

They also probably suffered the loss of their chief and his two sons at this time for it is said that the MacNabs were the three men killed by King Robert when they tried to ambush him after his defeat at Dalrigg. This story is told in Barbour’s epic poem ‘The Bruce’ and since he describes the men in question as the mightiest men of the West, and the MacNabs were already known for their stature and strength, it is very possible that they were the clan involved. If so, their might did them little good on this occasion because, when they sprang out in front of him in a narrow path above a river valley, Bruce charged them full tilt, knocking one of the sons into the valley below. The other two tried to pull him to the ground by clinging to his horse but Bruce cut one of them at the neck and severed the arm of the other which was left still grasping his bridle as he rode off to safety.

The clan soon recovered from these setbacks and worked their way into the favour of King David Bruce who in 1336 gave a new charter for Glen Dochart to Gilbert MacNab, the first fully documented chief of his people. There now followed 300 years of feuding as the MacNabs fought with the MacGregors and with their own sept, the Dewars.

Massacre at Loch Earn

The Earls of Breadalbane looked on coldly, forever scheming to take advantage of these feuds by moving into their rivals’ land. The first performance of what soon became a familiar play was acted at the beginning of the 15th century when the MacNabs and MacGregors fought each other to a bloody draw at Crianlarich, the two chiefs only calling a halt after giving each other serious injuries in a personal combat.

Immediately, the Glen Orchy Campbells moved in. They invaded the territories of both clans and sought to have them declared forfeit at Edinburgh. The MacGregors, accepting the cha lenge, took to the hills. The MacNabs, more wisely perhaps, gave up some land in order to keep others and soon staged a recovery, receiving new estates in Royal Charters of 1487 and 1502. In this latter year, too, we find evidence of a continuing connection with St. Fillan for another charter of that date from the Prior of the monastery at Perth grants the MacNab chief the revenue of some crofts at Killin in exchange for three pounds of wax yearly in honour of the Blessed Virgin and St. Fillan for the increase of the saint’s light before his image, ‘one pound thereof at the feast of St. Fillan in summer and another at the feast of St. Fillan in winter’. It can be seen from this that the Scots were not very good arithmeticians in those days.

What they were good at was fighting! And at about the same time as this, St. Fillan cropped up again as the cause of a feud between the MacNabs and the Dewars. He had left to his monastery two important relics, a crozier and a bell of which the MacNabs became hereditary custodians until the 13th century. Then the crozier somehow passed into the hands of the Dewars who afterwards used it as a symbol of their independence. The relics were also important as entitling the holders to a place of honour at the Coronations of Scottish kings. So in 1510 the MacNabs launched an armed foray to recover the crozier from the Dewars’ territory in upper Glen Dochart. There was another inconclusive fight which was again exploited by the Campbells who waited until the battle was over then declared themselves allies of the Dewars and marched into the MacNabs estate.

The Campbells’ infiltration was greatly facilitated by the financial responsibility of the sixth MacNab Chief, Finlay the Mortgager, who fell for the old Campbell ploy of buying up debts of their rivals and lost control of his estates to such an extent that by 1580 Glen Orchy was telling King James that he had ‘conquested the MacNab’s whole landis’. This claim was never accepted by the MacNabs but they were obviously in deep trouble at the time for a Crown investigation into the state of the Western clans lists them amongst those which had been broken for punishment of theft, oppression and blackmail. Again, though the recovery was swift, the next chief, also Finlay, made the best of a bad job by marrying Campbell of Glen Orchy’s daughter and fathering a dozen sons as if to prove his sincerity in making peace with the old enemy.

In 1610 two hundred Campbells, MacNabs and MacDonalds defeated a great force of MacGregors, securing the Lordship of Breadalbane for Glen Orchy and lands for MacNab. Once again the MacNabs were sitting pretty and two years later they sprang into national fame by their extermination of local rivals, the MacNeishes of Loch Earn.

Finlay MacNab’s twelve sons continued the family traditions of gigantism and ferocity. It was said that even the youngest and smallest of them could drive a six inch nail into wood with a blow of his fist. And so, when, at Christmas, 1612, news arrived that the MacNeishes had ambushed and robbed the party bringing seasons provisions to the MacNab stronghold, it was to be expected that some fearful revenge would be planned. Finlay MacNab, though, was for immediate action. The most important supply taken by the MacNeishes was a consignment of good whisky from Perth. The sin was cardinal and the punishment had to fit.

His sons demurred that there was four feet of snow on the ground, a new blizzard blowing and the MacNeish’s island castle was ten miles away over rough country with all the boats on Loch Earn tied up in its harbour.

“The night is the night,” replied their father implacably, “if the lads are the lads!”

His eldest son, Ian Mir or Smooth Ian, so named for his skill in making executions swift rather than his suavity of manner, soon worked out a plan. The strongest sons would take their own boat on their shoulders to Loch Earn and there surprise the robbers who were no doubt already drunk on their booty.

This proposal would have been formidable even in the best of weather but at midnight on a frozen Christmas it seemed sheer madness. But the MacNabs had to choose between the snowy night and an angry father and so were soon trooping off down to Loch Tay to fetch their boat for their journey.

They reached Loch Earn at four in the morning and spied on the MacNeishes’ drunken revelry from the bank. Moving silently out to the island, the MacNabs sunk all their enemies’ boats and crept up to the castle door. The MacNeishes, their safety seemingly guaranteed by the wildness of the night and the isolation of their island, had carelessly left the castle open and unguarded and so the first they knew of their peril was when three fatal knocks reverberated on the door of their hall, instantly plunging their carouse into a shivering silence.

Two battle axes came through the hall door, followed by four MacNabs whose dirks and swords were soon flashing into their enemies’ flesh.

Only two MacNeishes survived, one hidden under an upturned cot while a young boy jumped from a window. As the MacNabs were leaving, they realised that their father would required some proof of their success and so, lifting one of the sacks which had carried the stolen provisions, Smooth Ian went round the hall, filling it with the heads of the dead. And now it was back to Loch Tay where 10 neatly severed MacNeish heads were deposited at their father’s feet.

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114 Clan MacNab

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The Crests

of Clan MacNab

Clan MacNab
Clan MacNab
Clan MacNab
Clan MacNab

65 Clan MacNab

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Divisions

of MacNab

Abbot
Abbotson
Cleland
Dewar
Gilfillan
Gilliland
MacLellan
MacNair

Spellings

of MacNab

MacNabe
MacNabb
MacKnabe
MacNap
Makinnab
Maknabe
Milnab
MacAnaba

177 Clan MacNab

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