Other Tribes who became Auxiliaries to Lochiel
There were at least seven Heads of families in Lochaber who, while rendering loyal service to the Lochiel family, preferred to preserve their own good name and stoutly maintain their own family traditions. They were :
The MacKenzies of North Ballachulish
The MacIntyres of Camas-na-h-Eirbhe
[ Click on a family name above to read more ]
Three
of these ancient tribes take their descent from the sons of Cormac. The
latter received his appointment from Alexander I as the first
diocesan bishop of Dunkeld c.1107. Alexander was the fifth
son of Malcolm III (Malcolm Canmore) and Margaret, daughter of Edward
Atheling, and he had a dual purpose in making these new ecclesiastical
appointments. He wished to placate the Celtic nation by honouring
one who was a great-great-grandson of Macbeth (who was neither a bloodthirsty
villain, nor a usurper, but one who actually had a three-fold claim
to the Scottish throne), and at the same time, use him as a tool to
undermine the Columban Church, and so pave the way for the consolidation
of the Augustinians.
Cormac
had six sons, whom he placed on Church lands :
Guaire ("noble"), progenitor
of the Clan MacQuarrie and the McGuires, in Ulva and Inch-Kenneth, off
the coast of Mull;
Fingon ("fair-born"), progenitor of Clan MacKinnon,
in the Ross of Mull and Iona;
Gilchrist, alias An Gille-Maolan (The Little Tonsured
Servant), progenitor of Clan MacMillan,
in Old Spynie, Elgin, then in Lochaber;
Gille-Adhamhnan, progenitor of the MacIlwhams or Clan Lamont,
in Skipness, Kintyre;
Anrias, progenitor of the Clan Gregor, at Clachan an Diseirt
(Dalmally), Glen Orchy;
Fearchar Ruadh, progenitor of Clan MacPhee,
Clan MacNab, Clan Ross, Clan Matheson and Clan
MacKenzie in Applecross, Wester Ross.