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3 Celts & Company • "CLAN CHATTAN"

This long-powerful group of clans [arguably cast during the reign of Kenneth MacAlpin] comprised two main divisions, respectively under Macintosh and MacPherson leadership, with some subsidiary septs and family groups joining for protection under a general banner. Dissension arose among the sections from various causes, not least from their encroaching neighbours the Gordons enticing them into opposing camps, as at Harlaw 1411.
Accounts of the Clan Chattan's origin vary. The Macintoshes, holding to their own Macduff origin, regard it as a confederacy, with the MacPhersons just a branch from Macintosh stock. MacPhersons, putting reliance on a written geneology of 1450, favor the Chattan sections as having branched from an ancestor Gillechattan Mor, a Moray chief of the early 11th century: his elder son Nechtan founding the MacPhersons, and the younger Neil the Macintoshes, which surname only appears two centuries later. Either way of it, the Clunie MacPhersons retained the old Chattan chiefship although in 1291 the Macintoshes, through marriage of their chief Angus to Eva the MacPherson heiress, achieved the greater share of land and followers, also their chief's right to be styled 'Captain of the Clan Chattan,' leaving their claim to full chiefship a good-going dispute scarcely yet settled.

MacPherson Group: MACPHERSON, DAVIDSON, GILLESPIE, KEITH, SMITH

Macintosh Group: MACINTOSH, FARQUHARSON, MACBEAN, MACGILLIVRAY, MACGLASHAN, MACHARDIE, MACQUEEN, NOBLE, MACTAVISH, SHAW

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Also: CAMERON, CHATTANACH, CLARK, MACPHAIL

"CLAN CHATTAN." Scots Kith and Kin and Illustrated Map Revised Second Edition. Edinburgh, SCOT: Clan House, c.1970. p.52,53. Print.

keywords[x] tartan, wool, kilts, MacPherson, MacIntosh, clan, septs

3 Celts & Company • "DAVIDSON"

The clan MacDhai or Davidson, earliest settled Invernahaven in Strathspey, are believed to take name from an ancestor David Dhu, fourth son of Murriach the 12th-century founder of the MacPhersons. Members of the Clan Chattan, they were deeply involved in the quarrles of precedency that beset that confederacy. These were publicly culminated in 1396 in the famous thirty-a-side combat MacPherson v. Davidson, before King Robert III and his court on the North Inch of Perth. Whether because 29 leading MacDhais were killed, or because one escaped alive, the clan there-after fell from prominence. They are now chiefly represented by the Davidsons of Tulloch in Cromarty. A small border clan Davidson arose in Roxburghshire around the 16th century, perhaps of quite independent origin, like the Davis name in Orkney, and others. The Inverness-shire MacKays are really MacDhais.

Septs: DAVEY, DAVIE, DAVIS, DAVISOIN, DAWSON, DAY, DEA, DEAN, DEANE, DEAS, DEASON, DEY, DOW, DYE, KAY, KEAY, KEY, KEYS, MACDADE, MACDAID, MACDAVID, MACKAY, SLORA, SLORACH

"DAVIDSON." Scots Kith and Kin and Illustrated Map Revised Second Edition. Edinburgh, SCOT: Clan House, c.1970. p.53,54. Print.

keywords[x] tartan, wool, kilts, Davidson, clan, Chattan, septs

3 Celts & Company • "KEITH"

In the time of David I, Hervey de Keith possessed half of the lands named Keith in SW East Lothian, and his great-grandson acquired the other half by marrying its Fraser heiress. As hereditary Grand Marischals of Scotland, the chiefs took a prominent part in the country's affairs and battles, and attained vast possessions, pricipally northwards. About 1390, Sir William Keith was the builder of historic Dunottar Castle as his main seat; and in 1593 the fifth Earl Marischal founded the famous Marischal College of Aberdeen. The tenth and last earl forfeited title and all estates for active support of the Old Chevalier in 1715. The numerous Dicksons of the Border and Dixons in England descend from one of the early Keith-Marischal.

Septs: AUTIN, DICKISON, DICKSON, DIXON, DIXSON, FALCONER, HARVEY, HAXTON, HERVEY, HURRIE, HURRY, LUMGAIR, MARSHALL, URIE, URRY

"KEITH." Scots Kith and Kin and Illustrated Map Revised Second Edition. Edinburgh, SCOT: Clan House, c.1970. p.59. Print.

keywords[x] tartan, wool, kilts, Keith, MacPherson, clan, Chattan, septs