The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. IX] OF SCOTLAND 357
heiress of the old proprietors, they can be proved to be in
reality a cadet of that older house who had usurped the chiefship,
while their claim to the chiefship is disputed by an
acknowledfjed descendant of that older house. To this rule
the Campbells are no exceptions, for while the tale upon which
they found a Norman descent is exactly parallel to those of the
other clans in the same situation, the most ancient manuscript
genealogies deduce them in the male line from that very family
of O'Duin, whose heiress they are said to have married, and
the Macarthur Campbells, of Strachur, the acknowledged
descendants of the older house, have at all times disputed the
chiefship with the Argyll famil}'. Judging from analogy, we
are compelled to admit that the Campbells of Strachur must
formerly have been chiefs of the clan, and that the usual
causes in such cases have operated to reduce the Strachur
family, and to place that of Argyll in that situation, and this
is confirmed by the early history of the clan.
The first appearance of the Campbells is in the reign of
Alexander III., and we find them at that time divided into
two great families, afterwards distinguished
of Mac Arthur and Mac Cailinmor.
by the patronymics
The first notice of the Mac Cailinmor branch is Gillespie
Cambel, who witnesses the charter of erection of the Burgh
of Newburgh by Alexander III. in 1266, and there is the
strongest reason to think that he was heritable sheriff of the
sheriffdom of Argyll, which had been erected by Alexander II.
in 1 22 1. It is certain, however, that until the reign of Robert
the Bruce, the Campbells did not possess an heritable right to
any property in Argyllshire. The situation of the Mac Arthur
branch at this time was very different, for we find them in
possession of a very extensive territory in the earldom of
Garmoran, the original seat of the Campbells. It is therefore
impossible to doubt that Mac Arthur was at this time at the
head of the clan, and this position he appears to have main-
tained until the reign of James I. Arthur Campbell of this
branch embraced the cause of Robert the Bruce, as well as
Sir Neil Campbell, the son of Colinmore, and appears to have
been as liberally rewarded by that monarch with the forfeited
lands of his opponents. He obtained the keeping of the