The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

414 THE HIGHLANDERS [excursus
is an adaptation of Bartholomew ; just as the same family were fond of the
name Absolo;/, and derived therefrom AI'Auslan, a sept of the Buchanans.
Page 278, line 2 from end. For "Alhic Croeb" read " Moreb," that is,
Morays — dat. pi. of //////>, sea.
Page 279. Mac-Heth. Much nonsense has been written about Malcolm
Mac-Heth, whose life history is complicated by the fact that an impostor,
Wymund, Bishop of Man, tried to act his part. The name Heth is the most
ill-used syllable I know of It appears as Head, Ed, Eth ; the Gaelic form
of all these monstrosities can easily be identified. It is the very favourite
name of Aed or Aodh, later, translated as Hugh. Mac-Heth is an old form
of Mackay, the Galwegian Mackie ! Earl Ed is one of David's seven earls,
and was, of course. Earl of Moray. He was married to King Lulach's
daughter, and was thus father of Angus, Earl of Moray, slain in 11 30.
Malcolm Mac-Heth was another son of Aed, and he continued the war. He
married Somerled's sister, and was thus the father of the Mac-Heth nephews
whom Somerled supported in 1153. Malcolm Mac-Heth was reconciled to
the king in 1 157, and made Earl of Ross. The impostor's share in the whole
story is not clear. Mac-Heth was not a family name ; surnames had not yet
started, or were only starting in Southern Scotland. Mac-Heth was used,
like a surname, to denote the claim on the Earldom of Moray by the
descendants of Aed.
Page 282. Conquest of Moray. Skene makes far too much of this
Conquest of Moray, and his two Gillespics, though named by Fordun, can
hardly represent the old families of Mac-Heth and Mac-William. The whole
of p. 283 is in niibibus.
Page 284. The Clan Chattan, which is so named from St. Catan or
little Cat. Skene's views on this clan are vitiated by the fact that willy-nilly
he antedates the Macphersons, who, probably, did not belong to the clan in a
genealogical sense at all, being in the same position as the Macgillivrays and
other adherents. Besides, the Macphersons are unknown till 1594 Shaw, the
historian of Moray, could not give them a genealogy ; and the genealogy in
Douglas' Baronage is an audacious manufacture. It is usual to regard the Clan
Chattan as coming from Lochaber, but MS. 1450, which, by the way, identifies
the Mackintoshes with Clan Chattan, points rather to a Moray connection,
and possibly a relationship, as far as Mackintosh is concerned, with the
family of Macbeth— the Mormaors of Moray. Skene's identification of Tead
(Head in 1837) of that genealogy with Heth of Moray is impossible, if the
name is Tead, and unlikely anyway. MS. 1450 has two genealogies of Clan
Chattan. The first one is undoubtedly the Mackintosh genealogy, or an
attempt at it. The second genealogy is quite a puzzle, for it does not agree
in any way with the Macpherson genealogy. Both end in Gillicatan,
significantly 14 generations back, which would place that worthy about the
year 1000. Skene forces the second genealogy on the Macphersons, who
don't want it I They have one of their own already !
Page 287. The Battle at the North Inch of Perth. The clans who
fought at Perth in 1396 were the Clan Shaw (Clann Headh) or Mackintosh,
and a clan called Quhele. We do not exactly know what this clan was ; it is
mentioned in 1587. It must have possessed the uplands of Badenoch ;^but