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The
Donachad, Dunchad (Duncans) descends from King
Malcolm II who reigned from 1005 to 1034 and was
the last king in the direct male line to descend
from Kenneth MacAlpine, who united the Scots and
Picts in 843 A.D. and is considered the founder
of Scotland. One of Malcolm's three daughters,
Bethoc, married Crinan, the secular hereditary
Abbot of Dunkeld. Through her, the Abbot's son
was installed by Malcolm as the King of Cumbria
in 1018. After Malcolm II's murder by his nobles
at Glamis, Duncan killed his opponents and
seized the throne as King Duncan I. His first
cousins, Macbeth (of Shakespearean fame) and
Thorfinn the Raven Feeder, Norwegian Earl of
Orkney, united to advance MacBeth's claim to the
throne through his mother, another daughter of
Malcolm II. Duncan reigned from 1034 until he
was defeated in battle by their combined armies
and killed by Macbeth in August 1040 at Elgin. Scotland
was then ruled by Thorfinn in the northern
districts and Macbeth in the southern districts.
Malcolm, Duncan's eldest son, rebelled
twice against MacBeth in an effort to gain the
throne. His grandfather, Crinan, was slain in
1045 near Dunkeld "with nine times twenty
heroes" as he led an aborted attempt to put his
grandson on the throne. The second attempt was
more successful as Malcolm, at the head of an
English Saxon army defeated and killed MacBeth
while his Norwegian allies were engaged
elsewhere and Malcolm ascended the throne in
1057 as King Malcolm III Ceann Mor (Canmore).
In
1068, Malcolm took as his second wife, Margaret,
later known and revered as St. Margaret of
Scotland.
She had fled England with her brother Edgar
Aetheling after the Norman Conquest. During his
37 year reign, the first events now known as
Highland Games were held on the Braes of Mar to
choose the best available men to serve as his
servants and soldiers. His death in battle in
December 1093 and the death of his wife, several
days later brought on a turbulent time which saw
Malcolm's eldest son, King Duncan II murdered by
Malcolm's brother Donald Bane, Lord of the
Isles, in order to become king. Another son,
Edgar, finally secured the throne in 1097 with
the help of another English army of Saxons and
Normans led by his mother's brother, Edgar
Aetheling. King Malcolm III's hereditary
possessions devolved on his youngest brother,
Maelmare, the first celtic Earl of Atholl and on
his death, the earldom passed to Malcolm III's
namesake, the second son of his first marriage.
This Malcolm, the younger brother of the slain
King Duncan II is the recognised progenitor of
the Clan.
As
stated by the eminent historian, William F.
Skene in 1837, "the Robertsons of Struan are one
of the oldest families in Scotland, being a
branch of that Royal House of Atholl which
occupied the throne of Scotland during the 11th
and 12th centuries." The male line of this royal
house ended in 1286 with the untimely death of
Alexander III when he fell from his horse. On
the death of Alexander III's daughter Margaret,
the "Maid of Norway", Scotland was plunged into
the famous wars of succession to determine who
would be the next King of the Scots. The
claimants to the throne, the houses of Balliol
and Bruce, who in turn became rulers of
Scotland,
were of Norman origin in the male line, though
they descended on the female side from the
ancient Atholl dynasty. England,
led by King Edward I, supported John Balliol. By
1306, Robert the Bruce had been crowned King of
Scots at Scone and the War of Independence from
the English continued while at the same time he
continued to consolidate his hold on the throne
among rival Scots claimants.
The
Clan's first recognised Chief was Donnachadh
Reamhair, or "Stout Duncan", who led the clan
and supported Bruce during the wars of Scottish
independence which culminated in Bruce's famous
victory at Bannockburn on June 24, 1314 over
Edward II's army. The most precious clan relic,
the celebrated rock crystal charm stone of the
clan, the "Clach na Brataich" or "ensign stone",
was unearthed when the chief's standard pole was
pulled from the ground while on the march to
Bannockburn. It has been carried by all chiefs
since then when leading the clan to battle.
Stout Duncan had four sons. The three younger
sons: Patrick, Thomas and Gibbon, were outlawed
by King Robert III for their part in leading the
daring "Raid of Angus" in 1392 which garnered
3,000 head of fat Angus cattle, laid waste the
district of Angus and resulted in the death of
the Sheriff of Angus and a host of his followers
who had pursued the clan back to Atholl. The
eldest son, Robert, became the second Chief in
1355 and died sometime after 1392. Duncan, his
eldest son and third Chief, spend some time as a
hostage in England
for the ransom of King James I and died sometime
before 1432. He was known as the Lord of
Rannoch, as all the other lands in Rannoch were
in the hands of the Crown.
His
eldest son, Robert Ruabh Duncanson, fourth
Chief, was a strong supporter of King James I
and was incensed by his murder. He tracked down
and captured the regicides, Sir Robert Graham
and the Master of Atholl hiding in a small glen
and turned them over to the Crown. They were
drawn and quartered at Sterling Castle.
The
Robertson crest badge of a right hand holding an
imperial crown was awarded by King James II to
the fourth Chief, on August 15, 1451 as a reward
for capturing the assassins of King James I in
1437. It is from this Chief that his descendants
and many of his clan folk took the name
"Robert's sons" or Robertson.
This
is only one account of the early history of the
Duncans and up to this point, many would agree
with this early historical account. However if
we accept the above view, not all clans folk
followed their then chief and changed their
name, as did he, to that of Robertson; as
evidenced today by the number of individuals and
families around the world who retain the name of
Duncan and the various spellings
thereof. Rather than show allegiance to the
Chief of Clan Robertson (Donnachaidh) many
Duncans
have chosen to use the crest in a belt &
buckle (ship under sail) said to be that of Clan
Duncan, depicting Admiral
Adam Duncan of Camperdowns Crest, sadly
its neither. It is also interesting to
note that, almost as a departure from normal
heraldic practice, all grants of
arms in the name of Duncan do
not bear any resemblance to those arms of their
supposed chief who is a Robertson.
Could
it be that by wearing the clansman’s crest
badge, said to be that of Duncan, all be it a
contrived one, show that a very large proportion
of Duncans do
not wish to show allegiance to a Chief of a Clan
they do not regard as their own or follow a
Chief not of their own name?
Robertson
of Struan at present is (according to Burke’s
Landed Gentry of Scotland) the 24th
Chief of Clan Robertson and the 28th
Chief of Clan Donnachaidh and there can be no
doubt that his genealogy links him to both but,
to be Chief of Robertson’s is one thing, to be
Chief over the name ‘Duncan’, a name he and his
immediate family abandoned over 450 years ago is
quite another. To expect those who today retain
the name of ‘Duncan’ to wear the Crest Belt and
Buckle of the Robertson Clan is, to some quite
unpalatable. Follow this link for more
information on the Duncan
-Donnachaidh -Robertson, Scenario
One
of the purposes of ‘The Clan Duncan Society’ is
to reunite the Duncans once again as an
independent Clan and in time present the Lord
Lyon King of Arms of Scotland with their own
proposed Chief of Clan Duncan. The
regulations laid down to achieve this goal
are stiff but, “It can be done” and “Has been
done” by others. First and foremost however, we
must unite!
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