'S Rioghal mo Dhream. "My race is royal." That's the Clan MacGregor's motto. The MacGregors are only one of the Celtic families I descend from. There are many, but this is the most well known in my genealogy. So to honor my Celtic heritage I made this set.
Practically took me all day to get the html right. *sigh* I kept forgetting to add portions in the left column so I kept going back and redoing it. But finally it came together.
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But back to the MacGregors. I found a lot of background on them. Too much to put here, but here's a start:
The clan traces its ancestry and takes its name from Gregor, third son of Alpin, King of Scots in the latter part of the eighth century, and from Alpin himself it takes its alternative patronymic, Clan Alpin. Doungheal, the elder son of Gregor, was the first MacGregor, and handed on the name to his descendants, while his brother Guarai became the ancestor of the Clan MacQuary. In the early feudal centuries the clan possessed a wide stretch of territory across the middle Highlands, from Ben Cruachan to the neighbourhood of Fortingall in Glen Lyon, and as far south as the Pass of Balmaha on Loch Lomondside and the chain of lochs which runs eastward to Coilantogle ford in Menteith, not far from Callander. Throughout all the centuries of Highland history they were notable for their deeds of valour. When Alexander II. overthrew MacDonald of the Isles and conquered Argyll one of the leaders of the royal army was the MacGregor chief, as a vassal of the Earl of Ross, and as a reward he received a grant of the forfeited estate of Glenurchy. A later chief, Malcolm, who lived in the days of Robert the Bruce, supported that King and the cause of Scottish Independence with the whole might of his clan. He was among those who fought stoutly at Bannockburn, and afterwards he accompanied Edward Bruce in his invasion of Ireland. There, at the siege of Dundalk, he was severely wounded, and through that circumstance is remembered in the clan story as "am Mor� ear bacach" �the lame lord. Through that fact the MacGregor chiefs might have been expected, like others whose fortunes were built upon their support of the house of Bruce, to find their prosperity, go on like a rising tide. But this was not the case. The chiefs made the fatal mistake of adhering to the old order of things in the security by which they held their lands. Like the MacKays in the far north, they scorned the "sheepskin tenure" of feudalism, introduced by Malcolm Canmore and his sons. Taking their stand on their descent from the ancient Celtic kings, they kept to the old allodial system of independent ownership, and determined still to keep their possessions, as their fathers had done, by the coin a glaive, or right of the sword. As a result, throughout the feudal centuries, they, found themselves constantly engaged in brawls over the possession of territory for which they could show no title-deeds. Their endeavours to hold their own were looked upon as mere lawless disturbances of the peace, and again and again their more powerful neighbours found it profitable, first to stir them up to some warlike deed, then to procure a royal warrant for their extermination, and the appropriation of their territory.Chief among these enemies were the Campbells of Loch Awe, who, in the fifteenth century, became Earls of Argyll, and the collateral branch of the Campbells who, in later days have held the titles of earls and marquesses of Breadalbane. A notable incidence of the methods of these enemies of the MacGregors occurred in the fifteenth century, when Campbell of Loch Awe induced the MacNabs of Loch Tayside to pick a quarrel with the MacGregor chiefs. The two clans met in a bloody battle at Crianlarich, when the MacNabs were defeated and all but exterminated. Forthwith Campbell procured a commission from the King to punish both of the breakers of the peace, with the result that presently the MacGregors were forced to procure a cessation of hostilities by yielding up to Campbell a considerable part of their territory.
..:: Remembered�����E�����Occuring ::..
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