Gregor of the Golden Bridles [16822]

  General Notes:

The Clan MacGregor held lands in Glenstrae, Glenlochy and Glenorchy. Sir Ian Moncrieffe believed that they were descended from the ancient Celtic royal family through the hereditary Abbots of Glendochart, a descent which may be proclaimed in the motto "Royal is my Race". There is no evidence to support the tradition that Gregor was the son of Kenneth Macalpin. He may have been a Griogair, son of Dungal, who is said to have been a co-ruler of Alba, the kingdom north of Central Scotland between AD 879 and 889. Most modern historians agree that the first certain chief was Gregor of the Golden Bridles. Gregor's son, Iain Camm, One-eye, succeeded as the second chief sometime prior to 1390.

Robert the Bruce granted the barony of Loch Awe, which included much of the Macgregor lands, to the Chief of the Campbells. In common with many royal gifts of the time, it was left to the recipient to work out how he would take possession of it. The Campbells harried the Macgregors who were forced to retire deeper into their lands until they were largely restricted to Glenstrae.

Ian of Glenstrae. the second of his house to be called "The Black" died in 1519 with no direct heirs. The Campbells supported the succession of Eian. Eian's son, Alistair, fought the English at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547 but died shortly after.

John Drummond, the King's Forester, was murdered after hanging some MacGregors for poaching. The Chief took responsibility for the act and was condemned by the Privy Council. In April 1603 James IV issued an edict proclaiming the name MacGregor abolished, meaning that those who bore the name must renounce it or suffer death. MacGregor along with 11 of his chieftains were hanged at Edinburghs Mercat Cross in January 1604.

Clan MacGregor was scattered, many taking other names such as:
Black
Bowers
Bowmaker
Brewer
Caird
Campbell
Comrie
Dochart
Docharty
Gregorson
Gregory
Grieg
Grewer
Grier
Griesck
McGhee
Murray
Grant
Skinner
Nish
Malloch
White
Petrie
others.

Neighboring Chiefs hunted them down and the cruelty intensified over the next several decades. There was an attempt to move the women and children to the lowlands. MacGregor wives were sometimes branded on the face. The possession of weapons was prohibited and only four clansmen were permitted to gather at any one time.

Despite their savage treatment, the MacGregors fought for the King during the Civil War. Rob Roy MacGregor, born in 1671, a younger son of MacGregor of Glengyle, was forced to assume his mother's name of Campbell. His adventures have been immortalized by Sir Walter Scott. The persecution of Clan MacGregor ended in 1774 when laws against them were repealed.

Gregor married.