Macfarlane

The Macfarlanes are descended from Alwyn, Celtic Earl of Lennox, whose younger son, Gilchrist, received lands at Arrochar on the shores of Loch Long at the end of the twelfth century. Gilchrist’s grandson, Malduin, sheltered Robert the Bruce when his fortunes were at a low ebb and he was forced to flee through Loch Lomondside to reach the safety of the west Highlands. The Macfarlanes also fought at Bannockburn in 1314. Malduin’s son, Parlan, provided the chief’s patronymic, and Iain Macpharlain received a charter of confirmation to Arrochar in 1420. Duncan, the last Celtic Earl of Lennox, was executed by James I, and although the Macfarlanes had a valid claim to the earldom, the title was given by the Crown to John Stewart, Lord Darnley. The Macfarlanes sought to oppose the Stewarts but they proved too powerful and Andrew Macfarlane, the tenth chief, married a younger daughter of Lord Darnley, cementing a new alliance. Thereafter the Macfarlanes followed the new Earls of Lennox in most of the major conflicts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The eleventh chief and many of his clansmen fell at Flodden in 1513. When the Earl of Lennox threw in his lot with Henry VII of England, the clan followed him, capturing Bute and Arran, but they met with stout resistance at the royal castle of Dumbarton. The Macfarlanes later opposed the invading English at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547 where Duncan, the thirteenth chief, and his brother were both killed. After the murder of Lord Darnley, Mary, Queen of Scots’ second husband, the Macfarlanes opposed the queen and were noted for their gallantry at the Battle of Langside in 1568. Andrew, the fourteenth chief, is said to have captured no less than three of the queen’s standards, earning the personal praise of the Regent Moray. The clan’s crest and motto alludes to the defence of the Crown of the infant James VI which was secured at Langside. Their loyalty to the Stuarts brought Macfarlane swords to the aid of the Marquess of Montrose when Walter Macfarlane, the sixteenth chief, declared for Charles I. They fought at Montrose’s great victory at Inverlochy in 1645. When Oliver Cromwell succeeded in conquering Scotland, adding it to the Commonwealth, the Macfarlane seat at Inveruglas was burned to the ground. Despite their attachment to the Stuarts they could not support James VII, and the chief declared for Queen Mary and her husband, William of Orange, in 1688. The clan does not seem to have played any major part in the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745 which may have been because the twentieth chief, Walter Macfarlane, a noted antiquary and scholar, lived in Edinburgh for most of his life. The clan lands at Arrochar were sold off after Walter’s death in 1767, and the direct male line of the chiefs failed in 1886. There is presently no chief of the clan.