Clan MacLellan

The name MacLellan is derived from Mac-a-ghille-dhiolan[1] which means son of the bastard, and appears originally in the 1273 charter for Sweetheart Abbey as McGillolane.[6] The leadership of the clan can be traced back to Cane McGillolane, a knight in the service of John Balliol in the later thirteenth century. Cane was the son of Thomas of Galloway,[7][8] who was the illegitimate son of Alan of Galloway. Cane's son, Donald Mac Cane (The Lord Donald) resided on Threave Island[9] until he was removed by Edward Bruce. Donald was then replaced with the new Lord of Galloway, the Black Douglas, igniting a feud that lasted for well over a century. Threave Island was a residence for the prior Lords of Galloway, including Fergus and Cane's grandfather, Alan.[10] Donald's son, Gillebertus MacLelan Galvediensis[11] was Captain of Clenconnan[12] and was Bishop of Sodor and Man.[3] Lord Gilbert's brother was Cuthbert of Galloway.[13][14]

During the Wars of Scottish Independence, McGillolanes backed their cousin John Balliol. In 1305, Patrick M'Lolan was recorded capturing Dumfries Castle from The Bruce. After Balliol was deposed at the hands of Edward I, MacLellans still opposed Bruce, helping to re-capture Dumfries Castle following the murder of the rival claimant Sir John Comyn.[15] With Balliol ascended to the throne of Scotland, M'Lolanes could take their rightful place as Lords of Galloway. Under Bruce, that title would fall to Douglas.

After maintaining forlorn support for the house of Baliol into the mid-fourteenth century, the MacLellans were ushered back into service of the Scottish crown under David II. So successful was their reintegration that during the early 15th century there were reputedly no fewer than fourteen knights in Galloway of the name MacLellan.[2] One of these, Sir Alexander MacLellan was cited by the sixteenth-century historian David Hume of Godscroft (drawing on the monastic Book of Pluscarden) as the Scotsman who slew the duke of Clarence while fighting in French service at the Battle of Baugé in 1421. In 1451, The Tutor of Bomby,[16] Sir Patrick Maclellan, Sheriff of Galloway clashed repeatedly with William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas over outbreaks of lawlessness committed by the earl's retainers. These conflicts culminated when MacLellan rejected Douglas's appeal to join an aristocratic conspiracy against King James II. Douglas captured the sheriff and imprisoned him in Threave Castle. MacLellan's uncle, Sir Andrew Gray of Foulis held high royal office and sent his son, Sir Patrick Gray, into Galloway, with letters from the crown ordering Douglas to release his prisoner. However, Douglas had MacLellan murdered when presented with the royal warrant, whilst he entertained his guest at dinner.[2] Patrick Gray escaped from the castle, and his vow of revenge was realized in brutal form when he stood at the forefront of the loyalist nobles who assassinated the earl of Douglas in front of the king at Stirling in February 1452. Local tradition holds that the MacLellans themselves used the celebrated Scottish cannon Mons Meg to batter down Threave Castle in retribution for the murder of their chief.[2] The MacLellan's use of the Mons-Meg cannon against Douglas became symbolized in an additional crest with A Mortar-Piece and the motto Superba frango which translates to I humble proud things.[17]

As the feud escalated n the following generation, the MacLellan estates were forfeited after repeated raids on the Kirkcudbrightshire lands of the Clan Douglas.[2] However, James II restored the family to their lands when Sir William MacLellan, son of Sir Patrick captured the leader of a band of gypsies who had been terrorizing the district.[2] William carried the head of the brigand to the king on the point of his sword.[2] The story is one explanation for the MacLellan clan crest, however a Moors' head has also been considered as an allusion to the Crusades[2] or potentially connected to the similar, prior Lords of Bomby's crest, The Adairs. These events established the MacLellans as a bastion of support for the Stewart crown in a region prone to lawlessness and aristocratic powerplay. Their affiliation was confirmed in 1488 when Sir Thomas MacLellan supported James III against the rebellion that ended in the death of the king after the Battle of Sauchieburn. With most of the magnates of the south-west and the borders fighting in support of the insurrection, MacLellan's residence was burned to the ground after the monarch's defeat.[18]

The family suffered severely during the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the reigns of James IV and James V. Sir William Maclellan of Bombie was knighted by King James IV of Scotland but was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513 fighting for the king.[19][2] William's son, Thomas, was killed in Edinburgh at the door of St Giles' Cathedral by Gordon of Lochinvar in 1526.[2] Thomas's younger brother, William Maclellan of Nunton presided over the family as Tutor of Bombie while Thomas's son was in infancy, and mobilised the successful defence of Kirkcudbright against English besiegers in 1547. The younger Thomas Maclellan was killed in the same year at the Battle of Pinkie. In the following generation, Sir Thomas Maclellan of Bombie fought for Mary, Queen of Scots at the Battle of Langside, and prospered subsequently under her son James VI.[20] He served as Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the king, and as provost of Kirkcudbright, constructing MacLellan's Castle as a fashionable gentleman's residence overseeing the town.

Sir Robert MacLellan, was a courtier both to James VI and Charles I.[2] In 1633 he was raised to the peerage as Lord Kirkcudbright.[2] During the Scottish Civil War the third Lord was such a zealous royalist that he incurred enormous debts in the king’s cause.[2] As a result, the estates were completely ruined.[2]

There were two claimants to the chief's title at the beginning of the 18th century and the dispute was finally settled by the House of Lords in 1761.[2] However, the title became dormant again when the tenth Lord died in Bruges in 1832.[2]