Outlaws -- Fiction; Rob Roy, 1671-1734 -- Fiction; Scotland -- History -- 1689-1745 -- Fiction
occasion the destruction of him and his clan. This supposed homicide was
the ancestor of Rob Roy, and the tribe from which he was descended. He
lies buried at the church of Fortingal, where his sepulchre, covered with
a large stone,* is still shown, and where his great strength and courage
are the theme of many traditions.*
* Note A. The Grey Stone of MacGregor.
** Note B. Dugald Ciar Mhor.
MacGregor's brother was one of the very few of the tribe who was slain.
He was buried near the field of battle, and the place is marked by a rude
stone, called the Grey Stone of MacGregor.
Sir Humphrey Colquhoun, being well mounted, escaped for the time to the
castle of Banochar, or Benechra. It proved no sure defence, however, for
he was shortly after murdered in a vault of the castle,---the family
annals say by the MacGregors, though other accounts charge the deed upon
the MacFarlanes.
This battle of Glenfruin, and the severity which the victors exercised in
the pursuit, was reported to King James VI. in a manner the most
unfavourable to the clan Gregor, whose general character, being that of
lawless though brave men, could not much avail them in such a case. That
James might fully understand the extent of the slaughter, the widows of
the slain, to the number of eleven score, in deep mourning, riding upon
white palfreys, and each bearing her husband's bloody shirt on a spear,
appeared at Stirling, in presence of a monarch peculiarly accessible to
such sights of fear and sorrow, to demand vengeance for the death of
their husbands, upon those by whom they had been made desolate.
The remedy resorted to was at least as severe as the cruelties which it
was designed to punish. By an Act of the Privy Council, dated 3d April
1603, the name of MacGregor was expressly abolished, and those who had
hitherto borne it were commanded to change it for other surnames, the
pain of death being denounced against those who should call themselves
Gregor or MacGregor, the names of their fathers. Under the same penalty,
all who had been at the conflict of Glenfruin, or accessory to other
marauding parties charged in the act, were prohibited from carrying
weapons, except a pointless knife to eat their victuals. By a subsequent
act of Council, 24th June 1613, death was denounced against any persons
of the tribe formerly called MacGregor, who should presume to assemble in
greater numbers than four. Again, by an Act of Parliament, 1617, chap.
26, these laws were continued, and extended to the rising generation, in
respect that great numbers of the children of those against whom the acts
of Privy Council had been directed, were stated to be then approaching to
maturity, who, if permitted to resume the name of their parents, would
render the clan as strong as it was before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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