Lachlan Mor Maclean


Sir Lachlan Mór Maclean or Big Lachlan Maclean, was the 14th Clan Chief of Clan MacLean from late 1573 or early 1574 until 1598.
Mór or Mor translates as big in English, or magnus in Latin, when added to a name in Scottish Gaelic.

Life

He was born in 1558 to Eachuinn Og Maclean. Sir Lachlan became the 14th Maclean Clan Chief at the death of his father in 1573 or 1574.
"He was called 'Big Lachlan,' both on account of his stature and the greatness of his mind. He was the most accomplished and warlike chief that ever held sway in Duart. His military talents were of a very high order; his chivalrous character commanded the respect of his most inveterate foes, and his personal interest for and kindness toward his followers endeared him to his clansmen. So great were his qualities that historians have been forced to pay tribute to his memory."
In June 1588, he was charged with massacring 18 members of the MacDonald clan who attended the wedding party of his mother Jonet Campbell and his new stepfather John MacKane in April 1588 at Torloisk. John MacKane of Ardmurchin was imprisoned and tortured. Because he failed to appear to answer the charges, he was denounced as a rebel.
In September 1588 a ship from the Spanish Armada carrying 300 troops and silver plate for the use of noblemen was wrecked or run aground on the coast of Islay or Mull. Lachlan sent news of the ship to James VI at Stirling Castle. Lachlan became friends with the crew and borrowed two cannon and 100 soldiers to besiege the house of Angus MacAulay, leaving a hostage as a pledge. After this, a man called John Smallet set a fuse made of lint in the gunpowder store and blew the ship up. In October 1588 he gathered together a force against the MacDonalds and ClanRanald including 100 Spanish soldiers and invaded the Isles of Canna, Rùm, Eigg, and "Elennole", and besieged the castle of Ardnamurchan.
Maclean fought for James VI at the Battle of Glenlivet in October 1594 against the rebels Catholic earls of Huntly and Erroll. In August 1595 he wrote to the English ambassador in Edinburgh, Robert Bowes to thank him for the 1,000 French crowns Queen Elizabeth was sending him, and to discuss the recruitment of Scottish men to fight in Ireland against the Earl of Tyrone.
The Earl of Argyll brought him to the king at Inchmurrin on Loch Lomond in August 1596 and he was received in royal favour and went hawking with the king. He was forgiven of all his former alleged offences by James VI of Scotland in person at Holyrood Palace on 15 June 1596.

Marriage and children

He married Lady Margaret Cunningham of Glencairn, daughter of William Cunningham, 6th Earl of Glencairn. They had the following children:
He died on 5 August 1598 in the Battle of Traigh Ghruinneart on the Island of Islay. He was killed by the forces of Sir James MacDonald, 9th of Dunnyveg.
His remains were left on the battlefield. A day or two after the battle, it is said that two women, of whom different accounts are given — some calling them strangers, some clanswomen, some relations of the dead — grieving to think that the body of so notable a chief as Sir Lachlan Mor should be unburied and uncared for on the moorland, came from a distance in search of it. They hired a vehicle, the only one to be had in the neighborhood, and having found the corpse, proceeded to carry it to the nearest burying-grounds, about six miles distant. The way was rough, and the driver looking behind him saw the head of the great chief, which extended beyond the car, nodding to him at every jolt, as if it had life, and were giving him directions. At the next heavy rut he looked again to please his savage soul with ferocious enjoyment. But this time the elder female, who had watched him, acted as described in the ballad, and killed the brutal driver with the chieftain's dagger. Then, along with her companion, she brought the mortal remains of Sir Lachlan to the place where they still lie buried.
Sir Lachlan Mor MacLean was buried in the churchyard of Kilchoman on Islay, near the south wall of the church, and over his grave is laid a great stone. There is a churchyard, Kilnave, near the battle-field; but the body was taken to Kilchoman that it might be more honored, for he was buried inside the church, and when a new church was built there, around 1829, the wall was so constructed that the grave was left outside the church.

Legacy

The plaque that marks the spot where he died says: "This cairn indicates the spot where, on the 5th August, 1598, Sir Lachlan Mor Maclean of Duart fell in a desperate encounter with his nephew Sir James Macdonald of Knockrinsay. The battle of Traigh Ghruinneart is the best known incident in the feud between the Macleans and the Macdonalds for the Rinns "

Ancestors


Sir Lachlan Mor MacleanFather:
Eachuinn Og Maclean		Paternal Grandfather:
Eachuinn Mor Maclean		Paternal Great-Grandfather:
Lachlan Cattanach Maclean
Sir Lachlan Mor MacleanFather:
Eachuinn Og Maclean		Paternal Grandfather:
Eachuinn Mor Maclean		Paternal Great-grandmother:
Katherine, daughter of Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll
Sir Lachlan Mor MacleanFather:
Eachuinn Og Maclean		Paternal Grandmother:
Mary MacDonald of Islay and the Glens		Paternal Great-Grandfather:
Alexander MacDonald of Islay and the Glens
Sir Lachlan Mor MacleanFather:
Eachuinn Og Maclean		Paternal Grandmother:
Mary MacDonald of Islay and the Glens		Paternal Great-Grandmother:
Sir Lachlan Mor MacleanMother:
Janet Campbell of Argyll		Maternal Grandfather:
Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll		Maternal Great-Grandfather:
Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll
Sir Lachlan Mor MacleanMother:
Janet Campbell of Argyll		Maternal Grandfather:
Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll		Maternal Great-Grandmother:
Jean, daughter of Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly
Sir Lachlan Mor MacleanMother:
Janet Campbell of Argyll		Maternal Grandmother:
Maternal Great-grandfather:
Sir Lachlan Mor MacleanMother:
Janet Campbell of Argyll		Maternal Grandmother:
Maternal Great-Grandmother: