SEAT OF THE . . .
The earliest seat of the McClintock family seems to have been on Loch Awe in the ancient district of Lorne. Early records indicate they held estates which included a manor house near Lock Awe in present day Argyle County. A branch of the family also held territory directly west of Loch Lomond, in the parish of Old or West Kilpatrick that was known as the Lands of Luss. The Luss territories were held by royal charter after the feudal system was established, by the Earls of Lennox who took their surname Luss from the name of their lands. The Luss family had held this land by the "right of the sword" long before recorded history, and after feudalism, by Royal Charter from King Alexander II, at the beginning of the thirteenth century as the Earls of Lennox. The title "earl" was accorded to relatives of the King or to those who were heirs of former local Kings. It was the highest rank in early Scotland. There were only thirteen earldoms altogether in this country.
The McClintock's became septs of the Clan Colquhoun during the reign of King David Bruce (1329-1370), the son of Robert Bruce. In the year 1368, Sir Robert Colquhoun (pronounced Cohoon) married the "Fair Maid of Luss", the heiress and oldest daughter of Godfrey de Luss, Earl of Lennox and chief of the ancient Luss family, and acquired the land that was her inheritance. It was an old Scots custom to call an heiress the maid of her inheritance, hence the term the "Fair Maid of Luss".
Godfrey de Luss was the sixth descendant, in a direct male line from Maelduin of Lennox who had received the Luss land from Alwyn the second Earl of Lennox who had received the charter signed by King Alexander II. The Earls of Lennox had held this land for more than seven hundrred years prior to 1368. They were a sacred family, Celtic priests and hereditary guardians of the cozier of St. Kessog; the martyr who lived in Glen Luss or on Inchtavannach, the monk's isle, in Loch Lomond. It is possible that they were also related to the saint himself, as was often the case with hereditary guardians of saintly relics in the old Celtic Church.
The place name "Luss', given to the lands, is derived from a word meaning the bounds of a sanctuary. King Robert Bruce confirmed by royal charter that all the ground within a "girth" of three miles around the church of Luss (which still stands today) was a holy place of refuge.
The McClintock's, most probably were related to the Luss family, and had also lived on these lands for centuries. When the "Fair Maid of Luss" married the Colquhoun Chief in 1368 her tenants became septs of the Clan Colquhoun.
In Scotland, as elswhere feudalism was imposed by the Crown. The land was now held under contract with the king instead of by tribal custom. The maximum degree of security in the ownership of the land was given by Royal Charter as the King now owned the land. Even after the rise of the fuedal system, many inter-clan battles were fought over land. Disputes over territorial boundaries were settled by combat. Some large Clans were even powerfu enough to defy the Kings army. The feudal system was never completely enforced in the Scottish Highlands, as the terrain and weather made pure military enforcement impossible. Clans such as the McGregors refused to acknowledge the sheep skin charters of the King. The law of the sword was the only law recognized here until the 18th century.
The
feudal rule of primogeniture permitted succession through an heiress as well as an heir to
the ownership of land. The "Fair Maid of Luss" passed her lands to
the Clan Colquhoun by her marriage to the clan chief who became known thereafter as
"Colquhoun of Luss".
Scottish
Crest & Clan Badge
Colquhoun of Luss
MOTTO: If I can.
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