Clan Buchanan

[leenie]

I recently found out that part of my family are a sept of Clan Buchanan. I know nothing about joining a clan or registering with one. If anyone is a part of Clan Buchanan , I would appreciate hearing from you. If anyone else can give advice..ahead of time...thanks.

[Himself]

If memory servers me correctly, the Buchanans are a conglomerate of many families under the same banner. Many of the 'broken' clans, small clans and individuals merged together under one title. This is a common practice, people taking on the name of another when joining into it. Also, Census' following 1746 may well have bundled families together under the local Lairds name for administrative ease. I would imagine this to be a tough piece of geneology and may not get you too far back.

Good luck, though.

[UlsterScotNutt]

leenieww,

Try these sites:

http://www.buchanansociety.com/
http://www15.pair.com/buchanan/clan.htm
http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/a...oc/buchana.html

[leenie]

I have come up with a lot of history on the Clan Buchanan...so I will add it here a piece at a time... "Clarinch" the battle cry of the Buchanans, comes from the name of the small island in Loch Lomond, along whose eastern shore the clan's lands originally clustered.
According to tradition these lands came into the possession of the Buchanans as a result of a grant from the Earl of Lennox in the year 1225 to one Absalom. He is thought to have been a priest, as the name Buchanan is derived from the Gaelic "buth channain" meaning "the house of the canon".
Towards the end of the same century in 1282, a later Earl of Lennox granted a charter confirming Morris Buchanan as a chief of the clan and also his baronial rights to the lands on the shores of Scotland's largest inland loch. The power and wealth of the Buchanans increased and clan possessions soon spread to the east and to the north of the famous loch across what became known as Stirlingshire.

[leenie]

By the start of the 14th century the chief of the Buchanans was active in the fight to establish Scotland as an independent country and in 1314 he supported King Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn and helped him bring victory over King Edward II and his English troops.
In turn the Buchanans' backing for the Bruce was rewarded with royal favours and the family flourished throughout the remainder of the century.
As one of Scotland's most important nobles, Sir Alexander Buchanan traveled to France in the year 1421 along with other leading Scottish lords to lend their support to the French, in the best traditions of the famous Auld Alliance, in the fight against the common enemy, the English.
In the battle of Beauge in Normandy against the army of King Henry V, Alexander Buchanan showed outstanding courage and succeeded in slaying the English Duke of Clarence. As he rode off in triunph he raised high Clarence's ducal cap, which is to this day depicted atop the Buchanan family crest.

[leenie]

Alexander's successor, Sir William Buchanan, married the only daughter of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, third son of King Robert II. The duke had been regent during the minority of King James I. When he died in 1420 the role of regent passed to his only son, a man whose conduct and lawlessness made him deeply unpopular. After the young king came to power in his own right, this regent Buchanan was executed by beheading in 1425. Thus his heirs lost all rights and became disinherited. The unusual black fleur de lis in the Buchanan coat of arms is said to bemourn this loss of status.
Despite being deprived of this royal connection the Buchanans continued to exert much influence over their Stirlingshire territories and the members of the branch of the family who lived at Arnprior near Scotland's lake, the Lake of Menteith, were so powerful and influential that they earned for themselves the title of the Kings of Kippen, a name derived from the nearest town.

[leenie]

It was at their thick, grey, stone-walled,fortified tower house or keep at Arnprior that the Buchanans enjoyed a royal visit, the details of which have become part of the lore of the family, because of its unusual nature. In the middle of the 15th century, King James V became known as a monarch much in touch with his royal subjects and the way in which he got to know so much about the life of the common people was by he himself traveling incognito as a commoner.
On these sometimes dangerous journeys he always used the same nickname of the Guid Man O' Ballengeich. One dark stormy night, knowing that the Buchanans were famed for keeping a good table, King Jamie decided to spend the night in the shelter of their home and arrived unannounced at the door of the keep at Arnprior. Annoyed at being disturbed on such a miserably nasty, wet night His Majesty received the surliest of welcomes from the servant who answered the door. The servant was however, at last persuaded to bear the news upstairs to his master in the hall above where he announced that the Guid Man O' Ballengeich had come to call

[leenie]

When he heard the name of ballengeich, Buchanan immediately recognized it and realised that he and his family had been honoured by a royal visit. Sweeping the servant aside he dashed down the twisting, spiral, turnpike stairs to usher the King up to the warmth of the hall, where the generous and very genuine hospitality soon made up for the dourness of the original welcome.

[leenie]

The Buchanans loyal support for the Scottish royal family continued throughout the 16th century and in 1547 it cost the clan chief his life when he was killed fighting against the English invaders at the Battle of Pinkie at Musselburgh in 1547. It was shortly after this that one of the most famous members of the clan, George Buchanan made his name first as an advisor to Mary Queen of Scots and later as tutor to her only son James, the future King James VI, who later by the Union of the Crowns in the year 1603 also became James I of England.

[leenie]

More remarkable for its antiquity than its opulence, is how George Buchanan described the family into which he was born in 1506. He was born very much in the heart of the clan lands near Killearn in Stirlingshire and despite his parents lack of wealth received a good basic education.

[Harlot]

I just received this months Scotland Magazine and there is an article about The Clan Buchanan. I remembered that you had a post so now I am off to read about it.

[leenie]

This he built upon thanks to the generosity of one of his Buchanan uncles who paid for him to study first at university in Paris and later back in Scotland at the University of St. Andrews, where he studied philosophy.