Clan Campbell, politically (and in every other way), was the most successful clan in Scottish history. With that, it has not survived the turning of time’s wheel without a share of its own dark days and disasters. The Campbells of Argyll represent one of the most successful arms of the Clan. However, even they struck hard times due to political and religious regime change. As with all the clans of Scotland, it was often the chosen allegiance to Kings and their religious leanings that made or broke its fortune, as we shall see.
The Campbells were known as “hard nosed” and “blood thirsty”. They were lawyers, “Lords of the Halls”, and “crooked”, according to legend.
Origin of Campbell Name
The Campbell name, it is said, was derived from the Gaelic for ‘wry mouth’ or even ‘crooked mouth’. This may be due to an ancestor having a physical abnormality. Before this nickname stuck, Clan Campbell was known as Clan Dairmid.
The Campbell name rose to prominence towards the end of the 1200s, when Cailean Mór Caimbeul, famous warrior, was active. Cailean Mór was allegedly a cousin of Robert the Bruce and took part in The Great Cause, a scuffle for the throne of Scotland between the Bruce and John Balliol which had the unfortunate consequence of providing leverage for Edward I of England (the Hammer of the Scots) to assume over lordship of Scotland. This turn of events led to the Scottish Wars of Independence as Robert the Bruce fought to win back his crown.
The legendary and edifying history of Cailean Mór has resulted in each successive chief of the Campbell Clan taking this name and styling himself MacCailean Mór, (to mean ‘a son of’ Cailean Mór). This famous Scottish warrior was knighted by Robert The Bruce in 1280 and his son, Neil, was given lands in Loch Awe, and Argyll. This is also where the Campbells established their power base for the next seven hundred years.
https://www.highlandtitles.com/blog/clans-scotland-campbell/
Clan Feuds: Campbell and MacDonald
One of the Scottish clans who hated Campbell’s turn of fortune most was Clan Donald. They are now better known as MacDonald. In the thicker mists of history Clan Donald had been the most powerful clan in the Western Highlands. Descended from Viking kings and known as the “Lords of the Isles”, they commanded the Hebrides and much of the West coast of Scotland. But after 1493, when King James IV forfeited MacDonald lands, their fortunes declined rapidly just as those of Clan Campbell, with royal blessing, were steadily rising (The first Earldom of Argyll had been created in 1457). This must have been more than irksome, because it has led to one of the longest and most famous tribal feuds in world history.
Where it began (as Neil Diamond sings) we can’t begin to know it. But we do know some of the bloodier episodes, and they began long before the Massacre at Glencoe. Clan rivalries fulminated in the 16th century, but the 17th century was a particularly bloody period for the Campbells and the MacDonalds.
Under the auspices of the English Civil War, which spread into Scotland, clan feuding could dress itself in the livery of state sanctioned violence, but the struggle between Covenanters (roundheads) and Royalists (cavaliers) wasn’t the only motivation for the clans of Scotland. Upset over losing their land, the MacDonalds, along with other neighbouring clans, made an agreement to bring down the Campbells. At the time the Campbell chief, Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll was, believe it or not, NOT a royalist! He was committed to the roundhead cause.
The MacDonalds sided with the Royalists, along with other anti-Campbell Clans. Together they fought under James Graham, Marquess of Montrose. But be under no illusions, it wasn’t the Royalist cause so much as Campbell blood the highland troops were after. Written by: Stewart Borland, 5th November 2015
Clan Campbell Genealogy 