Clan MacQueen

Clan Macqueen is a Scottish clan. The clan does not have a chief recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. Because of this, the clan is considered an armigerous clan, and as such Clan Macqueen has no standing under Scots Law. The clan may be originally of Hebridean origin, and was associated with the Macdonalds. In the 15th century several Macqueens settled in lands controlled by Clan Chattan. Since than many Macqueens have lived in the north-east of Scotland. These Macqueens were followers of Clan Chattan, and were known as Clan Revan. The leading family of these Macqueens were the Macqueens of Corrybrough. Sometime in the 18th century the leading family suffered financial difficulties and lost its lands of Corrybrough.

Origin of the name

The surname "Macqueen" is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic "Mac Shuibhne" meaning "son of "Suibhne". The Gaelic "Suibhne" was a byname meaning "pleasant", it was also used as Gaelic equivalent to the Old Norse byname "Sveinn" meaning "boy".cite web |url=http://www.ancestry.com/facts/McQueen-family-history.ashx |title=McQueen Name Meaning and History |accessdate=2008-09-21 |work=Ancestry.com (Ancestry.com) ] cite web |url=http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Swain-family-history.ashx |title=Swain Name Meaning and History |accessdate=2008-09-21 |work=Ancestry.com (Ancestry.com) ]

History of the clan

During the 15th century the Macqueens were followers of the Macdonalds of Clanranald. During this era the tenth chief of Clan Mackintosh, Malcolm Beg Mackintosh, married Mora Macdonald of Moidart. When the Macdonald bride travelled from Macdonald lands to Mackintosh lands she was accompanied by her kinsman including Revan Mac Mulmor Mac Angus Macqueen. His descendants settled in the Strathearn area, aquiring the lands of Corrybrough, and became members of the Clan Chattan Confederacy. The Macqueens were subsequently known as Clan Revan.

The principal family of the Macqueens of "Clan Revan" were the Lairds of Corrybrough. [http://www.clanfinder.abx2.com/tartangenerator/clan_information.asp?clanCode=259 clanfinder] ] On April 4 1609 Donald Macqueen of Corrybrough signed a bond of manrent with several other chiefs of clans which composed of Clan Chattan, where they bound themselves to support Angus Mackintosh of that ilk as their captain and leader. [ (????) "The Scottish Clans And Their Tartans: With Notes"]

Cadet branches of the Macqueens Corrybrough occupied lands in the valley of Findhorn in . The lands of Corrybrough seem to have passed from the Macqueens in the last half of the 18th century.Adam; Innes of Learney [1934] (2004), p. 103.] Following financial difficulties the chiefly line is thought to have emigrated from Scotland to New Zealand.

Modern clan symbolism

Today members of Scottish clans show their clan allegiance by wearing Scottish crest badges, clan tartans and sometimes clan badges (plant badges). The crest badge suitable for members of Clan Macqueen contains the heraldic crest of "an heraldic tyger rampant Ermine holding an arrow, point downwards Argent pheoned Gules". The heraldic motto that appears upon the crest badge is CONSTANT AND FAITHFUL.cite web |url=http://www.myclan.com/clans/MacQueen_260/default.php |title=MacQueen |accessdate=2008-09-06 |work=MyClan (Myclan.com) |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070319212559/www.myclan.com/clans/MacQueen_260/default.php |archivedate=2007-03-19] Another badge sometimes used by clan members is a clan badge (or plant badge). Several different clan badges have been attributed to various Macqueens. The Macqueens associated with Clan Chattan are attributed boxwood and red whortleberry as a clan badge. Many other Scottish clans which are closely associated with Clan Chattan have been attributed the same plants. The Macqueens of Skye, on the other hand, have common heath attributed as their clan badge. Common heath is the clan badge of many of the clans associated with Clan Donald. [Adam; Innes of Learney (1970), pp. 541–543]

The Macqueen tartan was first published in 1842, in the "Vestiarium Scoticum". The "Vestiarium" was the work of the dubious "Sobieski Stuarts" and is today considered a Victorian era hoax. The tartan is supposedly that of Clan Revan, being named after Revan MacMulmor MacAngus MacQueen who led a Macdonald bride to be married to a chief of Clan Mackintosh. The Scottish Tartans World Register (STWR) notes that the Macqueen tartan is similar to the Fraser and Gunn tartans, which both have four bold stripes. However, the STWR considers it to be a combination of the Macdonald and Mackintosh tartans.cite web|url=http://www.scottish-tartans-world-register.com/tartan.aspx?record=1209 |title=Tartan - MacQueen |accessdate=2008-09-22|work=Scottish Tartans World Register (scottish-tartans-world-register.com) ] The tartan scholar D. C. Stewart noted that the Macqueen tartan is the reverse of the MacKeane tartan, possibly because of the two similar sounding names, even though both names have a different history.Stewart (1974), p. 49.]

See also

*Clan Chattan

Notes

References

*cite book|title=The Scottish Clans And Their Tartans: With Notes|url=http://www.archive.org/details/scottishclansand00edin|publisher=W. & A. K. Johnston|date=????|location=Edinburgh|edition=Library Edition
*cite book|author=Adam, Frank; Innes of Learney, Thomas|title=The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands 1934 |origyear=1934 |date=2004 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |isbn=1417980761
*cite book|author=Adam, Frank; Innes of Learney, Thomas|title=The Clans, Septs & Regiments of the Scottish Highlands|edition=8th edition|date=1970|publisher=Johnston and Bacon|location=Edinburgh
*cite book|last=Stewart|first=Donald Calder|title=The Setts of the Scottish Tartans, with descriptive and historical notes|year=1974|publisher=Shepheard-Walwyn Publishers|location=London|isbn=0 85603 011 9|edition=2nd revised edition