Campbells in Scotland (1)

CAMPBELL ANCESTORS IN ARGYLL

Dugald Campbell II is the 8th great-grandfather of James Alan Campbell

He was the last of the line to live and die in Scotland

Campbell Tree #1

Argyll is a county of about 100 miles in length north to south and slightly less in width. Including the inhabited islands, the coastline is over 1,000 miles in length.

Tradition holds that the first of the Campbell ancestors (still not yet called Campbell) who came into Argyll married Eva, daughter of Paul an Sporran and the heiress of the O'Duine tribe on northwestern Loch Awe.

This ancestor may well have first been established in Argyll as a follower of the Earl of the neighboring Lennox when Alexander II, king of Scots, marched into Argyll to ensure the loyalty of its people. Alexander is said by Fordun, a Medieval writer, to have visited Argyll in 1222, and this period for a Campbell ancestral arrival on Lochawe is supported by the Gaelic genealogies and later charters.

The first of the name Cambel (the original spelling) who can be found in the surviving records was one who owned lands near Stirling in 1263. The earliest written date for a Cambel in Argyll is that for Duncan Dubh, landowner in Kintyre in 1293. The first date which survives for the Cambels on Lochawe is that for the killing of Sir Cailean Mòr (Great Colin) of Lochawe in 1296 when he was attacked by men of the Clan Dougall on the Stringe of Lorne. His family had been long established on Lochawe and at that time at least two other Cambels owned land in Argyll; Sir Duncan Dubh and Sir Thomas in Kintyre.Sc

ORIGINS OF THE CAMPBELLS

Like most Europeans, the Scots are a blend of races: Neolithic survivors mixed with Celtic "Pict", Britonic Celt incomers, Celtic "Scots" invaders from Ireland, Viking and Norse raiders and settlers, Norman and Flemish knights and even some few Angles in the south. All these joined to add their genes to this sturdy race of people. Until cures for Scurvy (vitamin deficiency) and Smallpox were discovered in the 18th century, the people's hardiness was ensured by the survival of the fittest.

Like most Scots, all Campbells are a blend of races through maternal ancestry, although there were times from the 16th through the 18th centuries when, among some leading families in Argyll and Perthshire, they had grown so numerous as frequently to intermarry, intensifying their characteristics as a kin. Many also share the Scots Gaelic blood of the Dalriadic O'Duibne people whose heiress their ancestor married on Lochawe in the 13th century.

Their paternal ancestry is apparently from the Britonic Celts of Strathclyde, sometimes called the "Romano British" from the northwestern part of the early "Kingdom of Strathclyde".

The capital of Strathclyde was Al Cluit or DunBriton (now Dumbarton Rock) in the area known as the Lennox. According to legend, here in An Talla Dearg, the Red Hall of Dun Briton, was born the first ancestor of the Campbells who appears in all three of the early Gaelic genealogies; Smervie or Mervyn, son of an Arthur, who became known as "the Wildman of the Woods", perhaps being a notable hunter. If the legend is based upon a real character, he likely lived in the eleventh or twelfth century. However those names at that period can have absolutely no actual connection with the legendary Arthur, whose possible existence is said to have been many centuries earlier.

The name Campbell did not come into use until several generations later.

THE CAMPBELL NAME

It was Sir Cailean Mòr Campbell's grandfather Dugald on Lochawe who is said to have been the first given the nickname "Cam Beul" since he apparently had the engaging trait of talking out of one side of his mouth. Cam beul means "Curved Mouth" (or Wry-Mouth) in the Gaelic. This Dugald was so much loved by his family that they took his nickname as their family name and held to it even beyond Argyll.

The spelling of the surname (family name) was originally Cambel. Then when Robert the Bruce's son King David came to the throne as King of Scots he brought with him a number of Norman knights to whom he gave lands in an attempt to introduce Norman efficiency in administration. David had been at the English court and admired the Norman system of feudalism. The use of the spelling "Campbell" may perhaps have been as a result of Norman rather than Gaelic scribes attempting to write the Gaelic name.

The name Cambel was first used by the family in the 13th century. The first chief of the clan to appear on record as "Campbell" may well have been Sir Duncan of Lochawe when he was created Lord Campbell in 1445.

In November 2006, C. Randell Seale of the Clan Campbell Society (NA) proposed a new theory that the "Campbell" name had a medical origin. In part, he noted that Einar Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney (died 1020), was called Einar Wry-Mouth as was Bolesław III Wrymouth, Duke of Lesser Poland, Silesia and Sandomierz between 1102 and 1107 and over the whole Poland between 1107 and 1138. Surviving artwork of Einar of Orkney and Boleslaw of Poland indicate a similar facial curvature even though the two men are not directly related. The modern medical explanation for this facial curvature is a form of Torticollis (from the Latin torti, meaning twisted, and collis, meaning neck), or "wry neck". A condition in which the head is tilted toward one side (cervical rotation), and the chin (mouth) is elevated and turned toward the opposite side (cervical extension) thereby producing a "Cam beul" or curved mouth in some cases. "This explanation of naming Dugald as 'Wry Mouth' or 'Cam Beul' after his physical characteristic of a 'crooked mouth' is absolutely consistent with the Scottish Gaelic naming tradition of the time period; such as the Clan Cameron progenitor being named 'Cameron' for his 'crooked nose', or someone being named 'The Red' or 'The Fair' after their hair color or good looks." Seale explained.

THE CLAN CAMPBELL

Clan comes from the Gaelic word 'clann' (pron. 'clown') meaning 'children.' There came to be roughly three uses of the word 'clan': for the large clans like Clan Campbell, Clan Donald and Clan Gordon; for the smaller clans like Clan Callum or Clan Lachlan; for the sub-clans or name groups within the larger clans like Clan Tavish or Clan Arthur (the McTavishes of Dunardry and McArthurs of Tirevadich).

The idea of all members of a clan being of one name is a Victorian misconception. Clans begin to emerge as recognizable units in the 12th and 13th century. Initially the Chief and the Chief's close kin were the leaders of the clan while their followers were the local people who were their tenants or who looked to them for leadership in defense. So while the Clan Campbell were led by Campbells, until about the 18th century, many of their followers, and sometimes even they themselves often used patronymics or father's names.

Patronymics lie behind many modern Scottish family names, particularly those now beginning with the 'Mac' or 'Mc' prefix, meaning 'son of'. Further, in early records these sometimes appear with 'Vic', meaning 'grandson of'. For example Archibald MacDougall V'Gillespic (Gaelic for Archibald) was Archibald son of Dougall son of Archibald. Sometimes, such as in the 16th century, such names might even appear followed by 'alias Campbell'. In modern times families who were not of Campbell origin yet who had long given their allegiance to the Chief of the clan have come to be called "septs".

SCOTLAND & THE CAMPBELL CHIEFS

For four hundred and fifty years, from 1457 onwards, the Chiefs of Clan Campbell played leading roles in the government of Scotland and later of Great Britain. When Colin Campbell of Lochawe was made first Earl of Argyll in 1457 and then Chancellor of Scotland, until the Union of the Kingdoms of Scotland and England in 1707, the Argyll family and their numerous followers had always to be taken into account where Scottish affairs were concerned.

In the mid 16th century, the time of Elizabeth of England and Mary Queen of Scots, the fifth Earl of Argyll could bring a larger army to the field than that of either queen and he was the only noble in the British Isles to have his own artillery. In the mid 17th century the 8th Earl and Marquis of Argyll ruled Scotland for a time.

From 1701 and for the next two hundred years, the Dukes of Argyll were frequently involved in the government of Great Britain. In the first part of the eighteenth century the second Duke both commanded British armies and served in the Cabinet, while the third Duke, his heir, administered Scotland. The 8th Duke was a Cabinet Minister in the British government. In the second half of the nineteenth century Lord Lorne, heir to the 8th Duke, married Queen Victoria's daughter and was Governor General of Canada. Two Dukes have been Field Marshals and one a 4-star General.

Today most of the aristocratic families of Britain, including the Duke of Argyll, prefer to serve their country in commercial, cultural and charitable roles and in preserving the extraordinary heritage of their architectural and archival treasures through free enterprise for the public good.