Clan Macnab

Clan Macnab is a Highland Scottish clan.

History

Origins of the clan

Traditional origins

The name Macnab is derived from the Scottish Gaelic Mac An Aba, which means child of the abbot. According to tradition the progenitor of the clan was Abraruadh who was the Abbot of Glen Dochart and Strathearn. Abraruadh was allegedly a younger son of Kenneth MacAlpin, the first king of Scots. (See: Siol Alpin). Abraruadh was also descended from Fergus, king of Dál Riata and a nephew of Saint Fillan, who was the founder of the monastery in Glen Dochart in the seventh century.

Recorded origins

One of the earliest records of the Macnab family is on a charter of 1124. Malcolm de Glendochart appears in the Ragman Rolls of 1296 and submitted to Edward I of England.

14th century & Robert the Bruce

Angus Macnab was brother-in-law of John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch who was murdered by Robert the Bruce in 1306. Macnab then joined forces with the Clan MacDougall in their campaign against the Bruce when Bruce was nearly captured at the Battle of Dalrigh. When the Bruce's power consolidated after his victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Macnab lands were forfeited and their charters were destroyed.