Clan Muir' History

Out of the mist of time; a powerful clan rises to play an important role in Scotland's History. The first Mores were among the tribe of Scotti of Northern Ireland who left Ireland to establish the kingdom of Dal Riata in the western part of Scotland. " One of the great O'Mordha's from Ireland eventually establishing Dalridia, the Gaelic kingdom that extended on both sides of the North Channel and composed the northern part of the present County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and part of the Inner Hebrides and Argyll, in Scotland. Dunadd and Dunolly were the chief strongholds.  As Viking attacks on Ireland increased, Fergus Mor moved the seat of the royal dynasty of Dalriada from Ireland to Scotland. Eventually, Dalraida covered much of present-day Scotland. Clan (children of) Muir (and many variations of the name) descends from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the founder of modern Scotland."

The Muirs/ Mure are descendants from King Fergus Mor of Dal Riata. Among the best known Irish royal families are the MacDermots, O'Connors, O'Flahertys, O'Kellys and O'Malleys of Connacht; the Maguires, O'Dochertys, O'Donnells, O'Neills and O'Reillys of Ulster; the MacMurroughs, O'Brynes, O'Melaghlins, O'Mores and O'Tooles of Lenister; the MacCarthys, MacGillycuddys, O'Briens, O'Donovans and O'Sullivans of Munster. Several still have recognised clan heads or chiefs of the name alive today. The Gaels gave Scotland its name from ‘Scoti’, a racially derogatory term used by the Romans to describe the Gaelic-speaking ‘pirates’ who raided Britannia in the 3rd and 4th centuries. They called themselves ‘Goidi l’, modernised today as Gaels, and later called Scotland ‘Alba’.

On the island of Great Britain, the Picts battled the encroaching Roman army with success until their resounding defeat at Mons Graupius in 84 A.D. After this, the Roman invaders weakened due to pressures on the Empire in other areas of the world. This allowed the Picts to regain strength. Reinforcements began moving across the Irish Sea from Ireland about 360 A.D. One of the great O'Mordha's from Ireland eventually establishing Dalridia, the Gaelic kingdom that extended on both sides of the North Channel and composed the northern part of the present County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and part of the Inner Hebrides and Argyll, in Scotland. Dunadd and Dunolly were the chief strongholds.

As Viking attacks on Ireland increased, Fergus Mor moved the seat of the royal dynasty of Dalriada from Ireland to Scotland. Eventually, Dalraida covered much of present-day Scotland. Clan Muir are descends from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the founder of modern Scotland. Remember, Fergus Mor mac Eirc is also descendant from the House of Ir.

The Dal Riata kingdom was part of County Antrim in Northern Ireland to the West coast of Pictland. The Dal Riatans " Scotti- called by the Romans" help the Pictish tribe to over thrown and push back the Roman army. Roman historians recount the raids of the Scots and Picts on Briton's northern frontier as early as 297 AD. In 360 BC, Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that "savage tribes of Scotti and Picti, having broken the truce, were ravaging the parts of Roman Britain in the neighbourhood of the walls." In 365 CE, he noted that the "the Picti, Saxones, Scotti and Atecotti harassed the Britons continually." In 367 AD, a large force of Pict and Scots raiders overran Hadrian's Wall and ravaged the lands beyond.

Campaigns by Theodorus (384 AD) and Stilchio (396 AD) helped settle the frontier temporarily. However, troops were later withdrawn from the region to fight on Rome's other hard-pressed borders. In 450 AD, Gildas recorded that the Britain's call for help (The Groans of the Britons) against the "foul hordes of Scots and Picts" had gone unheeded by Rome.The reason why the Mores/ Mures/ Muirs came from Fergus Mor, because the Mores settled in the western highlands in Pictland ( Scotland), then eventually some went to the lowlands in Strathcylde.

Once the Roman army left Britain; the Dal Riata began their invasion of the western highlands which was led by King Fergus Mor. The Gaels has successfully taken the whole western highlands and establish their capital at Dunadd fort. From this point they have fought a bloody war against the Picts, and other native tribes in Britain. The balance of the kingdom was divided into three districts among Fergus' relatives. Brother Angus and his tribe held the islands of Jura and Islay. Brother Loarne was given the region that still bears his name. The third (comprising modern Cowall and Kintyre) was passed down to Fergus's great-grandson Comgall. These four kinship groups -- Cenel Gabrain (the direct line of Fergus Mor), Cenel Loairn (the sons of Loarne), the Cenel nOengusa (the sons of Angus) and the Cenel Comgall (the heirs of Comgall) were to contend throughout the history of Dalriada for the throne.

The first five years of Dalriadic rule were turbulent, but the third king Comgall was reputed to have ruled for 30 years without strife (507-538 AD). In 558 AD, King Brude Mac Maelchon of the Picts resoundly defeated the Dalraidic King Gabran in battle and in that same year Gabran died (whether or not he died in the battle is unclear). No further battles are recorded for 15 years. Conall, son of Comgall, succeeded Gabran as king of Dal Riata. Conall welcomed the exiled Columba (Colum Cille) from Ireland, and sent him on a peace embassy to the Pictish king. It was apparently successful, for in 563 AD, in apparent agreement with the Pictish king, Conall granted Columba the island of Iona on which to build his famous monastery. Columba then commenced his work of converting the Picts to Christianity.

In 568 AD, King Conall and his kinsman, Colman Becc of Ireland, led a campaign into the Inner Hebrides to consolidate his rule over Soil and Islay. The death of Conall in 574 AD lead to a succession crisis, with the kingship due to revert from Conall's line by tradition to the sons of Gabran. Columba intervened and proclaimed Aedan as king over his elder brother Eoganan. This prompted a rebellion by Dondchad, the son of Conall and supporter of Eoganan's claim to the throne. Aedan prevailed over Dondchad in a battle fought at Kintyre, thus cementing his claim to the throne. The balance of this period is not well recorded, although it is believed that the rise of Christianity and the power of Columba and his successors exercised in non-secular matters encouraged relative peace and prosperity between Dalriada and her neighbors, the Picts to the east and north, and the Britons to the south. Then came the Saxons of Berneicia and Deira, which were later joined to form Northumbria.

King Aedan lead a Dalriadic/Strathcyde Breton army against Ethelfrid of Berneicia, but was defeated decisively at Daegsastan (circa 597 AD). This defeat, coupled with the news of the death of Columba, prompted Aedan to relinquish his throne and retire to Kintyre, where he died at age 80. In 613 AD, a Dalriadic contingent fought with a unified British army (with contingents from Gwynedd, Powys, Pengwern and Dumnonian) against the Saxon invader Ethelfrid at Chester. The battle failed to slow the Saxon king, who continued his campaign and slew 1200 British monks of Bangor who where attempting to avert the battle with prayer. Ethelfrid then seized Deira from his brother Edwin, and combined them into the new Kingdom of Northumbria, which Edwin recovered in 617 AD.

Then King Penda of Mercia and Caedwalla (Cadwallon) of Wales joined forces against Northumbria, killing Edwin and destroying his army at the battle of Heathfield Chase in 633/634 AD. Caedwalla was given the Northumbrian throne by Penda, but lost it again to Oswald, son of Ethelfrid, who fought a series of battles with Penda to defend it. Oswald's army included a contingent of Scots (including monks from Iona) provided by King Domnall Brecc of Dalriada. With the defeat and death of Penda, Oswald and his heir Owsy reigned supreme. They seized Edinburgh, the last major stronghold of the British Votadini kingdom of Goddodin. Unable to resist, Dalriada and the Pictish kingdoms were forced to swear fealty to the Northumbrian bretwaldas.

As evidenced by the Convention of Druim Cett (575 AD), the Dalriadic Kings in Scotland had apparently continued to rule over and collect taxes from the Riatans who remained in Ireland. However, Domnhall, king of the Ui Neill defeated Congal, king of the Dal nAraide and Ulster (the nephew and agent of King Domnall Brecc of Dalriada) at the battle of Magh Rath in 637 AD, effectively ending Dalriadic control over their Irish possessions.In 642 AD, King Owen of Strathclyde defeated an invading Dalriadic army at the Battle of Strathcarron, killing the Scottish King Domnall Brecc.

Oswy's heir Egfrid ascended to the Northumbrian throne in 670 AD and mounted campaigns in the north to consolidate his hold over the Scots and Picts. Dalriada and the Picts fought unsuccessfully for independence, the Picts suffering a massive defeat in which their dead were reputed to lie so thick in two rivers that the Northumbrians could walk dry-shod from bank to bank. Thereafter Egfrid annexed Galloway, drove the Britons entirely out of Cumbria, seized Carlisle and the famous Columban monastery at Lindisfarne, and subjected the Mercians to his rule. Egfrid's subsequent foray into Ireland was repulsed, after which he mounted a major invasion of the north in 685 AD.

The Picts feigned a retreat, drawing the Northumbrians deeper into the highlands to Lin Garan (or Nechtan's Mere) a marshy lake in Forfarshire where an ambush had been laid. Egfrid was killed in the subsequent battle and his army all but annihilated, thus ending the Northumbrian control over Pictland and Dalriada and allowing the Picts to occupy as far south as Lothian. Contingents of Strathclyde Britons and Dalraidic Scots may have fought with the Picts at the battle of Nechtansmere.

Subsequently, Kings Eugene VI of Dalriada and Alfred of Northumbia cemented a friendship based on their mutual interests as scholars. Alfred was raised in the Monastery at Iona, whereas Eugene had been trained by Adamnan, abbot of Icolm-Kill. Peace prevailed for ten years, although relations between Dalriada and the Picts became increasingly strained and conflict only averted due to the mediation of Adamnan. The peace was spoiled, however, when the Southern Pictish King Nechtan converted to the Roman rite and expelled the Columban priests, who fled to Dalriada.

With religious lines drawn between Rome and Ireland, the conflict broadened and diversified. A period of religous civil war ensued between the Northern and Southern Picts, and war between the Southern Picts and Dalriada, who had allied themselves with the Northern Picts. Then a civil war erupted in Dalraida in c. 725 AD, when Echdach usurped the throne of Dungal. Finally, the reunified Picts under King Oengus attacked and overran Dalriada between 731-736 AD, forcing the Dalriadic king into brief exile in Ireland. Oengus continued his aggressive expansion southward until defeated by the Strathcylde Britons at the battle of Catohic (Mocetauc) near Glasgow in 750 AD.

In 768 AD, King Aed Fin lead a Dalriadian army into the southern Pictish province of Fortriu and fought a battle the outcome of which is not known. Thereafter, the Dalriadic kingship list becomes somewhat conjectural. The following is offered as a plausible but not certain history. In 781 AD, Constantine mac Fergus became King of the Northern Picts. Over the next ten years, he extended his rule south and west. In 798 AD, the Vikings made their first appearance on the scene and posed a constant threat to both the Picts and Dalriadic Scots for the next 200 years. In 809 or 810 AD, Conall mac Aed relinguished the throne of Dalraidia according to Irish annalists (perhaps because of the Viking threat), and the Dalriadic nobles recognized Constantine as their king, thus unifying the Picts and Scots for the first time.

Constantine and his heir and brother Oengus referred to their joint kingdom as Fortren. From this point forward until the accession of Kenneth Mac Alpin, the exact line of "Scottish" kings or claimants to the former Dalriadic throne is unclear. In 832 or 834 AD , Oengus died giving rise to another succession controversion. One of several candidates, the Scot Alpin claimed the Pict throne by virtue of his mother's royal Pictish blood. The Picts elected another, prompting Alpin to take the field. A battle was fought at Restennet, near Forfar, resulting in the death of the Pictish king and a victory for Alpin despite heavy casualties.

But rather than recognize Alpin's claim, the Picts elected a new king and raised a new army. In a second confrontation fought near Dundee, the Picts mounted their camp attendants on baggage horses and held them in concealment until a key juncture when they appeared on a hill overlooking the battleground. The appearance of this "second army" caused the Scots to panic and rout. Alpin's nobles were captured and executed on the spot, and an attempt to ransom Alpin was refused. He was beheaded and his head placed on a pike, which was carried home to adorn the battlements of the Pictish stronghold at Abernethy. An alternative history of this battle (reputedly fought in 839 AD) is also told. In this account, Norse Vikings came upon the Scot and Pict armies locked in combat and stopped to watch the outcome.

After the Picts had prevailed and beheaded Alpin, the Norse attacked the victorious Picts, killing King Eogahann and scattering his army. In any event, the victory ended immediate hostilities with the Scots, but prompted civil war among the Picts (perhaps due to the death of Eogahann and renewed conflict over a successor). This period of respite allowed Kenneth the Hardy, son of Alpin and successor to the Dalriadic throne, to recruit his strength. After three years, Kenneth Mac Alpin was eager to take the offensive, but was hampered by nobles reluctant to renew hostilities. In the fourth year, Kenneth invited his nobles to a banquet. After the revelry, and as his nobles drifted off to sleep, a young kinsmen of Kenneth appeared dressed "in a luminous robe, made out of the phosphorescent skins of fish," and with a long speaking tube.

This apparition exhorted the befuddled nobles to avenge the death of Alpin, and they apparently took heed of what appeared to be a divine message. The Dalriadic army subsequently took the field, crossing into southern Pictish lands and defeating a Pictish force near Stirlingshire. A series of battles followed, until finally the Pictish king and his army were trapped near Scone by the River Tay and destroyed. A less generous version of Kenneth's accession involves the story of another banquet to which were invited various Pictish nobles who opposed his claim to the throne. Purportedly a pit was dug underneath the floor of the banquet hall. After much wine had been consumed, the floor supports were removed and the Pictish nobles fell into the pit and were slaughtered by Kenneth's men-at-arms.

In any event, in A.D. 843, purportedly Kenneth Mac Alpin ascended the throne as ruler of Alba, the unified kingdom of the Dalriadic Scots and Picts. Pictish resistance apparently continued for several years, however, for it is recorded that King Aethelred II of Northumbria had sent military assistance to the Picts in their unsuccessful fight against invading Scots as late as 846 AD. Eventually both kingdoms of Pictland and Dal Riata, became one under one King and formed a new kingdom called " The Kingdom of Alba".

Out of the mist of time; a powerful clan rises to play an important role in Scotland's History. The first Mores were among the tribe of Scotti of Northern Ireland who left Ireland to establish the kingdom of Dal Riata in the western part of Scotland. The Mores, an ancient, and untitled family, would flourished and prosperous beyond the Niemen have been princes at the least. No wonder that finally, a Mure backed by royal alliances and grants of forfeited lands should become one of the richest and powerful subjects. The blood of the ancient family of Rowallan has, consequently, mingled with that of the greater portion of the royal families across Europe. At one stage the Mures were reputed to be the wealthiest clan in Scotland.

The Formation of Alba

The kingdom of Alba was formed by the Dal Riata and the Pictish intermarried with one another after years of bloody conflict. The Mores of Dal Riata has fought along side with the Pictish against the Roman army in Britain. The Mores were of royalty and fought along side every king and queen that came into power. The following list below are battles in which the Mores have fought.
　
Donald II and Constantine II

King Donald II was the first man to have been called rí Alban (i.e. King of Alba), when he died at Dunnottar in 900. This meant king of Caledonia or Scotland. All his predecessors bore the style of either King of the Picts. Such an apparent innovation in the Gaelic chronicles is occasionally taken to spell the birth of Scotland, but there is nothing special about his reign that might confirm this. Donald had the nickname dásachtach. This simply meant a madman, or in early Irish law, a man not in control of his functions and hence without legal culpability. The reason was possibly the restlessness of his reign, continually spent fighting battles against Vikings. It is possible he gained his unpopularity by violating the rights of the church or through high taxes, but it is not known for certain. However, his extremely negative nickname makes him an unlikely founder of Scotland.

Donald's successor Constantine II (Causantín mac Aeda) is more often regarded as a key figure in the formation of Alba. Constantine reigned for nearly half a century, fighting many battles. When he lost at Brunanburh, he was clearly discredited and retired as a Culdee monk at St. Andrews. Despite this, the prophecy of Berchan is full of praise for the king, and in this respect is in line with the views of other sources. Constantine is credited in later tradition as the man who, with bishop Ceallach of St Andrews, brought the Catholic church in Scotland into conformity with that of the larger Gaelic world, although it is not known exactly what this means. There had been Gaelic bishops in St Andrews for two centuries, and Gaelic churchmen were amongst the oldest features of Caledonian Christianity. The reform may have been organizational, or some sort of purge of certain unknown and perhaps disliked legacies of Pictish ecclesiastical tradition. However, other than these factors, it is difficult to appreciate fully the importance of Constantine's reign.

Malcolm I to Malcolm II

The period between the accession of Malcolm I(Maol Caluim Mac Domhnuill) and Malcolm II (Maol Caluim Mac Cionaodha) are marked by good relations with the Wessex, rules of England, intense internal dynastic disunity and, despite this, relatively successful expansionary policies. Sometime after an English invasion of cumbra land by King Edmund of England in 945, the English king handed the province over to king Malcolm I on condition of a permanent alliance. Sometime in the reign of king Indulf (Idulb mac Causantín) (954–62), the Scots captured the fortress called oppidum Eden, i.e. almost certainly Edinburgh. It was the first Scottish foothold in Lothian. The Scots had probably had some authority in Strathclyde since the later part of the 9th century, but the kingdom kept its own rulers, and it is not clear that the Scots were always strong enough to enforce their authority.

In fact, one of Indulf's successors, Cuilen(Cuilén mac Ilduilbh), died at the hands of the men of Strathclyde, perhaps while trying to enforce his authority. King Kenneth II(Cionaodh Mac Maol Chaluim) (971–95) began his reign by invading Britannia (possibly Strathclyde), perhaps as an early assertion of his authority, and perhaps also as a traditional Gaelic crechríghe (lit. "royal prey"), the rite by which a king secured the success of his reign with an inauguration raid in the territory of a historical enemy.

The reign of Malcolm I (942/3–954) also marks the first known tensions between the Scottish kingdom and Moray, the old heartland of the Scoto-Pictish kingdom of Fortriu. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba reported that King Malcolm "went into Moray and slew Ceallach." The same source tells us that king Malcolm was killed by the Moravians. This is the first definite sign of tension between the Cenél nGabráin and Cenél Loairn, two kin-groups claiming descent from different ancestors of Erc. During the reign of Macbeth (Mac Beathadh Mac Findláich), and his successor Lulach (Lulach Mac Gille Comhgháin), the Moray-based Cenél Loairn ruled all Scotland.

The reign of Malcolm II saw the final incorporation of these territories. The critical year perhaps was 1018, when king Malcolm II defeated the Northumbrians at the Battle of Carham. In the same year, King Owain Foel died, leaving his kingdom to his overlord Malcolm. A meeting with King Canute of Denmark and England, probably about 1031, seems to have further secured these conquests, although the exact nature of Scottish rule over the Lothian and Scottish borders area was not fully realised until the conquest and annexation of that province during the Wars of Independence.

Duncan I to Alexander I

The Stone of Scone in the Coronation Chair at Westminster Abbey, 1855. It was the ceremonial coronation stone of Scotland's Gaelic kings, similar to the Irish Lia Fáil.The period between the accession of King Duncan I (Donnchadh Mac Críonáin) (1034) and the death of Alexander I (1124) was the last before the coming of the Normans to Scotland. In some respects, the reign of King Malcolm III (Maol Caluim Mac Donnchaidh) prefigured the changes which took place in the reigns of the French-speaking kings David I and William I, although native reaction to the manner of Duncan II's (Donnchad mac Máel Coluim) accession perhaps put these changes back somewhat.

King Duncan I's reign was a military failure. He was defeated by the native English at Durham in 1040, and was subsequently toppled. Duncan had only been related to previous rulers through his mother Bethoc, daughter of Malcolm II, who had married Crínán, the lay abbot of Dunkeld (and probably Mormaer of Atholl too). At a location called Bothganowan (or Bothgowan, Bothgofnane, Bothgofuane, meaning "Blacksmith's Hut" in old Gaelic, today Pitgaveny near Elgin), the Mormaer of Moray, Macbeth defeated and killed Duncan, and took the kingship for himself. After Macbeth's successor Lulach, another Moravian, all kings of Scotland were Duncan's descendants. For this reason, Duncan's reign is often remembered positively, while Macbeth is villanised. Eventually, William Shakespeare gave fame to this medieval equivalent of propaganda by further immortalising both men in his play Macbeth. Macbeth's reign however was successful enough that he had the security to go on pilgrimage to Rome.

It was Malcolm III, who acquired the nickname (as did his successors) "Canmore" (Ceann Mór, "Great Chief"), and not his father Duncan, who did more to create the successful dynasty which ruled Scotland for the following two centuries. Part of the success was the huge number of children he had. Through two marriages, firstly to the Norwegian Ingibiorg Finnsdottir, and secondly to the English princess Margaret of Wessex, Malcolm had perhaps a dozen children. Malcolm and, if we believe later hagiography, his wife, introduced the first Benedictine monks to Scotland.

However, despite having a royal Anglo-Saxon wife, Malcolm spent more of his reign conducting slave raids against the English, adding to the woes of that people in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England and the Harrying of the North, as Marianus Scotus tells us: "the Scots and French devastated the English; and [the English] were dispersed and died of hunger; and were compelled to eat human flesh: and to this end, to kill men, and to salt and dry them."

Malcolm died in one of these raids, in 1093. In the aftermath of his death, the Norman rulers of England began their interference in the Scottish kingdom. This interference was prompted by Malcolm's raids and attempts to forge claims for his successors to the English kingship. He had married the sister of the native English claimant to the English throne, Edgar Ætheling, and had given most of his children by this marriage Anglo-Saxon royal names. Moreover, he had given support to many native English nobles, including Edgar himself, and had been supporting native English insurrections against their Norman rulers.

In 1080, King William the Conqueror sent his son on an invasion of Scotland. The invasion got as far as Falkirk, on the boundary between Scotland-proper and Lothian, and Malcolm submitted to the authority of the king, giving his oldest son Duncan as a hostage. This submission perhaps gives the reason why Malcolm did not give his last two sons, Alexander and David, Anglo-Saxon royal names. Malcolm's natural successor was his brother, Donalbane (Domhnall Bán Mac Donnchaidh), as Malcolm's sons were young.

However, the Norman state to the south sent Malcolm's son Duncan to take the kingship. In the ensuing conflict, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that: "Donnchadh went to Scotland with what aid he could get of the English and French, and deprived his kinsman Domhnall of the Kingdom, and was received as King. But afterwards some of the Scots gathered themselves together, and slew almost all of his followers; and he himself escaped with few. Thereafter they were reconciled on the condition that he should never again introduce English or French into the land"

Duncan was killed the same year, 1094, and Donalbane resumed sole kingship. However, the Norman state sent another of Malcolm's sons, Edgar to take the kingship. Anglo-Norman policy worked, because thereafter all kings of Scotland succeeded, not without opposition of course, under a system very closely corresponding with the primogeniture that operated in the French-speaking world. The reigns of both Edgar and his brother and successor Alexander are comparatively obscure. The former's most notable act was to send a camel (or perhaps an elephant) to his fellow Gael Muirchertach Ua Briain, High King of Ireland. When Edgar died, Alexander took the kingship, while his youngest brother David became Prince of "Cumbria" and ruler of Lothian.

Norman Kings: David I to Alexander III

Book of Deer, folio 29v contains a portrait of the Evangelist Luke; a list of privileges and legends were written legends in Gaelic and Latin in the margins, in lowland Buchan in the reign of David I. The period between the accession of David I and the death of Alexander III was marked by dependency upon and relatively good relations with, the Kings of the English. It was also a period of historical expansion for the Scottish kingdom, and witnessed the successful imposition of royal authority across most of the modern country. The period was one of a great deal of historical change, and much of the modern historiographical literature is devoted to this change (especially G.W.S. Barrow), part of a more general phenomenon which has been called the "Europeanisation of Europe". More recent works though, while acknowledging that a great deal of change did take place, emphasise that this period was in fact also one of great continuity (e.g. Cynthia Neville, Richard Oram, Dauvit Broun, and others).

Indeed, the period is subject to many misconceptions. For instance, English did not spread all over the Lowlands (see language section), and neither did English names; and, moreover even by 1300, most native lordships remained in native Gaelic hands, with only a minority passing to men of French or Anglo-French origin; furthermore, the Normanisation and imposition of royal authority in Scotland was not a peaceful process, but in fact cumulatively more violent than the Norman Conquest of England; additionally, the Scottish kings were not independent monarchs, but vassals to the King of the English, although not "legally" for Scotland north of the Forth.

The important changes which did occur include the extensive establishment of burghs (see section), in many respects Scotland's first urban institutions; the feudalisation, or more accurately, the Francization of aristocratic martial, social and inheritance customs; the de-Scotticisation of ecclesiastical institutions; the imposition of royal authority over most of modern Scotland; and the drastic drift at the top level from traditional Gaelic culture, so that after David I, the Kingship of the Scots resembled more closely the kingship of the French and English, than it did the lordship of any large-scale Gaelic kingdom in Ireland.

After David I, and especially in the reign of William I, Scotland's King's became ambivalent about, if not hostile towards, the culture of most of their subjects. As Walter of Coventry tells us: "The modern kings of Scotia count themselves as Frenchmen, in race, manners, language and culture; they keep only Frenchmen in their household and following, and have reduced the Scots [Gaels north of the Forth] to utter servitude."
The ambivalence of the kings was matched to a certain extent by their subjects. In the aftermath of William's capture at Alnwick in 1174, the Scots turned on their king's English-speaking and French-speaking subjects.

William of Newburgh related the events: "When [King William] was given over into the hands of the enemy, God's vengeance permitted not also that his most evil army should go away unhurt. For when they learned of the King's capture the barbarians at first were stunned, and desisted from spoil; and presently, as if driven by furies, the sword which they had taken up against their enemy and which was now drunken with innocent blood they turned against their own army. Now there was in the same army a great number of English; for the towns and burghs of the Scottish realm are known to be inhabited by English.

On the occasion therefore of this opportunity the Scots declared their hatred against them, innate, though masked through fear of the king; and as many as they fell upon they slew, the rest who could escape fleeing back to the royal castles."Walter Bower, writing a few centuries later albeit, wrote about the same event:
"At that time after the capture of their king, the Scots together with the Galwegians , in the mutual slaughter that took place, killed their English and French compatriots without mercy or pity, making frequent attacks on them. At that time also there took place a most wretched and widespread persecution of the English both in Scotland and Galloway. So intense was it that no consideration was shown to the sex of any, but all were cruelly killed ..."

Opposition to the Scottish kings in this period was indeed hard. The first instance is perhaps the revolt of Óengus of Moray, the Mormaer of Moray, the crushing of which led to the colonisation of Moray by foreign burgesses, and Franco-Flemish and Anglo-French aristocrats. Rebellions continued throughout the 12th century and into the 13th. Important resistors to the expansionary Scottish kings were Somhairle Mac Gille Brighdhe, Fergus of Galloway, Gille Brigte of Galloway and Harald Maddadsson, along with two kin-groups known today as the MacHeths and the Meic Uilleim.[citation needed] The latter claimed descent from king Donnchadh II, through his son William, and rebelled for no less a reason than the Scottish throne itself. The threat was so grave that, after the defeat of the MacWilliams in 1230, the Scottish crown ordered the public execution of the baby girl who happened to be the last MacWilliam.

This was how the Lanercost Chronicle relates the fate of this last MacWilliam: "the same Mac-William's daughter, who had not long left her mother's womb, innocent as she was, was put to death, in the burgh of Forfar, in view of the market place, after a proclamation by the public crier. Her head was struck against the column of the market cross, and her brains dashed out." Many of these resistors collaborated, and drew support not just in the peripheral Gaelic regions of Galloway, Moray, Ross and Argyll, but also from eastern "Scotland-proper", Ireland and Mann. By the end of the 12th century, the Scottish kings had acquired the authority and ability to draw in native Gaelic lords outside their previous zone of control to do their work, the most famous examples being Lochlann, Lord of Galloway and Fearchar Mac an t-Sagairt.

Such accommodation assisted expansion to the Scandinavian-ruled lands of the west. Uilleam, the native Mormaer of Ross, was a pivotal figure in the expansion of the Scottish kingdom into the Hebrides, as was Ailéan mac Ruaidhrí, the key pro-Scottish Hebridean chief, who married his daughter to Uilleam, the Mormaer of Mar. The Scottish king was able to draw on the support of Alan, Lord of Galloway, the master of the Irish Sea region, and was able to make use of the Galwegian ruler's enormous fleet of ships. The Mormaers of Lennox forged links with the Argyll chieftains, bringing a kin-group such as the Campbells into the Scottish fold. Cumulatively, by the reign of Alexander III, the Scots were in a strong position to annexe the remainder of the western seaboard, which they did in 1266, with the Treaty of Perth.

Orkney too was coming into the Scottish fold. In the 12th century, Mormaer Matad's son Harald was established on the Orkney Earldom. Thereafter, the Orkney earl (also Mormaer of Caithness) was just as much a Scottish vassal as a Norwegian one. Descendants of the Gaelic Mormaers of Angus ruled Orkney for much of the 13th century. In the early 14th century, another Scottish Gaelic noble, Maol Íosa V of Strathearn became Earl of Orkney, although formal Scottish sovereignty over the Northern Isles did not come for more than another century.

The conquest of the west, the creation of the Mormaerdom of Carrick in 1186 and the absorption of the Lordship of Galloway after the Galwegian revolt of 1135 meant that the number and proportion of Gaelic speakers under the rule of the Scottish king actually increased, and perhaps even doubled, in the so-called Norman period. It was the Gaels and Gaelicised warriors of the new west, and the power they offered, that enabled King Robert I (himself a Gaelicised Scoto- Norman of Carrick) to emerge victorious during the Wars of Independence, which followed soon after the death of Alexander III.

Battles fought by Dal Riatans:

The war against Roman Occupation of Britain
The Invasion of Pictland
Unknown Battle
Inner Hebrides Campaign
Battle of Kintyre
Battle of Daegsastan
Dal Riata Civil War
The battle of Chester
The battle of Heathfield Chase
The battle of Magh Rath
The battle of Strathcarron
The battle of Brunanburh
The battle of Nechtansmere
The battle of River Tay
The battle of Fortriu
Unknown battle near Dundee ( 832 or 834 AD)
The battle of Catohic (Mocetauc)
Unknown battle near Stirling
Action at Earnside
Battle of Bouds
Battle of Dollar
Battle of Barry
　
The Kingdom of Alba Battles:

Battle of Carham
Battle of Clitheroe
The Capture of the fortress Oppidum
The Battle of the Standard
Battles of Alnvoick
1093 and 1174 Battle of Stracathro 1130
Galwegian revolt
The Battle of Renfrew 1164
Battle of Corbridge

The strathclyde Britons of Ancient Scotland were the first to used the name Mure. At the Battle of the standard, for instance, it is the opinion of the ablest critics that the brave tribesmen who fought for king David I, under the name of the " Levernanii, were the men of Levernside ( the sons of the noisy stream), drawn from Neilston parish. Such is the opinion of Chalmers and Hailes, and when Walter the Steward summoned the stout men of Strathclyde to his standard to aid in the repelling the invasion of Somerled " Lords of the Isles", when he sailed up the Clyde and landed at Renfrew in 1164 A.D., they would doubtless again be in the field of fighting for hearth and home; and at the battle of Largs, in 1263 A.D., when it became necessary to hurl back the invading host under Haco, the men of Renfrewshire and Neilston parsh were there, and the Mures of the Caldwell family was the leader again.

Battle of Largs

The Battle of Largs was fought on October 2, 1263 between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of Norway. Sir Gilchrist Mure who was dispossessed of the house and living at Rowallan by the strong hand of Sir Walter Cuming, and was compelled to keep close in his castle of Polkelly until the King Alexander III raised sufficient forces to subdue Cuming and his adherents. Sir Gilchrist regain Rowallan castle after the battle of Largs. From a saga written at the time we know that the Scottish King Alexander II had been attempting to buy the Inner and Outer Hebrides, Kintyre and the Isle of Man from the control of the Norwegian King Håkon IV, but he consistently refused. Alexander's successor Alexander III continued this
policy without success.

In the summer of 1262, Scottish forces launched raids against the Isle of Skye with a view to conquering all the islands. King Håkon responded by equipping a large conscripted fleet which left Bergen for Scotland in July 1263. After establishing control of the Hebrides, King Håkon anchored his fleet of over 120 ships, with a force of around 15,000 men, by the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde where he opened peace talks with the Scottish King. These dragged on until broken off by King Håkon who sent the Kings Magnus and Dougal with 40 ships up Loch Long and into Loch Lomond to loot and plunder. On October 1 the main body of the fleet moved between the island of Cumbrae and Largs, where they were surprised by stormy weather. Five longships and a trading cog were driven ashore at Largs where they were attacked by a small number of Scots.

The next day, King Håkon went ashore with some of his men to stave off further attacks until the stranded ships could be brought free. During the day, a Scottish army approached which the saga says included 500 knights in armor on horseback and a large body of foot soldiers. If the saga is accurate, the Scottish army numbered about 8,000 men compared with around 800 Norwegian troops onshore. King Håkon was transported to safety on board his ship while his forces on the beach started scrambling to get into their boats to get back to their ships, several boats sank as a result of overcrowding. However, the Norwegians managed to restore order in their ranks and make a stand on the beach. King Håkon was unable to send large reinforcements on land because of the storm, but one ship from the main fleet managed to reach the shore. When the ship arrived, the Scots withdrew to the hill behind Largs. There followed a lengthy long-distance battle, with bows and stone-throwing, but the Scottish force ultimately retreated, whereupon the Norwegians immediately boarded their boats and withdrew to the main fleet.

The saga implies that the Scottish cavalry had not been in action, and it is also doubtful whether the full body of the foot soldiers was brought to bear. Similarly, the main body of the Norwegian force was on board their ships, prevented by the storm from joining battle. The Norwegians went back on land the day after to retrieve their dead and burn the stranded longships, which they were able to do unmolested. Within a few days, the Norwegian fleet left the Firth of Clyde with King Håkon sailing North to Orkney for the winter but most of his fleet sailed back to Norway. Largs had not been a crushing military defeat for King Håkon but it meant that he had not been able to win a decisive victory before the winter.

King Håkon fell ill while staying in the Bishop's Palace in Kirkwall and died on December 15, 1263. The following year, King Alexander successfully invaded the Hebrides. In 1265 negotiations between Scottish envoys and Håkon's successor, King Magnus VI, led to agreement that sovereignty over the Hebrides and Man was to pass to the Scottish King, in return for a lump sum of 4,000 marks and subsequently 100 marks annually in perpetuity. This was confirmed in the Treaty of Perth signed in 1266. Norway retained control over Orkney. But according to The Works of Sir William Mure of Rowallan states " Battle of Lairges The battle of Largs by the Norwegian account was fought on October 2 and 3 1263 Of the Norwegians 16,000 are said to have been slain Haco himself died of grief The victory cost the Scots 5000 men."

The Mores, an ancient, and untitled family, would flourished and prosperous beyond the Niemen have been princes at the least. No wonder that finally, a Mure backed by royal alliances and grants of forfeited lands should become one of the richest and powerful subjects.

The blood of the ancient family of Rowallan has, consequently, mingled with that of the greater portion of the royal families across Europe. At one stage the Mures were reputed to be the wealthiest clan in Scotland. The border region of England and Scotland produced some of the most illustrious family names that the world has ever known, names such as Armstrong, Nixon, Graham, Bell, Carson, Hume, Irving, Rutherford, and of course Mures.

The Scottish wars of Independence

The Scottish wars of independence was a war between the Kingdom of Scotland and Kingdom of England. There was the first Scottish war of independence ( 1296-1328), and then few years later there was a second war of independence ( 1332-1357). According to the historic Scotland website states "The Mure family's fate during the Wars of Independence is largely undocumented." Other sources for the Mure family/ clan involvement in the Scottish wars of independence has shown in the following sources: "It appears from the History says (Paterson) that the family had suffered considerably during the war of independence maintained first by Wallace and afterward by Bruce and Sir Adam is eulogized for his prudence in having improved and enlarged their dilapidated inheritance. " which was found in (the Moir genealogy and collateral lines: with historical notes), and other scoure claims " Although the Mure’s appear on the list rendering homage to Edward I in 1296, Sir Archibald Muir fought at the siege of Berwick for John Balliol in the same year. Sir Archibald was killed during the battle that ended with Edward 1 (Longshanks of England) defeating Balliol and his loyal supporters. It is almost certain Mure’s fought alongside Robert the Bruce in the War of Independence."
(http://www.ayrshirescotland.com/clans/mure.html)

This indicates the following; that the Mure family and it's variant spellings has first fought with the Balliol family, then William Wallace and finally Robert the Bruce in a series of bloody conflict against Edward's army. This tells me that the Clan Muir has played a major role in the Scottish wars of Independence. After the wars of independence, it seems that King Robert the Bruce has given the Mure family money to restore our dilapidated inheritance.

Siege of Berwick

Sir Archibald Muir did fought at the siege of Berwick for John Balliol. This siege happen on March 30 1296 which ended up being an English victory. After the raid on Carlisle, the English, under Edward I, began the initial conquest of Scotland in the first phase of the war. On the Wednesday in Easter week, being the twenty-eighth day of March, the Edward passed the river Tweed with his troops and stay that night in Scotland at the priory of Coldstream. From there he marched on the town of Berwick. Berwick-upon- Tweed, a Royal Burgh sat just north of the border, was Scotland's most important trading port.
The garrison was commanded by William the Hardy, Lord of Douglas, while the besieging party was led by Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford.

Contemporary accounts of the number slain range from 4,000 to 17,000. Then they took the castle, whereupon Douglas surrendered and his life and those of his garrison were spared. The Battle of Dunbar crushed further Scottish resistance. Sir Archibald Muir was killed during the rout of Balliol. The Mure family/ clan has fought in the following battles battle of Dunbar in April 27, 1296,Battle of Lanark, and the Major battle at Stirling Bridge which was a decisive victory for the Scots against the English. They also fought at the battle of Kinclaven, Battle of Happrew, Battle of Roslin, and Falkirk.

Battle of Loudoun Hill

The Muirs/ Mure fought at this particular battle for a reason. That reason is simple, the Clan Muir lands were in East Ayrshire, and was very close to Loudoun Hill from Rowallan castle. Bruce won his first small success at Glen Trool, where he ambushed an English forces led by John Mowbray, sweeping down from the steep hillsides and driving them off with heavy losses. He then passed through the moors by Dalmellington to Muirkirk, appearing in the north of Ayrshire in early May, where his army was strengthened by fresh recruits. Here he soon encountered Aymer de Valence, commanding the main English force in the area.

In preparing to meet him he took up a position on 10 May on a plain south of Loudoun Hill, some 500 yards wide and bounded on either side by deep morasses. Bruce scouted the ground and made the necessary preparations. John Barbour describes his actions in his rhyming chronicle: "The king upon the other side, Whose prudence was his valor's guide, Rode out to see and chose his ground. The highway took its course, he found, Upon a meadow, smooth and dry. But close on either side thereby. A bog extended, deep and broad, That from the highway, where men rode, Was full a bowshot either side."

Valence's only approach was over the highway through the bog, where the parallel ditches Bruce's men dug outwards from the marsh restricted his room for deployment still further, effectively neutralizing his advantage in numbers. Valence was forced at attack along a narrowly constricted front upwards towards the waiting enemy spears. It was a battle reminiscent in some ways of Stirling Bridge, with the same 'filtering' effect at work. "the king's men met them at the dyke So stoutly that the most warlike And strongest of them fell to the ground. Then could be heard a dreadful sound As spears on armor rudely shattered, And cries and groans the wounded uttered. For those that first engaged in fight Battled and fought with all their might. Their shouts and cries rose loud and clear; A grievous noise it was to hear."

As Bruce's spearmen pressed downhill on the disorganized English knights they fought with such vigor that the rear ranks began to flee in panic. A hundred or more were killed in the battle. Amyer de Valence managed to escape the carnage and fled to the safety of Bothwell Castle. Three days after the Battle of Loudoun Hill Bruce defeated another English force under the Earl of Gloucester. But the greatest boost to his cause came two months later. At Burgh-on-Sands, just short of the Scottish border, Edward I died. In a cave inhabited by a spider. Supposedly, Bruce watched the small spider try to spin a line across a seemingly impossibly wide gap. As Bruce watched, the spider tried and tried and tried. "Foolish spider" thought Bruce, but continued to watch. Suddenly, the spider succeeded in leaping across the gap with its thread. Bruce considered this, and took it as an encouragement that he, too, should continue to persevere regardless of seemingly hopeless circumstances, and he later came out of hiding. It is doubtful if the story is true, however.

Battle of Bannockburn

I believe that this is one of two last battles of the first Scottish war on Independence, in which the clan Mure has fought. The Prelude to the Battle. An early 14th century English depiction of a Biblical battle giving an impression of how soldiers were equipped at Bannockburn. The image of a king wielding a battle axe in the top half has led some historians to link this image to Bannockburn. Edward II and his advisors were aware of the places that the Scots were likely to challenge them and sent out orders for their troops to prepare for an enemy established in boggy ground near to the River Forth, near Stirling .The English appear to have advanced in four divisions whereas the Scots were in three divisions, known as 'schiltrons' which were strong defensive circles of men bristling with pikes.

Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, commanded the Scottish vanguard, which was stationed about a mile to the south of Stirling, near the church of St. Ninian, while the king commanded the rearguard at the entrance to the New Park. His brother Edward led the third division. According to Barbour, there was a fourth division nominally under the youthful Walter the Steward, but actually under the command of Sir James Douglas.The Scottish archers used yew-stave longbows and though these were not weaker or inferior to English longbows, there were fewer Scottish archers than English archers, possibly numbering only 500. These archers played little part in the battle.

There is firsthand evidence in a poem by the captured Carmelite friar Robert Baston, written just after the battle, that one or both sides employed slingers and crossbowmen. Most medieval battles were short-lived, lasting only a few hours, therefore the Battle of Bannockburn is unusual in that it lasted for two days. On 23 June 1314 two of the English cavalry formations advanced, the first commanded by the Earl of Gloucester and the Earl of Hereford. They encountered a body of Scots, among them Robert the Bruce himself. A celebrated single combat then took place between Bruce and Henery de Bohun who was the nephew of the Earl of Hereford.

Bohun charged at Bruce and when the two passed side by side, Bruce split Bohun's head with his axe. The Scots then rushed upon the English under Gloucester and Hereford who struggled back over the Bannockburn. The second English cavalry force was commanded by Robert Clifford and Henry de Beaumont and included Sir Thomas de Grey of Haeton, father of the chronicler Thomas Grey whose account of events follows; "Robert Lord de Clifford and Henry de Beaumont, with three hundred menat-arms, made a circuit upon the other side of the wood towards the castle, keeping the open ground. Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, Robert de Brus's nephew, who was leader of the Scottish advanced guard, hearing that his uncle had repulsed the advanced guard of the English on the other side of the wood, thought that he must have his share, and issuing from the wood with his division marched across the open ground towards the two afore-named lords.

Sir Henry de Beaumont called to his men: "Let us wait a little; let them come on; give them room""Sir," said Sir Thomas Gray, "I doubt that whatever you give them now, they will have all too soon""Very well" exclaimed the said Henry, if you are afraid, be off" "Sir," answered the said Thomas, "it is not from fear that I shall fly this day." So saying he spurred in between Beaumont and Sir William Deyncourt, and charged into the thick of the enemy. William was killed, Thomas was taken prisoner, his horse being killed on the pikes, and he himself carried off with the Scots on foot when they marched off, having utterly routed the squadron of the said two lords. Some of the English fled to the castle, others to the king's army, which having already left the road through the wood had debouched upon a plain near the water of Forth beyond Bannockburn, an evil, deep, wet marsh, where the said English army unharnessed and remained all night, having sadly lost confidence and being too much disaffected by the events of the day."

Second day of battle; Under, the nightfall, the English forces crossed the stream that is known as the Bannock Burn, establishing their position on the plain beyond it. A Scottish knight, Alexander Seton, who was fighting in the service of Edward II of England, deserted the English camp and told Bruce of the low English morale, encouraging Bruce to attack them. In the morning the Scots then advanced from New Park. Not long after daybreak, the Scots spearmen began to move towards the English. Edward was surprised to see Robert's army emerge from the cover of the woods. As Bruce's army drew nearer, they paused and knelt in prayer. Edward is supposed to have said in surprise "They pray for mercy!" "For mercy, yes," one of his attendants replied, "But from God, not you. These men will conquer or die." The English responded to the Scots advance with a charge of their own, led by the Earl of Gloucester.

Gloucester had argued with the Earl of Hereford over who should lead the vanguard into battle, and argued with the king that the battle should be postponed. This led the king to accuse him of cowardice, which perhaps goaded Gloucester into the charge. Few accompanied Gloucester in his charge and when he reached the Scottish lines he was quickly surrounded and killed. Gradually the English were pushed back and ground down by the Scots' schiltrons. The English longbowmen attempted to support the advance of the knights but were ordered to cease fire as they were causing casualties among their own. An attempt to employ the English and Welsh longbowmen to shoot at the advancing Scots from their flank failed when they were dispersed by the Scottish 500-horse light cavalry under the Marischal Sir Robert Keith. The English cavalry was hemmed in making it difficult for them to manoeuvre. As a result, the English were unable to hold their formations and broke ranks.

It soon became clear to Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke and Giles d' Argentan (reputedly the third best knight in Europe) that the English had lost and Edward II needed to be led to safety at all costs, so, seizing his horse's reins, dragged him away, and were closely followed by five hundred knights of the royal bodyguard. Once they were clear of the battle d'Argentan turned to the king, said "Sire, your protection was committed to me, but since you are safely on your way, I will bid you farewell for never yet have I fled from a battle, nor will I now." and turned his horse to charge back into the ranks of Scottish where he was overborn and slain.

English retreat Edward fled with his personal bodyguard, ending the remaining order in the army; panic spread and defeat turned into a rout. He arrived eventually at Dunbar castle, from which he took ship to Berwick. From the carnage of Bannockburn, the rest of the army tried to escape to the safety of the English border, ninety miles to the south. Many were killed by the pursuing Scottish army or by the inhabitants of the countryside that they passed through. Historian Peter Reese says that, "only one sizeable group of men--all footsoldiers--made good their escape to England." These were a force of Welsh spearmen who were kept together by their commander, Sir Maurice de Berkeley, and the majority of them reached Carlisle.

Weighing up the available evidence, Reese concludes that "it seems doubtful if even a third of the footsoldiers returned to England." Out of 16,000 infantrymen, this would give a total of about 11,000 killed. The English chronicler Thomas Walsingham gave the number of English men-at-arms who were killed as 700, while 500 more men-at-arms were spared for ransom. The Scottish losses appear to have been comparatively light, with only two knights among those killed.

Capture of Berwick

The Mures were at the Capture of Berwick, the last battle they fought. The Capture of Berwick took place in April 1318. Following the decisive Scots victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Scots had recovered all their strongholds, with the exception of Berwick. In September 1317, King Robert Bruce attempted a siege of Berwick, which lasted until November before he withdraw. The following April, an English sergent was bribed to allow a party of Scots to climb the town wall. The raiding party, led by Sir Douglas, and possibly the Earl of Dunbar, took the town after a fight. The castle was warned when they lost control of their men, who began to plunder and failed to capture the castle. King Robert soon arrived with an army, and after an eleven-week siege, the castle garrison capitulated due to a lack of supplies.

The English burgesses were expelled, and King Robert re-established Berwick as a Scottish trading port, installing his son-in-law Walter Stewart as Keeper. The retaking of Berwick was a significant victory for the Scots. After the first Scottish war of Independence ended on the year of 1328. The Treaty of Edinburgh– Northampton was signed between Scotland and England marking the end of the war, but sadly, however the Sencond Scottish War of Independence started up shortly after. Scotland has maintain it's independence.
Other battles in which clan Muir took part in, includes: The battles of Methven, Turnberry, The battle of the bell o' the brae, Dalrigh, Glen Trol, Siloch, Inverurie (1308), Buchan, Pass of Brander, Skaithmuir, Myton, the battle of Old Byland, and Stanhope park.

Second War of Independence

The date from which the second war started and ended was from 1332-1357. I believe that Sir William Mure and other Mures fought in the second war of independence. The clan Muir has played a vital role in the wars of independence to secure and maintain Scotland's independence from the English. The following battles they fought in, include the following battles: Battle of Dupplin Moor, Battle of Annan, Battle of Boroughmuir, Battle of Culblean, Battle of Neville's Cross, battle of Nisbit Moor, and Battle of Halidon Hill.

Battle of Neville's Cross

At the battle of Neville's cross there were probably a few clansmen of clan Muir that were there. We do know that there was a John de la More killed in this battle and a William More was taken prisoner. The Scots only discovered the presence of the English army on the morning of 17 October. Troops under command of William Douglas stumbled upon them in the morning mist during a raid south of Durham. The two rearward divisions of the English army drove the Scots off with heavy Scottish casualties.Upon hearing Douglas's report, David II led the Scottish army to high ground at Neville's Cross (site of an old Anglo-Saxon stone cross), where he prepared his army for battle. Both the Scots and English arranged themselves in three battalions.

Though the Scots were in what is considered a rather poor position (with various obstacles between them and the English position), they remembered well their defeats in the Battle of Dupplin Moor and the battle of Halidon Hill and thus took a defensive stance, waiting for the English to attack. The English also took a defensive stance, knowing they had the superior position and likely knowing that time was on their side. The resulting stalemate lasted until the afternoon, when the English sent longbowmen forward to harass the Scottish lines. The archers succeeded in forcing the Scots to attack, but their initial hesitation in going on the offensive appears in hindsight to have been the correct decision. The Scots' poor position resulted in their formations falling apart as they advanced, allowing the English to deal easily with the Scottish attack.

When it became clear that the battle was going in favour of the English, Robert Stewart, the future King of the Scots, and the Earl of March fled the battle, abandoning David II's battalion to face the enemy alone. Late in the afternoon, the king's own battalion attempted to retreat, but was unsuccessful and David II was captured after he fled the field, while the rest of the Scottish army was pursued for more than twenty miles.

Loehgoin is part of the Rowallan estates extends throughout a considerable part of the Fenwick. The Mures of Rowallan and Polkelly; the same parish, not the place of Renfrewshire as some have supposed. Mure was one of the most ancient and excellent of the Ayrshire families and we believe it was in the time of David More who was the first of the family of which we have any records.

From the earliest times that the Mures appear to have been excellent people, mild, and generous, yet brave, and this may have something to do with foreign refugees being allowed to settled upon the lands of Loehgoin.

Moreham a surname taken from lands in Haddingtonshire now a parish. The de Morehams flourished under Alexander I and II and in the Ragman Roll appears the name of Thomas de Morebam pumtt that is the younger as having sworn fealty to Edward I Sir Reginald Mure lord great chamberlain under David II belonged to this family.

He had sunk the last syllable of his name. Removing into Stirlingshire he resided on the north bank of the Canon at a place now called Scaithmoor where he built a fine house. He married one of the heiresses of the Grahams of Eskdale with whom he acquired the lands of Abercorn in Linlithgowshire notice the possession of Sir John the Graham the fidus Achates of Wallace. Here his family resided for some generations and were known in writs as to be Mores of Abercorn.

The sole heiress married Sir William Lindsay of the Byres.

Since the days of Horace name and birth without property have not been rated in the books so high as vile sea weed a fiscal dilemma from which the Mures are happily exempt and have long been. Touching their ample territorial possessions one of the earliest documents dated 1496 is an instrument of sazine of Sir Adam Mure's Nobilis viri Adae Mur de Cauldwel peaceably and legally conveying a small hamlet called Kempisland alias Breed sorrow so named because of the gratee sorrow it bred in debatting and contesting for the hereditable right thereof .This canting term kemping an old Scotch word for striving and fighting was a symbol and commentary of a disputatious age when border chiefs great coveters of Naboth's vineyard converted many an adjoining field into a cumpus belli of which the strongest man reaped the harvest with his claymore.

Siege of Stirling Castle. Cunynghame of Laiglane, Edward Mure of Middletoune, David Cunynghame of Bertaneholm, William Cunynghame of Craganis, William Cunynghame of Cunynghame, heid Mungo Mure of Rowallane, William Cuninghame in Glengarnock, and Robert Boyd in Kilmarnock for their treasonable art and part of besieging the Castle of Sterling in company with Johne Duke of Albany.

In the apprehension that something dreadful and destructive was approaching the panic of the Scot gentlemen this Council was extreme. The Archbishop of Glasgow was hastily dispatched to Court to urge the imminent danger and to solicit a warrant which was obtained and put in execution for the immediate imprisonment of about twenty gentlemen chiefly leading Presbyterians in the West without which it was impossible to answer for the peace and safety of the country.

Amongst the number so imprisoned were Major General Montgomery brother of the Earl of Eglinton, Sir Hugh Campbell of Cessnock, Sir William Cunningham of Cunninghamhead, Sir George Maxwell of Pollock, Sir William Muir of Rowallan, Sir James Stewart of Coltness, Major General Holborn of Menstrie, Colonel Robert Halket, brother of Halket of Pitfirrane, and Sir George Munro. Their imprisonment was the highest compliment that could be paid to them. It imported that they were men of acknowledged influence over their countrymen that their principles were odious to tyrants and if proper occasion arose that they might be expected to consecrate their abilities hearts and swords to the redemption their country from the bondage under which it was now groaning.

In the time of Robert Mure who succeeded to Polkelly in 1447 paying to the Crown 17 of relief a sheir the laird of Polkelly was a person of even greater importance than his kinsman and neighbor of Rowallan. Robert Mure of Polkelly was Chief Magistrate of Edinburgh in 1470. His name comes seventeenth in the list of Aldermen and Provosts in Maitland's History In the Registrum de Newbotle there is a Latin charter where the name of Robertus Mure de Polkelye prepositus de Edinburgh occurs. He appears to have held a commission as sheriff.

On 22nd October 1482 an instrument of sasine proceeding on a precept from Chancery addressed to Robert Mure Lord of Polkelly was granted to James Lord Boyd of the lands and barony of Kilmarnock.

In like manner also the house of Pokellie w the several branches of the house of Parke of which Midltone & Altonebume of wch Spitleside Brownehill and the Mures of Tarboltone the house of Skeldone of wch the

Mures of Woodland Knockmarlioch and Killikie the houses of Skemore & Annestone w yr branches the Mures of Duglasedale Carses & Calder the house of Bogside of wch the Mures of Arrathill Mures of Irwing & Polmadie of wch the most of the Mures of Glasgow the houses of Baldochat in Golloway of Sanquhare of Drwmskieoch of Achinneill of Ario land w the Mures of the Chappell of wcl1 the Mures of Edr for the most part.

The house of Ormishugh the houses of Cassen Carie & Fferrie of Blacklaw & Skirnalland of Well Ffinnickhill & Clarkland of Little Cesnock and Little Finnick houses of the latest descent some qrof falling to airs female some perishing throw oppression of the greater some throw proper misgoverment or siding w parties w qm they wer broken few of all being standing families at the present at the surname of Mure all of them I say diversified yr armes and from the paternall coat except in the stars and mullets by additionall nottes of distinction as the maisters of Herauldrie to the most considerable did appoynt or as best pleased the fansie of to make choyce of for themselves.

the entry of Caldwell House, designed by Adam and built c. 1763 the rebel army into Edinburgh", and an attack by the rebels on the king’s army which, at one point, led to "a panick into the foot, which was greatly increased by the cries and confusion of many thousands of spectators…" – a rather intriguing vision! The writer of this particular account describes "this memorable battle, at which I was present, and in which about 7000 of the best troops in the world fled like so many children before half that number of undisplined militia".

In 1291, There were a number of claimants to the Scottish throne and King Edward I of England "volunteered" to hear their case and decide who had the most valid claim. Those involved met Edward at Norham on Tweed in 1291. Edward insisted on all the nobles signing an oath of loyalty to him. Some declined but many signed what was the first (and smaller) of the "Ragman Rolls".

When Balliol began to resist the demands of Edward in 1296, the English King over-ran Berwick-upon-Tweed and defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar. He then marched across Scotland as far as the Moray Firth, capturing castles and removing such precious items as the Stone of Destiny, the Scottish crown and huge archives of Scotland's national records. On 28 August, 1296, Edward held a "parliament" at Berwick. All the prominent Scottish landowners, churchmen and burgesses were summoned to swear allegiance to Edward and sign the parchments and affix their seals, many of which had ribbons attached. Prominent people as Robert Bruce, 6th Lord of Annandale, his son, the 2nd Earl of Carrick and William Wallace's uncle, Sir Reginald de Crauford (all of whom signed in 1291, but not 1296).

In total, 2,000 signatures were inscribed, making it a most valuable document for future researchers. It is suggested that the term "Ragman Rolls" derived from the ribbons attached to the seals on the parchments but the name may also have been derived from an earlier record compiled for the purposes of Papal taxation by a man called Ragimunde, whose name was corrupted to Ragman.

More (Mor) de Cragg, Reynaud (del counte de Lanark).
More de Leuenaghes, Douenal le fiz Michel (del counte de Dunbretan).
More, de Thaugarfton, Symon de la (del counte de Lanark).
More, Adam de la (del counte de Are).
More, Gilcrift (del counte de Are).
More, Renaud de la (Renaud) (del counte de Are).
Morhalle, Johan de (tenant le Euefqe de Seint Andreu, del counte de Perth).
Morham, Thomas de (pufne, del counte de Striuelyn).

In 1291 A.D.- Thomas de la More was an executor of the will of Devorgilla, mother of king John Balliol. In the year of 1296, Adam de la More and William de la More were jurors on the lands of Lady Elena La Zuche in Cummingham. Sir Archibald Muir; his son and successor, Sir William Muir was knighted by David II around

1357, and he sent one of his sons as hostage to England for the ransom of the king.

1317- 1400- Name of Muir/ Moore spreads widely in the areas where the Norse language was still spoken, predominantly in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. Robertus More became a Burgess of Aberdeen in 1317.
Adam Mure was a juror on an inquest in Kirkwall.

In 1458; Johannes Muir held a tenement in Glasgow. In the year of 1469-1470, a John Muir was a vicar general of the predicant order in Scotland.

Mungo Muir supported his relative, the Regent Arran, during the minority rule of Mary, Queen of Scots, and fought for him at the battle of Glasgow Muir in 1543. He carried out significant improvements to the Rowallan castle before being killed at the battle of Pinkie in 1547.

The clan embraced the new reformed religion and became opponents of Mary, Queen of Scots. Sir William Mure of Rowallan, Covenanter, Sons and Daughters. In 1662 Youngest son of Sir William Muir created the baronet of Nova Scotia.

The story of the name langmuir belongs to the rich and colorful history of the clans of the lawless borderlands of Scotland and England.

By consulting some of the most ancient manuscripts such as the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland,the Ragman Rolls, the Domesday Book, parish records and cartularies, and tax records,researchers found the first record of the name langmuir in East Dunbartonshire at Langmuir,near Kirkintilloch, a town and former royal burgh about 8 miles (13km) northeast ofGlasgow.

Alternatively the name could have been derived from Longmore, near Ayr. [1] One ofthe first records of the name was Elice de la Longmore and Robert de Langemore of Ayrshirewho rendered homage to King Edward I in his invasion of Scotland in 1296.

Langmore, Langmuir, Langmoor,Langmuire, Longmuir, Longmore, Longmuire and Longmoorto are one of the varient spellings of langmuir and is a sept of Clan Muir.

From this historic region come the ancestors of the langmuir family; the earliest records of
whom were found in Kirkcudbrightshire where they were recorded as a family of great antiquity seated with manor and estates in that shire. John de Langmure was a juror in Irvinein 1417, John of Langmuir was listed there in 1424 and John of Langomwire was listed there in1524. John Langmour, a presbyter witness a deed regarding the Collegiate Church of Dalkeith in 1477. They also acquired branches at Kirkintilloch and Kilmaurs. In the 16th century they acquired the lands of Kirkland, as well as estates in Midlothian and Edinburgh.

From examining such documents as the Inquisitio, 1120 A.D., the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, The Ragman Rolls, the Chronicles of the Picts and Scots; as well as and various other cartularies of parishes in Scotland, we have determined that the Moir name was first found in Aberdeenshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Obar Dheathain), a historic county, and present day Council Area of Aberdeen, located in the Grampian region of northeastern Scotland, where they held a family seat from early times. The family name Moir first appearedon the early census rolls taken by the early Kings of Scotland to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects.

The family name Moir emerged as that of a Scottish Clan or family in this territory. More specifically they developed from their original territories of Aberdeen where they were recorded as a family of great antiquity seated with manor and estates in that shire. Robert Moir was a distinguished businessman of that city in 1300.

The early Clan seat was at Uthircoly in Aberdeen but they later branched to Abergeldie, Otterburn, Hilton, Scotstoun,Stoneywood, Invernettie in Aberdeen, and Leckie in Stirlingshire. The Moir Baronetcy, of Longford in the County of Nottingham, was created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia on 18 June 1636 for Edward Moir. The title became dormant on his death in 1644. This baronetcy included: Sir Edward Moir, 1st Baronet (c.1610-1644); Sir Ernest William Moir, 1st Baronet(1862-1933); Sir Arrol Moir, 2nd Baronet (1894-1957); Sir Ernest Ian Royds Moir, 3rd Baronet (1925-1998); Sir Christopher Ernest Moir, 4th Baronet (b. 1955).

Sir John Muir abiding in the raid of Linlithgow.

In the time of Robert Mure who succeeded to Polkelly in 1447 paying to the crown, 17 of relief a sheir. The laird of Polkelly was a person of, even greater importance than his kinsman and neighbor of Rowallan. Robert Mure of Polkelly was chief magistrate of Edinburgh in 1470.

He appears to have held a commission as sheriff on October 22, 1482, an instrument of sasine proceeding on a precept from chancery addressed to Robert Mure, Lord of Polkelly was granted to James, Lord Boyd of the lands and barony of Kilmarnock.

Glencairn and Mure of Caldwell were in the same year, engaged in the abortive rising under Arran who aspired to the regency to depose. Albany and worked upon by the intriguing of Lord Daere as well as by the family enmity we find the master of Glencairn or Kilmaurs in 1517 hotly engaged in the work of anarchy.

Mure family Until 1681 Searching the National Archives of Scotland using alternative spellings I discovered that on 9th September 1570, "Quintin Mure in Kileckie" witnessed an agreement between Gilbert Kennedy 4th Earl, and "Allan Abbot of Crossragwell" in which "the Earl obliges himself to pay yearly to the Abbot the sum of £100".

The story of "the Roasting of the Abbot of Crossraguel" tells that on 1st September 1570, Allan Stewart, the Commendator of Crossraguel Abbey near... Maybole, was kidnapped, taken to Dunure Castle and roasted over a fire until he agreed to sign over the abbey lands to Gilbert. Afterwards Gilbert granted him a yearly pension of £100. Quintin Mure was a witness to several important documents around this time – why?

Was he related to the Mures in Auchendrane (the murderers of Sir Thomas Kennedy) or Cloncaird, both important houses in the area? Later lists of farm tenancies show several generations of Mures in Kileckie, until 1681, when John Mure is listed, but what happened to him?

The High court of Justiciary might pronounce sentences of outlawry upon the Kennedys and the Boyds, Cunninghams and Montgomeries, Crawfurds and the Kerrs, Campbells and the Mures and put them to the horn at the Mercat cross.

A powerful faction, wrought upon by the internal jealousies of the kingdom, not less than by the English's influence and by English gold, espoused the cause of the hereditary enemy; among them the Earl of Glencairn and the Mures of Caldwell.

The estates of Sir Alexander were sequestrated and by 1642, had passed into the possession of James Mure, burgess and Merchant of Edinburgh, who in an inquisition of the 28th July of that year, as owner of the lands and barony of the lands of West Nisbet, Mungaswall, Reishill, Fluiris, Glouroverhin, Windinkhall, Nisbet, Nisbet-hill, Craiklie and Wettie- Wallis, all in the parish of Edrom.

John Mure of Auchendraine in Ayrshire, was a gentleman of good means and connection; who acted at one time in a judicial capacity as ballie of Carrick, and gave general satisfaction by his judgement.

Sir Reginald Mure of Abercorn, who was a chamberlain of Scotland in 1329.

The entry of Caldwell house, designed by Adam and built in 1763; The rebel army into Edinburgh, and an attack by the rebels on the King's army which at one point, led to a panic into the foot, which was greatly increased by the cries and confusion of many thousands of spectators.

Over the principal entrance of Rowallan Castle is the family coat of arms and above a side entrance is a Hebrew inscription of Palsm xvi 5 " The lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup." Also Sir William built Fenwick Kirk in 1649 his initials and arms are over the gallery doorway.
The earliest record of an Ayrshire Ryeburn was a Robert Ryeburn who in 1496 witnessed an " Instrument of sasine" given by a noble knight, Sir Adam Mure of Caldwell near Lugton.

The Marquis of Bute reviewed these old writs in a lecture to the Scottish history society. Dated in 1563, one of these old documents is a note of assignation by David Mure in Kilkerran, in which Mure stated he was wrongfully ejected by Adam, his servants and accomplices in July 1532, and he in 1563, claims, all the rents and profits of these lands for the past 31 years or thereby. Muir built and owned Penkill Castle before being ejected.

Langsaw, Hessilhead, Skelmorelie, Lord Boyd, Lord Semple, and Lord Mure of Caldwell on one side, and Caprington and Maxwell of Newark on the other side. Both sides failing to disband their forces which they kept in arms throughout the winter.

The unrest continued during that summer with both Glencairn and the Montgomeries assembling more men in November before matters quietened down in the winter of 1592- 1593.
David de More, of the house of Polkelly, Renfrewshire, appears as a witness to a charter of Alexander II. Willielmi de Mora and Laurentii de Mora also occur in two charters granted by Robert the Bruce.

The latter distinguished himself at the battle of Largs in 1263, and for his bravery was knighted. "At which time," says the 'Historie,' "Sir Gilchrist was reponed to his whole inheritance, and gifted with the lands belonging to Sir Walter Cuming before mentioned, a man not of the meanest of that powerful tribe, which for might and number have scarcelie to this day been equaled in this land."

He married Isobel, daughter and heiress of the said Sir Walter Cumin, and in the death of his father-in-law, he found himself secured not only in the title and full possession of his old inheritance, but also in the border lands wherein he succeeded to Sir Walter Cuming, within the sheriffdom of Roxburgh. Sir Gilchrist "disponed to his kinsman Ranald More, who had come purposely from Ireland for his assistance: in the time of his troubles, and also at the battle of Largs, the lands of Polkellie, which appear to have been the original inheritance of the family.

Sir Gilchrist Muir died "about the year 1280, near the 80 year of his age," and was buried "with his forefathers in his own burial place in the Mures Isle at Kilmarnock." He had a son, Archibald, and two daughters, Elizabeth, the wife of Sir Godfrey Ross, and Anicia, married to Richard Boyle of Kelburne, ancestor of the earls of Glasgow.

William More, the son and successor of Archibald, married a daughter of the house of Craigie, then Lindsay, and with two daughters, had a son, Adam, who succeeded him. Of William honorable mention is made in an indenture of truce with England in the nonage of King David, wherein he is designated Sir William.

He died about the time when King David was taken prisoner at the battle of Durham, fought 17th October 1346. There is supposed to have been an older son than Adam, named Reynold. The editor of the 'History,' on the authority of Crawford's Officers of State, (vol. i. p. 290), says in a note: Reynold, son and heir of Sir William More, was one of the hostages left in England at David's redemption.

Sir Adam More, who, "in his father's auld age," had the management of all his affairs, both private and public, considerably enlarged and improved the estate. He married, in his younger years, Janet Mure, heiress of Polkellie, granddaughter of Ranald More, and thus restored that estate to the family. By this marriage he had two sons, Sir Adam, his successor, and Andrew, and a daughter, Elizabeth, married in 1348, to Robert, the high steward, afterwards King Robert II.

Elizabeth Muir of Rowallan was a lady of great beauty and rare virtues, and attracted the high steward's regard in his younger years when living in concealment about Dundonald castle during Edward Baliol's usurpation.

Sir Adam, the eldest son, had on his own resignation, a new charger from Robert III., of the barony of Rowallan and whole lands Holden of the crown, as also of the barony of Polkellie, &c., with very ample privileges, the designation given him by the king being 'consanguineus.'

He married Joan, daughter of Danielston of that ilk, and by her had three sons. "Carried away," says the 'History,' "as appears with emptied surmises and hopes founded on court favors, he made unawares a new rent in his estate and provided his second son, Alexander, to the barronie of Pokellie, together with the lands of Limflare and Lowdonehill, wherein his lady was infeft in liferent, and wer given out by him, now the second time, to the great damage and prejudice of his house and posteritie.

However, at that time the court seemed to smile upon him, his proper estate considerable, his friendship strong, and of the greatest of these times. He gave a quartered coat of the arms of Mure and cumin. The hoarseness and asperitie of the Irish pronunciation of his title and lands is forgot, and Rigallane is now Rowallane, Pothkellath is now Pokellie, &c., and More is now Mure by the court dialect.

He died in 1399. His two younger sons, Alexander and Rankine, were steady adherents of the Douglases. From the earl of Douglas, who married Margaret, daughter of Robert III., he had the lands of Hareschaw and Drumbowy, Lanarkshire, by a precept of infeftment dated in 1417. The family of Polkellie, sprung from him, continued for nearly 150 years, when Margaret, daughter and heiress of William Mure, the last of that house, marrying Robert Cunningham of Cunninghamhead, her whole inheritance came into possession of that family.

Rankine, the youngest son, was "commonly called of Abercorn," says the 'History,' "not that he had these lands in heritage, for that doth never appear by history nor evident that ever come to my hands, notwithstanding of the common tradition thairanent, being established their as bailiff and a chief officer under his lord, the earl of Douglass, having charge of his men their in all his noble achievements." He "rose to no mean respect, place, and power, and is said to have attained to large possessions in Stirlingshire within Abercorn, the Carses Calder and other places adjacent where he also settled divers of his surname and friends." He was an active and stirring adversary of Sir Alexander Livingstone of Calender, guardian of the young king, James II., one of the principal enemies of the earl of Douglas.

Rankine's grandson long held out the castle of Abercorn for the Douglases, and was slain when it was stormed, and the power of that great family overthrown. Archibald, eldest son of Sir Adam, succeeded. He married Euphame Kennedy, daughter of the knight of Dunure, ancestor of the marquis of Ailsa, and had a son, named Robert.

He is said by the author of the 'History' to have "died in battle against England, 1426." The date is evidently wrong, for, as the editor remarks in a note, "Nothing in history of this nature corresponds to the date 1426. The action alluded to should possibly be referred to the battle of Sark, 1448; and if so, we must place Archibald, who fell, after a Robert, probably his brother, and both sons of an Archibald."

In a charter of "George Fullertoun, lord of Corsbie," in 1430, Robert More of Rowallan is designated sheriff depute, it is understood of Ayrshire. He is supposed to have been succeeded by a son or brother named Archibald, father of another Robert "who frequented the court in the minoritie of King James the Third.

He was ane man black hared and of ane budge large stature, therefore, commonly called 'the Rud of Rowallane.'" The epithet 'Rud' is explained in a note to mean of great stature and strength, "a man with 'a back as braid as a barn door,' and who, in addition to his bodily ability, has also the inclination for a fray." The 'History' does not give a good account of this fierce personage, 'the Rud of Rowallan,' nor of his wife either.

"The king, in his bearer head proponed to round with him, and as he offered swa to doe dang out his eye with the spang of ane cockle shell. He was a man reguarded not the well of his house, but in following court, and being unfit for it, wasted, sold, and wadset all his proper lands of Rowallane, whilk may be ane example to all his posteritie.

He married Margerie Newfound, daughter to the laird of Michaelhill in the Merse; ane drunken woman, and ane waistor man, what made then this house to stand but the grace of God?" The 'Rud of Rowallan' died in 1504. He had four sons and a daughter. John, his eldest son, married "Elizabeth Stewart, daughter to the first Lord Evandale," says the 'Historie,' "whose mother was daughter to the earle of Crawfurd, called Earle Beardie."

The first Lord Evandale, who was the son of Lord James Stewart, son of Murdoch, duke of Albany, of the royal house of Stewart, died without issue in 1488. His nephew, Andrew Stewart, who afterwards succeeded to the estate of Evandale, was created a peer by the same title. He left several sons and daughters, and Elizabeth Stewart, who married John Mure of Rowallan, must have been one of the latter, although not mentioned so in the published histories.

If, as is understood, she was the daughter of the second, not the first, Lord Evandale, she was the sister of Andrew Stewart, third Lord Evandale, and also of Henry Stewart, created Lord Methven, the third husband of Margaret, queen-mother of Scotland, daughter of Henry VII. Of England, and grandmother of Mary, queen of Scots.

He had four sons and three daughters. The sons were, John, his successor; Archibald, called 'Mickle Archibald;' Patrick Boyd, and James. From Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, we learn that "Nov. 3, 1508. - Patrick Boyde, brother to the laird of Rowallan," and 27 others, were "convicted of art and part of convocation of the lieges against the act of parliament, coming to the Kirk of Stewarton, in company with John Mure of Rowallan, for the office of parish clerk of the same kirk, against Robert Cunynghame of Cunynghamehed and his servants, in the year 1508;" and that "James Muir, brother to the laird of Rowalloun was, in 1508, convicted of art and part of the forethought felony and oppression done to John Mowat, junior, laird of Busbie, and Andrew Stevinstone, in the town of Stewarton, in company with the laird of Rowalloun."

John is said to have "deceast before Robert his father in 1501;" if so, he must have possessed the estate on his father's resignation. The editor adds in a note, that he was dead in 1495. A long feud had existed betwixt the lairds of Crawfurdland and Rowallan, the latter being superior of the lands of Ardoch as Crawfurdland was first called, during which the evidents of both houses were destroyed. In a Justice-eyre, held at Ayr about 1476 by John, Lord Carlyle, chief justice of Scotland on the south side of the Forth, Robert Muir of Rowallan and John Muir his son, and others their accomplices, were indicted for breaking the king's peace against Archibald Craufurd of Craufurdland.

John Mure of Rowallan, the eldest son, and grandson of Robert "the Rud," married Margaret, third daughter of Archibald Boyd of Bonshaw, brother of Thomas, master of Boyd, created earl of Arran about 1467. This lady was the means of putting an end to the feud of the Rowallan family with the Crawfurds. In her youth she had been mistress to James IV., by whom, with a son, Alexander, bishop of St. Andrews, she had a daughter, Catherine Stewart, married to the third earl of Morton. She afterwards "procured to herself the ward of the laird of Rowallan, John Muir, and married him." They had sasine of the lands of Warnockland, the gift of James IV., in January 1498. This John Mure of Rowallan was slain at Flodden in September 1513. He had four sons and four daughters.

Mungo, his eldest son, succeeded him. His half-sister, Catherine, countess of Morton, had three daughters, the eldest of whom, Lady Margaret Douglas, married the regent earl of Arran, duke of Chatelherault, ancestor of the dukes of Hamilton; the second, Lady Beatrix, married Lord Maxwell; and the youngest, Lady Elizabeth, became the wife of the regent Morton. These noblemen, therefore, stood in near relationship to Mungo Mure of Rowallan, which they were all very ready, the regent Morton in particular, to acknowledge. Mungo Mure of Rowallan was with Robert Boyd of the Kilmarnock family when he arrived, with a party of horse, to the assistance of the regent Arran in the skirmish at Glasgow, in 1543, with the earl of Glencairn.

In the appendix to the 'History' there is an account of "the behavior of the house of Kilmarnock towards the house of Rowallane, and of their house towards them," in which he is thus referred to: "It is understand that Mungow Muir of Rowallane, quhois mother was Boyd, joynit with Robert Boyd guidmane of Kilmarnock, in seeking revengement of the slaughter of James Boyd, the king's sisteris sone, quho sould have bene Lord Boyd, bot befoir he was fullie restorrit was slaine be the earl of Eglintoune.

Nixt, my lord of Glencairne proponing ane richt to the barronie of Kilmarnock proclaimit ane court to be holdin at the Knockanlaw, quhair the said Robert Boyd guidmane of Kilmarnock and Mungow Muir of Rowallane, with the assistance of thair friends, keipit the said day and place of court, offirit battle to the said earl of Glencairn, and stayit him from his pretendit court hoilding. Thridlie, the foirsaid Robert Boyd guidmane of Kilmarnock, and the said Mungow Muir of Rowallane, entirit in the field of Glasgow, the said Mungow being lairglie better accompanied then the foirsaid Robert, they behavit themselfe so valiantlie in that fact that the Duik Hamiltone quho reckonit both his lyfe and honour to be preservit be thair handis, maid the said Robert Boyd, guidman of Kilmarnock, Lord Boyd, lyk also as he revardit the said Mungow Muir with dyvers fair giftis.

The said Robert Boyd hichlie esteemit of the sais Mungow Muir of Rowallane and gave him the first place of honour al his dayis, acknawleging the alternation of his estait to the worthines of the said Mungowis handis. "This Mungo is particularly mentioned as having greatly improved the old castle of Rowallan. He was slain in battle at Pinkiefield "at the black Satterday, in the yeare of our lord 1547." He married Isabel, daughter of Sir Hugh Campbell of Loundoun, sheriff of Ayr, and had five sons and six daughters. His eldest son, John Mure of Rowallan, took great delight in planting, and built a portion of Rowallan castle. He "lived gratiouslie," says the 'Historie,' and "died in 1581, in the 66th year of his age."

The year is supposed to be a mistake for 1591, as it is given in the family Genealogical tree, drawn up in 1597. A 'letter of Soleance,' subscribed at Irvine and Kilwinning, 16th and 17th March 1571, is inserted in the Appendix to the 'Historie' so often quoted, from Alexander Cowper, mason in Kilwinning, "with consent and assent" of certain persons named, his "cheife and capitall branchis, bayth on the father side and mother side," granting his remission, free forgiveness and pardon to John Mure of Rowallan, William Mure, his son and heir, John Mure and Mungo Mure, his sons, and two others, and "thair complices, kin, freindis, allys, assistaris and parttakeris, the crewall wonding, hurting and bluding of me, the said Alexander, to the great effusions of my blude, done and committit be the saidis persones thair seruandis and complicis," in the month of February, 1570.

The account above quoted of the mutual friendly offices between these families appears to have been drawn up in reference to this charge. It recites many good deeds done by the Mures to the Boyds, in particular, amongst others, that after Robert, master of Boyd, had slain Sir Neil Montgomerie of Lainshaw, he was received and concealed by John Muir of Rowallan, who, with his friends and servants, was the means of saving his life, when pursued by the Montgomeries; and also that after the battle of Langside he kindly received the said Robert, being then Lord Boyd, although he had fallen into disfavour with the regent Moray, and much more to the same purport.

John Muir of Rowallan subscribed the bond in support of the Reformation in 1562, and the same year he was a member of the Scottish estates. In 1568, when Queen Mary escaped from Lochleven castle, she wrote the laird of Rowallan a letter dated 6th May that year, requiring him to meet her at Hamilton, as soon as he could muster his retainers, all well armed for her service. It does not appear, however, that he complied with the summons. In 1584 John Mure of Rowallan, "and his spouse and six persons with them in company," received a license from James VI., to eat flesh in Lent, and upon Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays "for ane zeir next hereafter," and in February 1588 he had the present of a gray courser from his kinsman, the earl of Morton, on the latter going abroad. In the letter which accompanied the gift he says: "I think ze sall find him als meit in haikney for zour self or zour wife to ryd upoun as ony uther, for I chosit him to have been presentit to the king quhen the Scots horse suld have been send to the duke of Gwies."

He married a daughter of Cunninghame of Cunninghamehead, and had three sons and three daughters. His third son, Mungo Mure, received a remission, of date 1st March 1607, for being concerned in the slaughter of Hew, fourth earl of Eglintoun. He died in London in November 1632. Before his departure, we are told, he greatly lamented "the crying sinne of innocent blood."

William, the eldest son, succeeded his father. He was "of a meik and gentle spirit, and delyted much in the study of phisick, which he practiced especiallie among the poore people with very good success. He was ane religious man, and died gratiouslie in the yeare of his age 69, the year of our lorde 1616." With three daughters he had three sons, Sir William, who succeeded him; John Mure of Blacklaw, who was slain at a combat at Beith, and Hugh of Skirnalland.

Sir William, the eldest son, the next laird of Rowallan, is described as "ane strong man of bodie, and delyted much in hunting and halking." He died in 1639, aged 63. He was thrice married, and had issue by each of his wives. His eldest son, by his first wife, Elizabeth Montgomery, daughter of the laird of Hazlehead, was William Mure of Rowallan, the eminent poet, a memoir of whom is given below. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir William Mure of Rowallan, in the end of 1657.

This Sir William Mure was firmly attached to the Reformed doctrines, and was the intimate friend of the celebrated Mr. Guthrie, first minister of Fenwick. It is said that conventicles were held in the house of Rowallan during his time. Whether on this account or not, it is certain that he suffered much during the troubles of the Church of Scotland. He was imprisoned in 1665, in the castle of Stirling, with the lairds of Cunninghamehead and Nether-Pollock.

When other gentlemen were liberated upon the bond of peace in 1668, these three were retained in confinement, but in the year following, on the removal of Bishop Burnet from Glasgow, they presented a petition for release to the duke of Lauderdale, the commissioner, which was granted. IN 1683 Sir William Mure again fell under the suspicion of the court, and was apprehended, with his eldest son, in London. They were sent to Edinburgh and committed prisoners to the Tolbooth.

In the same year his second son, John, was taken prisoner, and carried to Edinburgh. In a short time the health of the young laird of Rowallan required indulgence, and he was allowed to be removed from the prison to a private house. In April 1684, they were both discharged, upon giving a bond of E2,000, to appear when called upon. Sir William died in or about 1686. He married about 1640, Elizabeth, daughter of James Hamilton of Aikenhead, provost of Glasgow, and had two sons and a daughter.

The elder son, William Mure of Rowallan, the last lineal representative of the family, was entered a student at the university of Glasgow in 1660. His share in the afflictions of his father has been already noticed.
This did not shake his attachment to the church for which he suffered. His name frequently occurs in the records of the parish of Kilmarnock. He is mentioned there, for the last time, in 1695, in a commission to defend a process of translation before the synod. He was a member of the Scots parliament, and died in 1700.

He married, about 1670, Dame Mary Scott, apparently heiress of Collarny in Fife, by whom he had three daughters, Anna, Margaret, and Jean. The latter, his only surviving daughter and sole heiress, married, first, William Fairlie of Bruntsfield, near Edinburgh, afterwards designed of Fairlie, to whom she had issue. Tradition still points out the spot where Fairlie was married to the heiress of Rowallan. The ceremony was performed by a curate, in the fields, about a quarter of a mile from the house of Rowallan, at a tree, still called the marriage tree, which stands on the top of a steep bank, above that part of the stream called "Janet's kirn."

The heiress of Rowallan married, secondly, David, first earl of Glasgow, and had to him three daughters, Lady Betty, who died in infancy; Lady Jean, who, by special destination, succeeded to Rowallan, and Lady Anne, who died unmarried. Jean Mure, countess of Glasgow, died September 3, 1724, and was succeeded by her elder surviving daughter of the second marriage, Lady Jean Boyle Mure of Rowallan, who married the Hon. Sir James Campbell of Lawers, K.B., third and youngest son of the second earl of Loudoun. Their son, James Mure Campbell, succeeded to the estate of Rowallan, and was the fifth earl of Loudoun (see LOUDOUN, fifth earl).

Sir Reginald, who was granduncle of the queen, Elizabeth Mure, first wife of Robert I., acquired his extensive estates of Abercorn, &c., in the Lothians and Stirlingshire, by marriage with one of the coheiresses of Sir John Graham of Eskdale and Abercorn. He adhered steadily to the cause of David II. in the Baliol wars with England, and was one of the commissioners appointed in 1340 to treat with the lords Percy, Moubray, and Neville of a truce between the two kingdoms. With one daughter, he had two sons, William, who succeeded to Abercorn, and died without male issue, and Gilchrist More, already mentioned, who carried on the line of the family.

Sir Adam Mure, the fourth in succession from Gilchrist, was knighted by James IV., and is supposed to have been slain at the battle of Flodden. His son, John Mure of Caldwell, on 20th February 1515, took by assault, at the head of his followers, "the castle and palace" of the archbishop of Glasgow, situated near the city, battering the walls in breach 'with artillery,' and carrying off a rich booty. He married Lady Janet Stewart, daughter of Matthew earl of Lennox, and grand-aunt of Lord Darnley, husband of Mary, queen of Scots, and died in 1533.

His eldest son, John Mure of Caldwell, had, with other children, two sons, John, his heir, and William of Glanderstoun, ancestor of the Mures of Glanderstoun. The granddaughter of the latter was the mother of the Rev. William Carstairs, a divine of great political influence in the reign of William III.
His son, Sir Robert Mure of Caldwell, was one of the jury appointed in 1580 to try the Lord Ruthven, high-treasurer of Scotland, for the murder of David Rizzio. He was on terms of great intimacy and confidence with James VI., by whom he was knighted, and to whom he was related through the Lennoxes. Six letters addressed to him by that monarch, preserved at Caldwell, have been inserted in the 'Selections from the Caldwell Papers,' printed for the Maitland Club in 3 vols. 4to, in 1854.

About 1610 the lands of Thornton near Kilmarnock, long in possession of the family, were alienated to a cadet, founder of the house of Mure of Thornton, the male line of which becoming extinct in 1701, in the person of Sir Archibald Mure, lord provost of Edinburgh, the estate passed by his heir female to John Cuningham of Caddell, and is now held by his descendant, in feu of the Caldwell family.

William Mure of Caldwell, the fourth in succession to Sir Robert, was a staunch Covenanter. He and a few other west-country gentlemen of similar sentiments, met in arms at Chitterfleet, in the parish of Beith, on 28th November 1666, and having collected a body of horsemen, amounting to about fifty in all, and consisting chiefly of the tenantry of Caldwell and the neighbouring estates, they set out, under Caldwell's command, to join Colonel Wallace of Achans, who was marching from Galloway in the direction of the Pentlands, by Lesmahago and Lanark.

On the way, finding themselves intercepted by the king's troops, under General Dalzell, they retraced their steps, and dispersed. Caldwell was attainted, fled to Holland, and died in exile. His estates were bestowed on General Dalzell; and Caldwell's lady, a daughter of Sir William Cunninghame of Cunninghamehead, was imprisoned, with two of his daughter, in Blackness castle, where she underwent much cruel persecution.

Barbara Mure, the second daughter, lived to obtain, by special act of parliament, 19th July 1690, a full restoration of the family estates. She married John Fairlie of that ilk, but dying without issue, was succeeded, in 1710, by her kinsman, William Mure, fourth laird of Glanderstoun, descended from William, second son of the John Mure who inherited Caldwell in 1539. This William Mure bore his share in the persecution of the times, having been imprisoned and fined, on a charge of nonconformity, in 1683. A Journal of a tour by him through England and the Netherlands in 1696, is printed among the 'Caldwell Papers.'

Dying without issue, he was succeeded by his nephew, William Mure, eldest son of Mure of Rhoddens in Ireland. His son, William Mure of Caldwell, M.P. for Renfrewshire from 1742 to 1761, was appointed one of the barons of the exchequer in Scotland in the latter year. In 1753 he bought Wester or Little Caldwell from the duke of Hamilton. The portion of the estate the Mures had previously possessed was called Easter Caldwell. Baron Mure was an intimate associate of David Hume the historian, and the author of one of two tracts on speculative points of political economy, printed for private circulation.

His correspondence and miscellaneous papers occupy the greater part of two of the three volumes of the 'Caldwell Papers.' He was rector of the university of Glasgow in 1764-5, and died in 1776.His eldest son, Colonel William Mure of Caldwell, was the friend of Sir John Moore, but early left the army. He was rector of the university of Glasgow in 1793-4. He married Anne, eldest daughter of Sir J. Hunter Blair, bart. of Dunskev, with issue, and died February 9, 1831.

Col. Mure's eldest son, William Mure of Caldwell, D.C.L., born July 9, 1799, was educated at Westminster, and studied at Edinburgh and in Germany, where he imbibed that taste for critical inquiry which made his name extensively known among the scholars of modern Europe. He married in 1825, Laura, 2d daughter of William Markham, Esq. of Becca Hall, Yorkshire, with issue; vice-lieutenant of Renfrewshire and colonel of its militia; was M.P. for that county from 1846 to 1855; lord-rector of Glasgow university in 1847-48; author of 'Brief Remarks on the Chronology of the Egyptian Dynasties; showing the Fallacy of the System laid down by Messrs.

Champollion, in Two Letters on the Museum of Turin,' London, 1829, 8vo; 'A Dissertation on the Calendar of the Zodiac of Ancient Egypt,' Edinburgh, 1832, 8vo; 'A Tour in Greece,' 1842; 'A Critical History of the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece,' 5 vols., 8vo. 1850-57; and the compiler of the 'Caldwell Papers.' He died at London, April 1, 1860, in his 61st year.

His eldest son, William Mure of Caldwell, lieutenant-colonel Scots fusilier guards, married 3d daughter of 1st Lord Leconfield. David Mure, born in 1810, 3d son of Col. William Mure, who died in 1831, passed advocate at the Scottish bar in the latter year. In 1853 he was appointed sheriff of Perthshire, and in 1858 solicitor-general for Scotland; lord-advocate in April 1859, and elected M.P. for Buteshire soon after.

The Muir/ Mure of Skaithmuir or back then it was called Skaithmure was owned by clan Muir from 1329- 1617; the last of this great line was the eldest son Alexander Mure. The lands of Skaithmure from the reign of David II till about the middle of the sixteenth century belonged to the family of More or Mure of Skaithmure. The old castle of which it is supposed a square tower3 about five hundred yards west of Carron Hall mansion is all that now remains was said have been built by Sir Reginald More Lord Great under David II .

On the tower are two sundials and the lintel of a window is the date 1637 and the initials Alexander fourth Lord Elphinstone and Dame Jean Livingstone his wife 1 whose son Michael was the founder of Quarrell branch of the Elphinstones as already stated Fleming has given interesting sketches of the tower and in his book Ancient Castles and Mansions of Stirling Nobility About 1488. Alexander Mure of Skaithmure was tenant his son James of Westerton of Bothkenner A charter by Robert Bisset of Quarrell is dated at Skaithmure 21st May 1543 sic probably 1534 and William Mure of Skamur a witness.

The confirmation of this charter is dated September 1542. Probably about this date the Bissets into possession of the lands On 31st October 1582. Mure was retoured heir of Alexander Mure of Skaithmure his father in the lands of Skaithmure and as late as 1617. Alexander Mure eldest son of the late Alexander of Skaithmure was alive From this time Skaithmure to be used as a territorial title.

MUIR - This family has been located in Sanday since 1502, when William of Mure and his brother are recorded by Henry, Lord St.Clair. William, who is designed as of Clat, there, held also the bull (mansion house) of Brugh, Lemsgarth, and Brusgarth. Sir Nicholas Muir, Canon of Orkney, is named in 1426."
According to Burke’s Landed Gentry, George Mure’s family is directly descended from Sir Reginald More, or Mure, of Abercorn and Cowdams.

Feudal strife was common place in Scotland in bygone centuries, and the Mure family was as involved as any. In 1500, according to the family records. The Caldwell Papers, Robert Mure, a son of Adam Mure of Caldwell, was granted a Remission under the Privy Seal for the "slaughter of umquhile Patrick Boure, and for the forthocht fellony done upon the Laird of Ralston". Sir Adam’s second son, John, described as "a bold and turbulent baron", fought against the government of the Duke of Albany and was involved in the sacking of the "Castle and Palace" of Glasgow in 1515.

A consequent action for damages for the destruction and plunder of these properties forced him to mortgage his estate of Camseskane. A generation later, this laird’s son, also called John, took part in 1543 in "the bloody battle called the Field of the Muir of Glasgow". Six years later he was indicted for having "with his five brothers and twenty-six others, armed in warlike manner, invaded Robert Master of Sempill and his servants for their slaughter, near the place and tour of Cauldwell, and put them to flight". The Mures, of course, were also at times the victims.

Moving forward to the seventeenth century we find William Mure of Caldwell who, as mentioned in Burke’s Landed Gentry, was "attainted for joining the Covenanters, fled to Holland, and died in exile". His support for the Presbyterian cause and role in the rebellion against the English monarchy led to seizure of his estates which were granted to "the celebrated" General Dalziel – an "Englishmen" who subsequently destroyed Caldwell Castle (just one tower still stands today). Mure’s unfortunate wife, meanwhile, was imprisoned with two of her daughters in Blackness Castle where she "underwent much cruel persecution".

One of her daughters, Anne, was to die as a result. As Anne lay mortally ill in the house of relatives, not far from Blackness, her mother appealed to be allowed to visit her: "Yet such was the unnatural cruelty of the times that so reasonable a request could not be granted." Some ten years later Barbara, the other imprisoned daughter, was, by special Act of Parliament, granted a full restitution of the patrimonial estates".

The Mure family were to be witnesses of, or participants in, several other historic upheavals. "In the eighteenth century," relates George Mure, "a later William Mure was Member of Parliament for Renfrewshire from 1742 to 1761, and one of the Barons of the Scottish Exchequer.

Letters about the rebellion collected in The Caldwell Papers speak of "unnatural rebellion", "the entry of Caldwell House, designed by Adam and built c. 1763 the rebel army into Edinburgh", and an attack by the rebels on the king’s army which, at one point, led to "a panic into the foot, which was greatly increased by the cries and confusion of many thousands of spectators…" – a rather intriguing vision! The writer of this particular account describes "this memorable battle, at which I was present, and in which about 7000 of the best troops in the world fled like so many children before half that number of undisciplined militia".

The rebels, nonetheless, were eventually forced into retreat by the Duke of Cumberland’s forces. Meanwhile a certain Archibald Stuart, wine-merchant, Lord Provost and MP for the city of Edinburgh, and a mutual friend of John Coutts, an influential banker, and of William Mure, was accused of Caldwell House gutted by a fire in the 1990s"favouring the Pretender and conniving at the occupation of the town by the rebel force".

To his friends’ relief, no doubt, Stuart was honorably acquitted at his trial. Farther afield, thirty-six years later, William Mure’s son, William, was to serve in America as a captain in his Britannic Majesty’s 82nd Regiment of Foot, which was forced into capitulation at Yorktown in October 1781. As America won its independence, Capt. Mure was made a prisoner of war. A very secret service –

The marriage of David William Alexander Mure to Diana Melicent Wathen at Mercer’s Hall, London, February 1938. In more recent history, William Mure, grandson of the first Lord Leconfield and head of his sept, the Mures of Caldwell, died in 1912 leaving a son, David William Alexander Mure who was born that same year at Eglinton Castle, Ayrshire.

David Mure was the last of his family to be born in Scotland. George explains that "At the outbreak of WWII,
David Mure, my father, enlisted in the Royal Norfolk Regiment and was soon commissioned into the 60th Rifles. Initially he served in the Western Desert but was then enlisted by the so-called ‘A’ Force. The overt role of this Middle East-based operation was to train soldiers in escape methods. In practice, it was involved in top-secret work, using the radio sets of double agents to feed back misleading information to the German Abwehr. Work on breaking the codes used by the famed Enigma machine was crucial to the operation. "The method was ingenious.

Each agent had a team of imaginary contacts and sub-agents. As my father described it in his book Practice to Deceive: ‘The agent’s wireless transmissions or letters to his Abwehr controllers would duly contain the latest news from his notional team. Enormous trouble was taken to endow each notional contact or sub-agent with a character of his own, with quirks and idiosyncrasies which were lovingly maintained throughout each transmission rather as in a long-running radio or television serial. The transmissions or letters were, of course, composed by us, and similar care was taken to preserve the principal agent’s character and maintain the impression of his busy life spent spying for the Germans.’

"The deception was reinforced by what my father described as ‘fabricated invasion flotillas, tanks, aircraft, etc. and a system of displaying false divisional signs converting non-operational to operational formations’. He also attributed the success of these operations to the always tacit and sometimes, he believed, active connivance of the chief of the Abwehr, Admiral Canaris, and his colleagues of the Schwarze Kapelle, the anti-Nazi conspirators within the German General Staff. "Of enormous importance to the Allied war effort, the ‘A’ Force’s skills at deception successfully diverted the Germans from planned Allied invasions of the Sicilian and Normandy coasts by encouraging them to focus on a forthcoming, but entirely fictitious, invasion of the Balkans by the Allies."

The Mures in Tasmania William George Mure and brother Jock Lloyd Mure (sons of William James Mure), with Mure shield. David Mure’s son George, the current head of the family, has also led a somewhat unusual, and decidedly colourful, life. Born in London in 1939, during the war years he lived on his great uncle’s estate in Norfolk where learned to row and fish. George then moved to Kenya at the age of eight when his mother remarried.

The Mures are now one of the largest owners of fishing quotas in the State of Tasmania. Mures in Tasmania has become an institution and a place of pilgrimage for lovers of seafood dishes – so, as George rather modestly puts it: "The Scottish influence is alive and well in Tasmania…" While relishing such fine dishes as oyster soup, sashimi mille feuille, Tasmanian salmon in boronia oils, or warm seafood salad, tuned-in diners hearing the creak of rigging, lapping of water and keening of seagulls on the dockside will surely gain some inkling into the Mures’ long love affair with the sea.

In the history of rowallan, we have the unbroken line of our ancestors from the 1100th century to the 1600th century. They're the next Adam, Gil, Archibald, William, Adam, Adam, Archibald, Robert, John, John, Mungo, John and John. The last known John Muir came together with his brother James Muir to be an officer of the Swedish King. Scottish and French troops against Russia at the end of the 1500 s. He married the Finnish order of orders with the daughter of fin. John Muir died in 1613 Evers.

His son John Muir, as a soldier named Hans, was also Colonel Lieutenant. He fell in the battle of the 1640 at Greif Castle in saxony. The next two generations were also officers in the Swedish Army. The family knighted in Sweden in the 1680 s. In the 700st century, the male members of the family moved abroad (by someone's view, as the knighted von of Poland) and daughters married to Finnish families.

The Muir family had close links with Scottish Kings. Sir Gilchrist married King Alexander III's blessing with the only daughter of the king and Sir Walter Coymn. The members of the Muir family were the barons. Adam Muir's daughter Elizabeth Married 1346 of the Scottish King, Robert II. Their descendants are later in the king of Scotland and England. My Ancestor, Marion Boyd, was the mistress of King James IV Stewart in the 1490 s and had two children. In 1498, Marion married to John Muir, John Muir. They got eight more kids, the oldest Mungo Muir was our ancestor.

Moars in Orkney and Shetland

Native Families of the Orkney and Shetland Islands:
Mowir lands of Mobisland ( anciently Mobisyord) and Linahow. Mowir seems edvident origin of the Sandwick surname Moar (formerly Moir.)

These were, in alpahbetical order, Berstane, Clouston, Cragy (Craigie), Cromarty, Corrigal, Flett, Heddle, HALCRO, Ireland, Kirkness, LINKLATER, Ness (later Petereson, Petrie, Tulloch) Paplay, Rendall, Scarth (Formerly Harraldson/Bolt) Scalter and Yenstay.

The second Group is made up of the lesser native families of putative Norse Viking origin whose profile became slightly more prominent after the 1470/71 cession of the islands to the Scottish Crown and the subsequent tyrranical period under the Stewart Earls of Orkney which was in dark and direct contrast to the benevolent rule of the Sinclair 'Jarls' . This larger Group was made up of the following families:

Adie, Aikers, Aim, Aith, Annal, BAIKIE, Banks, Bigland, Breck, Brock, Brough, Burgar, Corsie, Corston, Coubister, Cumlaquoy, Cursetter/Cursitter, Deerness, Delday, Dinnison, Drever, Eunson (Johnsson) FEA, Firth, Flaw(s), Folster, Foubister, Gormistane, GARRIOCK, Garsand/Garson, Gilbertson, GROAT/Grote, Groundwater, Harcus, Harrald/Harrold, Harroldson, Harray, Hestwall, Hoseason, Hourston, Housgarth, Hunto (now Hunter), Hurie/Hurrey, Inksgair, Inkster/Ingsgar, Instabille, Keldie, Kirkbrek, KNARSTON, Langskaill, Larquoy, Laughton, LEASK, Linay, Male, Marsetter, Marwick, Matches, Meason of Whytquoy, Meil, Midhouse, Moar, Norn, Norquoy, Nestegard, Newsgar, Oddie, Omand/Omond (Amundsen), Orkney, Peace REDLAND, Ritch, Rousay (now Rosie, Rosey, Rossey) Rusland, Sabiston, Stanger, Stockan, Stove, TAIT, Towrie/Tyrie, Turfeus/Torfus, (Thorfinnson/Torphisson), Twatt, Vedder, Velzian, Voy, Walls, Wick, Windwick, Yorson and Yule

According to the page ORCADIAN FAMILIES list Muir/Moar of Orkney in the year of 1426. This family has been located in Sanday since 1502, when William of Mure and his brother are recorded by Henry, Lord St.Clair. William, who is designed as of Clat, there, held also the bull (mansion house) of Brugh, Lemsgarth, and Brusgarth. Sir Nicholas Muir, Canon of Orkney, is named in 1426.