During the 16th century the clan found an outlet for their war-like spirit in supporting the Earls of Lennox. The Macfarlanes distinguished themselves at the Battle of Langside in 1568 fighting against Queen Mary. Later many of the clan fell at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. During this time the Macfarlanes embarked upon a feud with the Colquhouns and in 1592 were responsible for the murder of Sir Humphrey Colquhoun and later a further feud developed with the Buchanans. These and many other acts of lawlessness committed by the Macfarlanes resulted in the clan being made landless and their name proscribed through an Act of Estates in 1642. The clan scattered and many clansmen adopted aliases. In 1785 the lands of Arrochar had to be sold for debt and the chief emigrated to America. The daughter of the last chief made a nomination in favour of the Macfarlane of Keithton and a claim is now pending with the Lyon Court. Of the lairds of Macfarlane there have been no fewer than twenty-three. The last of them went to North America in the early part of the 18th century.
One of the earliest traditions connected with the family has to do with the great Norse invasion of Hakon, which ended at the battle of Largs in 1263. Previous to that battle, Hakon sent Olaf, King of Man, with sixty ships, up Loch Long. The Norsemen drew their vessels across the narrow isthmus of the MacFarlan country, between Arrochar and Tarbet on Loch Lomond, and the spot is pointed out, at the milestone midway, where the Laird of Arrochar hid his family from the fierce Norse raiders. Duncan, the second Laird of Arrochar, married Matilda, sister of Malcolm, fifth Earl of Lennox—he who was the friend of Wallace and Bruce, who fought at Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn, and fell at Halidon Hill, and there is reason to believe that the Laird of Arrochar and his followers fought under the Earl of Lennox at Bannockburn. It was to the country of Duncan of Arrochar that Bruce escaped on the memorable occasion when he crossed the narrow waters of Loch Lomond, and recited to his men the great romance of Fierabras; and it is pretty certain that Duncan would be one of the little group of the Earl’s hunting party which shortly afterwards met the King, and hospitably entertained him and his little army, in the hour of their need, with the fruits of the chase.
The son of Duncan and Matilda was named Malcolm, probably after his uncle the Earl; and Malcolm’s son, the fourth Laird, was named Pharlan, which has been translated Bartholomew. It is from this individual that the family have since taken their surname of MacFarlan. Pharlan’s son Malcolm had a charter confirming him in possession of the lands of Arrochar in 1354, and his son Duncan, the sixth Chief, married Christian, daughter of Sir Cohn Campbell of Lochow, and died shortly before 1460. His son John married a daughter of Sir James Mure of Rowallan, and sister of Elizabeth Mure, first wife of King Robert II. The next Chief, Duncan, was served heir to his father in 1441, and the next, Walter, married a daughter of the second Lord Livingstone. Donald, the sixth Earl, had left only a daughter, Margaret. She married her cousin, Walter de Fassalane, on the Gareloch, who, as the earldom appears to have been a female fief, became seventh Earl in right of his wife. The son of this pair, Duncan, eighth Earl, was again the last of his line. His daughter Isabella became the wife of Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany, grandson of King Robert II., and for a time Regent of Scotland. On the return of James I. from his long captivity in England, Duke Murdoch, his two sons, Walter and Alexander, and his father-in-law Duncan, Earl of Lennox, were all arrested, tried, and executed on the Heading Hill at Stirling. Afterwards, on the death of the Duchess Isabella in 1460, her youngest son’s son, Lord Evandale, held the earldom in liferent till his death. Upon that event occurred the Partition of the Lennox; one-half of the territory went to the daughters of Earl Duncan’s second daughter, Margaret. These daughters were married respectively to Napier of Merchiston and Haldane of Gleneagles. The other half went to Elizabeth, Earl Duncan’s youngest daughter, married to Sir John Stewart of Darnley. In 1473 Darnley obtained a royal precept declaring him heir, not only of half the lands, but of the title of Earl of Lennox.
Meantime the heir-male of the old Earls of Lennox was the Chief of MacFarlan. The next Chief, Andrew the Wizard, has recently been made the hero of a romance, The Red Fox, by a member of the Clan. He married a daughter of the Earl of Glencairn, and his son Duncan, who married a daughter of Lord Ochiltree, was an active supporter of the Regent Lennox during the childhood of Queen Mary. The MacFarlans, indeed, were among the first of the Highland clans to accept the Protestant form of worship. When Lennox, afterwards father of Queen Mary’s husband, Darnley, took arms in 1544 to oppose the Regent Arran and the Catholic party, the MacFarlans, under Walter MacFarlan of Tarbet, joined him with 149 men. These were Cearnich or light-armed troops, provided with coats of mail, two-handed swords, and bows and arrows, and it is recorded that they could speak both English and Erse, or Gaelic. Three years later, in 1547, the Chief himself fell, with a large number of his Clan, at the battle of Pinkie.
The next Chief, Andrew the Wizard, has recently been made the hero of a romance, The Red Fox, by a member of the Clan. He married a daughter of the Earl of Glencairn, and his son Duncan, who married a daughter of Lord Ochiltree, was an active supporter of the Regent Lennox during the childhood of Queen Mary. The MacFarlans, indeed, were among the first of the Highland clans to accept the Protestant form of worship. When Lennox, afterwards father of Queen Mary’s husband, Darnley, took arms in 1544 to oppose the Regent Arran and the Catholic party, the MacFarlans, under Walter MacFarlan of Tarbet, joined him with 149 men. These were Cearnich or light-armed troops, provided with coats of mail, two-handed swords, and bows and arrows, and it is recorded that they could speak both English and Erse, or Gaelic. Three years later, in 1547, the Chief himself fell, with a large number of his Clan, at the battle of Pinkie.
Torquil Oighre Macleod (1566) and his companions drowned while crossing from Trotternish to Lewis. Torquil Oighre’s mother was Barbara Stewart, daughter of Lord Avondale (2nd wife of Rory Mòr). This is the time when the surname Stewart first came to Lewis. The Raid of Hugh Macdonald. After the drowning death of Torquil Oighre, Donald Gorm of Sleat laid claim to Lewis and proceeded to gather a force to attack the island. With the help of clan Maclaren of Lewis, the battle began at Barvas and ended at Loch Seaforth. The Valiant hero Malcolm Macaulay (Donald Cam’s uncle) led the defeat of the Macdonald raid. The Maclarens became a broken clan and forced to change their surname to Maclennan and Campbell.
Roderick Macleod married secondly, in 1541, Barbara Stewart, daughter of Andrew, Lord Avandale, with issue - Torquil Oighre or the Heir, who died unmarried before his father, having been drowned along with a large number of others while on a voyage in his birlinn, between Lewis and Skye. Macleod married thirdly a daughter or Hector Og, XIII., and sister of Sir Lachlan Maclean, XIV., of Duart, by whom he had two sons - Torquil Dubh, whom he named as his heir and successor, and Tormod, known as Tormod Og. Torquil Cononach, now designated "of Coigeach," married Margaret, daughter of Angus Macdonald, VII. of Glengarry, and widow of Cuthbert of Castlehill, Inverness, who bore him two sons - John and Neil - and five daughters and, raising as many men as would accompany him, he, with the assistance of two of his natural brothers-Tormod and Murdoch-started for the Lewis to vindicate his rights as legitimate heir to the island. He defeated his father, and confined him in the Castle of Stornoway for four years, when he was finally obliged to acknowledge Torquil Cononach as his lawful son and successor. Donald killed Tormod Uigeach. Murdoch, in resentment, seized Donald and carried him to Coigeach; but he afterwards escaped and complained to old Rory, who was highly offended at Murdoch for seizing and with Torquil Cononach for detaining Donald. Torquil Cononach again returned to the Lewis, reduced the castle, liberated Murdoch, again confined his father, and killed many of his followers, at the same time carrying off all the writs and charters, and depositing them for safety with his uncle, Mackenzie of Kintail. He had meanwhile left his son John (who had been in the service of Huntly, and whom he now called home) in charge of the castle, and in possession of the Lewis. He imprudently banished his natural uncles, Donald and Rory Og, out of the island. Rory Og soon after returned with a considerable number of followers; attacked his nephew, Torquil Cononach's son John, in Stornoway, killed him, and released his own father, old Roderick, who was allowed after this to possess the island in peace during the remainder of his life.
It was the next Chief, Andrew, who became famous by the part he played in fighting on the side of the Regent Moray at the battle of Langside in 1568.
The origin of one of the names of septs of the Clan, that of the Mac-an-Oighres or Macnaires of the Lennox, is said to have been as follows. One of the chiefs left his second wife a widow with one son, while the heir by his first wife was vain and a little weak-minded. The younger brother owned a beautiful grey horse, and on one occasion, the elder, setting out for Stirling, desired to ride it in order to make a good appearance. The stepmother, a Highland Rebecca, refused the loan on the pretext that the steed might not come safely back, and at last the young Laird signed a deed agreeing to forfeit the lands of Arrochar to his half-brother if the horse were not returned. The stepmother thereupon bribed the groom to poison the horse while away. This was done, and her son entered upon possession of the estate. The Clan, however, refused to accept him as their Chief, and some years later the treacherous document was legally annulled and the lands restored to the rightful heir. From this incident certain MacFarlans were known to a recent time as Sloichd an Eich Bhain, "descendants of the white horse," while those who supported the heir took the name of Clann an Oighre.
John, the son and successor of the Chief who fought at Langside, founded an almshouse at Bruitfort on Loch Lomondside, opposite Eilean Vow, and endowed it as a hostelry for passing travellers. His son Walter was a strong supporter of Charles I. In the Civil War, and in consequence had his castle destroyed by Cromwell’s men, and was fined 3,000 merks. John, the grandson of Walter, again, took part against the Stewarts in the Revolution of 1688, and was Colonel of a volunteer force raised in his neighbourhood. His son and successor, Walter, was famous as an antiquary, and among other works the Lennox Chartulary survives only in his transcript.
The main stronghold of the Chiefs of MacFarlan was of course the castle of Arrochar, nothing of which now remains but a fragment of wall. The later Arrochar House, by which it was replaced, is still to be seen embedded in the modern mansion of the name on the shore of Loch Long. Besides this stronghold the Chiefs owned castles on the island of Inveruglas and on Eilean Vow in Loch Lomond, fragments of both of which still remain. The clan scattered and many clansmen adopted aliases. In 1785 the lands of Arrochar had to be sold for debt and the chief emigrated to America. The daughter of the last chief made a nomination in favour of the Macfarlane of Keithton and a claim is now pending with the Lyon Court.
Septs of Clan Farlane: Allan, Allanson, Bartholomew, Caw, Galbraith, Griesck, Gruamach, Kinnieson, Lennox, MacAindra, MacAllan, MacCaa, MacCause, MacCaw, MacCondy, MacEoin, MacGaw, MacGeoch, Macgreusich, Macinstalker, MacIock, MacJames, MacNeur, MacNair, MacNiter, MacNider, MacRobb, MacWalter, MacWilliam, Miller, Monach, Robb, Parlane, Thomason, Stalker, Weir, Weaver.