Clan Macfie is a Scottish clan. Since 1981, the clan has been officially registered with the Court of the Lord Lyon, which is the heraldic authority of Scotland. The clan is considered an armigerous clan because even though the clan is recognised by the Court of the Lord Lyon, it is currently without a chief recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon. The official clan name Macfie is derived from the Gaelic Mac Dhuibhshíthe. This Gaelic patronymic name has been Anglicised into various forms, many of which are considered associated names of the clan. The clan has a long history with the islands of Colonsay and Oronsay in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, and today many monuments to various lairds and churchmen of the clan are found on these islands.
The 19th century historian W. F. Skene named the clan as one of the seven clans of Siol Alpin—who according to Skene could all trace their ancestry back to Alpin, father of Cináed mac Ailpín. Popular tradition has been until recently to consider Cináed mac Ailpín the first King of Scots and a Gael; however, recent research has shown he was actually a Pictish king and likely a Pict himself.
Little is known of the early history of the clan. However, is certain that the clan served under the Lords of the Isles—descendants of Somerled, who ruled the Hebrides from the 14th century to the late 16th century. Following the forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles in the late 15th century, the clan still attached itself to powerful Macdonalds. In the early 17th century the last chief of the clan was executed as Colonsay was lost to the control of a Macdonald. Without a chief of their own to control their home lands the clan was considered a leaderless "broken clan". From this point on the Macfies followed the Macdonalds of Islay, though a branch of the clan was dispersed to lands controlled by Clan Cameron. In the early 19th century Ewen Macphee became a notorious outlaw, "revered and feared by locals and despised by the authorities". Today the modern Clan Macfie is alive with nine associated clan societies located around the world.
Read more about Clan Macfie: History, Associated Clans and Names
Famous quotes containing the word clan:
“We cannot think of a legitimate argument why ... whites and blacks need be affected by the knowledge that an aggregate difference in measured intelligence is genetic instead of environmental.... Given a chance, each clan ... will encounter the world with confidence in its own worth and, most importantly, will be unconcerned about comparing its accomplishments line-by-line with those of any other clan. This is wise ethnocentricism.”
—Richard Herrnstein (1930–1994)