#clanmaclean

Mull, Scotland

1500s

My great-grandmother was a MacLean. Direct lineage on her paternal side would lead you directly back to the Lairds of Duart Castle and Chiefs of the Clan MacLean. 

Lachlan Cattanach (the Shaggy) MacLean succeeded to chieftainship in 1513 as the 11th Chief and 7th Laird of Duart through Royal support at the time. However, his rule was not easy, and I shall explore that deeper in another post. He married Katherine Campbell to seal his alliance with the Earl of Argyll at the time. 

According to the story of the time, Katherine and Lachlan were unhappy in marriage, and Katherine had tried to poison his food several times. As payback, Lachlan kidnapped his wife, rowed her out to Lady’s Rock in the sound of Mull and tied her up there. His plan was that, when the tide rose, the rock would be submerged and she would be left to drown.

Lachlan rowed back to the castle, leaving his wife on the rocks to die and slept that night. The next morning, as he woke, he noticed that there was no one on the rock- she had drowned.

Happy that he was rid of his wife, he sent a message of condolence to the Earl of Argyll that his daughter had died during the night and that he’d prepare her body for the funeral. When invited to Inveraray Castle for the funeral, he brought an empty coffin.

After the funeral, he was invited to dine with the Earl and family, only to find Katherine - his dead wife, sitting at the head of the table, quite alive! She had been rescued in the night and sent back to her family. Not a word of the attempted murder was spoken that night and Lachlan returned solemnly home to Duart alone. Or so he had thought.