Clann Ghriogair air Fògradh - Clan Gregor Exiled

I am grateful to Meg Bateman for giving me permission to feature this translation of the song on my website. It is published in Duanaire na Sracaire edited by Wilson MacLeod and Meg Bateman in 2007.
They suggest that the poem's author was a woman. The song is structured with a stressed song-metre in the popular style, very different from the aristocratic syllabic metre of Griogal Cridhe.

MacLeod and Bateman wrote that the death of Eòin Bòidheach in stanza 13 may refer to the killing of John Drummond of Drummondearnoch, royal forester of Glen Artney in 1589, when many MacGregors were proscribed by James VI until he issued an edict of "forgiveness" in January 1592..

The young chief at the tme of the murder of Drummondearnoch was Alasdair ruadh. If "Handsome Èoin" is not Drummondearnoch, then it becomes more likely that the song refers to a period in the conflict of 1562-1570 , and therefore "Big Red Griogair" is Griogair ruadh who was executed at Kenmore in 1570. If this is correct then "Handsome Èoin" may have been one of the Campbells killed in the raid of 7th December 1562 and the following stanza "You lifted the blue-black stud, from the loops of the Lyon" refers to the raid on Glen Lyon at that time when a highly-prized bull was presumably taken..

Bothan na Dige, which is translated in the song as "bothy of the ditch" refers to the fortified house of the MacGregors of Glenstrae at Dalmally (Clachan an Diseirt) which is assumed to be sited within a moat.

I asked Ronnie Black about the reference to Strathardle, as there are no other references to a MacGregor holding there. He replied:
"I’m sure it’s a matter of ‘lost in translation’. Mhic an fhir á Srath h-Ardail means literally 'O son of the man from Strathardle'. I can think of only one case where á + placename can imply possession, and that’s MacGriogair á Ruadhshruth ‘MacGregor from Roro’, though perhaps even there we should be suspicious – does it imply that this MacGregor is the chief’s son or brother but not quite the chief himself?

So why should a MacGregor be addressed as Mhic an fhir á Srath h-Ardail if the MacGregors had no land in Strathardle? Nothing was more normal than for a person to have an epithet denoting where he was brought up, either because he was fostered there, or (if illegitimate, which was common) because his mother was from there and brought him up there. An example of the former is Raghnall Arannach (‘Ronald from Arran’), 1st earl of Antrim, and an example of the latter is Lachann Catanach (‘Lachlan of the Clan Chattan’), who was legitimised and made chief of the MacLeans of Duart on the same day.

So the fear á Srath h-Ardail was either fostered in Strathardle or, if illegitimate, his mother was from there. Either way, he was a MacGregor brought up in Strathardle. But he was probably no ‘laird' at all. And it is just possible that the same applies to MacGriogair á Ruadhshruth, and that that famous song isn’t about MacGregor of Roro at all."

Is mi suidhe an seo am ònar
Air Còmhnard an rathaid,

Dh’ fheuch am faic mi fear-fuadain,
Tighinn o Chruachan a’ cheathaich,

A bheir dhomh sgeul air Clann Ghriogair
No fios cia an do ghabh iad.

Cha d’fhuair mi d’ an sgeulaibh
Ach iad bhith ‘n dè air na Sraithibh.

Thall ‘s a bhos mu Loch Fine,
Ma’ s a fior mo luchd bratha.

Ann an Clachan an Dìseirt
Ag òl fion air na maithibh.

Bha Griogair mòr ruadh ann,
Làmh chruaidh air chùl claidhimh;

Agus Griogair mòr meadhnach,
Ceann-feadhna ar luchd-tighe.

Mhic an fhir a Srath h-Ardail,
Bhiodh na bàird ort a’ tathaich.

Is a bheireadh greis air a’ chlàrsaich
Is air an tàileasg gu h-aighear,

Is a sheinneadh an fhidheall,
Chuireadh fiughair fo mhnathaibh.

Is ann a rinn sibh an t-sidheann anmoch
Anns a’ ghleann am bi an ceathach.

Dh’ fhag sibh an t-Eoin bòidheach
Air a’ mhòintich ‘na laighe.

‘Na starsnaich air fèithe
An dèidh a reubadh le claidheamh.

Is ann thog sibh ghreigh dhubhghorm
O Lùban na h-abhann.

Ann am Bothan na Dìge
Ghabh sibh dìon air an rathad.

Far an d’fhàg sibh mo bhiodag,
Agus crios mo bhuilg-shaighead.

Gur i saighead na h-àraich
So thàrmaich am leathar.

Chaidh saighead am shliasaid,
Crann fiar air dhroch shnaidheadh.

Gun seachnadh Righ na Dùl sibh
O fhudar caol neimhe.

O shradagan teine,
O pheileir ‘s o shaighid.

O sgian na rinn caoile,
Is o fhaobhar geur claidhimh.

Is ann bha bhuidheann gun chòmhradh
Di-dòmhnaich am bràighe bhaile.

Is cha dean mi gàir èibhinn
An àm èirigh no laighe.

Is beag an t-iongnadh dhomh fèin sud,
Is mi bhith ‘n dèidh mo luch-taighe.

I am sitting by myself
on the level of the road,

Looking out for a straggler,
coming from Cruachan of the mist.

Who has word of Clan Griogair
or can tell me where they have gone.

That they were yesterday in the Straths.
is all their news I know.

Here and there about Loch Fyne
if my spies are any good.

In the Clachan of Dìseirt (Dalmally)
drinking wine with the nobles.

Big Red Griogair was there,
a hand, deadly with sword.

And big merry Griogair,
the head of our house.

Son of the Laird of Strath Ardle
where the bards used to flock.

You'd spend a while at the harp
and gladly gamble at the boards.

And you'd play the fiddle,
filling the women with hope.

It was late you made venison
in the glen where there is fog.

You left Handsome Èoin slumped
face down on the moor.

A great lump on the marsh
hacked by a sword.

You lifted the blue-black stud
from the loops of the Lyon.

In the bothy of the ditch
you hid from the road.

There you left my dirk
with my quiver of bolts.

In my side, the arrow
from the battle is lodged.

My thigh is pierced,
by a squint-shafted bolt.

May the King of All protect you
from fine venomous dust.

From bullet and dart,
from sparks red-hot.

From sword's keen blade,
and sharp knife's point.

The company was silent
above the village on Sunday.

On going to bed or rising
I desire no sport..

For me that's no wonder
since my household is lost.

There are a handful of songs, including Griogal Cridhe and Clann Ghriogair air Fogradh, which are related to the struggle between the Clan Gregor and the Campbells in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

From the late fourteenth century the MacGregors had their duthchas in Glenstrae but were legally vassals of the Campbell, Earls of Argyll.

Over time, and especially after 1432, they and the Campbells of Glenorchy took possession of land in Perthshire and especially in Breadalbane.

Between 1513 and 1550 the authority of the Campbells of Glenorchy diminished and the MacGregors came under the control of John Cawdor, another Campbell, probably as early as 1513, and continued to extend their power as far as Rannoch.

In 1550, Cailean Liath [Grey Colin] became chief of the Campbells of Glenorchy and the powers of the Glenorchy Campbells began to increase and further still under the leadership of his son, Donnchadh Dubh [Black Duncan].

The Campbells were greedy people, who could not tolerate opposition and certainly did not tolerate the strength of the MacGregors, on their lands

Cailean Liath took over the leadership of his clan in July 1550. Shortly afterwards, Iain Ruadh, chief of the MacGregors, died. His brother, Griogair Ruadh, was too young to take his place and Cailean Liath took the opportunity to take control of the MacGregors.

When Griogair Ruadh came of age, near the end of 1562, Cailean Liath pomised him his patrimony of Gleann Sreith but only if he would agree to a number of legal restrictions that would leave him effectively without any standing as chief, and also ordered him to hand over two MacGregors for Colin to punish. Griogair had no real choice but to fight.

On the night of December 7, 1562, accompanied by about 26 clansmen, Griogair Ruadh attacked a hostelry near Killiecrankie where nine men, eight of them Campbells, were staying the night and on their way home from the Perth fair. The MacGregors set fire to the hostelry and killed eight of the men.

They continued on to Strath Tay where they set fire to a barn from which a group of Campbells and MacCormicks were sheltering. They arrested these men and eventually killed one of them.

It was the beginning of a bloody struggle that lasted until 1570 when Griogair ruadh was executed by Cailean Liath at Kenmore..

But this would not be the end, because when Alasdair ruadh, son of Griogair came of age he resumed the struggle against the Glen Orchy Campbells. In 1589, John Drummond of Drummondearnoch, the King's forester of Glen Artney was killed and beheaded. A group of MacGregors were blamed for the crime. Alasdair ruadh, the young clan chief, took responsibility for the crime at a meeting in Balquhidder. For this, the clan was outlawed once again.