{"id":1797,"date":"2019-06-14T11:16:20","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T09:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fraser-of-lovat-germany.de\/history-eachdraidh\/history-of-the-clan-fraser-of-lovat\/"},"modified":"2021-06-29T09:41:28","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T07:41:28","slug":"history-of-the-clan-fraser-of-lovat","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fraser-of-lovat-germany.de\/en\/history-eachdraidh\/history-of-the-clan-fraser-of-lovat\/","title":{"rendered":"History of the Clan Fraser of Lovat"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Memorial\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The history of the Clan Fraser of Lovat is a very great all over the years. More than 1,000 years of history can be traced back, the first of the Fraser of Lovat line being documented in 1160.<\/p>\n

On this page you will learn everything about the eventful history of the Highland Clan Fraser of Lovat.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

History of the Clan Fraser of Lovat<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Many Highland clans were founded in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,among these was the Clan Fraser of Lovat. The rapidity of its growth is notable, and is largley due to the good fortune and intelligence of its chiefs, who did not come to the Highlands as conquerors, or refugees, but as the legal heirs to former rulers in an established society. They were careful to maintain good relations with the Crown, and to extend their territory by legal methods. The boundaries of this soon became the clan \u201ccountry\u201d, and underwent a number of alterations in the course of time, nor was the whole of the land in it exclusively and invariably possessed by Frasers. The chiefs too sometimes owned lands beyond the clan country . The extent of these in East and Central Inverness-shire remained fairly constant from 1422 until 1746.<\/p>\n

The first name of Fraser, and the early spellings vary greatly, it undoubtedly came from France, though precisely when is not known. One story is that the progenitor of the Frasers was a Frenchman named Julius de Berry who in 916, regaled the King of France with dishes of ripe strawberries. In consequence, he received a royal command to change his name to Fraise, and to adopt three stalked strawberries for his family arms. Whatever their origin, or the precise spelling of their name, Frasers appear as landholders in England during the 12th and 13th Centuries. In Scotland , the first recorded is one Simon Fraser, who in 1160 gave a large tract of land to the monks of Kelso. This family seems to have spread quickly through Tweeddale and the Lothians, and then through Stirling, Angus and later , to Inverness-shire. One of them, Sir Simon Fraser was a prominent adherent of William Wallace and Robert The Bruce. He was captured by the English in June 1306 at Methven, taken to London, and there executed. A second Sir Simon Fraser fought in the Scottish army at Bannockburn in 1314, to be slain with two of his brothers. His elder brother Sir Alexander Fraser, was an intimate friend of Robert The Bruce, and 2 years later married The Bruce\u2019s sister, Lady Mary.<\/p>\n

Though the name Fraser \u2013 however spelled \u2013 is French, it is now over 800 years since the first bearer of it, Simon Fraser, is recorded in Scotland. He and his successors are found in the Borders, but the advance of the Frasers northwards was swift. In the process they contrived to make some remarkable contributions to Scottish history. By the 14th century the Northern Frasers formed two distinct groups, in Aberdeen-shire and in Inverness-shire. Of the former group, a forebearer of the Fraser Lords Saltoun founded Fraserburgh about 1601: of the latter, Lord Lovat\u2019s forebearers had created one of the great Highland Clans at least a century earlier. It was from the Tower and plain of the Beauly estuary that the Chief of the Inverness-shire Frasers took the peerage title granted to him about 1460 \u2013 the precise date is not known. By then, as since, Gaelic speakers accorded him the honour of the patronymic MacShimi (Son of Simon).<\/p>\n

The Lovat Chiefs never made the mistake of acquiring their lands as conquerors. Prudent marriages and diplomacy established the Frasers as proprietors south and west of the Beauly Firth, in Stathfarrar, in part of Strathglass, in Strathcarrick, to the east of Loch Ness and even, for a time, in part of Glenelg on the western coast. In all these districts, the numerous younger children and other relaives of MacShimi married with alacrity and content into the families of the original occupants of the land. The happy consequence was that during the 15th century there emerged a swarm of warrior-farmers, enjoying somewhat better soil and climate than some of their neighbours: Gaelic in speech, custom and thought, quick to defend their homes, and all proud to consider themselves Frasers and MacShimi\u2019s men. The Clan Fraser of Lovat had been born.<\/p>\n

It has been claimed that yet a third Sir Simon Fraser, who died in 1287 was the progenitor of Lord Lovat\u2019s family, and that, having married a Bisset heiress, received a charter of their lands in the present Inverness-shire in 1254. The first authentic document connecting a Fraser with the lands of Lovat and the Aird is dated 12th September 1367, where one Hugh Fraser is styled \u201d Dominus de Loveth et portioarius de le Ard\u201d. From his time the pedigree of the House of Lovat is proved and Gaelic was used as the second tongue.<\/p>\n

The Lovat \u201ccountry\u201d is divided into two parts by the River Ness and the great Glen of Albyn. The word \u201cLovat\u201d is supposed to mean \u201d a swampy plain\u201d. Many early Lords of Lovat are buried near Beauly at the ruins of an old Priory founded in 1230 by John Bisset and Beaufort Castle, inhabited by the Lovat chiefs since 1511 stands nearby. It is almost on the same site as the Castle Downie burned by the Hanoverian soldiers in 1746 and which superseded earlier strongholds, one of which was destroyed by an English army in the War of Independence. Just west of the present castle is the Field of Downie. Here the Fraser clan mustered in 1745, and here, as recently as 23rd June 1951, at their chief\u201ds invitation, 700 Lovat clansmen paraded, together with past and present members of the Lovat Scouts regiment, raised by Lord Lovat in 1900.<\/p>\n

The political history of a clan prior to 1746 is really a military history. The people of the Fraser of Lovat served Scotland well in the days of Wallace and The Bruce, but by 1513 it was as a clan that they were present in the Scottish army at Flodden. The 78th Regiment ( Fraser\u2019s Highlanders), they fought valiantly against the French in North America, and were largely responsible for General Wolfe\u2019s victory at Quebec in 1759. It is said that Wolfe, mortally wounded at the moment of victory, died in the arms of a Fraser Highlander. The regiment was disbanded in 1763, but a number of them were, at their own request, discharged in Canada, and given grants of land there. It is good to remember that Frasers are among the earliest British settlers in that great country.<\/p>\n

In 1900 the 14th Lord Lovat, in the true spirit of the earlier chiefs raised a regiment named the Lovat Scouts, which distinguished itself in South Africa, and which as a Territorial Army unit has since fought in two world wars, and is still in the British Order of Battle. The son of its founder, the fifteenth Lord Lovat, served in the Scots Guards and The Lovat Scouts, and was best known as an outstanding Commando Leader in the 2nd World War in which he won D.S.O and M.C.<\/p>\n

Miscellaneous Clan Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

There exist many different forms of the name Fraser, such as Frazer, Frazier, Frissell, Frizell. The following names:
\nMacimmery, MacKim, MacKimmie, MacShimes, MacSimon, MacSiymon, Sim, Sime, Simpson, Simson, Syme, Symmer, Symon, MacGruer, MacTavish, Tweedie derive from Simon ( Gaelic Shimidh) always a favourite Fraser name.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Clan\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Slogan:<\/strong>
\nJe suis prest (\u201cI\u2019; am ready\u201d)<\/p>\n

Battle call:<\/strong>
\n\u201cA Mhor-fhaiche\u201d or
\n\u201cCaisteal Dhuni\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Scottish\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Region:<\/strong>
\nHighlands<\/p>\n

District:<\/strong>
\nInverness-shire<\/p>\n

Plant badge:<\/strong>
\nyew<\/p>\n

Gaelic names:<\/strong>
\nFrisealach<\/p>\n

Different forms of the name Fraser:<\/strong>
\nFrazer, Frazier, Frissell, Frizell.<\/p>\n

The following names always derive from Simon (Gaelic Shimidh):<\/strong>
\nMacimmer, MacKim, MacKimmie, MacShimes, MacSimon, MacSiymon, Sim, Sime, Simpson, Simson, Syme, Symmer, Symon, MacGruer, MacTavish, Tweedie, MacSimon, MacKim<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Memorial\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Family of Clan Fraser:
\n<\/strong>Bissett, Brewster, Cowie, Frew, Frissel, Frizell, MacCimmie, MacGruer, MacKim, MacKimmie, MacSimon, MacShimes, MacTavish, McCoss, M\u2019ktaus, Oliver, Sim, Sime, Simon, Simpson, Simson, Sims, Syme, Symon, Twaddle, Tweedie.<\/p>\n

Clan branches:<\/strong>
\nChiefs of Clan Fraser, Fraser of Inverallochy, Fraser of Muchall, Fraser of Philoth, Fraser of Strokes<\/p>\n

Connected Clans:<\/strong>
\nClan Munro, Clan Forbes, Clan Grant<\/p>\n

Rival clans:<\/strong>
\nClan MacDonald of Clanranald, Clan Gordon, Clan Logan<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Clan Music<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

“Cumha MhicShimidh”<\/em>, or “Lord Lovat\u2019s Lament”
\n<\/em>attributed to David Fraser ( 1724-1812)
\nPiper to Simon, 11th Lord Lovat.<\/p>\n

“Spaidsearachd MhicShimidh”<\/em>, or “Lord Lovat\u2019s Marth”
\n<\/em>played in 4\/4 time, and often at funerals as a slow march.
\nThe tune may be the \u201cLovat\u2019s March\u201d known to have been played by pipers of the Campbell Militia at the capture of Simon, 11th Lord Lovat at Loch Morar on 7th June 1746.<\/p>\n

“Morair Sim”<\/em>, or “Lord Simon”
\n<\/em>played either as a march or a Strathspey; in 2\/4 time it is now the regimental march of The Lovat Scouts. Gaelic verses were sung to it, and it is sometimes called \u201d Lord Lovat\u2019s Welcome\u201d.
\nComposed in 1716 by Ewen MacGregor.<\/p>\n

“Tha\u2019Biodag air MacThomasis”<\/em> or “Thomson\u2019s Dirk”
\n<\/em>a reel, to which some derisory Gaelic verses have long been sung. There is a tradition that about 1692 one of the sons of Thomas Fraser of Beaufort was so offended by the playing of this tune that he killed the musician!<\/p>\n

The Lovat Scouts<\/em>
\nA modern march, played in 2\/4 time. Composed in honour of the regiment about 1903 by J.Scott Skinner.<\/p>\n

Texts of this page: \r\nIn the original by: Clan Fraser of Lovat (status of the old website from 2018)<\/pre>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
Media<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The history of the Clan Fraser of Lovat is a very great all over the years. More than 1,000 years of history can be traced back, the first of the Fraser of Lovat line being documented in 1160. On this page you will learn everything about the eventful history of the Highland Clan Fraser of … Continue reading “History of the Clan Fraser of Lovat”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1084,"parent":1488,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1797","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 07:07:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"translation_priority","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fraser-of-lovat-germany.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fraser-of-lovat-germany.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fraser-of-lovat-germany.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fraser-of-lovat-germany.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fraser-of-lovat-germany.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fraser-of-lovat-germany.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1797\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fraser-of-lovat-germany.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fraser-of-lovat-germany.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fraser-of-lovat-germany.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}