Campbell Clan Crest

The Clan’s early seat was either Innischonnel Castle on Loch Awe, which was in Campbell hands by the early fourteenth century, or Caisteal na Nigheann Ruaidhe on Loch Avich. However, the Campbell land holdings spread throughout Argyll, with Craingnich, Avaslotnisk, Melfort, and Strachur, together with other lands of Cowal being early additions.

The Campbells were initially under the domination of the Macdougal Lords of Lorne, who killed the Campbell chief Sir Cailen Mor Campbell in 1296. However, this situation was reversed in the time of his son, Sir Neil, who was a staunch ally and companion of Robert the Bruce. Sir Neil was rewarded with extensive grants of land forfeited by the Lords of Lorne and other enemies in Argyll. It was this that gave initial impetus to the rise to power of the Campbells in the west Highlands.

Throughout the fifteenth century, the Campbells gave steady support to the Crown in an area where royal influence was under severe pressure, first from the rival Crown of Norway and then from the descendents of Somerled, former Lord of the Isles. The Lordship of the Isles was broken by the Crown by the end of the fifteenth century, leaving the Campbells the main power in the area.

In 1445, Sir Duncan Campbell of Loch Awe became Lord Campbell. In 1457 his grandson and heir, Colin, was created Earl of Argyll. He married one of the three daughters of the Stewart Lord of Lone, and through a financial deal with his wife’s uncle, he brought the Lordship of Lorne to the Campbells, with not only much land and the stronghold of Dunstaffnage but the important dynastic significance of a title which represented the senior line of the descendents of Somerled.

The success of the Campbells owed much to a remarkable succession of chiefs, although they could not have achieved what they did without the support of their people. Throughout their history, the chiefs managed to combine their role of Highland clan chiefs with a strong presence at court, which insured them a leading part in the affairs of Scotland, Great Britain, and the Empire.

The rise of Empire opened up many other opportunities to serve the Crown, and no less than sixteen regiments of the British army were at one time or another raised by members of the clan. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, descended from Lochnell’s 98th (later 91st) Highlanders still wear the Duke’s boar’s head as their cap badge and charge to the Campbell battle-cry, ‘Cruachan.’ The intense pride of the Campbells in their ancestry was illustrated when Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Louise, became engaged to the Marquis of Lorne, the ninth Duke’s heir, in a marriage that was sensational in its day. The news was apparently told to an old lady in Inverary, who is said to have replied, ‘Achweel, Her Majesty’ll be prood wumman the day, wat wi’ her dochter getting’ mairrit on the son of MacCailein Mor.’

The Campbell family held other earldoms, in the north and south of the country. As Earls of Loudoun, they held land in Ayrshire and spawned a host of lairdships there. They gained Cawdor from the Calders as a result of the marriage of an infant Calder heiress to one of Argyll’s sons, founding the great house of the Earls of Cawdor. However, internal rivalry for the chiefship led to a feud that threatened to split the clan. Campbell of Cawdor, a guardian of the young seventh Earl of Argyll, was murdered in 1592 during a conspiracy by some of the other guardians, which threatened the child’s life and that of his brother. None of the principal conspirators was brought to justice, but the young earl survived a suspected poisoning attempt to become an able soldier and unite the clan.

The Campbell clan’s story is one of resilience, power, and influence that has spanned centuries. The clan’s members have spread across the globe and have prospered. Geographical features throughout the world are called after the family, and although there are now fewer Campbells still owning lands in the Highlands, the family still prospers there. Much of the ancestral lands are still in family hands, including the Castles of Inverary, Dunstaffnage, and Cawdor. MacCailein Mor is often to be seen at great state ceremonials in his capacity as hereditary Great Master of the Royal Household. The Clan Campbell is now organized as a worldwide association with a permanent base at Inverary Castle, which is still the family home of the twelfth Duke of Argyll and twenty-sixth chief.