THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE OLD CLAN CHATTAN

      When Clan Mhuirich first declared itself independent of the Mackintosh is not known but it was certainly exercised at Invernahavon. The next instance came in 1411 at the Battle of Harlaw, where they placed themselves under the banner of the Earl of Mar and fought for the King against Donald, the seventh Lord of the Isles from Somerled. The rest of the Clanchattan under Mackintosh fought on the side of the defeated islemen. Harlaw marked the beginning of the long struggle between the Kings of the Scots and the Lords of the Isles who controlled large parts of the Western Isles and western seaboard of Scotland. The influence of the successive Lords within their own territories was enormous and this struggle didn't end until 1493 when James IV confiscated all their land for the crown. In its early phase, the struggle brought about the final disintegration of the Old Clan Chattan.

      Harlaw did not end the Crown's fight with the Lords of the Isles. In 1429 Alexander of the Isles, Donald's son and successor, burned the town and besieged the castle of Inverness. Pursued by a royal army, he fled to Lochaber where his Lochaber allies deserted him, and he was forced to surrender. Three years later a force led by Alexander's cousin, Donald Balloch MacDonald, bore down with his islesmen upon the clans of Lochaber, wasted all their lands with fire and sword, and defeated a force under the Earls of Mar and Caithness at Inverlochy. Among those killed were Donald Bronnach (the Portly) of Letterfinlay, son of Gilles (the youngest of the Three Brethren), and six of his seven sons. The youngest son, John, "not being able, or rather disdaining for MacDonald's cruelty to live in Letterfinlay, assigned his hereditary right to this land to a "Cameron" who was an uncle by marriage. The "Cameron" was MacMartin of the Clann mhic Ghillemhaoil branch of the Old Clan Chattan.

      Gilles' surviving grandson moved to Rimore of Badenoch in Rothiemurchus, where the third branch of the Clan Macpherson maintained itself for three generations before moving to Invereshie in Badenoch. Thus it appears that the final migration of the Clann Mhuirich to Badenoch was a result of the revenge taken by the Islemen against the Old Clan Chattan of Lochaber for their desertion of the Isles and their adherence to the king.