The Beatons E-Book

John W.M. Bannerman

• Herausgeber: John Donald
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 360

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

This book traces the Clann Meic-bethad or Clan MacBeth whose members practised medicine in the classic Gaelic tradition in various parts of Scotland from the early fourteenth to the early eighteenth century. From many medieval Gaelic manuscripts known to have been in their possession, individual members of the clan and their activities are identified. Sometime in the second half of the sixteenth century the kindred began to adopt Beaton as a surname for use in non-Gaelic contexts. The medical Beatons fell naturally into two divisions: one confined mainly to the Western Isles and the other to the mainland of Scotland. This detailed study of the Beatons and their medicine describes how the position of medical doctor was inherited by the eldest son, and potential Beaton physicians were sent out to be trained by other members of the family for several years before undertaking their own practice. The book provides information on medieval medicine at the highest levels of Highland society.

Leseprobe

The Beatons

The Beatons

A Medical Kindred in the Classical Gaelic Tradition

John Bannerman

First published in Great Britain in 1998

This edition published 2015 by

John Donald, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd

West Newington House

10 Newington Road

Edinburgh

EH9 1QS

www.birlinn.co.uk

ISBN: 978 1 788853 60 6

Copyright © John Bannerman 1998, 2015

The right of John Bannerman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by his estate in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission of the publisher

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library

Typeset by 3btype.com

Printed and bound in Britain by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow

Preface

At the Third International Congress of Celtic Studies held in Edinburgh in 1967, Derick Thomson, Professor of Celtic at Glasgow University, delivered a seminal paper entitled ‘Gaelic Learned Orders and Literati in Medieval Scotland’ (55, xii (1968), pp. 57–78). Until then the literary and professional component of medieval Gaelic society, of which, as Professor Thomson pointed out, the medical fraternity was an integral part, had received scant attention. That it had a continuous past which goes back to Columba and Iona of the sixth century, and beyond for that matter, remains largely unrealised. A study of any aspect of that culture, but of the medical more than most, provides a corrective to the unrelieved picture of blood and strife that sometimes still passes for Scottish history, more particularly for the history of the Highlands in the late medieval period. In mitigation it must be allowed that the evidence for such a study is often fragmentary and difficult to come by. This explains in part the unconventional structure of the present work. It was necessary to discover the genealogical links and put them in place before anything like a general assessment of the contribution made by the Beaton medical kindred to the professional ethos of medieval Scotland could be attempted. However, considerable gaps remain and it is in the nature of the available source material that some will never be filled.

For their many helpful comments I am deeply indebted to Mr Donald MacAulay, Dr Colm Ó Baoill and Mr Ronald Black who read this book in manuscript. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to the last named who put at my disposal his unrivalled knowledge of classical Gaelic manuscripts of Scottish provenance. I wish also to express my sincere thanks to Mr Hugh Barron, the late Professor Ian Campbell, Dr John MacInnes, Mr William Matheson, Dr Donald Meek, Mr William Munro, Mr David Sellar, and Dr Frances Shaw for help on various points; to Mrs Doris Williamson for her patience and careful typing; and to the staffs of the National Library of Scotland, the Scottish Record Office, and Edinburgh University Library for their efficiency and unfailing courtesy. I am grateful too for the constant encouragement expressed by Beatons in Scotland and abroad, particularly Dr William MacBeath, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, and Mrs Kimberly Beaton Quintero, originally of Toronto, now of Phoenix, Arizona. Finally, my special thanks are due to the Committee of the Ross and Hunter Marshall Fund, Glasgow University, and to the Governors of Catherine McCaig’s Trust who have contributed so generously towards the cost of publication.

J.B.

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

The Island Division

Beatons in Portree

Beatons of Ballenabe

Beatons in North Uist

Beatons of Connista

Beatons in Sleat

Beatons of Pennycross

Beatons in South Uist

Beatons in Kintail

Beatons of Kilelane

Beatons in Colonsay

Beatons in Dervaig

The Mainland Division

Beatons of Balgillachie

Beatons of Kildavanan

Beatons of Melness

Beatons of Husabost

Beatons of Culnaskea

Beatons in Delny

Other Beaton Medical Families

Beatons in Kinloid etc.

Beatons in Glenconvinth

Status and Landholding

Medicine and Medical Men

Schools and Manuscripts

The Demise of the Classical Tradition

Appendices

I.

Beaton Medical Families and Distribution Map

II.

Beaton Physicians c.1300–c.1750

III.

Signatures, Handwriting and Ownership of Manuscripts

IV.

Gaelic Manuscripts associated with Beatons

V.

Ó Conchobhair Physicians in Lorn

VI.

MacPhails in Muckairn

Index

Abbreviations

Add.

Additional MSS., B.L.

Adv.

Advocates’ Library Collection of MSS., N.L.S.

Annals of Loch Cé

Hennessy, W. M., The Annals of Loch Cé, Rolls Series, 1871.

Arb. Lib.

Liber S. Thome de Aberbrothoc, Bannatyne Club, 1848–56.

Argyll Syn.

Minutes of the Synod of Argyll, ed. MacTavish, D.C., SHS, 1943–4.

AT

Argyll Transcripts, made by 10th Duke of Argyll, Inveraray.

BDL

Watson, W. J., Scottish Verse from the Book of the Dean of Lismore, SGTS, 1937.

Bellenden, History

The History and Chronicles of Scotland written in Latin by Hector Boece, translated into Scots by John Bellenden, ed. Maitland, T., 1821.

B.L.

British Library, London.

Black, Catalogue

Black, R., Catalogue of the classical Gaelic MSS. in N.L.S.

Black, Surnames

Black, G. F., The Surnames of Scotland, 1946.

Cal. Charters

Calendar of charters and other original documents, S.R.O., RH 6.

Campbell, Highland Rites

Campbell, J. L., A Collection of Highland Rites and Customes, 1975.

Campbell and Thomson, Lhuyd

Campbell, J. L., and Thomson, D., Edward Lhuyd in the Scottish Highlands 1699–1700, 1963.

Campion, Historie

Campion, E., ‘A Historie of Ireland’ in The Historie of Ireland, ed. Ware, J., 1633.

Cawdor Bk.

The Book of the Thanes of Cawdor, Spalding Club, 1859.

Cawdor Papers

Cawdor Papers, Cawdor Castle.

Church Recs.

Church of Scotland Records, S.R.O., CH 1–4.

Clanranald Bk.

‘The Book of Clanranald’ in Rel. Celt., ii, pp. 138–309.

Clanranald Papers

Clanranald Papers, S.R.O., GD 201.

CMJ

The Caledonian Medical Journal.

Comrie, Scottish Medicine

Comrie, J. D., History of Scottish Medicine, 1932.

Cowan, Parishes

Cowan, I. B., The Parishes of Medieval Scotland, SRS, 1967.

CSP Dom.

Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1860–.

CSP Scot.

Calendar of the State Papers relating to Scotland and Mary, Queen of Scots 1547–1603, 1898–.

DNB

Dictionary of National Biography.

Duncan, Memorials

Duncan, A., Memorials of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow 1599–1850, 1896.

Dunvegan Papers

MacLeod of Dunvegan Papers, Dunvegan Castle.

ER

The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 1878–1908.

E.U.L.

Edinburgh University Library, Edinburgh.

Fiants, Ire. Eliz.

Calendar of Fiants, Henry VIII to Elizabeth, in First (etc.) Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland, 1875–90.

FM

Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, ed. O’Donovan, J., 1851.

Fraser, Sutherland Bk.

Fraser, W., The Sutherland Book, 1892.

Fraser, Wardlaw MS

Fraser, J., Chronicles of the Frasers, ed. MacKay, W., SHS, 1905.

Gen. Coll.

Macfarlane, W., Genealogical Collections concerning Families in Scotland, SHS, 1900.

Geog. Coll.

Macfarlane, W., Geographical Collections relating to Scotland, SHS, 1906–8.

Giblin, Franciscan Mission

Giblin, C, Irish Franciscan Mission to Scotland, 1964.

Glas. Mun.

Munimenta Alme Universitatis Glasguensis, Maitland Club, 1854.

Gregory Coll.

Papers and manuscripts of Donald Gregory given to the Iona Club, 1836, N.L.S.

GRS

General Register of Sasines, S.R.O., RS 1–3.

Guthrie, Medicine

Guthrie, G., A History of Medicine, 1958.

HP

McPhail, J. R. N., Highland Papers, SHS, 1914–34.

Inventory of Argyll

Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Argyll, RCAHMS, 1971–.

Isles Tests.

Register of Testaments, The Commissariat Record of the Isles, S.R.O., CC 12/3.

Laing MS

Laing manuscript collection formed by David Laing (d. 1878), E.U.L.

Lochbuie Papers

MacLaine of Lochbuie Papers, S.R.O., GD 174.

Lord MacDonald MSS.

Lord MacDonald MSS., S.R.O., GD 221.

MacDonald, Clan Donald

MacDonald, A. and A., The Clan Donald, 1896–1904.

MacDonald, History

MacDonald, H. (attrib.), ‘History of the MacDonalds’ in HP, i, pp. 6–72.

MacGill, Old Ross-shire

MacGill, W., Old Ross-shire and Scotland, 1909.

MacGregor Coll.

The John MacGregor Collection, S.R.O., GD 50.

MacKenzie, Sàr-Obair

MacKenzie, J., Sàr-Obair nam Bàrd Gaelach, 1904.

MacKinnon, Catalogue

MacKinnon, D., A Descriptive Catalogue of Gaelic Manuscripts in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, and elsewhere in Scotland, 1912.

Major, Medicine

Major, R. H., A History of Medicine, 1954.

Martin, Western Islands

Martin, M., A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, 1934.

Muir, Church Architecture

Muir, T. S., Characteristics of Old Church Architecture etc. in the Mainland & Western Islands of Scotland, 1861.

Munro Writs

Writs of Munro of Foulis, 1299–1823, S.R.O., GD 93.

N.L.S.

National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.

N.M.A.S.

National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Ó Baoill, Eachann Bacach

Ó Baoill, E., Eachann Bacach and other MacLean Poets, SGTS, 1979.

OPS

Origines Parochiales Scotiae, Bannatyne Club, 1851–5.

OS

Ordnance Survey.

OSA

The Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791–9.

Pais. Reg.

Registrum Monasterii de Passelet, Maitland Club, 1832.

PBA

Proceedings of the British Academy.

PRIA

Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy.

P.R.O.

Public Record Office, London.

PRS (Argyll)

Particular Register of Sasines (Argyll), S.R.O., RS 9–10.

PRS (Inverness)

Particular Register of Sasines (Inverness), S.R.O., RS 36–8.

PSAS

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

RCAHMS

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

Reay Papers

Reay Papers, S.R.O., GD 84.

Reg. Argyll Syn.

Register of the Synod of Argyll, S.R.O., CH 2/557.

Reg. Deeds

Register of Deeds, S.R.O., RD 1–4.

Rel. Celt.

Cameron, A., Reliquiae Celticae, 1892–4.

R.I.A.

Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.

R.I.A. Dict.

Dictionary of the Irish Language, R.I.A., 1913–57, and Contributions to a Dictionary of the Irish Language, R.I.A., 1939–75.

RMS

Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, 1882–1914.

Rot. Scot.

Rotuli Scotiae in Turri Londinensi et in Domo Capitulari Westmonasteriensi Asservati, 1814–19.

RPC

The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 1877–.

RSS

Registrum Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum, 1908–.

Ryl. Irish MS.

Irish manuscript, John Rylands University Library of Manchester.

Saltoun Coll.

Saltoun Collection, N.L.S.

Scott, Fasti

Scott, H., Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, 1915–.

SGS

Scottish Gaelic Studies.

SHS

Scottish History Society.

SHS Misc.

The Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, SHS, 1893–.

Sinclair, Clan Gillean

Sinclair, A. M., The Clan Gillean, 1899.

Smith, Islay Bk.

Smith, G. G., The Book of Islay, 1895.

SP

Paul, Balfour J., The Scots Peerage, 1904–14.

S.R.O.

Scottish Record Office, H.M. General Register House, Edinburgh.

SRS

Scottish Record Society.

SS

Scottish Studies.

Steer and Bannerman,

Steer, K. A., and Bannerman, J. W. M., Late Medieval

Monumental Sculpture

Monumental Sculpture in the West Highlands, RCAHMS, 1977.

TA

Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, 1877–1916.

T.C.D.

Trinity College, Dublin.

TGSG

Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Glasgow.

TGSI

Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness.

Walsh, Gleanings

Walsh, P., Gleanings from Irish Manuscripts, 1933.

Walsh, Irish Men

Walsh, P., Irish Men of Learning, 1947.

Watson, Celtic Place-names

Watson, W. J., The History of the Celtic Place-names of Scotland, 1926.

Watt, Fasti

Watt, D. E. R., Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae Medii Aevi ad Annum 1638, second draft, 1969.

Whyte, Bethunes

Whyte, T., An Historical and Genealogical Account of the Bethunes of the Island of Sky, 1778.

Woulfe, Sloinnte

Woulfe, P., Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall, 1923.

Introduction

The Clann Meic-bethad or Clan MacBeth was an outstanding example in Scotland of a kindred pursuing a profession on an hereditary basis. Members of the kindred were to be found practising medicine in the classical Gaelic tradition in various parts of Scotland from the early fourteenth to the early eighteenth century. As such they belonged to the professional learned orders that were so distinctive a feature of the kinbased society in Scotland and Ireland. More medieval Gaelic manuscripts known to have been in their possession have survived than for any other professional kindred in Scotland. One of the purposes of this study is to identify more securely individual members of the kindred associated with these manuscripts.

Their identification in the surviving records is aided by the fact that their kindred surname was not only distinctive but almost certainly confined to them alone. It contains the rare forename Mac-bethad whose last recorded use as such in Scotland dates to c.1300.1 Its literal meaning is ‘son of life’ and it is therefore probably not fortuitous that it became and remained part of the surname of an hereditary kindred of physicians.2 Originally in the form of MacMeic-bethad, meic, genitive of mac, was eventually discarded, bringing it into line with other surnames in mac.3 By the sixteenth century it was usually written MacBethadh or MacBeatha in Gaelic and most commonly MacBeth or MacBeath in its Scoticised form but with many other variants such as MacBay, MacBey, MacVay, MacVia, or MacVeagh.4

Individual members of the kindred might also use on occasion surnames specifically associated with their profession; Leich in Scots, and in Gaelic Mac an leagha, later Mac an lighiche, ‘son of the líaigh or lighiche’, and Mac an ollaimh, ‘son of the ollamh’. Leich needs no further explanation, nor does its Gaelic cognate líaigh or lighiche, but ollamh, originally the highest grade of file or poet, came to mean a master in any profession or craft.5 Thus, for instance, in Ireland ollamh legha Fermanach means ‘master in medicine of Fermanagh’. However, in Scotland by the middle of the sixteenth century at least and certainly in the context of a surname, ollamh had become associated particularly with medicine, so that Mac an ollaimh normally meant ‘son of the physician’. The titles an t-Ollamh Ileach (the ollamh of Islay) and an t-Ollamh Muileach (the ollamh of Mull), held by members of this kindred in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were understood to refer to medical men without any explanation being deemed necessary. The crown rental of Islay in 1541 records the contemporary holder of the title an t-Ollamh Ileach as Fergus Ollamh without further qualification. Likewise the office held by an t-Ollamh Muileach was described in 1572 as ard-ollamhnachd. It was obviously understood that the skill required to hold the office was that of medicine, not of any other profession or craft.6

Sometime in the second half of the sixteenth century the kindred began to adopt Beaton as a surname for use in non-Gaelic contexts. The first example on record of its adoption by a member of the kindred may be “Allister Mc Maister alias Betoun” who was acting “in name and behalf of the laird of Glengarrye” in 1585.7 Alasdair Beaton, whose ancestor, judging by the alternative surname MacMaister or Mac a’ Mhaighstir, literally ‘son of the magister’, was a university graduate in Arts, was presumably a servitor of MacDonald of Glengarry. He was probably the same as “Alestar Betoun”, tacksman of the parsonage of Lochalsh, who signed a contract written in Scots on 3 September 1586 as “Alexander Betoun”.8 Alasdair’s family cannot be identified with certainty9 but there can be no doubt of the affiliations of the second MacBeth on record to use Beaton as a surname. This was Malcolm of Pennycross in Mull who was an t-Ollamh Muileach from 1582 to 1603 at least.10 In 1587 he wrote his name in Gaelic as Giolla-Coluim MacBhethadh and in Latin as Makcolmus MakBeath.11 Somewhat later presumably, he again wrote his name as before in Gaelic but in Latin this time as Malcolmus Betune.12

It is clear that it was in the person of Malcolm MacBeth that the Pennycross family began to adopt the surname Beaton. Other families followed suit at irregular intervals. John MacBeth of Ballenabe in Islay was still using the Scoticised form of his Gaelic surname in a non-Gaelic context in 1629 but by 1643 he was apparently calling himself John Beatoun.13 Thereafter all the surviving recorded medical families of the kindred, with one exception,14 invariably used the surname Beaton in Latin, Scots and later English contexts. Eventually it was also given a Gaelic dress largely replacing the original surname in Gaelic. This process may have begun by the end of the seventeenth century. The result is that they are today generally known in Gaelic or English respectively as Peutanaich15 or Beatons and it will be convenient to refer to them by the latter form hereafter.

However, the original surname of the kindred is not forgotten by Gaelic speakers and there are, of course, people in Scotland today who continue to use one or other of the surviving Scoticised versions thereof. Leaving aside those who may have come over recently from Ireland where Beaton was never adopted, most present-day bearers of the Gaelic surname in Scotland may be descendants of families who ceased to practise medicine sometime before its replacement by Beaton. In the process they would fall outwith the close-knit Gaelic professional orders, thereby losing immediate contact with new cultural developments in which their professional kinsmen were taking an interest.

Beaton, which derives ultimately from de Bethune, was already the surname of a well-known kindred, mainly located in Fife and Angus, whose ancestor had come to Scotland sometime in the thirteenth century from Bethune in French Flanders.16 In the second half of the sixteenth century they sometimes reverted to the French spelling of their surname. They were probably stimulated to do this by the fact of their close connections with France at this time, both in terms of their continuing support for Mary, Queen of Scots, and in the person of James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, who, having gone to France at the time of the Reformation, remained there for much of the rest of his long life until his death in 1603.17 It is not without interest that in 1599 he was James VI’s ambassador to the King of France at the same time as Philippe de Bethune was French ambassador to the Scottish court.18 Many of James Beaton’s kinsmen accompanied him to, or visited him in, France and one of the first to use the French spelling of their surname was his brother, Mr or Monsieur Bethune, who was Master of Queen Mary’s household during her imprisonment in England.19

There is no need to postulate any kin connection between the MacBeth medical kindred and its counterpart in the Lowlands to explain the adoption by the former of the surname Beaton. All the evidence suggests that there was none. Rather Beaton or its Latin form Betonus, similar in written, although not in spoken terms, was a convenient substitute for MacBeatha or MacBethadh in non-Gaelic contexts and these were becoming more frequent as the pervasiveness of central government and the complexity of the economy steadily increased from the Reformation onwards. There are other examples of this phenomenon in Scotland, perhaps the most relevant being the adoption of the Lowland surname of Livingston by the kindred whose Gaelic surname was MacDhuinnshléibhe.20 They too belonged to the learned orders of Gaelic Scotland and Ireland, particularly to the medical profession, the most famous family thereof providing hereditary physicians to the O’Donnells of Tyrconnell in Donegal in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.21 They also practised medicine in Cowal in the sixteenth century at least,22 although the family domiciled in Scotland about whom most is known was associated with the church on the island of Lismore as hereditary keepers of the Bachall Mór of St. Moluag.23 According to the genealogical account of the kindred in Scotland written in 1743, the equation of these surnames had already been made by 1645,24 in this instance suggested by no more than the aural similarity of the syllables, ‘shléibh-’ of MacDhuinnshléibhe, in which the ‘s’ is not sounded, and ‘liv-’ of Livingston.25

By 1645 too the fact of having adopted Livingston as an alternative surname had promoted the impression that the two kindreds were connected by blood. Exactly the same thing happened in the case of the MacBeths and the Beatons. The MacBeths were aware of the French origins of their Lowland compatriots and two important documents written in the second half of the seventeenth century specifically deny their application to the medical kindred, which was by this time clearly felt to be implicit in their very acceptance of the surname Beaton.26 In the event two families went further than the rest in demonstrating their belief in this spurious connection. Towards the end of the seventeenth century the Beatons of Culnaskea in Easter Ross sometimes wrote the French form of the surname. They were followed in this by the Beatons of Husabost in Skye, although not until about the middle of the following century when they began to use Bethune regularly, and, taking the process to its logical conclusion, produced a genealogical tract which derived them specifically but erroneously from an alleged member of the Beatons of Balfour in Fife who was supposed to have flourished in the first half of the sixteenth century.27

The medical Beatons fell naturally into two divisions, the one confined mainly to the Western Isles and the other to the mainland of Scotland, although the Beatons of Husabost, the branch of the latter division about whom most is known, were based in Skye. It is clear that the Beatons themselves recognised this twofold division, for each is most fully represented by a collection of genealogies and at no point do they seriously overlap. A further indication of their separate identity is that, at least until the end of the seventeenth century, certain characteristic forenames were confined to one or other, particularly Fergus, Gill-Anndrais, and James to the first and to the second Fearchar, Angus and Gille-Pádruig. Characteristic Beaton forenames common to both divisions were Gille-Críost, Gille-Coluim and Neill. The island division is most fully represented by a collection of pedigrees entitled “Craobh-sgaoladh Chloinn Mheigbeathadh”, ‘The Branching-tree of the Clan Mac-beathadh’, in the Laing MS III, 21,28 now in the Library of Edinburgh University, and the other by the genealogical tract already mentioned and published in 1778 under the title An Historical and Genealogical Account of the Bethunes of the Island of Sky. Our study of the Beaton kindred will be most conveniently pursued by examining its two divisions in terms of these genealogical compilations.

1      Steer and Bannerman, Monumental Sculpture, p. 144.

2      For other possible examples of a personal name associated with a profession or craft, see ibid., p. 145; MacNeill, J., ‘Notes on Irish Ogham Inscriptions’, PRIA, xxvii (1907–9), pp.365–6.

3      Steer and Bannerman, Monumental Sculpture, p. 144.

4      Infra, p. 29 for a possible late example of MacMeic-bethad. The forms MacBeth and MacBeath derive from written Gaelic; MacVay, MacVia, and MacVeagh from spoken Gaelic, while MacBay and MacBey are hybrids, see Black, Surnames, pp. 457–8, 568. See also Jackson, K., The Gaelic Notes in the Book of Deer, 1972, p. 63. Finally, it should be noted that the quite different Gaelic surnames MacBeathain and MacBeathaig have been unnecessarily confused with MacBeth, even Scoticised as such on occasion, see Black, Surnames, pp. 457–8, 568; Dixon, J. R., Gairloch and Guide to Loch Maree, 1886, pp. 21–3.

5      R.I.A. Dict., O, pp. 138–9.

6      Infra, p. 84.

7      Mackay, W. and Boyd, H. C, Records of Inverness, New Spalding Club, i(1911), p. 299.

8      Reg. Deeds, RD 1/26, f.20.

9      Infra, p. 78.

10    Infra, pp. 26–7.

11    Laing MS III 21, f.85r.

12    Adv. 72. 1. 2. (MS II), f.65v.

13    Infra, pp. 15–16.

14    Infra, p. 18.

15    Infra, pp. 30–1.

16    Barrow, G.W.S., The Anglo-Norman Era in Scottish History, 1980, pp. 22–3; Black, Surnames, p. 72; see also Gen. Coll., i, p. 4.

17    CSP Scot., passim.

18    Ibid., xiii (1597–1603), pp. 78, 467–74, 497 etc.

19    Ibid., ii (1563–9), pp. 617, 696; vi (1581–3), pp. 109, 149. But as early as 30 June 1563, Mary Beaton, Queen Mary’s Lady-in-Waiting, was signing her name “Marie de Bethune” (ibid., ii (1563–9), p. 17).

20    ‘An Account of the Name of McLea’, HP, iv, pp. 93–104; this tract was written by Mr. Duncan McLea, minister of Dull, on 3 January 1743. See also Black, Surnames, pp. 432–3; Woulfe, Sloinnte, pp. 355–6; Matheson, W., ‘Traditions of the MacKenzies’, TGSI, xxxix–xl (1942–50), p. 203.

21    Infra, pp. 27–8.

22    ‘An Account of the Name of McLea’, HP, iv, p. 95.

23    AT, 9 April, 19 May 1545; ‘An Account of the Name of MacLea’, HP, iv, p. 96; OPS, ii, pt. 1, p. 163.

24    ‘An Account of the Name of McLea’, HP, iv, pp. 96–7.

25    The custom of providing Gaelic surnames with non-Gaelic equivalents may only have begun in the second half of the sixteenth century but long before this it was normal for Gaelic personal names to have acquired equivalents in Latin. As early as the first half of the fourteenth century, for example, Bricius was doing duty for Gaelic Gille-Brigde in Latin contexts. The letters ‘bri’ in each were sufficient to suggest the equation (Steer and Bannerman, Monumental Sculpture, pp. 101, 103–4).

26    Infra, p. 18.

27    Infra, pp. 55–7.

28    Fos. 102v–103r. Facsimile between pp. 142 and 143 in MacKinnon, D., ‘The Genealogy of the MacBeths or Beatons of Islay and Mull’, CMJ, v (1902–04).

The Island Division

The pedigrees in the Laing MS record the ancestry of six Beatons who all descend from a common ancestor Fergus Fionn. They were written by Christopher Beaton, as he himself tells us, and he goes on to record that the owner of the manuscript was Fergus Beaton of Pennycross in Mull. The latter was head of his family from 1657 until not later than 1674, and his pedigree comes fourth in the list.29 The remaining five pedigrees trace the ancestry of contemporary heads of other Beaton families. Since another Fergus of pedigree II was not head of his family by 4 October 1660, and since Malcolm of pedigree V had probably died by 1670, it can be assumed that the pedigrees were written by Christopher sometime during the decade 1660 to 1670.30 The number of generations up to and inclusive of Fergus Fionn in each pedigree is 7, 7, 10, 6, 7, and 6 respectively. Taking seven as the average and given the normal thirty years to a generation, Fergus Fionn’s floruit belongs to the second half of the fifteenth century and this is borne out by the dates recorded for his immediate descendants including his eldest son, Gille-Críost, who is on record in 1506.31

The first pedigree goes on beyond Fergus Fionn to give seven generations of his ancestors beginning with his father, Gille-Críost Mór, son of Gille-Críost Óg, son of Eoin, son of Fíngin, son of Sleimhne, son of Aodh, son of Aibhne Ruadh Mac Bheathadh. Independent evidence for some of the steps in Fergus Fionn’s pedigree comes from Seumas or James Beaton, yet another descendant of Fergus Fionn, who wrote down his own pedigree in the year 1588, claiming that Fergus Fionn was a son of Gille-Críost, son of Sleimhne, son of Aodh.32 His uncertainty as to his ancestry beyond Fergus Fionn is indicated by the fact that, having changed his mind and deleted Aodha, he gave up, simply adding his surname, .i. Mhaeigbheth.33

That MacBheathadh of the previous pedigree is also intended to be a surname and not another generation of Fergus Fionn’s ancestors is indicated by the words with which Christopher immediately followed it: “o cantur sliocht an leath ruaghe”, ‘from whom is named the race of the leath ruadh’. Leath, which means ‘side’ or ‘half’, is almost certainly an error for leagha,34 genitive of líaigh, ‘physician’, and therefore ‘the red-haired physician’ must refer to Aibhne Ruadh MacBeth, the final step of the pedigree. Sometime in the first half of the sixteenth century a compendium of medical definitions in Latin and Gaelic was written into MS IV belonging to Neill Óg Beaton by Mael-Sheachlainn mac Iollainn mhic an Leagha Ruaidh, ‘Mael-Seachlainn, son of Iollann, son of the Red-haired Physician’.35 Other members of this family who used Mac an leagha, Anglicised MacLeay, as a surname can be identified in late fifteenth and sixteenth century Ireland.36 The forename Iollann is very uncommon and it is significant therefore that a Iollann Maigbhetha was present at the writing of MS CXVII, another Gaelic medical manuscript of Scottish provenance at Aghamacart in Upper Ossory in 1596.37 The writer of most of it and eventual owner was Donnchadh Ó Conchobhair, employed as physician to the MacDougalls of Dunollie. Christopher then was indicating that, besides being Clann Mheic-bheathadh, the Beatons could also be described as Sliocht an Leagha Ruaidh after Aibhne Ruadh. It is clear also that not all of the kindred came to Scotland c.1300 and that those who remained in Ireland continued to practise medicine but normally preferred the surname derived from their professional kindred name. As already pointed out they never adopted the surname Beaton for use in non-Gaelic contexts. According to the number of generations in the pedigree, Aibhne, an Líaigh Ruadh, flourished in the first half of the thirteenth century indicating that the kindred was already pursuing medicine as a profession.

Nor did Christopher neglect to record the genealogical antecedents of his earlier and eponymous ancestor, Mac-bethad. The section following the fifth pedigree is headed Gionolach chloinn meic-bheathadh, ‘The Pedigree of the Kindred of Mac-bethad’, who, Christopher tells us, was ó, ‘grandson or descendant’, of Cú-bethad, eleven generations of whose ancestors are then named back to Niall Noígiallach, the eponymous ancestor of the Uí Néill, the most important people in Ireland for much of the Dark Ages.38 Niall is supposed to have flourished c.400 which in purely genealogical terms locates Mac-bethad in the ninth century, but only if ó has the more precise meaning of grandson in this instance. But even so no reliance should be placed on this date, for his genealogy is wholly spurious. One or two of the names may even have been manufactured on the spot for the purpose, others were taken more or less at random from a pedigree entitled Genelach Ceneoil Binnich Tilcha Óc which appears in the great compendium of genealogical material contained in Rawlinson B 502 and the Books of Ballymote and Lecan.39 This is the only occurrence of the name Cú-bethad in the whole collection and it is easy to see how its similarity to Mac-bethad, plus the presence in the same pedigree of Niall Noígiallach, that most desirable of ancestors, prompted the genealogist to make use of the pedigree in his construction of one for Mac-bethad.40 Cú-bethad is the fourth step therein, while Daithcheall mac Conghallainn, father and grandfather of Cú-bethad in the Laing MS are steps 9 and 10 in the Irish pedigree. Eochu Binnech mac Eoghain mheic Néill Noígiallaigh, steps 18, 19 and 20 of the Irish pedigree, do duty as the final steps of Mac-bethad’s pedigree. The end result is that Cú-bethad is genealogically placed in the eighth century by one pedigree and in the tenth century by the other.

There is no need to suppose that Christopher was himself responsible for concocting Mac-bethad’s ancestry. The substitution of leath for leagha looks like a copyist’s error rather than one made from memory. The implication is that Christopher had in his possession a manuscript which already contained the names of Fergus Fionn’s ancestors, possibly including the error, and therefore probably also Mac-bethad’s alleged pedigree.

The recital of Mac-bethad’s ancestors was a natural conclusion to Christopher’s genealogical scheme, suggesting that pedigree VI which follows was something of an afterthought. Indeed, he may even have regretted writing it down for, turning to Latin and secretary script, he concluded:

“De his rebus satis dictum et scriptum per me.”

‘Enough has been said and written regarding these matters by me.’

It is a matter of regret that he did not continue. But perhaps more significantly, Christopher added a clause to the end of pedigree V which presumably applied to all the Beatons mentioned previously and should have applied equally to those of pedigree VI had it formed part of his original scheme. It reads “dar goradh an tuath mór”, ‘who are known as the great people’,41 presumably in recognition of their present ubiquity and/or their reputation acquired over the centuries.

By the time the Irish branch of the kindred comes to light again in the late medieval period, they were located chiefly in Co. Sligo,42 but both Christopher and James Beaton state that their ancestors came originally from Achadh Dubhthaigh43 or Achadowey which lies to the south of Coleraine in Co. Derry. Christopher adds that Achadowey was “in airacht i Cathain”, ‘in the territory of Uí Cathain’.44 Seventeenth century historians maintain that a daughter of Cú-maige nan Gall Ó Catháin of Keenaght married Angus Óg, Lord of the Isles, probably sometime towards the end of the thirteenth century.45 In one account her name is given as Áine.46 Contemporary confirmation of the name and of this tradition is to be found in an English safe conduct of 1338 allowing Agnes, mother of John, Lord of the Isles, to travel between Scotland and Ireland at will.47 Perhaps the most persistent feature of the traditional account is that Áine came to Scotland with a wedding retinue or bodyguard of men (léine chneas) who proceeded to settle there.48 This was the custom of the time,49 but the singular thing about Áine’s retinue seems to have been its size and the number of Scottish families or clans whose progenitors are said to have formed part of it. The ‘History of the MacDonalds’ claims that it consisted of “seven score men out of every surname under O’Kain”. Beaton, standing for MacBeth, is among the surnames that are listed separately.50 Finally, the earliest Beaton doctor on record in Scotland is more or less contemporary, namely, Patrick MacBeth, ‘principal physician’ to Robert I51 and probably progenitor of the mainland division of the Beaton medical kindred. Nor is it surprising to find a Beaton in Robert Bruce’s service in view of the latter’s close association with the west of Scotland and with the Clan Donald and their leader Angus Óg in particular.52

The centre of MacDonald power at this time was Islay and traditionally the Beatons settled in the parish of Kilchoman. Their presence there at least by the second half of the fourteenth century is confirmed by the erection in the churchyard of a fine cross in the West Highland style commemorating Beatons, apparently of the mainland division.53 The first certain Beaton on record in Islay is Fergus who signed and probably wrote in the Gaelic language and script a charter recording a grant of lands in Islay by Donald, Lord of the Isles, in 1408.54 It has been suggested that he should be identified with Fergus Fionn of the pedigrees,55 but for this Fergus, presumably an adult in 1408, to have had a grandson still alive in the 1570s, is, while not impossible, unlikely and he is more likely to have been an earlier collateral kinsman of Fergus Fionn.56 Another possible early Beaton and kinsman of Fergus Fionn, who was archdeacon of the Isles from 1408 until his death c.1441, was Cristine Donaldi y leich, Cristinus, ‘son of Donald the physician’.57Cristinus is the normal Latin equivalent for Gaelic Gille-Críost, a common Beaton forename at an early stage.58 Another Beaton churchman, who had connections with Islay, was Sir Christopher Makwia or Makvia. Christopher is an alternative but less common Latin equivalent of Gille-Críost. Dead by May 1535, he had been chaplain of Ilane Oirsay,59 the small island of Orsay off Portnahaven in the parish of Kilchoman. The site of a chapel still appears on the map.60 That the Beatons in Kilchoman remained the senior branch of the island division of the kindred into the seventeenth century is perhaps sufficiently demonstrated by the 1609 confirmation of lands in Kilchoman by James VI to Fergus MacBeth in his capacity as ‘chief physician within the bounds of the Islands of Scotland’ and whose predecessors, we are told, held these same lands from the Lords of the Isles, ‘beyond all memory of men’.61 The cross set up at Kilchoman was acknowledgement of their seniority by the mainland division of the kindred, while the Beatons of Husabost traced their ultimate origins to Islay.62

Fergus Fionn was himself no doubt head of the Islay Beatons in the second half of the fifteenth century. The crown rental of 1506 lists “Gilcristus McVaig, surrigicus” as one of eight crown tenants in Islay.63 Gille-Críost is the name of the first of Fergus Fionn’s sons to appear in the Laing MS pedigrees, and, since his grandfather was also Gille-Críost, he is likely to be Fergus Fionn’s eldest son. In turn Gille-Críost’s son in these same pedigrees is Fergus and Fergus is the tenant of the lands of Ballenabe and Areset near the church of Kilchoman according to the crown rental of 1541. Therein he is called Fergus Oldowe, that is, Fergus Ollamh or Fergus, the physician.64 We are told further in 1542 that the fermes of Ballenabe were granted to Fergus for his fee as a medicus.65 Finally, Ballenabe and Areset were among the lands confirmed in the possession of the later Fergus in 1609.

Indeed, there seems to be contemporary record of another son and two grandsons of Fergus Fionn named in the Laing MS pedigrees. Donald Mór, son of Fergus Fionn in pedigree IV, may be the same as Donaldus Litch, ‘Donald Leich’, who held lands in south Kintyre in 1541.66 It is certainly his son, Gill-Anndrais, who was granted the lands of Pennycross, Mull, in 1572.67 Gille-Coluim Cléireach, son of Gill-Anndrais, son of Fergus Fionn, of pedigrees III and V may be the same as Malcolm Leich who held lands in the parish of Kilchoman according to the Islay crown rental of 1541.68 This might be thought strange in view of the fact that his first cousin Fergus Ollamh held lands in the same parish in virtue of being a physician. But here we may have an example of Leich being used purely as a surname without reference to Gille-Coluim’s profession, for his epithet cléireach suggests that he was not a physician but either a man of letters or in the church.69

Beatons in Portree

The only grandson of Fergus Fionn named in the Laing MS who remains unidentified elsewhere is Neill, son of Gill-Anndrais of pedigree VI. However, it seems likely that Fergus Fionn had another grandson named Neill who does not figure in the Laing MS pedigrees. It has already been noted that, in 1588, James Beaton wrote down his pedigree which reads: James, son of Ruairi, son of Neill, son of Gille-Críost, son of Fergus, son of Gille-Críost, son of Fergus Fionn. There is an obvious discrepancy here, for it would be impossible for Fergus Ollamh, son of Gille-Críost, son of Fergus Fionn, who flourished in 1541, to have had a descendant four generations removed who was alive only forty-seven years on and an adult at that. Looked at from the other direction the discrepancy is equally obvious. According to his pedigree, James was the same number of generations or one more removed from Fergus Fionn as five of the six people whose pedigrees appear in the Laing MS, all of whom were alive after 1660. We have to assume that James, having, as already noted, omitted steps in his pedigree beyond Fergus Fionn, added steps before Fergus Fionn.70 It seems most likely that he inadvertently repeated Gille-Críost, son of Fergus, a common error in this type of genealogy, but made more difficult to detect in this instance because pedigree I in the Laing MS does have legitimate repetition of these two names at this very point.71 However, it is significant that the epithet óg, specifically applied to the first Gille-Críost in pedigree I to distinguish him from his grandfather of the same name, is not present in James’ pedigree. Removing the two unnecessary steps, the latter now reads James, son of Ruairi, son of Neill, son of Gille-Críost, son of Fergus Fionn, which makes Neill, grandfather of James, a brother of Fergus Ollamh and fits James satisfactorily into the overall genealogical pattern.

James, as he tells us himself, was in Sleat at the time of writing in 1588.72 It is probable therefore that Neill, son of Ruairi, “leiche, duelling in Portrie” and doubtless employed by the MacDonalds of Sleat, who signed in the Gaelic language and script a discharge in 1610, was a brother of James,73 perhaps an older brother, since their grandfather was also called Neill. James had another brother whom he does not name but whose death in 1588 he records.74 Presumably none had descendants who survived into 1670, the latest point at which Christopher Beaton could have written the Laing MS genealogies, hence, although descendants of Fergus Fionn, they do not appear therein.

There follows James’ corrected pedigree from Fergus Fionn:

Beatons of Ballenabe

James in 1588 declared that he had only recently been in Islay in the company of Fergus, son of John, son of Fergus, the owner of the manuscript in which James recorded this information. Elsewhere in the manuscript we are told that it was written in the year 1563 for John Beaton.75 In pedigree II of the Laing MS, Fergus Ollamh is given a son, John,76 who no doubt succeeded him in Ballenabe sometime before 1563. In turn presumably, John was succeeded by his son, Fergus. ‘The book of Fergus MacBhethad’ from which Richard Ó Conchobhair completed transcribing a medical treatise on 1 April 1590 may well have been another manuscript belonging to Fergus of Ballenabe.77 It will be seen that the Ó Conchobhairs of Aghamacart in Upper Ossory had close medical ties with Scotland.78

At this point we leave the Laing MS pedigrees, for Fergus, son of John, is not recorded therein. The next certain Beaton occupant of Ballenabe to be named is the Fergus who was confirmed in his possession of this and other lands in Islay in 1609.79