Clan Buchanan

Clan Buchanan (Scottish Gaelic: Na Cananaich [nə ˈkʰanənɪç]) is a Highlands Scottish Clan whose origins are said to lie in the 1225 grant of lands on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond to clergyman Sir Absalon of Buchanan by the Earl of Lennox.

The name is said to derive from Macauselan (meaning son of Anselan). The following two names are given as the root of the territorial name Buchanan, Mac a Chanonaich (The Son of the Canon) and Buth Chanain (meaning house or seat of the canon).

Traditionally, the clan's origin myth traced the chiefly line back to Anselan O Kyan, who was of the Irish clan Ó Catháin, a provincial king of north Ulster (and had his seat in Limavady, in present-day County Londonderry). He is said to have landed in Argyll in 1016. According to this tradition, for his services against the Danes he received from king Malcolm II the lands of Buchanan, which lie to the east of Loch Lomond around the village of Killearn.

During the reign of Malduin, Mormaer (Earl) of Lennox, 1217–1250, Anselan (third of that name) was granted, in 1225, the island of Clairinch. (Clár Inis). He is referred to as 'clericus meus', meaning 'my clergyman'. He is subsequently recorded as Absalom de Buchanan and it is understood that to have this title, there must have been other grants of land in the parish of Buchanan. During the reign of King Alexander II (1214–1249), Gilbert de Buchanan, seneschal to the Earl of Lennox, received, in 1231, a charter confirming Clareinch (or Clairinch) and other lands in Buchanan. It is from the lands of Buchanan that the Clan name is derived.

However, the traditional accounts of the origin of the clan, the land and name derivation in Scotland are inconsistent with other historical accounts for the previous period in Ireland, as well as the data from the extensive DNA project, and is officially considered to be little more than origin myth.

Further proving this account as only myth, a special meeting was held on 23 January 2021 for the Council of the Clan Buchanan Society International (CBSI), wherein Clan President, David Byrne, informed all present members, "...that origin myth has been in our history books and in our tents forever. Auchmar, in his history of the clan, was the one who really pushed that forward ... and it's the one everyone has clung to. It is a great story. The problem is that it's not accurate. It didn't happen. From the yDNA Project, run by Ross Buchanan (in Ireland) and Alex Buchanan (in Tasmania), with all the people who participated in that (including the MacAuslans and Buchanans), there is not a single individual whose DNA matches up with any yDNA in Ireland. The male lines ... all show that the Clan Buchanan was located on the shores of Loch Lomond, in the Auld Kingdom of Alba, well before the year 1000 (A.D.) and possibly going way beyond that. There is no historical evidence that Anselan, the prince, ever existed in Ireland. There are no history books that mention him or support the fact that he even existed. How or why the myth, the origin was created we don't know ... so, that changes everything. It means that the Clan Buchanan is an old Scottish clan, not an old Irish clan. That means that our people have been in Scotland, particularly in Stirlingshire and on the shores of Loch Lomond, for thousands of years; not 1,000 years."

According to the official publication provided to the Clan Buchanan Society International, "There is a strong DNA link to the Clan Gregor which seems to indicate a common ancestor around the year 400 A.D." This discovery made through extensive genetic testing information collected provides further proof of the existence of Clan Buchanan well before any previously thought of origin myth.

Unenviable William Wallace Link. Sir Maurice Buchanan 10th of Buchanan married Margaret Menteith. Margaret was the daughter of Sir Walter Menteith of Rusky, and granddaughter of Sir John of Menteith, Sheriff of Dunbarton Castle, and Helena daughter of Gartnait, Earl of Mar. Sir John is reputed to have betrayed Sir William Wallace to King Edward I of England on 5 Aug 1305. Sir John was imprisoned by king Robert I but in 1314 "through influence of his sons-in-law; Malice, Earl of Strathern; Sir Archibald Campbell, of Lochow; and Maurice Buchanan, of Buchanan, he was released immediately before the Battle of Bannockburn, where he deported himself valiantly on the part of the Scottish king." Sir John was also a signatory to the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320.