Clan Fraser of Lovat ( ) is a Highland Scottish clan and the principal branch of Clan Fraser. The Frasers of Lovat are strongly associated with Inverness and the surrounding area since the Clan's founder gained lands there in the 13th century.
The Clan Fraser of Lovat in Inverness-shire has historically dominated local politics and been active in every major military conflict involving Scotland. It has also played a considerable role in most major political turmoils. "Fraser" remains the most prominent family name within the Inverness area. The Clan's current chief is Simon Fraser, the 16th Lord Lovat, and 25th Chief of Clan Fraser.
History
Origins of the surname
The exact origins of the surname "Fraser" can not be determined with any great certainty.Fraser Name Meaning ancestry.com. Retrieved on 14 June 2015. Traditionally it is thought to have originated in France, but the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names (2016) notes there is no place name in France corresponding with the earliest spellings of the name – "de Fresel", "de Friselle", and "de Freseliere" – and suggests the possibility it represents a Gaelic name "corrupted beyond recognition by Anglo-French scribes".
The first definite record of the name in Scotland occurs in the mid-12th century as "de Fresel", "de Friselle", and "de Freseliere", and appears to be an Angevin name. The French surname "Frézelière" or "de la Frézelière" or "Frézeau de la Frézelière", exists in France to this day, and is still concentrated in the area of Anjou. It also corresponds with the Scottish version in its spelling. Belief in the name's Angevin origin has also been firmly held by the Frasers themselves. In 1702, while in exile in France, Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, "entered into a formal league of amity" and "declared an alliance" with the French Marquis de la Frézelière and claimed common origin from the "seigneurs de la Frézelière" in Loigné-Sur-Mayenne.Frank Adam, Thomas Innes. The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands. Retrieved on 26 December 2008 "The deed was executed on the one part by the Marquis de la Frezeliere, the Duc de Luxembourg, the Duc de Châtillon and the Prince of Tingrie; while on the other side the subscribers were Lord Lovat, his brother John Fraser with George Henry Fraser, Major of the Irish Regiment of Bourke in the French service." The first annual gathering of the Clan Fraser in Canada in 1894 also recalls this connection. Retrieved on 26 December 2008 "Lord Lovat was a fugitive in France at the time, and he was befriendtid by the Marquis. He wrote his life in French, afterwards translated into English and published in 1796. In it he makes the following statement : – "The house of Frezel, or Frezeau de la Frezeliere, is one of the most ancient houses in France. It ascends by uninterrupted filiation, and without any unequal alliance, to the year 1030. It is able to establish by a regular proof sixty-four quarterings in its armorial bearings, and all noble. It has titles of seven hundred years standing in the abbey of Notre Dame de Novers in Touraine. And it is certain.""
There is other evidence of an ancient connection with Anjou. An 18th-century document Le Dictionnaire de la noblesse states that a Simon Frezel was born to the knightly Frezel family from Anjou and, sometime after the year 1030, established himself in Scotland. It also states that Simon Frezel's descendants multiplied and eventually became known as Frasers. This would also explain the prevalence of the name Simon throughout clan history, as all Frasers (by descent) would have the knight Simon Frezel as a distant but common ancestor.
There are other suggested links with France, but these are more in the realm of myth than history: The surname "Frysel" Retrieved on 26 December 2008 (vowels were at the time often interchanged) is recorded on the Battle Abbey Roll – supposedly a list of William the Conqueror's companions, preserved at Battle Abbey, on the site of his great victory over Harold. Retrieved on 26 December 2008 However, the authenticity of the manuscript is seriously doubted.Note: The name "Ricardus Fresle" appears in the original Latin version of the Domesday Book as a tenant-in-chief in Nottingham. Also the commune of Fresles (mentioned as Freeles around 1240) exists to this very day in Haute-Normandie. Another story claims the name derives from a Frenchman called "Pierre Fraser, Seigneur de Troile", who came to Scotland in the reign of Charlemagne to form an alliance with the mythical King Achaius.Anderson, William. The Scottish Nation. (Vol.2), p.258. Pierre's son then became thane of the Isle of Man in 814. One tradition suggests that the surname is derived from the French words fraise, meaning strawberry (the fruit), and fraisiers, strawberry plants. There is a fabled account of the Fraser coat of arms which asserts that during the reign of Charles the Simple of France, a nobleman from Bourbon named Julius de Berry entertained the King with a dish of fine strawberries. De Berry was then later knighted, with the knight taking strawberry flowers as his Arms and changing his name from "de Berry" to "Fraiseux" or "Frezeliere". His direct descendants were to become the lords of Neidpath Castle, then known as Oliver.Fraser, Archibald Campbell. Annals... of the Frasers of Loveth. Clan Fraser Association for California, 2003. Ed. Diolain Fraser. This origin has been disputed,Note that the French word fraisier "strawberry plant" is not recorded in French before the first part of the 14th century : and the word fraise first meant "all sort of fruit", "something not important" and the Old French word for strawberry was fraie, not fraise : and seen as a classic example of canting heraldry, where heraldic symbols are derived from a pun on similar-sounding surname: (strawberry flowers – fraises).Black, George Fraser. The Surnames of Scotland.Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Sir Ian. The Highland Clans, p.80-83.
Early Frasers Around the reign of William the Lion (r.1165–1214), there was a mass of "Norman" immigration into Scotland. Thomas Grey, a 14th-century English knight, listed several "Norman" families which took up land during William's reign. Among those listed, the families of Moubray, Ramsay, Laundells, Valognes, Boys and Fraser are certainly or probably introduced under King William.Barrow, G W S. The Kingdom of the Scots, p.331.
The earliest written record of Frasers in Scotland is in 1160, when a Simon Fraser held lands in East Lothian at Keith. In that year, he made the gift of a church to the Tironensian monks at Kelso Abbey. The Frasers moved into Tweeddale in the 12th and 13th centuries and from there into the counties of Stirling, Angus, Inverness and Aberdeen.
Wars of Scottish Independence
During the Scottish Wars of Independence, Sir Simon Fraser, known as "the Patriot", fought first with the Red Comyn, and later with Sir William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. Sir Simon is celebrated for having defeated the English at the Battle of Roslin in 1303, with just 8,000 men under his command. At the Battle of Methven in 1306, Sir Simon Fraser led troops along with Bruce, and saved the King's life in three separate instances. Simon was allegedly awarded the 3 Crowns which now appear in the Lovat Arms for these three acts of bravery. He was however captured by the English and executed with great cruelty by Edward I of England in 1306, in the same barbaric fashion as Wallace. At the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, Sir Simon's cousin, Sir Alexander Fraser of Touchfraser and Cowie, was much more fortunate. He fought at Bannockburn, married Bruce's sister, and became Chamberlain of Scotland. The Frasers of Philorth who are chiefs of the senior Clan Fraser trace their lineage from this Alexander. Alexander's younger brother, another Sir Simon Fraser, was the ancestor of the chiefs of the Clan Fraser of Lovat.Way, George and Squire, Romily. (1994). Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs). pp. 144 – 145. This Simon Fraser was killed at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, along with his younger brothers Andrew and James.
15th and 16th century clan conflicts
As most all Highlanders, the Frasers have been involved in countless instances of Clan warfare, particularly against the Macdonalds. Two Gaelic war cries of the Frasers have been generally recognized. The first, "Caisteal Dhuni" (Castle Dounie/Downie) refers to the ancestral Castle and Clan seat, which once existed near the present Beaufort Castle. The second is "A Mhòr-fhaiche" (The Great Field).
In 1429, the Clan Fraser of Lovat defeated the Clan Donald at the Battle of Mamsha.
According to some accounts the Frasers under Lord Lovat supported the Munros at the Battle of Bealach nam Broig in 1452 which was fought against the Clan Mackenzie. Quoting from the MSS of Frasers, MSS of Mackenzies and MSS of Foulis family – in the Advocate's Library. There are also accounts of Fraser Lord Lovat supporting the Munros at the Battle of Clachnaharry fought two years later in 1454.
In 1544, the Frasers fought a great clan battle, the Battle of the Shirts ( in Gaelic) against the Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, over the disputed chiefship of Clan Ranald. The Frasers, as part of a large coalition, backed a son of the 5th Chief, Ranald Gallda (the Stranger), which the MacDonalds found unacceptable. The Earl of Argyll intervened, refusing to let the two forces engage. But on their march home, the 300 Frasers were ambushed by 500 MacDonalds. Only five Frasers and eight MacDonalds are said to have survived the battle. Both the clan chief, Hugh Fraser, 3rd Lord Lovat, and his son were amongst the dead and were buried at Beauly Priory.
At the Siege of Inverness in 1562 the Clan Fraser of Lovat supported Mary, Queen of Scots: Scottish historian George Buchanan, a contemporary, wrote that when the unfortunate princess went to Inverness in 1562: "as soon as they heard of their sovereign's danger, a great number of the most eminent Scots poured in around her, especially the Frasers and Munros, who were esteemed the most 'valiant of the clans inhabiting those countries in the north.' " These two clans took Inverness Castle for the Queen. The Queen later hanged the governor, a Gordon who had refused her admission.
In the 16th century a battle took place between the Clan Fraser (with help from the Clan MacRae) and the Clan Logan at Kessock, where Gilligorm, the Chief of the Clan Logan, was killed.Clan Logan. Electric Scotland. Retrieved 12 March 2007.
17th century and civil war
In 1645, at the Battle of Auldearn, in Nairnshire, the Clan opposed the Royalist leader James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, and fought under a Fraser of Struy (from a small village at the mouth of Glen Strathfarrar). The battle left eighty-seven Fraser widows.Clan Fraser Society of Scotland and the UK Retrieved on 7 March 2007 A poem about the battle reads: "Here Fraser Fraser kills, a Browndoth kills a Browndoth. A Bold a Bold, and Lieth's by Lieth overthrown. A Forbes against a Forbes and her doeth stand, And Drummonds fight with Drummonds hand to hand. There dith Magill cause a Magill to die, And Gordon doth the strength of Gordon try. Oh! Scotland, were though Mad? Off thine own native gore. So Much till now thou never shedst before."