Clan Fletcher | |||
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Mac-An-Leister (Son of the Arrowmaker) [1] Fleisdear [2] | |||
Motto | Alta Pete (Aim at High Things) [1] | ||
Profile | |||
Country | Scotland, Ireland, England | ||
Region | Scottish Highlands | ||
District | Argyll | ||
Ethnicity | Scottish | ||
Clan Fletcher no longer has a chief, and is an armigerous clan | |||
Historic seat | Archallader House [3] | ||
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Clan Fletcher is a Scottish clan. [2] The clan is officially recognized by the Lord Lyon King of Arms; however, as the clan does not currently have a chief recognized by the Lord Lyon, it is considered an armigerous clan. [2]
The name Fletcher is derived from the French word flechier, which means arrow maker. [2] The name was a very common trade name, so much so that it became used in the Scottish Gaelic language as fleisdear. [2] In the eighteenth century some families went full circle and anglicised the name from the Gaelic, Mac-an-leistear, back into Fletcher. [2]
Sometime after the eleventh century a band of Mac-an-leistears settled in Glen Orchy, Argyll. [2] There they became arrow makers to the Clan MacGregor. [2] Other small groups of Mac-an-leisters settled in glens that belonged to other clans, in order to make arrows for them. [2]
The first recorded clan chief was Angus Mac-an-leister, who was born in about 1450. [2] However, Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, who was in high royal favour with James VI of Scotland coveted the Mac-an-leister's lands. [2] Campbell had royal authority to maintain a large band of armed retainers who he employed in a campaign of intimidation and violence. [2] Campbell deliberately provoked a dispute with the Mac-an-leister chief and trumped up a murder charge against him. [2] As a result, Mac-an-leister was compelled to sign a deed in which all of his family lands were ceded to the Campbells, and from then onwards they were only tenants in Glen Orchy. [2]
Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun "the Patriot" was a fierce opponent of the union with England. [2] He became MP for Haddington in 1678; however, he was forced to flee to Holland for having supported the Monmouth Rebellion against James II of England (VII of Scotland). [2]
During the Jacobite rising of 1715 Archibald, ninth chief of the clan led the Mac-an-leisters in support of the Jacobites, as did his younger brother John during the Jacobite rising of 1745. [2] However, during "the 45" the elder brother who was the chief, provided some men for the British-Hanoverian forces under his Campbell overlords and in doing so avoided forfeiture. [2]
Castles owned by the Clan Fletcher have included amongst others: