Clan Maclean
also MacLean, McLean
Of Mull and Duart — Gillian of the Battle Axe's line.
Motto
Virtue Mine Honour
What does the Maclean name mean?
From 'Gilleain' — Gillian of the Battle Axe — a 13th-century warrior said to descend from the kings of Dalriada.
The history of Clan Maclean
Tradition holds that the Macleans descend from Gilleain-nan-Tuagh — Gillian of the Battle Axe — a descendant of the kings of Dalriada. Gillian fought against King Haakon of Norway at the Battle of Largs in 1263.
The first recorded mention of the Macleans of Duart is in a Papal Dispensation of 1367, allowing the chief to marry Mary MacDonald, daughter of the Lord of the Isles. The Isle of Mull, off Scotland's north-west coast, was the principal seat — the MacDonald dowry funding the purchase of substantial parcels of the island.
The Macleans supported Charles I against Parliament. Sir Hector Ruadh Maclean and 500 of his clansmen were slain at Inverkeithing in 1651. In 1876 Sir Harry Maclean resigned from the British Army to join the Sultan of Morocco's, where he became military leader and personal adviser to the Sultan.