THE BADENOCHS MEANING AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME Badenoch is, as we know, a Scottish name. It is ge- rons of by acquiring lands in Speyside and Bu- ographic in origin, in other words, it refers to the pe- chan. By the mid 13th century they held three earldoms; ople that come from the traditional district of Mentieth, and . Two members of the family, Badenoch, an Anglicisation of the ancient Gaelic Alexander, Earl of Buchan, and John (The Black) Comyn, name Bàideanach, meaning drowned land. Lord of Badenoch, were placed on the council of six According to the 1911 edition of the Encyclopaedia Guardians of Scotland after the death of Alexander III. Britannica, this is a “district of south-east Inverness- When Margaret, the Maid of Norway died, there was no shire, Scotland, bounded on the north by the Mo- heir and some thirteen nobles laid claim to the Scottish nadhliath mountains, on the east by the throne! The obvious problem was resolved by asking and , on the south by Atholl and the Gram- King Edward I of England to judge among the claimants. pians, and on the west by . Its area is so- He chose John Balliol to be King of Scots. mewhat undefined, but it may be estimated to “In 1296, Edward deposed Balliol and annexed Scotland, measure 36 miles from northeast to southwest and plunging the country into war. In 1306, 15 miles from north to south. stabbed John (The Red) Comyn to death in the Grey- “Excepting the valley of the Spey and the great friar’s Monastery chapel at Dumfies. glens, it is almost entirely a wild mountainous tract, “The fall of this part of the family line, the Lords of Bade- many hills exceeding 3000 feet in height, and con- noch, began the quick removal of the Comyn’s influence tains in the forests of Alder, Drumochter, Gaick and in Scotland. a large family by his mistress, Mairead Feshie some of the best deer country in the High- “On the forfeiture of the Cumyns, Bruce annexed the inghean Eachann. His wife appealed lands. and Loch Ericht are the princi- lordship of Badenoch to the earldom of Murray, and the to the Bishop of , who unfortu- pal lakes, and the district is abundantly watered by clan Chattan, whose original possessions were in Lo- nately for him, gave judgement in her the Spey and its numerous tributaries.” chaber, appear about this period to have settled in Ba- favour. Badenoch does not appear in early Scottish history; denoch.” The Wolf was outraged. All out for re- until the thirteenth century we never hear of it by In 1371, King Robert II granted Badenoch to his son Ale- venge, he came down from his strong- name nor of anything that took place within its con- xander Stewart (Alisdair Mor mac an Righ, in Gaelic). hold, the castle of and fines. Alexander was the 1st earl of Buchan (1343 - 1405), but ransacked and burned Forres and There was never any such thing as a Badenoch earned the nickname of the "Wolf of Badenoch", due to Elgin. clan, it was just a region. The earliest known set- his notorious cruelty and rapacity (though there is no Elgin of course, being the ecclesiasti- tlers in ‘Badenoch’ were an ancient Scottish tribe proof that the name was used during his lifetime). cal centre of the Bishopric of Moray. called the , but they were eventually deposed One of the blackest, most evil characters in Scotland's Setting off fires, mainly in the College, by the Cummings family, which is when, in 1229, history, the times in which he lived were barbarous, but the Canon's houses and the Hospital the Badenoch name is first recorded as the name of even by their standards he stood out, and was feared of the Maison Dieu, he terrified the pe- the area. over a considerable distance. ople of Elgin, forcing them to flee with The Cummings (or Cumyns, or any number of other The Wolf ruled the lands of Badenoch in a cruel way, bur- their families into the countryside. spellings) are believed to have come from the Co- ning the homes of those who crossed or displeased He burnt the towns of Forres and mine, on the border between modern day France them, taking labour and goods way beyond any reason. Elgin, with the Church of St. Giles, the and Belgium. As one website claims “the first Cum- His wife, the Countess of Ross, was deserted by him. maison dieu, the Cathedral, and eigh- ming in our clan story, Robert, is believed to have They never had any children although The Wolf did have teen houses of the canons in 1390. come to England with William the Conqueror and the Norman Invasion. THE BADENOCH TARTAN Arriving in Scotland during the reign of David I, the What is often considered the Bade- Cumming family established themselves in the Bor- noch tartan is actually the McPherson ders. In 1230, Walter Cumyn, earl of in Hunting tartan, a name derived from right of his wife, the second son of William Cumyn, the Gaelic Macaphersein, meaning earl of Buchan, acquired the lordship of Badenoch, “Son of the Parson”. by a grant of Alexander the Second. The clan itself is reputed to have been The Cummings soon became the most powerful ba- founded by Murdo Cattenach, a priest of in Badenoch. It is not the tartan of the Badenoch clan, as no such clan ever existed, but is consi- dered appropriate for the Cummings, or other derivatives of that spelling, who were the dominant clan in Bade- noch for centuries. There is a modern, romantic idea that all of Scotland was clans and each clan had their tartan like a football team has its shirt colours. The Badenoch tartan is what is called a District Sett, There was actually a lot more to tar- which according to The Clans, Septs and Regiments of tans than that, and most of the asso- the , by Frank Adam (1934) “were ciations used nowadays are based setts which were common to the inhabitants of certain more on the romantic desire to have districts irrespective of clan names. Thus there were a family tartan than on any real an- setts of tartan particular to such districts as , Gle- cient family traditions. norchy, Atholl, , Badenoch, etc. Such district There are tales of people ‘earning the setts, when preserved, have not unfrequently been con- right’ to wear certain tartans and so founded with the Clan setts.” on, but in actual fact, tartans were District Setts are generally not used these days, simply Map of Scotland simply designs the ancient Scots liked because they don’t feel as exciting as having your own showing the wearing, and generally had a lot less clan’s tartan, and don’t come with all the novelty add- historic district symbolism attached to them them pe- ons, but in many, if not most cases would actually be far of Badenoch ople would like to have us believe. more appropriate. Charlotte and Eirwen Roberts visiting the tomb of an ancient rela- tive, the ‘Wolf’ of Badenoch? Probably not, The Wolf was the un- popular Lord of Badenoch, but was the king’s son and wasn’t even a local man. His surname was Stewart - so, he’s probably more li- kely to be an ancient relative of Uncle Garry’s!

The Wolf was called upon by his father to do pe- that until 1451, when the crown bestowed Ba- study by Badenoch historian Alexander Mac- nance for this heinous crime. This he did under denoch to Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of , Bain, were full of inaccuracies and bent truths. the watchful eye of his father the King