Notes on one of the Most Obscure clans in Scotland's History. Clan MacFadyen, or MacPhaiden, or Patton, etc...

In doing research recently for my Bachelor's thesis on Gaelic culture in Scotland and Ireland, and in turn doing some digging into family history, I decided to pursue my Patton roots and look up exactly where and how they became a "sept" of Clan MacLaine. (For those of you unfamiliar with Celtic culture and Scots/Irish history, a sept is a branch of a clan or family. They can be by blood [such as a younger son forming his own branch] or adopted into the clan. Most of the time septs intermarry with the main clan and thus people with totally unrelated names might all share the same ancestor. The most famous example probably being people bearing the name MacDonald, and those ,say, bearing the name Ronald are both descended from Somerled, founder of the clan.)

It turns out that the Pattons of Mull (who in Gaelic were called MacPhaiden, also spelled McFadzean, MacFadyen, McFadden, MacFadden, McPatton, etc... which means "Son of Little Patrick") had been there before the occupation of the MacLaines. In fact (and it took a LOT of research since Clan MacFadyen doesn't have an official website or anything, much less a clan association, having been absorbed by the greater MacLaine clans) the MacPhaiden clan were once loyal vassals of the Lords of the Isles, owning not only Mull, but also Coll and Tiree as well. They helped Somerled come back from exile in Ireland (where there are also MacPhaidens in Donegal.), and fought under him as he regained his kingdom of Argyll and the Isles from the Vikings. In fact Somerled was born in Morvern, right across the Sound of Mull. The retaking of Mull from the Vikings was also Somerled's first major campaign. The MacPhaiden chiefs would almost have to have been major allies for Somerled in the retaking of Mull, yet almost nothing is known about this clan save for a spare mention of them in a MacDonald history from the 1600's, a short piece of Blind Harry's famous poem The Wallace, and an old Gaelic proverb about how apparently cheap they were. (MacFadden of the hen of the house of penury, he stayed till she was boiled, but not till she was eaten for fear of paying for her.) Rather unfavorable if you ask me.

So what happened to them? Where did they go? How did the MacLaine brothers end up with MacPhaiden lands? WELL....

It turns out that Somerled either gave them the Isle of Mull after driving out the Vikings, or they had already been in Mull for some time* and welcomed Somerled's help in driving out the northern pagans. Whatever the case they had been there for quite some time when they reappear again in the Wars of Scottish Independence, sadly, fighting on the wrong side. This was because they were loyal vassals of the then MacDougall Lords of the Isles (the elder branch of Clan Donald.). The MacDougalls in turn supported the Comyn claimant to the throne of Scots, John Balliol because they considered him the lawful King of Scots. The MacDonald chief supported Bruce. When Bruce finally won the throne and defeated the English and rival Comyn claimant at Bannockburn, he stripped the title Lord of the Isles from the MacDougall chief and gave it to the MacDonalds for their loyalty. The MacDonalds in turn cleaned house in the Isles by removing MacDougall supporters and replacing them with their own.

The MacDonald chief subsequently gave Mull to the MacLaine brothers, Hector the Stern and Lachlan the Wily, who drove out or absorbed the MacPhaidens and dispossessed them of their lands and they in turn became landless itinerant goldsmiths. "Sliocht Nan Or-Cheard" or the "Race of Goldsmiths". And that, is the story of the MacPhaidens of Mull. Of course it wasn't all that bad since they obviously were adopted as a sept of Clan MacLaine of Lochbuie and are still around today.


*The MacPhaidens are said to have descended from the famous O'Brien dynasty of Ireland, possibly from one of Brian Boru's brothers, most likely Mahon, King of Munster. The O'Briens in turn were the leaders of the Dalcassian tribe ( a royal "free" aka "landless" tribe of Ireland) whose symbol is the silver arm of Nuada** holding the Claiomh Soulais, or Sword of Light***.  The motto of the MacPhaidens is also the same as the O'Brien clan, "Lamh Ladir An Uachtar", "The Strong Arm Uppermost". The MacPhaidens were known as mercenaries for a time, and thus may have come over after the fall of the O'Briens from the High Kingship of Ireland, or they may have come over with Somerled when he returned from Ireland with men to fight the Norsemen.

**Nuada of the Silver Hand was the ancient High King of the Tuatha de Danaan (the clan of Celtic gods descended from the Mother Goddess Dana, from which we get the names of rivers in Europe like the Danube,  Rhone, from Rhodanus or "Great Danu",  and the Shannon in Ireland.) He lost his arm in a battle with the demonic Fir Bolg and since in Ireland a king had to be whole of body and of mind to be considered fit to rule, had a new arm forged for himself out of silver to be made whole again.

*** The Claiomh Soulis or Sword of Light (also the Shining Blade), was Nuada's chief weapon and one of the mythical Four Treasures of Ireland, against which no enemy ever escaped from it's blade once it was drawn from it's sheath. The other treasures were the Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny, which cried out whenever a true king of Ireland sat on it (It is now the coronation stone in Westminster Abbey on which all monarchs of Great Britain are crowned.), the Spear of Lug against which no battle was ever sustained or won, and the Cauldron of the Dagda, from which no one would ever walk away hungry or unsatisfied.

Also here is a link to a McFadden website: http://www.mcfaddentartan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index_files/Page406.htm

On the site is an excerpt from a 17th century manuscript written to King Charles I explaining the MacDonald claim to the Lordship of the Isles. In it the MacPhadin chief is mentioned as welcoming Somerled back from Ireland and serving alongside him in the retaking of Lorne, Mull, and the rest of the Isles and Argyll.

The Battle of Clontarf, fought on Good Friday, 1014. Where High King Brian Boru defeated the Vikings of Dublin, Man, and the Orkneys. And where he met his death at the hands of Brodir of Man.

Ulf the Quarrelsome, brother to Brian Boru finishing off the Sorcerer-Viking Brodir of Man. First removing his "magical" chainmail, before killing him.