Duncan de Atholl of Glenerochie, Earl of Atholl

Duncan de ATHOLIA first wife was the daughter of Malcolm, 5th Earl of Lennox.

He was married 2nd to Agnes MOOR, daughter of Ewen de ENSALIS & Mrs Ensalis nee MOOR or MEER

Duncan's Gaelic name was 'Donnachaid Reamhar'.

The Clan's first recognized Chief was Donnachadh Reamhair, or "Stout Duncan", who led the clan and supported Bruce during the wars of Scottish independence which culminated in Bruce's famous victory at Bannockburn on June 24, 1314 over Edward II's army. The most precious clan relic, the celebrated rock crystal charm stone of the clan, the "Clach na Brataich" or "ensign stone", was unearthed when the chief's standard pole was pulled from the ground while on the march to Bannockburn. It has been carried by all chiefs since then when leading the clan to battle. Stout Duncan had four sons. The three younger sons: Patrick, Thomas and Gibbon, were outlawed by King Robert III for their part in leading the daring "Raid of Angus" in 1392 which garnered 3,000 head of fat Angus cattle, laid waste the district of Angus and resulted in the death of the Sheriff of Angus and a host of his followers who had pursued the clan back to Atholl.

Had a charters for the lands of Discher and Toyer from Duncan, Earl of Fife, in around 1343 and the lands of Appin of Dull from John, Bishop of Dunkeld, in December 1355 and in both of which he is styled as son of Andrew de Atholia. He held lands in Rannoch from his first wife, and succeeded to the lands of Glenerochie (Glen Errochty) and was an adherent of King Robert I (The Bruce), with whom he fought at the battle of Bannockburn in June of 1314. His son Robert (perhaps called after Bruce) inherited land from his own mother and his estate ran from the edge of the Grampians to the gates of Perth.

Duncan de Atholia is considered the first chief of Clan Donnachaidh and confusion has attached itself to his ancestry. Up until the 19th century the Clan and everyone else "knew" that he was descended in the male line from the Lords of the Isles, progenitors of Clan Donald. This is stated in the oldest sources of both Clan Donald and Clan Donnachaidh. Then, in the 1830s, the Historiographer Royal for Scotland, William Skene, came to the conclusion that Duncan was descended in the male line from Conan, male descendant of the last Celtic Earl of Atholl, and not from Somerled, and so inherited his estates directly rather than only through marriage. Skene had found a charter mentioning Andrew de Atholia as father of Duncan who was not mentioned in the traditional pedigrees and from this and the absence of reference to the Island kindred in Duncan’s coat of arms, he decided that the accepted lineage was wrong.

A new clue came with the arrival of DNA testing which showed that the chief’s line shared a strong similarity to the DNA of those who descend from Niall of the Nine Hostages, a High King of Ireland who died about 405AD. This would indicate a descent from the old Celtic earls of Atholl, who were descendants of the kings of Dalriada, Scotti from Ireland, and not from Somerled, further supporting William Skene's theory.

Then, in 2006, the researcher Gordon MacGregor was asked to take a look at the origins of the clan and his examination of previously unconsidered charters turned up the vital evidence which he reported in the 2007 Clan Donnachaidh Annual. He discovered that the lands of Struan, the Clan Donnachaidh chiefs’ lands and barony in Atholl, had originally been carved out of the earldom of Atholl and bundled with the Lude estate as Clunes, and that these lands could only descend in the male line. The likely line of ancestral ownership, for good if complex reasons, went Duncan, from Andrew, from Madach of Clunes, from Duncan, from Malcolm, 2nd Earl of Atholl.

(source: Clan Donnachaidh website, www.donnachaidh.com)