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Scottish Tattoo Designs >> MacMillan

MacMillan Clan Tattoos - The MacMillans are Celts from from an ancient royal house and from the orders of the Celtic church. In the 6th century, the Irish prince St. Columban, established a church on Iona, thereafter the cradle of Christianity in Gaelic Scotland. The Columban church permitted priests to marry, and it faced increasing pressure from the papacy after the arrival in Scotland of Queen Margaret, under whose influence more European practices were introduced. Malcolm son, Alexander I, tried to integrate the two traditions when he appointed Cormac, a Columban, as Bishop of Dunkeld.

Cormac had numerous sons, one of whom, Gillie Chriosd, or disciple of Christ, was the progenitor of the Macmillans. As a Celtic priest, the bishop's son would have a distinctive tonsure: the Celts shaved their hair over the front of the head, rather than the Roman manner of a ring around the crown.

They were well established by the end of the 13th century when the death of Margaret, The Maid of Norway, at Orkney in 1290, set in motion the events which were to lead to the War of Independence. Robert the Bruce settled his dispute with John the Red Comyn, by stabbing him in the Greyfrairs church at Dumfries. The Comyns and their allies rose in fury, and the new king was forced to flee into hiding in the Highlands.

Clan MacMillan Motto: Miseris Succerrere Disco
From Latin: I learn to succour the unfortunate

See also: Claddagh, Thistle Tattoos, Scottish Lion Tattoo Designs, Welsh Dragon Tattoos, Scottish Tattoo Designs, Celtic Tattoo Designs, Family Crests, Sword