The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

356 THE H I G H L A \ D E R S [part ii
Chief.
Macleod of Macleod.
Force.
In 1704, 700. In 1715, 1000. In 1745, 7°o-
Clan Cauipbell.
To the Campbells a Norman origin has been x^xy generally
ascribed, and this numerous clan, who, although their possessions
in Argyllshire were at first small, rapidly rose to considerable
eminence, seems of late to have been tacitly surrendered by the
supporters of the Celtic race to their antagonists, the admirers
of William the Norman's motle\- band, }'et no clan do these
southern antiquaries claim more unjustly. Their claim is
principally founded upon the assumption that the name
Campbell is a mere corruption of that of de Campo Bello,
which the}- assert to have been a Norman famil\-. Now to
this the answer is easy, for there never was a Norman family
of the name of Campo Rello. Battel Abbe\' and other Rolls,
Doomsday Book, and similar records, are equally silent about
them, while the farther back we trace the spelling of the Scotch
name, the more unlike does it become to his supposed Campo
Bello, the oldest spelling of it, that in Ragman Roll, being
Cambel or Kambel. There is thus no authority whatever for
their Norman descent ; and while the most ancient manuscript
genealogies attest their Gaelic origin, the histor\- of the earldom
of Garmoran proves, as we have seen, that the}' formed a part
of the ancient inhabitants of that district. There is one feature,
however, in the tale of their Norman descent which deserves
attention. \\'hile the}- say that their ancestor was a Norman
de Campo Bello, the}- add that he acquired his Argyllshire
propert}- by marriage with the daughter and heiress of Paul
O'Duin, lord of Lochow. This stor}- is so exactly similar to
those in the other clans, where the oldest cadet had usurped
the chiefship, that it leads to the suspicion that the same
circumstance must have given rise to it among the Campbells.
We have shewn it to be invariabl}- the case, that when a clan
claims a foreign origin, and accounts for their possession of the
chiefship and propert}- of the clan b}- a marriage with the