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10
THE CLAN CHISHOLM.
Clan Pipe Music: Lament "Cumha do dh' Uilleam Siseal" ("Lament for
William Chisholm").
Badge: Fearna (Alder); or Raineach (Fern).
HE chieftain of this tribe is not of original Celtic descent, though, curious to say, the
whole tribe are the descendants of a pure Gaelic race, and their stronghold was
Erchless Castle in Strathglass, amid superb mountain scenery. It stands a little
below the confluence of the Glass and the Farrar, "and still belongs," says Miss
Sinclair, "to the descendants of that old chief, who said there were but three
'
persons in the world entitled to be called The 'The King, The Pope, and The
Chisholm. The place is beauty personified. The castle is a venerable whitewashed
old tower, so entirely siirrounded by a wreath of hills that the glen seems scooped
out on purpose to hold the house and park."
In the time of David II., Robert Chisholm, knight, witnessed a crown charter
at Perth in the thirty-ninth year of the King's reign, 1369 ; and there is a charter,
by Robert II., to the Earl of Buchan of Lochletter, Inchbrennys, etc., Invernessshire,
by the resignation of Robert Cheshelm (sic) and under the ;
Regency of the Duke of Albany
there was an indenture between Margaret of Eccles and Thomas of Chisholm, her son and heir,
dividing between them certain lands of which they were heirs-portioners, in Forfarshire, Perthshire,
Inverness, and Aberdeenshhe. It is dated at Kinrossie, 25th April 1403 (Robertson's " Index").
The name occurs very seldom in Scottish history.
Three of the clan were in succession Bishops of Dunblane. In I486, Bishop James Chisholm,
chaplain to James III., resigned the Ste in favour of his brother William in 1527, a most irreverend
prelate, who wasted the revenues of it on his natural children, particularly Sir James Chisholm of
Cromlix. His nephew, William Chisholm, became Bishop of Dunblane in 1564, after being coadjutor
in 1561. He was much employed in political affairs at foreign courts, and ultimately withdrew
to France, where he was made Bishop of Vaison (Beatson's " Index.")
In lf>79, John Chisholm was Comptroller of the Artillery, and John Acheson became caution for
him, that " he would behave himself as a goml and loyal subject, under pain of 1000 (Reg. of
Council).
James Chitsholm of Cromlix (son of the Bishop) was Master of the Household to James VI.,
though in 1429, Colin, Earl of Argyll, was appointed Master heritably, a dignity reserved at the
Union.
In 1581, Walter Chisholm of that Ilk is referred to in the " violations of the assurances of peace
between the Scotts and Elliots" (Ibid).
In the " Roll of the Landislordis and Baillies," under date 1587, printed in the "Transaction*
of the lona Club," the name of Chisholm of Comer appears. A note to the " Geography of the
Clans" therein states that "Alexander Chisholm of Stnithglass was alive in 1578," and that "John
C'hUholru of Comer is mentioned, anno 1613."
In 1598 the name of William, the ex-Bishop of Dunblane, appears in history again, when he
must have been in extreme old age.
"It would seem that in 1608 James, Lord Balmerino, the Scottish Secretary of State was
challenged in England, says Balfour, "concerning some letter written by him in 1598, by the king's
orders, to Pope Clement VIII., to obtain a cardinal's hat for Chisholm, a Scotts man, then Bishop
of Weasone, in France, brother to the Laird of Crouneriggas, in Perthshire, in which letter he styles
the I'ope 'Beatissiiu* Pater,' and other such phrases, which almost wronged the king's honour"
(" Annales").
In the liei>ort on the Clans, furnished to Government by Duncan Forbes, he enters the surname
thus :
"
Chitholms. Their chief is Chisholm of Strathghiss, in Gaelic called 'Chisallich.' His lands
re held of the Crown, and he can bring out 200 men."
In 1777, Alexander Chisholm of Chisholm entailed his estates in Inverness and Ross-shire ; and
to this day the picturesque old fortalice of Krchless is still in existence.
Alexander Chisholm's great-grandson, Roderick, died in 1887, the last "Chisholm."