Clan Rattray
| Clan Rattray | |||
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| Motto | Super sidera votum (My wishes are above the stars) | ||
| Chief | |||
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| Lachlan Rattray | |||
| of Rattray | |||
| Seat | Craighall | ||
| Historic seat | Rattray Castle | ||
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Clan Rattray is a Highland Scottish clan.
The name Rattray is taken from the barony of Rattray in Perthshire. This barony has been in their possession since the eleventh century. The Rattray estate includes the ruins of a pict rath-tref or fort dwelling. It stands on a sandy mound which is associated by local tradition with Pagan rites.
The first recorded Laird of Rattray was Alan who witnessed charters by William the Lion and Alexander II of Scotland.
During the Wars of Scottish Independence, Alan's grandson, Eustace Rattray, was captured at the Battle of Dunbar (1296) and taken to England as a prisoner. Eustace's son was Adam Rattray who swore fealty to Edward I of England, appearing on the Ragman Rolls of 1296. Adam was succeeded by his son, Alexander Rattray, who was amongst the barons who sat in the Parliament at Ayr to determine the succession to the throne in 1315. Alexander was succeeded by his brother, Eustace, the sixth Laird of Rattray, who was accused of being involved in a plot to depose Robert the Bruce, but he was latter acquitted.
In 1463 Sir Silvester Rattray of Rattray was an ambassador to England and inherited from his mother large estates around Fortingall in Atholl. This caused the powerful Stewart Earl of Atholl to be jealous. Silvester Rattray was succeeded by his son, John, who had been knighted in 1488 by James IV of Scotland. His eldest son died serving in the Netherlands as a professional soldier but he left another two sons and two daughters. The eldest of the two daughters was Grizel who had married John Stewart, Earl of Atholl and the earl promptly claimed half of the barony of Rattray in her right. The earl also induced his wife's sister, Elizabeth, to try and obtain her share of the Rattray barony. Sir John Rattray's second son, Patrick Rattray, was driven from Rattray Castle in 1516 by the Earl of Atholl and was forced to take refuge in Nether Kinballoch where he built a new house at Craighall. However the Stewart Earl of Atholl murdered him in 1533.
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Wikipedia