Clan History
Tradition and record
Most early clan histories rest on oral tradition, and it was the job of the clan bard to make the clan's origins as old and as honourable as possible. The Munros have three traditional accounts: of their founder, of their name and of their early chiefs.
Tradition says that Donald, ancestor of the Munros of Foulis, received his lands in Ross as a reward for helping King Malcolm II (1005–34) against invaders from Scandinavia. Viking power in the north was real: Dingwall takes its name from the Norse Thingvollr, the place of the assembly, and a decisive battle was fought at Tarbat Ness around 1030. The name of the clan country, Ferindonald (Fearainn Domhnuill, Donald's land), probably keeps a genuine folk memory of a Donald who founded the chief's family. The Gaelic form of the name, Rothach, Roich or Mac an Rothaich, means "man from Ro", and supports the tradition that the Munros came from the River Roe in Derry. That story only appears in writing in the later seventeenth century. A case has also been made for an origin in Moray, though some historians have dismissed it. The family tree of 1734, the Munro Tree, has Donald dying around 1034 and eight generations following him down to George, killed at Halidon Hill in 1333. It is the only authority for those generations and has been shown to be suspect. The first chief proved by record evidence was killed defending the Earl of Ross in 1369. From then on the history of the clan and its chiefs is well documented.
The name de Monro first appears in a charter dated between 1350 and 1371, and Ferindonald is named in a record as early as 1375. By then the Munros were well established. Robert de Munro, the first chief known from contemporary evidence, had a charter confirmed by David II in 1364 and received lands in the earldom of Ross that included Easter Foulis and Strathskiach. He was killed in defence of the Earl of Ross in 1369.
Tradition also places Munros in the armies that fought for Scotland's independence: a George Munro is said to have fallen at Bannockburn in 1314 and another at Halidon Hill in 1333. These earlier chiefs cannot be proved from contemporary documents, but their names have come down by tradition and keep their place in the list of chiefs.
Ferindonald and the barony of Foulis
The Munro country lies on the north side of the Cromarty Firth, from a small burn about a mile from Dingwall Castle in the west to the River Alness in the east: the parishes of Kiltearn and Alness.
The clan farmed the fertile strip beside the firth, travelled mainly by sea, and spread up the river valleys into the uplands round Ben Wyvis. In time it held lands across the watershed in Sutherland, east of the River Alness and over the firth in the Black Isle. Its neighbours were the Mackenzies, the Rosses and the Urquharts. The chiefs held their lands first from the Earls of Ross, under several charters between 1333 and 1394 that still survive, and then directly from the Crown after the earldom was forfeited in 1476. Rents to the Crown were nominal: a silver penny or a pair of white gloves. A later tradition says the forest of Wyvis was held for a snowball, to be delivered on demand to cool the monarch's wine, since snow lies in the northern corries of Ben Wyvis all summer. Around 1550 the lands were made into the barony of Foulis, so Robert Mor Munro (died 1588) was strictly the first Baron of Foulis, although his family had held Foulis for centuries. The barony gave the chief courts of his own and the power of "pit and gallows" for serious crimes: the drowning pit for women, the gallows for men.
Foulis Castle today →As the clan grew, younger sons of the chiefs founded cadet branches that settled new lands and carried the name further afield. Between 1500 and 1800 the clan genealogists name some sixty Munro homes and estates, each with its own community of tenants. Most of these branches descend from two fifteenth-century chiefs' sons:
- John, founder of the Monros of Milntown, whose descendants include the Munros of Allan, Auchinbowie and Novar;
- Hugh of Coul, whose sons founded families from Kiltearn and Ardullie to Eriboll on the north coast of Sutherland.
Sons of the chief killed at Pinkie in 1547 founded the Fyrish, Achany and Katewell lines, and his son Robert Mor added Obsdale and Lemlair. The last cadet branch was Culcairn, founded by George Munro (died 1746).
Feuds and forays
The Munros were not an unduly combative clan. They fought in many actions on record, but mostly in the service of the Crown or as part of a larger force. Only once were they acting aggressively in their own interest.
Hugh Munro of Foulis, who died in 1425, joined the Lord of the Isles in his contest with the Duke of Albany in 1411, the campaign that led to the Battle of Harlaw. When James I came to Inverness in 1428 to assert his authority, he seized many leading Highlanders; a group of Munros were among those granted remission for past offences. At Bealach nam Broig, north-west of Ben Wyvis, a force of Munros and Dingwalls met a body of rebels, said to be vassals of Mackenzie of Kintail, who held an important Ross hostage. The Munros rescued the hostage and almost wiped out their enemies, but at a terrible cost. William Dingwall of Kildun and 140 of his men were killed, and eleven Munros of the house of Foulis, so that the chiefship passed to a child still in his cradle. The clan's pipe tune, Bealach na Broige, shares the battle's name. Two years later, in 1454, John Munro, the child's uncle and guardian, led a raid into Perthshire. Coming home with captured cattle through Mackintosh country, the Munros quarrelled over the "road collop", the toll for passage, and were overtaken at Clachnaharry near Inverness. John was left for dead. He was found by an old woman and nursed back to health, but he had lost the use of a hand and was ever after known as John Bachlach.
The sixteenth century brought more clashes, most of them with the Mackenzies:
- Drumchatt, 1501. William Munro of Foulis led Munros, Dingwalls and MacCullochs against Hector Mackenzie of Gairloch and was ambushed on the way home. The well above Fodderty churchyard where the heads of the fallen are said to have come to rest is still called Tobar nan Ceann, the well of the heads. William was killed in 1505 at Achnashellach by Ewen Cameron of Lochiel while on "the King's business".
- Pinkie, 1547. Robert Munro of Foulis was killed with many of his followers fighting an English invading army.
- Inverness, 1562. When the gates of Inverness Castle were shut against Mary, Queen of Scots, the Munros and the Frasers gave her loyal support.
- Chanonry, 1570–73. Andrew Munro of Milntown held the castle of the Chanonry of Ross for three years against the Mackenzies, until a failed sortie cost twenty-six Munro lives and the garrison surrendered.
- Logiebride, 1597. A brawl at the Candlemas fair near Conon ended with the Baynes and about fifty Munros cut down by the Mackenzies. A fragment survives of a lament by a Munro woman for her three brothers killed that day.
Robert Mor and the Protestant faith
Loyal to the Crown, the chief and his followers took up the Protestant faith early in the Reformation. It was a choice that shaped clan policy for the next two hundred years.
Robert Mor Munro, chief until 1588, sat in the Reformation Parliament of 1560. He was the first Protestant chief and the first to be buried at Kiltearn church. A loyal protector of Queen Mary, he enlarged the Foulis estate and, during her son's long minority, had charge of the Crown lands of Ross and the Black Isle. As a baron of the realm he took part in the choice of at least one Regent. His son Hector was Dean of Ross in the reformed church before he succeeded as chief. James VI looked to the Highland chiefs to keep order. The Laird of Foulis appears on a roll of Highland landlords attached to an Act of Parliament in 1587. In 1599 the King wrote "to our richt traist friend the Laird of Foulis", having heard of Hector's willingness in the royal service, asking him to count the men he could raise, see them properly armed and hold weekly drills and monthly reviews.
Soldiers of the Protestant cause
When more peaceful times came at home, service abroad had its attractions. Many Munros fought under Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in the Thirty Years' War, as officers and in the ranks.
Robert Munro of Foulis, the Black Baron, joined Mackay's regiment in 1626 for Danish service, and went on with it into the Swedish army. Two successive chiefs died in the war. Robert died of his wounds at Ulm in 1633, and his brother Sir Hector died at Hamburg in 1635, shortly after Charles I had made him a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1634. Their cousin Robert Monro of the Obsdale branch wrote one of the great soldiers' memoirs of the age, the history of Mackay's regiment, published in 1637. There were as many as 27 field officers and 11 captains named Munro in the Swedish army. Some of these men came home to serve in the Covenanting armies or the royalist cause, and in 1642 General Robert Monro commanded the Scottish army sent to Ireland.
The chiefs of the clan →A long minority in the chiefship, from 1635 to 1651, coincided with civil war and divided loyalties. Under Cromwell's Commonwealth, Sir Robert Munro, 3rd Baronet, was Sheriff of Ross while his lands were raided and his tenants abused; his brother George, "of different principles", rose to command the King's forces in Scotland from 1674 to 1677. In 1650 the Munros, with the Rosses and Sutherlands, helped defeat Montrose's invading army at Carbisdale.
Sir John Munro, 4th Baronet, a devout Presbyterian, supported the revolution of 1688–89 that brought William and Mary to the throne. Not every Munro agreed: Dr Alexander Monro of the Fyrish branch, an Episcopalian who would not change his allegiance, lost his posts as principal of Edinburgh University, minister of St Giles' and bishop-elect of Argyll. The rest of the clan did not share his sympathies. In 1689, and again in 1715, 1719 and 1745–46, the Munros stood with the clans of the north who supported the government against the Jacobites.
The Jacobite risings
In 1715 the Mackays, Rosses and Munros could be counted on to support King George, while the Mackenzies, Macdonalds and Chisholms rose for the Jacobites. The old chief had lost his sight, and his sons led the clan.
When the Earl of Mar raised the Jacobite standard, George Munro of Culcairn put the clan in readiness, and young Robert Munro, the chief's heir, formed a camp at the bridge of Alness with the Earl of Sutherland. Faced by the Earl of Seaforth's larger army, Sutherland withdrew north. The Munros had wanted to fight. Instead they saw their country overrun and plundered, even the manses looted and the ministers' libraries scattered. In November, when the Jacobite garrison of Inverness gave up on the day Sheriffmuir was fought, young Foulis marched into the town with 400 Munros and took control as governor. Through the months that followed a Munro detachment under Culcairn helped disarm the rebels. A list of government clans in 1715 gives the Munros 400 fighting men; for 1745 the figure is 300. Munros fought for the government again at Glenshiel in 1719.
"Highland furies" at Fontenoy
The senior Highland regiment of the British Army grew from Independent Companies that kept watch in the Highlands. One of them was a Munro company, and the Munro chief led the new regiment through its formative years.
In 1739 letters of service were issued to raise a regiment of ten companies in the Highlands. Its colonels were generally absent, so command fell to the lieutenant colonel, Sir Robert Munro of Foulis, who had served under Marlborough in Flanders. Two of his company commanders were Munros: his brother George of Culcairn and his cousin John Munro of Newmore. Sir Robert presented a sergeant and a private to George II in London in January 1740, dressed in kilt and plaid of the dark green Government tartan, which the clan still wears as its hunting sett. The regiment first mustered beside the Tay at Aberfeldy. Its baptism of fire came against the French at Fontenoy in 1745. Allowed "their own way of fighting", the men threw themselves to the ground each time the French fired, while Sir Robert, too old and stout to do the same, stood alone with the colours behind him. Then they sprang up and closed with the enemy before he could reload, and finished by covering the British retreat. "The Highland furies," wrote a French officer, "rushed in upon us with more violence than ever did a sea, driven by a tempest."
Sir Robert Munro and other Munro people →After Fontenoy Sir Robert was given command of the 37th Foot. In January 1746, at the Battle of Falkirk, his new regiment broke when the Jacobites charged. Sir Robert fought on alone until he was shot and cut down, and his brother Dr Duncan Munro, who ran unarmed to help him, was killed too. By Prince Charles Edward's orders he was buried with honour in Falkirk churchyard, where his tomb still stands. That summer the third brother, George Munro of Culcairn, was shot in Lochaber, apparently in mistake for another officer. The commander-in-chief called the three brothers "men never to be parallel'd in the hills again".
Sir Robert's heir Harry had raised a company of Munros for Loudon's Highlanders. He was taken prisoner at Prestonpans, and on his release went north with his company into Sutherland.
It is often said that some two hundred Munros fought at Culloden. This is completely untrue. Regiments were known by their colonel's name, and the 37th was still marked "Munro's" on plans of the battle, though Sir Robert had been dead for three months. There is no record of any of the clan serving in the 37th. (Jean Munro)
The clan nonetheless played its part for King George, losing its chief and his two brothers in the course of the Rising.
Rebuilding Foulis
Foulis had held a government garrison and suffered at the hands of the Jacobites. Sir Harry Munro came home to find it a burnt-out semi-ruin, and set about building the castle that stands today.
Sir Harry kept what he could of the old keep. A window in the central tower is dated 1754, and the Georgian mansion facing the Cromarty Firth has a heraldic panel dated 1777 over its door. In his time, when the clan was no longer a military and economic unit, many parts of the estate that had gone to younger sons were brought back into the chief's hands. His son Sir Hugh carried on the work, but after his young wife drowned while bathing in the firth in 1803 he spent little time in the north. The castle was neglected and its contents dispersed. In 1849 it passed to a distant cousin, Munro of Culrain, after costly litigation. By the time Sir Hector Munro inherited in the 1880s it was a family home once more, and the complete restoration carried out by his grandson Captain Patrick Munro and his wife in 1957–59 and 1977–79 left Foulis much as it was two centuries ago.
Visit Foulis Castle →The name spreads
After Culloden the clans were no longer a force in national life, but Munros have won distinction at home and abroad. Military service, adventure and social change in the Highlands carried the name across the world.
The clan's military record continued through the Highland regiments; in the present chief's words, many Munros and twenty-seven of his own immediate family have served with the Seaforth Highlanders and their successor regiments. Clansmen and women have excelled in many professions, medicine and politics among them. The Monros gave Edinburgh four generations of professors of anatomy. Some of the earliest Munros in America were exiles of the civil wars. DNA research has shown that the forefathers of James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, descended from Robert Munro of Foulis, the chief killed at Pinkie in 1547. Another large Munro line descends from John Munro, a prisoner of war after the Battle of Worcester who was banished to the colonies. In France, the Monroes trace their descent from Ulysses Monroe, a seventeenth-century Cavalier exiled after Cromwell's victories, whose grandson settled in Lorraine. Les Monroe de France is today a full branch of the Clan Munro (Association), alongside branches in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Meet Munro people past and present →Clan Munro timeline
Key dates in the history of the clan. Dates before 1369 are traditional.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| c.1030 | Traditional founder Donald helps Malcolm II against the Vikings and is given lands in Ross |
| 1369 | Robert de Munro, first chief proved by record, killed defending the Earl of Ross |
| 1411 | Hugh Munro of Foulis joins the Lord of the Isles against the Duke of Albany |
| 1452 | Battle of Bealach nam Broig: the chief and many of his family killed |
| 1454 | Battle of Clachnaharry against the Mackintoshes |
| 1476 | Earldom of Ross forfeited: the chiefs now hold their lands from the Crown |
| 1547 | Robert Munro of Foulis killed at Pinkie |
| c.1550 | Lands of Foulis made a barony |
| 1560 | Robert Mor Munro attends the Reformation Parliament |
| 1633 | The Black Baron dies at Ulm in the Thirty Years' War |
| 1634 | Sir Hector Munro of Foulis made a baronet of Nova Scotia |
| 1689 | Sir John Munro supports the revolution of William and Mary |
| 1715 | Munros take Inverness for the government |
| 1740 | Sir Robert Munro presents the Black Watch uniform to George II |
| 1745 | Battle of Fontenoy |
| 1746 | Sir Robert and Dr Duncan Munro killed at Falkirk |
| 1754 | Sir Harry Munro rebuilds Foulis Castle |
| 1935 | Death of Sir Hector Munro, 11th Baronet; chiefship and baronetcy separate |
| 1937 | Clan Munro (Association) founded |
Sources and further reading. The chief source for Munro history is the Calendar of Writs of Munro of Foulis, 1299–1823: the family's own papers, now in the National Archives of Scotland, whose rediscovery in the 1930s corrected much earlier writing. The Munro Tree of 1734, edited by the late R. W. Munro in 1978, is the only authority for the first eight generations, and his introduction explains why they must be treated with caution. Alexander Mackenzie's History of the Munros of Fowlis (1898) is still useful but is now known to contain many inaccuracies.
For a readable account, try C. I. Fraser of Reelig's The Clan Munro (first published 1954), Mapping the Clan Munro, or the Information Sheets written by Billy and Jean Munro, on which much of this page is based. Details are on our Publications page, and help with tracing ancestors is on Genealogy.
Be part of the clan's next chapter
Since 1937 the Association has kept the history and traditions of the clan alive and linked Munros in Scotland with those who have spread far beyond it.