Siol Alpine

Under the general denomination of Siol Alpine are included several clans situated at considerable distances from one another, but all of them supposed to have been descended from Kenneth Macalpine, the founder of the Scottish monarchy, and the ancestor of a long line of Scottish kings. The validity of this lofty pretension has, however, been disputed; and, in point of fact, it appears that the clans, composing the Siol Alpine, were never united under the authority of a common chief, but, on the contrary, were, from the earliest period, at variance amongst themselves; in consequence of which they sunk into insignificance, and became of little account or importance in a general estimate of the Highland tribes. The principal clan appears to have been that of the Macgregors, a race famous for their misfortunes as well as the unbroken spirit with which they maintained themselves linked and banded together in spite of the most severe laws executed with the greatest rigour against all who bore this proscribed name.