Clann-Index
   Return to Index 

Pict Clanns of Albann

Clann MUNRO

The ancient territory if this clan slopes down from the high massif of Ben Wyvis, to the shores of he Cromarty Firth and the fertile farmlands of Easter Ross.  The area is rich in Pictish remains.  The first Munro, Hugh of Foulis, lived on Easter Ross and died in 1126.  Their lands were within the territory of he Earls of Ross with whom they held their charter.  In the early 13th century, George Munro of Foulis held a charter for the territory from the Earl of Sutherland.

Clan Chief, Robert Munro, fought for Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn.  Later, the Munros forged their own royal connection when Robert Munro married a niece of King Robert II's Queen, Euphemia.

Alexander Munro of Kiltearn (1605 - 1653) conducted his ministry at Durness beside Cape Wrath in the  most distant corner of Scotland.  His signature appears on documents as a Justice of the Peace throughout the 1630s.  Alexander was the first to commit the Bible to Gaelic poetry for the benefit of his parishioners.  At this time, two other Munro Ministers were enrolled as Ministers, two at Caithness and two at Sutherland.

In 1627, a unique work of Gaelic compositions was published by Alexander Munro.  Robert Munro rose to the rank of General  in a MacKay regiment in the thirty years war on he continent.  He published his account of the perils of the MacKay regiment in that terrible war, a record that has no parallels.

A Robert Munro, descendant of the 10th Chief of Foulis, who was Commissary of Caithness, and who died in 1633.  Four of his sons fought against Cromwell at Worcester in 1651, of whom William Munro and his three brothers were transported to New England as prisoners after the royalist defeat.

The descendants of Robert multiplied fast, and it fell upon one of them to make a symbolic gesture of retribution, as one Ebenezer Munro fired the first shot in the American Revolution.  In 1816, James Munro became the fifth U.S. President between 1817 and 1825.  It was by a stroke of a pen that he warned European nations not to interfere in his country's shores in a declaration, known thereafter as 'the Munro Doctrine'..