Clan Chisholm is a Scottish
clan. The clan had its origin outside Scotland. The first Chisholm to appear
in the records of Scotland was Alexander de Chesholme, who witnessed a charter
in 1248/49.
Clan Chisholm Crest: I Am Fierce With The Fierce
The early Scottish Chisholms were not to be found in the Highlands, but owned land near the English border. In 1296, in the Ragman Rolls, John de Chesolm (Chesehelm) was described as "of the county of Berwick" and Richard de Chesolm (Chesehelm) as "of the county of Roxburgh", while in 1335 Alexander de Chesholme was called "Lord of Chesholme in Roxburgh and Paxtoun in Berwickshire."
Robert Chisholm fought against the English at the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, was taken prisoner with King David II and probably not released until eleven years later when his royal master returned to Scotland. In 1359 Robert Chisholm succeeded his grandfather as Constable of Castle Urquhart, and later became Sheriff of Inverness and Justiciar of the North. This Robert was the last Chisholm to hold lands in both the North and South of Scotland. He divided his estates among his younger children.
The Chisholms became well knon for cattle raiding. In 1498 Wiland Chisholm of Comar and others carried off 56 oxen, 60 cows, 300 sheep, 80 swine and 15 horses belonging to Hugh Rose of the Clan Rose. Later Wiland Chisholm and Sir Alexander MacDonald of Glengarry were with Sir Donald MacDonald of Lochalsh on his return from the Battle of Flodden Field when he decided to invade the Clan Urquhart. Some sources say that Macdonald occupied Urquhart Castle for three years despite the efforts of Clan Grant to dislodge them.
In 1647, Alexander Chisholm was appointed to the committee which arranged the defence of Inverness on behalf of the Covenanters against the Royalists. In 1653 the Chisholms stole cattle from the Clan Munro and Clan Fraser, they were however captured and brought to court where they were orderd to return all they had stolen and pay the Chief Munro of Foulis and Chief of Clan Fraser £1000 interest each.
After the Stuart restoration in 1660, Alexander followed his father as a Justice of the Peace, and in 1674 was appointed Sheriff Depute for Inverness. Once again his duties brought him up against the MacDonalds, for in 1679 he was ordered to lead a thousand men of the county to quell a disturbance created by some members of the clan, and in 1681 he was given a commission of fire and sword against them.
During the Jacobite uprisings the Chisholms sided with their old enemies the Clan MacDonald in support of the Jacobites against the British Government. The Clan Chisholm took part in the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
Most of Wikipedia's text and many of its images are licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC BY-SA)
.jpg)
