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Clan Mackintosh

Scottish clan

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ912680
Source-derived summary

Clan Mackintosh (Clann Mhic an Tòisich) is a Scottish clan from Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. The chiefs of the clan are the Mackintoshes of Mackintosh. Another branch of the clan, the Mackintoshes of Torcastle, are the chiefs of Clan Chattan, a historic confederation of clans.

History

Origins of the clan

The Scottish Gaelic word toisiche means leader and can also be translated as chief. The seanachies of the Clan Mackintosh claim that the first chief of the clan was Shaw, second son of Duncan MacDuff, Earl of Fife of the royal house of Dál Riata. In 1160 Shaw MacDuff accompanied Malcolm IV of Scotland on an expedition to suppress a rebellion in Morayshire. In about 1163 he was also made constable of Inverness Castle and was granted land in the Findhorn valley. The heartland of the clan was the lands of Petty which was also the burial place of the chiefs. In 1179 Shaw MacDuff was succeeded by his son who was also called Shaw and was confirmed in his patrimony by William the Lion.

Scottish-Norwegian war

In 1263, during the Scottish–Norwegian War, Ferquhar Mackintosh, the fifth chief led his clan at the Battle of Largs against the army of Haakon IV of Norway.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Clan Mackintosh” as scottish clan. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Clan, Mackintosh and Scottish.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1160, 1163, 1179, 1263—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Clan, Mackintosh and Scottish providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Clan Mackintosh”, the useful work is to connect “scottish clan” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q912680. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1160, 1163, 1179 and 1263.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Clan Mackintosh”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Clan Mackintosh primary sources, Clan Mackintosh archive and Clan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Clan Mackintosh” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.