Welcome to The Murray Clan Society
Is your surname Murray? Born a Murray? Married to a Murray? Is there a Murray in your family tree?
All those people bearing the name MURRAY, or one of the surnames (septs) associated with the Murray Clan, are invited to join the Murray Clan Society in Scotland and the UK. The septs include Balneaves, Dinsmore, Dunbar, Dunsmore, Fleming, Moray, Murrie, Neaves, Piper, Pyper, Rattray, Smail, Smale, Small, Smeal, and Spalding, and variations of these surnames. The Murray Clan Society was instituted on 17th January 1962 in Edinburgh by the 13th Lord Elibank, Alastair Erskine-Murray, to promote social links among people bearing the name Murray and to stimulate interest in the history, culture, and traditions of the Murray Clan and in the work of those who have borne the name Murray, helping us feel closer to our ancestors, in whom we are all interested.
The Murrays are one of the great families of Scotland. As soldiers and statesmen, ambassadors and lawmakers, they have been close to the heart of Scottish affairs for centuries. Their forefather was Freskin de Moravia, a 12th-century Flemish nobleman who was granted land in the area east of what is now Inverness. This region came to be known as Moray [Murray]. The Dukes of Atholl at Blair Castle in Perthshire and the neighbouring Earls of Mansfield at Scone Palace in Perth are both descended from Freskin.
The progenitor (ancestor) of the Murrays, Freskin de Moravia, or Freskyn [son of Ollec], was born circa 1100 and was residing near Wiston in Pembrokeshire in Wales in 1130. He was one of the Flemish noblemen, a warrior knight, who accompanied King David I when he returned to Scotland early in his reign (1124-1153). Shortly after his arrival in Scotland, Freskin was granted the lands of Strathbrock close to Broxburn and Uphall in modern day West Lothian. In 1130, he was given the task of suppressing an insurrection of the wild men in the Province of Moray who refused to accept the authority of the King. As a reward for putting down the revolt, Freskin acquired large grants of land approximately five miles to the north of modern day Elgin on an island on a tidal loch where he built a substantial motte and bailey castle, almost certainly from locally harvested timber. In subsequent generations, it was replaced by the stone Castle of Duffus pictured below, the remains of which can still be visited.
One of the inspirational volunteers setting a wonderful example to the next generation of younger Murrays 
The Murray Clan has the exceptional honour of counting among its number a real live saint. Saint Gilbert de Moravia - Bishop of Caithness from 1223 to 1245 and the founder of Dornoch Cathedral - came from the Freskyn family of Flemish origin that was granted extensive lands in Moray by King David I as reward for military service, and they were Lords of Duffus.
St. Gilbert of Dornoch was recognised as ‘one of the noblest and wisest ecclesiastics the medieval church produced' and the last Scotsman canonised by the Roman Catholic Church, and his relics continued to be held in veneration until the eve of the Reformation. St. Gilbert was not behind other saints in performing miracles. He not only restored speech to a dumb man by prayer and the sign of the cross, but on one occasion, when a certain lessee of salmon-fishings had such a bad season that he was unable to pay his rent, and came praying for the good bishop's intervention on his behalf, he washed his hands in the river, which attracted so many salmon that the poor fisherman was soon relieved of all anxiety.
Gilbert died in his palace at Scrabster on 1st April 1245, traditionally his feast day. Dornoch Cathedral was set on fire in 1570 and St. Gilbert's tomb was desecrated during a clan feud between the Murrays of Dornoch and the Mackays of Strathnaver.
Image left: St. Gilbert de Moravia stained glass window in the south wall at Dornoch Cathedral [Designed by Crear McCartney and made at Pluscarden Abbey, 1989]. McCartney’s work at Dornoch is considered to be amongst his finest. This particular window was commissioned for the 750th anniversary of the cathedral and consecrated in the presence of the Prince of Wales. It is composed around the figure of St. Gilbert as he crossed the Moray Firth to build his cathedral at Dornoch and is full of symbolism and detail.
The Battle of Embo took place after a party of Danes landed at Little Ferry and encamped near Embo. Some doubts remain as to the exact date of the battle; tradition suggests the 1240s, but more reliable recent evidence places the battle in the 1260s. The Earl of Sutherland (William de Moravia) asked Richard de Moravia (Gilbert’s brother who had been given Skelbo Castle by him in 1235) to engage the Danes and hold them in check until he assembled a strong enough force to come to Richard’s aid. The plan worked, and the Danes were routed on the arrival of the Earl. During the battle, Richard was killed and Earl William reputedly slew the Danish leader with the leg of a horse, an incident that accounts for the horseshoe on Dornoch’s present coat-of-arms. After the battle, the Earl arranged for Richard de Moravia’s burial in Dornoch Cathedral, where the remains of his damaged sarcophagus can still be seen.
