Clan Menzies

Mesnieres in Normandy was the original home of the Norman family who in England rendered their name as Manners, and were ancestors of the present Dukes of Rutland. Sir Robert de Meyneris appeared at the court of Alexander II, where he gained royal patronage, rising to become chamberlain in 1249. Sir Robert received grants of lands in Glen Lyon and Athol, reinforced by a grant to his son, Alexander, of Aberfeldy in Strathtay, in 1296. Alexander also acquired the lands of Weem and made a splendid marriage to Egidia, daughter of James, the High Steward of Scotland. His son, Sir Robert, was a companion-in-arms of Robert the Bruce, and was rewarded with lands in Glendochart, Finlarig, Glenorchy, and Durisdeer. Weem was plundered in 1502 by Stewart of Garth during a dispute over the ownership of lands in Fothergill. Janet Menzies had married a Stewart about a century earlier, and Garth claimed the lands as part of her tocher, or dowry. In 1665, Sir Alexander Menzies was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia. The chiefs opposed the religious and political policies of James VII, and when he was forced from his throne in 1688, Menzies declared for Queen Mary and her husband, the Prince of Orange. At the end of the eighteenth century, the Menzies name gained momentary prominence when James Menzies, a merchant in Weem, was one of the leaders of a protest by thousands of men and women against the Militia Ballot Act, passed in fear of a French invasion in the wake of the Revolution of 1789. The Menzies baronetcy became extinct on the death of Sir Neil Menzies of Menzies, eighth Baronet, in 1910. His sister, Miss Egidia Menzies, succeeded to the estates, but on her death in 1918, they were sold. Menzies Castle fell into a dilapidated state, and during the Second World War was used as a Polish army medical stores depot. It was saved from ruin in 1957, when it was purchased by the Menzies Clan Society.

Septs of Clan Menzies:
Dewar MacIndeor MacMenzies MacMin MacMinn MacMonies Meanies Means Mein Meine Mengues Mennie Menzies Meyners Minn Minnus Monzie

CREST:
A savage head affronte, erased, proper.

MOTTO:
Vill God I Zall

TRANSLATION:
Will God I shall

PLANT:
Menzies Heath, Mountain ash

GAELIC NAME:
Meinn, Meinnearach

ORIGIN OF NAME:
Norman de Meyners

WAR CRY:
Geal 'us Dearg a suas
(Up the White and Red)

PIPE MUSIC:
Menzies' March

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