Scottish clan Clan Grant. During the Wars of Scottish Independence, feudal tenures were introduced by Robert the Bruce that harnessed and controlled the prowess of clans by the award of charters for land in order to gain support in the national cause against the English. For example, the Clan MacDonald were elevated above the Clan MacDougall, two clans who shared a common descent from a great Norse-Gaelic warlord named Somerled of the 12th century. Clanship was thus not only a strong tie of local kinship but also of feudalism to the Scottish Crown. It is this feudal component, reinforced by Scots law,
Clan Cumming the Clan Graham, Clan Fraser, Clan Sinclair, the Cheynes, Mowats, Lochores, Clan Maxwell and Clan Hay. The long-standing authority of the Clan Comyn (Cumming) was witnessed by their extended tenure of the Justiciarship of Scotia, the most important political and administrative office in the kingdom. Three successive Comyn Lords of Badenoch and Earls of Buchan were justiciars of Scotia for no fewer than sixty six years between 1205 and 1304. See: William Comyn, Lord of Badenoch and Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan. After suffering a succession of indignities, the Scottish people were forced into rebellion. John III Comyn, Lord of