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Clan Munro USA
Genealogy Pages
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 Abt 1530 - Yes, date unknown
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| Name |
Catherine Ross [1, 2] |
| Suffix |
of Balnagown |
| Born |
Abt 1530 |
- Estimate: This birth date is an estimate based on the birth dates of nearest relatives or contemporaries, or based on other clues such as christening date, marriage date, birth order, etc.
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| Gender |
Female |
| Died |
Yes, date unknown |
| Person ID |
I11942 |
Munro |
| Last Modified |
21 Jan 2014 |
| Family |
Robert Mor Munro, XV of Foulis, b. Abt 1523, d. 4 Nov 1588, Dingwall, Ross-Shire, Scotland, (Foulis Castle)  (Age ~ 65 years) |
| Married |
22 Nov 1563 |
| Children |
| + | 1. George Munro, I of Obsdale, b. Est 1565, d. Jun 1589 (Age ~ 24 years) |
| + | 2. John Munro, b. Abt 1567, Of, Daan, Scotland , d. Abt 1600 (Age ~ 33 years) |
| + | 3. Elizabeth Munro, b. Est 1568, d. Yes, date unknown |
| + | 4. Andrew Munro, of Daan, b. Abt 1569, Of, Daan, Edderton Par., Scotland , d. 17 Sep 1607, Of, Limlair, Scotland (Age ~ 38 years) |
| | 5. Margaret Munro, b. Abt 1571, d. Yes, date unknown |
| | 6. Janet Munro, b. Abt 1573, d. Yes, date unknown |
| | 7. Margaret Munro, b. Est 1575, d. Yes, date unknown |
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| Last Modified |
20 Jan 2009 |
| Family ID |
F4337 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
- Ref: "The Munro Tree (1734)" by R. W. Munro - R, S
Robert Moir Munro Baron of Fowlis married Margaret daughter to Ogilvie of Finlater by whom he had 2 sons and 3 daughters 2d he married Catherin daughter to Alexander Ross of Balnagown and had 3 sons 4 daughters.
...by the second [marriage, he had] another 3 sons, George R/3, John R/23, Andrew R/24; for drs see R/39.
Hector [was]...associated with the King's Advocate in the unsuccessful prosecution of his stepmother [Catherine Ross] for witchcraft...
Ref: "History of the Munros" by A. Mackenzie - p. 41, 56-58, 63-64, 66-67, 71
In 1544 Robert entered into a bond of manrent and friendship--according to the custom of the period in Scotland--with Alexander Ross, IX. of Balnagown (father of Robert's eldest son's second wife)...
Robert married, secondly, Catherine, eldest daughter of Alexander Ross, IX. of Balnagowan, by his first wife, Janet Sinclair, daughter of John, fifth Earl of Caithness, with issue--three sons and four daughters.
His second wife, "Katherine Ross, Lady Fowlis," as she is designated in the "Dittay," survived Baron Robert for several years. She was implicated, with her stepson, Hector the seventeenth Baron, in an infamous attempt at poisoning through sorcery and incantation. Though her action in the matter is ignored in the family annals, it is here given as related in the Justiciary Records, printed in Pitcairn's Criminal Trials in Scotland, vol. i., part ii., pages 191-202. The trial is also noticed in the preface to Law's Memorials, though in less detail, and with certain errors in some of the particulars given.
The purpose of the poisoning and "witchcraft," and of the compact into which the Lady of Fowlis entered with a crew of miscreants in 1576 and 1577, was to remove Marjory Campbell, the young wife of her brother, George Ross, X. of Balnagowan, and daughter of Sir John Campbell, IX. of Cawdor, that he might marry the wife of young Fowlis, and to accomplish this effectually it was necessary to destroy her stepson Robert Munro, then "apparand of Fowlis," eldest son and heir of Robert Mor.
One of the witches was a Tain woman named Marjory Macallister, nicknamed Loskie Loutart, and one of the wizards involved with Loskie in the charge of witchcraft and attempted murder by poisoning was William Macgillivray, nicknamed Damh, also a native of Tain. Marjory Macallister is said to have made for the Lady Fowlis an image of clay, to be set up and shot at with elf arrows, the object being to cause the person whom the image represented (Robert XVI. of Fowlis), to pine away and die. William Macgillivray sold to the Lady a "box of witchcraft," that is of poison, for the smae end, for which he was sentenced to be burnt. Loskie was not similarly dealt with, probably because a distinction was made between witchcraft that took the effective form of administrating poison and that which confined itself to the fanciful method of shooting at a clay image.
Several of the other instruments, "reputed witches," were convicted at a Justice Court held "within the Cathedral Kirk of Roiss," on the 28th of November, 1577, and sentenced to be "brint for the samin." They died at the stake, confessing the whole plot and implicating their employer in all their horrible practices. Lady Fowlis was not tried until the 22nd of July, 1590, being then "dilatit of certain crymes of witchcraft," at the instance of the King's Advocate, David Macgill of Cranston-Riddell, and Hector Munro of Fowlis. The verdict of the Assize, however, pronounced her "to be innocent, and quit of the haill poynts of the dittay," and she was acquitted accordingly.
The private prosecutor was Hector Munro, now of Fowlis, another stepson, who in a few hours was to change places with her as the accused at the same bar of Justice for similar crimes; his "assize," or jury being chiefly composed of Munros and Rosses, burgesses of Tain and Dingwall, and dependents of the families of Ross and Munro.
On the 4th of June, 1589, Hector appears in a curious position in connection with a prosecution for witchcraft against several women, and an abridgement of the document, as recorded in the records of the Privy Council, is of sufficient interest to justify a place here. It is the complaint of Katherine Ross, relict of Robert Munro of Fowlis; Margaret Sutherland, spouse of Neil Munro, in Swordale; Margaret Ross, spouse of John Neil Macdonald Roy, in Coull; and Margaret Mowat, as follows:--Mr Hector Munro now of Fowlis, son-in-law of the said Katherine Ross, "seeking all ways and means to possess himself in certain her tierce and conjunct fee lands of the Barony of Fowlis, and to dispossess her therefrom," had first "persued certain of her tennants and servants by way of deed for their bodily harm and slaughter," and then, "finding that he could not prevail that way, neither by sundry other indirect means sought by him, had at last, "upon sinister and wrong information and importunate suit, purchased a commission of the same to His Majesty, and to Colin Mackenzie of Kintail, Rory Mackenzie, his brother, John Mackenzie of Gairloch, Alexander Bain of Tulloch, Angus Mackintosh of Termitt, James Glas of Gask, William Cuthbert, in Inverness, and some others specially mentioned therein, for apprehending of the siad Margaret Sutherland, Bessy Innes, Margaret Ross, and Margaret Mowat, and sundry others, and putting them to the knowledge of an assize for witchcraft and other forged and feinted crimes alleged to be committed by them." Further, "the said persons, by virtue of the same commission, intended to proceed against them most partially and wilfully, and therby to drive the said complainers to that strait that either they shall satisfy his unreasonable desire, or then to loose their lives, with the sober portion of goods made by them for the sustenance of themselves and their poor bairns; howbeit it be of verity that they are honest women of repute and holding these many years bygone, spotted at no time with any such ungodly practices, neither any ways having committed any offence, but by all their actions behaved themselves as discreetly and honestly as none justly could or can have occasion of complaint--they being ever ready, like they are yet, to underlie the law for all crimes that can be laid to their charge," and having to that effect, "presently found caution for their compearance before the justice and his deputes, or any judge unsuspected, upon fifteen days' warning." Their prayer, accordingly, is that the said commission be discharged. Mr Hector Munro, appearing for himself and his collegues, and the complainers by Alexander Morrison, their procurator, the Lords ordain Mr Hector and the other commissioners to desist from proceeding against the women, and remit their trial to be taken before the Justice-General or his deputes in the next justice court appointed to be held after His Magesty's repairing to the north parts of this realm in the month of July next," at which time, if His Majesty shall not repair thither, or being repaired shall not before this returning cause the same trial to be taken, "in that case commission shall be given to Thomas Fraser of Knockys, tutor of Lovat, John Urquhart of Cadboll, tutor of Cormarty, and Alexander Bayne of Tulloch, or any two of them to administer justice conform to the laws of the realm." (Mackenzie's History of the Mackenzies, second edition, pp. 170-172.)
Hector Munro and Lachlan Mackintosh of Mackintosh enter into a bond of caution on the 1st of August, 1589, that they will produce before the King's Justice in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh on the 28th of October following the King's letters executed against such persons as are appointed to be upon the trial and assize of Kathering Ross, widow of the late Robert Munro of Fowlis, and also that the said Lachlan and Hector "shall insist in pursuit of her to the uttermost upon the same day for such crimes whereof she is delait and accused without shift, excuse, or delay." Hector also gives bond, on the 1st August, that he--who is appointed to intromit with the rents of the said Catherine till she be tried of the crimes laid to her charge--shall pay to her forty shillings daily out of his intromissions for her expenses in ward, whether in any of the King's castles, or elsewhere, till the said trial be taken, beginning on the 2nd of August instant; and further, that the said Hector shall account to her, in case she may be found innocent, for any sums of money, maills, or duties, to be intromitted by him after the date of the bond, over and above the daily sums provided therin to be paid by him.
On the 5th of November following John Campbell of Cawdor becomes cautioner in 2000 pounds that Hector will not harm Katherine Ross, Lady Fowlis, her tenants, or servants.
On the 3rd of August, 1598, a bond is subscribed at Tain, and registered in Edinburgh on the 14th of the same month, by Hector Munro, apparent of Assint; Hugh Ross, apparent of Muldearg; and three others, for George Sinclair of Mey, that he will not molest Katherine Ross, Lady of Fowlis, William Gordon of Brodland, her spouse; or William Ross in Balnacnycht. From this it appears that she married again, after the death of her husband, Robert Munro, who died on the 4th of November, 1588.
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«i»There are many stories in Fraser's history of the clan and, of course, after the Battle of Worcester the line is continued in his compilation. The most interesting of these stories has to do with Robert Mor Munro who married about 1563, as a second wife, Katherine Ross, daughter of the Laird of Balnagown. She bore him six children, but as Fraser puts it, "she was an unchancy mate for a pious man. Many of her contemporaries believed her to be a murderess, a poisoner, and an employer of witches and sorcerers. Not only this, but she was said to have introduced one of her stepsons, Hector Munro--who later became Chief--to similar sinister practices. Shortly after her husband's death in 1588, both she and Hector Munro stood their separate trials for witchcraft and attempted murder" (p. 22). The result was that both were acquitted on every point, "in apparent disregard of the evidence" (ibid.). The crimes with which Katherine was charged are said to have been committed in 1566 and 1567. The witches and warlocks involved were named and in 1567 two of them were caught, tried, and burned at the stake.«/i»
(The Monroe Book - by J. S. Guilford)
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Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA
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| Sources |
- [S668] RW Munro's Genealogy Database, Robert William Munro, (The collected genealogy notes of RW Munro, Hon. Historian of Clan Munro (Association) edited by Dr. Jean Munro, transcribed by Charles C. Munroe, III and others. Transcription completed Jan 2009. Original card file is kept at the "Storehouse of Foulis" near Foulis Castle in Scotland.), card 376 (Reliability: 3).
1
- [S691] Clan Munro Magazine, Clan Munro (Association), No. 26 - 2012 (Reliability: 3).
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