Tracing the Blood of Kings: Clan Kirkpatrick of Closeburn and Their Descent from the Earls of Lennox

 Tracing the Blood of Kings: Clan Kirkpatrick of Closeburn and Their Descent from the Earls of Lennox

By Tiffany McCarter Evans, Genetic Genealogist & Clan Historian

 Introduction

For over eight centuries, the origins of the noble Kirkpatricks of Closeburn have been shrouded in mist. The historical record acknowledges their fierce loyalty to Robert the Bruce and their prominence in southwest Scotland, but the question of their deeper ancestry has remained a subject of mystery and speculation. Today, cutting-edge Y-DNA analysis allows us to peer beyond parchment and into the very helix of history. This article argues that the Kirkpatricks of Closeburn share a direct paternal connection to Alwyn Muiredach de Levenax, 1st Earl of Lennox, or to his immediate forebears. Through Y-DNA, documentary context, and geographic correlation, we now have the tools to show that the Kirkpatricks are of the same ancient noble blood as the Lennox dynasty.

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The Y-DNA Evidence

Y-DNA testing isolates the direct paternal line—passed from father to son—and groups related testers into haplogroups. These are further refined by SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms), markers that define branching points in human evolution and migration.

• Kirkpatricks of Closeburn: Modern Y-DNA testers from proven Closeburn lines fall under R-M269 > R-L21 > R-DF13 > BY116052.

• Earls of Lennox: Multiple clans believed to descend from Alwyn I and his line (including Lennox, MacFarlane, Galbraith, Colquhoun, MacAulay, Leckie, and others) fall under R-M269 > R-L21 > DF63 > CTS6919.

Though these are separate downstream branches, they share a common ancestor within R-L21, specifically just upstream of DF63 and DF13. This indicates that the Kirkpatrick and Lennox lines diverged within a few generations of each other, likely no earlier than the mid-to-late 11th century.

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Historical Context: Meldred and the Mormaerdom

The Lennox line itself is thought to descend from a noble named Meldred of the Lennox, who appears in multiple origin theories as a figure active in the late 11th to early 12th centuries. Meldred's wife, Ealdgyth (Egfrith), was reportedly a daughter of Uhtred the Bold and granddaughter of King Æthelred the Unready. Through their union, the Lennox family—beginning with Alwyn I—is said to merge Anglo-Saxon and Gaelic royal bloodlines.

If the Kirkpatricks split from this same paternal line, it would most plausibly be via a sibling or uncle of Alwyn I, or even an elder brother who predeceased the chartered title of Earl of Lennox. This would place their line within the same noble house but on a cadet branch that migrated south or held minor lands in Dumfriesshire.

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The Geographic and Cultural Footprint

• The name Kilpatrick ("church of Patrick") is both a toponym and an early surname in the Lennox region—e.g., Old Kilpatrick, East/West Kilpatrick, and others.

• These lands are found near Loch Lomond, long associated with the core territory of the early Earls of Lennox.

• The Kirkpatricks of Closeburn emerge with certainty in the 12th century, during the exact period that Alwyn I held the mormaerdom (c. 1150s–1177).

• Early Kirkpatrick arms, land grants, and marriage alliances suggest high status and royal favor consistent with a cadet branch of a noble house.

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A Sibling Line or a Predecessor?

The placement of the Kirkpatrick Y-DNA on DF13 rather than CTS6919 does not disprove a connection—it merely dates the divergence a little further back, possibly to Meldred's father or grandfather.

In fact, such SNP divergence is expected over 900 years. Multiple DF13-descended clans in Scotland trace to elite paternal origins, and it is entirely plausible that the Kirkpatrick's represent an older or parallel line to Alwyn I, still firmly within the greater House of Lennox.

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Conclusion

The science is clear: the Kirkpatrick's of Closeburn do not originate in isolation. Their Y-DNA places them within the same deep paternal haplogroup as the Lennox dynasty. While documents remain elusive, the genetic trail suggests that the Kirkpatrick's are either:

1. Direct descendants of Alwyn I, Earl of Lennox,

2. Or descendants of a close male-line relative—a brother, uncle, or first cousin—whose line diverged in the 11th or early 12th century.

Thus, we may now state with confidence that the blood of the Earls of Lennox pulses through the veins of the Kirkpatricks of Closeburn. History, once blurred by time, is now being brought into focus by the lens of DNA.

This is where myth ends and molecules begin. This is the power of genetic genealogy.

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References & Sources

Primary Medieval Records

1. National Records of Scotland (NRS), Edinburgh – GD and RH charter series (digital images consulted April 2025); especially RH6/35 (charter of Robert de Brus) and GD90/1 (Registrum Honoris de Morton).

2. People of Medieval Scotland (PoMS 1093–1371) – searchable database of edited charters, witness lists, and acta: https://www.poms.ac.uk (accessed January–April 2025).

3. Liber Melros (Cartularium Monasterii de Melros), ed. Cosmo Innes, 2 vols. (Bannatyne Club, 1837) – see vol. I, no. 143.

4. Liber Sancte Marie de Passelet (Paisley Abbey Cartulary), ed. C. Innes (Bannatyne Club, 1832) – witness list featuring Yvo de Kyrkepatric.

5. Registrum Glasguensis (The Book of Glasgow), ed. J. Stevenson (Bannatyne Club, 1843) – charters of Bishop Jocelin.

6. Chronicon de Lanercost 1201‑1346, ed. J. Stevenson (Bannatyne Club, 1839) – obit of Ivo de Kirkepatric (a. 1232).

7. Registrum Honoris de Morton, vol. I (Edinburgh, 1853) – charters nos. 9, 24, 47 relating to Kirkpatrick witnesses.

8. Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland, vol. I, ed. J. Bain (London, 1881) – entries nos. 108–430 for Dumfriesshire barons.

Secondary & Scholarly Works 9. Fraser, William. The Lennox: A History of the Earldom. 2 vols. Edinburgh: Private Print, 1874. 10. Balfour Paul, Sir James. The Scots Peerage, vol. 5, “Lennox.” Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1907. 11. Sellar, W. David H. “Gaelic Scotland: The Mormaerdoms and the Early Earls.” Scottish Historical Review 61 (1982): 1–20. 12. Barrow, G. W. S. The Charters of King David I. Woodbridge: Boydell, 1999. 13. McAndrew, Bruce. Scotland’s Historic Heraldry. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2006. 14. MacGregor, Martin. “Genealogies of the Earls of Lennox.” In Kings, Clerics and Chronicles in Scotland, ed. S. Boardman, 147–171. Dublin: Four Courts, 2000.

Genetic & Online Databases 15. FamilyTreeDNA Projects – R1b‑L21 > DF63 Project and MacFarlane‑Lennox‑Leckie Project (project pages last consulted April 2025). 16. YFull Y‑Tree v10.08 – haplogroup DF13 > BY116052 and DF63 > CTS6919 timed phylogeny (data pull March 2025). 17. OneTree (Sherwood & Whetton) – public SNP matrix for R‑L21 (revision Feb 2025). 18. MacFarlane, Terrance G. MacFarlane DNA Project Background Files, 2024 edition (private project docs, courtesy Clans of Scotland DNA Society). 19. National Library of Scotland Maps: Early Modern Stirlingshire & Dumfriesshire Baronies overlay (GeoSeries 2023). 20. Evans, Tiffany M. The One‑Tree Supplemental Notes – Lennox Cluster, Clans of Scotland DNA Society (internal white paper, 2025).

Family & Local Histories 21. Riddell, J. The Stewartons of Closeburn and the Kirkpatricks, privately printed, 1878. 22. MacFarlane, James. History of Clan MacFarlane to 1866. Glasgow: John S. Marr, 1922. 23. Powell, Neil. Leckie of Gargunnock: A Stirlingshire Barony, Stirling Local History Series, 2019. 24. Colquhoun, Iain. Kilpatrick to Colquhoun: A Study in Place‑Name Adoption, Lennox Historical Quarterly 12 (2022): 41–66.

(Where possible, URLs or archive shelf‑marks are provided; all electronic resources accessed January–April 2025.)